Keir today, gone tomorrow
Plus, Vance on blaming Israel for everything
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In today’s Daily Kickoff, we preview tomorrow’s primaries in New York City and talk to Jewish leaders in D.C. about Janeese Lewis George’s victory in last week’s Democratic primary in the city. We cover the developments in Switzerland where the U.S. and Iran have been negotiating a deal, and report on a new survey of Israeli public opinion about the outcome of the war with Iran. Also in today’s Daily Kickoff, Keir Starmer, Bob Iger and Ruth Porat.
Today’s Daily Kickoff was curated by JI Executive Editor Melissa Weiss, 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
- British Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced his resignation on Monday morning, bowing to pressure from within his Labour Party to step down. Newly elected Labour MP Andy Burnham, until recently the mayor of Greater Manchester, is the front-runner to succeed Starmer as prime minister and become the seventh person to hold the office in a decade.
- Technical teams from the U.S. and Iran are continuing talks in Switzerland this week, after Vice President JD Vance, White House Special Envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner wrapped up “positive and constructive” talks with top Iranian negotiators on Sunday, according to a statement from mediating countries Qatar and Pakistan.
- The statement also said Washington and Tehran had agreed to create a “de-confliction cell” to end military operations in Lebanon, though it named neither Israel nor Hezbollah, who are not parties to the talks and who have continued to trade strikes despite agreeing to a ceasefire last week.
- Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said the discussions delivered “major progress,” including waivers for Iran to export oil and the release of “some frozen assets,” which the U.S. has not yet confirmed.
- In Jerusalem, the Jerusalem News Syndicate’s policy summit continues into its second day, after an opening plenary on Sunday that included remarks from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee. Monday’s program includes Israeli President Isaac Herzog, Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana, Israeli Ambassador to the U.N. Danny Danon, Rafael Chairman Yuval Steinitz, Witkoff advisor Aryeh Lightstone and Netanyahu advisor Caroline Glick.
- In Washington, the Orthodox Union Advocacy Center is convening its second annual Attorneys Conference to discuss ways to use the legal system to combat antisemitism and protect religious liberty.
- The five-day Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity kicks off in the south of France.
What You Should Know
A QUICK WORD WITH JI’S JOSH KRAUSHAAR
2026 has been the year of the democratic socialist, with numerous far-left, anti-Israel candidates winning mayoralties and congressional primaries in cities up and down the Northeast corridor, from New York to Washington, D.C. — and beyond.
Zohran Mamdani, the New York City mayor who proved that radicalism can win hearts and minds among voters in deep-blue jurisdictions, is now trying to utilize valuable political capital by electing three like-minded congressional candidates in primaries in the Big Apple on Tuesday — backing two challengers running against well-funded incumbents, and a third against a well-established progressive borough president.
The outcomes of these three races will go a long way in determining whether Democratic Party voters still draw any red lines around candidates holding views and values that fall well outside the party mainstream.
Let’s be clear: The main difference between the three candidates backed by most Democratic leaders and Mamdani’s favored challengers is the challengers’ hostility to Israel.
WASHINGTON WATCH
D.C. Jewish leaders taking wait-and-see approach to Lewis George’s expected mayoralty
With Janeese Lewis George’s victory in last week’s Democratic primary, Washington, D.C., is expected to become the third major city in the country, after Seattle and New York, with a democratic socialist serving as mayor. Jewish Washingtonians who were unsettled by Lewis George’s stance on Zionism, as articulated in a Democratic Socialists of America endorsement questionnaire in which she said she would reject the “Zionist lobby,” are grappling with how to approach her tenure as mayor, Jewish Insider’s Gabby Deutch reports.
Holding hope: Mainstream Jewish organizations tasked with local lobbying and advocacy efforts appear to be taking a wait-and-see approach, but will be monitoring her tenure to make sure she does not assume positions that exclude segments of the city. “We hope to work with her, and we will work with her,” Ron Halber, CEO of the Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Washington, told JI on Friday. “But at the same time we’re also going to be watching to make sure that she lives up to her promises to make this an inclusive city, where all feel they can participate equally, and that all people, regardless of their backgrounds, are welcomed — Zionists as well.”
carrot and stick
JD Vance: U.S. ‘willing to fundamentally transform’ relations with Iran if it gives up nukes, ends terror support
Vice President JD Vance, leading the American delegation in diplomatic negotiations this weekend with Iran in Switzerland, told reporters on Sunday that “the United States is willing to fundamentally transform our relationship with [Iran]” if the Islamic Republic’s leadership is willing to give up nuclear weapons and end its backing of terrorist proxies, Jewish Insider’s Josh Kraushaar reports.
