Daily Kickoff
Good Friday morning.
In today’s Daily Kickoff, we report from the final day of the Democratic National Convention. We cover Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff’s remarks to Jewish Democrats, interview Israeli tech entrepreneur Eyal Waldman about his political ambitions and spotlight the rescue of a Maryland boy in the Arizona desert by a group of Jewish volunteers who flew in from New York. Also in today’s Daily Kickoff: Catherine Lhamon, Bob Iger and former Rep. Mike Gallagher.
For less-distracted reading over the weekend, browse this week’s edition of The Weekly Print, a curated print-friendly PDF featuring a selection of recent Jewish Insider and eJewishPhilanthropy stories, including: Parents of Israeli-American hostage Hersh Goldberg-Polin give prime-time DNC address; Jewish students brace for more disruption upon returning to school in fall; Wary Jewish Democrats see flashback to Obama in dissection of Harris’ views on Israel. Print the latest edition here.
What We’re Watching
- The Milken Institute’s annual Hamptons Dialogues, a series of events located at different private homes throughout the Hamptons with conversations focused on an array of key issues ranging from national security to the economy, began yesterday and is taking place through Sunday. Among the speakers this year: Michael Milken, former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, Bill Ackman, Ken Griffin, Dina Powell McCormick, Ruth Porat and Linda Yaccarino.
- We’re keeping an eye out for the first post-DNC polls in the coming days, following Vice President Kamala Harris’ acceptance last night of the Democratic Party’s nomination.
- College students around the country are returning to campus, with classes slated to begin at many schools in the coming days. We’ve reported extensively this summer on the varying degrees to which universities are prepared for a potentially turbulent fall semester. Students returning to The George Washington University this week, where classes began yesterday, were welcomed back to campus with graffiti scrawled on campus property calling on the school to “Disclose, Divest, Now.”
- Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is slated to give a speech in Phoenix, Ariz., at 2 p.m. ET today about “his path forward.” Kennedy, who has mounted a longshot independent presidential bid, is expected to end his campaign and throw his support behind former President Donald Trump, who is speaking in nearby Glendale hours later. Last night, Kennedy pulled his name from the ballot in the Grand Canyon State, deepening speculation that he will announce his departure from the race today.
What You Should Know
The cheers in the United Center were deafening as Vice President Kamala Harris took the stage to deliver her acceptance speech as the Democrats’ presidential nominee, Jewish Insider senior national correspondent Gabby Deutch reports from Chicago. Harris highlighted her background as a prosecutor, saying she would fight for justice “from the courthouse to the White House.”
For Jewish Democrats in the arena, which was so packed that some attendees weren’t able to get inside, their joy about Harris and her candidacy obscured a lingering question about how she would address Israel and the war in Gaza, if at all.
So when Harris, toward the end of her remarks, spoke about her support for Israel’s “right to defend itself,” you could almost hear the sigh of relief from pro-Israel Democrats — especially when that line earned applause. She coupled the comments with a description of the “heartbreaking” situation in Gaza and the need for a hostage and cease-fire deal.
“President [Joe] Biden and I are working around the clock, because now is the time to get a hostage deal and a cease-fire deal done,” said Harris.
“Let me be clear: I will always stand up for Israel’s right to defend itself, and I will always ensure that Israel has the ability to defend itself, because the people of Israel must never again face the horror that a terrorist organization called Hamas caused on October 7, including unspeakable sexual violence at a massacre of young people at a music festival,” Harris said.
“At the same time, what has happened in Gaza over the past 10 months is devastating. So many innocent lives lost,” Harris continued. “Desperate, hungry people fleeing for safety over and over again. The scale of suffering is heartbreaking. President Biden and I are working to end this war such that Israel is secure, the hostages are released, the suffering in Gaza ends and the Palestinian people can realize their right to dignity, security, freedom and self-determination.”
She added one other line about the Middle East. “And know this: I will never hesitate to take whatever action is necessary to defend our forces and our interests against Iran and Iran-backed terrorists,” said Harris.
Pro-Israel Democrats gave the speech positive marks. “That was refreshing — and after the past few weeks, a surprising, full-throated statement of standing with Israel,” said one Democrat who has worked in Democratic politics for three decades. “Really threaded the needle so well,” said another Jewish Democrat.
