Charlie Kirk remembered as bulwark against antisemitism
Plus, the mood at MEAD
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In today’s Daily Kickoff, we talk to friends and associates of Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk after the conservative activist was shot and killed at an event at a Utah university. We cover the House’s passage of the 2026 defense bill, including a repeal of the AUMF, and report on concerns by two senior pro-Israel House Democrats that Israeli annexation efforts could pose a threat to the Abraham Accords. Also in today’s Daily Kickoff: Jerry Seinfeld, Larry Ellison and Dana Stroul.
Today’s Daily Kickoff was curated by Jewish Insider Executive Editor Melissa Weiss and Israel Editor Tamara Zieve, with assists from Marc Rod and Danielle Cohen-Kanik. Have a tip? Email us here.
What We’re Watching
- Today is the 24th anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks. Ceremonies and commemorations will be held around the country today in remembrance of the attacks.
- President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump will attend a ceremony at the Pentagon this morning to commemorate the day, while Vice President JD Vance will attend a ceremony at Ground Zero in Manhattan. Trump will travel to New York this afternoon to attend tonight’s Yankees game against the Detroit Tigers.
- In Israel, the Jewish National Fund and the U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem are jointly holding a remembrance ceremony.
- The Senate Appropriations Committee is holding its markup for the Department of Homeland Security, while the Senate Foreign Relations Committee is holding its confirmation hearing for Sergio Gor.
- The Jefferies TechTrek wraps up today in Tel Aviv.
What You Should Know
A QUICK WORD WITH JI’S Gabby Deutch
When 200 top policymakers, analysts and government officials from the U.S. and the Middle East gathered on Wednesday for the second day of the high-profile MEAD conference, one topic was top of mind for everyone at the ritzy Washington confab: Israel’s strike on Doha a day earlier that targeted senior Hamas officials who were gathered in the Qatari capital.
Although many at the conference were decidedly pro-Israel, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s risky mission — Israel’s first-ever airstrikes on Qatar, a major non-NATO ally of the United States — faced significant skepticism, particularly as reports emerged that the attack may not have killed the high-level Hamas leaders that Israel hoped to target.
In a rare on-the-record session, former Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid, Israel’s opposition leader, questioned whether the strike fit within Israel’s broader war aims.
“If you take the operation itself, per se, and you single it out from anything else, of course these are a bunch of bad people that we should have killed a long time ago, and whenever you have a chance to kill them, you should kill them,” Lapid said. “Having said that, as the hours go by, we understand two things. A is that it might not be as successful as we thought in the beginning, and B [is] that this has nothing to do with strategy. It’s just an operation.”
That language marked a shift from Lapid’s initial reaction to the Qatar strike, which he described on Tuesday afternoon in a Hebrew-language tweet as “an exceptional operation to thwart our enemies.”
A lot changed in the interim: President Donald Trump said he was “very unhappy” with the attack, and that it “does not advance Israel or America’s goals.” Arab nations rallied around Qatar, with the leaders of the United Arab Emirates, Jordan and Saudi Arabia all visiting Doha this week. That led some MEAD attendees to argue that Israel’s strike could jeopardize regional integration efforts led by Washington.
IN MEMORIAM
Charlie Kirk remembered as a bulwark against antisemitism on the right
Charlie Kirk, the 31-year-old Trump ally and conservative campus advocacy leader who was fatally shot at an event at Utah Valley University on Wednesday, was seen as a crucial bulwark against rising antisemitism and anti-Israel antagonism on the far right, friends and acquaintances told Jewish Insider’s Matthew Kassel and Emily Jacobs. While he was best known as a fierce and unyielding critic of what he assailed as the excesses of left-wing culture, Kirk, the founder of the youth activist group Turning Point USA, also cautioned against the risks of young conservatives embracing antisemitism and online conspiracy theories about Jews and Israel.
