Daily Kickoff: DNC officials walk Israel-Gaza tightrope
Good Wednesday morning.
In today’s Daily Kickoff, we look at the fine line Democratic officials are walking as they attempt to incorporate the Oct. 7 Hamas terror attack and Israel-Hamas war into the DNC next week, profile Ilan Goldenberg, the Harris campaign’s new Jewish outreach director, and look at a potential primary challenge to New York City Councilmember Shahana Hanif, who has frequently been critical of Israel since being elected to office. Also in today’s Daily Kickoff: Naftali Bennett, Rep. Steny Hoyer and Sam Rosen.
What We’re Watching
- Secretary of State Tony Blinken postponed his Middle East trip, but top administration officials Brett McGurk and Amos Hochstein were dispatched by the White House to the region, as the U.S. balances simultaneous efforts to reach a cease-fire between Israel and Hamas and stem the possibility of an all-out war between Israel and Iran and Hezbollah. CIA Director Bill Burns is also in the region this week, ahead of the slated resumption of cease-fire talks tomorrow — which Hamas is refusing to participate in. President Joe Biden said earlier this week that he believed that a cease-fire agreement would stave off an Iranian reprisal attack on Israel.
- Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) prevailed in her primary on Tuesdaywith 56% of the vote over Don Samuels, her 2022 opponent. Her 13-point margin of victory was an improvement over the last election, but shows she still faces a sizable share of opposition in the Minneapolis-based district. (See more on the race below.)
What You Should Know
Democrats have been trying to strike a balance maintaining the party’s traditional support for Israel while accommodating the anti-Israel activists who make up a small but loud faction of the party, Jewish Insider Editor-in-Chief Josh Kraushaar writes.
Instead of drawing a red line speaking out against these far-left voices, the Harris campaign has instead tried to keep them in the Democratic fold. A few notable examples in the last week:
Example 1: At Vice President Kamala Harris’ rally last week in Detroit, the Harris campaign invited several Uncommitted anti-Israel activists to the photo line, where they urged her to support an arms embargo against Israel. Her campaign told JI that she agreed to stay in touch with them, even as the campaign denied she supported their policy goals. And despite the generous outreach, the activists nonetheless interrupted her speech on several occasions, prompting a hearty rebuke from the vice president after the second disruption.
Example 2: Democratic Party leaders have been in close touch with the 30 or so Uncommitted delegates (of nearly 5,000 total) to pressure them not to create a ruckus on the convention floor, according to The New York Times. The desire to avoid any messy intra-party divisions over Israel reportedly played a role in Harris choosing Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz over Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro as her running mate. Yet despite all the diplomacy, those “delegates are still planning to make their presence at the proceedings known, threatening the overwhelming display of unity,” according to the paper.
Example 3: Democrats have been working to make sure an Israeli hostage family is represented in one night’s programming, but have also been trying to balance things out by featuring a speaker critical of Israel in proximity to the hostage family, according to The New York Times. One potential candidate: Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison, a leading critic of Israel from his time in Congress.
Example 4:The Washington Examinerreported that Walz hosted Imam Asad Zaman, a Muslim cleric who praised Hamas’ Oct. 7 terrorist attack and promoted a film that glorified Adolf Hitler, five times as governor (prior to Oct. 7). The Harris campaign didn’t specifically address the imam’s rhetoric, offering a statement to JI that the governor didn’t have a “personal relationship” with the cleric and that Walz “strongly condemns Hamas terrorism.”
The paper later reported that Walz called Zaman a “master teacher” who offered the governor lessons over the time they “spent together,” in remarks made during Walz’s 2018 campaign for governor that were videotaped. Asked about the 2018 comments on Tuesday, a Harris campaign spokesperson said only that Walz “strongly condemns antisemitism and hate in all its forms.”
The pattern in all these examples is similar: The campaign, along with its Democratic allies, has gone out of its way to appeal to the anti-Israel voices in the party, without receiving much in return. The party still faces the specter of disruptive protests in Chicago.
