Daily Kickoff
Good Wednesday morning!
Most of the primary races held yesterday in Wyoming, Alaska and Florida have been called. In Wyoming, Israeli-born university professor Merav Ben-David won the Democratic Senate primary and will face Republican Cynthia Lummis in November in a battle to replace retiring Sen. Mike Enzi (R-WY). In Alaska, former orthopedic surgeon and fisherman Al Gross won the Democratic primary for Senate, and will go up against incumbent Sen. Dan Sullivan (R-AK).
In Florida’s 21st congressional district, far-right activist Laura Loomer won the Republican primary. She’ll face an uphill battle in her bid to unseat Rep. Lois Frankel (D-FL), who easily beat off a primary challenger yesterday, in the blue district come November.
Sudan’s Foreign Ministryreportedly fired a spokesman who told media outlets yesterday that the country was close to reaching a normalization agreement with Israel. While Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had welcomed the remarks, Sudanese authorities said they learned of the comments “with astonishment.”
After Netanyahu denied the Israel-UAE accord would allow the U.S. to sell F-35 fighter jets to Abu Dhabi, White House officials pointed to the text of the agreement, noting it contains no mention of arms sales.
Last night at the Democratic National Convention, former Vice President Joe Biden was officially designated as the party’s 2020 nominee for president. This evening’s lineup includes House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, former Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-AZ), former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, vice presidential nominee Kamala Harris and former President Barack Obama.
Rep. Ben Ray Luján (D-NM), who is running for Senate in New Mexico, recently completed Jewish Insider’s 2020 candidate questionnaire, sharing his views on the rise of antisemitism, the future of the Iran deal, and his belief in a two-state solution. (Read Luján’s responses and many others on JI’s interactive election map.)
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profile
From Tehran to the Trump admin by way of Bais Yaakov

Ellie Cohanim
Ellie Cohanim arrived in New York at age 6 from Tehran, without speaking a word of English. More than four decades later, Cohanim now serves as the assistant special envoy to monitor and combat antisemitism in the State Department — a job she feels honored and privileged to hold. “If I look at my life right now, I say the American dream is so very much alive and kicking,” Cohanim told Jewish Insider’s Amy Spiro in a recent phone conversation. “A little girl can come to this country, not speak a word of English and one day be tapped to represent the United States government — and furthermore in the office to fight global antisemitism, as a Jew — it’s a calling. It’s a dream and a privilege.”
Fish out of water:When her family arrived in New York in 1979, fleeing the unrest of the Iranian Revolution, Cohanim’s parents had little understanding of the American Jewish communal landscape. So they placed her in an all-girls ultra-Orthodox Bais Yaakov school — an institution that didn’t fully align with their traditional Sephardic practices. She stayed enrolled in the school through 8th grade, at which point she transferred to a public high school. But she did leave Bais Yaakov with a few words of Yiddish and a strong appreciation for Jewish practice. “My parents were very amused by my Ashkenazi pronunciation of the Hebrew language,” she joked.
Career shift:Cohanim, 47, was appointed to the deputy position under Special Envoy for Monitoring and Combating Antisemitism Elan Carr in November. Previously she served as a correspondent and the senior vice president at the Jewish Broadcasting Service TV network. But she didn’t hesitate to pick up and move to Washington from New York — where she has lived since arriving in the U.S. — when she was tapped for her first-ever government position. “This is a privilege to be able to serve my country and to give back to this great nation that has given me such an incredible life as a woman, a Jew, an Iranian.”
Focus on Iran: In her role at the Office to Monitor and Combat Antisemitism, Cohanim is tasked with the portfolio covering the Middle East, North Africa and Latin America. “Iran is a very big part of that focus,” she said. “Whether it’s highlighting their antisemitism [or] countering all the hate that they have produced in the world.” The office’s main priorities, Cohanim said, are encouraging countries to adopt the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance working definition of antisemitism; urging nations to appoint a government pointperson on antisemitism; pushing for countries to designate Hezbollah as a terrorist organization; countering institutionalized antisemitism in school textbooks; and ensuring the security of Jewish communities around the world.
