Daily Kickoff
LOOSE SANCTIONS: Boeing books first sales to Iran since 1979: In a sign of just how far into oblivion the negotiations and chances of keeping pressure on the Iranian regime have gone, “Boeing said on Wednesday it had sold aircraft-related goods to Iran Air in the third quarter, marking the first acknowledged dealings between U.S. aerospace companies and Iran since the 1979 U.S. hostage crisis.” [Reuters] • China says it wants closer military ties with Iran [Reuters]
MEANWHILE: Thousands in Iran Protest Acid Attacks on Women: “Thousands of Iranians took to the streets of the historic city of Isfahan on Wednesday to protest several acid attacks on women. The attacks had coincided with the passage of a law designed to protect those who correct people deemed to be acting in an “un-Islamic” way.” [NYTimes]
DRIVING THE DAY: At 5:00 p.m. Under Secretary Sherman delivers keynote remarks on the EU-coordinated P5+1 nuclear negotiations with Iran at a symposium entitled “Assessing Iranian Nuclear Negotiation Strategy” sponsored by the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) and Syracuse’s Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs, at CSIS.
—PREVIEW: “Many foreign diplomats see the address as the beginning of a White House push to try and sell an agreement with Iran to U.S. lawmakers, think tanks and media outlets. The State Department declined this week to preview Ms. Sherman’s speech.” [WSJ]
TERROR ATTACK IN JERUSALEM: A Palestinian man rammed his car into people waiting at a light rail station in Jerusalem, leaving 8 injured and a 3 month-old baby girl dead. “A suspect, identified by an Israeli official as a member of terror group Hamas, attempted to flee the scene on foot and was shot by police, a police spokesperson said… Dozens of masked Palestinians set tires and dumpsters ablaze and threw stones and Molotov cocktails at police officers in Silwan and Issawiya, police said in a statement.” The funeral for the baby girl, Chaya Zisel Braun, “was attended by hundreds of people, including President Reuven Rivlin, the Chief Rabbi of Jerusalem Rabbi Shlomo Moshe Amar and Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat.” The US State Department issued a statement condemning the attacks. [Commentary; Arutz Sheva; State Department; Buzzfeed]
—TOP-OP: “This is what really happened in Jerusalem today” by Sarah Tuttle-Singer [ToI]
AND IN CANADA : Canada experienced yet another ISIS-inspired terrorist attack in the country at the Canadian War Memorial today. Of the events, Prime Minister Stephen Harper vowed, “‘We will not be intimidated. Canada will never be intimidated.” in an address to the nation. Harper said the attacks are grim reminders the Canada is not immune to terrorism. [AP]
2016 WATCH: Rand Paul to lay out foreign policy vision tonight: “Rand Paul, whose foreign policy views have become a frequent target of his GOP critics, will use a high-profile speech in New York on Thursday to urge the United States to exercise restraint when engaging in wars overseas. At a dinner hosted by the Center for the National Interest, the libertarian-minded Kentucky senator, a potential White House contender in 2016, will argue for “limits” on U.S. engagement in military conflicts. It’s a view that runs counter to the hawks among his fellow Republicans who have called for a more aggressive American presence in hot spots in the Middle East.” [Politico] • Rand Paul Summons Political Operatives for 2016 Strategy Session [NationalJournal]
TOP 2016 TWEET: “In New Orleans last night, Gov. O’Malley and billionaire environmental activist Tom Steyer leave “green” event in SUV” [Twitter]
YAALON ON NPR MORNING EDITION: “Steve Inskeep: Well, I’ve heard that argument. It’s compelling. You’re arguing that Israelis move across into the West Bank, they bring money with them, they build, they may improve the economy. My question is what if a group of Palestinians, from whatever direction, whether they claim refugee status or not, simply showed up at the Tel Aviv airport, showed up a border crossing, and said, “We want to claim that same individual right, and we’re ready to move into Israel”? Yaalon: They can go. They can go to live in Nablus, they can go to live in Ramallah.Inskeep: That’s in the West Bank, but what if they want to live in Israel proper? Yaalon: No. No. In Israel, no way. Otherwise, we are not going to solve the conflict, we are going to keep it to the end of the days.” [NPR]
SOMETHING WE’VE NOTICED — Day after day there is a ‘reporter’ who attends the State briefings to push the Palestinian narrative… : A reporter for Jerusalem basedAl Quds Daily and former UN spokesman for Iraq, Said Arikat, is often the only voice at the daily State Department Press Briefings to bring up Israel, and always in an antagonistic context. From yesterday’s press briefing…
Arikat: Yesterday, Secretary Kerry said that the current situation between the Palestinians and the Israelis is not sustainable. Could you explain to us — Ms. Harf: We’ve all said that. That’s been said by many people many times. Arikat: I understand. Well, let me ask you, what does that mean? What does it mean that it’s not sustainable? Ms. Harf: It means that the best outcome for the Israeli people and the Palestinian people is two states living side by side in peace and security, this is – through a negotiated settlement. The current status quo is not sustainable. Multiple Administration officials have said that. Arikat: But the Israelis probably beg to differ because they have sustained an occupation since 1967. Would you disagree? Ms. Harf: Well, we would obviously say, Said, that under some sort of negotiated settlement, that would provide more security to Israel. That’s the point here. [Briefing; Video] — Anyone else want to start attending these briefings?
