California Dems’ antisemitism hesitation
Plus, moderates’ big Colorado test
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In today’s Daily Kickoff, we preview tonight’s Democratic primaries in Colorado, where a wave of Democratic Socialists of America-backed challengers is testing whether even the party’s pragmatic epicenter is vulnerable to the socialist left, and report on comments by Rep. Suzan DelBene (D-WA), the chair of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, downplaying concerns about the party’s response to antisemitism. We cover the conflicting messaging put out by the U.S. and Iran about the continuation of talks in Qatar, and report on remarks by Rep. Brian Mast (R-FL) on the expected timeline for a final agreement between the countries. We also follow up on the reactions to the harassment of California state Sen. Scott Wiener at a transgender pride march, highlighting a divide between politicians who described the incident as antisemitic and those who did not. Also in today’s Daily Kickoff: Susie Wiles, Gen. Frank McKenzie and Luke Moon.
Today’s Daily Kickoff was curated by JI Israel Editor Tamara Zieve and U.S. Editor Danielle Cohen-Kanik with an assist from Marc Rod. Have a tip? Email us here.
What We’re Watching
- White House Special Envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner arrived in Qatar to represent the U.S. in talks with Iran, as the status of the negotiations remains unclear. The technical talks on the memorandum of understanding meant to be taking place separately are also up in the air — Iran’s foreign ministry said an Iranian technical delegation will be in Doha this week but will not be meeting with American officials. More below.
- Representatives of President Donald Trump’s Board of Peace are meeting this week in Cyprus as they seek to advance plans for a committee of Palestinian technocrats to replace Hamas in governing the Gaza Strip, The Times of Israel reports. Former U.K. Prime Minister Tony Blair, who sits on the Board of Peace’s executive board and has recently taken on a larger role in the organization, is set to participate in the “strategic workshop” being held from Tuesday to Thursday.
- Colorado voters will head to the polls in today’s Democratic primaries, where moderate candidates are fearing a far-left wave. More below.
- Russell Vought, director of the Office of Management and Budget, will testify before the House Appropriations Committee where he is expected to address the White House’s $88 billion supplemental funding request for the war with Iran and FY2027 budget request.
- The Israeli Embassy in Washington will hold a “Zionist LGBTQ+ celebration” on the last day of Pride Month in memory of slain embassy staffer Sarah Milgrim’s allyship.
- In Israel, Reichman University’s Herzliya Conference kicks off, focusing this year on national security and national resilience. Israeli President Isaac Herzog will address the confab, as well as U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee; Amos Hochstein, who served as a Middle East envoy under former President Joe Biden; former Mossad chief Tamir Pardo; former Israeli National Security Advisor Tzachi Hanegbi; journalist Barak Ravid; and Aliyah Minister Ofir Sofer.
What You Should Know
A QUICK WORD WITH JI’S JOSH KRAUSHAAR
Colorado is a state famous for its moderation, with its governor (Jared Polis) and two senators (Michael Bennet and John Hickenlooper) among the most pragmatic figures in Democratic politics. So if a far-left, anti-Israel wave sweeps over the Democratic Party in tonight’s statewide primaries, it will be a true wake-up call for those downplaying the rise of the socialist left.
The biggest race we’re tracking — and the one where a Democratic incumbent looks most vulnerable — is the primary between longtime Rep. Diana DeGette, 68, an influential progressive who has left an imprint on major legislation in Congress, and Democratic Socialists of America-affiliated 29-year-old doctoral student Melat Kiros, whose deep-seated antagonism against Israel is a top focus of her campaign.
Kiros is the latest example of how radical candidates running for office on their hostility toward Israel are also indulgent of the rising antisemitism around them. Her political awakening came after she was fired from the law firm Sidley Austin for writing a public letter denouncing the hundreds of law firms that signed a petition calling on law schools to do a better job addressing antisemitism on their campuses.
Kiros was angered that the law firms considered those calling for the elimination of Israel as antisemitic. In the last week, she also refused to call the firebombing of a hostage awareness march in Boulder, Colo., antisemitic. Sense a pattern?
