Daily Kickoff
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The U.S. State Department strongly condemned a Hamas terrorist attack that killed one Israeli and wounded four others in Jerusalem’s Old City on Sunday morning. “We offer our condolences to the victims and their families,” said a statement issued by department spokesperson Ned Price.
The Israeli killed was identified as South African immigrant Eliyahu David Kay, 26, who worked as a tour guide for the Western Wall Heritage Foundation. Police identified the terrorist as a Hamas member from East Jerusalem. He was shot dead by police officers at the scene. This was the second attack in the Old City within a week.
Later Sunday, a Palestinian man from Jenin, in the West Bank, stabbed a man, 67, in Jaffa, moderately wounding him. Police arrested the 18-year-old suspect.
Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said Sunday, “I have directed the security forces to prepare accordingly and be alert, also over concern for copycat attacks. We need to be on heightened alert and prevent future attacks.”
Israeli President Isaac Herzog met with the Prince of Wales at his private residence today as part of an official visit to the U.K. Yesterday Herzog visited the Chelsea Football Club’s “49 Flames: Jewish Athletes and the Holocaust” exhibition at Stamford Bridge, the club’s stadium, where he met club owner Roman Abramovich, club chairman Bruce Buck, artist Solomon Souza and Holocaust survivor and former weightlifting champion Sir Ben Helfgott, who celebrated his 92nd birthday during the event.
planning ahead
Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick says she’ll speak up for Israel in Congress

Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick waits for the results of a machine recount at the Voting Equipment Center in Lauderhill, Fla.
Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick, a Democrat who prevailed by just five votes in South Florida’s recent special congressional primary, emphasized her continued support for Israel in an interview with Jewish Insider’s Matthew Kassel. The 41-year-old healthcare executive said she met with AIPAC on Thursday in Washington, D.C. “We were able to have a long conversation, break down everything, understand what policies are there, and where everything is right now,” she told JI. Funding for Israel’s Iron Dome missile-defense system, she said, was one major topic of discussion. (AIPAC declined to comment.)
Iron Dome: The defense funding was a high-profile issue in Cherfilus-McCormick’s race, where 11 candidates vied to succeed the late Rep. Alcee Hastings (D-FL), a staunch pro-Israel advocate who died in April. Only one candidate, state Rep. Omari Hardy, opposed the recent legislation that would give Israel $1 billion in supplemental aid for the Iron Dome system. Cherfilus-McCormick, for her part, made clear — as did most other candidates in the race — that she would have voted in favor of the funding.
Her approach: Cherfilus-McCormick, who advocates for such progressive policies as Medicare for All and the Green New Deal, suggested she would continue to speak up in support of the U.S.-Israel relationship, even as her Middle East foreign policy views put her at odds with some otherwise like-minded progressive lawmakers in the House. “I don’t think there should be tension because I think that we can have commonality in certain positions and policies but not have to be identical, and that’s necessary, especially, when you look at my district and who I represent,” she told JI. “I represent the people, and not necessarily someone else’s ideas.”
Strengthening alliances: Cherfilus-McCormick is all but assured a seat in Congress after the Jan. 11 general election in Florida’s heavily Democratic 20th Congressional District. The CEO of Trinity Home Healthcare poured millions of dollars of her own money into the race — her third bid for the seat. She will be the first Haitian-American Democrat in Congress if she is elected. “From the beginning, I always said that I believe that the Jewish community and the Black community are intimately tied,” she told JI, “and part of us moving forward is having our alliances.” She plans to visit Israel in February with a delegation of freshman Democratic House members sponsored by the AIPAC-affiliated American Israel Education Foundation.