Daily Kickoff: Israel’s hasbara hiccups
Good Thursday morning.
In today’s Daily Kickoff, we look at Israel’s public relations challenges, and report on a congressional effort to bring the Weitzman National Museum of American Jewish History under the Smithsonian umbrella. Also in today’s Daily Kickoff: former Sen. Joe Lieberman, chef Mike Friedman and Secretary of State Tony Blinken.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, whose relationship with President Joe Biden and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) has become increasingly strained, spoke privately on Wednesday to a Senate Republican lunch meeting.
But Netanyahu didn’t similarly address Democrats, with Schumer rejecting a request from Netanyahu to speak to the caucus. “Sen. Schumer made it clear that he does not think these discussions should happen in a partisan manner. That’s not helpful to Israel,” Schumer spokesperson Angelo Roefaro said. Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) said he would have liked to have heard from the Israeli prime minister, having asked if he could sit in on the GOP lunch, to no avail.
Meanwhile, House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) floated the possibility of inviting Netanyahu to address a joint session of Congress, a source confirmed, an idea being pushed by some House Republicans. Such an invitation echoes GOP leadership’s invitation to Netanyahu to address lawmakers in 2015 — a jab at the Obama administration over Iran deal talks. Without support from Schumer, Johnson would only be able to organize a speech to the House, rather than both chambers.
Given growing Democratic frustration on Capitol Hill with Netanyahu, whom many Democrats blame for Israel’s conduct of its war against Hamas and the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, such a speech by the prime minister would likely be polarizing and could further inflame partisan tensions over Israel.
Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) said that Netanyahu had directly condemned Schumer’s speech last week calling for Netanyahu’s ouster and new Israeli elections, calling them “outrageous,” while Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) told reporters that Netanyahu’s private remarks largely echoed what he’s said in public: that Israel “very much needs the time and space” to eliminate Hamas.
Netanyahu reiterated this in a statement addressed to the Israeli public yesterday, though in a possible concession to the Biden White House, noted the beginning of the operation in Rafah “will take a little time.”
“In our latest conversation, I told [Biden]: It is impossible to complete the victory without the IDF entering Rafah in order to eliminate the remnants of Hamas’s battalions,” Netanyahu said. “In the end, we have always done what is vital for our security, and this is what we will do this time as well. As we are preparing to enter Rafah, and this will take a little time, we are continuing to operate with full force.”
Israeli Minister of Strategic Affairs Ron Dermer addressed the looming operation in his appearance on Dan Senor’s “Call Me Back” podcast today. “It’s going to happen. And it will happen even if Israel is forced to fight alone. Even if the entire world turns on Israel, including the United States, we’re going to fight until the battle won,” Dermer said. “There’s only one possible force that could stop Israel, and that’s the Israeli people.”
Discussing the Israeli delegation heading to Washington in the next few days, which he will be part of, Dermer said, “They have ideas of what to do, what to do on the military side, what to do on the humanitarian side. And we’ll listen to them out of respect to the president.”
Dermer also slammed Canada’s decision to halt arms sales to Israel as “a badge of shame for Canada, and it’s going to last for a really long time, because in years to come and decades to come, people are going to look back. On October 7th, when those Hamas fighters came in, and they beheaded people, and they raped women, and they beat women, burned babies alive and killed children in front of their parents and parents in front of the children. Where was Canada? What’s all the lines about Canada will support Israel? Really? Now you’re going to deny weapons to Israel when we’re fighting against sheer evil? Because it’s still sheer evil and we haven’t finished the job.” Listen to the full episode here.
And in Israel, Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz published an open letter to Diaspora Jewish communities yesterday, calling for the formation of a unified global advocacy front to tackle antisemitism and the vilification of Israel.
Referring to the global uptick in antisemitism since the Oct. 7 Hamas terror attack on Israel, Katz said, “The intimidation faced by many who are now fearful to reveal their Jewish identity is unacceptable. It is a stark reminder that our right to self-defense and existence is being challenged. We cannot stand idle and rely on others to combat for us.”
The coalition he is proposing, Katz said, would work “across all media fronts, enlisting Israeli citizens, our government, the Diaspora, friends of Israel and the Jewish world and international allies.”
