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DRIVING THE DAY: At 3:30PM, the Council on Foreign Relations hosts “A Conversation with Marco Rubio” moderated by Charlie Rose on America’s role in the twenty-first century. [CFR]

“The Rubio Doctrine” by Niels Lesniewski: “The Rubio doctrine – and he does not plan to shy away from the term “doctrine” – combines funding for national defense programs, economic power and a third pillar he’s calling “moral clarity regarding America’s core values.” “The 21st century requires a president who will answer that question with clarity and consistency – one who will set forth a doctrine for the exercise of American influence in the world – and who will adhere to that doctrine with the principled devotion that has marked the bipartisan tradition of presidential leadership from Truman to Kennedy to Reagan,” Rubio plans to say.” [RollCall]

“Marco Rubio’s Foreign Policy Evolution From Moderate to Ultra-Hawk” by Sahil Kapur:“Rubio’s full-throated embrace of a bellicose foreign policy may have helped his rehabilitation with the Republican base, and distinguished the young member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee from his rivals. The shift has also endeared him to mega-donors like Sheldon Adelson and neoconservatives like Bill Kristol. “It’s Republicans who seem to have an appetite for someone new and different. So, we’re ready for Marco,” Kristol said recently on ABC. “I’m ready for Marco.” [Bloomberg]

Hindsight 20/20? — “Jeb Bush Clarifies Remarks on Supporting Iraq War” by Maggie Haberman: “After an introduction in which Mr. Hannity faulted “the media” for how it had interpreted Mr. Bush’s original remarks, the all-but-declared 2016 presidential hopeful said, “I interpreted the question wrong, I guess — I was talking about, given what people knew then,” he would have authorized the war.” [FirstDraft] • Jason Horowitz on “Jeb Bush, Ana Navarro and the Question That May Have Been Misheard” [NYTimes] • Eli Lake on Jeb’s conundrum [BV]

“Goal of Early Presidential Campaign Web Advertising: Your Email” by Derek Willis: “Not all of the advertising is aimed at building lists. In some cases the goal is to shore up a candidate’s credentials on an issue important to primary voters… Rand Paul‘s campaign placed ads on the website of The Jerusalem Post, an English-language Israeli newspaper, saying that “Rand Stands with America’s Ally, Israel” and directing visitors to a page on Paul’s website.” [TheUpshot]

Deep Dive: “Inside the Univision-Clinton network” by Hadas Gold and Marc Caputo: “The relationship between the Clintons and Univision is deep — from owner Haim Saban’s unabashed support for Hillary Clinton’s election effort to a partnership between Univision and the Bill, Hillary & Chelsea Clinton Foundation, to the network’s newscasts that have bashed Republicans and, most recently, praised Hillary’s new position on immigration.” [Politico]

Jack Rosen on de Blasio & Hillary: “Hillary Clinton has a long career of advocating for progressive issues—the minimum wage, issues important to women,” said Jack Rosen, a New York-based real estate executive and longtime donor to Bill and Hillary Clinton. “De Blasio has a right to speak out on issues he cares about, but Hillary Clinton doesn’t need any advice. She has her own inner compass on this.” [DailyBeast]

“Senate Democrats Foil Obama on Trade Deal” by Jonathan Weisman: “Senate Democrats on Tuesday blocked consideration of giving President Obama power to accelerate a broad trade accord with Asia, a rebuke that the president helped bring on himself.” [NYTimes] • “Obama schmoozed Durbin, blasted Warren — and came away empty-handed on the trade deal” [Politico]

Aaron Keyak emails… “While the national BDS conversation in our nation’s Capitol is important, it seems like there’s not enough attention being paid to the next front in the BDS fight — the states. Today, there’s going to be a hearing in Illinois on the anti-BDS bill, SB 1761, which passed the IL senate overwhelmingly with strong support of both parties. DC will do what it does, but this BDS IL bill and the campaign around it, if successful, could become the model for combating BDS from state to state throughout the country.”

Scott Walker in Israel: “Yigal Palmor, director of public affairs at the Jewish Agency for Israel, sat in on Walker’s Monday meeting with Sharansky and described it as a “friendly exchange” that ranged over Middle East geopolitics, Jewish immigration to Israel, and Sharansky’s experience as a political prisoner in the USSR. Palmor said there was “quite an emotional moment” when Sharansky showed the governor a photo of his family at the former KGB headquarters in Moscow, returning as happy tourists years after his imprisonment.” [Politico] • Walker gave Steinitz a neck tie from Wisconsin [Picture]

“US willing to ‘compensate’ Israel on Iran deal” by Ben Caspit: “According to the Americans, Israeli logic should dictate the following: Most likely, an arrangement will be reached; its outlines are already clear. And most likely, Obama will get Congress to approve the settlement. Therefore, the wise thing for Israel to do at this point in time is to ”cash in” on halting the heavy pressure exerted by Jerusalem on US legislators (mainly Republicans) in exchange for military, diplomatic and general support, assistance, weapons, ammunition and the like from the United States.” [AlMonitor]

Notable Quote: “See, the Saudis also think like us and are giving Washington the cold shoulder,” a source close to Netanyahu said, with great satisfaction.” [AlMonitor] • Shai Franklin Op: “Obama’s Gulf gap isn’t ‘good for the Jews’” [ToI]

Asharq Al-Awsat interviews President Obama ahead of summit with Gulf leaders: “Even as we’ve pursued a nuclear deal with Iran, the United States has remained vigilant against Iran’s other reckless behavior. We’ve maintained our robust military presence in the region and continued to help the GCC states build their capacity to deter and defend against all forms of external aggression…”

–On Israelis and Palestinians: “I will never give up on the hope for peace between Israelis and Palestinians, and the United States will never stop working to realize that goal.” [Aawsat] • “Iran Says Its Navy Will Protect Aid Ship Heading To Yemen” [AP]

