Jews and who’s whos in Graham’s pews
Plus, Jewish Detroit knocks for Stevens
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In today’s Daily Kickoff, we report on yesterday’s funeral for Sen. Lindsey Graham in Washington and cover the Oval Office meeting between President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. We spotlight the get-out-the-vote campaign for Haley Stevens led by concerned Jewish Detroiters and the United Democracy Project’s new ad targeting her Michigan Senate primary challenger, Abdul El-Sayed. Also in today’s Daily Kickoff: Rep. Jake Auchincloss, Sen. Richard Blumenthal and Charles Asher Small.
We also have a new on-demand Live Briefing that you can access throughout the day via our new app (on Apple and Android) and on our website.
Today’s Daily Kickoff was curated by 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
- U.S. Central Command and the Saudi Arabian Armed Forces conducted joint strikes in eastern Iraq early Wednesday against Iranian proxies whom the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps had “directed to attack U.S. forces and Saudi energy infrastructure,” CENTCOM said, adding that the militaries struck multiple logistics and weapons sites in response to more than 30 IRGC-directed drone attacks in the past 72 hours.
- The strikes came after CENTCOM said on Tuesday evening that it had intercepted multiple ballistic missiles fired by the IRGC in an “attempted surprise attack” on U.S. forces in the Middle East, marking a rupture in the pause in hostilities between the U.S. and Iran that had been in place since last week. The Jordanian military also announced that it had intercepted five missiles launched from Iran overnight.
- The Senate is expected to vote on another war powers resolution this afternoon seeking an end to U.S. military operations in Iran.
- Sen. Lindsey Graham’s (R-SC) funeral continues today in South Carolina, where he will receive a public procession at the Statehouse in Columbia and a private burial.
What You Should Know
A QUICK WORD WITH JI’S MARC ROD
A who’s who of international leaders, Cabinet members, senators and ambassadors gathered on Tuesday at the National Cathedral and on Capitol Hill for a somber and emotional tribute to the late Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), a giant both in Washington and on the world stage.
Graham distinguished himself over his career as one of the most important foreign policy voices in the Republican Party and a global statesman, evident in the fact that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky sat just seats away from one another at the afternoon memorial service, representing two of the countries that Graham championed during his time in office.
In one sign of how appreciated Graham’s pro-Israel leadership was to so many in the Jewish community, a number of attendees were seen wearing kippot at the National Cathedral service. Among the notable guests at the service were: philanthropist Miriam Adelson; Israel’s former Minister of Strategic Affairs Ron Dermer; Israeli opposition leader and Netanyahu rival Yair Lapid; Republican Jewish Coalition CEO Matt Brooks; Axios reporter Barak Ravid; and the parents of slain American Israeli hostage Omer Neutra.
Fox News host Sean Hannity gave special attention to Graham’s dedication to Israel in his eulogy, offering effusive praise to Netanyahu and the importance of the U.S.-Israel relationship.
“Lindsey would have been blown away that you took this long journey with your beautiful bride to be here today. He loved you. He loved the state of Israel, he loved the people of Israel,” Hannity told Netanyahu and his wife, Sara, from the lectern. “Under your leadership, Israel has been one of America’s most consistent and loyal allies. He was never shy to say it, to the day he passed. Just as President Trump has been Israel’s strongest friend in the history of the White House … Lindsey was that friend to Israel in the United States Senate.”
FRIENDLY FACE
Netanyahu hails ‘best conversation’ with Trump after Oval Office meeting
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu hailed his sit-down with President Donald Trump in the Oval Office on Tuesday as “one of the best conversations I’ve ever had with a president of the United States, our friend Donald Trump.” The Israeli prime minister called the meeting “excellent,” Jewish Insider’s Matthew Shea reports.
What he said: “When I say excellent, I don’t mean it lightly,” he added, speaking in a video statement after the summit. It was “a conversation with full partnership, mutual support, with understanding on the shared goal that Iran will not have nuclear weapons and also other goals,” he said. Caroline Glick, Netanyahu’s international affairs advisor, told JI the meeting was “extremely positive” and pushed back against reports of a rift between Jerusalem and Washington.
Yes, but: Earlier Tuesday, Trump expressed discontent with Netanyahu’s reported forthcoming warnings regarding Iranian nuclear activity at Pickaxe Mountain, dismissing the issue as “not a big problem” in a sharp public split hours ahead of their Oval Office meeting.
shul politics
‘These are not ordinary times’: Inside Jewish Detroit’s get-out-the-vote campaign for Haley Stevens
Several large Detroit-area synagogues emailed their congregants earlier this summer to urge them to vote in Michigan’s Aug. 4 primary — what seemed at first to be a somewhat bland call to make their voices heard and exercise their civic duty. Then, as primary day drew closer, the messages took on a sharper edge from the usual staid, nonpartisan rhetoric that houses of worship might have sent in the past ahead of major elections, Jewish Insider’s Gabby Deutch reports.