Friends grieve: Jewish conservatives who were close with Kirk both personally and professionally lamented his death as a major loss for the long-term standing of pro-Israel sentiment in the MAGA movement, citing his continued defense of Israel and recent commentary warning against the embrace of antisemitism on the far right while visiting college campuses nationwide with TPUSA. Josh Hammer, a conservative political commentator and a personal friend of Kirk, argued that Kirk’s affinity for the Jewish people was grounded in his evangelical Christian faith and the fact that some of his earliest professional mentors were conservative pro-Israel champions David Horowitz and Dennis Prager. Hammer said he and Kirk engaged regularly on the best ways to address rising antisemitism within the GOP, and that he was concerned about how Kirk’s absence going forward would impact that surge.
ON THE HILL
House passes 2026 defense bill, including repeal of Iraq war powers
The House passed its version of the 2026 National Defense Authorization Act on Wednesday, including an amendment that would repeal the Authorizations for Use of Military Force that allowed for the Iraq war, the Gulf War and many of the U.S.’ subsequent counterterrorism actions globally. The House also passed a series of amendments aimed at countering the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement targeting Israel and enhancing defense cooperation with Israel, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports. An effort to repeal the Authorization for Use of Military Force passed by a bipartisan 261-167 vote, with 49 Republicans voting with 212 Democrats in favor of the amendment.
Remaining questions: Rep. Brian Mast (R-FL), the chair of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said he agreed that there should be sunsets on AUMFs, but said that changes should not be made without discussions with key U.S. military leaders about how the repeal would impact U.S. activities and counterterrorism efforts and whether additional authorities would be needed to reauthorize ongoing U.S. operations. “These are questions that were not asked, and the answers were not given,” Mast said. “We have, I think, probably large agreement on reasons to sunset things, but it should not be done in absence of doing something of this gravity in the proper way.”
PLAYING AGAINST TYPE
Pat Ryan endorses Zohran Mamdani for New York City mayor
Rep. Pat Ryan (D-NY), a swing-district Democrat representing parts of the Hudson Valley, announced his endorsement on Wednesday of Zohran Mamdani, the Democratic nominee for mayor of New York City. With the endorsement, Ryan becomes the first New York Democratic lawmaker outside of New York City to support the 33-year-old democratic socialist and Queens assemblyman, Jewish Insider’s Matthew Kassel reports.
What he said: “Public service is all about one thing: who do you fight for?” Ryan said in a social media post. “Zohran Mamdani fights for the PEOPLE.” He also took a swipe at former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who was soundly defeated by Mamdani in the June Democratic primary and is now running as an independent, calling him “a selfish POS who only fights for himself and other corrupt elites.” Ryan added: “I know whose side I’m on. I’m with the people. I’m with Zohran.”
REACTION IN ACTION
Dana Stroul: Israeli strike on Doha is pushing Gulf states toward Qatar
Dana Stroul, the director of research at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy and a former senior Defense Department official in the Biden administration, warned yesterday that the Israeli strike on Hamas leaders in Doha is leading Arab states to rally around Qatar, potentially dealing setbacks to regional normalization, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports.
Stroul’s insights: Stroul, speaking at an American Jewish Committee event in Washington to mark the five-year anniversary of the Abraham Accords, said that Arab leaders are offering support for Qatar following the strike, and that both Israeli and Iranian moves to make the Gulf a “new battlefield in the Middle East” are making the U.S.’ regional partners “very nervous.” Stroul continued, “It is really disappointing that not one [Arab] government acknowledged Hamas. What’s very clear is that everyone else in the region is aligned that this was a strike on Qatar,” as opposed to a strike on Hamas. “This is about Qatari sovereignty. We’ve seen really a shoring up of Arab leaders’ alignment with and defense of Qatar.”
Defiant defense: Also speaking at the event, Israeli Ambassador to the U.S. Yechiel Leiter offered a strong defense of Israel’s strike on Hamas leaders in Doha, Qatar, as the Israeli government doubled down on the strategy in the face of strong pushback from the Trump administration. Leiter argued that, in carrying out the strike, Israel was only doing what it and other countries have always done in the past: hunting down terrorists who perpetrate attacks on them wherever they may be.