Harris referred to former President Donald Trump several times in her speech, and where she has mostly avoided foreign policy since becoming Democrats’ nominee, she made the case that she is better suited to handle foreign policy than the former president.
“As vice president, I have confronted threats to our security, negotiated with foreign leaders, strengthened our alliances and engaged with our brave troops overseas. As commander-in-chief, I will ensure America always has the strongest, most lethal fighting force in the world,” said Harris. “I will not cozy up to tyrants and dictators like Kim Jong Un, who are rooting for Trump because they know he is easy to manipulate with flattery and favors.”
Overall, the foreign policy section of Harris’ speech was brief — an opportunity to display her bona fides on the Middle East and Ukraine (she touted her support for NATO and standing with Ukraine), but not something that moved the needle for most Democrats politically. Still, on the biggest stage of her career, at a time when Democrats’ support for Israel is waning, she stated hers clearly.
One final observation from Chicago: For months, journalists and commentators have suggested that Democrats might face massive protests, like they did at the 1968 Democratic convention, also in Chicago. That didn’t happen.
The first major anti-Israel march garnered just a few thousand protesters, orders of magnitude smaller than what organizers advertised. The same thing happened on Thursday. And while a couple dozen Democrats inside the arena threatened a disruption over the DNC’s refusal to platform a Palestinian American speaker, their efforts fizzled out. The takeaway from the week is not a party beset by divisions over foreign policy, although those remain. The story from the Democratic convention was of party activists shockingly united in their desire to elevate Harris to the presidency.
speaking up
Emhoff speaks out against antisemitic campus harassment in JDCA speech
In a prime-time address on Tuesday night at the Democratic National Convention, Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff introduced himself to Americans. On Thursday, when he walked into a convening of Jewish Democrats, no introductions were needed. “I think I know most of you,” Emhoff said with a laugh as he took the stage at a Jewish Democratic Council of America event focused on antisemitism, Jewish Insider’s Gabby Deutch reports from Chicago.
Post-Oct. 7 landscape: In polished remarks delivered without a teleprompter or printed documents, Emhoff outlined his conversations with Harris and President Joe Biden after Oct. 7. “We are still working to make sure that when the students come back, they’re going to be safe, they’re going to be able to go to class, they’re not going to be harassed, not going to be harassed inside the classroom, and that, yes, if there’s protests, that protests are fine,” said Emhoff. “But when they cross the line — when they cross the line into violence and preventing kids who just want to go to school, who have nothing to do with the policies in Israel … they need to be able to go to class. They need to be safe. We’re going to make sure that happens.”
Bonus: The New York Times reports that Emhoff has “signaled that he intends to make the battle against antisemitism a central part of his portfolio as first gentleman should Ms. Harris win.”
campus concerns
Ed. Dept. civil rights chief, UC Berkeley Law dean assail rising campus antisemitism
As another academic year begins, and universities face the specter of further division and antisemitism on campus, two prominent attorneys speaking on a panel on the sidelines of the Democratic National Convention offered a dire portrait of the state of hate at American universities, Jewish Insider’s Gabby Deutch reports.
View from campus: “I’m a 71-year-old Jewish man. I’ve heard antisemitic things throughout my life. But I’ve never seen the antisemitism on our campuses that’s been there since Oct. 7,” said Erwin Chemerinsky, a First Amendment expert and the dean of the University of California Berkeley law school who described an antisemitic incident he faced in April that garnered national headlines. “My fear is that this isn’t going to get better anytime soon.”
View from Washington: Catherine Lhamon, the Education Department’s assistant secretary for civil rights, said, “We are seeing a quantum of harm that we couldn’t have conceived before, and what we are confirming in the investigations in the office are that these actions happen, and that all too often, our schools are not standing for our kids. Our schools are not making sure that all of our kids understand that they’re welcome, that the schools are for them and that the schools intend to make sure that they are safe and inclusive environments for them.”
