Daily Kickoff: Interview with Bernard-Henri Lévy
Good Tuesday morning.
In today’s Daily Kickoff, we report on tensions between Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and talk to Bernard-Henri Lévy aboutIsrael’s battle against Hamas and its significance for the West. We also preview today’s Senate Judiciary hearing on hate crimes, which features speakers whose views on antisemitism fall outside the mainstream, and report from last night’s Capital Jewish Museum inaugural gala in Washington, D.C. Also in today’s Daily Kickoff: Bernie Moreno, Sen. Ben Cardin and U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer.
What We’re Watching
- Secretary of State Tony Blinken is in Egypt today, where he is chairing the U.S.-Egypt Strategic Dialogue alongside Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty; Blinken will be in the country through Thursday. Part of the conversations, according to State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller, will be “with Egyptian officials to discuss ongoing efforts to reach a ceasefire in Gaza that secures the release of all hostages.”
- Qatari Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani begins a two-day visit to Ottawa today, during which he will meet with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. Jewish groups are calling on the prime minister to urge the emir to end his support for Hamas.
- The Orthodox Union Advocacy Center is leading a mission to Washington today.
What You Should Know
Reports continue to swirl today that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu plans to oust Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, with whom he has clashed multiple times over the past year on policies relating to the war both on the northern front with Hezbollah and with Hamas in Gaza, Jewish Insider’s Ruth Marks Eglash reports. Earlier this month, the pair had a public dispute over the concept of retaining IDF forces in the Philadelphi Corridor, a move some say has prevented negotiations with Hamas over a cease-fire and hostage release from moving forward.
However, Netanyahu’s main motivation, according to some Israel media reports, in firing Gallant – and replacing him with former minister and Netanyahu’s political rival, Gidon Sa’ar – stems from the defense minister’s refusal to pass legislation that would continue exempting Haredi men from military service during a time of war when the IDF says it is lacking in manpower.
Sa’ar, who previously ran against Netanyahu for the leadership of the Likudparty and who has previously been critical of the prime minister’s handling of the war and other matters, reportedly would allow such legislation to pass, a step that would placate Haredi parties participating in Netanyahu’s shaky political coalition.
The potential political upheaval comes at a time when tensions are soaring on Israel’s border with Lebanon. Israeli residents of the northern border region are unable to return to their homes after 347 days of war as the Iranian-backed Shiite terror group Hezbollah fires almost daily barrages of missiles, rockets and drones over the border.
On Monday night, Israel’s security cabinet voted to update the objectives of the current war to include “the safe return of residents to their homes in the north,” a statement released by the Prime Minister’s Office said Tuesday.
Gallant met earlier on Monday with White House senior envoy Amos Hochstein and emphasized the security situation in the north and the need to “ensure the safe return of Israel’s northern communities to their homes,” a statement from his office said. The statement added that “the Minister and IDF officials presented Hochstein with potential operations against Hezbollah’s forces.”
Hochstein also met on Monday with Netanyahu, reportedly telling the prime minister that intensifying the conflict with Hezbollah would not help achieve Israel’s goal of returning residents to their homes but risks sparking a broad and protracted regional conflict, according to the Associated Press, which quoted an unnamed U.S. official.
With the prospect of a full-scale military confrontation with Hezbollah in Lebanon on the horizon, the reports that Netanyahu is looking to imminently replace Gallant drew sharp criticism and even some protests inside Israel.
“Switching your veteran defense minister when you are still fighting Hamas in Gaza, preparing for a major offensive against Hezbollah, grappling with an escalation of terrorism in the West Bank, fighting off Houthi missile attacks, and trying to strategize on thwarting Iran’s nuclear weapons drive is beyond irresponsible. Installing a replacement with no major security experience merely elevates the recklessness,” Times of Israel Editor-in-Chief David Horovitz wrote in an opinion piece on Tuesday. Read more here.
the wider war
Why Bernard-Henri Lévy thinks supporting Israel is a matter of human rights
Despite the sobering title of his new book, Israel Alone, the French philosopher Bernard-Henri Lévy does not truly believe the Jewish state lacks friends. In fact, he thinks all democrats — with a lowercase “d” — should be aligned with Israel in the wake of the Oct. 7 terror attacks as Israel stares down an increasingly tangible Iranian threat. “It is not only the Jews who are concerned. It is really in the existential interest of the West. But not only the West — the Global West,” Lévy told Jewish Insider‘s Gabby Deutch in an interview on Monday amid a spate of public appearances in the United States to promote his new book’s publication in English.
Ideal audience: While the book might read like a salve to Zionists who identify with Lévy’s heartbreak about the would-be allies who have abandoned Israel, his goal is to reach readers further afield. “This book is made for those who are not on my side,” he said. “This book is made for the students in campuses who see on one side a violent antisemitic minority chanting slogans [like] ‘From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free’ and so on, and they see on the other side Jewish students attacked, insulted and so on. You have a lot of students there who don’t understand what happens, who are probably in sympathy with Jewish students.”
playing to the base
Democratic witnesses at Senate hate crimes hearing at odds with Jewish communal leaders
The two witnesses Democrats have invited to testify at Tuesday’s Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on hate crimes — aimed primarily at the rise of antisemitic and other hate crimes since Oct. 7 — hold views on combating antisemitism that largely fall out of step with the mainstream Jewish community, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod and Emily Jacobs report.