What he said: “If your leadership is willing to give up being a driver of regional instability, if they are willing to give up nuclear weapons ambitions in the long term, then the United States is willing to fundamentally transform our relationship with that country,” Vance said at a news briefing, according to The New York Times. Vance described the approach of the U.S. delegation, which he is leading alongside White House Special Envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, as offering an “outstretched hand” to the people of Iran.
More from Vance: Asked by Christian conservative commentator Allie Beth Stuckey about an “obsession” some on the political right have with “blaming all of their problems” on Israel, as opposed to an “Israel first” perspective, Vance said, “I see both, and I think both are bad,” JI’s Danielle Cohen-Kanik reports. But he said he’s “particularly sensitive” to what he views as the elevation of Israel’s interests because he’s “been defending the president’s decision to end the Iran [war], and I find often the arguments are, ‘Well, Israel doesn’t think this is good, therefore it’s bad.’ And my reaction is: Israel’s opinions matter, but fundamentally they are separate.”
BLAME GAME
Israelis overwhelmingly believe Iran won the war, survey finds
Israelis overwhelmingly believe Iran won the war against the U.S. and Israel and view its conclusion negatively, a new survey by the Hebrew University of Jerusalem has found. More than 9 in 10 respondents (92%), surveyed between June 17-20, said Tehran emerged as the victor, according to The Times of Israel, and nearly 70% said President Donald Trump’s management of the war classifies as “failed” or “poor,” Jewish Insider’s Danielle Cohen-Kanik reports.
Survey says: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu fared slightly better, with 56% of respondents saying his handling of the war was either a failure or poor. Nearly all Israelis surveyed (88%) said the country did not achieve its stated goals of ending Iran’s nuclear and ballistic missile programs and bringing down the regime. About half (48%) of respondents said Israel should restart major military action against Hezbollah in Lebanon, even at the risk of clashing with Trump, who has pushed for the fighting to end — while only 21% said they were opposed to such action.
Mixed messaging: Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) defended the Trump administration’s diplomatic discussions with Iran on Sunday, but predicted that negotiations with the Islamic Republic will likely fail, and threatened that the U.S. will take over the Strait of Hormuz if no agreement is reached. “Let’s try a diplomatic solution. I think it’s going to fail,” Graham said on CBS’ “Face the Nation,” JI’s Marc Rod reports.
COMMON DENOMINATOR
Mamdani’s House candidates attack Israel in closing arguments
The battle for three Democratic congressional primaries in New York City has been defined by a conflict more than 5,000 miles away, with candidates spending the final days before Tuesday’s primary echoing the fiercely anti-Israel rhetoric that helped elevate Mayor Zohran Mamdani to power, Jewish Insider’s Will Bredderman reports.
Israel angle: All three of the mayor’s favored contenders for the House — former City Comptroller Brad Lander, Assemblymember Claire Valdez and doctoral student Darializa Avila Chevalier — underscored their criticism of Israel and its U.S. supporters as early voting began in the contested districts. Avila Chevalier took time in a televised debate on Tuesday to accuse the country of “apartheid” while seeming to compare the actions of Jewish settlers in the West Bank and the IDF in the Gaza Strip to gentrification in the district where she hopes to unseat Rep. Adriano Espaillat (D-NY) and other majority-minority areas.
TESTING THE WATERS
Van Hollen says he’s considering presidential bid, wants Israel to be 2028 litmus test
Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), a leading critic of Israel in the Senate, publicly confirmed for the first time this week, after visits to key primary states, that he is considering a 2028 presidential bid — and argued that criticism of Israel should be a key litmus test for the emerging field, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports.
Podcast playback: “I went to New Hampshire because I was invited, but I would say kind of kicking the tires a little bit,” Van Hollen said on the “On NOTUS” podcast this week. Asked whether he thinks any Democratic presidential candidate will be viable without criticizing Israel and supporting conditioning aid to the Jewish state, Van Hollen responded, “I think a Democratic presidential candidate should believe in the United States’ foreign policy based on advancing our values and our interests. And if you want to advance our values, you cannot apply one set of standards just to our adversaries and another to our friends and be taken seriously in the world about it.”
BONDS BROKEN
Auto union votes to divest from Israel at annual convention
Delegates at the United Auto Workers convention in Detroit voted on Thursday to divest from Israel Bonds, citing the war in Gaza, Jewish Insider’s Haley Cohen reports. One of the largest unions in the country, the UAW previously held an estimated $400,000 to $700,000 in Israel Bonds and securities, according to the Detroit Free Press. It has not been disclosed how much money the divestment will affect or how many members voted to pass the resolution.