Q&A
The leading Israeli tech entrepreneur on a mission to topple Netanyahu
A recurring theme in Jerusalem since the Oct. 7 attack has been what will come next for Israeli politics when the war in Gaza ends. Though Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is once again ascendant in the polls and no major new political parties and few candidates have been declared, calls for a sea change in Israel’s leadership have been widespread. Prominent members of Israel’s business community, especially in the high-tech industry, want to play a part in that change. Among them is Eyal Waldman, the former CEO of Mellanox, the Israeli computer networking products company bought by Nvidia in 2019. Waldman also lost his daughter, Danielle, 24, who was murdered by Hamas terrorists at the Nova music festival on Oct. 7, along with her partner, Noam Shai, 26. Waldman spoke to Jewish Insider’s Lahav Harkov about his political ambitions, meeting with President Joe Biden and the potential for Israeli-Palestinian peace.
Waldman’s view: “So many people were murdered and kidnapped on this government’s watch. The No. 1 priority needs to be bringing back the hostages. I don’t see the government doing all it can. We can end up in a situation like with [captured IAF navigator] Ron Arad, where he just disappeared. The second priority needs to end this operation, to let the IDF win and do what needs to be done to significantly destroy Hamas. We need to take care of Palestinian terrorism in the West Bank, and we need to aim for peace.”
safety first
SCN partners with Hillel to protect Jewish students on dozens of campuses
As students return to universities to start the fall semester, many will find that campuses remain just as hostile to Jews as they were last year, when the Oct. 7 terrorist attacks resulted in a major surge of antisemitism on college campuses and university administrations came under scrutiny for not enforcing rules to protect Jewish students, eJewishPhilanthropy’s Haley Cohen reports. But this year will also look different, as Jewish groups say they are better equipped to help protect Jewish students. The newest such initiative is an effort to expand resources to more than 50 campuses by the Jewish safety and security organization Secure Community Network and Hillel International, the groups announced on Thursday.
Details: Called “Operation SecureOurCampuses,” the initiative will “leverage SCN’s national, regional, and local resources, along with the national network of security professionals, to deploy critical resources to protect Jewish students,” according to a release from the groups. “SCN is rapidly deploying existing resources to support campuses because the need and urgency couldn’t be greater,” Ezra Weinberger, a spokesperson for SCN, told eJP ahead of the launch. “However, additional investment is necessary to ensure that every student and every center of Jewish life is adequately supported.”
Read the full story here and sign up for eJewishPhilanthropy’s Your Daily Phil newsletter here.
safe and sound
Inside the national operation that rescued a Baltimore boy who went missing in Arizona’s Coconino National Forest
Menachem “Mark” Kahn was at home in Rockland County, N.Y., when he got an emergency call from across the country just before midnight on Wednesday. Three hours earlier, 8-year-old Tzion Maron, who was vacationing from Baltimore with his parents in Arizona’s Coconino National Forest, went missing after he became separated from his family during a hike at the Lava River Caves as a sudden downpour flooded the mile-long cave, eJewishPhilanthropy’s Haley Cohen reports. By 3 a.m., Kahn was on a private plane with some 20 members of Chaverim of Rockland, a volunteer emergency service.
Happy ending: After an extensive search throughout the night — which included six drones commanded by Kahn — Maron was found Thursday morning asleep on the ground, with stable vitals. “We [immediately] started mobilizing a plan with our search-and-rescue unit, which comprises of hikers, navigation, command and the sophisticated drone unit that uses drones with thermal cameras that can fly over fires and detect heat from a body,” Kahn told eJP as he was en route home following the rescue.
