• Vice President Kamala Harris and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz are headlining a second campaign event in Michigan after holding a rally in Detroit on Wednesday night. Anti-Israel demonstrators repeatedly tried to interrupt Harris’ speech. Harris’ response to the protesters: “I’m here because we believe in democracy. Everyone’s voice matters. But I’m speaking now.”
• After the protesters kept interrupting her, she became more indignant. “You know what? If you want Donald Trump, then say that. Otherwise, I’m speaking!” The crowd loudly cheered and drowned out the protesters.
• Of note: Before the Michigan rally, Harris spoke briefly with the co-founders of the anti-Israel Uncommitted National Movement in a photo line to hear their concerns over the Biden administration’s Middle East policy. The leaders of the group asked Harris to consider an arms embargo against Israel, and Harris said she was “open to the request,” according to the Uncommitted group’s account of the conversation.
• The Harris campaign released a statement about the conversation: “Since October 7, the Vice President has prioritized engaging with Arab, Muslim, and Palestinian community members and others regarding the war in Gaza. In this brief engagement, she reaffirmed that her campaign will continue to engage with those communities.”
• In Paris today, Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff will convene a roundtable with international partners at UNESCO to discuss efforts to combat antisemitism and promote Holocaust education.
• At the Black Hat 2024 cybersecurity event series, today’s speakers include: Amit Elazari, Shachar Menashe, Tamir Ishay Sharbat, Gal Malka, Lana Salameh, Noam Moshe, Yehuda Smirnov, Eyal Paz and Liad Cohen. 

As the Washington cliche goes:Personnel is policy. And while most of the focus on Vice President Kamala Harris is on her newly minted presidential campaign, it’s just as important to pay attention to the new people entering the Harris political orbit.

While Harris has kept the campaign headquarters in Wilmington, Del., far from Harris’ hometown in the Bay Area, she has started to put her own spin on the campaign operations — bringing in advisers close to her, even though they’ll be working under Jen O’Malley Dillon, the campaign chair whom Biden hired early this year, reports Jewish Insider senior national correspondent Gabby Deutch.

So far, Harris’ early hires include a mix of her own loyalists as well as strategists who had worked closely with former President Barack Obama, seeking to harness some of the grassroots energy of his 2008 and 2012 campaigns. (O’Malley Dillon also held a senior role on Obama’s 2012 campaign.) David Plouffe, who managed Obama’s 2008 campaign and served as a top adviser to him in 2012, is now a senior adviser to Harris. 

Phil Gordon, Harris’ longtime national security adviser, will be receiving a lot more attention. (JI profiled Gordon last December, noting the vice president has consistently “offered tougher words for Israel than President Joe Biden.”)

Other new additions to the Harris campaign include close allies that hearken back to Harris’ West Coast roots. Brian Nelson, who has served as the Treasury Department’s point person on sanctions and terrorism financing since 2021, has left government to serve as a senior policy adviser to Harris; he previously worked for Harris when she was California attorney general and remained close to her while she served in the Senate. 

Soon after Oct. 7, Nelson gave a speech outlining the Treasury Department’s goal of going after those funding Hamas. Otherwise, little is known about where he stands on major policy issues; before joining the Biden administration, Nelson was the chief legal officer of the organizing committee for the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles.

Also joining Team Harris — unofficially — is Tony West, Harris’ brother-in-law and chief legal officer at Uber. Last week he formally took a leave from that role to support Harris, although he will serve as an unofficial adviser and “family-member surrogate,” according to an email he wrote to Uber employees. 

West served as associate attorney general in the Obama administration. West’s wife, Harris’ sister Maya, served as a senior adviser to Hillary Clinton’s 2016 campaign. Maya, a former attorney at the American Civil Liberties Union, helped burnish Harris’ progressive bona fides in her 2020 campaign, when she attempted to court criminal justice reformers after a career as a prosecutor. 

People like West, Nelson and Maya Harris may not be household names to anyone but the most politically tuned-in Washingtonians, but advisers like them can have an outsized impact on key policy positions Harris will take. 

The biggest question facing Harris’ campaign is where Harris stands on key issues. Will she break with Biden on any key issues? How would she govern as president? What is her foreign policy worldview, and how deep is her support for the U.S.-Israel alliance? The public is watching Harris to figure out her vision. Behind the scenes, a new team of strategists is helping her shape it. 