Some folks want Iranian Foreign Minister Javid Zarif to debate Sen. Tom Cotton… So badly, in fact, they’re willing to donate $1 million to Nepal earthquake relief if Zarif accepts Cotton’s challenge. Backstory: A few weeks ago, Cotton issued a public challenge to FM Zarif to debate the U.S. Constitution, as well as Iran’s past and current human rights abuses, state-sponsored terrorism, etc. [Twitter; Newstarter]

Newstarter’s David Olshansky tells us… “Newstarter was created as a way to shift power to every day people by changing the newsmaker (famous, powerful) to consumer (regular people) dynamic. Where petitions and protests fail, we think adding money to the equation is a powerful driver. Let’s use this case of politicians who are debating publicly through various convenient and/or friendly outlets: Their decisions affect millions…should they not explain and/or defend their positions in a manner that would benefit the public they are supposed to be serving? Add in the incentive of their participation potentially earning millions for a worthy cause, and a refusal seems unreasonable, at best.”

PEW STUDY: “Jews are America’s richest religious group, Muslims are the youngest, and other numbers from Pew” by Jared Sichel: “44 percent of Jewish households earn at least $100,000—the highest number in the country—and only 16 percent earn less than $30,000—the lowest number in the country… 9 percent of Miami is Jewish while that number is 8 percent in New York City, and 4 percent in the Northeast. In a country that appears to be losing its religion, Jews are only behind Hindus and Muslims and are ahead of everyone else in retaining adherents.” [JewishJournal; Pew]

Jane Eisner: “This is no time for liberals to gloat. There are demonstrable civic downsides to an increasingly secular citizenry… Religious affiliation has long been an engine for civic involvement, charitable giving and political activism, from the right and from the left. So many of the magnificent social movements that have elevated American society were propelled by religious sensibilities and the vocabulary of faith. We lose that language at our peril.” [Forward]

–Additional Study: “A newly released study reveals that non-Orthodox participants of an OU summertime Israel experience for teenagers are more engaged Jewishly than their peers in a number of key areas.” [JNS]

SCENE THE OTHER DAY: “A witch-hunt with shofars on 59th Street” by Avital Chizhik-Goldschmidt: “On Monday afternoon, protesters were invited to bring their shofars to an “anti-BDS rally”: Perhaps as Joshua once blew a shofar to bring down the walls of Jericho, so too this group intended to bring down the UJA’s midtown building – figuratively, of course. They called for the dismissal of Alisa Doctoroff, President of the UJA Federation of New York, as well as, for some reason, the ADL’s Abe Foxman, who long ago announced his retirement. They are a “terrible shame within our own community,” the protestors cried. “They are fighting for the Other side.” [Haaretz; INN]

**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]**
SCENE LAST NIGHT: “Star-studded Robin Hood Foundation galas raise $101M” by James Covert: “At the main event, a crowd of more than 4,000 donors — including Wall Street tycoons David Tepper, Henry Kravis and David Einhorn — were entertained by the likes of Paul McCartney, Jimmy Fallon and Jon Bon Jovi. Hedge fund moguls Bill Ackman, founder of Pershing Square, and Einhorn, founder of Greenlight Capital, each kicked in $25 million, to help get the total into record territory.” [NYPost; Bloomberg]

BUSINESS BRIEFS: “Private Equity Is Shaping The Future Of The NBA” [Forbes] • “SLS Hotel in Las Vegas Gets Relief In Refinancing Deal” [WSJ] • “Shlomo Yehuda Rechnitz: A different type of philanthropist” [JewishJournal] • “Mort Zuckerman’s Daily News suitors dropping out as deadline approaches” [NYPost; Newsday] • “Sam Zell is requesting the FCC transfer control of Jerry Lee’s WBEB in Philadelphia” [Ink]

“What Cybersecurity and Studying the Torah Have in Common” by Josephine Wolff: “Last week IDT Corp., whose employees are between 25 and 40 percent Orthodox, announced plans to start a cybersecurity yeshiva. Ben-Oni also believes that the skills students learn from their religious studies—which will occupy four or five hours per day for students—will also apply to cybersecurity and computer science training, which last another six or seven hours each day. “The study of the Torah is very analytical,” he explained. “There is a statement that is made, and then it is challenged, and then it is challenged again until it finally comes to an answer.” [Slate]

DESSERT: “Hummus map shows off Israeli tech, and taste” by David Shamah: “Fans of hummus, the Middle Eastern chickpea-based dip, as well as fans of Israeli tech, have something to celebrate Wednesday when “International Hummus Day” is held around the world. Hummus Day is an invention of Israeli start-up entrepreneur Ben Lang, CEO of MapMe. To celebrate the day, the site has produced an international hummus map, showing exactly where fans can get their hummus fix in Israel, the US, Canada, the UK, and even India.” [ToI]

“Seeking the Jews of Cuba” by Michal Strutin: “As U.S. Jewish tourism to Cuba explodes, Cuban Jewish communities struggle to keep up” [TabletMag]

“Opening Alert: Mediterraneo Kosher Italian Steakhouse in Ville Saint-Laurent” by Ian Harrison: “Mediterraneo, a kosher, Italian steakhouse in the former TerraCotta in Ville Saint-Laurent, is now open. The ambitious project, with a prodigious menu, is the brainchild of Amir Toledano. The restaurateur was most recently in the news when his NDG restaurant, named, ironically, Fuego, was razed by fire a year and a half ago. The alleged arson was seen by some media outlets as the climax of a Montreal kosher restaurant price war—a war punctuated by persistent Molotov cocktail attacks.” [MontrealEater]

That’s all folks; have a great day!

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