Daily Kickoff
JI GONE VIRAL: Last night, All In with Chris Hayes on MSNBC featured our own Jacob Kornbluh’s video of John Kasich ‘goysplaining’ to yeshiva students in Brooklyn [Video]
Thank you to the many outlets that linked to the video
[Drudge; NYMag; WashPost; WeeklyStandard; Tablet; JTA]
Yair Rosenberg: “This is kind of like if Bernie Sanders got up at that Vatican conference and said ‘have you guys heard of Jesus?'” [Twitter]
Jason Bedrick: “Tomorrow Kasich’s going to ask attendees at a Federalist Society dinner if they’ve heard of James Madison or read the Constitution.” [Twitter]
Andy Bachman: “This Kasich encounter in a Boro Park bookstore would be a great episode of Bad Lip Reading.” [Twitter]
Spotted in Boro Park yesterday: John Podesta meeting with two dozen Orthodox Jewish community leaders on behalf of Hillary during an event hosted by NYC Councilman David Greenfield.
“Bernie Sanders rallies 27,000 in Manhattan” by David Weigel and Philip Rucker: “All of them cheered a Sanders speech that laid out his agenda and a sustained progressive critique of Clinton. They booed the names of George W. Bush and Dick Cheney, and booed again when reminded that Clinton had thanked Henry Kissinger for a compliment. “In my view Henry Kissinger was one of the most destructive secretaries of state in the history of our country,” said Sanders. ‘I certainly would not welcome his praise.”” [WashPost]
“Bernie’s New Jewish Outreach Director: ‘F–k you, Bibi’” by Noah Pollak: “The Sanders campaign’s newly hired Jewish outreach director wrote an expletive-laden Facebook post last year that condemned Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as a mass-murderer. “Bibi Netanyahu is an arrogant, deceptive, cynical, manipulative a**hole,” wrote Simone Zimmerman, a former J Street student activist, in the March 3rd 2015 post. “F**k you, Bibi … you sanctioned the murder of over 2,000 people this summer.” At a later date, Zimmerman edited the post, replacing “a**hole” with “politician” and “F**k you” with “shame on you.” The Free Beacon obtained screenshots of the original and edited posts.” [FreeBeacon]
Ambassador Norm Eisen tweets: “Maybe she should be called the ‘Jewish outrage director,’ or ‘Jewish outretch director.'” [Twitter]
Michelle Goldberg: “Bad for the Schmooze: Bernie’s pick for Jewish outreach director is an admirably progressive choice. It’s also bad politics.” [Slate]
Liel Leibovitz: “Those who believe Jews control the media and the banks, or that it’s OK to respectfully debate whether or not they do, make no distinction between the good, enlightened Jews who wash their hands of Israel and the bad ones, who have the temerity of adhering to their faith and their nationality like any other normal people in the world. And those Jews who believe that their liberal sophistication will somehow save them from the wrath of bigotry should strongly reconsider: Never send to know for whom the anti-Semites troll; they troll for thee.” [TabletMag]
“Why Israeli kids are so right-wing – a historical explanation” by Ben Sales: “According to the poll of 11th and 12 graders, 59 percent of Jewish-Israeli youths call themselves right-wing. Twenty-three percent self-define as centrist, while only 13 percent are left-wing. Eighty-two percent say there’s little to no chance of reaching a peace agreement with the Palestinians.” [JTA; IsraelHayom]
MEDIA WATCH: “Jerusalem Post Names Ex-Naftali Bennett Aide as New Editor-in-Chief” by Josefin Dolsten: “The Jerusalem Post announced Wednesday that Yaakov Katz, an advisor to right-wing Education Minister Naftali Bennett, will take over as editor-in-chief, replacing veteran editor Steven Linde. Katz is originally from Chicago and was the military correspondent at the Jerusalem Post from 2003 to 2013, when he left to work as foreign policy advisor for Bennett.” [Forward]
“New York Observer political reporter quits over paper’s Trump relationship” by Peter Sterne: “On Wednesday, one day after the New York Observer endorsed Donald Trump, the paper’s national political reporter, Ross Barkan, announced that he would leave the paper. Barkan said that a major factor in his decision to leave was the paper’s relationship with Trump, who is the father-in-law of Observer owner Jared Kushner.” [Politico]
New York Observer Editor: ‘Don’t Know’ Where Trump Stands on Relocation of U.S Embassy in Israel — by Jacob Kornbluh: Ken Kurson, the editor of the New York Observer, owned by Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, doesn’t know where the Republican presidential front-runner really stands on relocating the U.S. Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. “I don’t know exactly where Donald Trump is on that particular issue,” Kurson said during an interview on CNN on Wednesday, a day after his paper endorsed Trump for president. “He said in the AIPAC speech that he favored moving the embassy to Jerusalem. But, as you noted, everybody says that. Bill Clinton said it. George [W.] Bush said it. And it keeps not getting done. So, I don’t know if that’s going to be as big of a priority as I, personally, would hope it be.” [JewishInsider]
TOP TWEET — Jason Zengerle: “Ted Cruz was 5 years old, and had been living in TX for less than 2 yrs, when Entebbe happened. (h/t @J_Insider)” [Twitter]
Nick Muzin on Ted Cruz: “He is not just my boss, but has become my mentor and my friend. We have traveled the country together; I have seen him in good times and bad; we have worked side by side on some of the biggest issues facing America and the world. I have watched him speak in shuls in Los Angeles, Miami, and New York; spend Pesach in Texas and California; listen to the shofar, bake matzah, read the Purim megillah and light the Chanukah menorah… Not a day goes by that Senator Cruz does not think about the Jewish people and Israel…”
