Daily Kickoff
Good Monday morning.
In today’s Daily Kickoff, we have the scoop on Sen. Chris Van Hollen’s trip to Israel later this week, preview the Republican National Convention, which gets underway today in Milwaukee, and spotlight the race to succeed Rep. Mike Gallagher in Wisconsin. Also in today’s Daily Kickoff: Assaf Rappaport, Scarlett Johansson, U.K. Foreign Minister David Lammy and Dr. Ruth Westheimer.
What We’re Watching
- The Republican National Convention kicks off today in Milwaukee, two days after an assassination attempt against former President Donald Trump. (See more below.) The convention’s first-day theme is: “Make America Wealthy Once Again.” Trump is expected to take the stage Monday evening, in his first public appearance since Saturday.
- Further west, attendees of this year’s Aspen Security Forum will make their way to the Colorado mountain town for the annual confab, which kicks off tomorrow.
- In Washington, President Joe Biden will sit for an interview at the White House tonight with NBC’s Lester Holt.
- And in Argentina, a delegation of Jewish leaders, members of Congress and administration officials are commemorating the upcoming 30th anniversary of the bombing of the AMIA Jewish Community Center, in which 85 people were killed.
- U.S. Ambassador to Israel Jack Lew will hold a virtual briefing for the Jewish community at 12:15 p.m. ET.
- In Israel, U.K. Foreign Secretary David Lammy met with Israeli President Isaac Herzog in Jerusalem on Monday morning, following meetings with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Mohammad Mustafa, as well as U.K. citizen hostage families on Sunday. Lammy called for an “immediate ceasefire, the immediate release of all hostages, the protection of civilians, unfettered access to aid in Gaza, and a pathway towards a two-state solution.” Netanyahu’s office did not release any statement or photos from the meeting.
What You Should Know
The assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump at a western Pennsylvania rally on Saturday offered a depressing reminder about the ugly state of American politics, while instantly transforming the presidential race the weekend before the GOP’s national convention.
The bullet that struck Trump’s right ear came inches away from killing him. The indelible image of Trump raising his fist seconds after the gunfire, punching the air, mouthing the word “fight!” to his supporters will be canonized in American history.
As The New York Times’ Shawn McCreesh put it: “It’s difficult to imagine a moment that more fully epitomizes Mr. Trump’s visceral connection with his supporters, and his mastery of the modern media age.”
Or Tyler Austin Harper writing in The Atlantic: “What encapsulates our American ideal more than bloody defiance and stubborn pride that teeters just on the edge of foolishness? No hunkering and no hiding — standing undaunted and undeterred, fist-pumping your way through an attempted murder. It was a moment when Trump supporters’ idea of him — strong, resilient, proud — collided with reality.”
The shooter, identified as 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks, was killed by a Secret Service sniper seconds after firing at the president. Corey Comperatore, a 50-year-old former fire chief in Butler County, Pa., was killed at the rally, and two others were critically injured. Figuring out the shooter’s motive will be the next key development to be uncovered.
The apparent security lapse from the Secret Service was shocking. Crooks was able to bring a rifle on the roof of a building just outside the security perimeter of the event, with no one taking action fast enough to neutralize the threat. “The security failures surrounding the attempted assassination of a presidential candidate demand an investigation,” Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-NY) wrote on X, echoing the sentiments of many lawmakers.
Torres and Rep. Mike Lawler (R-NY) are now introducing legislation that would give enhanced Secret Service protection to Trump, Biden and third-party candidate Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.
Dave McCormick, the GOP’s Senate nominee from Pennsylvania, was seated in the front row of the rally near Trump and witnessed the chaos. McCormick was originally supposed to be on stage with Trump at the beginning of the rally, but the former president signaled him to wait a little while longer. In a Wall Street Journal op-ed published this morning, McCormick wrote that the inch by which the bullet missed the former president “may be a metaphor for how close we are to an internal breakdown in the greatest country the world has ever known.”
McCormick slammed the “extreme rhetoric” that has found a foothold in both parties. “It’s time to stop the unending ratchet of political polemic by extremists on either side who believe their opponents’ extinction is the only option,” he wrote. “This is a political sickness, and it’s spreading. It isn’t manifest only in one party, and it can’t be fixed by one party alone.”
The Republican convention will go on uninterrupted and nominate Trump — with the former president choosing his running mate at the beginning of the proceedings — but everything else in the world of politics has changed. Trump, already seen as the favorite against President Joe Biden, will emerge at this week’s convention in Milwaukee as a political martyr and a conquering hero. It’s likely he’ll get a political boost.