The campaign appears to think it would be politically risky to draw a red line, and it’s more convenient to try and maintain a big tent that includes virulently anti-Israel voices. Tolerating extremes has certainly been a bipartisan trend lately in politics.
With Omar winning renomination in Minnesota last night, it’s a reminder that even a weakened far-left movement still has pockets of strength in deep-blue parts of the country. It explains Walz’s frequent outreach to left-wing activists during his governorship, given that his state’s Democratic presidential electorate featured one of the highest shares of Uncommitted voters in the country.
But with Harris gaining momentum in the presidential race, she has the opportunity to show strength and moderation, two of the most important assets in politics. Unlike President Joe Biden, Harris is holding leads across many battleground states, and is pressing her advantage. Given the trajectory of the race, Harris may find it’s safer to speak up for the silent majority rather than try and placate small constituencies out of the political mainstream.
hot-button issue
Democratic convention organizers are walking a tightrope over how to address Israel and Gaza
When thousands of Democrats gather in Chicago next week for the Democratic National Convention, eager to soak in the party’s newfound excitement about Vice President Kamala Harris’ surprise ascension to the top of the ticket, the war in Gaza will likely not be top of mind for most of them. Nearly all of the nearly 5,000 Democratic delegates voted to back Harris in a virtual roll call last week. But 30 delegates are pledged to the Uncommitted National Movement, which urged Democrats to vote “uncommitted” rather than supporting President Joe Biden in state primaries earlier this year, to protest his support for Israel after the Oct. 7 Hamas terror attacks. Despite their small number, the Uncommitted activists have threatened to disrupt the convention if Harris does not agree to their demands before the convention, Jewish Insider’s Gabby Deutch reports.
Under a microscope: Whether the Middle East makes it onto the convention floor — and if so, how the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is discussed by convention speakers — will be a question looming over the proceedings in Chicago next week. The Harris campaign has sought to build a big tent, asserting her support for Israel while keeping a line open to anti-Israel activists, but that approach will be tested at the convention, as Democrats seek to define themselves on the national stage. But keeping everybody happy when every choice of speaker and their choice of rhetoric is under a microscope likely amounts to an exercise in futility.
Read the full story here.
double-digit win
Ilhan Omar prevails in primary rematch with Don Samuels
Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) claimed victory on Tuesday in a primary rematch with Don Samuels, a former Minneapolis councilman who had almost unseated her in 2022. Omar, an outspoken Israel critic, prevailed by a much wider margin than last cycle, when Samuels came within two points of pulling off a surprise upset. This time, she won by a 13-point margin, 56-43%, all but inevitably securing a fourth term in Congress, Jewish Insider’s Matthew Kassel reports.
One for the Squad: Her victory follows two recent primaries in which fellow Squad members — Reps. Jamaal Bowman (D-NY) and Cori Bush (D-MO) — were defeated by challengers backed by pro-Israel groups including AIPAC and Democratic Majority for Israel. But Omar’s race drew no such outside engagement as pro-Israel groups determined the race wasn’t winnable and chose to keep their distance, even as Samuels, a pro-Israel Democrat, had insisted they were missing out on a key opportunity. Despite a double-digit win over Samuels, Omar’s vote share was hardly a commanding total for an incumbent lawmaker, suggesting that she could be vulnerable to future challenges.
staffing up
Kamala Harris taps Ilan Goldenberg as its Jewish outreach director
Vice President Kamala Harris’ presidential campaign named Ilan Goldenberg, a Middle East policy expert who served in a key role in 2013 Israeli-Palestinian peace talks, as its Jewish outreach director. JTA first reported the hire on Monday. Goldenberg, who was born in Israel, is known in Washington as a strong advocate of the two-state solution and a supporter of the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, alongside Harris’ national security advisor Phil Gordon, with whom Goldenberg has worked closely. He was Harris’ top middle East advisor on Oct. 7, Jewish Insider’s Gabby Deutch reports.
Policy pick: The pick reflects the significance that Israel is expected to play in this fall’s election. It’s unusual for a campaign’s top Jewish outreach official to come from a foreign policy background, rather than from the political world. Aaron Keyak, President Joe Biden’s 2020 Jewish outreach director, had experience working on campaigns, as did Sarah Bard, who held the role for Hillary Clinton in 2016. During the 2020 Democratic primary, Goldenberg advised Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) on Middle East issues.