As JI’s Marc Rod reported, Kiros’ extreme views have done little to dent her support in a progressive Denver-area district that DeGette has easily held for the last three decades. In March, DeGette barely won the 30% of the vote from party activists necessary to qualify for the primary ballot — in what could be a foreshadowing of the primary results tonight.
PRIDE AND PREJUDICE
California Democrats divided over calling harassment of Scott Wiener antisemitic
Elected officials in California swiftly condemned an incident last week in which protesters accosted and harassed California state Sen. Scott Wiener at a transgender pride march, with one demonstrator shouting “F*** you and your Zionist handlers. F*** you and your Israeli masters.” A divide emerged, however, between the politicians who described the incident as antisemitic and those who did not. It was the second such incident in days, after Wiener was harassed at a bar by a protester demanding he say “Free Palestine” on camera, Jewish Insider’s Gabby Deutch reports.
Reactions: Wiener told CNN on Monday that the incident was “absolutely” antisemitic. “There were elected officials in that march who have not taken the positions that I’ve taken, and they were left alone,” said Wiener, who is running to replace retiring Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) in the San Francisco-based seat. San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie, who is Jewish, criticized the incident as “targeted, hateful and antisemitic.” San Francisco Supervisor Connie Chan, Wiener’s competitor in the congressional race who is running to his left, said in a statement that she stands “firm against threats of violence and hate speech. There is no place for hate and violence in our city.” Asked whether Chan believed the specific incident targeting Wiener to be hate speech, a spokesperson for Chan declined to say.
Read the full story here with additional comments from Sens. Adam Schiff (D-CA) and Alex Padilla (D-CA), Pelosi, Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA) and former Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra, the Democratic nominee for governor in California.
Leadership message: Rep. Suzan DelBene (D-WA), the chair of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, responsible for electing House Democrats, downplayed concerns about the party’s response to antisemitism in the wake of New York City elections that elevated several far-left candidates, JI’s Marc Rod reports. “If you look across the board and talk to individual candidates, that’s not representative of where other candidates land,” she said in an interview with former NBC News anchor Chuck Todd.
ON THE HILL
Top House Democrats say they’ll oppose effort to cut $3.3 billion in aid to Israel
The top House Democrats on the Foreign Affairs and Armed Services committees said Monday that they will oppose efforts led by Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) to cut the $3.3 billion in U.S. aid to Israel expected under the memorandum of understanding if and when they come to a vote on the House floor, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports.
No go: Reps. Greg Meeks (D-NY) and Adam Smith (D-WA), the ranking Democrats on the House Foreign Affairs and Armed Services committees, both told JI they intend to oppose the amendment. Meeks said there are “so many unanswered questions” about the implications and effects of the amendment. “I know there is still danger [in Israel]. I don’t want Israel to be without what they need,” Meeks said. He also noted that many of the weapons that would be purchased with the funding would not be built for years to come.
Read the full story here with additional comments from Reps. Rosa DeLauro (D-CT) and Greg Casar (D-TX).
Tehran talk: Rep. Brian Mast (R-FL), the chair of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, suggested following both unclassified and classified briefings from the Trump administration on Iran on Monday that talks with the regime for a final agreement could continue past the 60-day timeline laid out in the U.S.-Iran memorandum of understanding finalized earlier this month.
BOMBS TO BARGAINS
Trump confirms U.S., Iran to meet in Qatar after weekend strikes
President Donald Trump confirmed on Monday that the U.S. and Iran will meet in Qatar on Tuesday to continue negotiations, as both nations attempt to step back from a weekend exchange of military strikes that threatened to derail the fragile ceasefire agreement. “IRAN HAS REQUESTED A MEETING. IT WILL TAKE PLACE TOMORROW IN DOHA!” Trump posted on Truth Social, Jewish Insider’s Matthew Shea reports.
Yes, but: Iran’s deputy foreign minister and senior negotiator Kazem Gharibabadi, however, dismissed the reports, telling Iranian state news agency IRNA that the technical talks in the Qatari capital “are not confirmed.” Esmaeil Baghaei, a spokesperson for Iran’s foreign ministry, later said Iran has no discussions scheduled with the U.S. and that an Iranian technical delegation heading to Qatar this week will not be meeting with U.S. officials.
