Daily Kickoff
Good Monday morning.
In today’s Daily Kickoff, we look at the battle brewing over President-elect Donald Trump’s choice for Treasury secretary and report on the clash on Capitol Hill over efforts to bring the Antisemitism Awareness Act to a vote. We cover the release of documents tying Iran to the Oct. 7 Hamas terror attacks and report on Twitch’s changes to its terms of service regarding the use of the word “Zionist.” Also in today’s Daily Kickoff: Rep. Josh Gottheimer, Will Scharf and Jacob Vogelstein.
What We’re Watching
- The G20 starts today in Rio de Janeiro. President Joe Biden, China’s Xi Jinping and U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer are among those in attendance. Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman canceled his planned trip, reportedly due to a chronic ear canal condition.
- White House senior advisor Amos Hochstein is headed to Lebanon and Israel this week for meetings with senior officials, amid reports of advances in cease-fire talks.
- The Anti-Defamation League is hosting its 30th annual concert at the Kennedy Center in D.C. this evening under the banner, “In Concert Against Hate,” at 8:30 ET, featuring emcee Ben Stiller, the National Symphony Orchestra, Australian singer-songwriter Sia and Israeli singer Eden Golan. The event will honor music executive Scooter Braun for his work to bring the Nova Music Festival exhibition to the U.S.
- AIPAC’s Political Student Leadership Summit kicked off yesterday in Washington and runs through tomorrow.
What You Should Know
Friday delivered significant whiplash over the long-stalled Antisemitism Awareness Act, which passed the House 320-91 in May, Jewish Insider senior congressional correspondent Marc Rod writes.
First, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer’s (D-NY) office told JI last Thursday that he was aiming to incorporate the bill into the 2025 National Defense Authorization Act, pending the approval of the other congressional leaders.
Schumer, under mounting pressure for months over the bill, has pledged to move it forward before the end of the year, and has insisted that he’s strongly supportive of the legislation. By putting it in the NDAA, the legislation would have been likely to pass, but the procedure would also have sidestepped a stand-alone Senate vote on the legislation.
A stand-alone vote would likely expose fissures in the Democratic Party over the legislation, and could have split the Senate Democratic conference, gaining fewer overall Democratic votes than Republican votes, a source familiar with the deliberations told JI earlier this year. There are some objections to the legislation from the fringes on both sides of the aisle.
But House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA), who voted for the Antisemitism Awareness Act when it passed the House earlier this year, told JI on Friday that he would block Schumer’s effort to put the bill into the NDAA, insisting on a stand-alone Senate vote and suggesting that it would be outside the scope of the NDAA, which routinely serves as a vehicle for a range of bills on various subjects.
It’s unclear where the dispute goes next, but expect further back-and-forth. Schumer’s office told JI as of Friday that it had not received a formal communication from Johnson’s office on the subject in NDAA negotiations and didn’t preview Schumer’s next steps. Senate lawmakers could try to add the bill into the NDAA through other means, but that could prove more difficult.
The bill would codify the Trump-era executive order declaring that antisemitism is a prohibited form of discrimination on college campuses and instructing the Department of Education to use the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s working definition of antisemitism to evaluate discrimination claims.
Elsewhere in the Senate this week, Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Jeff Merkley (D-OR) and Peter Welch (D-VT) are set to force votes — expected on Wednesday — on resolutions to block more than $20 billion in military aid to Israel.
The resolutions are all but guaranteed to fail, but the number of senators who support them will be a key signal whether support for Israel has slipped among Senate Democrats over the year since Oct. 7. AIPAC is making an aggressive effort to oppose the resolutions.
One key metric to watch: in January, a total of 11 senators — Sanders, nine Senate Democrats and Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) — voted for a resolution that could have forced the cutting off of all U.S. aid to Israel. Sanders, Merkley and Welch were the only lawmakers to vote against the national security supplemental bill earlier this year over concerns about Israel. The question is whether Sanders’ latest gambit will receive more support than the last resolution?
Jewish leaders have noted that while Schumer has worked to avoid a public vote on the Anti-Semitism Awareness Act, he hasn’t (so far) tried to whip votes against Sanders’ resolution — even as defections from the party’s progressives on Israel could be embarrassing for the Senate majority leader.