Read the full story here.
Bonus: The Harris campaign tapped Nasrina Bargzie, a deputy counsel to Harris, as its Muslim outreach director. Bargzie, a former attorney at Asian Americans Advancing Justice — Asian Law Caucus, argued in a 2015 article that the Department of Education’s Title VI civil rights investigations into claims of antisemitism related to campus Israeli-Palestinian activism can have a “chilling effect” with a “disproportionate impact on Arab, Middle Eastern, Muslim, and South Asian community members.”
Read the full story here.
new york, new york
Anti-Israel New York City councilwoman Shahana Hanif facing primary threat
A far-left New York City councilwoman who has faced backlash over her refusal to publicly condemn Hamas and her handling of antisemitism is now poised to face off against a progressive challenger who is already gearing up for a heated primary in next year’s election. Shahana Hanif, who represents Park Slope and other neighborhoods in central Brooklyn, is expected to soon draw her first primary rival of the upcoming election cycle, Maya Kornberg, a Jewish Democrat who has filed to run in the deep-blue council district, Jewish Insider’s Matthew Kassel reports.
Kornberg’s plans: Kornberg, who leads research on elections and government at the Brennan Center for Justice, a nonpartisan think tank affiliated with New York University’s School of Law, is actively fundraising for the challenge and plans to launch her campaign next month, according to two people familiar with her preparations. In an email to JI last week, Kornberg said she is “exploring a possible City Council run at this time,” but declined to elaborate on her plans.
hate watch
Ohio GOP congressional candidate promoted endorsement from virulent antisemite, Holocaust denier
Orlando Sonza, the Republican nominee running against Rep. Greg Landsman (D-OH), running in a battleground district, accepted and promoted an endorsement from a prolific antisemite and Holocaust denier, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports.
Walk back: Sonza promoted on his website and social media an endorsement from Kiumars Kiani, a Cincinnati man with a long record of blatant antisemitic activity, including Holocaust denial and frequent claims that a “Jewish shadow government” is controlling world events. Landsman, Sonza’s opponent, is Jewish. The campaign pulled down and rejected the endorsement when contacted by JI.
problematic pick
RFK Jr. campaign event to be moderated by conspiracy theorist with history of antisemitism
Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and his vice presidential nominee, Nicole Shanahan, are set to participate in a campaign event on Wednesday moderated by self-described journalist Ian Carroll, who has, in recent months, promoted antisemitic conspiracy theories, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports.
What he’s said: Carroll has claimed as recently as July that “our country is controlled by an international criminal organization that grew out of the Jewish mob and now hides in modern Zionism behind cries of ‘antisemitism.’” He has also accused Israel and “Zionist interests” of manipulating and exaggerating Holocaust history for their own interests, and said that Israel had invented Holocaust denial to discredit critics. Carroll is set to moderate a Kennedy campaign event about artificial intelligence.
