Daily Kickoff
Good Wednesday morning.
In today’s Daily Kickoff, we report on the early morning ballistic missile attack on Tel Aviv against the backdrop of an escalating war between Israel and Hezbollah. We also look at Pennsylvania GOP Senate candidate Dave McCormick’s efforts to make inroads with the state’s Jewish voters, spotlight an upcoming documentary about the life of Sen. Joe Lieberman and cover FAA Administrator Michael Whitaker’s testimony before a House Transportation subcommittee. Also in today’s Daily Kickoff: Rep. Jason Smith, Yariv Mozer and Czech President Petr Pavel.
What We’re Watching
- We’re keeping an eye on the situation in Israel after Hezbollah launched a surface-to-surface ballistic missile at Tel Aviv from Lebanon early this morning. More below on the developing situation.
- Secretary of State Tony Blinken is meeting with foreign ministers of Gulf Cooperation Council member states on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly in New York City.
- The American Jewish Committee is holding its Diplomacy Reception this evening in New York.
- Jordanian King Abdullah II, who is in the U.S. for UNGA, is slated to meet today with Maryland Gov. Wes Moore in Annapolis.
- The Senate Foreign Relations Committee was set to hold a vote on legislation sanctioning the International Criminal Court today, after months of pressure from Republicans. But the bill was pulled from the schedule and the meeting was canceled, for unclear reasons.
What You Should Know
Tel Aviv residents were jolted awake by a siren at 6:30 a.m. local time — the first time since early 2024 that the siren frequently heard in Israel’s south and north in recent months sounded across the city and surrounding areas, Jewish Insider Executive Editor Melissa Weiss reports from Tel Aviv. It was also the first time sirens rang out in the coastal city of Netanya since the beginning of the war. Sirens also sounded in Israel’s Golan Heights this morning, after a drone entered Israeli airspace from Syria before being shot down by the Israeli Air Force.
The surface-to-surface missile was Hezbollah’s first-ever rocket attack on Tel Aviv, and is believed to be the first ballistic missile the terror group has ever launched into Israel. No injuries were reported in the missile strike, which was intercepted by the David’s Sling missile-defense system and came a day after President Joe Biden implored Hezbollah and Israel to de-escalate tensions. More on Biden’s address to the U.N. below.
Less than two hours later, the IDF confirmed that it had taken out the missile’s launcher in Nafakhiyeh, in southern Lebanon.
The Iran-backed terror group later confirmed that the weapon — a Qadr 1 ballistic missile likely obtained from Iran — had been targeting the Mossad’s headquarters. The strike came a week after a series of pager and walkie-talkie explosions killed dozens of Hezbollah members across Lebanon, and a day after a series of Israeli strikes hit targets across southern Lebanon, killing more than 500 people, including Ibrahim Kobeis, a senior commander in the group’s rocket and missile unit. A Hezbollah official told Reuters that the pager and walkie-talkie attacks had taken 1,500 of the terror group’s members out of action.
Hezbollah’s escalation comes amid reports that the Iranian proxy pressed its sponsors in Tehran to enter into direct conflict with Israel in recent days as the Lebanon-based terror group escalated its attacks on the Jewish state. Iran has held off on direct involvement, citing President Masoud Pezeshkian’s presence in New York for the U.N. General Assembly.
mccormick momentum?
Dave McCormick making inroads with Jewish voters in Pennsylvania
Dave McCormick’s ongoing outreach to Jewish voters in his campaign to unseat Sen. Bob Casey (D-PA) has been yielding some notable results, reports Jewish Insider’s Matthew Kassel, who spoke with disaffected Jewish Democrats now pledging to back the Republican nominee in the November election.
Switching sides: The Pennsylvania GOP Senate nominee has been attacking Sen. Bob Casey (D-PA) for not getting a vote on the Antisemitism Awareness Act to the Senate floor. McCormick’s messaging has resonated with some Jewish Democrats who spoke with JI on Tuesday — noting that they have appreciated his statements of solidarity during an especially fraught moment for the Jewish community in Pennsylvania and beyond.
farewell to the u.n.
