Daily Kickoff
IRAN TALKS: “Iran, World Powers Reach Nuclear Deal” by Laurence Norman, Jay Solomon: “Iran reached a landmark nuclear agreement with the U.S. and five other world powers, a long-sought foreign policy goal of the Obama administration that sets the White House on course for months of political strife with dissenters in Congress and in allied Middle Eastern nations.” [WSJ; AP] • Full text [Scribd]
“Bet for Obama on Iran Nuclear Deal May Take Years to Pay Off” by David E. Sanger:“Obama will be long out of office before any reasonable assessment can be made as to whether that roll of the dice paid off. The best guess today, even among the most passionate supporters of the President’s Iran project, is that the judgment will be mixed. Nothing in the deal announced Tuesday eliminates Iran’s ability to eventually become a nuclear threshold power — it just delays the day. To Mr. Obama’s many critics, including Henry A. Kissinger, the architect of the China opening, that is a fatal flaw.” [NYTimes]
“How a Republican president could kill the Iran deal” by Nahal Toosi: “At the end of the day, the “deal” is at most a political arrangement — not a treaty or other form of signed legal document. That means that the presidential candidates who have threatened to cancel the deal — so far all of them Republicans — can keep their promise by using the presidency’s executive authority to reimpose suspended U.S. sanctions on Iran and withdrawing from panels involved in implementing the accord.” [Politico]
Netanyahu: “From the initial reports we can already conclude that this agreement is an historic mistake for the world,” Netanyahu said at the start of a meeting with Dutch Foreign Minister Bert Koenders. “Far-reaching concessions have been made in all areas that were supposed to prevent Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons capability.” [ToI; Bloomberg]
QUICK TAKES: “Five Things to Watch for in the Wake of Iran Nuclear Deal” by Aaron David Miller: “1. Are U.S. and Iranian negotiators and the leaders who empowered them reading the agreement the same way? 2. How were the sensitive issues resolved? 3. Spin starts now. 4. What’s different about Iran’s behavior? 5. Negotiating and concluding this agreement is only the beginning of a rough and long road for the U.S.” [WSJ]
Bret Stephens: “Will the administration risk its precious nuclear deal if Iran threatens to break it every time the two countries are at loggerheads over regional crises in Yemen or Syria?” [WSJ]
Peter Beinart: “The agreement highlights the limits of American power—something Obama’s critics won’t accept.” [TheAtlantic]
David Suissa: “How did we get so ripped off? One reason is that in free societies, we’re conditioned to be idealistic – to see things not as they are, but as they could be.” [JewishJournal]
Chemi Shalev: “Obama and his advisers would probably rather die than see Netanyahu and his allies in Congress and Las Vegas emerge victorious with wide smiles on their faces.” [Haaretz]
Rob Eshman: “My own bias is this: I want a deal that increases the odds the world won’t blow up.” [JewishJournal]
CONGRESS: “For Iran Deal, Longer Review Means More Time for Political Attacks” by Sarah Mimms: “As President Obama and congressional supporters of the pending Iran nuclear deal are about to find out, 60 days is a long time… Sen. Ben Cardin, who pushed vigorously for a 30-day review period, said that he’s now hopeful that 60 days will allow members to do the heavy lifting on the deal, holding hearings and getting into the details, before they break for August recess. Then members can go home armed with information and spend the month engaging in a positive, national discussion of the issue.” [NationalJournal] • “Corker: Iran vote not likely until September” [Politico]
Bob Corker: “I want to read the agreement in detail and fully understand it, but I begin from a place of deep skepticism that the deal actually meets the goal of preventing Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon. In the coming days, Congress will need to scrutinize this deal and answer whether implementing the agreement is worth dismantling our painstakingly-constructed sanctions regime that took more than a decade to establish.” [Statement]
“Obama Counting on Pelosi to Defend Iran Deal” by Eli Lake & Josh Rogin: “Pelosi is expected to be the firewall the White House will need to prevent a two-thirds, veto-proof majority in the House to disapprove of a final Iran deal, staving off political humiliation for the lame-duck president. The administration also has its eye on House Democratic Whip Steny Hoyer, who leads a group of centrist Democrats that will be crucial to upholding any deal.” [BloombergView]
–“Nancy Pelosi downs coffee after Hamptons partiers kept her up: After being kept up till 4 a.m. Sunday by partyers at hip Hamptons hotel, The Capri, Nancy Pelosi, 75, needed caffeine. Pelosi was spotted swigging four cups of coffee over Sunday lunch with a male friend at Southampton’s 75 Main… she was honored at the Southampton home of George Soros with a dinner for 40 top donors, including Edgar Bronfman Jr., Rep. Steve Israel, Planned Parenthood’s Alexis McGill Johnson, Ethan Nadelmann, attorney William D. Zabel, and Philip Munger, son of Berkshire Hathaway’s Charles Munger.” [PageSix]
2016 WATCH: “Iran deal’s success may rest with Hillary” by Michael Crowley: “One former senior administration official called it unthinkable that Clinton would oppose a deal: “No way,” he said. Clinton is too personally invested in the talks, and could pay a high political price for abandoning the president. But Clinton is likely to couch her support, as she already has in recent weeks, by emphasizing her overall mistrust of Iran and vowing a renewed U.S. commitment to the security of Israel and Saudi Arabia if she is president. The agreement could also complicate Clinton’s relationship with some Democrats, including wealthy Jewish donors…” [Politico] • Hillary will be on Capitol Hill today meeting with Democrats…
Cheryl Saban tweets today: “Stand for something. I’m standing with Hillary, and hoping she’ll stand strong.” [Twitter]
Lindsey Graham: “Iran Deal ‘Akin to Declaring War’ on Israel” by Josh Rogin: “My initial impression is that this deal is far worse than I ever dreamed it could be and will be a nightmare for the region, our national security and eventually the world at large,” Graham told me in an interview early Tuesday morning. [Bloomberg]
–Lindsey on Morning Joe this morning: “Schumer runs around saying his name is Schumer which means ‘Guardian of Israel’ so, if he means it, he should be against this deal.”
