Congress blinks on antisemitism
Plus, Leonardo DiCaprio's new Herzliya hotel
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In today’s Daily Kickoff, we talk to college students about the Trump administration’s efforts to reach settlements with schools over their handling of antisemitism on campus, and have the scoop on new legislation, introduced by Reps. Virginia Foxx and Josh Gottheimer, that would restrict federal funding to universities that engage in boycotts of Israel. We also report on the death of Blackstone executive and Jewish communal lay leader Wesley LePatner, who was killed in Monday’s shooting at the company’s headquarters, and look at stalled congressional efforts to address antisemitism. Also in today’s Daily Kickoff: Leonardo DiCaprio, Michel Issa, Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker and Penny Pritzker.
What We’re Watching
- The Senate is expected to vote today on two resolutions from Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) on blocking arms sales to Israel. More below.
- House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) is slated to meet with Democrats in Texas today amid a broader debate over mid-decade redistricting, following President Donald Trump’s call for the Lone Star State to redraw the state’s congressional districts to give Republicans up to five additional seats.
What You Should Know
A QUICK WORD WITH JI’S MARC ROD
It’s been two months since the Capital Jewish Museum shooting in Washington and the Boulder, Colo., firebombing attack.
The two attacks prompted unified condemnation from lawmakers and calls from the Jewish community for Capitol Hill to take aggressive action against the escalating antisemitism crisis in the United States.
But as Congress heads into its August break, that initial momentum has produced little concrete action.
The House and Senate have passed resolutions condemning the attacks, but key legislation related to antisemitism remains stalled, even as lawmakers individually and in groups continue to press for action.
There are still no clear prospects for passage of the Antisemitism Awareness Act, a key element of congressional efforts to address antisemitism, after a contentious Senate committee hearing in April in which Democrats, joined by Republicans including Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY), voted to add amendments that most Republicans supporting the bill view as nonstarters. House leaders have made no public moves to advance the legislation.
And despite calls from Jewish groups for significant increases in nonprofit security funding to as much as $1 billion next year and a push from a bipartisan coalition of lawmakers for $500 million, the funding levels under consideration in the House are little different from those discussed in prior years.
Read more from JI senior congressional correspondent Marc Rod here.
MORE THAN MONEY
Pro-Israel students: University reforms must go beyond cash payments
When hundreds of pro-Israel college students from around the country gathered in Washington earlier this week for the Israel on Campus Coalition’s three-day annual national leadership summit, the rise of antisemitism on campuses sparked by the aftermath of the Oct. 7 terrorist attacks nearly two years ago was still a topic of conversation throughout panels and hallways. This year, however, some students, in conversations with Jewish Insider’s Haley Cohen, also said that antisemitism is lessening — though they offered mixed views about what is leading to the improved campus climate.
Students’ perspectives: Some attributed it to the Trump administration’s ongoing pressure campaign on universities to crack down on antisemitic behavior, which has included federal funding cuts from dozens of schools. Others said their campuses started to take a serious approach to antisemitism, before President Donald Trump was reelected, in the fall semester following the wave of anti-Israel encampments from the previous spring. But many student leaders from universities that have been targeted by the Trump administration — facing billions of dollars in slashed funds — said that if their school enters into negotiations to restore the money, they would like a deal to include structural reforms, unlike the one made last week between the federal government and Columbia University.
Suit settled: The University of California, Los Angeles settled a federal lawsuit this week with Jewish students who alleged that the university permitted antisemitic conduct during the spring 2024 anti-Israel encampments on the campus, according to a settlement agreement shared by the university on Tuesday, Jewish Insider’s Gabby Deutch reports.
EXCLUSIVE
Foxx, Gottheimer aim to restrict federal funding to colleges that boycott Israel
Reps. Virginia Foxx (R-NC) and Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ) introduced legislation on Tuesday that would make colleges that engage in a “nonexpressive commercial boycott” of Israel ineligible to receive federal student aid funding, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod and Emily Jacobs report.
