Daily Kickoff
Good Tuesday morning.
In today’s Daily Kickoff, we have the scoop on the University of Minnesota’s decision to pause the hiring of an academic who accused Israel of genocide to head the school’s genocide studies department, spotlight a new cookbook featuring the recipes of Israeli hostages in Gaza and report from the sidelines of the American Jewish Committee’s Global Forum. Also in today’s Daily Kickoff: Edgar Bronfman, Lt. Col. (res.) Peter Lerner and Rabbi Stuart Weinblatt.
Ed. note: In observance of Shavuot, the next Daily Kickoff will arrive in your inbox on Friday, June 14. Chag sameach!
Thousands of anti-Israel protesters took to the streets outside the White House on Sunday in a demonstration that saw outright support for Hamas and Hezbollah, calls for violence against Zionists, vandalism and the assault of a park ranger, according to the National Park Service.
The response from the White House, Jewish Insider’s Gabby Deutch writes, offers a lesson in the cautious fine-tuning of every message that goes out — particularly in an election year.
First, both the Biden White House and the Biden campaign weighed in to express support for the demonstrators’ First Amendment rights. “These protesters are exercising their right and that is their right to do,” campaign spokesperson Adrienne Elrod said on Sunday.
White House deputy press secretary Andrew Bates echoed that sentiment, while suggesting — though not outright stating — that the president condemns the protesters. “President Biden has been clear that every American has the right to peacefully express their views,” Bates said in a statement on Sunday. “But he has also always been clear that antisemitism, violent rhetoric and endorsing murderous terrorist organizations like Hamas is repugnant, dangerous and against everything we stand for as a country.”
In Bates’ statement on Sunday, he did not specifically make note of the large protest and the violent, extremist rhetoric exhibited outside the White House, although he was responding a query specifically about the protest. On Monday, JI asked him to comment directly on the protesters. Bates at first declined to add to his Sunday statement. Pressed further, Bates sent a similar statement — but added “violence, attacking law enforcement … [and] advocating for the murder of Jews” to the list of things the president stands against.
“National Park Service officials were assaulted and injured,” Bates said, in reference to the events outside the White House on Sunday, providing this as rationale for why he now mentioned “violence” and “attacking law enforcement” in the list of things the president abhors.
Taken together, here are Bates’ updated comments responding to JI’s questions about the anti-Israel protest: “President Biden has been clear that every American has the right to peacefully express their views. But he has also always stressed that violence, attacking law enforcement, antisemitism, advocating for the murder of Jews, any other violent rhetoric, vandalism or endorsing terrorist organizations like Hamas are all repugnant, dangerous and against everything we stand for as a country,” he said. “National Park Service officials were assaulted and injured.”
On the election front, Maine, Nevada, North Dakota, and South Carolina are holding primaries today. The most consequential contest will be taking place in Nevada, where Republicans will choose their nominee against Sen. Jacky Rosen (D-NV) in a bellwether Senate race.
Retired Army Captain Sam Brown, who suffered severe burns during his service in Afghanistan, is the favorite to prevail in the primary, especially after winning former President Donald Trump’s endorsement last Sunday. He’s facing a challenge from Jeffrey Gunter, Trump’s former ambassador to Iceland, and former state Assemblyman Jim Marchant.
In North Dakota, the Republican Jewish Coalition made a rare primary endorsement in the state’s at-large House primary, backing state Public Service Commissioner Julie Fedorchak over former state Rep. Rick Becker. Fedorchak has campaigned as a defender of American engagement around the world, while Becker expressed skepticism of aid towards Israel in a recent interview.
In South Carolina, two Republicans are facing credible primary threats in tonight’s primaries, with one facing a well-funded threat from the center while another facing a grassroots effort from the right.
Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC) was first elected as a Trump-skeptical voice friendly with the party establishment — and faced a Trump-endorsed challenge from her right in the 2022 election. This year, she’s evolved into an anti-establishment candidate who voted to oust former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy from office — and is running as the Trump-endorsed candidate against attorney Catherine Templeton, whose candidacy has been backed by McCarthy.
With Trump’s backing, Mace holds the momentum in the race, and her allies believe she’s within striking distance of winning an outright 50% majority, which would allow the congresswoman to win the primary without being forced into a runoff two weeks later.
Rep. William Timmons (R-SC) is also facing tough primary competition on his right, from state Rep. Adam Morgan, who leads South Carolina’s version of the Freedom Caucus. Timmons touts Trump’s endorsement, but only won 53% of the primary vote in 2022 — and has faced grassroots conservative opposition over his divorce and alleged marital indiscretions.
looking north
In Washington, residents of Israel’s north highlight continued instability and Hezbollah threat

Residents of northern Israel, many of them evacuated from their homes or facing consistent rocket fire and threats from Hezbollah in Lebanon, are visiting Washington, D.C., this week in an effort to highlight the ongoing displacement and instability that they face, and the looming threat on Israel’s northern border. Former Israeli Ambassador to the U.S. Michael Oren, who helped arrange the trip through the organization that he formed after the Oct. 7 terror attacks, the Israel Advocacy Group, said that he’s hoping the delegation is able to elevate and bring greater attention to the issues in northern Israel — something he said few Americans are currently aware of. The group is planning to meet with members of Congress and the administration, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports.
State of instability: “Tens of thousands of people have been left homeless for eight months now, under constant rocket fire, large parts of the Galilee set on fire, dozens of people killed and wounded, and the potential here for a much, much greater conflict than that which has been raging in the South,” Oren said. Speaking to JI during the American Jewish Committee’s annual Global Forum, delegation members highlighted the degree of destabilization they’ve faced since Oct. 7. Some have been displaced from their homes, while others who remain live under daily rocket attacks. Several worried that their displacement will become permanent, effectively shrinking the size of the country, with or without an actual Hezbollah invasion.
Surreal conditions: Judith Javor, 77, has been a resident of Metula for 30 years, with no idea when she’ll be able to return home. Her husband died of a stroke in December, and she had just hours to enter Metula under cover of night, with an IDF convoy, under missile fire, to bury him in “the most surreal funeral that you could ever imagine. I can’t set up a headstone, I can’t go visit him, I can’t do anything,” Javor said. But she also counts herself lucky that she was able to bury her husband in Metula at all; others have not been able to do so, including family members of soldiers killed in action.
Elsewhere at AJC’s conference: Speaking at the Global Forum, Brian Hook, the former U.S. special envoy for Iran, argued, “you have to escalate to de-escalate with the Iranian regime,” blasting what he described as the Biden administration’s over-cautious posture toward the Houthis. He also said that he “wouldn’t trust [Iran] to rule out anything,” including using a nuclear weapon if they are able to develop one. “I just would be much more aggressive about dealing with this threat,” Hook said. “Because it doesn’t get any better.”