On the stage: The annual convention also featured a speech from Abdul El-Sayed, a far-left, UAW-endorsed Democratic Senate candidate in Michigan who told Jewish supporters last month that he “often struggle[s]” to answer whether he believes Israel has a right to exist as a Jewish state. He said in an interview with CNN in April that he believes the Israeli government is just as evil as Hamas.
Worthy Reads
The Folly of Trying to Bribe Tehran: In The Atlantic, Karim Sadjadpour posits that President Donald Trump is betting that Iran will respond to what he calls “bribery” in the form of critical economic concessions that fail to obtain meaningful concessions from Tehran. “The logic of Trump’s current gamble with Iran resembles his entreaties to the North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un during Trump’s first term: The president is offering reintegration as a reward for denuclearization. In Singapore, Trump famously tried to entice Kim with visions of turning North Korea’s missile-testing coastlines into prime real estate, marveling at the country’s ‘great beaches’ and envisioning ‘the best hotels in the world.’ But for revolutionary dictatorships such as North Korea and Iran, Western-backed luxury hotels, foreign tourists, and open capital flows aren’t a triumph — they are a Trojan horse that would erode their total information control and ideological legitimacy.” [TheAtlantic]
Sounds Familiar: The Wall Street Journal’s Allysia Finley writes how Vice President JD Vance is echoing the far left in his recent hostile rhetoric against Israel: “Vance has been eager to take credit with [Tucker] Carlson and his acolytes for bringing the war to an end. His thinly veiled threat last week — echoed by Mr. Trump — to cut off military support for Israel after it responded to Hezbollah’s aggression is aimed at soothing the Carlson crowd’s criticism. Americans might observe, however, that the vice president sounded eerily like Mr. Biden in demanding that Israel show restraint in the face of hostility — and not too different from progressives who accuse Israel of war crimes.” [WSJ]
Climate Change: The Financial Times’ Kenza Bryan profiles Kaveh Madani, a Western-educated environmental scientist and former Iranian environmental official now living in exile after being branded a spy by the regime in Tehran. “Once he started his work as deputy of the environment ministry, Madani was quickly caught between a government that wanted to sell the idea of expatriate children of the revolution choosing to return to Iran, and a security establishment deeply suspicious of Iranians tainted with foreign ideas. … During his brief stint in government, Madani was compared by the IRGC to Eli Cohen, the Israeli spy who infiltrated elite Syrian political circles in the 1960s.” [FT]
Word on the Street
The Wall Street Journal reports that the U.S. is working with Qatar to release some $6 billion in frozen funds to Iran that would be directed to humanitarian efforts…
An explosion at Qatar’s Ras Laffan natural gas facility on Sunday night caused a fire that injured at least 54 people, while an additional 18 were missing. The site was damaged in an Iranian missile attack early in the war…
The New York Times spotlights the Bürgenstock Resort in Switzerland that has hosted the latest U.S.-Iran talks, owned by Katara Hospitality, a Qatari state-backed hospitality group that acquired it in 2007…
In Colombia’s presidential election, an initial vote count found that right-wing candidate Abelardo de la Espriella, who was endorsed by President Donald Trump, narrowly defeated leftist challenger Iván Cepeda and will succeed President Gustavo Petro, who cut ties with Israel in 2024 over the war in Gaza…
Petro accused Israel of rigging the elections, posting on X that “software was compromised, and others entered data for polling stations and voting centers”…
The Wall Street Journal profiles Dan Moraff, the progressive strategist behind Maine Democrat Graham Platner’s Senate bid, whose rushed vetting process missed key issues about the candidate’s past…
Journalists visited an underground drone factory in a hilltop village in southern Lebanon from which Hezbollah launched unmanned aerial vehicles at Israel, in a tour organized by the Israeli military after it captured the tunnel, dug near the Israeli border and discovered 50 Iranian-made explosive UAVs…
Military technology company Anduril is considering launching operations in Israel, according to Calcalist…
Puck reports on Alphabet President Ruth Porat’s remarks at the Economic Club of New York last week, where she argued that AI will drive trillions of dollars in economic growth and accelerate scientific breakthroughs despite mounting concerns about job losses, energy demand and social disruption…