It would be another example of the Democrats’ small faction of far-left activists continuing to play an outsized role — at a time the party is desperately trying to moderate its message and win back mainstream voters.
treasury trouble
Messy battle of the billionaires breaks out for Treasury chief
As President-elect Donald Trump swiftly moves to name his picks for several top Cabinet positions in his incoming administration, he has been more carefully weighing a pair of leading candidates for Treasury secretary — who are now jockeying to win the coveted nomination in a messy proxy battle over one of the most consequential roles in Washington. The contest pits Howard Lutnick, the billionaire investor and a co-chair of Trump’s transition team, against Scott Bessent, another billionaire financial executive who until recently had been expected to receive the Treasury nod, Jewish Insider’s Matthew Kassel reports.
Backing Lutnick: In an unorthodox move that reportedly frustrated some Trump allies, Elon Musk, the billionaire tech mogul who has emerged as a close advisor to the president-elect, backed Lutnick in a social media post on Saturday morning. Lutnick, the chairman and CEO of Cantor Fitzgerald, “will actually enact change,” Musk said on X, his social media platform, while Bessent, the founder of Key Square Capital Management, “is a business-as-usual choice,” he argued. Lutnick’s endorsement was echoed by another recent but influential entrant to Trump’s inner circle, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the vaccine skeptic who last week was announced as Trump’s choice to oversee the Department of Health and Human Services.
Bonus: Among those also being considered for the top Treasury position are Apollo Global Management CEO Marc Rowan, former Federal Reserve gov. Kevin Warsh, Sen. Bill Hagerty (R-TN) and former U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer. Trump is reportedly inviting Rowan and Warsh, who is also a son-in-law of philanthropist Ronald Lauder, to Mar-a-Lago this week for conversations about the role.
on the hill
Antisemitism Awareness Act jam sparks frustration from bill’s House sponsors
Friday’s back-and-forth between Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) over the Antisemitism Awareness Act appears to be sparking frustration from the lead sponsors of the legislation, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports.
What’s happening: Rep. Mike Lawler (R-NY), the lead House sponsor of the bill, who has been publicly pressuring Schumer for a vote for months, initially seemed to react positively to the news that he was pursuing its inclusion in the NDAA. But he then echoed Johnson’s call for a stand-alone vote after Johnson said he wouldn’t support the NDAA effort. Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ), the lead Democratic sponsor, said, “Enough excuses, let’s get this up for a vote now and stop delaying the fight against hate and antisemitism.” Despite the continued jam, Jewish groups supporting the legislation are not framing the back-and-forth as cause for concern.
iran report
Documents found in Gaza detail Iranian sponsorship ahead of Hamas’s Oct. 7 attack
Iran was an essential part of Hamas’ preparations for the Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel, according to a report released by the Meir Amit Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center on Sunday, based on documents found by the IDF in Gaza over the last year. Though Iran has denied foreknowledge of the Oct. 7 attack, the documents cited by the Meir Amit Center report indicate Tehran’s involvement in Hamas’ preparations, Jewish Insider’s Lahav Harkov reports.
Telling papers: “Hamas documents taken by IDF forces in the ground operation in the Gaza Strip … provide a rare glance at the extent of Iran’s penetration into Hamas as part of building its ‘axis of resistance’ against Israel,” the report states. “The documents teach us about Iran’s strategic process of establishing their foothold and influence in what happens in Hamas specifically and Gaza generally.” On Dec. 18, 2022, a letter from Marwan Issa, the deputy commander of Hamas’ Qassam Brigades who was killed in March of this year, wrote to Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar — also killed by the IDF this year — that Iran agreed to provide a special budget of $7 million per month for a year to prepare for a war with Israel, but Issa thought Hamas should ask for a three- or four-month advance so that the group could prepare faster.
Bonus: Families of American victims of the Oct. 7 attacks filed a lawsuit against Iran in a U.S. district court, citing the retrieved documents as part of the evidence connecting the Islamic Republic to the deadly attacks.
NJ news
Gottheimer pledges to crack down on antisemitism in gubernatorial campaign announcement
Announcing his bid for governor of New Jersey on Friday, Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ) pledged to crack down on antisemitism, indicating he plans to bring his advocacy on the issue from Capitol Hill to the campaign trail in the Garden State, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports.
