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2016 WATCH: “‘Jew for Rand’ Paul Sign Raises Eyebrows, Is Changed” by David Knowles:“Rand Paul’s presidential campaign would like you to know that his supporters come in a variety of demographic categories, including Jews… Of all the supporter categories, the “Jew for Rand” profile photo was one that seemed the most conspicuous for some who glanced at the site. Some took issue with the terminology… Paul’s web team amended the “Jew for Rand” on Tuesday afternoon. It now reads “Jewish for Rand.” [Bloomberg; TPM]

“Rand (briefly) touts commitment to Israel with picture of mosque” by Steve Goldstein:“Rand Paul’s “stands with Israel” page shows a picture of the Al Aqsa Mosque and the Dome of the Rock… The Paul campaign’s use of the photo is either an incredibly subtle nod to that dispute, or more likely, an inopportune use of clip-art. The fact that the site now has replaced it with a picture of the Israeli flag is suggestive of the latter.” [MarketWatch] • Rand’s video on Israel [Rand]

Rand’s digital strategist, and former Likud advisor, Vincent Harris tweeted: “Grateful to God for a great day today! Nothing’s perfect but I think we got close.” [Twitter]

“Welcome to the Machine, Sen. Paul” by Eli Lake: “It’s strange that one of Paul’s major fundraisers founded a private company that helps the U.S. intelligence community sift through metadata. Meet Joe Lonsdale, a Silicon Valley investor who helped found and build Palantir, a private software company that provides software that sorts vast amounts of data to help drone pilots find terrorists and financial analysts spot trends.” [BV]

Chris Matthews on Rand’s speech: “I think he laid down the fight here. He said ‘the line is I’m not going to be for nation-building overseas, I’m going to build bridges here at home, not over there’. It is a direct charge at the neocons and the piggish money behind them right now.” [YouTube]

PAUL SINGER PRIMARY: “Sen. Marco Rubio was the featured guest at an event at Republican donor Paul Singer’s place in New York last Monday attended by influential Republican foreign policy hawks. According to sources who attended the dinner, Rubio was well-received among attendees— one said that “people who walked out of the room were totally in love” — a sign that he could be coming into favor among people influential with the New York Jewish Republican donor class, among whom Singer is the most sought-after.” [BuzzFeed]

DRIVING THE DAY: “Kerry to Meet With Jewish Leaders on Iran Deal” by Maggie Haberman: “Secretary of State John Kerry is scheduled to meet with prominent Jewish leaders on Wednesday to seek support for the framework for a deal curtailing Iran’s nuclear abilities. The meeting is the latest in a push by the Obama administration to sell the deal to Congress and to Jewish leaders concerned about the framework.” [FirstDraft]

“Obama Met Privately With Journalists Amid Iran Deal Media Push” by Michael Calderone:“On Monday afternoon, he met with roughly a dozen opinion writers and editors at the White House for a nearly two-hour, off-the-record meeting focused primarily on the Iran deal, according to sources familiar with the gathering…  group of journalists included The New Yorker’s Dexter Filkins, The Daily Beast’s Michael Tomasky, The Atlantic’s Jeffrey Goldberg, New York’s Jonathan Chait, The New York Times’ Carol Giacomo, The Wall Street Journal’s Gerald Seib and a quartet from the Washington Post: David Ignatius, Ruth Marcus, Eugene Robinson and Greg Sargent.” [HuffPost]

“Can this man sell the Iran deal to Congress?” by Darius Dixon and Burgess Everett: “Hours after President Barack Obama strode to the Rose Garden to sell the Iran nuclear deal, one of Congress’ top foreign policy players picked up the phone to get more details. Senate Foreign Relations Chairman Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) didn’t dial the White House or the State Department. He wanted to talk to Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz.” [Politico] • Ernest Moniz: Iran deal closes enrichment loophole [Politico]

NYTimes A1: “Iran’s Leaders Fall Into Line Behind Nuclear Accord” by Thomas Erdbrink:“Since the Islamic Revolution in 1979, Iranian hard-liners have been free to take to the streets and object to any form of compromise with the West, and particularly the United States. But when a conspicuously small group of hard-liners did so on Tuesday morning in front of the Parliament building, holding up placards and shouting slogans against the nuclear framework agreed to last week in Lausanne, Switzerland, the Iranian Interior Ministry condemned the demonstration as illegal.” [NYTimes] • “Iran news report: Tehran will start using fastest centrifuges on day deal takes effect” [ToI]