Who they are: Democrats, led by Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL), have called Kenneth Stern, a former Jewish communal official who opposes key steps that most mainstream Jewish groups support to combat campus antisemitism — particularly the application of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s working definition of antisemitism, and Maya Berry, the director of the Arab American Institute, which is deeply critical of Israel and many efforts to combat antisemitism.
jewish outreach
Trump to address Jewish leaders in D.C. ahead of Thursday IAC speech
Former President Donald Trump is slated to give remarks on countering antisemitism to a group of prominent Jewish supporters on Thursday during an exclusive event in Washington, D.C., a person involved with the gathering told Jewish Insider’s Matthew Kassel.
Adelson appearance: The event, whose participants are expected to include the GOP megadonor Dr. Miriam Adelson, will be held in advance of Trump’s planned speech later this week at the Israeli American Council’s national summit in D.C. The Thursday gathering, which is not a fundraiser, will be hosted by Yehuda Kaploun, an Orthodox businessman, and his business partner Ed Russo — both of whom also helped organize a similar event last month at Trump’s golf club in Bedminster, N.J.
contentious connections
Bernie Moreno campaigned with two individuals condemned for Nazi, Holocaust comments
Bernie Moreno, the Republican candidate for U.S. Senate in Ohio, has attended two fundraisers in recent months co-hosted by individuals who have been condemned for their comments about the Nazis and the Holocaust, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports.
Going deeper: State Rep. Sarah Fowler Arthur was a co-host of a July 28 fundraiser attended by Moreno. She was previously condemned by Jewish groups and the Republican House speaker over comments arguing that the Holocaust should be taught in part from the perspective of German soldiers, in addition to victims. And Moreno attended another fundraiser in July co-hosted by Richard Iott, a former U.S. House candidate whose 2010 House campaign was torpedoed by revelations that Iott was a member of a Nazi reenactment group, photographed in Nazi regalia. He was condemned, at the time, by Jewish Republicans.
campus beat
Ann Arbor, University of Michigan probing suspected ‘bias-motivated assault’ of Jewish student
A Jewish student at the University of Michigan was attacked early Sunday morning in what the Ann Arbor Police Department described as “a bias-motivated assault.” The 19-year-old student, who has requested that his identity not be disclosed, was walking near campus and in proximity to the Jewish Resource Center on Hill Street, at approximately 12:45 a.m. when a group of unknown males approached from behind and asked if he was Jewish, according to a police report. When the victim replied yes, the suspects reportedly proceeded to assault him. The suspects then fled the area on foot. The victim suffered minor injuries and did not require hospitalization, eJewishPhilanthropy’s Haley Cohen reports for Jewish Insider.
Searching for suspects: The Anti-Defamation League announced it will offer a $5,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the suspects. “ADL is horrified to learn of an alleged antisemitic assault on a Jewish UMich student,” the group’s CEO, Jonathan Greenblatt, tweeted. Rabbi Davey Rosen, CEO of the University of Michigan Hillel, told JI that Hillel staff met on Monday morning with detectives from the Ann Arbor Police Department (AAPD) and is convening a joint meeting Monday afternoon with AAPD, the University of Michigan Police Department and additional Jewish organizations on campus and in Ann Arbor.
inaugural gala
Capital Jewish Museum gala fetes Sen. Ben Cardin, Washington Commanders owner Josh Harris
Members of Washington, D.C.’s, Jewish community took a welcome break from the intensity of upcoming elections to look back with nostalgia to seemingly simpler times in the nation’s capital when top-of-mind topics included which competing deli offered the thickest pastrami sandwich. More than 300 Jewish professionals and politicos — including CNN’s Wolf Blitzer and a handful of senators — gathered on Monday evening for the sold-out Lillian and Albert Small Capital Jewish Museum inaugural gala, held at the French Embassy, eJewishPhilanthropy’s Haley Cohen reports for Jewish Insider. As guests sipped on Côtes du Rhône during cocktail hour and savored French hors d’oeuvres, including gougère cheese puffs and tomato tartare on crispy baguette slices, artifacts from the museum lined the walls of the embassy’s event space, La Maison Française.
Honorees: The ceremony honored several local leaders for their contributions to the fight against rising antisemitism — on a national level as well as at home in Washington. The event honorees were Sen. Ben Cardin (D-MD) and his wife, Myrna; Washington Commanders owners Josh and Marjorie Harris and Israeli-American violinist Pinchas Zukerman. Cardin, chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and a co-sponsor of the Antisemitism Awareness Act, applauded the Capital Jewish Museum for spotlighting historical events at a time when “people of the world, people of America, don’t know history.” Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) also attended the event.
