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IRAN TALKS: “Obama’s Chief Negotiator in Iran Nuclear Talks Wendy Sherman Plans to Depart After Deadline for Deal” by David E. Sanger: “It’s been two long years,” Ms. Sherman, the under secretary of state for policy, said in her office on Wednesday. With her departure, all the top officials who have negotiated with Iran over those two years will have left the administration, leaving questions about who will coordinate the complex process of carrying out a deal if one is struck by the deadline.”

“She has often compared the negotiations to a Rubik’s cube, because they involve lining up so many interrelated elements. “It’s incredibly complex,” she said Wednesday, “with the Congress, with the press, our negotiating partners — and then, when you are done with that, negotiating with the Iranians. And because we’re in the world of 24/7, if there was ever a time when you could aim a message to one audience and hope it was kept from another audience — well, that’s not possible, if it ever was.” [NYTimes]

“Will Nuclear Deal Boost Iran Moderates or Hard-Liners? by Yaroslav Trofimov: “Middle East future hinges on which force emerges as main beneficiary of expected accord” [WSJ]

“Iran, North Korea forging ballistic, nuclear ties: dissidents” by John Irish: “An exiled Iranian opposition group said on Thursday a delegation of North Korean experts in nuclear warheads and ballistic missiles visited a military site near Tehran in April amid talks between world powers and Iran over its nuclear program.” [Reuters]

2016 WATCH: “Lindsey Graham Reiterates Support for Israel, ‘Our Best Friend'” by Jodi Rudoren: “Graham, who said he has visited Israel “about a dozen” times, met on Wednesday with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. He also toured Israel’s Parliament – his first time – with Michael B. Oren, a newly elected lawmaker and “an old, dear friend of mine,” who served as Israel’s ambassador to the United States. Mr. Graham is the latest in a spree of possible Republican presidential candidates to visit Jerusalem — they might soon qualify for a group discount at hotels like the fancy King David, where he spent about 20 minutes with a handful of journalists.” [FirstDraft; IH] • “Naftali Bennett with Lindsey Graham” [Twitter]

@GovChristie — “.@AmbDermer great to spend some time together while you were in NJ. Appreciate you taking the time.” [Twitter]

“Clinton Foundation paid Blumenthal $10K per month while he advised on Libya” by Kenneth P. Vogel: “Sidney Blumenthal, a longtime confidant of Bill and Hillary Clinton, earned about $10,000 a month as a full-time employee of the Clinton Foundation while he was providing unsolicited intelligence on Libya to then Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, according to multiple sources familiar with the arrangement.” [Politico]

“Wisconsin taxpayers responsible for $250 million in Marc Lasry’s arena plan” by Daniel Rice and Patrick Marley: “Owners of the Milwaukee Bucks and top public officials on Wednesday were hammering out the final details on a plan in which taxpayers would be responsible for half the cost of a new $500 million arena. One potential pressure point: GOP Gov. Scott Walker and Republicans who control the Legislature would have to approve extending some taxes that are set to expire. Many of those Republicans have signed pledges not to increase taxes.” [JSonline] • Flashback: Lasry, a top Clinton supporter, told Bloomberg’s WADR that “I think Jeb Bush or Scott Walker would be very strong.” [JJ]

“Hillary Clinton camp more fearful of Bernie Sanders than O’Malley” by Annie Karni: “One candidate is 73, with a shock of wispy white hair and a famously rumpled demeanor that makes him look more like a mad scientist than a politician. The other is central casting’s image of a presidential candidate: square-jawed, athletic-looking and 52 years old — the ideal age that Fortune 500 companies look for in a CEO and that voters find appealing in a president. But, perhaps counterintuitively, it’s Sanders — six years older than Clinton, a self-defined socialist with no big money apparatus and positions that appeal to the far left of the party — that Democratic strategists and Clinton insiders expect to pose a bigger threat.” [Politico] • “O’Malley backers launch super PAC ahead of Democrat’s presidential bid” [WashPost; DailyBeast]

“George Pataki Announces Run for the Republican Nomination” by Alexander Burns: “It may be difficult for Mr. Pataki, 69, to raise money for his campaign, and he is expected to struggle to qualify for the national debates. His hope of making a mark in the campaign rests almost completely on the state of New Hampshire.” [NYTimes] • Flashback: “Pataki Says GOP Letter to Iran Was Out of Line” [ABC News]

2016 TECH: “A Hip New Way for Political Campaigns to Spin the News, From the Makers of Rap Genius” by Emma Roller: “Audrey Gelman, who worked on Hillary Clinton’s 2008 presidential campaign, was recently quoted in a New York Times Style section piece about Clinton’s “cool” factor. Rather than simply share the story, Gelman went through the story and added her own meta-commentary and evidence to the piece.” [NationalJournal] • “BuzzFeed, Andrew Kaczynski build an in-house oppo firm” [Politico]

