Two lefts clash on what’s right on Iran
Plus, Ro Khanna’s new challenger
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In today’s Daily Kickoff, we look at the divergence in opinion on the war in Iran between the Israeli opposition and the American left, and do a deep dive into the U.S. and Israeli end goals of the conflict, now in its third week. We interview tech entrepreneur Ethan Agarwal, who is mounting a challenge to Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA), and look at the outpouring of “thoughts and prayers” in response to the attack last week on a Michigan synagogue. Also in today’s Daily Kickoff: Rep. Yassamin Ansari, Rabbi Ammiel Hirsch and Oren Kessler.
Today’s Daily Kickoff was curated by JI Executive Editor Melissa Weiss and Israel Editor Tamara Zieve, with assists from Danielle Cohen-Kanik and Marc Rod. Have a tip? Email us here.
What We’re Watching
- President Donald Trump will attend a Kennedy Center board meeting this afternoon. The president confirmed on Friday that Richard Grenell was exiting his role as president of the arts center after just over a year in the position.
- New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani is slated to briefly meet today with a group of largely local Orthodox Jewish leaders in the city, following a series of incidents in which Mamdani has had to address antisemitism in the context of his wife’s professional work and social media activity. Mainstream groups, including the Anti-Defamation League, the Jewish Community Relations Council-New York and the American Jewish Committee, were not invited to the meeting, which is expected to last between 15-20 minutes. Satmar leader Rabbi Moshe Indig and United Jewish Organization of Williamsburg’s Rabbi David Niederman are expected to attend.
- The Anti-Defamation League’s Never is Now conference begins today in New York. Speakers at today’s opening session include ADL CEO Jonathan Greenblatt, GAP President and CEO Richard Dixon, actor Jerry O’Connell and Bravo stars Meredith Marks and Jackie Goldschneider.
- The Jewish Funders Network annual conference continues today in San Diego. Read more from eJewishPhilanthropy’s Jay Deitcher here.
What You Should Know
A QUICK WORD WITH JI’S MARC ROD AND lahav harkov
The ongoing war in Iran is highlighting a widening gulf between center and center-left voters in Israel and Democrats in the United States. While Democrats in the United States are mostly opposed to the war, Israelis are overwhelmingly supportive of the effort.
Recent polling from Israel has shown that 92.5% of Jewish Israelis and 81% of Israelis overall support the war.
The divide was particularly evident in an exchange on X this week between Yair Zivan, a centrist and top advisor to Israeli Opposition Leader Yair Lapid, and Matt Duss, a foreign policy advisor to Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) and a former confidante of Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), whose post prompted the exchange.
Sanders, on X, condemned the Israeli operations against Hezbollah in Lebanon, saying, “The U.S. cannot continue to be complicit in Netanyahu’s wars.”
Zivan said in response that he was writing from a bomb shelter and that Israel “is under attack by fanatical terrorists who want to murder us,” arguing that Sanders’ “humanity never seems to extend to Israeli lives.”
CHICAGO SHOWDOWN
In Illinois’ Democratic primaries, a test for the pro-Israel community
After months of an increasingly bitter campaign characterized by tens of millions in outside spending and increasingly heated debate over Israel policy, Democrats in the Chicagoland area head to the polls tomorrow, with the outcome of the primaries potentially reshaping the political landscape in one of the most Jewish cities in the country, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports.
Why it matters: The four open House races are also set to be a test of AIPAC and the pro-Israel community’s political strategy and heft. Broadly, a source close to AIPAC said, the group’s primary goal in the primaries is to prevent six candidates — state Sen. Robert Peters in the 2nd, activist Kina Collins in the 7th, activist Junaid Ahmed and Hanover Park Trustee Yasmeen Bankole in the 8th and influencer Kat Abughazaleh and Skokie School Board member Bushra Amiwala in the 9th District — who it believes would be aligned with the far-left Squad on Israel policy issues, from being elected.
MEETING ADJOURNED
Rep. Ro Khanna facing new Democratic challenger hitting him from the political center
Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA) has become one of the harshest critics of Israel in the House, in recent months associating with some of the leading anti-Israel figures within the party — at one point proudly declaring his ties to a far-left antisemitic podcaster, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports.