Democrats will be on the defensive over whether their sometimes-overheated rhetoric against Trump played any role in fueling this episode of political violence — a charge that Republicans leveled immediately after the attack. Talk of Biden withdrawing from the race will likely come to an end.
Biden’s campaign pulled down all its advertising and suspended political communications after the attack; he canceled his trip to Austin, Texas, but is sticking with a scheduled interview on NBC News today. (The Austin trip was rescheduled for July 24, which happens to be the same day as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s high-stakes speech before a joint session of Congress.)
At this precarious moment, leaders are drawing a bright red line against any hint of political violence at a time of growing ideological extremism. Biden delivered an Oval Office address on the assassination attempt on Sunday night.
“We cannot — we must not go down this road in America,” Biden said. “We’ve traveled it before throughout our history. Violence has never been the answer, whether it’s with members of Congress in both parties being targeted in the shot, or a violent mob attacking the Capitol on January 6th, or a brutal attack on the spouse of former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, or information and intimidation on election officials, or the kidnapping plot against a sitting governor, or an attempted assassination on Donald Trump. There is no place in America for this kind of violence or for any violence ever. Period. No exceptions. We can’t allow this violence to be normalized.”
The Anti-Defamation League put out a statement summing up the high stakes of this moment for American society: “The shooting of former President Trump is a chilling moment that reminds us of our fragility. Unfortunately, it is almost unsurprising in a public context of escalating tension, intensifying rhetoric, and expanding violence. None of this is normal. None of this should be normalized,” wrote ADL CEO Jonathan Greenblatt.
“We call both parties to dial down the weaponized partisanship and to support a peaceful election — and to restore decency and decorum to our democracy when this season draws to a close.”
Netanyahu was one of the first world leaders to comment on the assassination attempt, posting on X that he and his wife Sara were “shocked” and praying for Trump’s recovery, Jewish Insider’s Lahav Harkov reports. That post came about 45 minutes after the shooting, in contrast with his message of congratulations when Biden was elected president, which was sent over 12 hours after American networks called the election for the Democratic candidate – yet Trump has accused Netanyahu of being the first to do so. The haste in which Netanyahu’s message was sent overnight Saturday may reflect an effort to repair his fractured relationship with Trump. The prime minister later posted a video with a longer message, saying that the attack was not only on Trump but on democracy in the U.S. and beyond.
Netanyahu presented his cabinet with a video of threats to his life on Sunday, and demanded action from the attorney general, saying that “apart from a few small exceptions, nothing tangible has been done … The incident that occurred in the U.S. — many said the writing was on the wall. We are seeing the writing on the wall” in Israel, he warned. Netanyahu accused the authorities of taking threats to former Prime Minister Naftali Bennett more seriously and only enforcing laws against incitement and blocking roads when the right takes such action.
deif’s fate
Mohammed Deif, the ‘cat with nine lives,’ could now be dead after Israeli strike
Israel was still holding off on Monday from confirming that it had assassinated Mohammed Deif, the shadowy commander of Hamas’ military wing, the Izzedine al-Qassam Brigades, who had survived multiple Israeli attempts on his life over the past two decades, prior to Israel’s targeted attack against him in Khan Yunis in the Gaza Strip on Saturday. On Sunday, a Hamas official told French news agency AFP that Deif, who is referred to in Israel as the “cat with nine lives,” was “fine” after the attack. But Hamas provided no proof that Deif survived, and Israeli media reported on Monday that Deif’s body may be under heavy guard at a Gaza hospital, Jewish Insider’s Ruth Marks Eglash reports.
Top target: While there is still no final confirmation of Deif’s death – with some speculating that he could have succeeded in escaping yet again by ducking into the vast subterranean tunnel system that still exists in some parts of the Gaza Strip – the elimination of such a senior leader would deal a serious blow to the Palestinian terror group that has been battling Israel since last October. Long considered by Israel to be a top target in Gaza, Deif, 58, is viewed as just as senior and as influential as Hamas’ top leader in the Strip, Yahya Sinwar.
scoop
Chris Van Hollen slated to travel to Israel this week
Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) is traveling to Israel later this week, two officials in Israel and one in the U.S. confirmed to Jewish Insider’s Melissa Weiss and Lahav Harkov. The Prime Minister’s Office, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and President’s Office told JI that they did not have scheduled meetings with Van Hollen.