In the room: Hikmat Hajiyev, a senior advisor to the president of Azerbaijan, made a surprise appearance at the AJC event and, in a signal of recent changes in Eastern Europe, shook hands with the ambassador from Armenia. The U.S. recently brokered an end to the war between those two neighbors.
WORDS OF WARNING
Top House Dems warn against steps that could compromise Abraham Accords, two-state solution
Two senior pro-Israel House Democrats, who are co-chairs of the House Abraham Accords Caucus, warned on Wednesday at an American Jewish Committee event in Washington that any moves that would prevent the ultimate establishment of a two-state solution could endanger the survival of the Abraham Accords, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports.
Eye on annexation: Rep. Brad Schneider (D-IL) said that his concerns about Israeli movements toward annexing the West Bank remain. Israel agreed to put those moves on hold five years ago when it sealed the Abraham Accords with the United Arab Emirates. Schneider said that any attempt at a one-state solution would create a permanent violence and conflict. “The UAE has made clear that if Israel goes down that path it has the likelihood — not the possibility, but the likelihood — of cleaving the Abraham Accords to such a point that they may not be recoverable,” he said.
In agreement: Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL) similarly said at the AJC event that “we are at a crossroads with the Abraham Accords” and warned that “progress could be squandered by any steps that permanently foreclose a two-state future.”
Incentivizing peace: Sen. James Lankford (R-OK), meanwhile, urged the Trump administration to offer clearer incentives, including favorable trade and tariff treatment, to countries that normalize relations with Israel. “The United States needs to make a clearer statement to the world that, ‘If you join the Abraham Accords, this is what happens to trade. We change the rules on what we do, on trade, on tariff, on relationships — it’s different for this group, so wouldn’t you like to join this club?’” Lankford said at the event.
Long-term vision: Rep. Mike Lawler (R-NY), who chairs the House Foreign Affairs Committee’s subcommittee on the Middle East and North Africa, said that he wants to work toward a situation in the long term “in which the Palestinians are free from their oppressors, Hamas and the Palestinian Authority.”
EARNEST ERNST
Sen. Ernst says she’s optimistic but skeptical after meeting with Syrian president
Sen. Joni Ernst (R-IA) said that she came away with optimism for the future of Syria from a meeting with Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa last month, while adding that she remains skeptical and emphasizing the need to “trust but verify,” Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports.
Takeaways: “This is an opportunity right now. Whereas before, we have been on opposing forces, now is the time when we can come together for the prosperity of the region and stability in Syria,” Ernst said at an American Jewish Committee event on Wednesday in Washington. “Yes, I’m skeptical, but I am optimistic.” Ernst, a vocal supporter of Israel, joined a statement shortly after that meeting condemning Israel for carrying out strikes against Syrian government targets. Ernst said that she’d had a striking exchange with al-Sharaa over their shared time in combat in Iraq — Ernst as a U.S. service member and al-Sharaa as a member of Al-Qaida. “I told him I, as well, served in Iraq. He was kind of taken aback by that, but then we laughed,” Ernst said.