Worthy Reads
What Would Bennett Do?: The New York Times’ Bret Stephens interviewed former Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett about how he would approach the concurrent threats and challenges facing Israel. “So what would Bennett have Israel do now? With polls showing him drawing even with or beating Netanyahu as the person Israelis want as their prime minister, his views matter. ‘I see words that send one message and actions that are the contrary,’ Bennett told me last week when I saw him in New York. He was referring to Netanyahu’s conduct of the war in Gaza. But he was also thinking about his approach to Iran, which is now closer than ever to a nuclear breakout, despite years of the prime minister’s public vows that he would never allow the Islamic republic to get this close to a bomb.” [NYTimes]
Return on Investment: In The Wall Street Journal, Anat Guetta and Eliot Penn posit that the time is ripe for investment in Israeli companies. “Israel is at war, and that brings unspeakable horrors. But investing in Israel fosters a strong, innovative economy, which leads to the recognition that the country is here to stay and has plenty to offer its neighbors. This was the conclusion of Egypt, Jordan, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Morocco and Sudan when they made peace with the Jewish state. Israel is inching closer to a peace agreement with Saudi Arabia for the same reason. Investing in Israel today may seem counterintuitive, but it is resoundingly attractive. The case for Israel starts with high-quality companies at low valuations and extends to social and environmental progress along with the advancement of regional prosperity. Our ultimate goal is for Israel’s success not only to benefit our investors but to bring peace, freedom and prosperity to all residents of the Middle East.” [WSJ]
Tehran’s Other Target: The Washington Post’s David Ignatius suggests that the U.S. is, like Israel, facing a retaliation campaign from Iran over the assassination of a senior official. “The Iranian campaigns, though vastly different in scale, both focus on revenge for assassinations by Israel and the United States of senior Iranian officials or proxies. After the humiliating loss of many top operatives, Iran evidently wants to demonstrate that the assassins will pay a price. One obvious moral of the story: Assassination is a double-edged sword. Israel has tried to combat Iran’s reprisals through threats of massive military retaliation; the United States has instead mainly used law enforcement prosecutions of alleged Iranian hit men. Neither approach has stopped the Iranians from seeking revenge.” [WashPost]
The IDF’s Way of War: In Tablet, Andrew Fox considers how the IDF’s operations in Gaza have bucked both traditional Western military wisdom and the U.S.’ approach to military conflicts. “This is not, and never has been, a counterinsurgency or counterterrorism operation — It is a conventional urban war against an irregular but fully formed terror army, with their own underground citadel. Yet many Western analysts are incapable of seeing the conflict through anything but the lens of post-9/11 operations. The refrain, echoing official Biden-Harris administration talking points, is that Israel should be doing what the West tried and failed to do in Iraq and Afghanistan. In other words, Israel needs to make sure it follows our lead and lose. The IDF’s way of war is not the West’s way of war. It is not designed, either operationally or logistically, to carry out protracted campaigns of attrition. It is a raiding army, and that is what its operational design reflects. It is not articulated in sequential phases in the way a Western planner would articulate a concept of operations.” [Tablet]
Word on the Street
The Biden administration said on Tuesday that it had authorized a $20 billion arms sale to Israel, with the delivery of fighter jets, air-to-air missiles, mortars and other weapons slated to take place over a period of several years in an effort to increase Jerusalem’s military capabilities…
The U.S. lifted an arms hold on Saudi Arabia, with plans to ship more than $750 million in weapons to Riyadh…
Secretary of State Tony Blinken slammed Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir after the Israeli official visited the Temple Mount in Jerusalem; in a statement, Blinken said Ben-Gvir’s visit to the site “demonstrated blatant disregard for the historic status quo with respect to the holy sites in Jerusalem”; Phil Gordon, the national security advisor to Vice President Kamala Harris, shared Blinken’s statement and said that Ben-Gvir’s visit and comments “exacerbate tensions when focus should be on a ceasefire agreement that gets hostages home”…
The State Department vowed a “swift and severe” response, should Iran send ballistic missiles to Russia for use in Moscow’s war against Ukraine; Foggy Bottom also said it is mulling efforts to decrease Iran’s crude exports…
Axios spotlights the “brain trust” of Senate Democrats — including Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and Sens. Cory Booker (D-NJ), Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV), Laphonza Butler (D-CA) and Alex Padilla (D-CA) — serving as informal advisers to Vice President Kamala Harris…