Fighting hate: She has focused specifically on countering institutionalized antisemitism, including antisemitic content distributed in mosques, through media outlets and included in educational materials. “What you have in that region is children literally being brainwashed into hatred from a young age,” she said. “A lot of our effort has been in confronting those institutionalized forms of antisemitism in these societies.” It is more difficult, she said, to pinpoint successes in such areas. “These are conversations that we have all the time with our counterparts in foreign countries,” she added. “There’s definitely been progress, but I will tell you there’s still a lot of work ahead of us.”
Bonus: Carr and outgoing envoy on Iran Brian Hook penned an op-ed in The New York Post outlining how the Trump administration is working to combat Iran’s “militant antisemitism.”
Zoom in
Jewish Dems talk policy at DNC events
At the Democratic National Convention in Milwaukee and online, Jewish Democrats and policy experts took part in virtual discussions about issues of importance to the American Jewish community and America’s foreign policy. Jewish Insider reporters Jacob Kornbluh and Marc Rod bring you highlights from a series of Zoom calls and webinars yesterday:
North Star on Israel: Rep. Max Rose (D-NY), speaking on a call hosted by Democratic Majority for Israel, decried members of the Democratic Party who oppose Trump’s pro-Israel moves for partisan purposes. “I’m so tired of some of my colleagues saying that, ‘Oh my God, the president did this, so let’s oppose it.’ There is so much that this administration does that we can oppose. That we should oppose,” Rose said. “But let’s not make this one of those issues that we are fighting tooth and nail with a blind spot of partisanship. It is just wrong and it does not help Israel.” The New York congressman added that the standard for supporting Israel “has to be that it does not matter if it’s a Democrat or Republican in power. That has to be our North Star.”
Drawing parallels: New York congressional candidate Ritchie Torres, pointing to the recent Israel-UAE accord, commented on the DMFI call: “I never imagined living in a world where the Sunni Arab world is friendlier to Israel than some elements of progressive politics.” Read more here.
Changing of the guard: During a press call with J Street President Jeremy Ben-Ami yesterday, Rep. Andy Levin (D-MI) suggested that the upcoming departures of Reps. Eliot Engel (D-NY) and Nita Lowey (D-NY) are an opportunity to elevate progressive members of Congress to positions of leadership and shift the conversation on the Israeli-Palestinian issue. Levin said the positions J Street advocates for are “becoming this sort of center mainstream,” which will pressure a future Biden administration to push for a two-state solution. “I think a President Biden has three years to get this done… I think people are very impatient,” he explained. “There will be more pressure from some people in the caucus — it’s still a very small position, but increasing — that may not be so supportive of a two-state solution.”
A new era: Colorado Gov. Jared Polis, who was elected in 2018 as the state’s first Jewish governor, said during the Jewish American Community Meeting hosted by the DNC that it is “very heartening to see the increasing visibility of Jewish Americans throughout politics. This year, several of the candidates for president of the United States were of Jewish heritage. And of course, with the selection of [Sen.] Kamala Harris, our soon to be second gentleman of the U.S. Douglas Emhoff is Jewish… These are milestones and speak well of the inclusive nature of our nation and of the Democratic Party.” Read more here.
Every vote counts: Sen. Ben Cardin (D-MD) said on the DNC webcast: “The Jewish community and the Jewish votes are going to be critically important in every state in this nation. We have critical House races, critical Senate races, and the Jewish vote could very well be determinative.”