At United Nations, Biden preaches diplomacy for the Mideast
In his fourth and final presidential address to the United Nations General Assembly, President Joe Biden on Tuesday made the case that diplomacy is still possible in the Middle East, despite the recent escalation between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon, Jewish Insider’s Gabby Deutch reports.
No dice: Biden’s 25-minute address was part victory lap, part goal-setting exercise, as he described the issues he thinks deserve more global outrage, such as the bloody civil war in Sudan. But time is running out for the one-term president, who will leave office in less than four months. He described one goal that continues to elude him: a hostage and cease-fire deal in Gaza.
lieberman’s legacy
New film chronicles Joe Lieberman’s leap of faith to the political center
Hours before the first — and perhaps only — presidential debate between former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris, hundreds of Washingtonians gathered in a theater at the Library of Congress for a special screening of a new documentary about former Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT), who died earlier this year. It was a fitting tribute to the 2000 Democratic vice-presidential candidate who later left his party when facing a political challenge over his support for the Iraq war: Officials and activists from across the political spectrum gathered together for one final lesson in civility and bipartisanship from Lieberman, before they went home to cheer on two vastly different candidates for president, Jewish Insider’s Gabby Deutch reports.
Independent arc: In “Centered: Joe Lieberman,” a feature-length documentary, filmmaker Jonathan Gruber set out to tell the story of a politician who relished taking an independent stand, often against the wishes of party leaders, during his decades in public office, first in the Connecticut state Senate, then as Connecticut attorney general and finally as a four-term U.S. senator. “Joe’s approach and his vision for how to accomplish things is sorely needed today,” Gruber told JI.
Read the full story and watch the trailer for the film here.
in the line of fire
Israelis from Tel Aviv to Haifa brace for Hezbollah attacks
While it has long been known that Hezbollah has missiles capable of reaching Tel Aviv, Israel has been preparing for Haifa to be the epicenter of the Iran-backed terror group’s escalating attacks as it expands the radius of its missile targets, much as Israel’s third-most populous city and the largest city in the north was in the 2006 Second Lebanon War. While the IDF’s Home Front Command has declared a “special situation” throughout Israel, only the country’s north has limitations on people’s daily lives. Between the Lebanon border to just south of Haifa, all schools are closed this week, as are the beaches, even though the weather is in the 80s. Outdoor gatherings are limited to 10 people and indoor to 100. Workplaces can only open if there is a safe room or shelter close enough to reach within seconds. Meanwhile, Haifa’s Bnai Zion hospital is busy moving patients underground, Jewish Insider’s Lahav Harkov reports.
Lessons learned: When Home Front Command published new guidelines for the city on Sunday, Dr. Ohad Hochman, CEO of the Bnai Zion Medical Center in Haifa, oversaw the transfer of the medical center’s hundreds of patients – including newborns in the neonatal intensive care unit – to an underground facility. “We have a new building that is built like a shelter,” Hochman, the former chief medical officer of the Israeli Navy, told JI this week. “We built it as part of the lessons learned in the Second Lebanon War, when a missile fell next to the hospital. The ground level is a protected emergency room, and under that are areas for those who are admitted.”
follow the money
House Ways and Means Committee chair calls on IRS to revoke pro-Palestinian groups’ tax-exempt status
House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Jason Smith (R-MO) called on the Internal Revenue Service to revoke the tax-exempt status of several U.S.-based charitable organizations linked to anti-Israel protests, accusing the groups of being tied to foreign terrorist organizations and other illegal activity, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports.
Under scrutiny: The requests target Americans for Justice in Palestine Educational Foundation, American Muslims for Palestine, Students for Justice in Palestine, the Alliance for Justice, Islamic Relief USA, Jewish Voice for Peace, The People’s Forum, the Tides Foundation, the Adalah Justice Project, the Arab Resource and Organizing Center, United Hands Relief Inc., WESPAC, Within Our Lifetime, the U.S. Palestinian Community Network and the Palestinian Youth Movement.