New challenger: As a result, he is facing a primary challenge from tech entrepreneur Ethan Agarwal, who is accusing the congressman of embracing far-left views to seek national attention for a potential presidential campaign — at the expense of focusing on constituents back home in the Silicon Valley-based district. Agarwal argues that Khanna’s rhetoric has directly contributed to antisemitic violence in his district and elsewhere in the country.
BREAKING POINT
Antisemitism meets America’s ‘thoughts and prayers’ ritual
American antisemitism is having its “thoughts and prayers” moment. Whenever there is a mass shooting in the United States, the immediate reaction has become something of a meme. “Sending thoughts and prayers,” politicians — mostly Republicans — will inevitably write in a social media post expressing grief at the murder of innocent people at an elementary school, in a bowling alley or at a Walmart. Gun violence prevention advocates roll their eyes. They see the oft-repeated sentiment as disingenuous, given how little action Congress has taken to enact gun control measures. A similar phenomenon was on display after a heavily armed man drove a car into a synagogue in suburban Detroit on Thursday, Jewish Insider’s Gabby Deutch reports.
‘Crocodile tears’: Afterward, politicians with a history of promoting antisemitic tropes began bemoaning antisemitism. And Jewish politicians and activists in the Democratic party who had grown exasperated over the hypocrisy of it all started calling them out. Noah Arbit, the Jewish state representative whose district includes West Bloomfield Township, where the attack took place, called out Democratic Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed for his “crocodile tears” expressing concern about the shooting. Arbit grew up attending Temple Israel. “Amazed by the crocodile tears from someone who’s done more than most to stoke & inflame hatred against Jews. It’s a very small logical leap from ‘AIPAC controls the US government,’ ‘Israel is committing genocide,’ ‘Zionists kill Arab babies’ to ‘kill Jews in West Bloomfield,’” Arbit, a Democrat, wrote in a post on X replying to El-Sayed.
Security success: Six weeks ago, Danny Phillips, the director of security at Temple Israel in West Bloomfield Township, Mich., arranged for the FBI to hold an active-shooter training for the congregation, one of the largest Reform synagogues in the county. That training potentially saved the lives of 140 children and their teachers on Thursday when an assailant rammed a truck full of explosives and weapons into the building, Temple Israel leaders told JI’s Haley Cohen.
FROM THE PULPIT
Rabbi Ammiel Hirsch urges Mamdani to denounce ‘anti-Israel hate’ after Michigan synagogue shooting
The vehicle ramming and shooting attack on a Michigan synagogue last Thursday was the latest example of a “direct connection between hatred of Israel and hatred of Jews,” Rabbi Ammiel Hirsch, a prominent Reform rabbi who leads Manhattan’s Stephen Wise Free Synagogue, said during a sermon on Friday evening, Jewish Insider’s Haley Cohen reports.
What he said: From the pulpit, Hirsch urged both the Jewish community and U.S. elected officials — including New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani — to take seriously the “moral and political blindness” that is “casting a darkening shadow over all that we hold dear. We must grapple seriously with this phenomenon of antisemitism; not only for the sake of the Jews, but for the sake of America.” In comments directed at Mamdani, Hirsch said, “What about committing to using the bully pulpit of the mayor to influence greater tolerance for Jews in this city? What about castigating anti-Israel hate that so influences anti-Jewish hate? Help us understand why the attempted murder of children at Temple Israel is so morally clear while the actual murder and hostage-taking of children in their living rooms in Israel is so morally opaque?”
Toxic text: Mamdani on Friday condemned online commentary from a prominent Palestinian writer and activist who labeled Jewish people “parasites” and “demons” whose book Mamdani’s wife, Rama Duwaji, provided an illustration for, JI’s Will Bredderman reports.
THE POLITICS OF WAR
U.S., Israel largely aligned on Iran war aims, but public opinion and political timelines diverge
Over two weeks into the war with Iran, American and Israeli leaders’ public statements about the effort and their goals remain largely in sync, with President Donald Trump praising Israel on Sunday for helping secure the Strait of Hormuz, while other countries with greater oil interests in the region have yet to offer to help. However, the populations of the two countries have markedly different views of the war, which is popular in Israel while most Americans oppose it, which likely puts Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on different timelines. That, in turn, could impact the level of cooperation moving forward, Jewish Insider’s Lahav Harkov reports.