Not on his schedule: Neither MK Benny Gantz nor Opposition Leader Yair Lapid are currently scheduled to meet with Van Hollen, according to their representatives. Other senior Israeli officials did not immediately confirm a meeting with the senator. Van Hollen did not respond to a request from JI for details of the trip.
party platform
Several GOP leaders fret over platform’s lack of detail in tackling antisemitism
Some Republicans are criticizing the section of the GOP’s new platform focused on combating antisemitism as lacking substance at a time of record levels of antisemitism in the United States, Jewish Insider’s Emily Jacobs and Matthew Kassel report. The platform, which is far more condensed than previous iterations in an effort to be easily digestible for voters, includes just two brief lines on addressing antisemitism, the first of which reads, “Republicans condemn antisemitism, and support revoking Visas of Foreign Nationals who support terrorism and jihadism.” It adds, “We will hold accountable those who perpetrate violence against Jewish people.”
Abbreviated: A further abbreviated list of priorities at the bottom of the platform vows to “DEPORT PRO-HAMAS RADICALS AND MAKE OUR COLLEGE CAMPUSES SAFE AND PATRIOTIC AGAIN.” A number of party stalwarts told JI they worry the lack of domestic policy prescriptions to address the rising tide of antisemitism will hurt the GOP’s efforts to reach Jewish voters who feel politically homeless going into November. “The Jewish people have endured so much these past nine months and are feeling abandoned as the left continues to accept rank antisemitism rhetoric from its own side,” Paul Teller, executive director of Advancing American Freedom, the policy group founded by former Vice President Mike Pence, said.
Campus concerns: Firsthand accounts of the turmoil over the Israel-Hamas war that has gripped college campuses nationwide will be brought into focus at the Republican National Convention this week in Milwaukee, where a recent graduate of Harvard University and a group of University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill fraternity brothers are slated to take to the stage and share their experiences with the estimated 50,000 attendees, eJewishPhilanthropy’s Haley Cohen reports for Jewish Insider.
saudi sights
Worries grow that timeline for Israel-Saudi normalization deal narrowing
With the presidential election just four months away, the prospect of securing a normalization deal between Saudi Arabia and Israel before the end of President Joe Biden’s first term is narrowing, Jewish Insider’s Emily Jacobs and Lahav Harkov report. A former senior Israeli official who was a key figure in forging ties between Israel and Arab countries told JI that he does not think there is a chance for normalization in the near future. “All of the vectors do not lead to normalization at this time,” they said, citing “the war situation [and] the upcoming election in the U.S.”
Saudi street: The source said there is a “lack of legitimacy in the Saudi street and the Arab world. Saudi Arabia as leader of the Muslim world cannot allow itself to normalize under these conditions.” They also noted that Abraham Accords states are “struggling” over their ties with Israel as its war with Hamas in Gaza extends into its ninth month. The Biden administration and a bipartisan coalition of lawmakers have been working for years to secure a much-coveted Saudi deal as a follow-up to the Abraham Accords, the landmark Trump-era agreement that saw the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain establish public ties with Israel.
badger state race
In the race to replace Wisconsin Rep. Mike Gallagher, a divide over the course of U.S. foreign policy
As the political world turns its eyes toward Milwaukee this week for the Republican National Convention, another political contest in the state is heating up, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports. The race to replace former Rep. Mike Gallagher (R-WI), a one-time rising star in the Republican Party and a strong proponent of U.S. engagement abroad, is shaping up to be another in a series of contests between the GOP’s traditional internationalist foreign policy wing and those adopting more restrictionist views.
In the race: Facing off are former state Sen. Roger Roth, a member of the Wisconsin Air National Guard; state Sen. Andre Jacque; and businessman and political neophyte Tony Wied, who entered the race with an endorsement from former President Donald Trump. All three candidates pledged support for Israel and said they supported continued U.S. aid to the Jewish state, but Roth leans more toward traditional conservative foreign policy views than his two competitors, who said they opposed additional U.S. aid to Ukraine. Like Gallagher, Roth has touted his national security experience as a key selling point to voters.
dem debate
Democrats in Israel rebuild after antisemitism controversy with Democrats Abroad
The Oct. 7 Hamas attack and ensuing war in Gaza roiled the political waters in the United States, unleashing a torrent of antisemitism and driving a wedge between moderates and progressives in the Democratic Party. The waves, it turns out, washed up on Israel’s shores too, forcing the group once known as Democrats Abroad Israel to break from the party’s international umbrella organization over antisemitism in the wake of the attack. Now, as the Republican and Democratic Party arms in Israel launch their 2024 campaigns to get the half-million American expats in Israel to vote in the November election, the newly named American Democrats in Israel has reconstituted itself and affiliated with the Jewish Democratic Council of America, Jewish Insider’s Lahav Harkov reports.