Rep. Bill Pascrell (D-NJ), the second-oldest member of Congress, was readmitted to the hospital days after being discharged; separately, Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-MD) suffered a “mild” stroke…
The New York Times’ editorial board will end its long-standing practice of endorsing candidates in state and local elections; the paper will continue to endorse in the presidential election…
The San Francisco district attorney charged more than two dozen protesters who participated in a protest that shut down traffic on the Golden Gate Bridge in April for more than five hours…
A group of Jewish organizations filed a lawsuit against the Fulton County (Ga.) School District, alleging that administrators did not address what had become a “hostile” and “intolerable” environment for Jewish students…
Democratic officials in Stamford, Conn., called on Democratic state lawmaker Anabel Figueroa to resign from the Democratic District Committee over recent comments about her primary challenger Jonathan Jacobson, saying it was “impossible” for the committee to “permit a person who is of Jewish origin, of Jewish origin, to represent our community”; hours later, Jacobson beat Figueroa in the district’s primary…
A federal judge in California ruled that Jewish students at UCLA cannot be blocked by anti-Israel campus protesters from accessing classes and other areas of campus, the first time a court has ruled against a university in such a case…
The former Cornell University student who was arrested for making antisemitic threats targeting the school’s Jewish community was sentenced to 21 months in prison…
A group of Jewish synagogue leaders in Pittsburgh, joined by the city’s Jewish federation, filed a legal challenge to a proposed BDS referendum barring companies and groups from doing business with Israeli entities…
A former Intel employee, who is Jewish and an IDF veteran, is suing his former employer, alleging that his supervisor created a hostile work environment by celebrating Hamas and antisemitism…
Elliott Investment Management announced plans to launch a proxy fight at Southwest Airlines, and will nominate 10 people to director positions on the airline’s 15-member board…
Fitch Ratings downgraded Israel’s credit rating, citing geopolitical risk factors and the war with Hamas…
The Wall Street Journal reports on growing support in Israel for an offensive against Hezbollah in Lebanon…
Sports commentator Sam Rosen, the longtime voice of the New York Rangers, is retiring after the upcoming season…
Yehuda Setton, the COO and chief program officer of the Jewish Agency for Israel, was selected to serve as the organization’s next CEO, succeeding Amira Ahronoviz, who will step down in October after some six years in the role, eJewishPhilanthropy’s Judah Ari Gross reports…
Comedy writer and producer Bob Tischler, who served as head writer on “Saturday Night Live” in its early years, died at 78…
Pic of the Day
Tens of thousands of people visited the Western Wall during the Tisha B’Av fast, which began on Monday evening and ended yesterday evening. Towards the end of the fast, thousands participated in prayer and a call for unity among the people of Israel at the Western Wall Plaza.
Birthdays
Historian and VP of alumni relations for MLB’s New York Mets, the press box at Citi Field is named in his honor, Jay Edward Horwitz turns 79…
American-born British novelist, biographer, journalist and Oscar-winning screenwriter, Frederic Michael Raphael turns 93… Former attorney general of New Jersey and chairman of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, David Samson turns 85… Honorary president of the Hampton Synagogue and former board member of the UJA Federation-New York, Carol Levin… Member of the New York State Assembly since 2005, Charles D. Lavine turns 77… Professor at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs, Ester R. Fuchs turns 73… Chairman of the department of Neurosurgery at Johns Hopkins, Henry Brem, M.D. turns 72… U.S. District Court judge in South Carolina, he is the co-author of a book on the early Jews of Columbia, S.C., Judge Richard Mark Gergel turns 70… Turkish-born economist and professor at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government, Dani Rodrik turns 67… U.S. senator (R-TN) since 2021, Bill Hagerty turns 65… Home fragrance and décor guru, Harry Slatkin turns 64… Lecturer at Purdue University, Martin J. Sweet turns 54… Filmmaker and producer, she is the executive director of DOC NYC film festival in NYC, Raphaela Neihausen turns 48… Financial adviser at UBS Financial Services, Jeremy Scott Wynes… Professional tennis player for 15 years, Scott Lipsky turns 43… Adviser on the Trump campaign, Boris Epshteyn turns 42… Ukrainian-born actress, Mila Kunis turns 41… Retired lacrosse player, he played for ten seasons in Major League Lacrosse and for Team Israel in 2018, Maxwell (Max) Oren Seibald turns 37… Principal at Marcus & Associates Executive Recruiters, Jacob Lefkowitz… Member of Knesset for Otzma Yehudit, he serves as the minister for the development of the periphery, the Negev and the Galilee, Yitzhak Shimon Wasserlauf turns 32… eJewishPhilanthropy opinion editor, Rachel Kohn turns 40…Ryan Smith… Dylan Cooper… Tim Carney…
