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2016 MONEY WATCH: “Billionaire Lifts Marco Rubio, Politically and Personally” by Michael Barbaro and Steve Eder: “A detailed review of their relationship shows that Norman Braman, 82, has left few corners of Mr. Rubio’s world untouched. He hired Mr. Rubio, then a Senate candidate, as a lawyer; employed his wife to advise the Braman family’s philanthropic foundation; helped cover the cost of Mr. Rubio’s salary as an instructor at a Miami college; and gave Mr. Rubio access to his private plane.” [NYTimes] • Photo caption: “Marco Rubio and Norman Braman at a bipartisan rally for Israel in 2012. Positions on Israel helped bring them together.”

“Marco Rubio defends ties to major donor” by Kasie Hunt: “Norm Braman is a great man, a pillar of the South Florida community and someone who I’m personally close to. I’m very proud to be associated with him,” Rubio said in an interview early Saturday evening. “I’m proud that he’s a donor, I’m proud that he’s a friend. And I’m proud that he was a client,” Rubio said. “The only thing Norman Braman’s ever asked my help on is charities, whether it’s a cancer center, or a genomics center at the University of Miami.” [MSNBC]

“How to Push Back Against Billionaire Donors” by Peter Beinart: “Reporters should apply the same level of scrutiny to campaign financiers as they do to political candidates.” [TheAtlantic]

“What Does Sheldon Adelson Want?” — Jon Ralston tells Chuck Todd that there is no limit to the impact the billionaire can have on 2016 [MeetThePress] • Jerusalem Post: “‘Adelson’s alleged ties to Chinese mafia may spell downfall’ [JPost]

“Clinton Campaign Dilemma: What to do with Bill?” by Philip Rucker: “Senior aides say he does not plan to do any campaign activities for his wife in 2015, including fundraisers for her campaign or allied super PACs… “Bill Clinton is like nuclear energy,” said David Axelrod. “If you use it properly, it can be enormously helpful and proactive. If you misuse it, it can be catastrophic.” [WashPost] • “Tony Rodham’s Ties Invite Scrutiny for Hillary and Bill Clinton” [NYTimes]

“Meet the man behind hawkish Hillary Clinton’s foreign policy” by Jonathan Allen: “Let me tell you, the only person and the one person you need to get to know, who is loved by everyone in the institution and gets things done, is Jake Sullivan,” Holbrooke said. The 38-year-old Sullivan catapulted through the ranks of the Democratic foreign policy establishment, from 2008 Clinton campaign aide to top policy hand at State to national security adviser for Vice President Joe Biden. Now the blue-eyed, sandy-haired Minnesotan has come full circle, having been picked earlier this month for the delicate task of running the Clinton campaign’s foreign policy, an area in which the candidate’s hawkish instincts diverge from those of war-wary progressives.” [Vox]

“Jeb Bush: I would have authorized Iraq War” by Eric Bradner: “I would have [authorized the invasion], and so would have Hillary Clinton, just to remind everybody. And so would almost everybody that was confronted with the intelligence they got,” Bush said in the interview.” [CNN; TampaTimes]

–Seth Lipsky: “Dubya is back for 2016 (sort of) – and that’s lucky for Israel, and lucky for Jeb” [Haaretz]

Line from Jeb’s Saturday speech at Liberty University: “Wherever Jews are subjected to the oldest bigotry, we reject those sins against our brothers and sisters — and we defend them.” [CSPAN]

From the Weekend: “GOP Presidential Hopefuls Criticize Obama Foreign Policy” by Janet Hook: “Republican presidential contenders came to South Carolina on Saturday and launched a fresh round of attacks on President Barack Obama’s handling of world affairs, promising a muscular foreign policy to voters in a state where many families and businesses have ties to the military.” [WSJ; NYTimes] • “Who is running as the most aggressive foreign policy hawk? Pretty much everyone” [WashPost]

Politicos Tweet From Israel: RJC’s Matt Brooks — “Hitting the day running on first day in #Israel w/ @ScottWalker -visited the Kotel, Christian holy sites and Old City” [Twitter] • Walker meeting with Natan Sharanksy [Twitter] • At Yad Vashem [Twitter]

@MichaelMRosen — “Warm bat mitzvah greetings from @JebBush for Yaira Granoff (daughter of @mikejgr) greeted with thunderous applause in Caesaria #Israel!” [Twitter]

@RosieGray — “Ran into Jon Corzine in Tel Aviv this morning. He was having breakfast with Ehud Olmert at the Hotel Montefiore” [Twitter]

“The Most Awkward Interview Of This Presidential Campaign, So Far” by Katherine Miller:“Bloomberg Politics’ Mark Halperin interviewed Ted Cruz. The interview started out relatively normal, then Halperin began quizzing Cruz about his Cuban heritage, including questions “You got a favorite Cuban food, Cuban dish?” and “Do you have a favorite Cuban singer?” and asking him to welcome Bernie Sanders into the presidential race “en Español.” [BuzzFeed]