Domestic focus: The rebranding comes as the U.S. citizens in Israel turn their attention to the presidential race between President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump and debate who is a better friend to Israel, and which candidate would more effectively handle domestic issues central to the American Jewish community. Those debates are playing out against the backdrop of strained relations between Washington and Jerusalem as the Gaza war grinds on into a ninth month. The chairman of American Democrats in Israel, Ethan Kushner, said that voters with whom he has spoken are “primarily looking at domestic politics in the U.S. We’re obviously thinking about how the U.S.-Israel relationship will play out, but the overall concern by voters is what would happen to domestic policies in the U.S. in the event that Donald Trump wins the 2024 election.”
Worthy Reads
The Spirit of ‘Shalom’: The Atlantic’s Peter Wehner considers the lessons to be taken from the weekend’s assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump — and the reactions to it. “A beautiful Hebrew word, shalom, refers to overcoming strife and social tension. But it means more than that. It implies harmony, wholeness, justice, and peace in the deepest sense. ‘Love and fidelity will meet,’ we read in the Psalms; ‘righteousness and peace now embrace.’ I’m not naive enough to believe that a spirit of shalom will characterize politics in any era, let alone this one. But I believe that good men and women who revere this nation can, at certain key moments, strive to understand one another a little better, to resist the recriminations a little more successfully. We can even, in our best moments, see the humanity and dignity in those with whom we have fought pitched battles.” [TheAtlantic]
How About London or Paris?: In Politico, the Atlantic Council’s Elisabeth Braw implores Western travelers to avoid visiting hostile nations, out of concern that they could be detained and their release would be predicated on their home countries needing to make extreme concessions. “Such a cavalier attitude toward risky countries may have worked when those doing the snatching were criminals, tribal groups and guerillas. But when it’s the governments of major world powers, it becomes an even higher-stakes geopolitical game — one that can cause great harm to Western countries, as the price of their citizens’ release is so high. What’s more, the concessions Western governments have to make to get their citizens demonstrate they can indeed be blackmailed. Unsurprisingly, Russia, China, Iran and North Korea will continue to exploit this weakness of ours, and other countries could decide to join the hostage diplomacy club.” [Politico]
French Fears: In The Wall Street Journal, the Hudson Institute’s Mike Watson warns that the recent ascension of far-left candidates in France’s elections could have wide-ranging effects for Paris’ allies as well as the country’s Jewish community. “Yet for all the happy talk about the center holding and the antifascists winning, the election results are troubling. Antisemitism gained a new respectability in the French political center, and anti-Americanism is ascendant. Europeans loudly question U.S. seriousness and resilience, both fearing abandonment and hoping that American political turmoil will drive Europe to unify and become a great power. American leaders need to think hard about what happens if Europe implodes.” [WSJ]
Dr. Ruth’s Intimate Touch: In the Washington Post, Louis Bayard reflects on the death of Dr. Ruth Westheimer. “Dr. Ruth’s zeitgeist moment ended pretty much with the ’80s, but to the end of her days, she was teaching, writing, speaking, showing up wherever there were eyes to see and ears to hear. Her compulsive need to fill her calendar, as revealed in the 2019 documentary ‘Ask Dr. Ruth,’ had something in common with showbiz survivors like Joan Rivers and had behind it, I think, the same fear of being forgotten. Maybe she needed us as much as we needed her, or maybe she grasped just how much we needed each other. The orphan refugee whose parents were swept away by the Holocaust would recall decades later ‘the importance of being touched, of being loved,’ and would, in her final years, sound the alarm against human loneliness. From her angle, sex wasn’t just fun and games; it was death’s most fearsome enemy.” [WashPost]
Word on the Street
A new poll in Missouri’s 1st Congressional District has St. Louis Prosecutor Wesley Bell leading Rep. Cori Bush (D-MO) 56-33% ahead of the Aug. 6 Democratic primary…
City and State NY breaks down the decision by the Democratic Socialists of America to unendorse Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) over her stance on the Israel-Palestinian conflict…
Alphabet, the parent company of Google, is nearing an agreement to acquire Assaf Rappaport’s Israeli cybersecurity startup Wiz for $23 billion; Rep. Ritchie Torres called the deal a “$23 billion middle finger to the BDS movement against the Jewish State”…
“Captain America: Brave New World,” which is set to be released in early 2025, is facing boycott calls by anti-Israel activists over the inclusion of a supporting character whose original origin story was that of a Mossad agent; Shira Haas’ character, Ruth Bat-Seraph, is now portrayed in the film as a senior U.S. government official…
