Daily Kickoff
SCENE LAST NIGHT: “Obama fundraises at home of Jonathan Soros” by Jacob Kornbluh:President Barack Obama attended a fundraiser for the DCCC hosted by Jonathan Allan Soros, the son of George Soros, and his wife Jennifer, at their apartment in New York City on Monday night. While acknowledging the Democratic pols in the room, Obama said he wanted “to single out Jerry (Nadler) for his courage and tenacity and being willing to take some really tough votes. Democrats are politicians too. You have to worry about constituencies and polls and trying to get reelected. But we tend to pay attention to facts and evidence, and we actually listen to reason and arguments.” The president was likely referring to the Jewish congressman’s support of the Iran nuclear deal. [JewishInsider]
Later at a Broadway fundraiser, President Obama mocked the GOP presidential candidates: “They say, when I talk to Putin, he’s going to straighten out. And then it turns out they can’t handle a bunch of CNBC moderators. If you can’t handle those guys, I don’t think the Chinese and the Russians are going to be too worried about you.” [AP]
Shmuel Rosner: “What to expect from the Obama-Netanyahu meeting” [JewishJournal]
IRAN DEAL: “Will Iran Hard-Liners Buy Economic Opening?” by Gerald Seib: “It appears that the answer emerging from Iran’s security apparatus is: No thanks. Iranian hard-liners not only seem uninterested in deeper economic engagement with the outside world, they may have set out to stop it.”[WSJ] • “Iran Ayatollah: ‘Death to America’ refers to US policies” [AP]
HAPPENING TODAY: Marco Rubio was supposed to have three major fundraising events today in New York City. Instead, due to votes in the Senate, Rubio will only attend an evening fundraiser at the home of Howard and Debbie Jonas in Riverdale, NY. Co-hosts include Wayne Berman, Aliza and Michael Davis, Ben Heller, Josh Mandel, and Malki & Phil Rosen. According to Business Insider, Rubio was scheduled to participate in an afternoon discussion on Israel and Iran at the Lotus Club and a fundraiser at Michael Dell’s MSD Capital but those events are now postponed.
“Group asks for probe of Adelson contributions” by Isaac Arnsdorf: “In what a spokesman for Republican megadonor Sheldon Adelson called a “political stunt,” a watchdog group is asking federal officials to investigate the casino tycoon’s alleged ties to organized crime in China… “Given the extent to which Mr. Adelson’s wealth derives from Macau and his dominant role in funding Republican candidates, it seems highly likely that illegal foreign money has made its way into American elections,” Anne Weismann, the Campaign for Accountability’s executive director said. Weismann and Louis Mayberg, both formerly of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics, started the Campaign for Accountability earlier this year after Clinton supporter David Brock took over CREW’s board.” [Politico]
Airwaves: “Jewish Group Bend The Arc Launches TV Campaign Against Anti-Immigrant Hatred: The six-figure ad will run on CNN, ABC, CBS, and NBC during the Sunday morning talk shows, as well as during the MSNBC Democratic presidential forum Friday evening, according to Hadar Susskind.” [JI; Politico]
2016 WATCH: Hillary bumps into Hatzalah Founder — “Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton promised to support Israel during a random encounter with Eli Beer, founder of United Hatzalah of Israel. Beer, who was on the same plane with Clinton Monday morning, introduced his family to Clinton as she was sitting in first row on business class before takeoff at LaGuardia Airport.” [YouTube; JI]
“Sanders Could Be The First Jewish President, But He Doesn’t Like To Talk About It” by Tamara Keith: “The conservative Christian college Liberty University is the last place you’d expect to find a Jewish politician on Rosh Hashanah. But that’s exactly where Bernie Sanders was on the first day of the Jewish New Year… He delivered a speech about social justice. And when it was over, without any publicity or fanfare he went to the home of Michael Gillette, the mayor of Lynchburg, Va.”