What he said: “We can’t attract more families and jobs to our state if families don’t feel safe — in their homes, in their neighborhoods or even in their cars. We need more cops on the beat and more community policing,” Gottheimer said in a speech announcing his entry into the race. “And let me add: We need to bring the full force of the law against the antisemites who are harassing Jewish or any other communities all over this state.”
policy update
Twitch updates terms of service to ban use of Zionist as a slur
The streaming platform Twitch announced that it is updating its policy regarding the use of the word “Zionist” in a derogatory manner amid scrutiny and criticism of antisemitism posted by the platform’s top creators, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports.
Making a change: The company, which dominates the streaming market, announced Friday that it had updated its hateful conduct policy to prohibit the use of the term “to attack or demean another individual or group of people on the basis of their background or religious belief.” The change comes after pressure and scrutiny from Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-NY) and others.
secretary selection
Trump taps Will Scharf as White House staff secretary
President-elect Donald Trump announced over the weekend that he selected Will Scharf, one of his personal attorneys, to serve as White House staff secretary, a lower-profile role managing the paper flow to the president, Jewish Insider’s Emily Jacobs reports. Trump announced the news in a post on his Truth Social platform, writing that Scharf “is a highly skilled attorney who will be a crucial part of my White House team. He has played a key role in defeating the Election Interference and Lawfare waged against me, including by winning the Historic Immunity Decision in the Supreme Court.”
Background: Scharf, who is Jewish, ran to be Missouri’s next attorney general earlier this year, losing to Andrew Bailey in the GOP primary. Trump declined to endorse in the race given his close relationships with both men. Scharf has been part of the team representing Trump in his federal election interference and immunity cases, the latter of which he argued before the Supreme Court. He was also a regular on the cable news circuit defending Trump during his New York trial.
Worthy Reads
Let’s Make a (Mideast) Deal: The Wall Street Journal’s Joshua Chaffin and Deborah Acosta spotlight Steve Witkoff, who was announced last week as the incoming Trump administration’s Mideast envoy. “Witkoff, who is Jewish, has been a staunch supporter of Israel. Although he has no diplomatic training, friends point to the business contacts he has built up in the region. Last year Witkoff sold Manhattan’s Park Lane Hotel to the Qatari Investment Authority, the country’s sovereign-wealth fund, for $623mn. Abu Dhabi’s investment fund was also involved. ‘He’s very self-aware about what he knows and he doesn’t know,’ said Marty Edelman, a Paul Hastings real estate lawyer, who described his friend as someone able to ‘understand both the Rubik’s Cube and the people who are turning it.’ Still, another real-estate executive sounded skeptical about Witkoff’s credentials even while praising his savvy. Peacemaking in the Middle East isn’t Witkoff’s world, this person said.” [WSJ]
Front Burner: The Atlantic’s Eliot Cohen reflects on how Israel’s military strategy has evolved after more than a year of war on more than half a dozen fronts. “The Israeli high command now sees all of these conflicts as elements of a single, multifront war with Iran. It believes that the preparation for the Hamas attack was intimately tied to Hezbollah, which is, in turn, an Iranian proxy. It believes, moreover, that the purpose of these attacks, over the next few years, was not to inflict damage upon Israel, but to destroy it. ‘They thought they could conquer Israel,’ one sobered general told me. ‘I had not fully understood that.’ … Israel is girding itself for the daunting prospect of a long war against Iran, even as its immediate conflicts with Hamas and Hezbollah cannot be swiftly and decisively wrapped up, no matter what American and European leaders might wish.” [TheAtlantic]
Course Correction: In The New York Times, Adam Jentleson, who previously served as chief of staff to Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) and deputy chief of staff to former Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV), suggests how Democrats can reverse their 2024 electoral losses. “Last week, Mr. Trump showed us what a conservative realignment can look like. Unless Democrats want to be consigned to minority status and be locked out of the Senate for the foreseeable future, they need to counter by building a supermajority of their own. That starts with picking an ambitious electoral goal — say, the 365 electoral votes Barack Obama won in 2008 — and thinking clearly about what Democrats need to do to achieve it. Democrats cannot do this as long as they remain crippled by a fetish for putting coalition management over a real desire for power. Whereas Mr. Trump has crafted an image as a different kind of Republican by routinely making claims that break with the party line on issues ranging from protecting Social Security and Medicare to mandating insurance coverage of in vitro fertilization, Democrats remain stuck trying to please all of their interest groups while watching voters of all races desert them over the very stances that these groups impose on the party.” [NYTimes]
Word on the Street
Israeli officials confirmed that a top-secret Iranian nuclear facility in Parchin was destroyed during Israel’s strike against Iran last month that targeted military sites and aerial-defense systems…
Israeli Minister of Strategic Affairs Ron Dermer met with Emirati Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed in the Gulf nation over the weekend to discuss Israel’s wars with Hezbollah and Hamas….
