Daily Kickoff
TRANSITION WEEK: “Abraham Foxman to Retire After 28 Years of Fighting Anti-Semitism” by Joseph Berger: “Is Abraham H. Foxman’s retirement good or bad for the Jews? Mr. Foxman would chuckle at the grandiose presumption in that cliché of a question… He has been accused of crying wolf too often, of raising the specter of anti-Semitism even as Jews have become one of the most successful, prosperous and admired ethnic groups in the United States… But in a two-hour long interview on Wednesday in his Midtown Manhattan office, surrounded by boxes of books and photographs he is packing up before his July 20 exit, Mr. Foxman said that “unfortunately time has proven me correct.”” [NYTimes] • AP Exit Interview: “Exit of Anti-Defamation League Head Marks Shift For U.S. Jews”[AP]
DRIVING THE DAY: At 2PM, Vice President Joe Biden will hold a conference call with Jewish leaders to discuss the Iran agreement. H/T [JP]
Ash Carter in Israel: “U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter said it plainly just before landing in Israel, where officials are fuming over the Iran nuclear deal: “I’m not going to change anybody’s mind in Israel. That’s not the purpose of my trip.”… Carter is scheduled to meet with Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon on Monday and with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday before traveling to Saudi Arabia and Jordan.” [Reuters; AP] • “Post nuclear-deal, Carter says military option against Iran remains on table” [WashPost]
“U.S. Seeks to Allay Concerns of Allies on Iran Nuclear Deal” by Carol Lee: “Senior administration officials are making the strongest overtures to Israel and Saudi Arabia. There have been repeated offers recently to increase the $3 billion U.S. military aid package to Israel. A former senior Israeli security official said that Israel can’t afford to look like it is accepting any form of compromise with the administration… By refusing to stand down, however, Israel could be forgoing hardware prized by its military—a trade-off that might spur opposition to Mr. Netanyahu’s tactics within Israel’s top brass.”[WSJ]
“U.N. to Iran: Welcome Back” by Colum Lynch: “The U.N. Security Council will vote on a resolution Monday that marks the beginning of Tehran’s return to the world’s good graces.” [ForeignPolicy; AP]
–House Democratic Whip Steny Hoyer: “U.N. Security Council Vote Should Wait for Congressional Review Period” [PressRelease] • “U.N. Vote on Iran Nuclear Deal Irks Congress” [NYTimes]
ON THE HILL: “Israel’s ambassador to the United States raced in and out of offices on Capitol Hill, trying to persuade lawmakers that the nuclear deal with Iran is a historic mistake. Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del., ran into Ambassador Ron Dermer three times. “He is a very informed and persuasive advocate for the Israeli perspective and he is a persistent and thorough critic of the context of these negotiations and he made some very strong points,” Coons said.” [AP] • “Iran deal tests Dems’ loyalty to Obama” [TheHill]
Chuck Schumer over breakfast: “I’ll make up my own mind on Iran nuke deal” [MSNBC]
SUNDAY SHOWS: “Secretary of State John Kerry and Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz hit all five major morning news shows Sunday to sell the administration’s deal aimed at blocking Iran from developing nuclear weapons… “We didn’t see for a long time the massive underground nuclear bunkers in Qom and in Natanz,” Netanyahu said on “This Week.” “We didn’t see the Syrian war kind of reactor, a nuclear reactor that was almost operational when we discovered. So, I have full respect for intelligence. But it’s very thin ice.” [Politico]
LongRead: “Inside the Iran Deal” by Robin Wright: “How John Kerry and Javad Zarif spent twenty-two months negotiating the most significant nonproliferation agreement in decades.” [NewYorker]
Must Read — Jeffrey Goldberg, David Frum, and Peter Beinart on the Iran deal: “Frum: There’s a curious two-step on display in defense of the deal… The deal is being sold, in other words, as both a breath mint and a floor wax. Unsurprisingly, it succeeds at neither.
