Daily Kickoff
Good Tuesday morning.
In today’s Daily Kickoff, we look at the close race between Rep. Mike Lawler and former Rep. Mondaire Jones in New York’s 17th Congressional District, and talk to Reps. Ro Khanna and Jimmy Panetta about their recent trip to Israel. We also interview Rep. Andy Kim, who is the favorite to be New Jersey’s next senator, and report on a push by foreign diplomats in Israel to dissuade the Knesset from advancing legislation that would ban UNRWA. Also in today’s Daily Kickoff: Bob Iger, Amos Hochstein and Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant.
What We’re Watching
- Vice President Kamala Harris is sitting down for an interview with NBC News’ Hallie Jackson today.
- Secretary of State Tony Blinken arrived in Israel earlier today for meetings with senior officials. Hours before his arrival, sirens rang out across central Israel after Hezbollah fired dozens of rockets, including several that were intercepted above Tel Aviv.
- Former Rep. Gabby Giffords (D-AZ) and CBS’ Major Garrett are slated to give the keynotes this morning during the second day of the Eradicate Hate summit.
What You Should Know
More than a dozen Israelis were arrested in recent days on allegations of spying for Iran, Jewish Insider’s Lahav Harkov reports.
Seven Arab residents of Jerusalem were arrested today for planning assassinations at Iran’s behest. Police and the Shin Bet said the agents planned to target an Israeli scientist and the mayor of a big city, and would be paid NIS 200,000 ($53,000). They also committed acts of vandalism and arson for Iran.
Seven Jewish Israelis from the Haifa area, among them two minors and an IDF deserter, were also arrested for giving Iran information that allowed Tehran and its proxies Hamas and Hezbollah to target IDF bases in missile strikes.
The alleged spies did not help Hamas with its Oct. 7 attack, Israeli Police told Israel Hayom, but “every missile shot at [Israel] from Gaza, Lebanon or Iran in the last two years reached places that they photographed and sent to the Iranians, especially in the last year.” A senior Shin Bet official said that the cell “inflicted security damage on the state.”
The agents were caught red-handed photographing an Israeli official’s home; police would not confirm to Israeli media that it was Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, whose Caesarea home was struck by a Hezbollah missile over the weekend.
The alleged spies, immigrants from Azerbaijan, were recruited by a Turkish intermediary, but the ring’s leader eventually knew the information was going to Iran. They completed 600-700 missions, gathering intelligence for Iran over the past two years, an unusually long time for such a cell. They photographed IDF bases and Iron Dome batteries and were found to have maps of IDF bases. They also took pictures of the damage caused by Iran’s two missile attacks on Israel this year and assessed the missiles’ accuracy for Tehran.
They were paid hundreds of thousands of dollars in cryptocurrency for their efforts, as well as in cash from Russian messengers. Police said the agents said they were “addicted to the money.”
Last week, two other Israelis were arrested for working for Iranian intelligence, starting with spraying graffiti and distributing posters, and later setting cars on fire, targeting ATMs and starting forest fires, according to police and the Shin Bet. The lead contact for Iran was recruited via social media, paid $5,000 and attempted to recruit homeless people to join him. One of the duo agreed to throw a grenade meant to assassinate a prominent Israeli official and was found to have tried to purchase weapons.
The crime of helping the enemy in wartime can carry a life sentence or even the death penalty, the latter of which was last meted out in 1962 when Adolf Eichmann was hanged after a trial.
Iran is “going for quantity, not quality. They’ll take anyone who can help,” Ben Sabti, a researcher at the Iran program at the Institute for National Security Studies at Tel Aviv University, said. “It’s like their missiles — they don’t care if they’re the most accurate or hitting the most important targets… It’s meant to terrorize.”
“It’s very unusual that a Jew would spy for a Muslim enemy,” Sabti pointed out.
Sabti posited that recent immigrants can be soft targets, and Iran may have an easier time getting to Azeris, as the countries border on each other and are in some ways culturally similar.
“There are populations that aren’t absorbed well [into Israeli society]. People have a lot of complaints soon after making aliyah,” he said. “These are people who miss home and say it was better there and hard [in Israel], and then someone embraces them and slowly they deteriorate… Then, once you get the money, it’s over.”
hudson valley hot seat
Mike Lawler, Mondaire Jones vie for Jewish support in bellwether House race
In the race for a coveted House seat in New York’s Lower Hudson Valley suburbs, the two rival candidates are accusing each other of embracing extremism, even as they have both largely tacked to the center on a range of key issues — including Middle East policy, Jewish Insider’s Matthew Kassel reports. Former Rep. Mondaire Jones (D-NY), a Democrat looking to reclaim his old House seat after running in New York City last cycle, is now mounting a comeback campaign against freshman Rep. Mike Lawler (R-NY), one of the most vulnerable House Republicans up for reelection.