Katz’s letter comes as Israel grapples with concerns that it is losing the public diplomacy battle, and a day after the Knesset’s Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee questioned Netanyahu on his government’s PR strategy, while news broke that his office had suspended prominent international spokesperson Eylon Levy. Levy had been seen as one of Israel’s most effective English-speaking advocates. A petition launched yesterday calling for the reinstatement of Levy has garnered more than 10,000 signatures.
bad press
Israel losing the hasbara battle because of a broken public relations playbook, experts say
Over the past five and a half months, Israel’s former ambassador to the U.S., Michael Oren, has given hundreds of interviews to international media outlets, penned multiple op-eds, and spoken to countless communities worldwide about the horrific events on Oct. 7, the existential threats facing Israel and its war against Hamas in Gaza. Yet, he told Jewish Insider’s Ruth Marks Eglash in an interview this week, he has received little support from the Israeli government, including any kind of formal briefing or even a list of comprehensive talking points that could help him to get Israel’s vital message across.
Searching for an address: Previously a deputy minister in charge of public diplomacy for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Oren said that instead, a private PR firm sets up his media appearances, and he must often remind interviewers that he’s not an official representative of the State of Israel but a volunteer and the views he expresses are solely his own. “That’s all fine,” Oren told JI. “But it would be nice if, every once in a while, when I really need an answer, I could reach somebody official.”
Room for improvement: While some Israeli leaders take a defeatist outlook, citing rampant international antisemitism and hatred of Israel as a reason for the bad PR, Oren and others interviewed said simply improving basic tactics such as gaining a better understanding of the specific audience officials are speaking to and improving bureaucratic organization and structure would offer some help in the court of international public opinion.
Lack of discipline: “Israel is failing miserably in its public diplomacy, we’re just really bad at it,” said Yaakov Katz, a senior fellow at the Jewish People Policy Institute and a former editor-in-chief of The Jerusalem Post, told JI. “There’s no discipline and there’s no unified message,” Katz, who also worked as a foreign policy adviser to former Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, continued. “Essentially, anyone in the government can do [and say] whatever they want.”
CONFIRMATION CONSTERNATION
Muslim appeals court nominee’s confirmation imperiled amid antisemitism accusations
The confirmation of Adeel Mangi, a judicial nominee who would be the first Muslim-American to serve on any federal appeals court, appears increasingly imperiled, as he faces accusations of antisemitism and anti-Israel sentiment from Senate Republicans, among other charges, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports.
Where things stand: Leading nonpartisan Jewish organizations have rejected the accusations against Mangi, and Mangi has pushed back aggressively against insinuations that he supports terrorism or antisemitism, but enough Senate Democrats reportedly share concerns about Mangi to potentially sink his nomination. Republicans are pushing the administration to withdraw the nomination.
Going deeper: Critics seized on Mangi’s membership on an advisory board for the Rutgers University Center for Security, Race and Rights, which they said hosted speakers who support terrorism and celebrated the Oct. 7 attack or blamed it on Israel. The center’s director has also shared Oct. 7 denialism.
What he said: “I will condemn, without equivocation, any terrorism, any terrorist or any act of terrorism, or any defense of any act of terrorism,” Mangi said, in response to questions about speakers sponsored by the center. “I don’t know anything about this event, or who these people are. I’ve never heard of any of them. If someone on there is a terrorist, I condemn them.” He unequivocally condemned Hamas and the Oct. 7 attack as “abominable, and against everything I stand for,” saying he has “no patience, none, for any attempts to justify or defend those events.”
Democratic divide: Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV) cited Mangi’s affiliation with that group, which sponsored a fellowship named for a member of the Weather Underground terrorist group and the release of individuals convicted of killing police officers, in comments on Tuesday opposing Mangi’s confirmation. Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) said on Wednesday that he would not support any judicial nominees who lack Republican support, a possible death knell for Mangi’s nomination. Several other Democratic swing votes are publicly undecided on Mangi’s confirmation.
leaning left
19 Senate Democrats push Biden for plan to recognize a Palestinian state
Nineteen Senate Democrats on Wednesday pressed President Joe Biden to lay out a plan for the U.S. to recognize a Palestinian state under control of a reformed Palestinian Authority, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports.