‘Almost A Conspiracy In The Media To Delegitimize Israel’: An Interview with JNS Maverick Publisher Russel Pergament: Q: What drove you to enter the Jewish news business? A: “I never had much to do with Jewish newspapers, but some of the board members at JTA asked me if I could look over their operation and offer some advice. I made some suggestions that didn’t really grab them, and then some of the guys on the board said, “Look, why don’t we start our own?” There was a personal motivation as well. “Media coverage of Israel around the world is not merely unfriendly but reflexively hostile. There almost is a conspiracy in the media to somehow delegitimize Israel and make it hesitant and ashamed to use its legitimate means of self-defense. In some ways, it’s like liberal media are trying to impose an externally imposed unilateral disarmament on Israel. That troubled me a lot.” [Jewish Press] • Pro-Israel German-language Jewish magazine launches [JPost]
A TALE OF THREE TWITTER FEEDS — Hamas in Arabic, English, Hebrew: “While using many of the same pictures and quotes in both its English and Arabic online portals, Al-Qassam changes the tone of some of its messages to better fit a Western audience. In the majority of its English descriptions of specific attacks, Al-Qassam stresses that it was targeting military sites. For instance, 14 out of the 15 rocket attacks listed on Aug. 25 on Al-Qassam’s English website were military targets, including a 12:35 attack at the “military base in Hulet.” However, when Al-Qassam tweeted about the same exact incident in Arabic, the social-media team omitted any mention of a military base and merely stated that Al-Qassam targeted Kibbutz Hulet.
The differences in tone between the messaging used by Hamas for different groups of social media and Internet users is hard to miss. Al-Qassam’s English-language website, for example, features an entire section devoted to “human rights.” In contrast, on the Arabic website, there is no section devoted to human rights. Instead, Al-Qassam’s Arabic media staff inserted a tab labeled “battles and operations,” which details Al-Qassam’s military missions against Israel.” [TabletMag]
TALK OF OUR NATION: Klinghoffer Brawl Reveals How the (Kosher) Sausage Is Made: “A nasty fight erupted between Jeffrey Wiesenfeld, a principal at Bernstein Global Wealth Management and a co-founder of the ad hoc group “Stop the Klinghoffer Opera,” and Jane Eisner, the editor in chief of the venerable Jewish newspaper The Forward. The issue? The opera Death of Klinghoffer, of course. In brief, Mr. Wiesenfeld opposed the opera, which has been accused by some of sympathizing with the Palestinian terrorists who murdered elderly Jewish-American Leon Klinghoffer; others found the opera a meaningful piece of art. Mr. Wiesenfeld gave a quote to the effect that he’d be joining the protesting every night “until the set is burned to the ground.” Ms. Eisner reported the story in a way that Mr. Wiesenfield felt implied that he personally would consider participating in that burning. It’s a subtle distinction, but the Talmud is all about subtle distinctions in sacred Jewish texts.
Mr. Wiesenfield goes for the jugular, threatening to apply pressure to the sponsors of the Forward, which is run as a non-profit. At that point, Samuel Norich, the President and Publisher of the Forward, gets involved. Ms. Eisner holds up pretty well to the FBI-trained Mr. Wiesenfield’s aggressive approach, but partially backs down and adjusts the article, which satisfies Mr. Wiesenfield. Adding color to the exchange is that Mr. Wiesenfield is associated with Republican politics, having worked for Gov. Pataki and Sen D’Amato, while Ms. Eisner is well-known to be a progressive, in keeping with the Forward’s historical point of view.” [Observer; Transcript of Email Exchange] “Much ado about “The Death of Klinghoffer” [New Yorker]
RISING STAR — NYTimes Profile: Fabologie’s Adi Heyman Promotes Modest Fashion: “Ms. Heyman, 31, is the creative force behind the Jewish lifestyle website Fabologie, which, she said, draws 75,000 to 100,000 page views a month. Many of her admirers are Orthodox women looking to assert personal style while remaining true to the tenets of tznius, or modesty. But the size of her following reflects an appeal to women of all backgrounds who are drawn to dressing with more decorum and less flash.
