
DMFI takes on Tlaib in Detroit
Good Thursday morning.
In today’s Daily Kickoff, we interview former Israeli National Security Advisor Eyal Hulata about the Israel-Hamas war, and talk to three pro-Israel young Democrats about their support for the Biden administration’s position on Israel. Also in today’s Daily Kickoff: Dr. Miriam Adelson, former Sen. Joe Lieberman and Julia Louis-Dreyfus.
Democratic Majority for Israel is out with a new ad today, titled “History and Humanity,” that criticizes Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) over the anti-Israel positions she’s taken since the start of the Israel-Hamas war. The ad points out that Tlaib was one of just nine Democrats to vote against condemning Hamas for the Oct. 7 terror attack and suggests that legislation Tlaib has put forward will “allow the terrorists to re-arm themselves.”
The ad, which is a six-figure buy airing in the Detroit media market, concludes with the hard-hitting line: “Tell Rashida Tlaib she’s on the wrong side of history and humanity.” The big spending against Tlaib indicates that pro-Israel groups believe she’s vulnerable in a Democratic primary, even though no one has yet stepped up to challenge her. Already, four members of the left-wing Squad are facing serious primary threats in 2024.
In Washington, the Biden administration’s February 2021 decision to remove the Houthis’ designation as a terrorist organization is attracting renewed scrutiny after the Iranian-backed militia group fired missiles and launched drones toward Israel, Jewish Insider‘s Capitol Hill reporter Marc Rod reports.
Sen. Bill Hagerty (R-TN) led 14 other Senate Republicans on a letter yesterday calling for Secretary of State Tony Blinken to restore the designation.
The letter asserts that the Houthis’ attacks on Israel “likely [occurred] at the behest of Iran’s terror-sponsoring regime,” and argues that redesignating the Yemeni group “would send a powerful message that the United States views this group as a clear threat to our Allies and partners and to regional stability in the Middle East.”
It also highlights the Houthis’ role as a weapon for Iran against Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
The Biden administration revoked the designation out of concerns that it would prevent the delivery of humanitarian aid into Yemen. Some senior Democrats and the Biden administration have previously given thought to restoring the designation after Houthi attacks on the UAE, although other Democrats have resisted the move.
The House will vote today on Republicans’ proposed $14.3 billion Israel aid bill, which would cut an equal amount of funding from the Internal Revenue Service. The IRS provision has prompted outrage from Democrats, as well as some Republicans; such offsets are not traditionally part of emergency funding packages.
The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office assessed yesterday that the IRS funding cut would actually increase the national deficit by an additional $12.5 billion over 10 years and result in $26.8 billion in lost revenue, further fueling Democratic opposition to the proposal.
Twenty-one Jewish House Democrats released a joint statement yesterday slamming Republicans’ proposal. “Speaker Johnson has chosen to play cynical political games by conditioning emergency aid to Israel on cuts to the domestic budget in an effort to divide the Congress for partisan gain,” their statement reads. “The net effect of this ploy will be to reduce the existing overwhelming bipartisan support for Israel within Congress and jeopardize our ability to support our allies around the world.”
Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL), openly crying, described the IRS provision as a “gut punch,” adding that Israel “needs this money now, without games.” She continued, “think back [to] the times that you have told the people sitting in your office who are pro-Israel whether you would ever support conditioning aid to Israel. I bet each of you remember committing that you wouldn’t.”
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA)dismissed the CBO score out of hand. He reportedly told Senate Republicans yesterday that combining Israel and Ukraine would be a nonstarter, but that the House would take up a combined Ukraine and border security bill after it approves aid to Israel.
Q&A
Former Israeli national security advisor: ‘Israel doesn’t have the time it thinks it has to fight this war’

Twenty-six days into Israel’s war with Hamas, it remains unclear how thousands of terrorists were able to infiltrate Israel and attack for hours without being stopped by the IDF. Equally unclear are the parameters of the Israel-Hamas war: Will the fighting be contained to Gaza, or will another front open in Israel’s north? Eyal Hulata, Israel’s national security advisor until January who is now based in the U.S., spoke with Jewish Insider’s Lahav Harkov this week to provide some clarity and suggestions as to what Israel should do moving forward. His remarks have been edited for clarity and length.
On Israeli security failures on Oct. 7: “It was a very, very successful campaign of deceit,” Hulata explained. “[Hamas] understood our methods of gathering intelligence better than we realized. They knew how to feed us information that made us think everything was business as usual. In addition, very few people [in Hamas] knew the whole picture. Unfortunately, our intelligence system waited for concrete information before giving warnings. We fell into their trap. But there was a bigger problem. The whole defense system was supposed to prepare for surprises and be prepared to defend our citizens, even if the intelligence doesn’t say what will happen, and that didn’t happen for many reasons. And that is the responsibility of the political level. The security cabinet is supposed to be prepared not only based on intelligence but in weighing all of the ways of understanding what is happening.”
On what Israel should be doing: “It is of supreme importance to take advantage of this time to free the hostages,” Hulata said. “It will be much harder to do after the war is over. The war cabinet is right that a ground invasion can push Hamas to free them, and we have to push hard. We have to create a new security situation in Gaza. We have to create a demilitarized zone on the Gazan side of the fence, a clear strip that will be a new buffer zone that Israel will know how to protect, not necessarily with a physical presence, in the Gaza Strip. We must follow Hamas’ pressure points in northern Gaza to force them to change their policy. The insistence on not providing diesel fuel is the right thing to do, because that’s what Hamas needs for its tunnels, electricity and ventilation. They’re not lacking in diesel, they’re just not giving it to civilian needs, like hospitals.”
Qatar’s role: “Qatar is trying to avoid responsibility and the international community cannot accept it, certainly not the way they acted after [the Hamas massacre] happened,” he said. “Their influence on Hamas is very big and they haven’t used it. If they want to pressure Hamas to free the hostages, they can. I think the government of Israel needs to be more suspicious of Qatar’s intentions and not to be impressed by their slick words and attempts to look like they‘re balanced. Qatar is responsible for strengthening Hamas and isn’t fully using its influence to free hostages. I hope they will do it soon, and I suggest not to be fooled by their attempt to present it as though they’re balanced and have no responsibility. They are not balanced and they are responsible.”
Bonus: In The Wall Street Journal, the Foundation for Defense of Democracies’ Rich Goldberg suggests that the Biden administration hold Qatar accountable for Hamas’ Israeli hostages and consider designating Doha a state sponsor of terrorism.