Paragraph in today’s Times: “He said the dinner with Mr. Cruz was not a fund-raiser, but a chance for the senator to meet their business partner Sam Domb, a Holocaust survivor who has raised considerable funds for pro-Israel politicians.” [NYTimes]

HAPPENING TODAY: At 5pm, Shmuley Boteach’s third annual Champions of Jewish Values Awards Gala at the Marriott Marquis in NYC. Featured guests and speakers include Elie Wiesel, Sir Ben Kingsley, Sen. Ted Cruz, Sen. Bob Menendez, Anne Frank’s childhood friend Jacqueline Van Maarsen, Newt Gingrich, Dr. Oz, Gov. Chris Christie, Israeli Amb. Ron Dermer, Ido Aharoni, Dr. Miriam & Sheldon Adelson, Judy & Michael Steinhardt, Mona & David Sterling, and Nily Falic.

Scheduling Conflict? Unlikely… At 6:30pm, New America NYC hosts a panel on “This is how we fought in Gaza” with Avner Gvaryahu, Eman Mohammed, and Peter Beinart [NAN]

Peter Beinart: “Obama’s analysis is wrong. Yes, anti-Semitism is rising, in Europe and perhaps the United States as well. Yes, many anti-Semites are also anti-Zionists. But anti-Semitism and anti-Zionism are not the same. And by implying that they are, Obama isn’t doing American Jews any favors. He’s helping them evade realities they must understand to help Israel survive.” [Haaretz]

“Shadowy Web Site Creates Blacklist of Pro-Palestinian Activists” by Josh Nathan-Kazis:“A new website is publicizing the identities of pro-Palestinian student activists to prevent them from getting jobs after they graduate from college. But the website is keeping its own backers’ identity a secret.” [Forward]

Gary Rosenblatt’s report from the Jewish People Policy Institute Conference: “One participant described the intense discussion up to that point as “dark.” Indeed, the talk had focused on serious concerns over the widening gulf between American Jews and Israel in recent months, which, the Americans in the room agreed, had reached crisis proportions… Secretary of State Henry Kissinger and Google CEO Eric Schmidt attended a lunch meeting on Tuesday, lending star power to the proceedings, which were attended by about 50 people.” [JewishWeek] 

Dennis Ross “Obama’s errors have distanced peace: There can’t be questions only about Israeli responsibilities when there’s no reference to Palestinian responsibilities. Had the president reflected more on that in his comments, it would have resonated more here. If you look at the comments, they tend to be focused only on what Israel can do, not what the Palestinians can do or haven’t done.” [JPost] • “Tony Blair quits Middle East envoy role” [BBC]

**Good Thursday 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 editor@jewishinsider.com**
BUSINESS BRIEFS: “Henry Samueli’s Broadcom is said to be in talks on a sale to rival Avago” by James Peltz: “Pioneering semiconductor maker Broadcom Corp., an industry mainstay with technology in a wide array of computing products, may be seeing its days numbered as an independent company in Orange County. The Irvine firm reportedly is in talks to be acquired by rival Avago Technologies Ltd. in Singapore in a deal that could be valued at $30 billion or more.” [LATimes] • $37B deal [WSJ]

“Patrick Drahi’s Altice Wasn’t Ready for TWC Merger” by Ruth Bender: “We weren’t ready,” Mr. Drahi told a French parliamentary hearing. “Yes, we do things fast…but we do them modestly.” “I didn’t lose, I didn’t bid,” said the controlling shareholder of Altice, a company based in Luxembourg with telecom operations from France to Israel. “When I met with Time Warner Cable, they wanted us to decide within the hour. I said, let’s calm down.” [WSJ]

REAL ESTATE ROUNDUP: “Sixth & I acquires adjacent building owned by one of its prominent co-founders” [WashingtonBizJournal] • “Moinian raises $361M on Israeli bond market” [RealDeal] • “Douglas Development draws Ori Allon’s tech-centric real estate brokerage to the 14th Street corridor” [BizJournal] • “New Miami Beach group with ties to Galbut attacks Mount Sinai on Baptist Hospital issue” [MiamiHerald]

