Daily Kickoff
Good Thursday morning.
In today’s Daily Kickoff, we talk to GOP lawmakers about Tucker Carlson’s recent platforming of a Holocaust denier, cover the decision by Meta to allow “From the river to the sea” social media posts and look at the growing trend of universities adopting institutional neutrality policies. Also in today’s Daily Kickoff: former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley, Walter Russell Mead and Paralympian Ezra Frech.
What We’re Watching
- Former President Donald Trump is slated to deliver virtual remarks to the Republican Jewish Coalition. More below.
- Romanian Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu and Defense Minister Angel Tîlvăr are in Israel today.
- Israeli tennis player Guy Sasson will compete against Turkey’s Ahmet Kaplan for the bronze medal in the men’s quad singles today at the 2024 Paris Paralympics.
What You Should Know
The Republican Jewish Coalition’s annual donor conference began last night in Las Vegas, where top party leaders helped soften the crowd for the main attraction today — former President Donald Trump’s keynote speech, Jewish Insider’s Matthew Kassel reports from the two-day summit.
The first round of speakers featured Sens. Joni Ernst (R-IA) and Rick Scott (R-FL), who heavily praised Trump’s Middle East policy achievements while harshly denouncing Vice President Kamala Harris, who won a surprise endorsement from former Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY) hours before the event — news that barely appeared to register with the crowd.
“On one hand, we have Kamala Harris,” Ernst said to boos from attendees in a packed ballroom at the Venetian Resort, claiming the vice president “will abandon Israel and her people” if elected. “On the other hand, we have Donald Trump,” she continued, arguing that the former president “will make absolutely sure that we will be strong enough to protect America and our allies around the world.”
Throughout the night, the speakers sought to cast Harris as an anti-Israel radical whose election would empower the activist left and pose a grave threat to Israel’s security by emboldening Iran and imperiling the chance of defeating Hamas. “She thinks because her husband is Jewish, it somehow gives her coverage,” Scott said in his remarks, referring to Doug Emhoff, the second gentleman. “She appeals to the radical antisemites in her party.”
“Who do you think Iran wants to win the election?” asked North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum, who spoke at the summit last year during his brief campaign for president. “The Jewish community and Israel should not be forced to endure four more years of Kamala Harris.”
Even as he echoed similar talking points, Rep. David Kustoff (R-TN), who is one of two Jewish Republicans in the House, began his speech with a direct appeal to what he called “one common goal” uniting attendees. “And that is, elect more Jewish Republicans,” the Tennessee lawmaker declared, voicing excitement that a third Jewish Republican, Texas state Rep. Craig Goldman, is all but assured a seat in Congress next year. “We’re going to grow by 50%,” he said to cheers.
Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp, who had been scheduled to speak last night, was unable to attend the summit because of a school shooting on Wednesday in his home state.
In addition to Trump, today’s lineup of speakers is expected to include Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY), Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares and Sen. Steve Daines (R-MT), who chairs the Senate GOP campaign arm. Dr. Miriam Adelson, the pro-Israel megadonor whose late husband built the Venetian, is also slated to deliver rare public remarks at the summit this morning.
While RJC members are not unanimous in their level of support for Trump, the mood of the first night suggested the group has fully embraced the former president, who earned its endorsement in March. “I want Donald Trump to get elected,” Eliot Lauer, the RJC’s treasurer and a longtime board member, put it simply to JI on Wednesday. “I want a Republican Senate and a Republican majority that’s expanded in November.”
The former president, who spoke in person at last year’s conference, will be addressing the audience remotely from Trump Tower in Manhattan, where he is “dealing with some court issues,” RJC CEO Matt Brooks said in his remarks concluding the event on Wednesday evening. “He will see and hear all of us assembled in this room, so I want the room to be absolutely wild,” Brooks told the crowd. “I want high energy. I want everybody fired up to welcome the 45th and the 47th president of the United States.”
intraparty backlash
Republican lawmakers slam Tucker Carlson after his friendly interview with Holocaust denier
As Tucker Carlson faces backlash for airing a friendly interview with a Holocaust revisionist on his online show this week, some prominent Republicans are publicly raising concerns about the far-right pundit’s influential position in former President Donald Trump’s inner circle — as he increasingly imports extreme views and fringe conspiracy theories into party discourse, Jewish Insider’s Matthew Kassel reports.
