Daily Kickoff
Good Wednesday morning.
In today’s Daily Kickoff, we cover the Harris-Walz ticket’s debut rally in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro’s address to the crowd and the role played by an activist leftist campaign against his veepstakes bid. We also report on Wesley Bell’s defeat of Rep. Cori Bush in the Missouri primary and a vandalism attack against the AIPAC headquarters in Washington. Also in today’s Daily Kickoff: Shabbos Kestenbaum, Trey Yingst and Amit Elor.
What We’re Watching
- Oct. 7 mastermind Yahya Sinwar was named the successor to Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, who was killed in an explosion in an Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps compound in Tehran last week. The U.K.’s Jewish Chronicle reported that Haniyeh was killed by a bomb planted nine hours prior by IRGC officials who had been recruited by the Mossad.
- The Black Hat 2024 cybersecurity event series kicks off today in Las Vegas. Speakers today include: Nadav Adir, Alon Dankner, Hillai Ben-Sasson, Sagi Tzadik, Noam Moshe, Ori David, Alon Leviev, Yakir Kadkoda, Michael Katchinskiy and Ofek Itach.
- Former Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman will talk about her time in the Biden administration in a Washington Post Live this morning at 11:30.
- State Department antisemitism envoy Ambassador Deborah Lipstadt is scheduled to sit down with Jewish and Israeli reporters this afternoon at the State Department.
What You Should Know
The last 24 hours have offered some clarity on the state of the anti-Israel leftin American politics: It makes up enough of a small, outspoken faction within the Democratic Party to play a role in stunting Gov. Josh Shapiro’s veepstakes chances, but doesn’t have the numbers to win in most congressional districts across the country, Jewish Insider Editor-in-Chief Josh Kraushaar writes.
The juxtaposition of Shapiro being bypassed as Vice President Kamala Harris’ running mate on Tuesday morning, followed by Wesley Bell’s victory over Rep. Cori Bush (D-MO) in Tuesday night’s Missouri Democratic primary doesn’t offer a clear black-and-white narrative.
It demonstrates that pockets of anti-Israel activism within the party are now a factor that any Democrat (Jewish or not) has to confront — in a way that the late Sen. Joe Lieberman never did during his 2000 vice-presidential campaign. But it also shows that these radical voices, disproportionately represented among young Americans, are still a small minority within the party.
Harris’ selection of Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz as vice president is a good illustration of these conflicting impulses within the party. His overall record — both in Congress and as governor — has been supportive of Israel. He spoke admiringly towards the Jewish state at AIPAC’s conference in 2010, stood by Israel after the Oct. 7 attacks, defended Jewish students facing harassment at anti-Israel campus protests, and called the failure to recognize Israel as a Jewish state was antisemitic.
At the same time, he has encouraged political outreach to the largely anti-Israel “uncommitted” voters, who made up a notable 18% share of his state’s Democratic presidential primary electorate, and has spoken favorably of Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN), one of the most outspoken anti-Israel lawmakers with a history of engaging in antisemitic rhetoric.
All told, Walz’s record is the portrait of a progressive-minded pro-Israel politician looking to keep his party united. Harris and Walz are trying to keep an ideologically divided Democratic Party together, even if that means indulging anti-Israel radicals that were once viewed as out of the party’s mainstream.
Walz’s willingness to reach out to the left-wing elements of the party — and ideological evolution leftward during his political career — is one reason that has made him more palatable to progressive Democrats. Even as he won support from all corners of the Democratic Party, it wasn’t a coincidence that members of the Squad were among the first to cheer for his veepstakes victory.
As the Democratic Party has moved leftward, so has Walz. He’s evolved from a moderate congressman in a rural, conservative district into a progressive governor whose political base is in the liberal Twin Cities. That evolution raises legitimate concerns among pro-Israel voters who worry that as the party becomes a bit less supportive of the Jewish state, a potential Harris-Walz administation could follow suit.
Indeed, the fact that Shapiro felt obligated to declare he was “proud of my faith” at Tuesday’s Harris-Walz rally in Philadelphia is a sign of the increasingly inhospitable environment for proudly Jewish politicians. This isn’t Joe Lieberman’s Democratic Party anymore.
The Democratic convention this month will reveal how much the party has changed. Will the party speak out about rising antisemitism at its convention? Will it remember the hostages being held in Gaza? Republicans spent part of a night bringing up the scourge of antisemitism and support for Israel at their convention; an absence of similar sentiments in Chicago would speak volumes.
Bush’s defeat Tuesday night offered Democrats another reminder of the limited purchase for radical anti-Israel views — even in a deep-blue St. Louis district where Jews only make up a small constituency. She’s now the second of nine Squad lawmakers to lose a primary this year. But it shouldn’t require a well-organized, well-funded effort from pro-Israel groups to push lawmakers holding extreme views — like declining to call Hamas a terrorist group or denying terrorist atrocities — out of respectable political life.
There’s a fight for the soul of the Democratic Party going on in real time. The pro-Israel forces within the party are often prevailing, but they’re also facing a tougher environment than ever before.
IN THE CROWD
Josh Shapiro looms large over Harris-Walz ticket’s first rally

Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro loomed large over Vice President Kamala Harris’ debut event yesterday with her vice presidential pick, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, on Shapiro’s home turf in Philadelphia. Both Harris and Walz opened their remarks with effusive praise for Shapiro, the runner-up for the vice-presidential slot and whose support they’ll likely rely on to win Pennsylvania. And Shapiro, speaking just ahead of Harris and Walz, declared pride in his Jewish faith, to roars of approval from the crowd, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports from Philadelphia.
Warm words: Harris said that Shapiro is a “dear, dear friend and an extraordinary leader,” adding that she’s “so, so invested in our friendship, in doing this together. Because together with Josh Shapiro, we will win Pennsylvania.” Walz said that Shapiro is a “treasure” to Pennsylvania. “This is a visionary leader,” Walz said. “Everybody in America knows when you need a bridge fixed, call that guy… [He] cares so deeply about his family. He’s a man of compassion and vision. And I have to tell you, I know this from experience, there is no one you would rather go to a Springsteen concert in Jersey with.”