“On a personal level, Ted is a model of mentshlechkeit. I have never seen Ted lose his temper. I have witnessed the kavod and derekh eretz with which he treats everyone around him. His respect for Yiddishkeit enables me to thrive as a frum Jew on his staff, and he makes a personal effort to ensure I get home in time for Shabbos and have kosher food wherever we travel. Often we will be on a train or in an airport together late at night after a long day on the road, and I will pull out my Gemarah to study Daf Yomi, and he never fails to ask me what that day’s Daf is about.” [YaTed]
“Is pro-Israel group call to register GOP in N.J. a move to dump Trump?” by Jonathan Salant: “The second-largest pro-Israel PAC by donations to candidates, Norpac sent out an email to its supporters in advance of Wednesday’s deadline for New Jersey voters to change their party affiliation. The group said the Republican nomination is still up for grabs, while former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is the likely Democratic standard-bearer.” [NJ]
SCENE LAST NIGHT: NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio and outgoing Israeli Consul Gen. Ido Aharoni addressed the JCRC of New York’s 40th Anniversary Gala Dinner at The Pierre in Manhattan. De Blasio said that during his recent trip to Israel, he told Tel Aviv Mayor Ron Huldai and Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat, “My Jewish population is bigger than yours.” Boasting about representing “the largest Jewish community in any city on the earth,” de Blasio praised the JCRC for knitting communities together and for educating him on Israel by taking him and his family on several trips to the Jewish State. “The difference for someone who cares about the world and has, on top of that, been to the state of Israel vs. someone who hasn’t – if you haven’t been, you see the world differently. Once you have been [to Israel], the insights you gain, the personal connection and the deep sense of solidarity grows,” he said.” That’s what JCRC has contributed for so many of us.”
Spotted: NYPD Police Commissioner Bill Bratton, Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito, Comptroller Scott Stringer, Mark Levine, Andrew Cohen, Helene Rosenthal, Bob Cohen, Deputy Consul General Amir Sagie, Ron Weiner, Michael Miller, David Pollock, Hindy Poupko, Malcolm Hoenlein, Eric Goldstein, Alisa Robbins Doctoroff, Daniel Bonner, Tom Blumberg, Michael Lustig, Joshua Muss, Jason Muss, Rabbi Joseph Potasnik, Rabbi Bob Kaplan, George Artz, Stu Loeser, Herbert Block, Menashe Shapiro, David Lobl, Pinny Ringel, Kalman Yeger, Jennie Berger, Meir Laufer, Ezra Friedlander, Jason Koppel, Moshe Zakheim, Yeruchem Silber, Joel Schnur, Ava Rollins, Yoel Eisdorfer, Jonathan Greenspun, and Kate Theobold.
APPLY NOW: “UN Now Has 193 Interviewers to Grill Candidates Seeking Top Job” by Kambiz Foroohar: “As it has for decades, the job requires hundreds of thousands of miles in air travel, from banker summits in Switzerland to dirt-road villages in South Asia. The UN has 105,000 peacekeepers deployed around the world and an annual budget of more than $13 billion. Nominees have to deftly respond to a range of delicate questions ranging from Morocco’s policies in Western Sahara to the Israeli-Palestinian relationship and Myanmar’s treatment of minority groups… The winner will be chosen in October.” [Bloomberg]
BUSINESS BRIEFS: How Jon Gray made billions for Blackstone — “I recognise the fragility of success, the Icarus thing,” he says. “I don’t want my tombstone to just say he had really good internal rates of return.” [FinancialTimes] • Check Point’s Gil Shwed on whether the Panama Papers could have been prevented? [Bloomberg] • “Russian billionaire Yuri Milner begins $100 million search of the universe”[USAToday]
STARTUP NATION: “Meet Meucci, the Israeli startup that raised $6M for a group calling app that works on cellular networks” by Paul Sawers: “Based out of Tel Aviv, Israel, Meucci is also announcing a $6 million funding round today, with participation from Singulariteam, the VC fund cofounded by Moshe Hogeg — the same guy behind Mobli and Yo. Chinese funds Dragon Ventures and Xu Li also participated.” [VentureBeat]
SPOTLIGHT: “Why Top Israeli Venture Firm Aleph Is Making A 26-Year-Old An Equal Partner” by Alex Konrad: “Aleph’s new partner is Aaron Rosenson, a 26-year-old associate working until now at Insight Venture Partners in New York. A Wharton graduate, Rosenson had brought Insight the billion-dollar startup Docker, meal kit company HelloFresh and enterprise software companies Gainsight and Moat. “He was hiding in plain sight,” says Eisenberg… Though Rosenson is Jewish and taught himself some Hebrew, his partners say that wasn’t a prerequisite for the job. All three grew up outside of Israel, which they say can help Israeli entrepreneurs with their storytelling in other markets.”[Forbes]
SCENE YESTERDAY — by Jared Sichel: “California Gov. Jerry Brown met privately for 90 minutes yesterday afternoon with Reform and Conservative rabbis in Los Angeles to garner support for a ballot measure that would make it easier to release nonviolent felons from prison and inmates who complete rehabilitation programs–a move that would partially reverse the sentencing guidelines Brown signed into law as governor in 1977.”