Worthy Reads
Finding Phil: The Financial Times spotlights Phil Gordon, the national security advisor to Vice President Kamala Harris who is expected to continue serving in a senior national security role if Harris wins in November. “For the past four years, Gordon has been the vice-president’s low-profile point person on foreign policy, her most important aide on global affairs and, since 2022, her national security adviser. Those close to Gordon say the Syria crisis, a U.S. foreign policy failure that haunted Obama, was formative for the Atlanticist, tempering the outlook of a thinker who was already considered more pragmatic than many in the Democratic establishment. … Differences between Biden and Harris on major international issues have been largely in degrees of emphasis. Gordon was instrumental in crafting her more sympathetic tone for the plight of Palestinians in Gaza even while reaffirming the US’s commitment to Israel’s security.” [FT]
The Price of Entry: The Wall Street Journal’s Elliot Kaufman reflects on the recent U.S. District Court ruling against UCLA and the pressure by some on the activist left to force an anti-Zionist “loyalty oath” of sorts in the progressive movement. “A baptism is no longer the Jewish ‘ticket of admission to European culture,’ as Heinrich Heine (1797-1856) put it. This ticket carried a price, but in Heine’s time the religious part had already become secondary for many Jews who had ceased to believe. It was the sacrifice of dignity — the abandonment of one’s people, the payment of ransom for basic rights of inclusion — that rankled. … Today, campus protesters and their allies in the intelligentsia and activist corps are trying to make the anti-Zionist loyalty oath the new ticket of admission to enlightened, or progressive, culture. They, too, demand to be paid in dignity, and facing the brutal bargain, Jews contort themselves in as many ways as in centuries past. Cast aside your fellow Jews, and you will be waved through the checkpoint—at least until the demands rise again.” [WSJ]
Happy Go Luckey:Tablet’s Jeremy Stern profiles Anduril founder Palmer Luckey. “Luckey described himself to me as a ‘radical Zionist,’ and thinks many of his ‘well-meaning but less-Israel-aligned colleagues’ are missing key parts of what the country means — for Jews, but also for the balance of power. For one, Luckey’s belief in the political benefits of the future he imagines — in which U.S. military aid to Ukraine, say, becomes both cheaper and more effective when built around Anduril-like products — applies doubly to Israel, which has the unique honor of being both a plausible spark for a potential great power war, and the single most toxic issue in American domestic politics (these are two separate privileges). ‘I think people take stability a little too for granted,’ he said. ‘They’re like, oh, well, the state will protect [the Jews]. I’m like, what state? You think the Arab states are going to protect them? You think the Europeans are inclined to go out of their way? I mean, even in America, a lot of crazy stuff can go down. It’s not like all of America needs to hate the Jews for something bad to happen. It just needs to be a large enough group to enact violence, and you don’t have to have that many people to do that.’” [Tablet]
Word on the Street
Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro slammed former President Donald Trump’s comments earlier this week calling Shapiro a “highly overrated Jewish Governor” and alleging that Shapiro would not acknowledge Trump being “the best friend that Israel, and the Jewish people, ever had”; Shapiro called the former president “someone who has routinely peddled antisemitic tropes like this” and said Trump “has a long history of spewing antisemitic tropes, racist tropes”…
Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) suggested that Vice President Kamala Harris would “have to” govern from the center if elected, “because that’s where the public is”…
The Wall Street Journal looks at who could serve in a potential Harris administration Cabinet: former U.S. Ambassador to Israel Tom Nides was suggested for a senior national security role, Sens. Chris Murphy (D-CT) and Chris Coons (D-DE) were floated as potential secretaries of state and Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg’s name has been considered for the role of U.N. ambassador…
The chairs of the House Education and Workforce and Ways and Means committees asked 10 top universities for their plans and potential changes they’ve made to address antisemitism on campus when classes begin in the coming days and weeks…
Five Senate Republicans accused the IRS of responding dismissively to their request to investigate the funders of anti-Israel protests on college campuses and their potential violations of U.S. law…
Former Rep. Mike Gallagher (R-WI) is joining Palantir as head of defense…
Disney CEO Bob Iger said he is actively looking for a successor, adding that it is something he thinks about “all the time”…
A U.K. Labour MP is under fire for comments comparing Israel’s war against Hamas to rising Islamophobia in the U.K….
The Israeli Defense Forces said that bullets were found in the bodies of the six Israelis hostages recovered earlier this week in Gaza…
Qatari Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani is slated to visit Iran in the coming days…
Ellen Buchman and Amy Aronoff Blumkin are joining the National Council of Jewish Women as chief field engagement officer and chief growth officer, respectively…
Wine of the Week
JI wine columnist Yitz Applbaum reviews the Addax 2021 Cabernet:
Yesterday, I had the privilege of bringing my study partner Jacob to Napa Valley. We visited a gem of a winery called Elyse, the producer of many fine non-kosher wines and one of the pioneers in creating a magnificent kosher cabernet that will compete for greatness in all markets.