Unprecedented advocacy: “While we aren’t going to tell you who to vote for and we have never sent a message like this in our congregation’s history, these are no ordinary times,” the leaders of Temple Israel, the Reform synagogue in West Bloomfield that was the site of a violent antisemitic attack in March, wrote in an email last month. Leading rabbis across the state are urging their congregants to vote for Rep. Haley Stevens (D-MI) — even if they’re not saying so explicitly. Her opponent, Abdul El-Sayed, who has made attacking AIPAC a central tenet of his campaign, has refused to say whether he believes in Israel’s right to exist as a Jewish state.
PAST IS PRESENT
UDP hits El-Sayed for ‘uncommitted’ support in new ad
United Democracy Project, the AIPAC-affiliated super PAC, is running a new ad targeting Abdul El-Sayed, a far-left Democrat in Michigan’s closely contested Senate primary, over his past support of the “uncommitted” movement and his criticisms of popular Democratic leaders — a messaging strategy the group has used as an effective attack line against anti-Israel opponents in previous election cycles, Jewish Insider’s Matthew Kassel reports.
Ad attack: The 30-second TV spot, released on Tuesday in advance of the Aug. 4 contest, cites comments in which El-Sayed had criticized Barack and Michelle Obama while accusing El-Sayed of “helping Trump win” the election in 2024 because of his promotion of the “uncommitted” effort that urged Democratic primary voters to leave their ballots blank as a protest against former President Joe Biden’s support for Israel amid the war in Gaza.
Survey says: A new poll shows Rep. Haley Stevens (D-MI) leading former GOP Rep. Mike Rogers by two points if she proceeds to the general election — with her opponent, Abdul El-Sayed, trailing Rogers by seven points, JI’s Gabby Deutch reports.
AID ARGUMENTS
Auchincloss faces skeptical reception from Jewish voters upset over his vote to cut off Israel funding
Rep. Jake Auchincloss (D-MA) appeared before a packed house of more than 700 Jewish constituents at a major Conservative synagogue in the heart of his Boston-area district on Monday evening, facing a barrage of questions from skeptical attendees over his vote to cut U.S. military aid to Israel, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports.
In the room: Auchincloss appeared in conversation with Jeremy Burton, the CEO of the Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Boston, at Temple Emanuel in Newton, Mass., before taking around two dozen questions from the audience. Attendees said that most of the crowd was not supportive of Auchincloss’ vote and was not persuaded by his explanation, but most of those who spoke to JI came away expecting that he’ll maintain significant Jewish community support and appreciation of his engagement.
ON THE HILL
Senate rolls Iran sanctions extension into Russia sanctions bill
The Senate on Tuesday advanced a major Russia sanctions package, negotiated and championed by Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) before his death, to which lawmakers added a provision extending long-standing sanctions on Iran, currently set to expire at the end of the year, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports. The bill advanced by an 86-12 procedural vote.
Last-minute edit: The addition of the five-year extension of the Iran Sanctions Act of 1996 to the package is a relatively minor change to the hard-fought bill, which will extend a key piece of the U.S. economic pressure campaign on Iran and address President Donald Trump’s late-stage demands that threatened to upend a bipartisan agreement. Asked Tuesday about the decision to add the Iran sanctions provisions, its lead Democratic sponsor, Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), told JI, “[Sen.] Darline Graham [R-SC] asked us — asked me — to do it. And by the way, that Iran provision was in the bill as originally written, so restoring it was a pretty simple yes.”
GLOBAL ANTISEMITISM
Germany worst for antisemitic incidents per Jewish resident, report finds
Germany remained the country with the most antisemitic incidents relative to its Jewish population in 2025, among Diaspora countries with major Jewish populations, according to a new report from leading Jewish groups released on Wednesday. According to the report, nearly 70 antisemitic incidents per 1,000 Jewish residents were recorded in Germany in 2025, Jewish Insider’s Haley Cohen reports.
J7 report: Not since the terror attack on a Jewish community center in Buenos Aires, Argentina, more than 30 years ago has the Jewish Diaspora experienced as deadly a year as 2025. Worldwide, 20 people were killed last year in four antisemitic attacks across three continents — all in “J7” countries, the seven countries with the largest Jewish Diaspora populations. The data comes from the second annual Report on Antisemitism by the J7.