Restarting talks: The lawmakers’ letter to Biden argues that outlining a path to recognizing a demilitarized Palestinian state would “reignite U.S. leadership on a diplomatic solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.” They continued, “Given the severity of the current crisis, this moment requires determined U.S. leadership that must move beyond facilitation” of Israeli-Palestinian talks. The letter calls for reform of the Palestinian Authority as well as steps by the Israeli government, including ending settlement expansion.
Making a change: Longtime U.S. policy has held that the U.S. should only recognize, or offer the prospect of recognition, of a Palestinian state as the result of direct bilateral talks between Israel and the Palestinians. The proposal put forward by the senators shifts that timeline.
Signatories: The letter was signed by Sens. Tom Carper (D-DE), Tina Smith (D-MN), Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Brian Schatz (D-HI), Dick Durbin (D-IL), Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Mazie Hirono (D-HI), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), Chris Coons (D-DE), Raphael Warnock (D-GA), Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), Sherrod Brown (D-OH), Peter Welch (D-VT), Chris Murphy (D-CT), Ed Markey (D-MA), Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), Martin Heinrich (D-NM) and Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH). Brown and Baldwin are both facing competitive reelection races this November, while Coons is a close Biden ally.
school daze
Northern Va. school district allows Jewish students to skip Holocaust lecture for fear of bullying
A public middle school in Northern Virginia’s Fairfax County gave parents the option to keep their children home from school on Tuesday, the day of a planned speech by a Holocaust survivor, out of fear that Jewish students would face bullying, Jewish Insider’s Gabby Deutch reports.
‘Gaslighting’ Jewish students: Ultimately, no students opted out of the talk by Frank Cohn, a Holocaust survivor who served in the U.S. Army for 35 years, at Cooper Middle School in McLean, an affluent suburb of Washington. But the Jewish advocacy group that organized the event accused the school of “gaslighting” by allowing Jewish students to opt out, rather than addressing antisemitism.
Not the answer: “We would not have handled this issue in the way that the principal at Cooper Middle School did,” said Guila Franklin Siegel, associate director of the Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Washington. “If the principal had reached out to us, and we’re sorry that didn’t happen, we would have said, ‘No, that’s not the answer.’ The answer to antisemitic harassment connected to Holocaust education is not for the Jewish kids to stay home.”
Apology offered: Since 2017, the school has invited a Holocaust survivor or related guest speaker to address students as they learn about the Holocaust. Students are not able to opt out of Holocaust lessons that are a part of the curriculum, but parents can choose to keep their kids home for the guest speakers. “We apologize if this notification led anyone to believe that we do not value these important learning opportunities, which Cooper Middle School has been providing for many years, with few, if any opt-outs,” Steven Brasley, a spokesperson for Fairfax County Public Schools, told JI in a statement.
jewish culture
Lawmakers seek to bring Philadelphia’s National Museum of American Jewish History under Smithsonian umbrella
Nine Senate and House lawmakers announced on Wednesday that they’re taking the first steps toward potentially moving Philadelphia’s Weitzman National Museum of American Jewish History under the Smithsonian umbrella, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports.
Background: The museum, which documents American Jewish history dating back to the arrival of Jews in North America, is currently affiliated with but not part of the Smithsonian Institution. If formally transferred to the Smithsonian, the museum would be the Smithsonian’s only museum focused on Jewish Americans.
Who’s supporting: The initiative is being supported by Sen. Bob Casey (D-PA) and Reps. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL), Max Miller (R-OH), Brendan Boyle (D-PA) and Mike Turner (R-OH), with Sens. John Fetterman (D-PA), Mike Crapo (R-ID), Jacky Rosen (D-NV) and Susan Collins (R-ME) also serving as co-sponsors.
What the bill does: Their bill, released on Wednesday, would take the first steps toward transferring the museum to the Smithsonian, setting up a commission to study such a move. The commission would consist of members selected by House and Senate leadership, and a nonvoting member picked by the museum’s board. Sponsors said the move would help combat antisemitism and increase awareness of Jewish Americans’ contributions to U.S. history, as well as provide greater resources to the museum itself.