–Step One: Critic: “This deal leaves four Americans in Iranian detention … delivers tens of billions of dollars to Iran for aggression and terrorism … and generally empowers Iran to make mischief in the region and around the world.” Defender: “This deal is not intended to solve all our problems with Iran. We accept that Iran is dangerous and hostile. The agreement is narrowly focused on solving one problem: the Iranian nuclear bomb. That’s our top priority.”
–Step Two: Critic: “OK, but as an arms-control measure … this deal is very weak. Iran will retain a big nuclear-weapons capacity. It will continue to spin centrifuges. The inspection regime is weak. Reimposing sanctions if Iran cheats will be difficult.” Defender: “Don’t be so narrowly focused on the deal’s technicalities! What we have here is a once-in-a-generation chance to reshape the Middle East, to recruit Iran as a security partner. This is a Nixon-goes-to-China strategic realignment!” [TheAtlantic]
David Frum: “The deal is done. What can be done to clean up the mess?” [TheAtlantic]
Eli Lake: “Where the U.S. Caved to Get Iran to Sign” [BloombergView]
Aaron David Miller: “Iran’s Win-Win…Win Win Win Nuke Deal” [DailyBeast]
Steve Coll: “The Obama Administration has yet to address the mass suffering in the region with anything like the energy and the risk-taking that it displayed in its breakthrough diplomacy with Iran. The deal is imperfect but good enough, and it offers a tentative promise of a less dangerous Middle East. It cannot by itself deliver that.” [NewYorker]
Jerry Seib: “Three Problems Facing Obama on Iran Vote” [WSJ]
Jonathan Schanzer, Mark Dubowitz: “It Just Got Easier for Iran to Fund Terrorism” [ForeignPolicy]
Matthew Levitt: “Inside Hezbollah’s European Plots: The Lebanese terror group continues to operate in Europe despite warnings from the EU. What will Brussels do about it?” [DailyBeast]
John Tabin: “A number of 2016 Republican candidates and office holders say they can sink the nuke deal with Iran. In reality, they probably can’t.” [DailyBeast]
2016 WATCH: “For Bernie Sanders, Jewish presidential contender, is Israel on the radar?” by Sean Savage: “Sanders had a bar mitzvah and was raised in a “large Jewish community full of striving middle class Jews who wanted to get up through the education system,” said Alan Abbey. “I think there would be a piece of Bernie that would understand Israel and get the Israeli mentality more than Obama has and even Hillary Clinton would, despite her close contacts with Israel and American Jews over the last few decades,” Abbey said… “Sanders has been relatively quiet as a senator on Israel issues,” said Tevi Troy. “Even if Sanders is relatively quiet on Israel, there’s a good chance that his leftist supporters are more critical,” echoed Troy.” [JNS]
Heard on the trail: Man at Dover, New Hampshire town hall begins question to Hillary Clinton with “in Yiddish I’m called the altacocker, which means old man.” [CSPAN]
TOP TWEET: Jeb Bush’s wife @ColumbaBush – “The Adelson Clinic for Drug Abuse is saving lives and making a difference. Thanks Miriam and Shirley for the tour!” [Twitter]
Ron Paul endorses Iran deal: “The agreement has reduced the chance of a US attack on Iran, which is a great development. However, what is most important about this agreement is not that US government officials have conducted talks with Iranian government officials. It is that the elimination of sanctions, which are an act of war, will open up opportunities for trade with Iran… It is unfortunate that Iran was forced to give up some of its sovereignty to allow restrictions on a nuclear energy program that was never found to be in violation of the Non-Proliferation Treaty.” [WeeklyColumn]
“Meet Michael Cohen, Donald Trump’s Jewish Wingman” by Josh Nathan-Kazis: “Cohen, who is Jewish, has been Trump’s most loyal ally for nearly a decade, standing up for the real estate mogul in the media and filing lawsuits when Trump perceives he’s been wronged. A 2011 ABC News profile reported that within The Trump Organization he’s called the boss’s “pit bull.”” [Forward]