Pushing back: A spokesperson for Joe Biden’s presidential campaign reiterated the presumptive Democratic nominee’s views on supporting Israel and stance against antisemitism after coming under criticism for an appearance by Palestinian-American activist Linda Sarsour at the DNC’s Muslims and Allies Assembly yesterday. A spokesperson for Biden insisted that Sarsour “has no role in the Biden campaign whatsoever.” A Democratic official toldThe Daily Beast: “the caucus and council chairs come up with their own programming and select their own speakers.” In a statement, Republican Jewish Coalition executive director Matt Brooks said, “Sarsour’s blatant antisemitism finally made her so treif that the radical Women’s March organization had to force her out of her leadership role, but she’s still kosher for the Democrat Party.”
Reflecting matters: Longtime Palestinian activists expressed their disappointment at the language in the Israel plank of the 2020 Democratic National Committee platform during a webinar hosted by the Arab American Institute yesterday. AAI founder James Zogby, who has been involved in drafting the party’s platform for decades, said this year’s process was markedly more friendly to Palestinian activists than in prior election cycles, but still expressed frustration that the platform didn’t reference “occupation” or support conditioning U.S. aid to Israel. Despite his criticisms, Zogby went on to downplay its significance, noting that it often does not reflect how the party, and its members, actually behave in practice. “I dare say most people never even read the damn thing after it’s done.” Read more highlights of the panel here.
Driving the convo
Brian Hook and Jake Sullivan present differing Iran approaches
A former aide to Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden believes the former vice president has a “durable way” to stop Iran from getting the bomb “without resorting to military force” — and while restoring trust with U.S. allies and partners.
Diplomacy first: “[Biden’s] take on this is, let’s get back to diplomacy,” Jake Sullivan, who served as national security advisor to the former vice president, Joe Biden, said during a Zoom call hosted by Democratic Majority for Israel on Tuesday. “Let’s recognize that the formula that the Obama-Biden administration pursued, which was leverage diplomacy backed by pressure, is the kind of formula that can work again to make progress.” Sullivan, who helped establish backchannel talks with Iran that led to the nuclear deal, maintained that Biden is committed to bringing the Iranians back to the table “to negotiate a follow-on agreement that does materially advance the security of the United States, of Israel and of our other regional partners as well, and does hold Iran to account.”
How to make deals: Commenting on the recently announced Israel-UAE accord, Sullivan said Biden believes such deals “should be what really guides American foreign policy, but also the foreign policy of our close friends and partners: Diplomacy first — continuing to do the hard grinding work of trying to overcome suspicion and obstacles, and get to durable diplomatic outcomes.” Sullivan suggested the U.S.-brokered deal is a blueprint for how to face the threat posed by Iran, which is to engage in “hard-headed, clear-eyed, effective and tenacious diplomacy, backed by pressure.”
How we did it: Brian Hook, the outgoing State Department special representative for Iran, suggested during a webinar hosted by United Against Nuclear Iran yesterday that the U.S. withdrawal from the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran actually opened a path to broker the normalization deal between Israel and the UAE. “When you have the wrong Iran strategy, it is impossible to get peace agreements between Gulf nations and Israel because they don’t trust you,” Hook said. “And there’s no question that the nations in the Gulf and Israel viewed the Iran nuclear deal as a betrayal.”
Joe to Joe: Former Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT), who serves as UANI’s chairman, remarked: “Iran has done nothing to earn a rapid reentry by the U.S. into that failed and flawed agreement or a rush into a new agreement that is not strong. The fact is that the region has changed — just look most visibly at the UAE-Israel agreement… It’s not Barack Obama’s Iran anymore, it’s not Barack Obama’s Middle East anymore.”
behind the scenes
A.O. Scott on losing the movies
Before the pandemic, A.O. Scott, the film critic for The New York Times, kept up a fairly demanding schedule, seeing around 300 movies a year and writing about two-thirds of them. The coronavirus put an end to that. “Everything kind of froze,” Scott, 54, told Jewish Insider’s Matthew Kassel in a recent phone interview from his out-of-town hideaway, the whereabouts of which he declined to disclose.