The Addax 2021 Cabernet is 100 percent cab. The wine opens with a mouth-puckering tannin bomb, making you wonder if you are still on Earth. These big tannins shepherd the wine into your mid-palate, and the vanilla and tobacco flavors start to take over. The finish of this wine is long, and the black cherry flavors coat the back of your mouth and stay with you for hours. This wine will be great to drink for the next 20 years. Enjoy this wine with a well-cooked bison and open it for two hours to breathe before drinking.
Pic of the Day
Rimon Kirsht Buchshtav (center) is comforted at the funeral on Wednesday of her husband, Yagev Buchshtav, who was taken hostage by Hamas on Oct. 7 and killed in captivity. IDF forces retrieved Buchstav’s body, along with the bodies of five other hostages, earlier this week.
Birthdays
Bass guitarist and co-lead singer of Kiss, his birth name is Chaim Witz, known professionally as “The Demon” and Gene Simmons, he turns 75 on Sunday…
FRIDAY: Businesswoman who co-founded The Gap clothing stores, Doris Lee Feigenbaum Fisher turns 93… Owner of many car dealerships, art collector and former owner of the Philadelphia Eagles, Norman Braman turns 92… Owner of Paper Capers, a custom invitation and gift store located in Livingston, N.J., Leslie Haupt Mayesh… Former MLB player, he was the first designated hitter in MLB history in 1973 and was the manager of the Bet Shemesh Blue Sox in the Israel Baseball League, Ron Blomberg turns 76… History professor at Hebrew University specializing in pre-modern Islamic civilization, Reuven Amitai-Preiss turns 69… Astronaut, medical doctor and electrical engineer, he brought a dreidel, a yad Torah pointer and a small menorah into space, David Alexander Wolf turns 68… Retired SVP and general counsel of Eastern Savings Bank, Richard Zeskind… Former member of Knesset for 23 years representing the Labor party and Zionist Union party, Eitan Cabel turns 65… Owner of A&A Wholesale, Bracha (Benita Amedeo) Radin… First Iranian-American member of the New York State Senate, her term ended in 2022, Anna Kaplan turns 59… CEO of the Jewish Federation of Greater Indianapolis, Marc Swatez… Member of the U.S. House of Representatives since 2019 (D-WA), she served as a physician prior to entering politics, Kimberly Merle Schrier turns 56… Founder and CEO of Wonga, Errol Damelin turns 55… ESPN’s and ABC’s sportswriter, reporter and author, Jeremy Schaap turns 55… Teacher at Politz Hebrew Academy in Philadelphia, known by his students as “Rabbi Science,” Rabbi Josh Kohl… President of basketball operations for the LA Clippers, Lawrence Frank turns 54… National reporter for ProPublica, Craig Silverman turns 47… Israeli model, Mor Katzir turns 44… Managing director in the hospital and healthcare practice of Accenture, Avigail Goldgraber… Senior advisor for policy and director of presidential speechwriting during the Trump administration, Stephen Miller turns 39… Actor best known for his role as Alex in the television series “Timeblazers,” Stephen Joffe turns 33… Retired ice dancer who competed for Georgia, Lithuania, and Israel, Isabella Tobias turns 33…
SATURDAY: Dean of the Yeshiva Gedola of Passaic, Rabbi Meir Stern turns 89… Rosh Yeshiva at Yeshiva University, he also teaches at Cardozo Law School, Rabbi J. David Bleich turns 88… Author, speaker, geriatric care manager and on-line counsellor for seniors in Scottsdale, Ariz., Lois G. Tager… Co-founder and president of Infinity Broadcasting, Mel Karmazin turns 81… U.S. Senator (D-WV), Joe Manchin turns 77… Celebrity furniture designer known for his eponymous furniture brand, Dakota Jackson turns 75… Former president of Harvard University, Lawrence Seldon Bacow turns 73… Rabbi of the Maidenhead Synagogue in Berkshire, England, since 1980, Dr. Jonathan Romain turns 70… Senior counselor to the Secretary of Homeland Security, Ricki Seidman turns 69… Former governor of Arkansas and twice a candidate for U.S. president, Mike Huckabee turns 69… Head of the real estate