In a wide-ranging New York Timesinterview, actress Scarlett Johansson, who is Jewish, responded to a question about rising antisemitism by saying she was “not surprised by antisemitism. It shouldn’t be surprising”…
The Washington Post spotlights the friendship between a Holocaust survivor and a teenage volunteer at the Illinois Holocaust Museum and Education Center…
Argentina designated Hamas a terror group…
French networks simultaneously aired a short film highlighting the rise of antisemitism in the country that played ahead of the UEFA Euro Championship game on Sunday; the film showcased how a Jewish family in Paris was reacting to rising antisemitism, as seen from the vantage point of a French Black man who was a friend of the family…
Four Israeli soldiers were wounded, two of them seriously, in a car-ramming attack in central Israel on Sunday…
The New York Timesreports on Hamas’ fighting tactics and how the terror group is “blurring the boundary between civilians and combatants”…
Azerbaijan reopened its embassy in Tehran, more than a year after the mission’s security chief was killed and two others injured in an attack on the building…
Sex therapist Dr. Ruth Westheimer, who survived the Holocaust as a teenager and moved to pre-state Israel and fought in the Haganah before immigrating to the U.S., died at 96…
Celebrity fitness personality Richard Simmons died at 76…
Attorney Abe Krash, who played a key role in the Supreme Court decision on Gideon v. Wainwright, died at 97…
Pic of the Day
U.K. Foreign Minister David Lammy (center) met earlier today with Israeli President Isaac Herzog and the family of Tamir Adar, a Kibbutz Oz resident who was murdered by Hamas and whose body is still being held in Gaza.
Birthdays
President and chairman of the board of the Annenberg Foundation, Wallis Annenberg turns 85…
Member of the British House of Lords, he is a professor, medical doctor, scientist, television anchor and Labour Party politician, Baron Robert Maurice Lipson Winston turns 84… Israeli composer and conductor, he composed and conducted the winning entry at the 1979 Eurovision Song Contest, Kobi Oshrat turns 80… Professional sports bettor and poker player, he is a four-time winner of the World Series of Poker, Mickey Appleman turns 79… Physician and life fellow of the American Psychiatric Association, Dr. David Harris Lippman… Dean of Beth Medrash Govoha in Lakewood, N.J., one of the largest yeshivas in the world with more than 9,000 students, Rabbi Dovid Schustal turns 77… Former congresswoman from Florida for 30 years, during her last two years she served as chairwoman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Ileana Ros-Lehtinen turns 72… EVP at the Aspen Institute responsible for policy programs and its international partners, Elliot Gerson… Israel’s ambassador to the U.S. since 2021, Michael (Mike) Herzog turns 72… California-based appellate attorney, Feris M. Greenberger… Executive director of Friends of OU Israel, Miriam Baron (Mimi) Jankovits… Board chair of the Jewish Federations of North America, Julie Beren Platt… Professor at the UCLA School of Law, Richard Harold Steinberg turns 64… Political news director at Bloomberg, Jodi Schneider… Member of Congress (D-RI) until 2023, his mother is Sabra née Peskin, David Nicola Cicilline turns 63… Anchorage-based attorney, a member of the Alaska House of Representatives since 2012, Andrew Lewis “Andy” Josephson turns 60… Former U.K. Labour Party MP including three years as secretary of state for foreign affairs, now CEO of NYC-based International Rescue Committee, David Miliband turns 59… Co-founder and chief investment officer of Toronto-based EdgeStone Capital Partners, one of Canada’s leading private equity firms, Gilbert S. Palter… Israeli actress and singer, she is the 1991 and 1998 winner of the Ophir Award (Israel’s Academy Award) for best actress, Dafna Rechter turns 59… Senior advisor at investment bank Greif & Co., he was the CFO of Jewish Family Service of Los Angeles, David S. Felman… Senior business development representative at Atera, Sam Kalmowicz… Rabbi, blogger and attorney, Eliyahu Fink… Senior correspondent at New York magazine and a CNN contributor, she is a co-author of Notorious RBG: The Life and Times of Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Irin Carmon turns 41… Israeli actor, he played Boaz in Season 1 of “Fauda,” Tomer Kapon turns 39… Filmmaker and co-founder of the Square Peg film production company, Ari Aster turns 38… Managing editor of the U.S. deals team at Bloomberg, Liana Balinsky-Baker… Deputy assistant secretary for travel and tourism at the U.S. Department of Commerce, Alexander Lasry turns 37… VP of the Israel Action and Addressing Antisemitism Program at Hillel International, Jonathan Steven (“Jon”) Falk… Director of news experimentation at Southern California Public Radio, Ariel Zirulnick… Senior NFL reporter at Yahoo Sports, she is also the author of a biography of a Holocaust survivor, Jori Epstein…
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