About the bill: The legislation, the Protect Economic and Academic Freedom Act, would require schools to certify annually that they are not engaged in such boycotts, and would instruct the Department of Education to annually publish a list of schools that fail to submit such certification. The legislation would apply both to boycotts of Israel as a country or companies and other entities operating under Israeli law.
ELEVATING THE ISSUE
Senate Democrats call out humanitarian crisis in Gaza, say GHF failed
A group of 40 Senate Democrats, nearly all of the caucus, wrote to administration officials on Tuesday raising concerns about the humanitarian situation in Gaza and calling for a significant expansion of aid, describing the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation as a failure, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports.
What they said: The letter to Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff, led by Sens. Adam Schiff (D-CA), Brian Schatz (D-HI), Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and Jacky Rosen (D-NV), highlights the extent of the concern even among Democratic leaders and pro-Israel stalwarts. The lawmakers called for aid to be significantly expanded through “experienced multilateral bodies and NGOs.” A group of 21 progressive Democrats went further earlier this week, calling for the U.S. to stop all funding for the GHF.
Déjà vu: Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) introduced a joint resolution of disapproval on Monday to block an arms transfer to Israel, setting up a Senate floor battle on Wednesday over U.S. aid to Israel — the third since November of last year, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports.
through thick in thin
Rep. Ritchie Torres offers muscular defense of Israel amid flurry of Dem criticism
In comments to a supportive crowd of pro-Israel college students in Washington, Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-NY) said Tuesday that the world needs to be reminded that “Hamas is the central cause of the war in Gaza,” Jewish Insider’s Haley Cohen reports.
What he said: “We have to remind the world that despite the amnesia, Hamas is the central cause of [Israel’s] war in Gaza. The primary responsibility for a war lies with its cause … Hamas is morally responsible, principally responsible for the war in Gaza,” Torres, a pro-Israel Democratic stalwart in Congress, told about 700 attendees gathered in Washington for the Israel on Campus Coalition’s three-day annual national leadership summit.
More from Torres: Torres warned, in an interview with The Bulwark on Tuesday, that the war in Gaza appears to be turning into a “quagmire” akin to the Iraq war, without clear objectives or any realistic end point, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports.
IN MEMORIAM
Jewish philanthropist Wesley LePatner killed in Manhattan shooting
Wesley LePatner, a Blackstone executive who was involved with Jewish communal organizations in New York City, was killed in the Monday shooting at the firm’s Midtown headquarters, the company confirmed on Tuesday, Jewish Insider’s Gabby Deutch reports. LePatner was the global head of Core+ Real Estate at Blackstone and CEO of Blackstone Real Estate Income Trust, according to Blackstone’s website. A Yale graduate, she joined the company in 2014 after more than a decade at Goldman Sachs. She served on the board of trustees at the Abraham Joshua Heschel School, a pluralistic Jewish day school in New York, and she joined the board of directors at UJA-Federation of New York earlier this month.
Legacy: “Wesley was extraordinary in every way — personally, professionally, and philanthropically,” the federation said in a statement. “In the wake of Oct. 7, Wesley led a solidarity mission with UJA to Israel, demonstrating her enduring commitment in Israel’s moment of heartache. She lived with courage and conviction, instilling in her two children a deep love for Judaism and the Jewish people.”
More from Blackstone: The company’s president, Jonathan Gray, said that LePatner was well-liked at the firm, where she “just instilled such a sense of confidence in her” and “wanted other people to win.”
AMBASSADORIAL ASSESSMENT
Lebanon ambassador nominee: There is a ‘narrow but meaningful window for progress’
Michel Issa, the Lebanese-American businessman nominated by the Trump administration to serve as U.S. ambassador to Lebanon, said Tuesday that the Lebanese government and armed forces must act swiftly and decisively to disarm Hezbollah and remove its influence across Lebanese society, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports.