–Reactions: @FriedrichHayek — “#HalperinQuestions  Sen. Sanders, could you put on this yarmulke and then dance the horah to welcome Ted Cruz into the Presidential race? [Twitter] • @Jamie_Weinstein — “Im curious about your Jewish heritage Sen. Sanders. List ur top 3 Jackie Mason jokes & ur fav 3 Seinfeld episodes” [Twitter]

IRAN TALKS: “Behold The Enormous Collateral Damage From The Senate’s Iran Bill” by David Francis: “The Senate has overwhelmingly passed legislation that would give Congress a say on any nuclear deal between world powers and Iran. It’s come at a high price, however, and the collateral damage left by the months-long struggle to get the bill into law is enormous.” [ForeignPolicy]

“Iran letter divides Democrats” by Mike Lillis: “Both Hoyer and Crowley say they’re pushing for a diplomatic solution, but their decision to forego the letter highlights the prickly politics facing lawmakers as they grapple with opposition from Israeli leaders, concerns from Israel’s top lobbyist group and near-universal distrust of the Iranian regime.” [TheHill]

Aaron David Miller — “In short, if and when the Iran deal is done, however good the U.S. achievements may be, instead of overselling what it has accomplished Washington should at least be honest about what it hasn’t.” [WSJ]

ICYMI: “Iran and U.S. cut deal on new diplomatic offices in Washington, Tehran” by Al Kamen: “The United States, in what may be among the first negotiated deals with Iran since relations broke off in 1979, is allowing the Iranian Interests Section in Washington to move to new headquarters on 23rd Street Northwest in West End. In exchange, Switzerland, which had been looking for new space for the U.S. Interests Section in Tehran — because the current offices, we were told, were “no longer viable and pretty decrepit”– will be getting new offices as well for the U.S. facility.” [WashPost]

TOP TALKER: “Saudi Arabia Says King Won’t Attend Meetings in U.S.” by Helene Cooper: “Saudi Arabia announced on Sunday that its new monarch, King Salman, would not be attending meetings at the White House with President Obama or a summit gathering at Camp David this week, in an apparent signal of its continued displeasure with the administration over United States relations with Iran, its rising regional adversary.”

“The Arab countries would also like to buy more weapons from the United States, but that also faces a big obstacle — maintaining Israel’s military edge. The United States has long put restrictions on the types of weapons that American defense firms can sell to Arab nations, in an effort to ensure that Israel keeps a military advantage against its traditional adversaries in the region.” [NYTimes; WSJ]

Michael Crowley: “What’s behind Obama’s awkward embrace of the Middle East’s monarchs”[Politico]

Eli Lake: “All of this brings to mind a favorite maxim of Israel’s former prime minister, Menachem Begin. During Camp David peace talks that led to Israel’s withdrawal from the Sinai, Begin was offered U.S. security guarantees in exchange for territorial concessions. Begin mused: “In the whole world there is no guarantee that can guarantee a guarantee.” America’s Gulf allies are about to find out if Begin was right.” [BloombergView]

NYTimes Room for Debate — Strained Ties With Israel: “How will Israel’s new government, probably the most right-wing in its history, affect relations with the United States and American peace efforts?” Responses from Anne-Marie Slaughter, former State Dept. Official; Jonathan Schanzer, Foundation for Defense of Democracies; Zaha Hassan, former Palestinian negotiator; Ehud Eiran, former Israeli government official; Omar Barghouti, Palestinian activist. [NYTimes]

BIRTHRIGHT FOR CHRISTIANS: “Covenant Journey, a new program of trips to Israel for Christian student leaders at colleges and universities modeled in part on the highly-acclaimed Taglit-Birthright Israel program, was unveiled on Friday at the Israeli Embassy in Washington’s Annual Christian Solidarity Event. “There’s one thing better than standing with Israel, and that’s standing in Israel,” said Ambassador Ron Dermer. Spotted at the Embassy event: Paul Singer, Dan Senor, Steve Green, Stu Loeser, Rivka Kidron, and Gary Bauer.

“Here’s your chance to visit Israel with Jindal & Santorum” by Bruce Alpert: “The conservative Family Research Council is promoting a trip to Israel Oct. 27-Nov. 6. Guests paying for the trip, which start at $4,988 for departures out of New York City, will be joined for part of the itinerary by Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal and former Sen. Rick Santorum. Both are likely to be courting the conservative evangelical votes…” [Nola]

TALK OF OUR NATION: “Campus Debates on Israel Drive a Wedge Between Jews and Minorities” by Jennifer Medina and Tamar Lewin: “College activists favoring divestment have cast the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as a powerful force’s oppression of a displaced group, and have formed alliances with black, Latino, Asian, Native American, feminist and gay rights organizations on campus. The coalitions — which explicitly link the Palestinian cause to issues like police brutality, immigration and gay rights — have caught many longtime Jewish leaders off guard, particularly because they belonged to such progressive coalitions less than a generation ago.” [NYTimes]