Worthy Reads
What Charlie Kirk Meant: The Free Press’ Adam Rubenstein reflects on the life and death of Charlie Kirk, whom he’d profiled in 2018 amid Kirk’s meteoric rise. “If I had to use a single word to capture him, it would be gracious. We could disagree about anything — and we did — but he would, without fail, engage civilly and explain his point of view. He did not do this, as many do, to make himself feel smart. He did it so he could share the other side of something he cared about. And he cared deeply. … Charlie Kirk was not naive. In the video after he is shot, you can see a security team of at least half a dozen bodyguards surround him and spirit him away. Like anyone speaking their mind in public these days, he knew there was a risk. He had the courage anyway. And today he died under one of those tents where he defended freedom — his, and all of ours.” [FreePress]
A Just Incursion: In The Washington Post, John Spencer, the chair of urban warfare studies at West Point’s Modern War Institute, argues that the IDF’s military incursion into Gaza City is lawful and necessary to end the war. “In war, there are no perfect solutions, only questions: Is an operation lawful or unlawful, moral or immoral, necessary or unnecessary? Given Israel’s record thus far, its attack on Gaza City will be lawful, moral and necessary. The IDF will proceed like any modern military facing an entrenched enemy in dense cities. The end of the war depends on whether Hamas releases captives and surrenders its grip on Gaza City. No government can allow a terrorist army to maintain safe haven in a dense city while holding hostages and firing rockets. If Hamas fighters refuse, Israel is justified in completing its siege and assault until they are defeated.” [WashPost]
Khamenei’s Calculus: In Foreign Policy, the Middle East Institute’s Alex Vatanka lays out the miscalculations he believes Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is making in his approach to the West and in his allyship with Russia and China. “His revolutionary identity is built on never yielding to the United States, and he will not abandon that legacy unless the payoff is unmistakably greater. So far, U.S. President Donald Trump has offered no such incentive. Washington, in fact, shows little sign of having a coherent strategy for compromise with Iran beyond pressing for capitulation on three issues: enrichment, missiles, and its network of militant allies. In the absence of clarity, Tehran assumes the Iran file has been subcontracted to Israel — making a negotiated deal even more perilous from Khamenei’s perspective. Meanwhile, Khamenei’s ability to prepare the country for greater turmoil is constrained, leaving him to shuffle the national security team around without authorizing a fundamental change of course. And he still clings to the hope that U.S. rivalry with China and Russia will create exit ramps from Western pressure — even as many in Tehran warn against mistaking Beijing’s pageantry for protection.” [ForeignPolicy]
Word on the Street
The Trump administration will, following a judge’s order, restore some funding and grants to Harvard University that for months have been frozen; the government plans to appeal the decision…
The Wall Street Journal reports on frustrations between President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu amid the fallout from the Israeli strike in Doha on Tuesday that killed several Hamas officials; the WSJ reported that both Trump and Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff “have privately complained in recent months that Netanyahu maneuvers them into difficult situations, often with little warning”…
Canadian Foreign Minister Anita Anand said that Ottawa was reevaluating its ties with Israel following the Doha strike…
The House Appropriations Committee approved its 2026 funding bill for the Department of Education on Tuesday; in addition to new provisions on campus antisemitism and cuts to the Office for Civil Rights, the explanatory report accompanying the bill requests a report to Congress on antisemitism in health care and an update on the status of antisemitism investigations…
The New York Times looks at Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick’s involvement in the Trump administration’s dealings with private corporations…
U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer fired Ambassador to the U.S. Peter Mandelson over leaked messages from Mandelson to Jeffrey Epstein in which the British envoy pledged his support for Epstein and attempted to arrange a meeting between the disgraced financier and then-Prime Minister Tony Blair…
Forbes spotlights Jared Kushner’s Brain Co., which he co-founded with Elad Gil and former Mexican Foreign Minister Luis Videgaray, following the startup’s announcement on Wednesday that it had raised $30 million in its Series A funding round…