STARTUP SPOTLIGHT: “Wear a tie, help a hero: David Herzka’s company donates proceeds to help veterans find jobs” by Scott Stump: “Inspired by his friend, Sgt. William Segel, Herzka, 25, added an extra component to the creation of his David Fin brand of luxury ties. After doing some research, he came across the Hiring Our Heroes program run by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation… Now, for every tie sold by David Fin, 15 percent of the proceeds go directly to Hiring Our Heroes… “It’s a luxury product, so people like CEOs, lawyers and bankers, they’re getting this tie as a gift, and the card inside enlightens them to the issues facing veterans,” Herzka said. “The next time they look at a veteran resume or speak to the HR department, they will look at it differently.” [Today]

STARTUP NATION: “Nexar Uses iPhones to Capture Road Rage and Flag Bad Drivers” by Katherine Boehret: “When you get cut off by a reckless driver, what’s your best recourse? A beep of the horn, flash of the high beams or flick of the middle finger might offer fleeting satisfaction. But that nut job of a driver is still on the road. Nexar wants to change that by giving people the power to slap a digital scarlet letter on hazardous drivers. The Israeli company launched its same-name app into public beta… As you drive around, Nexar runs on your iPhone, which has to be propped up on your car’s dashboard. Along with footage of the incident, Nexar simultaneously captures the license plate number of the at-fault car; the app “sees” this plate number using machine vision. Eventually, Nexar plans to start flashing the license plate numbers of repeat offenders in red across the bottom of your app screen as you drive around.” [ReCode] – As they say, ‘Only in Israel’..

“Michigan needs growth boost: Is Israel a model?” — Tom Walsh interviews Mark Davidoff: “Q: Why do you see Israel as a model for Detroit or Michigan to boost economic growth? A: There are some interesting parallels. Look at Israel, in 67 years of existences, how did 8 million people from 100 countries convert itself from an agrarian society to one of the greatest innovation engines on the planet? There’s a DNA to that. There’s a societal, cultural commitment to innovation and entrepreneurship… I’ll be taking 15 CEOs in November on the first-ever Michigan CEO mission to Israel. It’s not a business-to-business mission, not a trade mission, not about selling products. This is about taking 15 thought leaders from Michigan to take a deep dive into this incubator ecosystem, to understand how does that happen, to see if we can identify an initiative or two that we can bring back to Michigan.” [FreePress]

SPORTS BLINK: “In a Five-Star Setting, FIFA Officials Are Arrested, the Swiss Way” by Michael S. Schmidt and Sam Borden: “Suddenly, the venerable Baur au Lac, a way station for musicians, artists and royalty, and, the hotel says, the place where the Nobel Peace Prize was born, was transformed into something akin to a crime scene. The concierge was instructed to call one executive’s room, and one of the most significant takedowns in international sports history was under way.” [NYTimes]

“How the FIFA corruption scandal could affect Israel” by Ben Sales: “The allegations are damning, but frankly, they couldn’t have come at a better time for Israel. Until Wednesday, much of the coverage of the FIFA Congress surrounded whether delegates would vote to suspend Israel from world soccer… For Israel to be suspended, three quarters of delegates would need to approve the motion. If that were a long shot before, it’s even more unlikely now.” [JewishJournal]

TOP TWEET: @Yair_Rosenberg — “From what I understand from the news, Americans are no longer content to simply mock soccer and are now arresting everyone responsible.” [Twitter]

TRANSITIONS: “Rabbi Steven Burg Appointed Directer General of Aish HaTorah: “Rabbi Burg’s 25 years of experience in important senior leadership roles across the Jewish community will serve him well as he dedicates his energies to build Aish HaTorah,” declared Richard Horowitz, International President of Aish HaTorah.” [OS]

“Alex Edelman Makes Religion a Laughing Matter” by Molly Oswaks: “It’s super-rare for an Orthodox Jew to be doing comedy,” said Mr. Edelman, who as a teenager completed basic training in the Israel Defense Forces while spending a year at a Jerusalem yeshiva. “I did their equivalent of Boy Scouts. One rung above selling cookies, or Israel bonds, door to door.”… “I’ve done MDMA, but I’ve never tried bacon,” Mr. Edelman gripes in his show, “Millennial,” playing up to his Orthodox Jewish upbringing.” [NYTimes]

STAR VISIT: “One Republic visits IDF’s Iron Dome” by Ami Friedman: “One Republic visited an Iron Dome battery at the IDF base in Ashkelon on Wednesday, ahead of their Tel Aviv show on Thursday. They met with soldiers a mere day after a rocket fell in the area – the first since “Operation Protective Edge.” One Republic will perform on Thursday evening at Yarkon Park.” [YNet]

TV TWEET: @RabbiShmuley — “With @fatjew after putting on #tefillin with him for his @showtime TV show” [Twitter]

BIRTHDAYS: Rudy Giuliani turns 71… Marco Rubio turns 44… David Lobl… Irwin Weiss…

That’s all folks; have a great day!

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