Scant options: Things have now returned to “a temporary sort of normal,” according to Scott — at least from a distribution standpoint, as smaller releases have been going out on streaming platforms. Yet what would normally have been a busy period in the lead-up to the fall season is, for the most part, a fairly quiet one given that summer blockbusters are virtually nonexistent, as are the popular independent films that exist to counter-program against the big commercial pictures. “It’s been very different this summer,” Scott observed.
Staying positive: Not that he hasn’t enjoyed some of the offerings available to viewers. He liked “Palm Springs,” for one, and, “with some reservations,” the Seth Rogen vehicle “An American Pickle,” — released on Hulu and HBO Max respectively. Scott, who is Jewish, was also impressed by “The Old Guard,” a superhero film starring Charlize Theron, but felt that he was missing something by watching it at home.
Post-pandemic productivity: When — if? — the pandemic is over, Scott imagines there will most likely be a spate of movies addressing the crisis, though how that will play out is anyone’s guess. “That’s always the interesting question, how movies will absorb what happens, and also whether it will be direct — a movie about love in the pandemic, life in the pandemic — or whether it will be more allegorical, the way, I think, a lot of the movies that followed 9/11 were,” he said. “There were some movies that were explicitly about 9/11 and the War on Terror, but there were many more that were superhero or action movies, or movies not directly about it, but also very much thematically about it.”
Yearning for an old routine: Scott is, ultimately, looking forward to the day when he can sit in a cold, dark theater again, taking in a movie in quiet solitude — an activity he savored even independently of his professional life reviewing movies day in and day out for the past two decades. “I’ve never had the stamina to watch movies all day, every day, but I did enjoy going to the movies,” he said. “I miss that, and I hope that some version of that comes back.”
Worthy Reads
🏃♂️ Not Slowing Down: Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) is on pace to complete his annual tour of New York’s 62 counties for the 22nd consecutive year despite the coronavirus lockdown and cancellation of in-person events. “God gave me a lot of energy,” Schumer told reporters after hitting his 47th stop. [Politico]
🏨 The Unwelcome:New York Times reporter Daniel Slotnik details how longtime liberal residents of Manhattan’s Upper West Side revolted when the city decided to shelter hundreds of homeless men in the Lucerne Hotel. Sam Domb, the hotel’s owner, defended the move as “a matter of survival” given the absence of tourists. [NYTimes]
👨👩👧👦 Family Ties:Pini Doron, a Jewish man from Israel, and Marysia Galbraith, a Christian woman from Alabama, realized they were related after discovering they both had the same photo taken during World War I in Poland. The pair retraced their family trees and even organized multiple family reunions. [People]
Around the Web
📱 Honeymoon: Israeli Foreign Minister Gabi Ashkenazi told reporters that he communicates with UAE Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed via Whatsapp. Mossad chief Yossi Cohen met yesterday in Abu Dhabi with the UAE national security advisor.
🍓 Seeds of Peace: Israel-based investment firm Arieli Capita is in talks with UAE officials to promote joint agriculture projects in Israel’s Negev desert.
🔌 In the Dark: Gaza’s sole power plant has shut down, leaving residents with four hours of electricity a day, after Israel cut off fuel supplies in response to rocket fire and incendiary balloons.
✈️ Grounded:El Al has extended the cancellation all its passenger flights through at least the end of September.
📚 National Treasures:An Israeli court ruled this week that the Damascus Crowns, a series of illuminated Bibles smuggled out of the Syrian Jewish community in the 1990s, should remain in the possession of the National Library of Israel.
🛬 One Lane: The Ukrainian Interior Ministry will limit entry to foreigners heading to Uman for Rosh Hashanah due to the coronavirus outbreak.
💊 Under Fire:Federal prosecutors filed charges against the U.S. branch of Teva Pharmaceuticals, alleging it engaged in a kickback scheme over charitable donations to cover the rising costs of drugs.