Fringe focus: In an interview with JI, Jones, 37, reiterated his claim that Lawler has “leaned into MAGA extremism” during his first term — citing his recent defense of former President Donald Trump’s widely criticized warning to Jewish voters that it will be their fault if he loses the election later this month. Meanwhile, Lawler, 38, characterized Jones as a far-left radical aligned with the Squad. “He voted against Iron Dome,” Lawler alleged in an interview with JI. “This is someone who supports cashless bail and defunding the police and open borders.”
trip reflections
Lawmakers visit Israel, Saudi Arabia, Jordan to discuss Iran and regional peace
On a trip to Israel, Saudi Arabia and Jordan last week, Reps. Ro Khanna (D-CA) and Jimmy Panetta (D-CA) met with regional leaders on a range of issues, including Israel’s anticipated retaliatory strike against Iran, the ongoing impacts of the yearlong war and the prospects for peace moving forward, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports.
What they said: Both Khanna and Panetta urged Israel to undertake a limited response to Iran’s recent ballistic missile attack in a way that prevents further escalation of the conflict and a continued back-and-forth. They also discussed visions for the path forward in Gaza and potential Arab involvement in a long-term settlement, as well as reflected on U.S. pressure on Israel during the course of the war.
kim’s call
Citing North Korea threat, Andy Kim says he has ‘empathy’ for Israelis and Jewish Americans
Rep. Andy Kim (D-NJ), favored to be the next senator from New Jersey, told Jewish Insider’s Emily Jacobs that his family background as the child of Korean immigrants who experienced their homeland being torn apart by war gives him a “sense of empathy” for Jewish Americans’ feelings toward Israel.
Existential threat: “My parents were born at the end of the Korean War, into a conflict that divided my ancestral homeland. My family lives in South Korea right now, many of them just a few kilometers from the most fortified, dangerous borders in the entire world. There’s a madman with his finger on the button that can send nuclear weapons to annihilate my family and annihilate their existence,” Kim said in a recent interview, referring to North Korea’s Kim Jong Un. “While I don’t claim to have a perfect understanding of the concerns of the security of Israel and what Jewish Americans feel, I have a sense of empathy.”
plugging leaks
Defense Dept. investigating leak of documents revealing Israel’s plans to attack Iran
The Department of Defense is investigating how U.S. intelligence documents detailing Israeli plans to attack Iran were leaked and published in an online forum, the White House said on Monday. The classified documents were published last week in a Telegram channel called “Middle East Spectator” that is believed to be affiliated with Iran, although it is operated anonymously, Jewish Insider’s Gabby Deutch reports. An account in the channel claimed the documents came from the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, headquartered at the Defense Department.
Open investigation: “We’re not exactly sure of how these documents found their way into the public domain,” said White House national security spokesperson John Kirby. “I know the Department of Defense is investigating this, and I’m sure that as they work through that, they’ll try to determine the manner in which they did become public.” The White House does not yet know if the documents were purposely leaked by an official who had access to them or whether they were obtained as the result of a hack, according to Kirby.
Bonus: The White House said President Joe Biden was “deeply concerned” about the recent leak of classified documents detailing alleged Israeli plans to strike Iran in retaliation for Tehran’s Oct. 1 ballistic missile attack.
trump talk
Trump says expanding Abraham Accords will be ‘absolute priority’ if he wins election
Former President Donald Trump said in an interview released on Sunday that expanding the Abraham Accords would be “an absolute priority” if he wins the election, Jewish Insider’s Matthew Kassel reports. “Everyone wants to be in it,” he said in an interview with Al Arabiya, the Saudi-owned news channel, claiming he would have added “12 to 15 countries literally within a period of a year” if he had won the 2020 presidential election. “If I win, that will be an absolute priority,” he added. “It’s peace in the Middle East — we need it.”
Eye on Iran: Trump also reiterated his controversial claim that Iran would have joined the Accords, which normalized relations between Israel and several Arab neighbors, during a hypothetical second term. “I make the statement, and it sounds foolish but it’s not foolish — I think even Iran would have been in, because Iran was desperate to make a deal,” he said. “They had no money.” He declined to elaborate on how he would address Iran’s efforts to create a nuclear weapon while in office, even as he recently suggested he is open to talks with the Islamic Republic about a renewed nuclear deal that he himself ended while in office.
diplomatic dash
Israel facing U.S., European pressure over proposed UNRWA ban
U.S. Ambassador to Israel Jack Lew, as well as several of his European counterparts, have pressed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other key figures in the Knesset to drop two bills that would effectively shut down the U.N. Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), even though some employees of the U.N. agency aiding Palestinians took part in the Oct. 7 Hamas terror attacks, Jewish Insider’s Lahav Harkov reports.