“To Protest Colleagues’ Lack of Job Security, a Professor Quits Her Tenured Post” by Peter Schmidt: “As a tenured associate professor of English at Yeshiva University, Gillian Steinberg had been a winner in academe’s fierce competition for secure, decent-paying jobs. For the past several years, as director of the writing program at Yeshiva’s undergraduate men’s college, she had tried to lift up other writing instructors — offering them positions that, while not on the tenure track, at least were full time and on long-term contracts. Last week, however, convinced that her efforts were about to be undone by administrators as part of a broader reorganization, Ms. Steinberg decided to walk away from her otherwise secure position.” [ChronicleHigherEd]

TOP-OP: “Young adults are ready, willing and able to lead our Jewish communities” by Moishe House Founder David Cygielman [eJewishPhil]

**Good Monday 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]**
STARTUP NATION: “Israel to California: Here’s how to save water” [USA Today] • “Haselsteiner sells quarter of Conwert to Israeli investor Teddy Sagi” [Reuters] • “Sookasa: From Israeli Intelligence To A Hot Valley Startup” [Forbes] • “Israel’s Cybereason raises $25 million in Series B to catch hackers red handed” [GeekTime] • “Infosys beefs up operations in Israel to tap into country’s startup ecosystem” [IndiaTimes] • “Former Israeli PM Ehud Barak Joins Biometric Start-Up” [AP]

CAPITALIST KIBBUTZ: “Where Will WeWork?” by Brendan O’Conner: “Neumann, who serves as the company’s public face, grew up on a kibbutz. “A kibbutz is a failed social experiment that happened in Israel,” he says in a video from a Q&A at this year’s TechCrunch Disrupt. The major flaw with the kibbutz Neumann grew up on, he says, is that everyone made the same amount of money. WeWork, he says, is a “capitalist kibbutz.” “One the one hand: community. On the other, still, you eat what you kill.” [TheAwl]

Bloomberg’s Bread & Butter: “The world’s biggest financial firms rise up against Bloomberg’s terminals” by Robert Hackett: “14 of the world’s biggest financial firms… bought a secure instant messaging service called Perzo in August 2014 through a venture called Symphony Communication Services Holdings. They want a cheaper, yet equally secure, technology to replace Bloomberg’s ubiquitous terminals.” [Fortune]

LongRead: “Tomorrow’s Advance Man: Marc Andreessen’s plan to win the future” [NewYorker]

“Mortgage Broker Meridian Ventures Into Sales” by Peter Grant: “Co-founded by Ralph Herzka and Aaron Birnbaum in 1991, Meridian did more than $30 billion in national business last year. Now Mr. Herzka is moving to expand Meridian even more. The firm is launching a commercial-real-estate sales division and has already hired two big names: Yoni Goodman and David Schechtman… “Ralph Herzka doesn’t lose,” Mr. Schechtman said.” [WSJ]

TALK OF THE TOWN: “Rich Hamptonites annoyed by helicopter cutbacks” by Richard Johnson: “Helicopters will be limited to one flight a week to or from the East Hampton Airport under new rules imposed after a three-year campaign by neighbors infuriated by the nonstop noise. But chopper fans are having a meltdown. The biggest impact will be on billionaire Ira Rennert, who owns two choppers: a Sikorsky S-92 that can seat 19 people and a Sikorsky S-76 that can seat 12. “Rennert runs them both as a shuttle, back and forth every day,” Frank Dalene, head of Quiet Skies Coalition, told me.” [PageSix]

ISRAELI MUSIC: “American-Israeli Is New First Fiddle in Israel Orchestra” by Daniel Estrin: “The packed concert hall in the Israeli city of Tel Aviv went silent, then burst into applause when the 28-year-old violinist took his bow, wearing long coattails and a broad grin. David Radzynski is still getting used to his first job out of college as the new concertmaster of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra — and to being one of the youngest violinists to lead a major world orchestra today.” [ABC News] • “Israeli Jazz Fest swings into Chicago, big time” [ChicagoTribune]

DESSERT: “Drake names club for Jewish grandparents” by Renee Ghert-Zand: “Not all are aware that Drake is also a devoted grandson to his Jewish maternal grandparents, Evelyn and Rueben Sher. Now the writing is literally on the wall when it comes to Drake’s love for his bubbe and and zaide. The singer has just opened a members-only club named for his grandparents at the Air Canada Center, home of the Toronto Maple Leafs and the Toronto Raptors. The Sher Club, a 370-square-meter space, will be open during all games played at the arena.” [ToI]

ON THIS DATE IN… 1949 – “Israel was admitted to the United Nations.” • 1888 – “Songwriter Irving Berlin was born Israel Baline in Temun, Russia.” [AP]

That’s all folks; have a great day!

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