‘Deeply disturbing’: “Platforming known Holocaust revisionists is deeply disturbing — during my time in the State Assembly, I worked with Democrats and Republicans to help pass legislation aimed at ensuring all students in New York received proper education on the Holocaust, something Mr. Cooper clearly never had,” Rep. Mike Lawler (R-NY) said in a statement to JI on Wednesday, referring to Darryl Cooper, a self-proclaimed podcast historian who recently joined Carlson’s show.
labour’s love lost
British Jewry expresses anger over government decision to suspend arms sales to Israel
Some of Britain’s leading Jewish voices expressed concern and anger this week after the newly installed Labour government headed by Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced it would be suspending the exports of some weapons to Israel over fears they could be used to break international humanitarian law. While British firms sell a relatively small number of weapons and components to Israel compared to the U.S. and other major suppliers such as Germany, as one of Israel’s closest allies, the decision appears highly symbolic and could also pave the way for the U.K. government to take further action against the Jewish state as it battles Iranian-backed terror groups on multiple fronts, Jewish Insider’s Ruth Marks Eglash reports.
Chief rabbi’s response: “It beggars belief that the British government, a close strategic ally of Israel, has announced a partial suspension of arms licenses, at a time when Israel is fighting a war for its very survival on seven fronts forced upon it on the 7th October, and at the very moment when six hostages murdered in cold blood by cruel terrorists were being buried by their families,” Britain’s chief rabbi, Sir Ephraim Mirvis, wrote in a post on X on Wednesday.
no comment
The debate over institutional neutrality on college campuses
As the one-year anniversary of the Oct. 7 Hamas terror attacks against Israel nears, a handful of elite colleges have announced that they plan to refrain from issuing any official statements recognizing the more than 1,200 Israelis killed in the massacres, urging a cease-fire in the war between Israel and Hamas or calling for a two-state solution. And as the academic year progresses, they likely won’t be weighing in on any pressing or controversial issues — at least those that extend beyond the university’s own gates. Academic leaders are divided over whether institutions remaining neutral on essential issues helps or harms Jewish students, while some question the timing of rolling out this policy at the same time that universities have become the center of heated debates over Hamas and Israel, eJewishPhilanthropy’s Haley Cohen reports for Jewish Insider.
Opting out: Ora Pescovitz, the president of Oakland University, a small, public university in Rochester, Mich., told JI that she would not implement the policy — although she does see its advantages — because doing so would “mean that then [I could] never weigh in on issues that do not directly impact the institution, and I fear that there are times that as an institution we will want to weigh in, as we have.” Pescovitz referenced a statement the university released in 2021 after the Oxford High School mass shooting in the Detroit suburb of Oxford Township, just miles from Oakland University. According to Pescovitz, many graduates of the high school go on to Oakland. “That was a national event but for us it was local,” she said. “We’re embedded in our community and pride ourselves on being deeply engaged in our community.”
walter’s warning
Next U.S. president will have to contend with nuclear Iran, Walter Russell Mead warns
Foreign policy analyst Walter Russell Mead warned on Wednesday that the next administration will likely need to confront a nuclear-armed Iran, or take steps to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon. But he said he doesn’t think either presidential candidate is fully prepared for that scenario, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports.