Same but different: Assaf Orion, a senior researcher at the Institute for National Security Studies at Tel Aviv University, said that “it’s clear that even though this is a joint operation embarked on together, there are significant differences. In the end, it depends on Trump.” Dan Diker, president of the Jerusalem Center for Security and Foreign Affairs, said that “it is our sense [in Israel] that Trump is on the same page about staying the course,” with goals including “the complete neutering and elimination of the ballistic and nuclear programs as we’ve known them, but also to locate and get rid of the 440 kilograms of highly enriched uranium,” as well as to “assist the regime to collapse and change.” Diker said the differences between the U.S. and Israel are mostly in their political timelines.
KHALIL’S COMMENTS
Mahmoud Khalil, at South By Southwest, says claims of antisemitism are ‘being weaponized’ by Jews
The anti-Israel campus protest movement is facing “fear and exhaustion” amid the Trump administration’s crackdown, Mahmoud Khalil, who led demonstrations against Israel on Columbia University’s campus in the aftermath of the Oct. 7, 2023, terrorist attacks and the ensuing war in Gaza, said on Sunday at the annual South by Southwest (SXSW) festival in Austin, Texas, Jewish Insider’s Haley Cohen reports. “With the Biden administration, you protest because you feel you can move the needle a little bit,” said Khalil. “But with Trump, it’s like plain tyranny. They would not listen.”
On antisemitism: Khalil, who spoke three days after an attempted terrorist attack at a synagogue in Michigan, noted that “antisemitism is real in this country” and condemned “violence against civilians.” At the same time, he argued that “claims of antisemitism are being weaponized to silence any critique of the U.S. support to Israel.” He spoke in an hourlong conversation “on the cost of dissent,” with The Guardian editor Betsy Reed and Baher Azmy, legal director of the Center For Constitutional Rights who was a lawyer for Khalil in his ongoing deportation proceedings.
Worthy Reads
Dubai Dissonance: The Atlantic’s Graeme Wood considers the ways that Dubai, which has faced ongoing Iranian attacks since the start of the war last month, is the antithesis of the Islamic Republic. “Dubai is what Iran is not. It has largely rejected government intrusion into the private life of its people. It is open to the world. There is no geographical advantage that makes Dubai a thriving metropolis while Bandar-e Abbas, the Iranian city across the Gulf, remains a suffocating industrial town unlikely to attract Tom Cruise, no matter how many impossible missions he chooses to accept. … So often, this dynamic of defiant contrast underlies hostility between countries. Iran does not like Dubai, because Dubai shows that doing the opposite of what Iran does yields good results.” [TheAtlantic]
Larijani Looms Large: Haaretz’s Gid’on Lev profiles Ali Larijani, the head of Iran’s National Security Council and the “most powerful man” in the Islamic Republic. “On the one hand, a portrait emerges of a pragmatic man who does not hesitate to level sharp criticism at the authorities in his country, who aspires to a modern and developed society, and who writes about freedom of expression and democracy. On the other hand, there emerges the clear figure of a ‘fundamentalist’ Muslim, as he defines himself, who preaches for religious ideological leadership.” [Haaretz]
Beijing’s Battle: In The Wall Street Journal, John Spencer looks at how the war in Iran is causing harm to the global standing of China, which has long been a key ally of Tehran. “For decades Beijing has marketed its weapons systems as alternatives to Western equipment. If Iranian defenses influenced by Chinese technology prove ineffective against U.S. and Israeli forces, countries considering Chinese weapons will take notice. The conflict highlights another vulnerability: China, which imports roughly three-fourths of the oil it consumes, depends heavily on maritime supply routes. … For years Beijing expanded its influence while assuming the U.S. lacked the will to challenge aggressive regimes or disrupt China’s geopolitical partnerships. The war with Iran suggests otherwise.” [WSJ]
Protein Shake-up: The Information’s Jemima McEvoy spotlights efforts by Sweetgreen co-founder and CEO Jonathan Neman to address the company’s declining revenue by appealing to the Silicon Valley wellness set. “In reaching for a little love from Silicon Valley, Neman is betting he can win over the type of young people who drive internet conversation around brands and set cultural cachet from their keyboards. It is part of a larger shift in popular perception of the tech masses, from a bunch of shunnable nerds to honest-to-goodness tastemakers. … Neman’s brother-in-law, Sequoia Capital partner Shaun Maguire, sure thinks Sweetgreen is on the right track. ‘They’ve been innovative in thinking about how food connects to health and performance,’ said Maguire, ‘long before those conversations became mainstream.’” [TheInformation]
Word on the Street
President Donald Trump warned that NATO could face “a very bad future” if Washington’s allies don’t assist in efforts to reopen the Strait of Hormuz…
Israel’s Army Radio reports that former Israeli Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer, who stepped down in November but returned to the Prime Minister’s Office to assist amid the war with Iran, traveled to Saudi Arabia to discuss with Saudi officials a potential deal between Israel and Lebanon…