Tehran denied reports that Elon Musk, the co-head of the incoming Trump administration’s Department of Government Efficiency, recently met with Iran’s ambassador to the United Nations…
The New York Times spotlights Trump advisor Boris Epshteyn, whom the Times describes as “one of the most powerful figures in the early days of the presidential transition, despite having no formal role in it”…
Musk and Epshteyn reportedly clashed at Mar-a-Lago last week, with Musk accusing Epshteyn of leaking details of the Trump transition plans to the media…
The incoming administration plans to revive Trump’s “maximum pressure” campaign on Iran in an effort to stem the activities of Tehran’s proxies and halt the country’s nuclear program…
Jared Kushner is likely to serve in an advisory capacity for the incoming Trump administration, focused on Middle East issues…
The Foundation for Defense of Democracies’ Mark Dubowitz appeared on CNN’s “GPS” with Bianna Golodryga to discuss the incoming administration’s approach to the Middle East…
CNN’s Dana Bash criticized CodePink activists who accosted her at a synagogue on Friday evening, saying that the activists “came to a place of Jewish worship, stood on the Bhima, near the holy Torah scroll, and pretended to be congregants. You have no shame, no decency, and no clue what you’re talking about”…
Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) said he plans to vote to confirm Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY) to be U.S. ambassador to the U.N….
Rep. Dean Phillips (D-MN), a retiring House Democrat and former Democratic presidential candidate, argued on Sunday that the anti-Israel movement inside the Democratic Party is antisemitic and an electoral drag on the party, responding to a tweet about AIPAC from Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports…
The Washington Post’s Josh Rogin explains his opposition to Tulsi Gabbard’s nomination to be director of national intelligence, saying that the former congresswoman, who switched to the Republican Party earlier this year, is unable to both “distinguish between democracies and autocracies, and separate propaganda from reality”…
U.S. Ambassador to Japan Rahm Emanuel is weighing a bid for chair of the Democratic National Committee…
GOP Senate candidate Kari Lake settled a lawsuit brought by Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer, whom Lake, her husband and staffers had blamed for her 2022 gubernatorial election loss…
Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) slammed the Biden administration‘s decision not to take action against Israel for the devolving humanitarian situation in Gaza…
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), who visited Israel over the weekend, told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to “do what you have to do” in order to prevent Iran from obtaining nuclear capabilities…
Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine blasted the neo-Nazi protest that took place in Columbus on Saturday, saying that participants were “carrying Nazi flags and spewing vile and racist speech against people of color and Jews”…
A Houston man was arrested and charged with attempting to provide material support to ISIS…
The Sequoia Unified High School District in Northern California is facing a lawsuit filed on behalf of several Jewish students who allege the district did not protect them from a “hostile” learning environment…
The Financial Times spotlights Catalio Capital, co-founded by Jacob Vogelstein and backed by Alan Howard and Henry Kravis…
The Associated Press profiles Brigham Young University quarterback Jake Retzlaff, who has led the team to a 9-1 season…
An art museum in Basel, Switzerland, will compensate the descendants of a German-Jewish art collector who was forced to sell a Camille Pissarro work under duress in 1933…
International Criminal Courtofficials are raising concerns about the investigation into harassment allegations made against chief prosecutor Karim Khan, citing Kahn’s wife, an attorney who previously worked for the Office of Internal Oversight Services, the body overseeing the probe…
The IDF sent out draft letters to the first 1,000 of 7,000 Haredi men expected to be called to service, following an Israeli court ruling earlier this year that paved the way for the Haredi community to be included in the country’s mandatory conscription…