Exclusive: A bipartisan group of House lawmakers blasted Meta’s Oversight Board for ruling that the phrase “From the river to the sea” does not violate the social media company’s rules against hate speech, violence and incitement, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports.
flying instructions
FAA Administrator Michael Whitaker testifies that his agency hasn’t advised airlines to stop flying to Israel
Federal Aviation Administration Administrator Michael Whitaker testified on Tuesday that the FAA has not advised U.S. airlines to stop flying to Israel amid the ongoing suspension of flights. Whitaker made the admission after being asked by Rep. Jake Auchincloss (D-MA) about FAA involvement in the blanket flight suspensions while testifying before the House Transportation and Infrastructure Subcommittee on Aviation, Jewish Insider’s Emily Jacobs reports.
FAA role: “That would be an airline decision. The role of FAA really is around NOTAMs [Notice to Air Mission] and safety of flight, that type of issue. So we do communicate with, particularly in this instance which is constantly changing in real time, and we provide guidance on NOTAMs and safety,” Whitaker said. “I think at this point we’re mirroring the NOTAMs that are put in place by Israel for where you can fly and don’t fly. So we don’t provide anything beyond that, but we do have, for the carriers that fly to that region, usually they have a classified status so we can give them intel briefings when they make their decisions,” he added.
Worthy Reads
The Book on Antisemitism: The Free Press’ Joe Nocera interviews the Jewish author whose recent panel at a literature conference in Albany, N.Y., was canceled when fellow participants refused to share the stage with a Zionist. “The cancellation of Albert’s panel highlights a worrying recent trend in the realm of literature, where authors who believe that the world’s only Jewish state should not be singled out for elimination are finding themselves increasingly facing calls for their work to be boycotted and their voices silenced. What’s more, this tendency to cast anyone who is ‘Zionist’ — a.k.a. Jewish — as an oppressor, and thus canceled for the common good, is escalating in elite, educated circles, sources told The Free Press. Zibby Owens, founder of her own publishing house Zibby Books and the editor of a forthcoming volume of essays by Jewish writers reflecting on antisemitism after October 7, told The Free Press, ‘A lot of Jewish authors are feeling that many publishers don’t want to go there. This is not for books just about Israel, this is about fiction books involving Jewish life.’” [FreePress]
Mark’s MO: The New York Times’ Teddy Schleifer and Mike Isaac explore Mark Zuckerberg’s evolution away from supporting political causes. “Privately, Mr. Zuckerberg now considers his personal politics to be more like libertarianism or ‘classical liberalism,’ according to people who have spoken to him recently. That includes a hostility to regulation that restricts business, an embrace of free markets and globalism and an openness to social-justice reforms — but only if it stops short of what he considers far-left progressivism. And Mr. Zuckerberg and his wife, Dr. Priscilla Chan, have been privately aghast about what they see as a rise of antisemitism on college campuses, including at their alma mater, Harvard.” [NYTimes]
Word on the Street
A new CNN poll found Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump virtually tied, 48%-47%, among likely American voters…
Trump warned that Iran “will try again” to assassinate him, following a briefing between Trump campaign officials and representatives from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence in which the former president was briefed on “real and specific threats from Iran to assassinate him in an effort to destabilize and sow chaos” in the U.S….