Eric Yoffie: “When polling data is available on what American Jews think of the agreement with Iran, most of them, I am betting, are not going to like it. The great majority will be profoundly skeptical, while a significant number will oppose it outright. Even Obama admirers, such as myself, who generally applaud the president’s tough-minded realism, will not be cheering this particular deal.” [Haaretz]

Lee Smith: “Honey, I Shrunk the Jews! Why did Obama send a lowly vice-presidential adviser to inform American Jewish leadership about his Iran deal?” [TabletMag]

**Good Wednesday Morning! Enjoying the Daily Kickoff? Please share us with your friends & tell them to sign up at [JI].  Have a tip, scoop, or op-ed? We’d love to hear from you. Anything from hard news and punditry to the lighter stuff, including event coverage, job transitions, or even special birthdays, is much appreciated. Email [email protected]**
BUSINESS BRIEFS: “Real-estate heir blows $3.5M meant for UJA charity on cars, hotels” [NYPost] • Joseph Safra is 2nd on Forbes’ list of the World’s Richest Arabs [Forbes] • “Barnett may foil Witkoff’s bid to build supernal at Park Lane Hotel site” [RealDeal] • “Two buyers splitting up top of Crown Building” [NYPost]

“Financial Startups Make the Jump Without a Net” by Anupreeta Das: “Blackstone Group LP co-founder Stephen Schwarzman recently told students at a Harvard Business School event that entrepreneurship in finance is an apprenticeship, and it takes years to get the skills required to start a new firm. Only those with something unique to offer should go solo, he said, according to a person who heard him speak.” [WSJ]

LongRead: “The Inside Story of the Civil War for the Soul of NBC News” by Bryan Burrough: “While admitting the occasional misstep, NBC News loyalists reject the harsh critiques that have trailed in the wake of the Williams scandal, blaming them on a coterie of departed executives, including former NBCUniversal C.E.O. Jeff Zucker and former NBC News chief Steve Capus, who resigned under pressure in 2013. “We know the people saying these things about us, and we know why,” one NBC partisan told me. “Because five years later we are still cleaning up the mess they left behind.” [VanityFair]

RISING STAR: “The Man Behind The Billion-Dollar App That’s Changing How We Communicate” by Jeff Bercovici: “With his addictive communication app, Slack, Stewart Butterfield built a billion-dollar business in two short years. More impressive, he managed to make work feel like fun.” [INC; Maxim]

“Banking boldly through Jewish ethics” by Aron Chilewich: “Banc of California, one of the fastest-growing banks in the United States, has a rock-solid name that makes it sound like it’s been around for a century or more. In fact, the brainchild of Chad Brownstein and his business partner, Steven Sugarman, was only formed in 2010, in the midst of the Great Recession… Brownstein credits Banc of California’s approach to community banking to their Jewish upbringings — Brownstein in Denver and Sugarman in Orange County. Brownstein especially credits his father, Norman, for instilling in him a sense of societal obligation… In addition to being a prominent Democratic fundraiser, Norman Brownstein is currently vice president of the national board of AIPAC.” [JewishJournal] 

“A Nazi-Built Resort Beckons New Dwellers” by Todd Buell: “As the ravages of time are forcing Germans to decide what to do with the Nazis’ surviving architectural heritage, historians and developers are asking whether these vestiges are fit for commercial development, should be turned into places of remembrance, or should be left untouched.” [WSJ]

Phoebe Maltz Bovy: “Does the Holocaust Discount Jewish White Privilege?” [NewRepublic] • Seth Mandel: “The Holocaust, White Privilege, and American Jewry” [Commentary]

“No, Jews Aren’t Defecting to the GOP” by Josh Zeitz: “The question is not so much why American Jewish support for Democrats dips from 80 percent to 60 percent in certain election cycles. Instead, the question is: Why are American Jews still white America’s most liberal voting bloc, well over a century since most of their immigrant ancestors set shore on Ellis Island?” [Politico]

DESSERT: “Ancient Chinese Community Celebrates Its Jewish Roots, and Passover” by Becky Davis: “Over the remains of the Chinese-style Passover banquet – soups with bamboo and huge chunks of fresh tofu, steamed fish and platters of crisp greens in mustard sauce – Li Penglin, 16, lifted a glass of Israeli wine from his place at the head table. Quietly but without faltering, he read out a Chinese translation of a Hebrew prayer.” [NYTimes]

BIRTHDAYS: Arcadi Gaydamak turns 63… Dan Smith… Daniel Lippman (Tuesday)… Jeanie Schottenstein (Monday)…

That’s all folks; have a great day!

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