Reports of Dermer’s visit come as France denied a report that it had drafted a proposal to end the conflict in Lebanon that included Beirut’s recognition of Israel…
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu posted a video of himself at a Jerusalem coffee shop in response to internet rumors that he’d been assassinated…
Tucker Carlson’s claim that the CIA is “preparing some kind of criminal referral” against him related to the former Fox News host “talking to people in Iran before the war” is being refuted by senior Trump administration officials; they told Axios that there is no CIA probe into Carlson and rejected subsequent online chatter speculating that Trump was “participating in an op” that utilized Carlson’s purported communications with the Iranians to trick the regime into thinking an attack was not imminent…
In a Truth Social post, Trump defended conservative radio host Mark Levin against recent attacks from elements of the far right, saying that “[t]hose that speak ill of Mark will quickly fall by the wayside, as do the people whose ideas, policies, and footings are not sound. THEY ARE NOT MAGA, I AM, and MAGA includes not allowing Iran, a Sick, Demented, and Violent Terrorist Regime, to have a Nuclear Weapon to blow up the United States of America, the Middle East and, ultimately, the rest of the World”…
FCC Chairman Brendan Carr threatened not to renew the licences of some broadcasters whom he accused of “running hoaxes and news distortions” in their coverage of the war in Iran; Carr issued the warning while amplifying a post from Trump on his Truth Social site that criticized The Wall Street Journal’s coverage about attacks on U.S. refueling planes in Saudi Arabia…
Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) pushed back on Carr’s comments, saying he was “in big support of the First Amendment”…
A new poll from NBC News found that two-thirds of Democrats side with the Palestinians over the Israelis, a marked shift from past polls that showed more support for Israelis…
The New York Times interviews Rep. Yassamin Ansari (D-AZ), the only Iranian-American Democrat in Congress, about the “wide range of mixed emotions” she feels regarding U.S. military action in Iran, where she still has relatives…
The Wall Street Journal looks at how Israelis are adjusting to a “new normal” amid the constant interruptions from missile fire from Iran…
The University of Florida forced the school’s chapter of College Republicans to disband after the release of a photo of one of the chapter’s leaders doing a Nazi salute…
Authorities in Amsterdam are investigating an explosion at a Jewish school in the city, days after an arson attack at a synagogue in the Dutch city of Rotterdam…
French officials arrested two Moroccan-Italian brothers who had been planning what prosecutors described as a “deadly and antisemitic” plot…
An investor group led by the co-founders of Wiz, who last week finalized the $32 billion sale of their company to Google, reached an agreement to acquire Len Blavatnik’s shares in Israel’s Channel 13 worth $20-25 million, with plans to put more than $125 million into the company over the next three years…
The acquisition is the third time in recent weeks that a planned acquisition has fallen through in favor of another buyer, after Paramount’s successful takeover of Warner Bros. Discovery that scrapped a planned Netflix sale, and Axel Springer’s purchase of The Telegraph after the Daily Mail had been set to acquire the company…
A new poll from the U.K.’s Union of Jewish Students found that a quarter of all students surveyed — regardless of religion — observed antisemitic behavior, while 1 in 5 said they would be reluctant or would refuse to have a roommate who was Jewish…
The premier of Australia’s New South Wales condemned the “horrific rhetoric” at Sydney’s Biennale arts festival after a DJ playing a set at the festival’s opening night referred to a “Zio-Australian-Epstein empire,” but said he would not cut future funding for the arts event…
Four additional members of Iran’s national women’s soccer team withdrew their requests for asylum in Australia, days after another member of the team opted to return to Iran; two of the original seven players who sought asylum while the team was in Australia for a tournament have chosen to remain there…
Palestine 1936 author Oren Kessler is joining Georgetown University as the school’s Goldman Visiting Israeli Professor for the 2026-2027 academic year; read our interview with Kessler here…
CNN anchor Jessica Dean announced that she is expecting her first child with her husband, Blackstone executive Alex Katz…
Elik Topolosky, the brother of Rabbi Uri Topolosky, died at 39…
Lewis Lehrman, whose 1982 gubernatorial bid in New York was largely financed by the fortune Lehrman amassed transforming his family’s local discount chain into Rite Aid, died at 87…
Author and ecologist Paul Ehrlich, whose best-selling book The Population Bomb predicted global famines, died at 93…
Pic of the Day
Sydney Cox, a member of Temple Israel in West Bloomfield Township, Mich., which was targeted in a terror attack last week, on Friday celebrated her bat mitzvah — which had been slated to take place at Temple Israel the day after the attack — at the nearby Tam O’Shanter Country Club.