Worthy Reads
The Ethics of Campus Protests: The Atlantic’s Conor Friedersdorf levels criticism against student activists who participate in the campus encampments. “I share the dismay of student activists at innocent lives lost in Gaza. Even when disagreeing with some of their positions — such as their desire for an academic boycott of Israel, and their refusal to acknowledge the ongoing culpability of Hamas, Hezbollah, and Iran in fueling violence in the region — I happily and repeatedly defend their First Amendment rights to free speech and assembly. Perhaps they are even correct that the best way forward today is an immediate cease-fire. But they are failed by sympathetic adults and peers who defer to their tactics as if ‘there’s no wrong way to protest’ — a talking point that cannot withstand scrutiny. Even if it were possible to prove definitively that an undergraduate were on the wrong side of an ongoing war, that would not justify protesting the wrongheaded student by, for example, shouting ethnic slurs at her, walking behind her with a bullhorn mocking her physical appearance, or sneaking into her dorm room and urinating on her possessions, even though all of those tactics would disrupt the status quo and attract attention. There are plenty of wrong ways to protest — and plenty of right ways to protest, too.” [TheAtlantic]
Word on the Street
A new USA TODAY/Suffolk University poll found that Vice President Kamala Harris leads former President Donald Trump in must-win Pennsylvania by three points…
The North Carolina man accused of attempting to assassinate Trump in Florida on Sunday self-published a book in 2023 that instructed Iran that it was “free to assassinate Trump”; Ryan Wesley Routh is believed to have waited up to 12 hours on Trump’s golf course before being spotted by Secret Service…
Sens. Joni Ernst (R-IA) and Jacky Rosen (D-NV) introduced new legislation, called the LINK Act, to create an exchange program among military officers from Abraham Accords signatory countries, part of an effort to better integrate their militaries…
Reps. Kathy Manning (D-NC) and Chris Smith (R-NJ), co-chairs of the House antisemitism task force, introduced a resolution praising the Global Guidelines for Countering Antisemitism recently promulgated by the State Department and other global partners…
The Senate Foreign Relations Committee is set to vote next week on a House-passed bill sanctioning the International Criminal Court, after a monthslong standoff between Senate Democrats and Republicans on the issue, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports…
Jewish Federations of North America Chair Julie Platt and CEO Eric Fingerhut urged Washington Gov. Jay Inslee to take action, including seeking appropriate punishment, for individuals who shouted down a local Jewish federation leader who attempted to speak at a University of Washington Board of Regents meeting…
Germany is reportedly delaying the shipment of 10,000 precision tank shells to Israel that Israeli defense officials requested last November…
The Wall Street Journal does a deep dive into Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar’s low-tech methods of directing Hamas’ war against Israel and cease-fire negotiation talks, which include coded messages, couriers and handwritten notes…
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said the country will never give up its missile program…
Pic of the Day
Speaking at the Holocaust Education Trust appeal dinner in London last night, U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced changes to the country’s mandated school curriculum that will now require schools to teach about the Holocaust.
Birthdays
Investment banker who once served as a NYC deputy mayor, Peter J. Solomon turns 86…
U.S. senator (R-IA) since 1981, Chuck Grassley turns 91… Newbery Honor-winning author, Gail Carson Levine turns 77… Author and journalist, Joshua Muravchik turns 77… Former president of the National Technical Institute for the Deaf and then president of Gallaudet University, T. Alan Hurwitz turns 77… Rochester attorney, he has held positions at the UJA-Federation of NYC and the Rochester Jewish Federation, Frank Hagelberg… Professional tennis player who achieved a world ranking of No. 5 in 1980, Harold Solomon turns 72… Comedian, writer and actress, she was a frequent guest of Johnny Carson on the “Tonight Show,” Rita Rudner turns 71… Author, comic book writer and editor, best known as group editor of the Spider-Man books at Marvel Comics, Daniel Fingeroth turns 71… Israeli businessman with real estate holdings in Israel and NYC, Mody Kidon turns 70… Author and graphic designer, Ellen Kahan Zager… Former member of the Knesset for the Yesh Atid party, Rina Frenkel turns 68… Rabbi of the New North London Synagogue, Jonathan Wittenberg turns 67… Former consultant at Quick Hits News, Elliott S. Feigenbaum… Washington columnist for the British daily newspaper The Guardian and author of two books on the Obama presidency, Richard Wolffe turns 56… Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Mandy Krauthamer Cohen turns 46… Partner at Seven Letter, Adam Abrams… Member of the Los Angeles Unified School District’s Board of Education, Nick Melvoin turns 39… Former Obama White House speechwriter who has since written a bestselling comedic memoir, David Litt turns 38… Principal product manager for CathWorks, Adina Shatz… National health-care reporter the Washington Post covering the FDA, Rachel Roubein… Communications director for the DNC’s Chicago host committee, soon to be SVP at Magnify Strategies, Natalie Edelstein Jarvis… Founder of the Israel Summit at Harvard, now an investment professional at General Atlantic, Max August…