BUSINESS BRIEFS: “Shari Arison mulls foreign partner for Bank Hapoalim” [Globes] • “Israel signs deal for $1.1 billion thermo-solar power plant” [Reuters] • “How did a Samsung shareholder battle descend into anti-Semitic slurs and cartoons?” [WashPost] • Op: “Samsung’s Win Is South Korea’s Loss” [BloombergView] • “Park Ave. Synagogue’s Expansion Plan Rankles Neighbors” [Curbed] • “Family of Daily News owner Mort Zuckerman brought in to expedite sale” [NYPost] • Startup Nation: “Microsoft acquires Israeli cybersecurity startup Adallom, ironSource buys Supersonic” [Haaretz; ToI]
SPOTLIGHT: “Yuri Milner, Russian Entrepreneur, Promises $100 Million for Alien Search” by Dennis Overbye: “Extending his idea of philanthropy beyond the earth and even the human species, Yuri Milner, the Russian Internet entrepreneur and founder of science giveaways like the annual $3 million Fundamental Physics Prizes, announced in London on Monday that he would spend at least $100 million in the next decade to search for signals from alien civilizations.” [NYTimes]
RISING STAR: “A 23-Year-Old Jerry Maguire” by Igor Guyashkin: “At 23, Daniel Hazan is the youngest certified agent with a full-time NBA player as a client. It’s been nearly two years since he founded his own joint, Hazan Sports Management, but the scrappy two-time entrepreneur is sure to stack up even more clients soon, having already snagged eight active players as well as a couple of coaches. As they say, what’s luck got to do with it? For Hazan, it’s more scrappiness. His first company: As an undergrad at Yeshiva University, he started an online retail store called Java Ads out of his student apartment — eventually renting an office in the Empire State Building. He got bored but was sitting pretty with $5 million in his pocket, having sold his shares. So he decided to fill many a little boy’s dream: to make a career on the back of his favorite sport.” [Ozy]
TALK OF THE TOWN: “Cuomo campaign scores $250K after ‘pro-Hasidic’ veto” by Josh Saul: “Gov. Cuomo accepted a whopping $250,000 in campaign cash from limited-liability corporations linked to a developer with interests in upstate Hasidic community Kiryas Joel. And the money flowed in less than a week after Cuomo vetoed a bill that would have limited development there.” [NYPost; CapitalNY]
“Thousands attend Lakewood funeral for ‘pillar of the community’” by Amanda Oglesby and Josh Newman: “About 10,000 mourners attended the funeral of Rebbetzin Rishel Kotler on Sunday, according to Lakewood officials.” [AsburyParkPress]
TALK OF OUR NATION: “Ho Feng Shan: The ‘Chinese Schindler’ who saved thousands of Jews” by Wayne Chang: “Throughout his long life, Ho never mentioned his heroic deeds during World War II — not to his wife, his children or friends. During 1938 to 1940, Ho, the consul general of the then Nationalist Chinese government’s embassy in Vienna, saved perhaps tens of thousands of Jews from the Holocaust with just a stroke of his pen. When Jews desperately sought visas to escape from Nazi-occupied Austria, he issued thousands — in defiance of his superior’s orders.” [CNN]
SPORTS BLINK: “Surfer Mick Fanning Escapes Shark Attack During Competition Broadcast: A surfing competition in South Africa was canceled after the surfer Mick Fanning, a three-time world champion, fought off a shark attack on live television during the program’s opening minutes.” [NYTimes] • Flashback: “Surfing champion Mick Fanning apologises to Jewish community”[AustralianJewishNews]
“Swim, Shmuley, Swim” — the title of last night’s episode on HBO’s ‘The Brink’ [HBO]
DESSERT: From Starbucks — “Did you know? ‘Bagel’ is also a Yeshivish term for sleeping 12 hours straight.” [Starbucks] H/t @TamarAbraham
Free gift idea: Know anyone who might enjoy receiving the Daily Kickoff? Share us with them and they’ll probably love you for it!