Chief concerns: White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles, according to a new book by New York Times journalists Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan, initially pushed back on U.S. military engagement against Iran, skeptical of Israel’s efforts to convince Trump to join a bombing campaign on Iran’s nuclear sites and fearful that any involvement from the U.S. military could “spiral into an Israeli regime-change war,” JI’s Gabby Deutch reports.
TEXAS TILT
Texas Democrats embrace toned-down anti-Israel language in party platform
Texas Democrats adopted several anti-Israel amendments into their party platform at a state party convention last weekend — a significant move to the left on Israel policy in a generally conservative state with marquee Senate and gubernatorial races this November. That said, much of the anti-Israel language was toned down from the original amendments as introduced — and the party also adopted some pro-Israel language in the platform, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports.
Notable provisions: The platform offers support for the right of return for Palestinian refugees as well as for Palestine becoming a U.N. member state “when qualified under the U.N. Charter” and the International Court of Justice’s interim judgement in the genocide case against Israel — though it acknowledges that the ICJ has not ruled that Israel committed genocide — and recognizes the Palestinian “Nakba.” The platform urges Texas Democratic members of Congress to support the Block the Bombs Act and the end of U.S. offensive weapons sales to Israel, as well as calling for the repeal of Texas’ anti-Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions legislation.
WESTWARD BOUND
Former CENTCOM chief backs basing U.S. assets in Israel to counter Iran
Former U.S. CENTCOM Commander Gen. Frank McKenzie on Monday voiced his support for the U.S. to shift its military footprint in the Middle East westward, including in Israel, to mitigate threats from Iran, Jewish Insider’s Matthew Shea reports.
Location, location, location: Speaking on a Jewish Institute for National Security of America webinar, McKenzie said, “No one in their right mind would ever put the CENTCOM forward headquarters, you know, 100 miles away from Iran [in Qatar], yet that’s where it is. Because when we put it in place many years ago, we were thinking Iraq, we were thinking Afghanistan, we were thinking other things, and not the growing threat from Iran.”
BACK IN THE FOLD
Christian critic of right-wing antisemitism joins Heritage Foundation after cutting ties
Luke Moon, a conservative Christian activist who has emerged in recent months as an outspoken critic of antisemitism on the right, has joined the Heritage Foundation as a part-time visiting fellow supporting the think tank’s work to combat antisemitism, Jewish Insider’s Gabby Deutch reports. Moon publicly disaffiliated from the prominent conservative institution in November after its president, Kevin Roberts, released a controversial video defending Tucker Carlson following the podcast host’s friendly interview with neo-Nazi Nick Fuentes.
Shift in position: Moon told JI in an interview on Monday that he believes the conservative movement has begun to make progress in fighting back against antisemitism within its ranks. “It’s a war where we lose some battles and win some battles, and I think I’m winning more than I’m losing,” Moon said. “What I didn’t have a year ago was enough allies and tools, and now I have a lot more allies, and I think I have a lot more tools, and so I’m actually optimistic.”