Looking at the legislation: The bills in question are set to go to a final vote in the Knesset next Monday. One prohibits UNRWA from operating in sovereign Israeli territory, and the other prohibits any Israeli government agencies from having contact with UNRWA and requires the National Security Council to track its implementation. Lew, as well as ambassadors from the U.K., E.U., Canada, Germany, Norway and other countries, as well as Sigrid Kaag, the senior U.N. coordinator for humanitarian action and reconstruction in Gaza, have held meetings and phone calls with Netanyahu and other leaders of parties whose members sponsored the bills, Israeli lawmakers told JI.
Worthy Reads
Buoying Beirut: In The National, Nickolay Mladenov, director general of the Anwar Gargash Diplomatic Academy and former undersecretary general of the United Nations, suggests how international support for Lebanon’s military and economic recovery coupled with security reforms could keep the country from collapsing. “Recent history has shown that leadership changes alone have been insufficient to stabilise the country. The 2016 election of Michel Aoun as president did little to curb the economic collapse or reduce Hezbollah’s influence. Strengthening the army, however, should not be just a military priority – it is a national necessity. A comprehensive support package, including financial aid, modern equipment and strategic backing from regional and international allies, can transform the army into a force capable of leading Lebanon’s recovery. … Lebanon’s future won’t be decided by a single election, nor will it come from the outside. It rests in the hands of its people and the institutions that serve them. And right now, the army is the country’s best hope. By focusing on a strong, independent military, it can reclaim its sovereignty and set the stage for political renewal.” [TheNational]
It’s Foreign Policy, Stupid: In The Wall Street Journal, former Vice President Dan Quayle makes the argument that foreign policy should be front and center in the final weeks before the election. “The first is an ambitious China lying in wait. If there ever were any moderates in the upper echelons of the Chinese Communist Party, none remain. The party is controlled by hawks with specific aims: to take Taiwan and to replace America as the world’s pre-eminent superpower. … The second issue is a revanchist Russia controlled by Vladimir Putin. As tragic as the war in Ukraine is, it could one day be remembered as the opening salvo of a far deadlier conflict. Mr. Putin always wants more — a lesson we should have learned after he invaded Georgia in 2008 and annexed Crimea in 2014. A president who appeases him now would be making a blunder of 1930s proportions. The third issue is Middle East turmoil, which all traces back to Iran. True peace in the region is unlikely until there is regime change in Tehran. However the next president handles the mullahs and ayatollahs, we can be sure that it will determine more than just the fate of Israel.” [WSJ]
Take Two: The Atlantic’s Uri Friedman considers how a second Trump administration could approach the Middle East. “Over the past several months, I have combed through the public record and spoken with former Trump-administration officials in search of the answer. What I learned is that, compared with the Biden administration, a second Trump administration would probably be more permissive toward the Israeli military campaign in Gaza and less inclined to bring U.S. leverage to bear in shaping Israeli conduct (as the U.S. government recently did by warning Israel that it could lose military assistance if it doesn’t provide more humanitarian aid to Gaza). In fact, a second Trump administration’s Middle East policies would likely focus more on confronting Iran and broadening Israeli-Arab diplomatic normalization than on resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. This approach would be in keeping with Trump’s policies as president and the views of many of his Middle East advisers.” [TheAtlantic]
Newsrooms on Fire: New York magazine’s Charlotte Klein interviews dozens of media executives and journalists about the state of the industry, touching on news coverage of the Israel-Hamas war. “‘I worried constantly last fall over alienating our contributors, our readers, and especially our colleagues. The past year has helped me learn and defend the position that we don’t all stand at exactly the same place on the left, and it’s perfectly healthy to follow the voices of our writers and help them to best articulate their beliefs. I also feel proud — I’m not joking when I say this — that no one has quit because of what we’ve done.’ — [The New York Review of Books editor] Emily Greenhouse… ‘The most divisive issue internally in the last decade, more so than George Floyd.’ — A digital media executive… ‘I have never experienced anything as intense as that moment, and I’ve been leading newsrooms for a long time. The depth and intensity of emotion, and the microscopic scrutiny of every word and every headline, is like nothing I’ve been through.’ — A top editor… ‘Breaking through the individual personal circumstances that people are feeling and the framing and different degrees of activism people bring to the most fraught subject in the world — and finding a way to talk to people directly about those things in an honest way that makes clear your expectations without them feeling challenged, threatened, or that you have an agenda to drive — it’s very hard.’ — An editor-in-chief… ‘This story is a different level. There’s no question about it. I think you have to be extra careful in the words you use and the way you tell the story.’ — Gayle King… “It’s really, really difficult to cover a war when you only have access to one side. And so the lack of on-the-ground reporting from Gaza is really, really a handicap.’ — Stephen Engelberg… ‘Every subject became politicized. Everything from our fashion coverage to our art coverage to our restaurant coverage became proxy for that war.’ — A top editor… ‘I’m going to skip that one.’ — An editor-in-chief.” [NYMag]
