Daily Kickoff
Good Tuesday morning.
In today’s Daily Kickoff, we break down Capitol Hill’s upcoming legislative calendar, with only 11 weeks in session before the end of the year.We also look at how Camp Ramah in New England is handling anti-Zionism at the staff level, report on House Speaker Mike Johnson’s foreign policy speech at the Hudson Institute yesterday and have the scoop on a new letter from a bipartisan group of legislators concerned about Turkey’s posturing against Israel in recent months. Also in today’s Daily Kickoff: Reid Hoffman, Michael Bloomberg and Elon Musk.
What We’re Watching
- Allen & Co.’s Sun Valley confab kicks off today in Idaho. In addition to the entertainment moguls and politicos we mentioned in yesterday’s newsletter, we can confirm that Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft will be in Sun Valley this week as well.
- On Capitol Hill today, the House Ways and Means Committee is slated to hold a markup on legislation on university tax exemptions, while the House Education Subcommittee on Health, Employment, Labor, and Pensions is holding a hearing on antisemitism in unions. Speakers at the hearing include attorney Ilana Kopmar, MIT graduate student William Sussman, West Virginia University College of Law professor Anne Marie Lofaso and attorney Glenn Taubman of the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation.
- American Jewish Committee CEO Ted Deutch is speaking at the Hudson Institute this morning in conversation with Michael Doran about the threat Iran poses to the U.S. global security alliance.
- Chabad is observing the 30th yahrzeit of Lubavitcher Rebbe Menachem Mendel Schneerson. Read Jewish Insider’s coverage of last year’s commemoration of Schneerson’s death here. Last year, tens of thousands visited the Ohel in Queens, where he is buried.
- In Israel, hostage negotiations are stirring up discord in Israel’s governing coalition, Jewish Insider’s Lahav Harkov reports, with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s right flank threatening to topple the government over a deal that Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich called “a defeat and humiliation for the State of Israel” and National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir called “a surrender to terror … intolerable.” And on Netanyahu’s left, Opposition Leader Yair Lapid and others accused Netanyahu of trying to undermine the negotiations by releasing a statement on Sunday night listing Israel’s conditions – though Lapid also said that his party would serve as a “safety net” so that coalition politics do not torpedo a deal. Hamas, which has refused every cease-fire offer until now, accused Netanyahu of “placing additional obstacles in the way of negotiations.”
What You Should Know
Some of the key legislative priorities of many pro-Israel lawmakers and a wide swath of Jewish communal leaders appear elusive as the election nears and the days of the 118th Congress dwindle, Jewish Insider senior congressional correspondent Marc Rod writes.
Congress has just three weeks left in session, including this week, before its August recess, and six total remaining before the November election. A total of just 11 weeks in session remain before the end of the year. There’s a long list of legislation to be addressed with not much time to do it — and it’s not clear how much of that will be completed this year, especially before the election.
One key task will be finalizing the 2025 National Defense Authorization Act, the massive annual defense and foreign policy bill, versions of which have already passed the House and the Senate Armed Services Committee. The House-passed bill includes a variety of policy riders that Senate Democrats are likely to oppose, setting up a difficult negotiating process.
The NDAA has also been floated as a vehicle for two major antisemitism bills that lawmakers and Jewish groups hope to pass before the end of the year: the Antisemitism Awareness Act and the Countering Antisemitism Act. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) has faced increasing pressure from Jewish leaders as well as Democrats on the Hill to bring the Antisemitism Awareness Act up for a floor vote.
The NDAA drafts also include a range of other Middle East policy programs, including an effort to expand military cooperation among Abraham Accords members into the space domain.
Government funding runs out on Sept. 30 and, while the House has already passed several appropriations bills, it’s not likely that any will become law before the deadline, and a stopgap funding bill or bills will likely be required, at least through the election, if not into the next Congress, depending on the election outcome.
The funding bills passed by the House are full of measures on Israel and Middle East policy — among a range of other subjects — that could prove controversial among Senate Democrats.
Talks continue on compromise legislation responding to the International Criminal Court’s pursuit of arrest warrants for Israeli officials, though a bipartisan agreement appears increasingly unlikely to come to fruition.
Lawmakers have been hoping that a deal to normalize relations between Saudi Arabia and Israel and strengthen U.S.-Saudi relations could be finalized before the election. But since such a deal would require Senate ratification and no deal appears imminent, it would be difficult to finalize in the time remaining.