Worthy Reads
Mamdani’s Misunderstanding: Israeli journalist Nadav Eyal argues in his Substack that New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s comments to ABC News rejecting support for Israel as a Jewish state reveal a fundamental misunderstanding of the Jewish people. “Either he knows very little about Judaism — an astonishing level of ignorance for the mayor of New York — or his hostility toward Israel has blinded him to one of the most elementary historical facts about the Jewish people. Judaism is both a religion and a nation. For thousands of years, Jews have understood themselves as a people with a shared history, a common language, collective institutions, diverse religious traditions, and — crucially — a homeland from which they originated.” [Substack]
Unfortunate Turn of Events: In The Wall Street Journal’s “Free Expression” newsletter, Masada Siegel uses “A Series of Unfortunate Events” — the children’s book series about orphans trying to elude a disguised villain and his followers — as a lens to examine institutional failure in addressing antisemitism in American schools and universities. “In the series, the children’s guardian Mr. Poe hesitates, doubts the children and is useless whenever the villain reappears. Mr. Poe isn’t evil; he’s self-absorbed and personifies institutions that exist to stop threats, but refuse to do their jobs. Since Oct. 7, the international community has acted as a global Mr. Poe. Institutions like the United Nations and Red Cross allowed hostages, including children, to be held by Hamas and to languish in terror tunnels. In the U.S., institutions failed our youth. School boards and Ivy League administrations showed little to no moral clarity, leaving Jewish students to fend for themselves in hostile environments.” [WSJ]
The Rubio Accord: The Wall Street Journal’s editorial board applauds Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s work securing the U.S.-Israel-Lebanon agreement signed last week. “Some Iran analysts associated with Vice President JD Vance have criticized the framework as ‘incompatible’ with the memorandum of understanding with Iran. But Trump Administration sources tell us this framework is the U.S. interpretation of the MOU’s language regarding Lebanon. On this the Vice President backs Mr. Rubio; nobody on the Trump team wants to force Israel to cede all of southern Lebanon to Iran’s proxy, as Iran demands.” [WSJ]
From Corbyn to Mamdani: Simone Rodan-Benzaquen, the Foundation for Defense of Democracies’ senior envoy for Europe, argues that New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani poses the same threat to the Democratic Party as Jeremy Corbyn did to the U.K.’s Labour Party when he served as leader. “From London to Paris, from Paris to New York, one finds the same mechanism: anti-Zionism presented as courage, accusations of antisemitism dismissed as a right-wing maneuver, and the worried Jew transformed into an obstacle to progress. Labour thought it could absorb Corbyn. Part of the French left thought it could contain [Jean-Luc] Mélenchon. The Democratic Party may believe it can confine Mamdani and the DSA to a handful of urban districts. This is always how capitulations begin: with the idea that the problem will remain local.” [FDD]
Word on the Street
CENTCOM Commander Adm. Brad Cooper met with Lebanese Armed Forces chief Gen. Rodolphe Haykal in Beirut and senior civilian and military personnel in Israel to discuss implementing the Israel–Lebanon framework agreement signed last week…
New documents released by the State Department under Freedom of Information Act litigation show top Trump administration staffers continued to use the encrypted messaging app Signal for government communications after President Donald Trump suggested they stop when Atlantic Editor-in-Chief Jeffrey Goldberg was inadvertently added to an administration chat about bombing the Houthis last year…
New York state Democratic Party Chairman Jay Jacobs told the New York Post that anti-Israel sentiment helped propel to victory New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s slate of candidates for Congress in last week’s primaries…
A new New York Times/Portland Press Herald/Siena poll shows Democratic Senate candidate Graham Platner and Republican Sen. Susan Collins in a statistical tie in Maine, 49-47%, among likely voters…
J Street President Jeremy Ben-Ami wrote on Substack that Mamdani “missed the mark” when he called AIPAC the “monsters of our time” and warned broadly against characterizing “every organization connected to Israel … as part of a uniquely sinister enterprise”…
Trump nominated acting Labor Secretary Keith Sonderling, who is the grandson of Holocaust survivors, to assume the role permanently. Read JI’s profile of Sonderling here…
CNN reports on since-deleted tweets from far-left New York congressional candidate Darializa Avila Chevalier hailing communism, Marxism and Soviet figures, including revolutionary Vladimir Lenin…
Jewish Voice for Peace Action, the political arm of the anti-Israel advocacy group, issued its first-ever Senate endorsement, backing far-left candidate Abdul El-Sayed in the Democratic primary for U.S. Senate in Michigan. The Detroit Free Press endorsed one of his opponents, state Sen. Mallory McMorrow…
Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey is backing Rep. Angie Craig (D-MN) for U.S. Senate against her more-progressive primary opponent, Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan, and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) endorsed Sen. Ed Markey (D-MA) as he fends off a generational primary challenge from Rep. Seth Moulton (D-MA)….
