Daily Kickoff
👋 Good Tuesday morning!
It’s Primary Day in Wyoming and Alaska. Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY) is facing an uphill battle to keep her seat amid a challenge from Harriet Hageman, who is backed by former President Donald Trump.
Trump has opposed Cheney, one of the most vocal Republicans backing the then-president’s impeachment, and threw his support behind Hageman last September. Cheney’s criticism of Republicans who refused to certify the results of the 2020 presidential election included criticism directed toward AIPAC’s new PAC over the group’s endorsements of more than 100 sitting members of Congress who in 2021 voted against certification.
Cheney was not included in the PAC’s initial endorsements of incumbent lawmakers, but later received the group’s backing.
But last week, the Wyoming legislator had an hourlong meeting with local AIPAC members. Cheney later tweeted about the meeting, asserting that she will “never waver in my support for a strong US-Israel relationship and Israel’s right to defend herself.”
The Sierra Club will resume its trips to Israel beginning next spring, its president, Ramón Cruz, confirmed to Jewish Insider this morning. The announcement comes months after the nature organization, facing pressure from anti-Israel activists, briefly canceled several upcoming trips to Israel before announcing their reinstatement.
In addition, Cruz confirmed that Dara Silverman, formerly the executive director of Jews United for Racial and Economic Justice who now does Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) training, will be working with the organization “around stakeholder engagement across the spectrum.”
u-turn
Despite reversal, Yuh-Line Niou continues to vacillate on BDS

New York’s 10th Congressional District candidate Yuh-Line Niou speaks during an environmental policy forum presented by The New York League of Conservation Voters Education Fund and The Cooper Union., Tuesday, July 19, 2022, in New York.
Yuh-Line Niou, a leading progressive candidate in the crowded race for an open House seat in Manhattan and a parts of Brooklyn, continued to vacillate on the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement against Israel on Monday, declaring in a questionnaire that she is opposed to BDS even as she endorsed its “commitment to human rights, equality and freedom for everyone in the region,” reports Jewish Insider’s Matthew Kassel.
Hedged response: “I do not support calls to oppose the BDS movement; at the same time, I do not agree with all of its demands nor do I embrace all of its tactics,” Niou, a New York State assemblywoman who represents the Lower East Side, wrote in the candidate questionnaire, which was solicited by the Jewish Community Relations Council of New York. “No movement is perfect just like no person is perfect.”
Flip-flop? Niou’s response was a reversal from the position she expressed to JI last month, when the 39-year-old lawmaker stated her explicit support for the BDS movement. “I believe in the right to protest as a fundamental tenet of western democracy, so I do support BDS,” Niou said in an email to JI, following a phone conversation in which she had hesitated to reveal her personal view of the movement. Since then, Niou has doubled down on her explanation in interviews with media outlets and during a candidate forum in late July.
Qualified statement: The JCRC questionnaire — which Niou submitted on Aug. 6, according to a spokesperson for the group — is the first instance, it seems, in which she has explicitly rejected BDS. Asked in the survey if she supports the movement, Niou wrote “No,” but qualified her answer in a separate question on U.S. aid to Israel. “I support the BDS movement’s right to political speech, including boycotts and economic pressure, which has been targeted by laws that undermine core first amendment principles,” Niou said. “Boycotts are a tried, true, respected and constitutionally protected nonviolent tactic for human rights and social justice movements.”
‘U-turn’ or ‘dog whistle’: Alexander Rapaport, an Orthodox Jewish leader in New York’s redrawn 10th Congressional District, said he was unconvinced by Niou’s clarification, even if she had opposed the movement. “A plain ‘no’ would be good enough,” said Rapaport, the founder of Masbia, a network of local soup kitchens, who last month hosted a meeting with Niou at his home in the Brooklyn neighborhood of Borough Park. “Anything after the ‘no’ is a U-turn or a dog whistle, so I don’t know why it’s part of it. Just finish with a ‘no.’” (A spokesperson for Niou’s campaign did not respond to a request for comment from JI.)
Bonus: A new poll from PIX11/Emerson College Polling/The Hill has attorney Dan Goldman, at 22%, leading the crowded pack in the Democratic primary in New York’s 10th Congressional District. Niou trails at 17%, followed by New York City Councilmember Carlina Rivera at 13%.