Hezbollah spokesperson Mohammed Afif, who previously served as an advisor to former Hezbollah head Hassan Nasrallah, was killed in an Israeli strike in Beirut…
American and Israeli diplomats confirmed to The Times of Israel and Israel’s Kan broadcaster that senior Hamas officials who had been living in Qatar departed the Gulf nation for Turkey, weeks after Doha reportedly told the officials they were no longer welcome in the country and withdrew itself from Israel-Hamas cease-fire negotiations…
Israeli President Isaac Herzog canceled his appearance at the COP29 climate conference in Baku, Azerbaijan, citing “security considerations”; Turkey had refused to give permission to Herzog’s plane to fly through Turkish airspace to reach the summit…
Former acting Israeli Consul in New York Aviv Ezra was named deputy director general for Asia and the Pacific in Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs…
Yossi Shelley, the director-general of the Israeli Prime Minister’s Office, was unanimously approved by the government to be the next ambassador to the United Arab Emirates; Shelley’s potential appointment had been met with criticism in both Israel and the UAE over his lack of experience and history of gaffes…
The Wall Street Journal looks at the financial challenges facing Saudi Arabia as it works to reach its Vision 2030 goals, including the construction of the futuristic city Neom, which would cost upwards of $500 billion to build…
A nephew of Gadi Eisenkot, who until earlier this year served in Israel’s war cabinet, was killed in battle northern Gaza over the weekend; Eisenkot’s son was killed in a skirmish in Gaza in December 2023, and another nephew was killed a day later…
Pope Francis called for an investigation into whether Israel had committed genocide in Gaza…
Music producer Shel Talmy, who worked with The Who and The Kinks, died at 87…
Pic of the Day
Henny Franks, 101, who survived the Holocaust as a child through the Kindertransport, laid a wreath on Sunday during the annual parade by AJEX, the Jewish Military Association, to honor Jewish servicemembers.
Birthdays
Singer-songwriter, he is also the author of a popular Passover Haggadah, Barry Louis Polisar turns 70…
Theoretical physicist, at age 27 he became a professor and then later president of the Weizmann Institute, he is the founder of the Davidson Institute of Science Education at Weizman, Haim Harari turns 84… Former president of East Bay Federation, Steve Goldman… National director of major gifts for the American Committee for the Shaare Zedek Medical Center in Jerusalem until the end of 2023, Paul Jeser… Lecturer at Boston University School of Law, he was formerly SVP and general counsel of Fidelity Management & Research Company, Eric D. Roiter turns 76… Atlanta resident, Lynda Wolfe… Israeli cantor and actor, known for his Broadway performance as Jean Valjean in “Les Misérables,” David “Dudu” Fisher turns 73… Professor emerita at Harvard Business School, Shoshana Zuboff turns 73… Professor of epidemiology at Columbia University, Walter Ian Lipkin turns 72… Former U.S. ambassador to South Africa, she is also a luxury handbag designer, Lana J. Marks turns 71… Longtime former play-by-play sportscaster for the NBA’s Philadelphia 76ers, Marc Zumoff turns 69… Mayor of Dallas from 2002 until 2007, Laura Miller turns 66… SVP and general counsel of HSP Group and ARF Financial, Robert Bruce Lapidus… Moroccan-born, member of the Knesset since 2003 for the Shas party, he currently serves as the minister of welfare and social affairs, Yaakov Margi turns 64… NYC-based writer, activist and performer, Shira Dicker… Pulitzer Prize-winning Washington-based correspondent for The New York Times covering health policy, Sheryl Gay Stolberg turns 63… Retired Baltimore attorney who devotes her time to philanthropic and pro-Israel activities, Laurie Luskin… Rabbi of Burbank Temple Emanu El and national coordinator of Rabbis Without Borders, Tsafreer “Tsafi” Lev turns 53… Chabad rabbi in Kyiv and executive chairman of the Federation of Jewish Communities of Ukraine, Raphael Rutman turns 52… Member of the Knesset for the Yesh Atid party, Michal Shir Segman turns 45… Real estate agent at Coldwell Banker and a consultant for Bridals by Lori, Talia Fadis… Israeli singer-songwriter and music producer, Elisha Banai turns 36…
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