“The meeting was in a conference room at Ari Emanuel’s WME talent agency in Beverly Hills, according to organizer Rabbi Ken Chasen of Leo Baeck Temple. Chasen told JI that Brown called him Monday to pitch the idea of rallying the Jewish community around the Public Safety and Rehabilitation Act of 2016, which needs 586,000 valid signatures, and that Brown hopes synagogues across the state will consider hosting “signature gathering” events. “He speaks of the urgent need for restorative justice among nonviolent crime offenders as a prophetic call,” Chasen said. “We rabbis are used to being the ones who frame these political issues in religious terms, but in this measure it’s the governor who’s using the language of faith and moral obligation.””
HOLLYWOOD: “David Mamet Drew This Bird Cartoon for The Hollywood Reporter” by Seth Abramovitch: “What about Justice Antonin Scalia’s death? Did that hit you hard? Did you side with a lot of his opinions?” Mamet: “Are we doing an interview? Oh, no. No, no, no, no, no. I can’t do that. You’re a nice Jewish boy, and so am I. We can sit down and have a couple beers and tell each other about our political opinions. Most are bullshit. Mark Twain once said, “I never lost a political argument … and I never won one.”
“You’ve been a good sport. I would take you up on it.” Mamet: “Excellent. Superb. Well, if you ever get over to the Westside and the Socialist People’s Republic of Santa Monica, make sure when you cross over into Brentwood you leave any kind of controversial opinions you might have at the door because they’re going to be checking you. There’s a little monument at Sixth Street that says “Entering Brentwood.” I always thought they should add to the sign: “Entering Brentwood: Through these portals, past the stupidest f—ing Jews in the world.” Well, if I were king, right?” [HollywoodReporter]
DESSERT: “Kosher Shrimp Made In The Labs Is Easier On The Environment” by Grant Burningham: “Kashrut, the set of rules that govern which foods are forbidden to be eaten by followers of the Jewish faith, is complicated, with all sorts of nuances and caveats. But when it comes to shrimp, it’s simple: “Whatever in the water does not have fins and scales is abhorrent to you,” the Hebrew book of Leviticus reads. But the Jewish Bible could never have imagined a day when technology and business would be able to summon forth a food that looks like shrimp and tastes like shrimp, but isn’t a crustacean at all.”
“Helping observant Jews enjoy seafood wasn’t what Dominique Barnes, the CEO of New Wave Foods, set out to do when she decided to create a shrimp alternative… Silicon Valley biotech startups and rabbi-approved kosher foods may seem worlds apart, but another entrepreneur sees a chance to bring them together. L’Chaim Sushi’s founder, Rabbi Alex Shandrovsky, sees a wave of changes coming to food, and he wants to know how the engineered food of tomorrow will fit with his traditions, which go back millennia. “What happens if you take a cell of an animal, and you grow it in a lab? Is that still meat?” he asks. If it’s not, the faithful might, for the first time, get to sink their teeth into a cheeseburger, a dish that normally violates the kosher rule prohibiting the eating of meat and dairy together.” [Newsweek]
“The Best Jewish Delis In America, Ranked By Foursquare” by Suzy Strutner: “There’s nothing like elbowing your way to the counter of a Jewish delicatessen, eager for a pastrami sandwich piled high or a soul-warming bowl of matzo ball soup… and the pros at Foursquare have analyzed thousands of reviews to rank the best of the best.” [HuffPost]
BIRTHDAYS: Actress Sarah Michelle Gellar turns 39… Bloomberg’s Sasha Issenberg… Moriah Elbaz… Israel Schachter… Hillel Rapp…
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