Looking ahead: Issa argued at his Senate Foreign Relations Committee confirmation hearing that the war between Israel and Hezbollah, “while devastating, has opened a narrow but meaningful window for progress,” in combination with the Israel-Lebanon ceasefire deal, the fall of the Assad regime in Syria and recent blows to Iran’s military and nuclear program.
Worthy Reads
Bibi’s Bind: The Atlantic’s Yair Rosenberg considers the challenge facing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as he attempts to prosecute the war in Gaza and keep his government — which includes far-right members with a different vision for the enclave — from collapsing. “Every step he authorized had to be dual use: ostensibly for a strategic purpose but also capable of potentially advancing the far right’s plan. In practice, pursuing these two goals at the same time is incompatible with a just and successfully prosecuted war: It is impossible to provide aid and also withhold it, to pursue a limited war against Hamas to free hostages and also a war of conquest. The longer the conflict has gone on, the more obvious the compromised nature of Netanyahu’s decision making has become.” [TheAtlantic]
Keir’s Veer: The Wall Street Journal’s editorial board critiques British Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s declaration that the U.K. will recognize a Palestinian state unless Israel meets certain conditions before September. “Framing recognition as a threat to Israel — unless it does x, y and z — lays bare the move’s punitive nature. At least this means we can dispense with the usual pabulum that planting a hostile state in the heart of Israel is a gift for which Israelis would be grateful if only they could see their true interests as clearly as they appear from Paris and London. It is also striking to demand that Israel accept a cease-fire when it has done so over and over, only for Hamas to torpedo talks. That was the Biden team’s conclusion and now the Trump team’s as well. When Israel made difficult concessions last week, Hamas reneged on what it had agreed to previously. The U.K. now gives Hamas a reason to reject future cease-fires; if the terrorists hold out, Mr. Starmer will give them a reward.” [WSJ]
Word on the Street
The New York Times published an editor’s note regarding a story about malnutrition in Gaza that failed to note that one of the children featured in the article — whose pictures went viral — suffered from preexisting health conditions affecting his brain and his muscle development…
In a thread on X laying out his positions on the war in Gaza, Rep. Greg Landsman (D-OH) argued that “Qatar should take into custody every Hamas leader in Qatar until every hostage is released and the war is over”…
The Times of Israel published a document signed at this week’s U.N. conference on a two-state solution by 17 countries, including Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Egypt, calling for Hamas to disarm and end its rule over the Gaza Strip…
President Donald Trump said that the U.S. would partner with Israel on “a new aid plan” to open new food distribution sites in the Gaza Strip…
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has reportedly discussed mounting a gubernatorial run in Tennessee next year, when Gov. Bill Lee, a Republican, will be term-limited…
New guidance released this week by the Office of Personnel Management expressed support for religious expression, including proselytization, in federal workplaces…
A new poll from Gallup found record-low U.S. support for Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza since it first polled on the issue in November 2023; 60% of Americans surveyed earlier this month disapprove of Israel’s military actions in Gaza, up from 45% in November 2023…
The Wall Street Journal looks at Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker and former Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker’s push to bring quantum computing technology to Chicago…
Italian authorities are investigating as a hate crime an attack on a French Jewish man and his young son that occurred at a rest stop north of Milan; according to video of the incident, the man was assaulted after several individuals, including a cashier at the rest stop, shouted “Free Palestine” at him and his child…
Jewish leaders at the University of Edinburgh are urging the school not to drop its support for the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s working definition of antisemitism, following a report that the school is reconsidering its prior adoption of the definition…
The European Commission proposed barring Israeli participation in the Horizon Europe research program over the humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip…
The Tel Aviv District Planning and Building Committee approved construction plans for a new luxury hotel in Herzliya being built by the Hagag Group in partnership with actor Leonardo DiCaprio…
Israeli media reports that the country’s ambassador to the United Arab Emirates, Yossi Shelley, will soon be sent back to Jerusalem following a months-old incident at an Abu Dhabi bar in which Shelley acted in an “undignified” manner; the Prime Minister’s Office denied both the report and that Shelley is being removed from the posting…
Israeli actor Alon Aboutboul, who appeared in such films as “The Dark Knight Rises” and “Munich,” died at 60…
Crown Heights, N.Y., community member Ben “Ziggy” Faulding died at 41…
Pic of the Day
Sen. Dave McCormick (R-PA), addressing attendees on Tuesday at the Israel on Campus Coalition’s three-day annual national leadership summit in Washington, said that Israel’s response to the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas terror attacks “changed the landscape in ways that could be for the good” and lead to the “possibility of a secure region,” Jewish Insider’s Haley Cohen reports from the conference.
