Mamdani momentum melting?
Plus, Joel Rayburn nomination nixed
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In today’s Daily Kickoff, we talk to experts about Israel’s efforts to root out Hamas by sectioning off parts of Gaza, and cover the White House’s withdrawal of Joel Rayburn as the nominee to be assistant secretary of state for Near Eastern affairs. We report on comments from Qatari spokesman Majed al-Ansari praising Palestinian terror prior to the Oct. 7 attacks, and preview the World Zionist Congress, which begins today in Jerusalem. Also in today’s Daily Kickoff: Rep. Jake Auchincloss, Dina Powell McCormick and Sarah Istel.
Today’s Daily Kickoff was curated by Jewish Insider Executive Editor Melissa Weiss and Israel Editor Tamara Zieve. Have a tip? Email us here.
What We’re Watching
- The Senate Judiciary Committee Subcommittee on the Constitution is holding a hearing this afternoon on politically motivated violent incidents.
- Elsewhere in Washington, the Israeli Embassy is holding a memorial service and discussion on how the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas terror attacks affected the region.
- The Jewish Federations of North America is holding a panel discussion on the upcoming sale of TikTok and online antisemitism.
- The Future Investment Initiative kicked off its ninth annual conference in Riyadh yesterday. Saudi Ambassador to the U.S. Princess Reema bint Bandar Al Saud, JPMorgan Chase’s Jamie Dimon, Snap’s Evan Spiegel, Blackstone’s Stephen Schwarzman, Goldman Sachs’ David Solomon, Alphabet’s Ruth Porat, BlackRock’s Larry Fink, Pershing Square’s Bill Ackman and the Carlyle Group’s David Rubenstein are slated to speak over the course of the four-day confab. Earlier today, former Deputy National Security Advisor Dina Powell McCormick discussed the lasting impact of the Abraham Accords in the region — read more here.
- The World Zionist Congress kicks off this evening in Jerusalem. Are you attending? Keep an eye out for Jewish Insider’s Melissa Weiss and eJewishPhilanthropy’s Judah Ari Gross.
- The Vatican is marking the 60th anniversary of Nostra Aetate, the document absolving Jews of responsibility for the death of Jesus that served as a turning point in Jewish-Catholic relations, with a series of ceremonies and events this week.
What You Should Know
A QUICK WORD WITH JI’S MATTHEW KASSEL
Even as Zohran Mamdani remains the front-runner heading into New York City’s mayoral election next Tuesday, some emerging signs indicate that his momentum is flagging in the final stretch of the race — underscoring potential vulnerabilities for the 34-year-old democratic socialist.
Early voting returns over the weekend, for example, showed a notable surge among older New Yorkers turning out in City Council districts on the Upper East and West Sides, in what some experts interpreted as more favorable results for former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo — running as an independent after losing the primary to Mamdani.
Meanwhile, a new Suffolk University poll released on Monday showed a tightening race, with Cuomo cutting Mamdani’s lead in half to just 10 points — 44% to 34% — in the closing week before the election.
The polling followed a debate performance last week in which Mamdani frequently found himself on the defensive — and faced criticism from Cuomo and Curtis Sliwa, the Republican nominee, over his continued refusal to confirm his position on a series of ballot proposals.
“Cuomo’s numbers are going up because people are now paying more attention,” said Hank Sheinkopf, a Democratic consultant leading an anti-Mamdani super PAC.
Mamdani, a state assemblyman from Queens who would be New York City’s first Muslim mayor if elected, had spent the last few days accusing his rivals of pushing Islamophobic attacks, delivering a series of emotional addresses in which he expressed pride in his faith and vowed to “no longer look for myself in the shadows.”
PRIMARY COLORS
Mamdani ally Brad Lander explores race against Dan Goldman
Brad Lander, the New York City comptroller, is actively weighing a challenge to Rep. Dan Goldman (D-NY) in next year’s primary election, according to people familiar with the matter, raising the prospect of a competitive race between an ally of far-left Democratic mayoral nominee Zohran Mamdani and a pro-Israel incumbent. Lander had, until recently, been widely expected to land a top job in a potential Mamdani administration, with whom he cross-endorsed during the June primary, Jewish Insider’s Matthew Kassel reports.
Primary predictions: But following reports of an emerging strain in their alliance, Lander, a 56-year-old Jewish Democrat, is more closely eyeing Goldman’s seat, which covers Lower Manhattan and a section of Brooklyn that includes the progressive enclave of Park Slope. Lander’s thinking was reported on Monday by City & State New York, which said that he had told allies he was planning a primary challenge to Goldman. Political strategists predicted that Lander, a longtime resident of Park Slope who represented parts of the district as a city councilman, would be a formidable candidate, particularly if Mamdani wins the mayoral race. “The polling and voter data would indicate a progressive running in this district would have a strong chance,” Chris Coffey, a Democratic consultant who resides in the district, told JI on Monday.
scoop
Top Qatari spokesman Majed al-Ansari previously applauded Palestinian terrorism
Majed Al-Ansari, a Qatari Foreign Ministry spokesman and advisor to the prime minister, praised Palestinian suicide bombings and rocket attacks on Israeli civilian centers in social media and blog posts prior to taking up his post in 2022, Jewish Insider’s Lahav Harkov reports. Al-Ansari is one of the Qatari government’s most public faces, hosting regular press briefings and giving interviews about the Gulf state, including to Israeli media.