Worthy Reads
Graham’s Send-Off: The Atlantic‘s Mark Leibovich chronicles Lindsey Graham’s elaborate Washington send-off, showing how the senator’s genius for ingratiating himself with the powerful — President Donald Trump above all — carried through to the very end. “Trump acknowledged that he and Graham ‘did not exactly get off to the best of starts.’ Eventually, though, they would forge an important, if volatile, partnership. The president recounted an especially rough patch during the 2016 presidential campaign when Graham called Trump a ‘jackass’ and Trump responded by sharing Graham’s private cellphone number at a rally in South Carolina. For old times’ sake, Trump recited the number in his speech today: ‘202-228-0292, if anybody wants to give it a shot.’ He added that Graham had the last laugh, ‘because while I blew up his phone for one day, we became great friends, and Lindsey did not stop calling me for the next 10 years.’” [Atlantic]
Diplomacy by Misdirection: In The Wall Street Journal, Walter Russell Mead argues that President Donald Trump and Tehran have both utilized deliberate misdirection as part of their strategy in the on-again, off-again U.S.-Iran conflict. “Observers have long noted the fog of war, in which the chaos of conflict makes it difficult to determine exactly what is going on. In 2026 we are seeing something different: the slop of war, in which decoy diplomacy combines with military head-fakes to obscure the actual state of play. … If the war has brought Mr. Trump some unpleasant surprises, it has also demonstrated his resourcefulness. … Iran may be a hedgehog, but Donald Trump is a fox, and he’s unlikely to give up until he’s tried every trick in the book.” [WSJ]
The Other Nuke Deal: Eric Edelman, former under secretary of defense for policy, writes for the Jewish Institute for National Security of America that the emerging U.S.-Saudi civilian nuclear cooperation deal invokes a significant threat of nuclear proliferation. “While details remain scarce, there is good reason to be concerned that the deal would not only be a departure from longtime U.S. policy but also have the potential to upend the traditional U.S. strategic objective of attempting to slow, halt, and reverse the adoption of nuclear weapons. The U.S. might inadvertently make itself into a handmaiden for a nuclear proliferation cascade that would break a nonproliferation regime that is already under enormous stress from a range of geopolitical forces.” [JINSA]
Threats from Within: The New York Times’ Bret Stephens warns defenders of Israel not to downplay the threat that Israeli settler violence in the West Bank poses to both Israeli and Palestinian interests. “There is an immediate danger in that the spiraling West Bank violence could easily produce a third intifada that an exhausted Israel can ill afford militarily or diplomatically, to say nothing of the human cost in both Israeli and Palestinian lives. There’s a still greater long-term risk that the Netanyahu government’s excuse making for Jewish lawlessness and terrorism leads to what the scholar and diplomat Michael Oren, in a prescient Commentary essay from 2009, called ‘the hemorrhaging of sovereignty.’” [NYTimes]
A larger selection of Worthy Reads is available in our Live Briefing.
Word on the Street
In an interview on Fox News’ “Hannity,” on Tuesday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that he will attend the United Nations General Assembly in New York in September, despite New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s threats — which he has since acknowledged he cannot act on — to arrest him. “I’m going to New York. I’m going to speak the truth in front of this hate-spewing elected official who’s pitting one group of New Yorkers against the others. He’s turning them against New York Jews”…
Asked by Sean Hannity what he would do if forced to make an emergency landing in a country that would enforce the International Criminal Court warrant against him, Netanyahu replied that he “has special forces around” who could “get a new task”…
Despite both being in Washington on Tuesday, Netanyahu and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky did not hold an official meeting, though the two leaders were spotted speaking in person for the first time in several years at the National Cathedral ahead of the funeral proceedings. Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar and Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha also spoke by phone, where Sa’ar invited Sybiha to visit Israel…
Sybiha also called his Iranian counterpart, Abbas Araghchi, for a “frank conversation,” Sybiha said on X on Tuesday, where he told Araghchi that Iran should refrain from any “escalatory steps” in regards to Ukraine’s recent strike on a cargo vessel carrying military supplies between Iran and Russia…
European allies are resisting U.S. efforts to create a joint patrol for the Strait of Hormuz until an enduring ceasefire with Iran is in place, Politico reports…
Iran rejected an Omani proposal whereby ships crossing the Strait of Hormuz would be split through both countries’ territorial waters, and instead proposed a deal that would see the routes stay largely in Iranian waters, Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi said on state television on Tuesday…
Iran is set to receive an initial delivery of Chinese-made shoulder-fired air-defense missile launchers in the coming weeks, Reuters reports, citing sources familiar with the $60 million to $70 million purchase of between 300 and 400 systems…
Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz told Israel’s Channel 14 on Tuesday that Jerusalem “very much want[s] to strike Iran’s energy targets,” but Washington “is not approving it at the moment because of the concern that Iran would attack neighboring countries, causing a global oil crisis”…