There’s also the Farm Bill, which funds agricultural and food aid programs, which runs out on Sept. 30, and must be replaced or extended before then. Lawmakers have been working for months to find a compromise, but it’s not clear that even House Republicans can agree on what legislation to put forward.
camp quandry
Why Camp Ramah in New England drew a red line against anti-Zionism among its staff
Since Oct. 7, Jewish institutions including synagogues, rabbinical schools and nonprofits have been grappling with whether, and how, to draw red lines on Israel. One prominent Conservative-affiliated summer camp offers a case study in what happens when a Jewish organization takes a firm position, opting to stick to its central values even at the risk of upsetting some longtime community members. That’s what happened at Camp Ramah in New England, which drew the ire of some alumni after deciding not to rehire an anti-Zionist counselor — and earned the admiration of others for standing by its principles, Jewish Insider’s Gabby Deutch reports.
Play by play: When a long-serving counselor shared a post to her Instagram page from Jewish Voice for Peace saying that Jews ought to oppose “genocide” in Gaza, soon after Oct. 7, Israelis who had worked with her in the past were upset by it, and they told her so. Because the post had been shared on social media, the counselor’s identity as an anti-Zionist — a belief she has held for many years, she told JI, but had not shared with camp leadership — became public knowledge. Ramah’s senior staff ultimately had to decide if there was a place for a rosh eidah, or group leader, who publicly aligned herself with an anti-Zionist organization. The camp’s eventual decision not to rehire her prompted an open letter signed by 146 alumni, who said counselors’ personal beliefs on Israel shouldn’t be factored into the hiring process. Ramah New England CEO Rabbi Ed Gelb disagreed: “We make a sacred promise to our community that we will faithfully adhere to our public educational goals, including that we are a Zionist camp (unapologetically so),” he said in an email last week.
speaker’s speech
Mike Johnson channels Ronald Reagan while touting Trump’s foreign policy
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) made the case for a conservative foreign policy doctrine in a Monday speech at the Hudson Institute that echoed former President Ronald Reagan’s “peace through strength” mantra, while endorsing former President Donald Trump’s worldview, Jewish Insider’s Emily Jacobs reports.
Ready to fight: In his first major foreign policy address as speaker, Johnson argued that Trump is seen as a strong leader because of his tough stances against China and Iran, and explained that while the GOP is not a party “of nation builders and careless interventionists, nor are we idealists who think we can placate tyrants.” Johnson said: “We are realists. We don’t seek out a fight, but we’re always prepared to fight, and if we must fight, we fight with the gloves off. And today, when our adversaries don’t need to cross oceans to harm our people, we need a new policy of peace through strength for the 21st century.”
policy platform
New GOP platform references support for Israel, fighting antisemitism
The Republican Party passed a new platform on Monday indicating that the Trump campaign is seeking to highlight its support for Israel and opposition to antisemitism in the final months of the election, even as the draft document, at just 16 pages, remained short on specific policy proposals, Jewish Insider’s Matthew Kassel reports.
Dearth of detail: The newly adopted document, overwhelmingly approved by a Republican platform committee ahead of next week’s convention in Milwaukee, includes just one reference to Israel as well as a brief line about combating antisemitism. By comparison, the last GOP platform — adopted in 2016 and recycled in 2020 — was more detailed in outlining its “unequivocal” commitment to Israel, which it called “an exceptional country that shares our most essential values.”
scoop
Bipartisan group of lawmakers expresses ‘serious concerns’ about Erdoğan’s hostility toward Israel
A bipartisan group of 28 House members is voicing “serious concerns” about Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and his country’s “escalating hostility and inflammatory rhetoric” toward Israel, warning that the U.S. may have to recalibrate its relationship with its NATO ally if Ankara doesn’t change course, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod scoops.
Called out: The lawmakers blasted Erdoğan for supporting Hamas, attacking Israel and otherwise working counter to U.S. interests and policy. They said that the State Department should make clear that continuing such behavior “will likely have a negative effect on the relationship between our countries.”
doha dealings
Senate defense bill pushes for review of U.S.-Qatar relationship
The Senate Armed Services Committee’s draft of the 2025 National Defense Authorization Act pushes for a review of the U.S.-Qatar relationship, following months of mounting pressure from Capitol Hill and calls from some lawmakers to dramatically downgrade the U.S.’ relationship with Doha, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports.
Qatar cut off?: The bill includes a provision that would require the Department of Defense to submit a report to and brief Congress on the “operational value” of the Al-Udeid Air Base in Qatar — the largest U.S. base in the Middle East — “taking into consideration the relationship of the Government of Qatar with Hamas and other terrorist organizations.” The explanatory report accompanying the bill directs the secretary of defense to press Qatar to expel Hamas officials if Hamas continues to refuse “reasonable negotiations.”
