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TOP TALKER: “We Just Don’t Really Matter” — In the age of Trump, global players — from tech companies to governments — have to shout to break through: “It’s just harder for most products and people to get a word in edgewise,” said Stu Loeser, Mayor Mike Bloomberg’s former press secretary, who now advises a range of businesses on media strategy. Loeser said the media context reminded him a bit of the months after the September 11thterror attacks. “Stories that might be fun in a different environment may come off as frivolous today.”

“The news cycle is so fast and so overloaded that the silver lining is that some of the negative narratives tend to dissipate much more quickly than before,” said Matthew Hiltzik, a veteran New York corporate and crisis communications consultant. “There are certain clients who prefer not being covered and so that helps!”

“The media and political glare on Trump has given rogue actors abroad an opportunity to pursue their aims without attracting too much attention. During the years when Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was Iran’s president Iran was an international pariah, with the UN and EU as well as the US rushing to heap on sanctions. With soft-spoken cleric Hassan Rouhani now Iran’s president, Tehran often goes to lengths to sound like the adult in the room. Meanwhile, Iran continues to fire off ballistic missiles, train and arm gunmen across the region, and confront US allies. When Obama was president, Iranian censors struggled to suppress all of his peaceful overtures and public addresses to Iran. Now, whenever Trump or even Sean Spicer is about to give a press conference, Iran state television goes live to Washington. “Iran can say, ‘America really has a bad guy in charge. Look, he’s under investigation,'” a former US intelligence operations officer said. “In the States, we just arrested some Hezbollah operatives affiliated with Imad Mugniyah’s old component. Nobody paid attention.”” [BuzzFeed]

MORT ON THE MOOCH — ZOA’s Mort Klein, who met with new White House Communications Director Anthony Sacaramucci right after Trump’s inauguration to convey his views, reacted to the Mooch’s appointment in a phone interview with JI’s Jacob Kornbluh: “Scaramucci is one of the strongest supporters of Israel you will ever find in politics, so I am very happy about this. He’s a very strong supporter of Israel in the ZOA way, not in a mainstream Jewish way. I think people are going to like him, which is, I think, very helpful to this administration’s work. This is a great choice for Trump. I couldn’t ask for anything better as a Director of Communications.”

Q: How much influence do you think he will have on the President’s policies on issues that you care about?

Mort Klein: “Look, if he’s pro-Israel the way I am, it can only help. Whether Trump will listen to him or not, I don’t know. But I can tell you, he cares about Israel in his heart and soul. He even told me that with so many Jewish friends, he feels Jewish. So it’s a great choice for people who care about Israel, it’s a great choice for Trump, and it’s a great choice for the country. Trump has hit a home run with this appointment.”

PALACE INTRIGUE: “Trump wishes Reince would take the hint” by Jonathan Swan: “At the senior level, the only WH official who will go to the mat for Reince’s survival is Steve Bannon. They’ve become allies of convenience in a feud against Jared and Ivanka (“Jivanka,” as Bannon calls them to associates.) Jared and Ivanka distrust Reince, think he’s incompetent, and want him gone ASAP.” [Axios]

— “While Ms. [Sarah Huckabee] Sanders will preside at the daily briefing most days, Mr. Trump has told his advisers he is open to rotating new people into the slot. He is said to be especially high on Sebastian Gorka, a blustery foreign policy official who has been accused of having ties to far-right groups in Europe.” [NYTimes]

“Trump’s ‘Axis of Adults’ Is Breaking Apart” by Eli Lake: “At the last minute, [H.R.] McMaster tried to cancel a trip [Thomas] Bossert took in June to Israel to address a cybersecurity forum, reflecting concerns from other department heads that NSC staffers were overstepping their roles in foreign travel. McMaster eventually withdrew his objections, and Bossert attended the conference in Tel Aviv.” [Bloomberg]