“Gillette says he and about 25 others were wrapping up a tashlich service, casting bread into water, symbolically shedding the sins of the year. “He showed up just as that was being finished,” says Gillette. “But then he joined us for a kiddush and a motzi [blessing said over bread]. So we drank some wine and had some challah, some bread together.” Gillette wanted to make sure Sanders could at least get a taste of the holiday after a morning spent at a Christian university, though he says they didn’t talk about religion.” [NPR]
OP: “Stuck In The Middle” by Rebecca Klempner: “I grew up in a family that always voted for Democrats. Then I joined an Orthodox community filled with Republicans. Where do I stand? Somewhere in between.” [TabletMag]
URJ Preview: “Rabbi Rick Jacobs: Reform Jews Committed to Israel Despite ‘All the Messiness'” [Haaretz] • “Biden to Speak at Reform Jewish Gathering in FL” [JI]
On The Hill: “House Passes Resolution Condemning Anti-Israel Incitement” [JewishInsider]
BUSINESS BRIEFS: “NYT begins succession planning for Arthur Sulzberger Jr.” [CNN] • “University of Pennsylvania President Amy Gutmann gets big raise” [BizJournals] • “Adam Neumann’s WeWork Said to Seek $750 Million Credit Facility” [DealBook] • “Jury Selection Begins for Sheldon Silver Trial” [WSJ] • “Israeli Tycoon Eliezer Fishman Opposes Receiver for Jerusalem Economy Corporation Stake” [Haaretz] • “Tisch Counters `Lousy’ Drilling Market by Buying Loews Stock” [Bloomberg] • “Singer’s Elliott sees opportunities in activist stock picks” [Reuters] • “Ryan Kavanaugh’s Relativity Media gets approval for financing deal” [NYPost] • “Stewart Butterfield, CEO of $2.8 billion Slack wouldn’t be surprised to lose over half the company’s value some day” [BusinessInsider; VB] • “Ted Lerner on Tysons, the Nationals and his legacy” [BisNow] • “Salesforce billionaire Marc Benioff has a bunch of Buddhist monks living at his house” [BusinessInsider]
STARTUP NATION: “New $250M Pitango Growth Fund Will Boost Israeli Scale-Ups” by Mike Butcher: “Pitango Venture Capital — which has invested in companies such as AppsFlyer and Taboola — today announces the first closing of its new Pitango Growth Fund, which will aim for a $250 million fund size.” [TechCrunch]
On The Street: “Israel howling over proposal to deport street cats” by William Booth: “Peek into the dumpsters? Chances are there’s a cat enjoying some fine dining. Muslim, Christian or Jew? The cats don’t care. They’re in every neighborhood. So there’s a problem with street cats. Israel’s agricultural minister Uri Ariel proposed a solution. The cats could be deported, he suggested. How this might work — chartered flights, little parachutes, arms deals — Ariel doesn’t say. Nor is the list of countries willing to take Israel’s cats likely very long.” [WashPost]
TALK OF THE TOWN: “Councilman sides with activist who denounced ‘Zionist trolls’” by Rich Calder: “A Brooklyn councilman whose district includes heavily Jewish Borough Park jumped to the defense of an Arab-American activist who denounced her critics via Twitter as “Zionist trolls.” Councilman Carlos Menchaca last week re-posted on his Facebook page a statement by Linda Sarsour… Sarsour tweeted a photo of a Palestinian boy clutching rocks in front of Israeli troops and labeled it “the definition of courage.”” [NYPost]
“Thomas Blatt, Who Escaped Death Camp During Revolt, Dies at 88” by Sam Roberts:“Thomas Blatt, one of the few survivors of a rare revolt and mass escape from a Nazi death camp in occupied Poland during World War II, died on Saturday at his home in Santa Barbara, Calif. He was 88. Mr. Blatt was 16 on Oct. 14, 1943, when he and several hundred other prisoners staged an uprising against Nazi SS officers and the Ukrainian guards at the Sobibor extermination camp.” [NYTimes]
“Meet the world’s deadliest female sniper who terrorized Hitler’s Nazi army” by Alex Lockie: “In early 1941, Lyudmila Pavlichenko was studying history at Kiev University, but within a year, she had become one of the best snipers of all time, credited with 309 confirmed kills, 36 of which were German snipers.” [BusinessInsider]
“The Light-Beam Rider” by Walter Isaacson: “This month marks the 100th anniversary of the General Theory of Relativity, the most beautiful theory in the history of science, and in its honor we should take a moment to celebrate the visualized “thought experiments” that were the navigation lights guiding Albert Einstein to his brilliant creation. Einstein relished what he called Gedankenexperimente, ideas that he twirled around in his head rather than in a lab. That’s what teachers call daydreaming, but if you’re Einstein you get to call them Gedankenexperimente.” [SundayReview]
HOLLYWOOD: “The “Homeland” is Israel now: How Showtime’s uneven spy drama found itself again” [Salon]
DESSERT: “Italy’s Parmesan Cheese Goes Kosher” [Haaretz]
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