From the X archive: In May 2021, when Palestinian Islamic Jihad launched 130 rockets at Israel, Al-Ansari posted his support on X, saying that “Palestine emerges to remind this nation of its glory and the greatness of its message.” Al-Ansari added the hashtag #Tel_Aviv_is_burning to his post. During the ensuing 11 days of fighting between Israel and Palestinian terrorists in Gaza and the West Bank, and rioting by Israeli Arabs in mixed Jewish-Arab cities in Israel, Al-Ansari posted: “Jerusalem, the interior [of Israel], the West Bank, Gaza … rise with one voice against the occupier. This unity is what terrifies the enemy the most. Oh Allah, unite their word and guide their aim.”
REROUTING
White House withdraws Joel Rayburn for top foreign policy position
The White House has pulled Joel Rayburn’s nomination to be assistant secretary of state for Near Eastern affairs, two sources familiar with the matter confirmed to Jewish Insider’s Emily Jacobs on Monday. A source familiar with the Trump administration’s thinking said Rayburn was withdrawn because “he did not have the votes.” The source said, “The administration will proceed in a different direction.”
Lead-up: Despite claims that Rayburn lacked the votes, the former Syria envoy’s nomination had been advanced to the full Senate by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee last week. Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) was the only committee Republican to come out against Rayburn’s nomination on the GOP side. That vote was made possible by Sen. Jacky Rosen (D-NV), who crossed party lines to move Rayburn forward after his nomination had languished due to opposition from Paul and all committee Democrats.
COPYCAT EFFECT
Fairfax County schools denounce Muslim student groups promoting hostage taking, violence on social media
The Fairfax County public school system denounced two high schools’ Muslim Student Association chapters on Monday for publishing social media videos that imitate hostage-taking and depict violence as part of a recruitment pitch to attract participants to their programming. The school system, in a statement to Jewish Insider’s Haley Cohen, said that if the involved students are found to have violated school conduct codes, they will be “held accountable for their actions.” But they announced no disciplinary measures yet, despite widespread outcry from Jewish community leaders in the Northern Virginia suburb.
School district statement: “FCPS has been made aware of social media videos featuring high school student organization members that are neither school nor division approved,” a spokesperson for the school district told JI. “These videos depict violence, including kidnappings, with victims being hooded and placed in the trunk of a car, among other things. Acting out these types of violent acts is traumatizing for many of us to watch and, given world events, especially traumatizing to our Jewish students, staff, and community.” The statement goes on: “FCPS would never consider these videos to be appropriate or acceptable content. Any students found to be violating our Student Rights and Responsibilities will be held accountable for their actions.”
POSTWAR PLAN
East Gaza v. west Gaza: How partial IDF control could shape the enclave
After an agreement was reached between Israel and Hamas to initiate the first stage of President Donald Trump’s ceasefire proposal in mid-October, the IDF retreated to an “initial withdrawal line,” leaving Israeli forces in control of 58% of the enclave as Israel and mediators push Hamas to release the remaining deceased hostages and comply with the rest of the agreement, including disarmament and relinquishing power. The line divides Gaza in two: an “East,” controlled by the IDF and serving as a buffer zone to Israel, and a “West,” run by Hamas and host to the concentrated Palestinian population. In interviews with Jewish Insider’s Matthew Shea, experts painted a picture of two Gazas, explaining that the area Israel holds can be used strategically to root out Hamas and maintain leverage if hostilities resume. But challenges lie ahead in rebuilding the enclave and moving Palestinians back into the eastern region.
Lay of the land: “There are virtually no Palestinians living in the eastern part of Gaza beyond the yellow line. The eastern part does not see the movement and the maneuvers of Hamas. That’s still confined to the western part,” Ahmed Fouad Alkhatib, a Gaza native and resident senior fellow at the Atlantic Council, told JI. “Actual civilians of Gaza are all entirely under Hamas’ control in the west.” Alkhatib said Israel has kept Palestinians from returning to the east over security and operational concerns, but also as leverage.
Condemning Hamas: Reps. Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ) and Rick Crawford (R-AR) will introduce a resolution later this week condemning Hamas for its “campaign of executions and intimidation against innocent Palestinians in Gaza” since the implementation of a ceasefire with Israel earlier this month, Jewish Insider’s Emily Jacobs has learned.