–Sen. Joe Manchin on Morning Joe: “Let’s look into this deal. I’m open to looking at the diplomatic route.”
Israel Amb Ron Dermer to CUFI last night: “Tonight, I ask you to stand with Israel to prevent war. That’s right, to prevent war. Because the deal that is being finalized with Iran in Vienna will not lead to more calm. It will lead to more terrorism.” [Transcript]
BUSINESS BRIEFS: “Bloomberg palace intrigue continues, as the king consolidates his power” [Fortune] • “Sheldon Silver’s Son-in-Law Admits Running $7 Million Fraud” [Bloomberg] • “Martin Franklin Adds 2 More Deals to a Long List” [DealBook] • Video: Mort Zuckerman, Bill Rudin, and Adam Neumann discuss their new project at the Brooklyn Navy Yard and WeWork’s $10 billion valuation[BizJournal] • “WeWork to expand its web in D.C. with Douglas Development” [WashBizJournal]• “Meet the machers behind the Israeli bond boom” [RealDeal] • “Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz Commits $30 Million to Youth Jobs Effort” [Philanthropy] • “Angry protesters descend on hedge funder Dan Loeb’s Hamptons home” [NYPost]
SCENE YESTERDAY: Fortune’s Brainstorm Tech conference kicked off Monday in Aspen, Colo: Highlights — “The Brothers Emanuel take on the Bush boys…and each other” [Fortune; Variety] • “Henry Kravis Says ‘Scary’ Trump Would Ask Him to Be Treasury Chief” [Bloomberg] • “Pinterest CEO Ben Silbermann: We’re not a social network” [Fortune]
“Israel Moves to Sell Weapons Factory That Developed Uzi” by Sara Toth Stub: “Amid a broad effort to sell off state assets and inject more competition into the Israeli economy, the government is starting with one of its best-known industrial gems: the weapons factory here that developed the Uzi submachine gun… The sale process at IMI is just the opening salvo in the government’s bid to shed state-owned assets to make those businesses more nimble and shake up competition.” [WSJ]
HAPPENING TODAY: Abe Foxman on The Diane Rehm Show for a full hour starting at 11am. [DRS]
“My ADL Problem: What exactly is the famed organization fighting, and whom is it fighting for?” by Jonathan Bronitsky [TabletMag]
–Heard Yesterday: “Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders mentioned his Jewish parents immigrating to the United States after the Holocaust in a speech at the annual convention of the National Council of La Raza on Monday. Speaking to the some 400 attendees, mostly Hispanic, the Vermont Independent Senator recalled his father’s emigration from Poland to the United States at the age of 17 to flee Nazi oppression, with no money and without knowing the English language.” [JP]
LongRead: “Winton’s Children Share Their Stories” by Sona Patel: “Nicholas Winton organized the escape of 669 children, mostly Jews, from Czechoslovakia on the eve of World War II. After Mr. Winton died on July 1, at age 106, The New York Times asked the survivors, the original Winton’s Children, and their descendants — whose numbers now exceed 6,000 — to share their stories.” [NYTimes]
SPORTS BLINK: John Oliver on public money for privately-owned stadiums [YouTube; Yahoo] • Cameos: Michael Ilitch; Marc Lasry’s Milwaukee Bucks; Marlins’ David Sampson…
DESSERT: “L’Chaim Sushi Serves It Up Kosher — and Sustainable” by Ali Golden: “L’Chaim Sushi bills itself as the only kosher, sustainable sushi producer in the world. Seems like a niche market, but Shandrovsky says business is booming. When he moved to San Francisco from Israel in 2013, Shandrovsky noticed a critical lack of kosher, affordable, quality options in the Bay Area, and a lack of variety among the options that did exist. As a sushi lover and a kosher-keeping Jew, Shandrovsky had an idea: A kosher sushi company could deliver much-needed kosher food to Bay Area residents.” [Forward]
“How a 14-year-old Israeli became the new face of Christian Dior” by Ruth Eglash: “Its a classic rags to riches story that’s almost too much of a cliché to be true, but last week an Israeli teenager with no previous modeling experience strode down the catwalk at Paris fashion week — as the leading model of fashion house Christian Dior. Sofia Mechetner, 14, described by her Israeli agent as a young Claudia Schiffer, was catapulted from her modest apartment in a depressed high-rise apartment house in the town of Holon, near Tel Aviv, to fashion world stardom by an incredible coincidence.” [WashPost]
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