Born Amber Fuller in San Antonio, Ms. Heyman would take apart her Barbies’ wedding gowns and redesign them with help from her grandmother. Her father came from a secular Christian home. Her mother was raised as a practicing Christian. The family searched for a religious community to suit its values and ultimately converted to Judaism when Ms. Heyman was in her preteens. Her family moved to Miami, where she attended a private Jewish high school and adopted the Hebrew name Aliza Adi. “I chose Judaism, and I feel like that’s where a lot of my love for it comes from,” she said.” [NYTimes]
FORBES 30 Under 30 Summit Puts Jewish Sustainability App in Spotlight: “Morgan Berman found herself under immense pressure this week at the Forbes Under 30 Summit taking place at the Pennsylvania Convention Center in Center City Philadelphia. As a finalist in the summit’s $400,000 Pressure Cooker contest, Berman, 29, had five minutes on Oct. 21 to pitch her startup — MilkCrate, an app that connects users with sustainable businesses, farmers’ markets and alternative fueling stations — to three big-name judges and a few thousand of her entrepreneurial peers… Berman, who was also a 2014 participant in the Tribe 12 Fellowship, an entrepreneurial program designed to help young Jewish professionals build socially conscious startups, said that just making it on the stage as a finalist was already encouraging her to ponder how far MilkCrate can go.
The four-day Forbes summit brought some of the hottest up-and-coming entrepreneurs around the country to Philadelphia for panel discussions, keynote presentations, parties and “Shark Tank”-style pitches in front of the world’s top venture capitalists. There were several notable Jewish names among the guest speakers and panelists: Monica Lewinsky tackled the subject of cyber bullying; Tinder chief executive officer and co-founder Sean Rad discussed the dating app’s cutting-edge technology; and venture capitalist Josh Kushner joined a panel discussing creative ways for budding entrepreneurs to get their startups funded by big investors. Kushner, who, at the age of 29 is worth hundreds of millions of dollars, is the poster boy for successful, emerging businesspeople. He spoke about the difficulties of achieving success in today’s cutthroat economy. “There’s this romanticized ideology about being an entrepreneur, when, in reality, being an entrepreneur is so insanely hard, and you don’t know what it’s like to be an entrepreneur until you are,” Kushner, a native of Livingston, N.J., said, underscoring the obstacles facing small startups like MilkCrate. “I wake up in cold sweats at 4 a.m., because that’s just what happens when you start a company.” [Jewish Exponent]
BUSINESS BRIEFS: Paul Singer’s Elliott Management Corp. hedge fund attempting to receive full payment for defaulted Argentinian bonds. [Bloomberg] • Mark Zuckerberg Speaks Chinese [Time] • “Locals rally against closure of Schron’s Village shopping center” [BrooklynDaily] • Kushner companies acquire Gowanus site [MarketWatch] • Israel Englander’s Millennium Management Said to Add Commodities Teams After Price Drop [Bloomberg]
PageSix: Leonard Lauder and his fiancée Judith Glickman planning January nuptials in Sarasota, Florida. “Glickman — a photographer and artist who’d been friends with Lauder for 35 years — has family ties to Sarasota, where one of her sons is a rabbi.” [Page6] • Billionaire George Soros’ son in messy divorce [Page6]
DESSERT — Meet Berlin’s Chummus Entrepreneurs: “while strolling East Berlin’s streets, I saw a restaurant with an inviting name: Zula Hummus Cafe. Zula is Hebrew slang describing a comfortable, relaxing place, and at the time — as I cluelessly searched for an apartment in this huge city, with zero German language skills — that’s exactly what Zula Hummus Cafe was for me. It gave me a feeling of home. I soon discovered that Zula was just the tip of the chickpea. In fact, Berlin has become a hotbed of hummus entrepreneurship, with joints like Zula, Sababa and Djimalaya popping up in its most popular neighborhoods. Much of the Berlin hummus buzz is — unsurprisingly — connected to the mass immigration of Israelis to the city. The German capital has an estimated 20,000 Israeli-born residents, most of whom have arrived since the beginning of the decade.” [Forward]
WE’RE A FAN: “A healthy kosher option in Jerusalem. Soyo is a British-style cafe with Israeli influences” [JPost]