Daily Kickoff
👋 Good Wednesday morning!
In today’s Daily Kickoff, we look at the debate over the White House’s soon-to-be-released plan to combat antisemitism, and talk to legislators who received a classified briefing on the status of negotiations with Iran. Also in today’s Daily Kickoff: Ghaith al-Omari, Naama Shefi and Yulia the monk seal.
Hundreds of Jewish American community members gathered Tuesday afternoon in the East Room of the White House for a reception to celebrate Jewish American Heritage Month. During his remarks, President Joe Biden touted his administration’s soon-to-be-released national antisemitism strategy, which he called “the most ambitious, comprehensive effort in our history to combat antisemitism in America.” The strategy will include more than 200 policy plans and recommendations to counter antisemitism.
“As we work together to implement this report, we’re sending a clear and forceful message. In America, evil will not win. Hate will not prevail. The venom and violence of antisemitism will not be the story of our time,” said Biden.
While the strategy is set to be released soon, the White House task force working on the project has not yet decided how to define antisemitism, three sources with knowledge of the White House process told Jewish Insider. More below.
Tuesday also featured several closely watched primaries in Florida, Pennsylvania and Kentucky.
In Kentucky, state Attorney General Daniel Cameron, the first African American to hold the state’s top law enforcement job, comfortably won the Republican primary for governor, taking 48% of the vote. Cameron, a protege of Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), will face Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear in the November general election. Despite Kentucky’s conservative bent, Beshear boasts one of the highest gubernatorial job approval ratings in the country.
Former Philadelphia City Councilwoman Cherelle Parker was declared the winner in a crowded pack of Democrats vying to become the city’s next mayor. Parker, who is Black, ran on a tough-on-crime platform that included bringing back stop-and-frisk as a way to deter criminals.
Parker comfortably led progressive favorite Helen Gym, who was endorsed by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY).
And in Jacksonville, voters elected Donna Deegan, the city’s first Democratic mayor in over a decade – something of a blow to Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who saw a major Florida city flip blue in his own backyard.
One senior GOP operative noted to JI that DeSantis endorsed former U.N. Ambassador Kelly Craft, a losing candidate in the Kentucky gubernatorial primary, but didn’t campaign for the GOP mayoral candidate in his home state.
exclusive
White House faces pressure from the left to buck mainstream antisemitism definition

As the White House prepares to release a national antisemitism strategy in the coming weeks, the matter of how the document defines antisemitism has become a key point of contention, Jewish Insider’s Gabby Deutch and Marc Rod have learned.
Definition debate: At issue is whether the strategy will adopt the widely accepted International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s (IHRA) working definition of antisemitism, which is already in use elsewhere in the federal government. Secretary of State Tony Blinken wrote in a 2021 letter to the American Zionist Movement that the Biden administration “enthusiastically embraces” the IHRA working definition of antisemitism, including its full list of examples.
Arguing against: But the Biden administration is now facing pressure to buck the IHRA definition from some on the left who argue that the IHRA definition, which identifies some forms of anti-Zionism as antisemitism, does not leave sufficient space for critiques of Israel. A White House spokesperson declined to comment.
State of play: An individual with knowledge of the process said that major mainstream Jewish groups have been advocating for the IHRA definition’s inclusion in the White House strategy. Progressive groups have been urging that it be left out of the strategy — but said they would accept its inclusion if other alternative definitions of antisemitism that have been proposed by academics and activists on the left were mentioned. The source said it remains unclear what the final draft might entail, but that the White House has considered excluding IHRA entirely.