JEWISH PEOPLE’S PARLIAMENT
A contentious World Zionist Congress kicks off in Jerusalem with slates expected to duke it out over budgets, positions and resolutions
The 39th World Zionist Congress kicks off in Jerusalem today, with roughly 2,500 people — voting delegates, observers and staff members — in attendance. Over the course of three days, the congress will debate and vote on the budgets, appointments, committee makeups and resolutions that will guide the so-called National Institutions over the next five years, eJewishPhilanthropy’s Judah Ari Gross reports.
On the agenda: The congress and its executive body, the Zionist General Council, control a roughly $5 billion five-year budget, which will be voted on during the gathering. They will also select the leadership of the World Zionist Organization, which runs and supports Zionist programming around the world; Keren Keyemeth LeIsrael-Jewish National Fund, which controls more than 10% of the land of Israel and wields an accordingly massive budget; Keren HaYesod, a major international fundraising operation; and the Jewish Agency for Israel, which oversees Jewish immigration to Israel, leads international educational programs and supports social initiatives in Israel.
Read the full story here and sign up for eJewishPhilanthropy’s Your Daily Phil newsletter here.
Worthy Reads
Defender of the Faith: The New York Times’ Katie Glueck interviews Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro about the arson attack on the governor’s mansion in Harrisburg during Passover. “For some, it also shook their confidence in the idea that the country was ready for leaders like Mr. Shapiro. About a year before the attack, he told The Times that ‘speaking broadly, absolutely’ America could elect a Jewish president in his lifetime. This month he said his view was unchanged. ‘Being open about my faith has opened me up to be able to have a deeper relationship with the people of Pennsylvania, allowed them to share their stories,’ he said, having ushered a reporter into his family’s sukkah, decked out in colorful paper chains. ‘We’re doing that in this ultimate swing state.’ Americans, he said, ‘respect faith, even if they don’t practice it, and want to have a deep relationship with the people who represent them.’” [NYTimes]
The Platner Playbook: The Atlantic’s Jonathan Chait examines the strategies that progressives are using to boost far-left candidates during the midterms, using as an example scandal-plagued Maine Senate candidate Graham Platner. “You’d think it would be possible for Democrats to find a normal person who is not a one-man Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact. (Most normal people, in fact, would qualify.) But the left’s continued embrace of Platner has a certain logic. Progressives have a theory of political change for which he remains, despite his massive and ever-expanding political baggage, the ideal prototype. That is, rather than abandon unpopular positions, Democrats should court voters by nominating more candidates who look like, talk like, and ideally even are working-class people. … The solution progressives propose is to avoid addressing these concerns at all by changing the subject to economics, advocating a left-wing populist program, and recruiting candidates who can speak to blue-collar white voters.” [TheAtlantic]
Balance of Power: In The Wall Street Journal, Jonathan Spyer considers the Middle East power struggle following two years of regional conflict that has damaged a number of regional powers but largely left them intact. “As the smoke clears, it becomes clear that the battles of the past two years haven’t led to a fundamental strategic transformation of the region. The balance of power between existing power blocs has been somewhat altered, but no one has faced total defeat, with the notable exception of the Assad regime in Syria. … In the Middle East, the West and its allies remain the strongest gathering in conventional terms. But they have yet to translate that superiority into a decisive victory. One Islamist bloc, that of the Iranians, has been considerably weakened. Another, that of Turkey and Qatar, has grown stronger. The contest is set to continue.” [WSJ]
Word on the Street
Speaking to an AIPAC delegation in Taiwan on Monday, Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te said that “Israel’s determination and capacity to defend its territory provides a valuable model for Taiwan”…
The Witkoff Group, led since March by Alex Witkoff, the son of White House Special Envoy Steve Witkoff, has sold $200 million in condos at its Miami Beach Ocean Terrace project to “friends and family” ahead of the site’s groundbreaking…
Rep. Jake Auchincloss (D-MA) became the first elected Democrat to call on scandal-plagued Maine Senate candidate Graham Platner to drop out of the race amid controversy over a tattoo on his chest with Nazi origins and other controversies, Jewish Insider’s Matthew Shea reports…
Maine Gov. Janet Mills, who is facing Platner in the Senate primary, made her first public comments on Platner’s tattoo, saying she “vehemently disagree[s] with anybody having an abhorrent tattoo. It’s not neo-Nazi, it’s Nazi. It’s the tattoo. It’s the symbol that SS soldiers, SS officials wore on their caps and their epaulets as they murdered 6 million Jewish people, including half a million children. So, that is abhorrent”…