practice and the infrastructure practice at Weil, Gotshal & Manges, he is the vice-chair of Birthright, J. Philip Rosen… Author of nine books, essayist and long-time staff writer for The New Yorker, Adam Gopnik turns 68… Actor, producer and director, Steve Guttenberg turns 66… President of Pace University, Marvin Krislov turns 64… Professor of otolaryngology at Mount Sinai Hospital in NYC, Jonathan E. Aviv turns 64… President emeritus of The Associated: Jewish Federation of Baltimore, Marc B. Terrill… Professional organizer, Donna Barwald… 1986 winner of the Academy Award for Best Actress for her role in “Children of a Lesser God,” she is the first deaf performer to have won the award, Marlee Matlin turns 59… Founder and CEO of Gawker Media until it went bankrupt, Nick Denton turns 58… Former speaker of the Colorado House of Representatives, he is now executive director for Disability Law Colorado, Andrew Romanoff turns 58… President of the Jewish United Fund / Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Chicago, Lonnie Nasatir… CNN political analyst, he is the former host of NBC’s Meet the Press, David Gregory turns 54… U.S. Senator (R-IN), Todd Young turns 52… Israeli cinematographer and film and television director, Avigail Sperber turns 51… Content marketing lead at FiscalNote Global Intelligence, Miriam Shaviv turns 48… Israeli actress and musician, Meital Dohan turns 48… GM of MLB’s Texas Rangers until 2022, now a senior advisor for the Tampa Bay Rays, Jon Daniels turns 47… Boston-based, founder and executive director of the bipartisan group New Politics, Emily Cherniack… Harvard-trained attorney who represents high-tech clients in cross-border intellectual property disputes, Michael M. Rosen… CEO and co-founder of Rent the Runway, Jennifer Hyman turns 44… Head coach of the Duke basketball team, Jon Scheyer turns 37… CEO of the JCommerce Group, David M. Perelman… Strategic communications executive at The Lede Company, Galia Slayen… Owner of Sustayne and co-owner of Peabody Group, Samantha Rose (“Sammy”) Feinstein… SVP at Edelman, Natalie Strom… Film and television actor, Griffin Gluck turns 24…
SUNDAY: British novelist, he is known for writing comic novels that revolve around the dilemmas of Jewish characters, and has been described as the “Jewish Jane Austen,” Howard Jacobson turns 82… Retired hotel sales and marketing executive, Harley Mayersohn… Chairman of the board emeritus at the Jewish Community Foundation of Los Angeles, Lorin M. Fife… Former member of the Knesset for the Blue and White party, Elazar Stern turns 68… Former program director at the St. Paul, Minnesota JCC, Manfred “Fred” Haeusler… Former Trump lawyer and fixer, Michael D. Cohen turns 58… Former Canadian MP, now VP for external affairs and general counsel at Canada’s Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs, Richard Marceau turns 54… Regional marketing director at UJA-Federation of New York, Suzanne Schneider… Executive director at the Religious Zionists of America, Alicia Post… Actress and musician best known for playing Melanie “MelRose” Rosen on the Netflix series “Glow,” Jaclyn Tohn turns 44… Director of development for South Florida’s JVAC – Jewish Volunteer Ambulance Corps, Sarah Schreiber… Founder at Commonweal Ventures, Nathaniel Loewentheil… Director of state and local government relations at multinational conglomerate Philips, Evan Hoffman… Canadian actress, Stacey Farber turns 37… EVP in the D.C. office of SKDK, Daniel Barash… Senior manager of business operations at LinkedIn, Sam Michelman… Senior manager of partnerships at Polygon Technology, Ryan Kuhel… Founder and CEO at the Center for Intimacy Justice, Jackie Rotman… Consultant, Neal Rothschild… Jane Wasserman… Counsel to the House Select Committee on Strategic Competition between the U.S. and the Chinese Communist Party, Jenna Lifhits… Adam Aryeh Friedman… Israeli singer-songwriter, Eden Hason turns 30… Carina Grossmann… Robert Cohen…
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