Semafor looks at the effort to drive up support for Trump among Arab-American voters in Michigan, following the endorsement of the former president by the mayor of Hamtramck, the state’s only Muslim-majority city…
Sens. Marco Rubio (R-FL) and Rick Scott (R-FL) introduced a bill expanding Title VI of the Civil Rights Act to include specific protections against religious discrimination and make it illegal for schools to ignore pervasive harassment and instituting fines for schools that repeatedly violate the law…
Reps. Ritchie Torres (D-NY) and Andrew Garbarino (R-NY) are co-sponsoring legislation that would bar universities from accepting funds or gifts from countries that support terrorism; among the countries that would be targeted are China, Iran and Russia…
The House Foreign Affairs Committee approved by voice vote a bill imposing new sanctions on the Houthis for their violations of human rights and voted unanimously for a resolution praising the State Department’s new global guidelines for combating antisemitism…
Pro-Choice Caucus Executive Director Aviva Abusch was named to The Hill’s 2024 “Notable Staffers” list…
The New York Times reviews Yariv Mozer’s new documentary “We Will Dance Again,” about the Nova music festival, which premiered on Paramount+ on Tuesday…
A new report into CUNY’s handling of antisemitism on campus, commissioned by New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, found that the school system needs to “significantly” update and change its policies to better address discrimination across the CUNY system…
Jewish students at the University of Michigan are creating a student-run group that will provide security for Jewish students traversing campus, in response to a series of assaults on Jewish students on the campus…
The University of Pennsylvania suspended professor Amy Wax following two years of proceedings over what the school described as Wax’s “history of making sweeping, blithe, and derogatory generalizations about groups by race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, and immigration status”; Wax, who is tenured, will be suspended for the 2025-2026 academic year with half pay and will lose her named chair and summer pay…
Sam Nazarian is partnering with self-help guru Tony Robbins to launch a chain of wellness-focused clubs, hotels and residences…
The New York Times’ Bret Stephens considers the lessons Israel can take from its 2006 war with Hezbollah as it again fights the terror group…
U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer, speaking at a Labour party conference in London, mistakenly called for the “return of the sausages” before correcting himself with the word “hostages”…
The U.S. admitted Qatar into its Visa Waiver Program, making it the 42nd country to join the program; Israel was admitted last year…
Pic of the Day
World Jewish Congress President Ronald Lauder honored Czech President Petr Pavel (left) at a reception on Tuesday on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly in New York. The event was co-hosted by the Czech Mission to the U.N.
Birthdays
Founder, chairman and co-CEO of Salesforce, he acquired Time magazine in 2018, Marc Russell Benioff turns 60…
Foundation president, rabbi and teacher in Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla., Eliezer Ben-Yehuda… Member of the U.K.’s House of Lords, Baroness Vivien Helen Stern turns 83… Former member of Knesset, he also served as Israel’s ambassador to France and then the United Nations, Yehuda Lancry turns 77… Beachwood, Ohio, resident, Dvora Millstone… Israeli television anchor and popular singer, Yardena Arazi (born Yardena Finebaum) turns 73… Former member of Knesset for Yesh Atid, Ruth Calderon turns 63… Best-selling author and serial entrepreneur, Marissa Levin… Director and co-creator of the award-winning HBO series “Game of Thrones,” David Benioff turns 54… Son and grandson of leading British rabbis, he is the senior rabbi at the Beverly Hills Synagogue, Pinchas Eliezer “Pini” Dunner turns 54… Former member of the Knesset for Likud, she has appeared on multiple Israeli reality television shows, Inbal Gavrieli turns 49… White House correspondent for NPR, Tamara Keith turns 45… Member of the California State Assembly where he serves as co-chair of the legislative Jewish caucus, Jesse Gabriel turns 43… Member of the Wisconsin State Assembly for eight years, now a member of the Milwaukee Common Council, Jonathan Brostoff turns 41… Senior fellow at the Atlantic Council, Carmiel Arbit… Features writer at New York magazine and its culture magazine Vulture, Lila Shapiro… Actor and comedian, known for his role as Gabe Lewis on the NBC sitcom “The Office,” Zach Woods turns 40… Videographer and virtual program producer for the U.S. State Department, Mitchell Israel Malasky… Assistant appellate federal defender at Federal Defenders of San Diego, Daniel Yadron… Center and power forward for Maccabi Tel Aviv of the Israeli Basketball Premier League and the EuroLeague, Jacob Greer (Jake) Cohen turns 34… Asset manager for Capital Realty Group, Yanky Rodman… Senior director of next gen at Christians United for Israel, Destiny Albritton… Strategic director at Laurel Strategies, Adam Basciano…Director of strategic initiatives at the National Black Empowerment Council, Marvel Joseph…
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