Worthy Reads
Lieberman’s Outlook: In The Wall Street Journal, former Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT) suggests that Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) “crossed a political red line” with his call for Israel to hold new elections. “I don’t know what Mr. Schumer was trying to accomplish. But if you study polling in the U.S. and Israel, on Mr. Netanyahu personally and on the broader question of how the Israelis are conducting the war in Gaza, it looks as if Mr. Schumer’s statement will have a more significant effect on political opinions in the U.S. than in Israel. Growing numbers of American voters, including a majority of Democrats, and an organized bloc of leftist senators and representatives, oppose Israel’s war policy in Gaza. In Israel, although Mr. Netanyahu’s personal support has dropped, his policy of fighting in Gaza until Hamas is destroyed has the support of an overwhelming majority. Israelis don’t want the atrocities of Oct. 7 ever to be repeated. While Mr. Schumer’s statement undoubtedly pleased American critics of Israel, for the Israelis it was meaningless, gratuitous and offensive.” [WSJ]
A Plan for the Palestinians: The New York Times’ Bret Stephens proposes an “Arab Mandate for Palestine” as an alternative to Washington’s suggestion for a revitalized Palestinian Authority and Israel’s idea that Gaza be ruled by local clans. “The key lies in persuading moderate Arab states that they have the biggest stakes of all in achieving a better outcome for Gaza: first, because a Hamas-controlled Gaza is another outpost (along with Hezbollah in Lebanon and the Houthis in Yemen) of Iranian-backed militancy in the heart of the Arab world and, second, because a long-running crisis in Gaza will become a rallying cry for religious extremism in their own populations. There’s worse: An unresolved crisis in Gaza will ultimately harden Israel, shift it further to the right and put an eventual Palestinian state permanently out of reach. It will also divide the Arab world, strengthen Iran and undermine the modernizing course that the best Arab leaders have embarked on. Those leaders shouldn’t pretend that the burden of a solution in Gaza lies entirely with Jerusalem or Washington.” [NYTimes]
Around the Web
Hostage Talks: Secretary of State Tony Blinken said in an interview with the Saudi Al-Hadath channel that an Israel-Hamas hostage deal is “getting closer” and “an agreement is very much possible.”
Under Review: The State Department is reviewing written assurances from Israel regarding its use of U.S.-made weapons and compliance with international law, days after U.S. Ambassador to Israel Jack Lew sent a diplomatic cable to Foggy Bottom saying that Israel is following both U.S. and international humanitarian law.
Minding Missiles: The U.S. imposed new sanctions on procurement networks supporting Iran’s ballistic missile, nuclear and defense programs.
Little Marco, Big Post: Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) is reportedly being considered by former President Donald Trump as a potential running mate.
Cease-fire Call: Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), who faces a competitive re-election this November, called for an “immediate” and “permanent” cease-fire between Israel and Hamas, rather than the temporary agreement being pursued by the administration.
It’s the Economy: Thirteen House members, led by Reps. Kevin Hern (R-OK) and Brad Schneider (D-IL), introduced a resolution calling for strengthening U.S.-Israel economic ties. The resolution passed the Senate by unanimous consent.
Blunt Warning: In a House Homeland Security Committee Hearing yesterday, FBI Assistant Director Robert Wells testified that the bureau is concerned about potential Iranian and Hezbollah-backed attacks against U.S. personnel, potentially on U.S. soil, as well as potential Iranian cyberattacks against infrastructure.
UNRWA Unfunded: The newest version of the proposed $1.2 trillion spending bill eliminates UNRWA funding through March 2025.
Honor Guard: The formerly top-secret “Ghost Army,” whose ruses during WWII saved the lives of tens of thousands of troops, will receive the Congressional Gold Medal today in honor of its soldiers’ efforts.
On the Hill: Senate Commerce Chair Maria Cantwell (D-WA) is mulling holding a public hearing on TikTok on the heels of a classified briefing with intelligence officials yesterday.
TikTok knock: A Columbus TikToker said Sen. Sherrod Brown’s (D-OH) staff demanded he delete a secret recording he made asking Brown for his position on a Gaza cease-fire in which Brown said he opposes a such a move “only because I don’t trust either Hamas or frankly [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu would live up” to it.
Park City Problem: The U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights reached an agreement with Utah’s Park City School District based on the department’s investigation of seven complaints across three schools; the incidents included at least 27 antisemitic incidents over two school years from 2021-2023, including Nazi salutes and the drawing of swastikas.