“The Man McMaster Couldn’t Fire” by Rosie Gray: “Some insist that [Jared] Kushner and [Steve] Bannon were willing to expend capital on behalf of Ezra Cohen-Watnick. According to one person with direct knowledge of the meeting, the roots of their loyalty to Cohen-Watnick stem from a briefing he delivered during Trump’s first visit to the White House situation room in February, at which Kushner was present as well as Pence. Kushner and the president were apparently impressed with the young briefer and took an interest in him. “Ezra is deeply thoughtful, hard working, and committed to serving the president,” Kushner said, offering a rare on-the-record comment, which is itself a testament to Cohen-Watnick’s importance… Cohen-Watnick survived, but he’s remained a topic of gossip and a target of leaks—a flashpoint in the ongoing fight over the administration’s foreign policy.” [TheAtlantic]

“The untouchable Hope Hicks” by Annie Karni: “She has joined Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump for Shabbat dinner at their Kalorama mansion.”[Politico]

DRIVING THE DAY: “Kushner to face intel committee on Mondaybehind closed doors” by Devlin Barrett: “[Jared] Kushner is scheduled to meet behind closed doors with the Senate Intelligence Committee on Monday, then be questioned — again in private — by the House Intelligence Committee the following day… Kushner is expected to answer the committee’s questions and not invoke his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination, according to a person familiar with Kushner’s thinking. Kushner is not expected to be under oath during his questioning Monday — but that arrangement still poses significant legal risks to someone under investigation.” [WashPost] • ‘I Did Not Collude,’ Kushner Says in Prepared Remarks to Senators [NYT; Politico]

“Jared Kushner Releases Details on Previously Undisclosed Contact With Russian Ambassador” by Rebecca Ballhaus: “Mr. Kushner said Monday the contacts included meetings with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Luis Videgaray Caso, the secretary of foreign affairs for Mexico… During that meeting, Mr. Kushner said Monday, he asked Mr. Kislyak to “identify the best person…with whom to have direct discussions and who had contact with his president.” He also expressed a desire for a “fresh start in relations.” Mr. Kushner subsequently had aide Avraham Berkowitz handle another meeting requested by Mr. Kislyak… In his statement Monday, Mr. Kushner acknowledged that he proposed receiving information about military operations in Syria via a secure communications line at the Russian embassy, but he denied trying to establish any “backchannel” and said his interest in talking to Russia via secure means was solely to obtain information about the conflict in Syria.” [WSJ]

“Jared Kushner, the Prince of Having It Both Ways” by Frank Bruni: “We always see his fingerprints but never hear his voice. He throws his weight around, then floats above it all… He’s there but not there: a meddlesome ghost. A puff of smoke… He’s like his father-in-law, though Trump wears his self-pity, fury and ruthlessness right out front, for the whole world to see. Kushner puts a pale mask of calm and courteousness over his. Maybe the senators who question him on Monday will pry it off. Maybe they’ll actually bring some color to his face.” [NYTimes]

GREENBLATT RETURNS TO MIDEAST — Jason Greenblatt, Trump’s envoy to the Middle East is expected to arrive in Israel today to “support efforts to reduce tensions in the region” and “finding a resolution to the ongoing security issues,” according to a senior administration official. Greenblatt “will be closely coordinating with Jared Kushner’s office and the NSC, as well as Ambassador David Friedman and the State Department.”

Kushner and Greenblatt have been in contact over the phone with Israeli and Palestinian leaders over the weekend. Ambassador Friedman also met privately with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at his residence in Jerusalem on Saturday night to discuss a joint Israeli-Jordanian meeting to clamp down on the tensions, according to Channel 2. The White House did not demand that the Israeli government remove the Temple Mount metal detectors.

KAFE KNESSET — All about the Temple Mount — by Tal Shalev and JPost’s Lahav Harkov: The security and diplomatic fallout surrounding the Temple Mount tensions has been the only thing on Netanyahu’s agenda in the past few days.  He is engaged in round the clock talks and consultations to handle the situation. The Security Cabinet is set to convene this evening for the third time since the weekend, after two late night meetings on Thursday and Sunday.  These consultations continue against the backdrop of growing Arab and Palestinian pressure to remove the metal detectors from the Temple Mount entrances. Netanyahu canceled a speech to the Knesset in memory of Likud ideological forebear Ze’ev Jabotinsky (1880-1940) that was supposed to take place tonight, because of the ongoing meetings. Read today’s entire Kafe Knesset here [JewishInsider]