Birthdays
Actress and film director, she was married to Leonard Nimoy from 1989 until his death in 2015, Susan Linda Bay Nimoy turns 83…
Former CEO and chairman of Citigroup, Sanford I. “Sandy” Weill turns 93… Dean emeritus and founder of the Los Angeles-based Simon Wiesenthal Center and its Museum of Tolerance, Rabbi Marvin (Moshe Chaim) Hier turns 87… NYC tax attorney and litigator, he served as a tax assistant to the solicitor general of the U.S., Stuart A. Smith turns 85… Computer scientist, he is a professor emeritus at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam in the Netherlands, Andrew S. Tanenbaum turns 82… Israeli singer, best known as the original singer of “Jerusalem of Gold” (Yerushalayim Shel Zahav), Shulamit “Shuli” Natan turns 79… Film, stage and television actor and singer, Victor Garber turns 77… Customer service associate at Jewish Free Loan Association of Los Angeles, Judith “Judy” Karta… Mathematician, technology innovator (with 260 patents) and founder of four technology companies, Philippe Kahn turns 74… Peabody Award and Emmy Award-winning NPR journalist since 1977, now a host of NPR’s “Weekend Edition Saturday,” Scott Simon turns 74… Retired VP of external affairs and government relations at the Jewish Federation of Cleveland, Amy Reich Kaplan… Film producer, production designer and adjunct faculty member at Chicago’s Columbia College, Gail Sonnenfeld… Adjunct professor at both George Washington University Law School and Stanford In Washington, Andrew D. Eskin… Dean of NYU’s Wagner Graduate School of Public Service, Polly Ellen Trottenberg turns 62… Head of special projects at Disney / ABC Television Group, Eric Avram… President of the Ruderman Family Foundation, Jay Ruderman turns 60… Actor and comedian, best known for playing the role of writer Frank Rossitano on the NBC sitcom “30 Rock,” Judah Friedlander turns 57… Senior producer of “The Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell” at MS NOW, Amy Shuster… Head of the financial services practice at the BGR Group, Andy Lewin… Former speechwriter for President Joe Biden at The White House, now a partner at Bully Pulpit Interactive, Jeff Nussbaum turns 51… Co-founder of Chochmat Nashim, Shoshanna Keats Jaskoll… President and board member at My Warchest, Jason Rosenbaum… Winemaker at Covenant Wines and Hajdu Wines, Jonathan Hajdu… Retired soccer player in the Israeli Premier League who is now the first team manager of Maccabi Tel Aviv, Yoav Ziv turns 45… Detroit-based founder and managing partner of Ludlow Ventures, Jonathon Triest… Public policy director at Meta/Facebook’s Israel office, Jordana Cutler turns 44… Partner at FGS Global, he was previously a public affairs official at the Pentagon, Adam Blickstein… Head of U.S. government affairs at American Express, former counsel to Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), Alvin Isaac “Zack” Rosenblum… Senior director of global corporate partnerships at Global Citizen, Alexandra Stabler… Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative reporter at The New York Times, Brian M. Rosenthal turns 37… Director in the New York office of the Jewish National Fund, Sarah Azizi… Spiritual leader and co-founder of Lower Manhattan’s Downtown Minyan, Mijal Bitton… First baseman for MLB’s Texas Rangers, Ryan John “Rowdy” Tellez turns 31… Associate in the Philadelphia office of Morgan Lewis, Nathan Bennett… Jackie Stern… Jeremy Levin…
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