The New York Times talks to Jennifer Mnookin, who on Wednesday will begin her role as Columbia University’s fifth president in four years — and first Jewish leader in three decades…
TheNYTexplores how the raging debates over Israel and Iran are fracturing both parties ahead of the midterms, with far-left primary victories in New York rattling establishment Democrats and isolationist MAGA voters souring on Trump over the Iran war…
The Wall Street Journal reports that while a Trump administration waiver last week to let Iran sell its oil and receive dollar payments could bring in up to $10 billion over two months, it is likely to take much longer to reach the pockets of ordinary Iranians, some of whom have expressed skepticism that the deal will improve their daily life…
The IDF’s Military Intelligence Directorate and Southern Command told Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir last week that Hamas is reconstituting in order to resume war against Israel, Israeli broadcaster Kan reports, indicating the IDF is urging a return to fighting against the terror group but that the U.S. is opposed as it seeks to promote Trump’s Board of Peace…
Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, asked about Israel’s recent recognition of the Armenian Genocide, said, “We do not see a need for response,” adding that it is in his country’s interest to avoid “the weaponization of the Armenian Genocide”…
The New Yorker‘s Oscar Schwartz examines how former Prime Minister John Howard — architect of Australia’s celebrated post-Port Arthur gun laws — broke with Prime Minister Anthony Albanese after the massacre at a Hanukkah party at Bondi Beach, arguing the real culprit was rising antisemitism rather than lax gun control, a framing that has reshaped the country’s political discourse…
Former Walt Disney Co. CEO Bob Iger and Thrive Capital founder Josh Kushner are weighing making a bid for the NBA expansion team in Las Vegas, Bloomberg reports…
Yair Rosenberg, a longtime journalist and commentator on American Jewry, is joining The New York Times as a reporter covering Jewish American life, the Times announced on Monday, JI’s Haley Cohen reports…
Pic of the Day
Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations CEO William Daroff (left) and Chair Betsy Berns Korn met with Under Secretary of Defense Elbridge Colby (second from left) and Alex Velez-Green, the embattled nominee to be deputy under secretary, at the Pentagon on Monday. The group’s discussion focused on the rapidly evolving geopolitical environment, regional security dynamics and the strategic challenges and opportunities facing the United States, Israel and the broader Middle East.
Birthdays
Film and television actor, Elizabeth Anne “Lizzy” Caplan turns 44…
Rapid City, S.D., resident, Leedel Chittim Williamson turns 82… Palm Beach Gardens, Fla., resident, podiatrist, Dr. David Peter Bartos… Executive coach to nonprofit leaders, he was the founding director of the Museum of Jewish Heritage, Dr. David Altshuler… Former New York state assemblyman for 36 years, he is the founder of Americans Against Antisemitism, Dov Hikind turns 76… Former Harvard professor and author of books on the Holocaust and antisemitism, Daniel Goldhagen turns 67… Staff writer at The Atlantic, podcaster, author of 10 books and former Bush 43 speechwriter, David Frum turns 66… Chief justice of the New Jersey Supreme Court, Stuart Jeff Rabner turns 66… Professor of astrophysics at McGill University, Victoria Michelle Kaspi turns 59… Independent philanthropic advisor, formerly the founding executive director of JOIN for Justice: the Jewish Organizing Institute and Network, Karla Van Praag… Professor of Jewish studies at the University of Georgia, he is the co-editor of a handbook on 25 different Jewish languages, Aaron David Rubin turns 50… Columnist, author, poet and screenwriter, Matthew “Matthue” Roth turns 48… Former sports business analyst and reporter, now focused on the collectibles market, Darren Rovell turns 48… Reggae and alternative rock musician, known by his stage name Matisyahu, Matthew Paul Miller turns 47… Partner at OnMessage Public Strategies, Kyle J. Plotkin turns 44… Senior software engineer at Bloomberg LP, Noam Lustiger… Chief marketing officer for Aleph Venture Capital, Erica Marom (Chernofsky)… COO at the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, Stephanie Hausner… Head coach of the men’s lacrosse program at Long Island University, Jordan Levine turns 40… Rhythmic gymnast who represented the U.S. at the 2012 Olympic Games, now a fitness coach and personal trainer, Julie Ashley Zetlin turns 36… English teacher in Tel Aviv, Michal Adar… Real estate director at AIPAC in New York, Abbey Taub…
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