Bonus: A new State Department report condemned Qatar for including antisemitic content in its textbooks, following the release of an IMPACT-se report on antisemitism in the Gulf nation’s educational materials.
mixed message
Columbia deans placed on indefinite leave for antisemitic texts
Jewish student leaders at Columbia University were flummoxed on Monday following a “confusing” and “intentionally ambiguous” announcement by President Minouche Shafik that three administrators had been removed from their posts for text messages that veered into antisemitism during a May panel on Jewish life at the university, eJewishPhilanthropy’s Haley Cohen reports for Jewish Insider.
Ambiguous wording: The statement from Shafik and Provost Angela Olinto referenced the “permanent removal” of the three — Susan Chang-Kim, vice dean and chief administrative officer; Cristen Kromm, dean of undergraduate student life; and Matthew Patashnick, associate dean for student and family support — but added that they “remain on leave.” Eliana Goldin, a rising fourth-year political science major pursuing a dual degree at the Jewish Theological Seminary, told JI that the wording “was intentionally left ambiguous so that students would think some sort of concrete action was being taken by the university.” A Columbia University spokesperson told CNN that the three officials are still employed by the university.
Worthy Reads
Cardinal Principles: In the Washington Post, Larry Diamond and Jeffrey Koseff, the chairs of Stanford University’s Subcommittee on Antisemitism and Anti-Israeli Bias, suggest the steps the university can take to effectively address antisemitism on the California campus. “First, they must ensure that their students are safe. Not from divergent ideas — students should face those in abundance — but from bigotry. Schools have an obligation to protect students from identity-based harassment and to provide psychological counseling and moral support when needed. They must carefully construct and enforce ‘time, place and manner’ restrictions on expression — content-neutral policies that preserve the university’s ability to function. … Universities should be cautious in taking institutional positions on issues of the day, and they should confront and denounce antisemitism, anti-Israeli bias, Islamophobia and other forms of identity bias.” [WashPost]
Wild West (Bank): In The Wall Street Journal, Naomi Linder Kahn looks at the Palestinian Authority’s mishandling of the recent killing of two IDF soldiers in the West Bank. “The Oslo Accords spell out what should have happened next: The PA Security Forces, which receive training and funding from the U.S. and other foreign governments, should have handed over Mr. Shtayyeh to Israel to stand trial. This process was created to forestall Israeli incursions into Palestinian Authority-controlled areas and de-escalate tensions following acts of terror, while letting the PA build credibility as a partner for peace. Had Mr. Shtayyeh believed that any of this would actually happen, he is unlikely to have turned himself in. But he had every reason to believe that he, like hundreds of terrorists before him over the past 30 years, would be protected by the PA. In the early years of the Oslo framework the PA made perfunctory gestures, detaining terrorists for weeks or even months before setting them free. As time went on, even this farce was abandoned. Mr. Shtayyeh remained in PA Security Forces custody for only a few hours. More than a month after the double murder, he remains at large.” [WSJ]
Word on the Street
Reps.Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) and Ilhan Omar (D-MN) said on Monday that they plan to back President Joe Biden’s reelection campaign…
Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff tested positive for COVID-19…
In an interview with The Nation, Vice President Kamala Harris expressed sympathy for campus anti-Israel protesters, saying, “They are showing exactly what the human emotion should be, as a response to Gaza. There are things some of the protesters are saying that I absolutely reject, so I don’t mean to wholesale endorse their points. But we have to navigate it. I understand the emotion behind it”…
State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said the U.S. does not anticipate any significant policy changes in Iran following the election of Massoud Pezeshkian, the less extreme of the two candidates in Friday’s runoff to succeed Ebrahim Raisi…
A group of 17 St. Louis-area rabbis and cantors renewed their support for Wesley Bell to oust Rep. Cori Bush (D-MO) from Congress. “For nearly four years, Cori Bush has not been shy about her desire to isolate, demonize, and discredit Israel. She does not speak for us, nor does her voting record in Congress represent us. It’s time to make a change,” they wrote in a new letter…
Pennsylvania’s state Capitol building in Harrisburg was evacuated on Saturday evening after an anonymous email address sent bomb threats to every state lawmaker “in the name of Palestine,” but law enforcement did not find any explosives…
LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman is making a multimillion-dollar investment in Smartmatic, which has spent tens of millions of dollars in legal fees in defamation lawsuits against Fox News and Newsmax…
The New York Times spotlights Sullivan & Cromwell as the law firm takes a strong position against job applicants who have participated in anti-Israel activity on their campuses as students…
NYU settled a lawsuit with Jewish students who alleged the university had not done enough to address antisemitism on campus; the terms of the settlement were not made immediately available…
A majority of medical students attending the prestigious Johns Hopkins University will receive a free ride beginning this fall following a $1 billion donation from billionaire and former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, announced on Monday in the Bloomberg Philanthropies annual report…
X owner Elon Musk defended the platform’s recent suspension of Lucas Gage, a former Marine suspended for posting images of himself burning the Talmud; Gage had made a series of antisemitic comments on the site. In addressing the suspension, Musk said that Gage “made repeated and clear calls for violence”…
The U.K.’s ruling Labour Party, which swept the country’s elections last week, is mulling the possibility of creating a new category of state-sponsored terrorism, under which Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps may fall…
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announced the appointment of attorney and Jewish communal leader Jillian Segal as the country’s antisemitism envoy…
Yad Vashem inaugurated the David and Fela Shapell Family Collections Center, a mostly underground complex on the museum’s campus that will preserve and house artifacts from the Holocaust…
Recently obtained satellite images show expansion efforts at two Iranian ballistic missile facilities outside of Tehran…
The IDF said that it had killed dozens of terrorists in Gaza City and dozens more in Rafah…
Hebrew literary scholar Arnold Band, who founded the UCLA Center for Jewish Studies, died at 94…
Canadian philanthropist and real estate magnate Tom Weisz died at 78…
Fundraiser Paul Kane, who previously served as senior adviser to the president and CEO of the Jewish Federations of North America, died at 77…
Philanthropist Dorothy Lichtenstein, whose husband was the late artist Roy Lichtenstein, died at 84…
Pic of the Day
President Joe Biden met on Monday at the White House with Liat Beinin Atzili, a U.S.-born dual citizen who was taken hostage from her home in Kibbutz Nir Oz and released in November after 54 days of Hamas captivity. Atzili’s husband, Aviv, was killed in the Oct. 7 Hamas terror attacks, and his body remains in Gaza.
Birthdays
Public radio personality, former producer of “This American Life” and the host and executive producer of the podcast “Serial,” Sarah Koenig turns 55…
Former Soviet refusenik, prisoner of conscience, human rights activist, author and translator, Iosif Begun turns 92… Constitutional law expert focused on the First Amendment and free speech, senior counsel at Cahill Gordon & Reindel where he has practiced since 1963, Floyd Abrams turns 88… Conductor and music director of symphony orchestras in Rotterdam, Rochester, Baltimore and Zurich, David Zinman turns 88… Licensed loan officer based in Huntington Woods, Mich., Robert Morris Rubin… Arizona resident, Howard Cohen… Play-by-play announcer for the MLB’s San Diego Padres from 1980 to 2020, Theodore (Ted) Leitner turns 77… Tikvah (Tiki) Lyons… Rabbi of Congregation Beth Jacob of Atlanta, Rabbi Ilan D. Feldman turns 70… Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) turns 69… Author, motivational speaker and former stockbroker, his autobiographical memoir, The Wolf of Wall Street, was adapted into a film and released in 2013, Jordan Ross Belfort turns 62… Mortgage professional and owner of D.C.’s Char Bar, Michael Alan Chelst… Activist short seller, author and editor of the online investment newsletter “Citron Research,” Andrew Edward Left turns 54… Actor, tour guide, poet, speaker, philosopher and author, Timothy “Speed” Levitch turns 54… Journalist at The Free Press covering national security and foreign policy, Eli Jon Lake turns 52… Former anchor and reporter for Fox Business Network, Lori Rothman turns 51… Peter Webb … Co-founder and executive director of Nefesh B’Nefesh, Yehoshua Fass turns 51… Israeli documentary filmmaker, Guy Davidi turns 46… Poker player and graduate of Yale Law School, she is the only woman to ever reach the number one ranking on the Global Poker Index, Vanessa K. Selbst turns 40… Tony Award-winning theater, film and television actor, Brandon Uranowitz turns 38… Renewable energy and climate specialist, Samantha Hea Marks… Pitcher for Team Israel at the 2017 and 2023 World Baseball Classics, Jake Kalish turns 33… Pitcher in the Los Angeles Angels organization, currently at the AAA Salt Lake Bees, Kenny Rosenberg turns 29…
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