Upcoming Vote: The University of California regents are set to vote on a proposal to bar academic departments from posting political statements on their home pages.
Definition Dilemma: The New York Timeslooks at the challenges facing Columbia University’s antisemitism task force — including disagreements over defining the issue it seeks to counter.
Beachside Balagan: The Daily Pilot spotlights the impact the war in Gaza has had on California’s Orange County Human Relations Commission.
Speech Stuff: The New York Times’ Bret Stephens reflects on “The Zone of Interest” director Jonathan Glazer’s controversial Oscars acceptance speech.
Bethesda Bites: The Washington Post reviews Mike Friedman’s new Roman Jewish restaurant, Aventino, in Bethesda.
Survey Says: A new poll conducted by the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip found that 71% of respondents say the Oct. 7 attacks were “correct,” while 91% say that Hamas did not commit war crimes in the ongoing conflict.
Remembering: Master tailor Martin Greenfield, who learned to sew in Auschwitz and would later dress presidents and celebrities, died at 95.
Pic of the Day
A group of more than 20 rabbis and imams visited the grave of King Muhammad V in Morocco on Monday as part of a tour of the country that ends today. A delegation of Israeli imams and rabbis met a delegation of American imams in Morocco, as part of a collaboration between Ohr Torah Interfaith Center in Israel, the Islamic Coalition for Peace and Reconciliation (I-CPR) and Sharaka, a joint Israeli-Arab organization. The delegation was accompanied by Faical Marjani, head of the Maroc Co-Existence Association.
The tour included meetings with senior religious, social and political leaders and joint study sessions for Jewish and Muslim leaders, as well as an iftar meal in Rabat attended by 150 dignitaries from around the country, including U.S. Ambassador to Morocco Puneet Talwar.
Birthdays
Retired director general of the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs, he was previously Israel’s ambassador to Australia, Yuval Rotem turns 65…
Retired justice of the Connecticut Supreme Court, the first woman ever appointed to that court, Ellen Ash Peters turns 94… Rabbi emeritus of Manhattan’s Congregation Kehilath Jeshurun and former principal of the Ramaz School, Rabbi Haskel Lookstein turns 92… Harvard professor, biochemist, physicist, molecular biology pioneer and winner of the 1980 Nobel Prize in chemistry, Walter Gilbert turns 92… Scholar of Jewish mysticism and a retired dean at the Hebrew College in Boston, Arthur Green turns 83… Far Rockaway, N.Y., resident, Samuel Gross… First Jewish member of the U.S. House of Representatives from New Hampshire, he is of counsel to the law firm of Shaheen & Gordon, Paul Hodes turns 73… Former executive director of The Charles Bronfman Prize, Jill Collier Indyk… Chabad rabbi, martial artist and chaplain for 13 years in the Israel Prison Service, Fishel Jacobs turns 68… President of KWR International, Keith W. Rabin… Istanbul-born entrepreneur, hotelier and real estate developer, Izak Senbahar turns 65… Co-founder of Wynnefield Capital Management, Joshua H. Landes… Award-winning actor and singer whose roles include the title role in “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off,” Matthew Broderick turns 62… Israeli rock musician and record producer, Shlomi Bracha turns 62… Hedge fund manager, philanthropist and former chairman of the board of the New York City Opera, Roy Niederhoffer turns 58… Partner in the Los Angeles office of Liebert Cassidy Whitmore, Michael Blacher… Founding editor of The Dispatch and author of three NYT bestsellers, Jonah Goldberg turns 55… James Beard Foundation Award-winning chef from Miami, Michelle Bernstein turns 54… Emmy-award winning CNN anchor, John Berman turns 52… IDF general, he is one of the highest-ranking Druze in the IDF, Ghassan Alian turns 52… President and founder of Bully Pulpit Interactive, Andrew Bleeker… Stage and voice actress, Alyson Leigh Rosenfeld turns 37… Director of community relations at the Jewish Public Affairs Committee of California, Hadas Alterman… Clinic fellow at the Case Western Reserve University School of Law, Addison Caruso…
BIRTHWEEK (was yesterday): Retired consultant on public policy issues to IBM, Ford and Citicorp, among others, Norman I. Gelman turned 95…
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