🇮🇱 One Voice: A group of 52 members of the New York State Assembly issued a joint statement denouncing the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) questionnaire that called on candidates not to visit Israel.
🚨 Serious Threat:A Long Island man was arrested with a cache of 14 weapons after he threatened to open fire on an Orthodox Jewish summer camp over students not wearing masks.
🏫 Talk of the Village: Agudath Israel of America accused lawyers for the NAACP of using “antisemitic stereotypes” ahead of a hearing today in the ongoing legal battle over the East Ramapo school board elections.
😡 Hate on Display: A Texas man suspected of killing three people in a shooting spree was arrested with a swastika drawn on his forehead.
📺 Stepping Down: Ron Meyer abruptly resigned as executive vice chairman of NBCUniversal, claiming he was being blackmailed over an extramarital affair.
🖼️ Art Affairs: A U.S. appeals court ruled this week that a Spanish museum can keep a $30 million Pissarro painting that a Jewish woman traded to the Nazis in 1939 in exchange for her freedom.
👨💼 Transition: Tevi Troy has been hired as senior advisor for the Leavitt Partners board of experts. Troy previously served as deputy secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services and Jewish liaison in the Bush 43 administration. h/t Playbook
🕯️ Remembering:Wimbledon winner Angela Buxton, who faced antisemitism growing up in the United Kingdom, died at age 85. Rabbi Chaim Keller, a prominent leader in Chicago’s Orthodox Jewish community, died of COVID-19 at age 90. George Mogill, a physician who was one of the first Detroit doctors to treat both Black and white patients, died at age 103.
Pic of the Day

Scene last night: Israel’s new ambassador to the United Nations Gilad Erdan and Israeli singer Ishay Ribo were the featured guests at a socially distant backyard concert in Teaneck, New Jersey on Tuesday evening. The concert benefited American Friends of Migdal Ohr. Among the guests were Howard & Elisa Wietschner, Atara Solow, Rivka Kidron, Henry & Estee Sweica, Moshe & Arianne Weinberger, Azi & Rachel Mandel, Adam Mermelstein, Steven & Yael Weil, Yoni Leifer, Miriam & Alan Pfeiffer, Sharon Haberman, Nachi & Batya Paul.
Birthdays

Actress and producer, Kyra Sedgwick turns 55…
One of the first venture capitalists in Silicon Valley, an early investor in Intel and Apple, Arthur Rock turns 94… Jerry Epstein turns 91… Former member of the South Dakota legislature, Stanford “Stan” M. Adelstein turns 89… Former Israeli ambassador to the United Nations, Gabriela Shalev turns 79… 42nd President of the United States, William Jefferson Clinton turns 74… Retired reading teacher for the NYC Department of Education, Miriam Baum Benkoe turns 70… Actor and director, Adam Arkin turns 64… Gavriel Benavraham turns 64… Senior partner at Wolf Haldenstein Adler Freeman & Herz, Mark C. Rifkin turns 60… Co-founder of the private equity firm Apollo Global Management, Marc J. Rowan turns 58… Former chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, Julius Genachowski turns 58…
Managing editor of The New York Times,Joseph Kahn turns 56… Partner and talent agent in the motion picture department at William Morris Endeavor, Dan Aloni turns 56… Former member of Knesset (2003-2006), he is the son of former Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, Omri Sharon turns 56… Executive administrator of Ventura, Calif. accounting firm Morgan, Daggett & Wotman, Carolynn Wotman turns 56… District attorney of Queens, Melinda R. Katz turns 55… Founder and CEO of NYC-based The Friedlander Group, Ezra Friedlander turns 52… Investor Brett Icahn turns 41… Managing partner of Handmade Capital, Ross Hinkle turns 41… Associate director at the Anti-Defamation League, Sasha Bloch turns 32… Private equity investor, Yehuda L. Neuberger… Tel Aviv-based digital marketing and PR consultant, Cassandra Federbusz…