Likely scenario: “My guess is that the next president will likely face a nuclear Iran — or face the alternative of war with Iran or accepting a nuclear Iran,” Mead said in remarks at the American Enterprise Institute. “I don’t think either candidate really knows what they would do under those circumstances, but I think that is something they are very likely to face.” Mead described Iran as having the most success in altering the world to its goals despite being the least capable of the U.S.’ three major global adversaries (Russia, China and Iran): “The runt of the litter is running the table.”
loaded language
Meta’s Oversight Board OKs use of ‘From the River to the Sea’ on Meta platforms
Meta’s Oversight Board, an advisory body tasked with weighing in on complicated content-moderation questions on Meta’s social media platforms, decided on Wednesday that the phrase “From the River to the Sea” is not inherently antisemitic and should not result in the removal of posts that employ that language. With the decision, the Oversight Board — which is funded by Meta but operates independently — waded into one of the most contentious questions that has dogged American institutions since the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks in Israel last year: Does a phrase adopted by Hamas to call for the removal of Jews from the State of Israel amount to antisemitism? Jewish Insider’s Gabby Deutch reports.
Final decision: The Oversight Board acknowledged concerns about the phrase, and conceded that it has an association with the terrorist group. But in its final decision, the Oversight Board ultimately thought those considerations were not enough to deem the phrase hateful in its own right. “While it can be understood by some as encouraging and legitimizing antisemitism and the violent elimination of Israel and its people, it is also often used as a political call for solidarity, equal rights and self-determination of the Palestinian people, and to end the war in Gaza,” the Oversight Board wrote.
Worthy Reads
World Order and Disorder: In Foreign Affairs, former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice considers the pitfalls of American isolationism. “The United States needs to maintain the defense capabilities sufficient to deny China, Russia, and Iran their strategic goals. The war in Ukraine has revealed weaknesses in the U.S. defense industrial base that must be remedied. Critical reforms need to be made to the defense budgeting process, which is inadequate to this task. Congress must strive to enhance the Defense Department’s long-term strategic planning process, as well as its ability to adapt to evolving threats. The Pentagon should also work with Congress to gain greater efficiencies from the amount it already spends. Costs can be reduced in part by speeding up the Pentagon’s slow procurement and acquisition processes so that the military can better harness the remarkable technology coming out of the private sector. Beyond military capabilities, the United States must rebuild the other elements of its diplomatic toolkit—such as information operations—that have eroded since the Cold War.” [ForeignAffairs]
Optimistic Until the End: Haaretz’s Amir Tibon reflects on his conversations with members of Hersh Goldberg-Polin’s family in the weeks and months before the announcement that the 23-year-old’s body had been discovered shortly after his execution by Hamas. “On Saturday night, shortly after Shabbat ended, Jon [Polin] sent me another message. He sought my opinion on a proposal by peace activist Gershon Baskin, who had been involved in negotiations for the return of kidnapped soldier Gilad Shalit in 2011. Baskin had penned an article on Friday advocating a different approach – a deal that would free all hostages at once, rather than in stages. ‘The best proposal is a single deal to free all the hostages in exchange for [Palestinian] prisoners and an end to the war,’ I wrote back. It’s not something I would have said six months ago. But now, after 11 months of war, it’s the only way to save the hostages, and with them, the State of Israel, which is becoming a dangerous and depressing place as the war drags on with no strategic goal in sight. ‘Exactly!’ Jon wrote back at 8:05 P.M., still energetic and optimistic. Just half an hour later, my WhatsApp began buzzing with rumors that Hersh’s body had been identified (which were later officially confirmed). I refused to believe it. After all, Jon and I had been messaging each other just a little earlier. On Sunday morning, after the news had been confirmed, I sent the final message of our correspondence. ‘Forgive me.’” [Haaretz]
Word on the Street
New Hamas demands and last week’s execution of six Israeli hostages have dampened hopes among U.S. officials that the terror group is willing to agree to any cease-fire and hostage-release proposal…
In an English-language address, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu explained his refusal to cede control of the Philadelphi Corridor in Gaza…