Israel says guard at Amman embassy shot after being attacked: “Israel’s Foreign Ministry said on Monday that a security guard at the country’s embassy in Jordan opened fire, killing two Jordanians, after being attacked by one of them with a screwdriver. The incident took place on Sundayevening, at a residential building used by embassy staff. Israeli media said Jordan has demanded to conduct an investigation and has prevented Israeli embassy staff from leaving the premises.” [AP]

“Palestinians, Israelis disappointed over US envoy’s talks” by Uri Savir: “The Palestinians didn’t have much luck with the US envoy, especially since he was accompanied in the last round of talks on July 11 by US Ambassador to Israel David Friedman. They felt that with Friedman accredited to Israel only, so are his views. And so, the talks had little chance to progress. Ramallah leadership assesses that there are no concrete plans by the administration to launch negotiations, except to emphasize how important it is to the president. The PLO official said bitterly, “We begin to sense that the talks are merely supposed to generate a positive impression of the US in Riyadh and in Cairo. We will not continue to play this window dressing role for very long.””[Al-Monitor]

“How Jerusalem’s Top Cop Keeps the Peace” by Judith Miller: “Anyone can chase down and arrest terrorists. That’s the easy part,” [Maj. Gen. Yoram Halevy] tells me through a translator, though he speaks some English. “Denying terrorists the civilian support they crave and need to operate is a far tougher challenge.” The most effective way of mitigating Palestinian hatred, he adds, is to “empower the silent civilian majority, which is sick and tired of the violence, but afraid to say so.” That, he says, is his overarching goal… He is focused not on politics, he says, but on fighting terror through effective policing. Counterterrorism will be “a generation’s work,” he says, particularly in the internet age and in Jerusalem: “In no other city can you cross a national border on foot in 10 minutes.” [WSJ] 

WHERE IS REX? “A chill emanating from the White House reaches State Department” by John King: “[Rex] Tillerson has a growing list of differences with the White House, including a new debate over Iran policy and personnel. His frustration is hardly a secret and it has spilled out publicly at times. But friends sense a change of late. For weeks, conversations with Tillerson friends outside of Washington have left the impression that he, despite his frustrations, was determined to stay on the job at least through the end of the year… But two sources who spoke to CNN on condition of anonymity over the weekend said they would not be surprised if there was a “Rexit” from Foggy Bottom sooner that that.” [CNN] 

ON THE HILL — “Congress Reaches Deal on Russia Sanctions, Setting Up Tough Choice for Trump” by Matt Flegenheimer and David Sanger: “Two senior administration officials said they could not imagine Mr. Trump vetoing the measure in the current political atmosphere, even if he regards it as interfering with his executive authority to conduct foreign policy… Congress has complicated his choice because the legislation also encompasses new sanctions against Iran and North Korea.” [NYTimes] • White House Signals Acceptance of Russia Sanctions Bill [NYTimes] 

“The Trump team is repeating Obama’s mistakes in Syria” by Josh Rogin: “The Trump administration seems fine with allowing Iran and Assad to take over another large part of Syria. But the Sunni Arabs who live there will not be. “What are we going to do when these people coming back to their homes come under fire from Iranian militias?” asked Andrew Tabler, senior fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy… The Trump administration is not responsible for past American mistakes in Syria, but it is responsible for what the United States does now.” [WashPost] 

FP GRADES: “Trump’s First 6 Months Were Terrible, But He Got 3 Things Right” by Derek Chollet [ForeignPolicy]

“Trump’s Foreign Policy: The Conservatives’ Report Card” by Bret Stephens: “The deeper flaw of Trump’s foreign policy isn’t psychological. It’s philosophical. The Trump administration is the first to make an open break with the anti-isolationist postwar consensus of Harry Truman, Arthur Vandenberg and Dean Acheson… It’s not that the administration has done everything wrong, at least by conservative lights… But if serious conservatives believe in anything, it’s that we really are, as Lincoln said, “the last best hope of earth,” and that our foreign policy should be equal to that hope. That’s “hope,” Donald, not “joke.” Grade: O.M.G.” [NYTimes]