The Wall Street Journal examines the increase in hangings in Iran over the past three months as the war with the U.S. unfolded — at least 45 people have been executed by the regime this year for political reasons, according to human rights groups and Iranian state media…
A Washington Post investigation reports that outgoing Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard was under the sway of her longtime guru Chris Butler throughout much of her political career…
The New York Times spotlights the roles that the “Manhattan moms” of NY-12 congressional candidates Micah Lasher, Jack Schlossberg and Alex Bores are playing in their respective sons’ campaigns…
The International Criminal Court set a date next month to vote on the removal of its chief prosecutor, Karim Khan, who is facing sexual assault allegations from members of his staff…
Meanwhile, the U.K.’s Bar Standards Board suspended Khan, a British lawyer, following his suspension from the ICC earlier this month…
The Financial Times profiles Bob Iger’s second departure from Disney, examining how the architect of its modern empire transformed the company through landmark acquisitions and major investments in streaming, while leaving his successor, Josh D’Amaro, to navigate a rapidly changing media landscape…
Snackmaker Gerald Shreiber, who acquired a series of struggling food companies and turned such products as the SuperPretzel, Dippin’ Dots and ICEEs into household names, died on May 9, at 84…
Yaacov Agam, Israeli kinetic art pioneer whose motion-based sculptures and paintings earned him the Israel Prize and left a mark on public spaces from Tel Aviv’s Dizengoff Square to the Pompidou Center in Paris, died on Sunday at 98…
Pic of the Day
Chefs Mitchell Davis, Paul Carmichael, Ryan Bartlow and Naama Shefi, founder of the Great Nosh picnic, at the annual picnic on Sunday on Governors Island in New York City.
Birthdays
Retired MLB second baseman, he played for Team Israel at the 2020 Summer Olympics and managed the team at the 2023 World Baseball Classic, Ian Kinsler turns 44…
A leading securities, corporate and M&A attorney, he is a founding partner of the law firm of Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz, Martin Lipton turns 95… D.C.-based senior representative of Israel Aerospace Industries from 1969 to 2017, Marvin Klemow turns 89… Jerusalem-born 2009 winner of the Nobel Prize for chemistry, she is the director of a research center at the Weizmann Institute of Science, Ada Yonath turns 87… U.K. judge who chaired high-profile hearings on ethics in the media, currently serving as the U.K.’s Investigatory Powers Commissioner, Sir Brian Henry Leveson turns 77… Winner of the 2016 Nobel Prize for physics, he is a professor at Brown University, J. Michael Kosterlitz turns 83… Justice on Israel’s Supreme Court until 2014, she was previously the Israeli state prosecutor for eight years, Edna Arbel turns 82… U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) turns 77… Member of the California state Assembly until 2022, now a judge on the Superior Court of Los Angeles County, Richard Hershel Bloom turns 73… Partner at Shibolet & Co., one of Israel’s largest corporate law firms, Yoram Raved turns 70… AIPAC director for Greater Washington, Deborah Adler… Chair of the kindergarten and pre-K division of Bowman Ashe/Doolin K-8 Academy in Miami, Fla., Cynthia Rosenbluth Huss… Past president of the UJA-Federation of New York, Alisa Robbins Doctoroff… U.S. Sen. Adam Schiff (D-CA) turns 66… Former member of the Knesset for the Hatnuah and Zionist Union parties, Robert Tiviaev turns 65… Creator of the Android operating system, which he sold to Google, Andy Rubin turns 64… Member of the Knesset for the Likud party, now serving as deputy prime minister and minister of justice, Yariv Gideon Levin turns 57… SVP at Red Banyan PR, Kelcey Kintner… Writer, director and film producer, he is a two-time Israeli Academy Award winner and the founder of Hey Jude Productions, Dani Menkin turns 56… Program director at the Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Foundation, Rafi Rone… Senior correspondent and columnist for Haaretz and author of a biography of PM Benjamin Netanyahu, Anshel Pfeffer turns 53… Israeli jazz vocalist and composer, Julia Feldman turns 47… COO of TR Capital Management, Ahron Rosenthal… Russian-Israeli Internet entrepreneur, co-founder of Russia’s largest social network VK.com and the Selectel data network center, Lev Binzumovich Leviev turns 42… Baltimore-based endodontist, Jeffrey H. Gardyn, DDS… Israeli Muay Thai kick boxing champion, Ilya Grad turns 39… Israeli-born basketball player with 10 NBA seasons, Omri Casspi turns 38… Former outfielder for Team Israel in the 2017 World Baseball Classic qualifier round, now a real estate investor based in Nashville, Tenn., Rhett Wiseman turns 32…
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