Word on the Street
An Arab News/YouGov poll of Arab American voters shows former President Donald Trump with a slight edge over Vice President Kamala Harris — 45%-43% — but still within the margin of error…
A new poll from Israel’s Channel 13 found that 63% of Israelis want Trump to win the presidential election, with 20% hoping for Harris to win…
Senior Israeli officials are expressing concerns over Trump’s comments that Israel should quickly move to end its war against Hamas in Gaza, citing “internal political constraints to ending the war quickly” that could clash with Trump’s stated goal…
New York Times columnist Bret Stephens said that he is backing Harris in the election…
Disney plans to name a successor to CEO Bob Iger in early 2026…
The Justice Department unveiled a proposal that aims to prevent the personal information of American citizens from being obtained by malign actors including Russia, China and Iran…
The Iranian rial’s value dropped and international flights in and out of the Islamic Republic were canceled amid concerns of a looming Israeli strike…
Tehran sent a letter to the International Atomic Energy Agency complaining about Israeli threats to strike Iranian nuclear facilities…
Israel announced plans to target additional Hezbollah-linked financial institutions in Lebanon, a day after more than a dozen strikes targeting the Hezbollah-run Al-Qard Al-Hasan; Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant announced the designation of the financial institution as a terrorist organization…
U.S. special envoy Amos Hochstein, visiting Beirut on Monday, said that implementation of U.N. Security Council Resolution 1701 alone will not be enough to end the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah and that the U.S. is looking to end the conflict “as soon as possible”; the resolution, which forbade non-official Lebanese military entities from amassing troops or weapons in southern Lebanon, has been largely unenforced since it was passed in 2006…
The New York Times does a deep dive into the THAAD surface-to-air interceptor, sent by the U.S. to Israel, that has the ability to intercept ballistic missiles fired from Iran and Yemen…
Egypt’s new intelligence chief presented Shin Bet head Ronen Bar with plans for a small-scale hostage-release deal in an effort to restart cease-fire negotiations between Israel and Hamas; the Cairo-proposed deal was presented to Israel’s security cabinet at its Sunday evening meeting earlier this week…
Pic of the Day
Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant met on Monday with members of the House Appropriations Committee, led by Reps. Tom Cole (R-OK) and Rosa DeLauro (D-CT), at the Defense Ministry’s headquarters in Tel Aviv.
Birthdays
Pioneer of the venture capital and private equity industries, he is chairperson and co-founder of Primetime Partners, Alan Patricof turns 90…
Australian real estate investor and longtime chairman of Westfield Corporation, owner of shopping malls across the globe that he sold in 2018, Frank Lowy turns 94… Retired EVP of the Orthodox Union, he was previously chairman of NYC-based law firm Proskauer Rose, Allen Fagin… Professor of education at American Jewish University, Ron Wolfson, Ph.D…. Actor who starred in many high-grossing films such as “Jurassic Park,” “Independence Day” and sequels of both of those, Jeff Goldblum turns 72… Agent for artists, sculptors and photographers, he is a son of Lillian Vernon, David Hochberg… Retired vice-chair of SKDK, she was the long-time CEO of the Recording Industry Association of America, Hilary Rosen turns 66… Award-winning composer and lyricist, Marc Shaiman turns 65… Author of two novels and three other books, Susan Jane Gilman… Bethesda, Md., resident (not the JFNA president), Eric Matthew Fingerhut… President of Argentina since December 2023, Javier Milei turns 54… Chief of staff of The Associated Jewish Federation of Baltimore, Michelle Gordon… Director of the Warsaw Ghetto Museum, Albert Stankowski turns 53… Screenwriter and executive producer, Eric Guggenheim turns 51… Actor best known for playing D.J. Conner on the long-running series “Roseanne” and its spin-off show, “The Conners,” Michael Fishman turns 43… Partner at West End Strategy Team, Samantha Friedman Kupferman… Dana Max Tarley Sicherman… Sports radio talk show host and podcaster, Danny Parkins turns 38… Psychotherapist with a private practice in White Plains, N.Y., Maayan Tregerman, LCSW-R… Journalist and author, Ross Barkan turns 35… Actor and producer, best known for his roles as a child actor starting at 6 years old, Jonathan Lipnicki turns 34… One of Israel’s most popular singers, Omer Adam turns 31… Freelance reporter, Ryan Torok…
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