American hostage families are pushing the Biden administration to make a unilateral deal with Hamas, without Israeli input, to secure the release of the remaining Americans being held in Gaza…
Senior U.S. officials including National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan and White House officials Amos Hochstein and Brett McGurk had a virtual meeting with senior Israeli officials, including Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer, to discuss efforts to cool tensions between Israel and Hezbollah…
Former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley is joining Edelman as vice chair of the firm’s global public affairs consultancy arm…
Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy signed into law legislation classifying the vandalism of places of worship as a felony; such crimes were previously classified as misdemeanors…
Andreessen Horowitz vacated its Miami office, in a building owned by Barry Sternlicht, after two years…
Law enforcement officials said the weekend assault of two Jewish University of Pittsburgh students — who were wearing yarmulkes as they walked to Shabbat dinner — by a man wearing a keffiyeh was not a hate crime…
A grand jury indicted a Texas woman who attempted to drown a 3-year-old Palestinian-American girl…
The New York Times interviewed Second Stage Theater co-founder Carole Rothman ahead of her departure from the organization after 45 years…
Team USA’s Ezra Frech won double gold in the Paralympics in the men’s high jump and 100-meter sprint…
London Mayor Sadiq Khan announced a new bus route between the heavily Jewish neighborhoods of Stamford Hill and Golders Green to help address safety concerns from the Jewish community; a direct bus route between the two neighborhoods had been a years-old request from local Jewish leaders…
German police shot and killed an armed man near Israel’s consulate in Munich on the 52nd anniversary of the Munich Olympics attack that killed 12 Israelis…
The Wall Street Journal looks at efforts to recruit Haredimen into the Israeli Defense Forces…
Iran’s top court upheld the death sentence of an Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps volunteer who killed a man in his home during the 2022 anti-government protests…
Iran paid a more than $3 million ransom to hackers in an effort to keep the group from releasing the account data stored in more than a dozen domestic banks…
Longtime Associated Press reporter Linda Deutsch, whose reporting focused on celebrities and the legal system, died at 80…
Pic of the Day
Author Dan Senor (left), former Soviet refusenik Natan Sharansky, Israeli Special Envoy for Combating Antisemitism Michal Cotler-Wunsh and Rabbi David Ingber spoke at an event at the Moise Safra Center in New York on Wednesday evening as part of an event hosted by The Rabbi Sacks Legacy celebrating the 20th anniversary of Sacks’ acclaimed book A Letter in the Scroll.
Birthdays
Academy Award-winning filmmaker, Ari Devon Sandel turns 50…
Author, educator, and activist, best known for his books promoting public education, Jonathan Kozol turns 88… Rabbi emeritus of Congregation Rinat Yisrael in Teaneck, N.J., and rosh yeshiva of the Torah Academy of Bergen County, Rabbi Yosef Adler turns 73… Judge of the Wisconsin Court of Appeals, JoAnne Fishman Kloppenburg turns 71… COO of The New York Public Library, she has been married to Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) since 1980, Iris Weinshall… Principal at Watershed Associates, Stuart Shlossman… Heidi Beth Massey… New York-based real estate developer, Jacob Frydman turns 67… Judge of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court, for the Southern District of Florida, Laurel Myerson Isicoff turns 67… Russian investigative journalist, she is active in the Russian Jewish Congress, Yevgenia Albats turns 66… Member of the Knesset until 2023, she is the first woman in the IDF promoted to Major General (the IDF’s second highest rank), Orna Barbivai turns 62… Canadian lawyer, investor and business executive, he is the co-founder and chairman of Israeli AI company Aiola, Mitch Garber turns 60… Nationally syndicated newspaper columnist and a senior editor at Reason magazine, Jacob Z. Sullum turns 59… Entrepreneur and investor, he is the chairman of Mentored, an education technology platform, Eric Aroesty… Managing editor for politics and legal affairs at USA Today, Holly Rosenkrantz… Senior rabbi of Temple Sholom in Vancouver, B.C., and past chair of Reform Rabbis of Canada, Rabbi Dan Moskovitz turns 54… Member of the Knesset for the Yisrael Beiteinu party, Yulia Malinovsky turns 49… Payroll specialist at Topaz Financial Services, Jeremy C. Frankel… Voice actor for English versions of anime, animation and video games, Maxwell Braden Mittelman turns 34… Director in the D.C. office of Baron Public Affairs LLC, Jeremy Furchtgott… Anthony (Tony) Klor… Director of strategic initiatives and director of IPF Atid at Israel Policy Forum, Shanie Reichman turns 29… Shoshanna Liebman…
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