“What Truman Can Teach Trump” by Walter Russell Mead: “The threat of jihadist terror on a mass scale, the growing danger of nuclear weapons in the hands of radical regimes, the possibility of debilitating cyberwarfare… these are widely shared concerns for millions of Americans. Even in our current moment of populist retreat, such fears, together with abiding popular attachment to trusted allies such as the U.K. and Israel, are strong enough and real enough to serve as the political foundation for a new wave of American global engagement… A Trumanist approach—popular but not populist, moral but not moralistic—would start by showing some trust in the foreign-policy instincts of the American people. “ [WSJ] 

BOB LEVINSON UPDATE: “On Friday, Trump urged Tehran to return Robert Levinson.. and to release businessman Siamak Namazi and his father, Baquer, both jailed on espionage charges. Trump warned that Iran would face “new and serious consequences” if the three men were not released… Robert Levinson left Iran years ago and the Islamic Republic has no information about his whereabouts, foreign ministry spokesman Qassemi said Saturday. “The statements of the White House, as usual, are an example of interference in Iran’s internal affairs and the demands are unacceptable and rejected,” Qassemi said, according to ISNA.” [Reuters] 

2020 WATCH — “Sanders keeping door open on 2020” by Amie Parnes: ““Yes, is the answer,” said one Sanders associate who helped with the senator’s previous bid… “He thinks he’s earned the right to run again and he believes if he would have been the [Democratic] candidate he would have won against Trump.” The source also suggested that Sanders is making his plans with other candidates in mind. “The last thing he’s going to do is step aside and let Joe Biden take it,” the Sanders associate said.” [TheHill]

“Bush, Cuban: Trump dragging down GOP, billionaires” by Steve Peoples: “Billionaire businessman Mark Cuban and former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush lashed out at the Republican president during separate remarks at a summer festival in New York City’s Central Park. Cuban… said he may challenge Trump in 2020. “If he lasts four years, I’ll be there to kick his (butt),” Cuban declared as the young New York crowd roared. “We’ll see. I’m not making any proclamations yet.” Cuban also warned that Trump “might ruin the path” for another billionaire outsider to run for president in the future. “He’s not setting the best example,” Cuban said.” [AP]

** Good Monday 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 [email protected] **

BUSINESS BRIEFS: Blackstone in talks to buy 40 percent of Israel cyber firm NSO: report [Reuters] • Futuristic NY Pier Project Pits Billionaire vs. Billionaire [AP] • Jared Kushner sealed Manhattan real estate deal with oligarch’s firm cited in money-laundering case [TheGuardian] • KKR & Co. Near Deal to Buy WebMD [WSJ] 

“One Family, Many Revolutions: From Black Panthers, to Silicon Valley, to Trump” by David Streitfeld: “If the Trump administration has an intellectual godfather, it’s David Horowitz. Father and son [David and Ben] are a snapshot of America at this moment, a politicized and polarized place full of competing revolutions. They live in different universes: one where President Trump is the answer, the other where he is the problem… “One thing we mostly see eye-to-eye on is that the most important thing is the ability of an individual to live his life and have an opportunity,” said Ben, 51. “How he went from ‘The way to do that is Communism’ to ‘The way to do that is Trump’ is amazing.” He laughed. “That’s where we’re not aligned.” … Father and son usually avoid politics, discuss it when they must, and find common ground to the extent they can. They live with each other’s extremes, especially with regard to race. “We trust each other’s intentions,” Ben said… Despite his distaste for politics, David can’t afford to retire and wouldn’t want to anyway. “It would be like dying,” he said. “I can’t betray my cause.”” [NYTimes] 

“Donald Trump’s Defenders on the Left” by Peter Beinart: “[Max] Blumenthal and [Glenn] Greenwald loathe Trump. But they loathe hawkish foreign policy more. So they minimize Russia’s election meddling to oppose what they see as a new Cold War… But it’s one thing to oppose defending the American empire. It’s another to oppose defending the American homeland. By intervening in the 2016 election, Russia did not threaten American influence in Afghanistan or Ukraine or Syria. It threatened America itself.” [TheAtlantic] 

