
Daily Kickoff: Next U.S. ambassador to Israel confirmed + The political sway of Kings Point in South Florida
👋 Good Thursday morning!
The Senate confirmed Tom Nides as U.S. ambassador to Israel on Wednesday, a day after Republican objections blocked the move, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports. Nides, the Morgan Stanley vice chairman and former deputy secretary of state for management and resources, is now the sixth Senate-confirmed ambassador nominated by President Joe Biden.
His confirmation is a rare exception to blanket objections on national security and foreign policy nominees being employed by multiple Republican senators, most notably Sens. Josh Hawley (R-MO) and Ted Cruz (R-TX), who are attempting to extract other foreign policy concessions from the administration.
“I am glad the Republican hold on Mr. Nides has been lifted, and that we will have an ambassador in Israel to help maintain and strengthen the U.S.-Israel relationship,” Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) told JI on Wednesday evening. “He is exceptionally qualified and will make a fine ambassador.” Read the full story here.
Israel’s Knesset approved the 2021 state budget on Thursday, in a vote of 61-59, averting another general election and giving Israel its first national budget in more than three years.
Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett welcomed the passing of the $194 billion plan in a tweet in Hebrew, calling it a “holiday for the State of Israel! After years of chaos — we have formed a government, we have overcome the Delta [variant], and now, God willing, we have passed a budget for Israel!” Israel’s diverse coalition must now pass the accompanying Economic Arrangement Bill, detailing how the financial plan will be put into practice, plus a state budget for 2022.
condo commands
The retirement community that was a microcosm of the Florida special election

King’s Point (Credit: Matthew Kassel)
The special election to succeed the late Rep. Alcee Hastings (D-FL) — which is likely headed for a recount after Tuesday’s results showed a virtual tie between Broward County Commissioner Dale Holness and healthcare executive Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick — presented candidates with an opportunity to shore up pivotal support from the Kings Point retirement community in Tamarac, Fla. The predominantly Jewish condominium complex, situated in deep-blue Broward County, is home to some 9,000 residents who represent a coveted swing vote, not least because, for decades, they have turned out in dependably large numbers, Jewish Insider’s Matthew Kassel reports.
Candidate pilgrimage: The sprawling complex, about 15 miles northwest of Fort Lauderdale, has long been viewed as something of a campaign pilgrimage site for aspiring Democratic presidential candidates. In 2000, Al Gore made overtures to the Jewish community at Kings Point alongside former Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT), his Orthodox Jewish running mate. The following cycle, Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and other high-profile Democratic surrogates were on the ground in Tamarac, stumping for John Kerry. In 2008, Barack Obama courted the Kings Point community when his pro-Israel bona fides were in question among some Jewish voters in South Florida, and as a vice-presidential candidate in 2012, Joe Biden made sure he had paid a visit to the gated retirement complex, which is so vast it covers three voting precincts.
At your peril: “Not courting the vote in Kings Point in a special election occurs at your own peril,” Mitch Ceasar, the former longtime chairman of the Broward Democratic Party who founded the first Democratic club in Tamarac more than 40 years ago, said in an interview with Jewish Insider last week at his office in Plantation, just a few days before the primary. “Kings Point, historically, has a clear pattern of turning out.” Florida’s 20th Congressional District, which encompasses a number of African-American and Caribbean enclaves in Broward and Palm Beach Counties, is predominantly Black, and each of the candidates largely relied on a strategy of engaging their respective bases. But as in past elections, the sizable and politically active Jewish voting bloc in Kings Point was in some ways uniquely, if precariously, positioned to push one candidate into first place.
Deep divides: This cycle, the community fell short of exerting its political muscle as Jewish voters in Kings Point splintered, somewhat predictably, among several of the leading candidates in the deeply divided field. Despite outreach from candidates throughout the election, some Kings Point residents said they felt as if the engagement was largely superficial. “Kings Point is an afterthought,” said Stern, the retired civil servant from Brooklyn, who also voted for DuBose. He speculated, for instance, that state Sen. Perry Thurston, the only candidate in the race who represents the retirement complex, was “not relying on the Kings Point vote” as he built his coalition, though he did campaign in the community.