Having Israel’s Back?: Michael Oren, Israel’s former Ambassador to the U.S., writes in the Times of Israel: “With war looming, Israel must determine to what degree America will have our back. We must know the extent to which the United States will help defend us irrespective of whether we retaliate against Iranian aggression or strike Iran preemptively. Needed now is the clear and consistent US policy often lacking in the last ten months. For all its dangers, the present crisis offers a unique opportunity to deter Iran and strengthen the regional alliance against it. America, too, can emerge with its reputation as a reliable ally and formidable superpower restored. By staying the course and acting in effective concert against Iran, the US and Israel can change the course of Middle East history.” [TimesofIsrael]

Cori’s Story: In Commentary, Seth Mandel holds up the reportedly embellished and misrepresented story Cori Bush told about helping up a Jewish activist backing her opponent who fell over at a fundraiser as a “weird fabrication” that provides insight into her handling of the Israel issue. “But when St. Louis Magazine looked into the story, they found that Bush had taken some artistic license when retelling it. The woman in the story was actually Debbie Kitchen, who is neither Jewish nor AIPAC-affiliated. ‘It just blew my mind,’ Kitchen told St. Louis. ‘Then to find out that she raised $30,000 that night—I was livid.’ … This was not an innocent mistake, then. It was an egregious lie told to manifest Jews as the enemy in any situation in which Cori Bush faces opposition. This is what voters have seen and is indicative of the kind of nonsense that likely cost Bush her seat in the House. It’s easier in retrospect to see this, in part because Bush has let the mask slip completely. Now that she’s been tossed out of the House, she says, the gloves are off. In that same concession speech (if ever the term ‘concession’ were used generously, it is here), Bush ranted: ‘As much as I love my job, all [AIPAC] did was radicalize me and so now they need to be afraid.’” [Commentary]

Axios reports that Israel told the U.S. that if Hezbollah harms Israeli civilians as part of its anticipated retaliatory attack, the Israel Defense Force’s response would be disproportionate. Israeli officials speculated the terror group could try to target IDF headquarters in the center of Tel Aviv or the Mossad headquarters and other intelligence bases in northern Tel Aviv…

Israeli President Isaac Herzog released a videotaped message to communities across the world in reaction to the threat of an Iranian attack: “We carry another most precious resource, the remarkable resilience of our people. A resilience which is rooted in the deep sense of connection and shared destiny that we have shared all across the ages. It is what has enabled us to get back up and rebuild after even the worst tragedies, and it is what we lean into right now,” Herzog said in his speech…

The U.S. has launched roughly 800 missiles and seven rounds of air strikes in the past year against the Iran-backed Houthi rebels. On Wednesday, Vice Adm. George Wikoff, commander of Naval Forces Central Command, said the Houthis are well armed and have strong and consistent supply lines into Iran, “and are looking for a reason to use it”…

After two months of stating that the onus to accept a cease-fire-for-hostages deal rests on Hamas, two top Biden administration officials said on Wednesday that neither side has agreed to the latest iteration of the deal. “The deal hasn’t been accepted because neither side has signed up to it,” White House national security spokesperson John Kirby said…

Former President Donald Trump has “grown increasingly upset about Vice President Kamala Harris’ surging poll numbers and media coverage since replacing Biden on the ticket, complaining relentlessly and asking friends about how his campaign is performing,” the Washington Post reports…

Senior Democrats are floating Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT) as a top secretary of state contender in a potential Harris administration, and Sen. Jack Reed (D-RI) as a leading candidate to serve as secretary of defense. Sen. Chris Coons (D-DE) is also mentioned as a secretary of state possibility…

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, Harris’ running mate, spoke in 2019 at a “Challenging Islamophobia” conference sponsored by the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), where he posed for a picture with Hatem Bazian, an antisemitic scholar who has defended anti-Israel terrorist activity… 

Sen. J.D. Vance (R-OH), the GOP vice-presidential nominee, frequently texted with far-right blogger Charles Johnson, who has made comments casting doubt on the Holocaust, about a wide range of issues after he was elected to the Senate, according to the Washington Post. Vance pushed back on Johnson’s criticism of Israel and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the conversations. “Publicly and privately not a single rep of the Israeli government has sounded as insane as our neocons,” Vance wrote to Johnson.