“He Spent Almost 20 Years Funding The Racist Right. It Finally Paid Off” by Aram Roston and Joel Anderson: “Asked whether he considers Jews to be white, [William] Regnery cocked his head and said, “That’s a good question!” Turning to “racial science,” he said that DNA shows Ashkenazi Jews are half white, while Sephardic Jews are not white at all. If he ever gets his ethnostate, he said, he might allow some Jews to live there, but not others. He joked that Paul Gottfried, one of his Jewish allies years ago, would be OK… Regnery seems surprised that, until the rise of Trump, he was repeatedly rebuffed or ridiculed for his racist views. Take his 2004 suggestion for a white dating site, which he said was inspired by JDate, a Jewish dating service, but which was lambasted in the press.” [BuzzFeed] 

‘Trump’s foe’ Maggie Haberman talks to David Remnick — “D.R.: Rupert Murdoch is said to have a very close relationship with Donald Trump… What is that relationship about? Haberman… “Jared Kushner had a bigger relationship with Murdoch than Trump did. Kushner actually was the one who sort of sold Murdoch on Trump, and that something bigger was happening in the country. Jared showed him a video of one of the rallies on his iPhone, back at the end of 2015. Murdoch has always wanted to be an adviser to a President… So he saw the opportunity and jumped on it. And they now talk most days…

D.R.: Who else does Trump talk to in that way? Who else outside the White House is a kind of consigliere, from afar? M.H… He talks to Steve Schwarzman. And then periodically, for a time, but it was more really a Jared relationship, he was talking to Ron Lauder, because Lauder was one of the only people who was telling him what he wanted to hear on the idea that a peace deal was possible with the Palestinians and Israel.” [NewYorker]

“Donald Trump Is Not Invited to the Wedding” by Olivia Nuzzi: “In February, [Joe] Scarborough saw the president a final time, when Jared Kushner invited him back to the scene of the lunch. At first Scarborough said “I don’t remember” when I asked why Kushner had wanted him to visit, but then [Mika] Brzezinski reminded him: “I think he wanted you and Donald to start talking again.” Scarborough agreed: “Jared’s always the one that tries to bring us back together.” Why that’s the case, he said, “you’d have to ask Jared.” But it’s perplexing because “it never ends well, so I don’t know why they think that, and, again, I don’t know why anybody thinks, in either party, that we’re ever going to pull a punch, because we just never do. But, again, I think the biggest shock for Donald — for the president — is that, regardless of whether we saw him or not, we were going to say whatever we wanted to say.” [NYMag] 

PROFILE: “How an Oregon-born immigrant to Israel found a job giving tours of Hamas tunnels” by Renee Ghert-Zand: “Capt. Libby Weiss spent most of the summer of 2014 in a Hamas tunnel, and she wouldn’t have wanted to be anywhere else… Her inaugural tour went to Jodi Rudoren of The New York Times and CNN anchor Wolf Blitzer…  Since March, Weiss has headed the international social media department, overseeing a team of 14 enlisted soldiers and one junior officer who produces viral content in English, Spanish and French… Growing up as the youngest daughter of Israeli-born parents in Oregon, Weiss never imagined she’d become an IDF officer. And she didn’t know she would live in Israel. “I don’t know if I ever saw myself, at least back as a teenager, immigrating to Israel,” Weiss said. “But we definitely felt connected to Israel. It was part of our identity. I attended a Jewish day school and my parents spoke to us in Hebrew at home. We saw ourselves as Israeli Americans, and we were certainly Zionists.”” [ToI] 

TALK OF THE TOWN: “Town orders religious group to remove pipes showing boundary” by The Associated Press: “The town of Mahwah has told the South Monsey Eruv Fund to stop installing white PVC pipe on utility poles… The New York religious community was given the OK to post the piping by the utility company that owns the poles, but the town says that they are considered signs and not allowed… The “eruv” was to span 26 miles in Mahwah, across the border from New York.” [NYDailyNews]

