Daily Kickoff
IRAN TALKS: “Obama Sees an Iran Deal That Could Avoid Congress” by David E. Sanger: “No one knows if the Obama administration will manage in the next five weeks to strike what many in the White House consider the most important foreign policy deal of his presidency: an accord with Iran that would forestall its ability to make a nuclear weapon. But the White House has made one significant decision: If agreement is reached, President Obama will do everything in his power to avoid letting Congress vote on it… The Treasury Department, in a detailed study it declined to make public, has concluded Mr. Obama has the authority to suspend the vast majority of those sanctions without seeking a vote by Congress, officials say.” [NYTimes] • At a meeting Sunday, “Netanyahu again warn[ed] of “danger of world powers’ deal with Iran that will leave it as nuclear threshold state” bigger danger than ISIS.” Speaking of, Iran recently pledged increased aid to Hezbollah in Lebanon to “fight terrorists.” [h/t@joshmitnick; Haaretz]
TOP-OP: Yuval Steinitz in the New York Times – “Don’t Make a Bad Deal With Iran”: “Not reaching a nuclear deal at this stage must not be considered a failure. It can even be regarded a qualified success, since it would represent the integrity of an international community adhering to its principles rather than sacrificing the future of global security because it is distracted by the worthy fight against Islamic State terrorists.” [NYTimes]
Dennis Ross on Iran: “It is no accident that hardly anyone involved in the Iranian nuclear negotiations has expressed optimism about meeting the November 24 deadline for a comprehensive agreement. Ultimately, there appears to be little likelihood of a comprehensive deal at the present time. If that is the case, the P5+1 should be thinking carefully about what will happen after the November 24 deadline. It would be a big mistake to wait until November 25 before considering the likely alternatives.” [Foreign Affairs]
TOP TALKER: Hamas leader’s daughter received medical treatment in Israel, new sources reveal. “Ismail Haniyeh’s daughter’s week-long admission to a hospital in Tel Aviv – which Israeli and Palestinian officials declined to confirm or deny – shows humanitarian coordination between the sides continues just weeks after the Gaza war ended. Haniyeh, who has 13 children, is the leader of the Islamist group in Gaza and one of its most senior figures overall, serving as a deputy to Khaled Meshaal, who lives in exile. Two sources – one Palestinian and the other a foreign diplomat with knowledge of the case – declined to name the daughter and, out of respect for her privacy, asked that details of her condition not be published.” [Reuters]
2016 WATCH — HILLARY TURNS DOWN SABAN’S BIRTHDAY WISH: “According to the Honolulu Star-Advertiser, she was planning to attend Haim Saban’s elaborate birthday party on the Hawaiian island of Lanai this weekend, until it was called off because of an approaching hurricane.” Instead, Saban’s wife Cheryl arranged a surprise 70th birthday party in LA on Saturday night where Hillary spoke thanking Saban for “his great contributions to the relations between Israel and the U.S.” Saban responded by saying “I would be happy, madam, if you would announce on my birthday that you will run for the presidency of the United States.” Clinton responded with a smile, deferring from making such an announcement. [Huffington Post; INS] • Hillary spoke at event last week honoring Sheldon Adelson [ReviewJournal]
Rudy Giuliani to lead protest against “The Death of Klinghoeffer.” Many have called the controversial opera one that glorifies terrorism in its depiction of the murder of an elderly Jew Leon Klinghoffer by Palestinian terrorists. Of the controversy, the opera’s composer John Adams says he “could never have imagined the hysteria.” “The past several months haven’t been easy on John Adams. ‘I wish I could say it didn’t bother me, but it disturbed me greatly all summer,’ he said.” [NY Observer; WSJ]
AP SCOOP: “Expelled Nazis Paid Millions In Social Security” by David Rising, Randy Herschaft and Richard Lardne: “Denzinger, 90, is among dozens of suspected Nazi war criminals and SS guards who collected millions of dollars in Social Security payments after being forced out of the United States, an Associated Press investigation found. The payments flowed through a legal loophole that has given the U.S. Justice Department leverage to persuade Nazi suspects to leave. If they agreed to go, or simply fled before deportation, they could keep their Social Security, according to interviews and internal government records.” [AP]