Johnson said he leaked the texts because he grew disillusioned with Vance’s pro-Israel views, and told the paper he now supports Vice President Kamala Harris…

Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) spoke to reporters about the ouster of President Joe Biden from the presidential race and the pain it caused her as a longtime friend of the president. “So we are friends for a very long time. I love him so much. We pray together. I cry over it, I lose sleep over it and the rest, but that’s what evolved,” the Washington Post quoted Pelosi as saying…

Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) shared on social media a doctored poll falsely claiming that 47% of Israelis believe that IDF soldiers are allowed to rape Palestinians…

Rahm Emanuel, the U.S. ambassador to Japan, will not attend this year’s atomic bombing memorial service in Nagasaki because Israel was not invited… 

The American Jewish Committee criticized “blatant discrimination” in the decision to ban the Israel’s youth ultimate frisbee teams from the European Youth Ultimate Championship in Belgium, following anti-Israel vandalism at the sporting venue and threats of protest that led to their exclusion for  “safety concerns”…

The U.S. Army is revamping its missile-defense strategy to counter a wide variety of complex threats expected in the 2040 time period… 

Israelrevoked the diplomatic accreditation of eight Norwegian diplomats based in Tel Aviv, who serve in Norway’s representative office in the Palestinian Authority, citing a “series of anti-Israel” steps taken by the country including its recognition of a Palestinian state… 

Britain’s largest private-sector pension fund, the Universities Superannuation Scheme, has sold £80 m. of Israeli assets, the Financial Times reports…

Three Taylor Swift shows in Vienna have been canceled after police narrowly thwarted an ISIS plot to attack her Eras Tour shows… 

Politico’s Playbook newsletter included Hamas terrorist leader Yahya Sinwar in its “Transitions” section noting promotions and job changes for political and policy professionals…

Taekwondoist Avishag Semberg of Israel, who won a bronze medal in the Tokyo Games, shed tears after losing to Dunya Ali M Abutaleb of Saudi Arabia in the women’s -49kg qualification contest yesterday at the Olympic Games in Paris. “I’m so disappointed in myself, I wanted to do so much,” Semberg told Sport5. “I felt as ready as possible… I wanted it not just for me but for everyone,” Semberg added, noting that she had wanted to dedicate a medal to the hostages.

Chess grandmaster, once ranked 8th in the world, he is the director of the Brooklyn Chess Academy, Leonid Yudasin turns 65… 

Actor and director, he won the Academy Award for Best Actor in 1980 for “Kramer vs. Kramer” and in 1989 for “Rain Man,” Dustin Hoffman turns 87… Arlington Heights, Ill., resident, Elizabeth Gordon… Dutch diplomat and politician, he served as the speaker of the Dutch House of Representatives, Frans Weisglas turns 78… Greenwood Village, Colo., resident, Robert M. Schwartz… Tampa, Fla., resident, Roy D. Pulliam… Retired U.S. Army four-star general, now serving as the secretary of defense, Lloyd James Austin III turns 71… Vancouver, Washington resident, Juliana E. Miles Bagherpour… Former U.S. Ambassador to Israel during the Trump administration, David Melech Friedman turns 66… Former CEO of BusinessGhost ghostwriting firm, Michael Graubart Levin turns 66… Managing general partner of MLB’s Tampa Bay Rays, Stuart L. Sternberg turns 65… White House chief of staff for the first two years of the Biden administration, Ron Klain turns 63… Film director whose works include 9 Disney films, Jon Turteltaub turns 61… Chief justice of the Nevada Supreme Court, Elissa F. Cadish turns 60… Digital strategist, he is the founding partner of Fuse consultancy, Jonah Seiger… Orthodox Jewish blogger (TorahMusings) who serves as the book editor of the Orthodox Union’s Jewish Action magazine, Rabbi Gil Ofer Student… Lead guitarist of the mathcore band the Dillinger Escape Plan, also playing rhythm guitar with the crossover thrash band Suicidal Tendencies, Benjamin A. Weinman turns 49… Film and television actress, Lindsay Sloane turns 47… MLB pitcher for 13 seasons and now chief baseball officer of the Boston Red Sox, he attended Yale University and majored in molecular biophysics and biochemistry, Craig Breslow turns 44… Author, freelance writer and editor, she is a former dancer with the New York City Ballet, Sophie Flack turns 41… Director at Fundamental Advisors, Bara Lane… Canadian film, television and stage actor, Jacob Benjamin “Jake” Goldsbie turns 36… VP at West End Strategy Team, Sarah Garfinkel… Founder and managing partner at Avid Ventures, Addie Lerner… Director of marketing and communications at Alpha Epsilon Pi, Zachary Pellish… Head of marketing at Provenance, Morgan Furlong… Internet celebrity and fitness model, Jen Selter turns 31… Jack Baum… Rob Schwartz…