Birthdays
Commissioner emeritus of Major League Baseball, his 2019 memoir is For the Good of the Game, Allan Huber “Bud” Selig turns 91…
Retired attorney from the firm of Hatton, Petrie & Stackler in Aliso Viejo, Calif., Ronald E. Stackler turns 88… Longtime owner and editor-in-chief of The New Republic, he was chairman of the Jerusalem Foundation for 12 years, Martin H. “Marty” Peretz turns 86… The first woman justice on the Nebraska Supreme Court, as a teen she won two gold medals and a silver medal as a swimmer at the Maccabiah Games in Israel, Justice Lindsey Miller-Lerman turns 78… Actor, director and producer, Ken Olin turns 71… Philanthropist and investor, of Uzbek Bukhari background, known as the “King of Diamonds,” Lev Leviev turns 69… Former mayor of Arad, Israel, and then a member of the Knesset for the Kulanu and Likud parties, Tali Ploskov turns 63… President of C&M Transcontinental, he served as COO for the first two Trump campaigns, Michael S. Glassner turns 62… Emmy Award-winning actress, comedian and producer, Lisa Kudrow turns 62… Head coach of men’s tennis and director of tennis operations at Columbia University, Howard Endelman turns 60… Best-selling nonfiction author, contributing editor at Vanity Fair and Rolling Stone magazines, he is a co-creator of the HBO series “Vinyl,” Rich Cohen turns 57… District director for Rep. Jerrold L. Nadler (D-NY), Robert M. Gottheim turns 54… Assistant attorney general for antitrust at the Department of Justice during most of the Biden administration, Jonathan Seth Kanter turns 52… Motivational speaker, author and entrepreneur, he served as a law clerk in 2008 for Justices O’Connor and Ginsburg, the first blind person to clerk for the U.S. Supreme Court, Isaac Lidsky turns 46… President of MSNBC since February, Rebecca M. Kutler… Member of the Knesset for the Otzma Yehudit party, Limor Son Har-Melech turns 46… Senior producer at Vox and host and producer of the podcast of the Association for Jewish Studies, Avishay Artsy… President and founder in 2014 of Dallas-based ECA Strategies, Eric Chaim Axel… Team supervisor at Pittsburgh Mercy Health System, Lewis Sohinki… Author of Jerusalem Drawn and Quartered: One Woman’s Year in the Heart of the Christian, Muslim, Armenian and Jewish Quarters of Old Jerusalem, Sarah Tuttle-Singer turns 44… Former director of policy and public affairs for the Jewish Community of Denmark, now in the renewable energy and offshore wind industry, Jonas Herzberg Karpantschof… Attorney and member of the Los Angeles County GOP Central Committee for Assembly District 42, which includes Pacific Palisades, Elizabeth Barcohana turns 42… Head of digital operations at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Israel until this past April, Tamar Schwarzbard… Managing principal of West Egg Development, Samuel Ezra Eshaghoff turns 33… Director of business development at Israel’s economic mission to the South and Midwest U.S., Joshua Weintraub… Winner of the Miss Israel pageant in 2014, now a businesswoman, Mor Maman turns 30… Actress, as a 10-year-old she starred as Ramona Quimby in the comedy film “Ramona and Beezus,” Joey Lynn King turns 26…
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