WSJ EDITORIAL: THE PARLIAMENT OF PALESTINE: “The vote this week by the British Parliament to recognize a Palestinian state is being treated as a nonevent by diplomats in both Jerusalem and London. Though the margin of 274 to 12 was lopsided in favor of recognition, more than half the Parliament either abstained or didn’t show up. Meanwhile, ISIS is at the gates of Baghdad and Bashar Assad continues to starve his enemies into submission—realities Palestinian statehood does nothing to fix. It’s been a long time since Britain’s voice counted in the Middle East, which may explain the recourse to meaningless gestures. Too bad even those gestures are wrong.” [WSJ]
STARTUP SPOTLIGHT — JOSH HOCHSCHULER, TALENTI GELATO: “In Fortune Magazine’s most recent issue, Josh Hochschuler tells the story of how at 22 he moved to Argentina and decided to create what is now Talenti Gelato & Sorbetto, the third largest premium ice cream brand in the United States with $95 million in revenue last year. When asked for his advice about how to get through the tough times, Hochschuler responded that “I derive a great deal of comfort from my faith. I believe things happen for a reason and look for a lesson or silver lining when confronting hardship. The Lubavitcher Rebbe, of blessed memory, has played a meaningful role in my life, and I often turn to his teachings for inspiration and guidance.” [JI]
STARTUP NATION: Shai Agassi’s latest enterprise, Newrgy Motors UK, registered in London [Globes] • Guy Oseary’s Tech Fund Valued at $150 Million [Hollywood Reporter] • Tips from ‘Start-up Nation’ author Saul Singer: “swallow your pride, build amazing things” [Wired] • “Israeli social games developer Diwip sold for $100m” [Globes] • Google Tel Aviv listed among “World’s Coolest Offices [Inc.] • Waze Co-Founder Uri Levine Says Sale To Google Went “Smooth”, 102 Of 107 Employees Stayed [TechCrunch]
TALK OF OUR NATION: Jewish US disease control head leads US Ebola fight — Tom Frieden is the US government’s primary point man in dealing with the Ebola crisis and its possible threat to the country. [JPost] • Rabbi Avi Weiss, Progressive Voice in Orthodoxy, Steps Down From Pulpit Riverdale Cleric Thanks Congregation for ‘Great Ride’ [Forward] • 22 Photos of The Jewish Community Dealing With War In Ukraine [BuzzFeed]
SPORTS BLINK: JEWS AND BASEBALL “Sandy Koufax and Hank Greenberg both famously refused to play on Yom Kippur. This is the sort of thing that Jewish boys and girls learn growing up, a sort of secular Torah story in old-timey flannel. What it means or doesn’t, as with most parables, tends to get lost in the retelling. Whatever meaning there was or wasn’t in all that, as tends to happen with stories that get repeated too casually for too long, begins to converge on kitsch. In hopes of getting to something bigger than that, [David Roth] talked to SB Nation baseball editor Steven Goldman — who knows more about baseball than I do, and probably roughly as much about being Jewish — about why Jews care about Jews in baseball, and other things.” [SB Nation]
LONG-READ: NYTimes Magazine on “The Beggars of Lakewood” by Mark Oppenheimer: “It’s not that Lakewood residents enjoy having their doorbells rung two, three or four times a day to hear a hard-luck story. But while other towns may criminalize beggars or tell them to move along, Lakewood has an obligation to fulfill — Jews are literally family, according to the Torah. So the town came up with a modern solution to an ancient problem: paperwork. Beggars are registered and licensed in Lakewood, as a means of preserving trust in this community that aspires to be a village but is outgrowing that label.”
Beggars Include Senators & Governors… “Everyone in Lakewood knows Rich Roberts, because he is very rich. Roberts, 57, grew up in a secular Philadelphia family… and now spends his days studying the Torah, praying at the large synagogue he built next to his house in 2009 and entertaining Republican politicians, like Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and Gov. Scott Walker of Wisconsin, who come to town seeking his money and influence. Now he and his secretary sit down once a week and write about 30 checks, “about $50 to $100” each, and “some a lot larger,” he said. “I probably also write a $20,000 check every week.” People still come to the door, but less often. He gives everyone who knocks two $1 bills from a pouch in a cabinet by his front door. “I have a few thousand dollars of ones upstairs,” he said.” [NY Times]
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