Meanwhile, Platner praised Ireland’s election last week of Catherine Connolly as president, saying he agreed with her position that Israel is a terrorist state…
Platner’s campaign manager resigned days after starting the job; Kevin Brown had stepped into the role following the departure earlier this month of campaign manager Genevieve McDonald, who had cited Platner’s tattoo of a Nazi symbol and racist and offensive Reddit posts in a social media post about her resignation…
Semafor looks at the deepening ideological divide within the Republican Party over Israel, underscored by the public rift between Ben Shapiro and Tucker Carlson…
Carlson hosted far-right conspiracy theorist and Holocaust denier Nick Fuentes on the latest episode of his eponymous show, weeks after Fuentes said that Carlson was “too antisemitic even for me”…
Security cameras at the University of Michigan recorded a man attempting to break into the campus’ Jewish Resource Center building earlier this week as he yelled antisemitic obscenities…
Israel lifted the state of emergency in southern Israel that had been in place since Oct. 7, 2023…
The New York Times looks at the relationship between President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in recent months as the White House takes a more authoritative position over regional issues…
Israeli forensics determined that the remains of an Israeli hostage delivered by Hamas on Monday night were additional remains of Ofir Tzarfati, whose body was recovered from Gaza in December 2023; the IDF had recorded drone footage showing Hamas moving the remains from a building to a nearby pit, covering it with dirt and then returning to the site with Red Cross officials…
The Wall Street Journal talks to survivors and families of victims of Palestinian terror attacks about the release of terrorists in exchange for living Israeli hostages in Gaza…
The New York Times reports on Saudi Arabia’s ambitions to be a hub for AI data centers as it courts international tech companies…
The Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law announced the hirings of Evan Slavitt as general counsel, Joel Taubman as director of student programs and staff attorney, Mollie Galchus as staff litigation attorney, Jake Mayerson as civil rights law fellow and Olivia Fisher as development research and database associate…
Sarah Istel, formerly the deputy general counsel for the Senate Intelligence Committee, is joining Cerberus Ventures as a managing director focusing on technology critical to national security…
Jewish children’s book illustrator Katherine Janus Kahn, who provided the artwork for dozens of Sammy Spider and Ziz books, died at 83…
Pic of the Day
Flanked by her children and brother-in-law, Eli Sharabi, Nira Sharabi on Monday eulogized her husband, Yossi Sharabi, who was killed in Hamas captivity in Gaza. Sharabi’s remains were returned to Israel last week and buried during a ceremony for the Kibbutz Be’eri community.
Birthdays
Actress and investor, she is a part-owner of the NBA’s Atlanta Hawks, Jami Gertz turns 60…
Redondo Beach, Calif., resident, Larry Berlin… Rabbi of the Moscow Choral Synagogue, Adolf Shayevich turns 88… Spiritual leader of the Village of New Square (Rockland County, N.Y.) and rebbe of Skverer Hasidism worldwide, Rabbi Dovid Twersky turns 85… Retired actor best known for his role as NYPD Det. Andy Sipowicz in “NYPD Blue,” Dennis Franz turns 81… Former member of the Knesset for the Yisrael Beiteinu party, she also served as minister of aliyah and integration, Sofa Landver turns 76… Anthropology professor at NYU, she won a 1994 MacArthur genius fellowship, Faye Ginsburg turns 73… Rabbi at Temple Beth Sholom in Hamden, Conn., Benjamin Edidin Scolnic, Ph.D. turns 72… Co-founder of Microsoft, Bill Gates turns 70… Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and author, he is a 2012 MacArthur genius fellow, David Louis Finkel turns 70… Four-star admiral in the U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps and assistant secretary for health, both throughout the Biden administration, Rachel Leland Levine turns 68… Former member of the Knesset for Likud, he then served as mayor of Beit She’an, Jackie Levy turns 65… Manager of MLB’s San Francisco Giants until the end of the 2025 season, he has been named Manager of the Year three times, Bob Melvin turns 64… Executive director of the Jewish Federation of the Bluegrass in Lexington, Ky, until 2024, now on Kentucky’s Antisemitism Task Force, Mindy Haas… Italian journalist, he served as editor-in-chief of the daily la Repubblica from 2020 until 2024, Maurizio Molinari turns 61… Owner of a Chick-fil-A franchise in the Houston area, he was a collegiate and an NFL football coach, Tony Levine turns 53… Film and television director, producer, screenwriter and actor, Jacob “Jake” Kasdan turns 51… Academy Award and Grammy Award-winning actor, Joaquin Rafael Phoenix turns 51… Israeli singer in the Mizrahi style, Yaakov (Kobi) Peretz turns 50… Member of the California State Assembly (D-16), Rebecca Bauer-Kahan turns 47… Member of the Knesset for the Likud party from 2015 until 2019, Oren Hazan turns 44… Member of the city council of Scottsdale, Ariz., Adam Kwasman turns 43… President at Apex Healthcare Properties, Elliot Schwab… Associate director of member experience strategy at Oscar Health, Avital “Tali” Warburg Goldstein…
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