OpenAI inked a $300 million, five-year deal with Larry Ellison’s Oracle to purchase cloud computing software from the tech company; Ellison then surpassed Elon Musk as the world’s richest person after Oracle’s quarterly earnings report exceeded expectations, pushing Ellison to a total fortune of $393 billion…
The New York Times looks at the deal taking shape between SkyDance’s David Ellison and The Free Press’ Bari Weiss that would give Weiss a C-suite role at CBS…
Comedian Jerry Seinfeld, who appeared at a Duke University event alongside former Israeli hostage Omer Shem Tov, compared the “Free Palestine” movement to the KKK…
A Jewish Pittsburgh woman who pleaded guilty to vandalizing a Chabad house in the city earlier this year was sentenced to probation…
Police in New South Wales, Australia, charged a man with a series of antisemitic attacks in the Sydney area, including the vandalism of the former home of the head of the country’s Jewish community and the firebombing of a childcare center…
Tennis Canada announced that the upcoming Davis Cup match between Canada and Israel will take place inside a closed venue with no spectators, citing security concerns…
The victory of left-wing parties in Norway‘s national elections this week could usher in further anti-Israel boycott moves by the country’s government and sovereign wealth fund, Norges; a source who followed the election said that left-wing parties likely to be part of the coalition government will likely make demands for additional action against Israel in coalition talks. The issue became a significant one in the run-up to the election…
Israel struck Houthi military facilities in Yemen and a fuel station in the capital of Sana’a…
EU policy chief Ursula von der Leyen called for the bloc to suspend free trade ties with Israel…
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said that Tehran had not yet reached an agreement with the International Atomic Energy Agency to allow international inspectors into Iranian nuclear facilities, and that more talks would be necessary to fully restore inspections…
Argentine human rights activist Rosa Roisinblit, who became one of the leaders and founding members of Grandmothers of Plaza de Mayo after her pregnant daughter was disappeared during the country’s dictatorship, died at 106…
Pic of the Day
President Donald Trump, Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff met at the White House on Wednesday with the siblings of hostage Evyatar David as well as returned hostages Ohad and Raz Ben Ami.
Birthdays
Israeli journalist, political commentator and investigative reporter, Raviv Drucker turns 55…
Percussionist, the only Jewish member of the Grateful Dead, born Michael Steven Hartman, Mickey Hart turns 82… Wisconsin resident, Janis Gershon Kohlenberg… French physicist who was awarded the 2012 Nobel Prize for physics, Serge Haroche turns 81… 7-foot basketball center who played for the Bulls and Hawks in the NBA, David L. “Dave” Newmark turns 79… Senior U.S. District Court judge for the Southern District of Ohio based in Cincinnati, Judge Susan J. Dlott turns 76… Pediatric nephrologist, Dr. Jonathan Heiliczer… Member of the New Jersey General Assembly since 2006, he is the first Orthodox Jew to serve in the New Jersey Legislature, Gary Schaer turns 74… Television producer and executive producer, Jon Meyersohn… Global real estate advisor at ONE Sotheby’s International Realty, Rosy Lofer… Owner of the NFL’s Carolina Panthers, he is the founder and president of global hedge fund Appaloosa Management, David Tepper turns 68… Director of sales and marketing at Hillcrest Royale Senior Living in Thousand Oaks, Calif., Marian Rubinstein… Senior judge in the Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania, Ellen Ceisler turns 68… Co-founder of the U.K. hedge fund, Brevan Howard Asset Management, Alan Howard turns 62… London-based CEO and founding partner of Stanhope Capital, Daniel Pinto turns 59… CEO of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, Mark Dubowitz turns 57… CEO of NYC’s 92nd Street Y, Seth William Pinsky… Executive director at JP Morgan Chase, Daniel E. Berger… Former member of the Illinois Legislature, now the CEO of NYC’s Chevra Hatzalah Volunteer Ambulance Service, Yehiel Mark Kalish turns 50… Arbi Tatevosian… Artificial intelligence researcher and writer on decision theory and ethics, Eliezer Shlomo Yudkowsky turns 46… Stand-up comedian and podcast host, his YouTube channel has almost 260 million views, Steven Ira Hofstetter turns 46… Author and social media personality in Israel’s religious-nationalist community, Rabbi Avraham Stav turns 39… Jessica Sebella Setless Spiegel… Co-founder and rebbetzin of the Altneu synagogue on Manhattan’s Upper East Side and news editor for The Real Deal, Avital Chizhik-Goldschmidt… Chief of staff at The Jewish Agency for Israel, Gali Gordon… Betty (Yaira) Ilovici turns 31… Udi Ben Zeev…
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