MEDIA WATCH: “Israeli Journalist Says Army Radio Tried to Spike Investigative Report Into Sheldon Adelson” by Itay Stern: “In a Facebook post from Saturday, journalist Avner Hofstein also said that Avi Barzilai threatened to fire him unless he disclosed his confidential sources for the investigation… Hofstein… wrote an investigative report linking the possible acquisition of Jerusalem’s Hadassah Medical Center by Sheldon Adelson and his wife, Dr. Miriam Adelson, to the latter’s appointment to the organization’s board of directors. The report featured a recording of the executive director of the Hadassah women’s organization in Israel, Audrey Shimron, discussing the interest expressed by the Adelsons in the purchase. Shimron is married to David Shimron, a lawyer for Netanyahu who is the focus of an Israel Police investigation into alleged irregularities in Israel’s purchase of German submarines.” [Haaretz]  

TRANSITION — New York Times names David Halbfinger to be new Jerusalem Bureau Chief: “David and his family will be moving in August, and he will begin work after Labor Day. And after 28 years at The Times, Ian Fisher, our current bureau chief, and a dear friend, colleague and newsroom leader to many, decided he was ready for a change. He is planning to spend the next year with his family in Italy. We will miss Ian and wish him the very best.” [NYTCo]

SPORTS BLINK: “76ers second-round pick Jonah Bolden to play in Israel” by Alex Kolodziej: “The Philadelphia 76ers selected forward Jonah Bolden in the most recent draft, but won’t have the luxury of working with him in the near future. He signed with Maccabi Tel Aviv of the Israeli Premier League on a three-year deal, the club announced on Friday… Bolden showcased his versatility in the Summer League, where he averaged 8.8 points, 6.3 rebounds, 1.8 blocks and 1.4 steals per game while shooting 31.4 percent from beyond the three-point line. He’ll be able to fine-tune his skills overseas while still having negotiating rights with the NBA club.” [FanragSports] 

“Meet the Giant who wears his Judaism on (and under) his sleeve” by Paul Schwartz: “Adam Bisnowaty, a rookie offensive lineman set to compete in this first NFL training camp with the Giants — players report Thursday — does not hide his Judaism. He wears it proudly, not on his sleeve but inside it, stretching from left elbow to armpit. The tattoo quotes a famous Bible verse — Exodus 3:14 — as Moses, at the Burning Bush, asks God what to call him. God tells Moses “ehyeh asher ehyeh”, which translates to “I am that I am.”” [NYPost]

BIRTHDAYS: Vice Chairman of Promontory Interfinancial Network, he was a partner at Covington & Burling, US Ambassador to Romania (1994-1997) and President of the American Jewish Committee, Alfred H. Moses turns 88… Professor at the Graduate School of Journalism at UC Berkeley, Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative reporter who worked for ABC News (1978-1983) and CBS’s 60 Minutes (1983-1997), Lowell Bergman turns 72… Israeli physician, author and playwright, he is the younger brother of Benjamin Netanyahu, the current Prime Minister of Israel, Iddo Netanyahu turns 65… Political pollster and consultant, he was the strategist for Barack Obama’s 2008 and 2012 presidential campaigns and for Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign, Joel Benenson turns 65… Los Angeles attorney, partner in the firm of Isaacman, Kaufman & Painter, he has served as a board member of Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, the United Jewish Federation and Sinai Temple, Michael Jeffrey Bordy turns 65… Retired offensive lineman in the NFL, he played for the Green Bay Packers (1986-1990) and the Dallas Cowboys (1991-1992) where he won in Super Bowl XXVII, now a motivational speaker, Alan Veingrad turns 54… Secretary for the Kentucky Finance and Administration Cabinet since 2007, previously Kentucky State Treasurer (1999-2007), author of “The Liberal Case for Israel,” Jonathan Miller turns 50… President of Access Computer Technology in West Bloomfield, Michigan, he is a rabbi, entrepreneur and social media expert, Jason Miller turns 41… Co-founder and partner at Orfin Ventures, an incubator and deep-tech venture fund, Adam Finkel turns 31… Rabbi at Valley Beth Shalom, the largest Jewish congregation in the San Fernando Valley, a 2008 graduate of JTS, previously a rabbi in Biloxi, Mississippi, Noah Zvi Farkas… Graduate of Wharton and now in the 2020 Class at Yale Law School, Shlomo Klapper…

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