The Times of London reports on the efforts by the CIA and Mossad to track down Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, who has not been seen since February…
The Financial Times examines the UAE’s attempts to quietly restart diplomatic and economic relations with Iran even as Tehran has continued to fire on other Gulf states and Abu Dhabi maintains its ties with Jerusalem and Washington…
CENTCOM announced on Tuesday that it signed an agreement with the UAE to establish the first bilateral task force focused on developing military artificial intelligence. The group, named Task Force Talon Synapse, will formally launch in the coming weeks and will be based in Abu Dhabi, with around 20 American and Emirati personnel with expertise in AI, data and cybersecurity…
In the Washington Examiner, Mozah Alkindi, a self-described Emirati Muslim, calls out Mamdani’s rhetoric on Israel amid growing antisemitism in New York City. “Disagreement is normal. Opinions, preferences, and even biases are part of any society. What is not normal is allowing those differences to become a reason to hate or dehumanize people who think differently”…
Jay Clayton was confirmed by the Senate on Tuesday evening on a party line vote as director of national intelligence…
Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear, a Democrat, called on Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY), who has been hospitalized for over a month, to “directly and verbally address the people of Kentucky and provide proof of your capacity to serve, or resign”…
A man armed with a hammer entered the premises of the Lev Leviev School in Queens on Tuesday where a Jewish day camp was operating and shoved a child into a fence before being subdued by camp personnel. Queens Shmira, a local public safety organization, told JI’s Haley Cohen and Will Bredderman that the incident was not a hate crime but was rather perpetrated by an “emotionally disturbed individual.” The NYPD took a person of interest into custody and the child was treated for a laceration on site before being transported to a hospital…
eJewishPhilanthropy’s Judah Ari Gross interviews Charles Asher Small, the founder and director of the Institute for the Study of Global Antisemitism and Policy, who has long been raising the alarm about Qatar, seeing it as an unabashed enemy of the West and responsible for much of the antisemitism that has been unleashed post-Oct. 7, 2023…
The New York Times Magazine chronicles the internal upheaval at the Heritage Foundation under President Kevin Roberts after he defended Tucker Carlson for hosting white-nationalist influencer Nick Fuentes — an event that triggered an exodus of the organization’s traditional conservative staff and brought in new hires who have reportedly accelerated Heritage’s turn against its old pro-Israel, free-market consensus…
Executives at former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s data and media conglomerate, Bloomberg LP, are reportedly in preliminary talks about potentially taking the company public…
CBS News announced that New York Times columnist Ross Douthat will join the network as a correspondent on “60 Minutes,” and Sebastian Junger, Gianna Toboni and Trevor Phillips will join as contributors…
Israeli cybersecurity firm Cyera signed a letter of intent to acquire Israeli cybersecurity startup Oasis Security for $1 billion…
Casey Wasserman confirmed on Tuesday that he sold his stake in his namesake management company, now called The Team, to Providence Equity Partners, which has held a majority stake since 2022…
Pic of the Day
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke at a memorial dinner at the Four Seasons hotel in Washington on Monday night, held in honor of the late Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC). The event was attended by family and friends of Graham, administration officials and members of Congress.
“America has lost a great patriot. Israel has lost one of its greatest friends and supporters. And I have lost a dear friend,” Netanyahu said. “Lindsey was wholeheartedly committed to the security of the United States, the security of Israel and the unrelenting fight against antisemitism. I will miss him greatly, and all of us will miss him greatly.”
During the event, Netanyahu was photographed in conversation with Lindsey Graham’s sister, Sen. Darline Graham (R-SC), as well as Steven Miller, the White House deputy chief of staff for policy, and Sen. Chris Coons (D-DE).
Birthdays
Actor and comedian, best known for his voice work in animation and video games, Richard Steven Horvitz turns 60…
Shoe designer, entrepreneur and founder of an eponymous shoe company, Stuart A. Weitzman turns 85… Chairman of BOK Financial Corporation in Tulsa, Okla., George Bruce Kaiser turns 84… Denver-based attorney, film producer and author of both fiction and nonfiction, Kenneth Eichner turns 72… Israeli electrical engineer and inventor, he is best known as the inventor of the USB memory stick, Dov Moran turns 71… Freelance writer and editor, Carol Eisenberg… Attorney general of Israel from 2016 to 2022, Avichai Mandelblit turns 63… Global economics reporter for The New York Times, Peter S. Goodman turns 60… Co-president of private equity firm Clayton, Dubilier & Rice, and co-chairman and governor of the NBA’s Charlotte Hornets, Richard J. Schnall turns 57… Twin brothers, Los Angeles-based philanthropists and businessmen, Shlomo Yehuda Rechnitz and Yisroel Zev Rechnitz turn 55… Actor, filmmaker and musician, he is best known for his role in the CBS sitcom “How I Met Your Mother,” Joshua Radnor turns 52… MS NOW anchor, Peter Alexander turns 50… VP of community engagement at BBYO, Jayme David… Director of the Straus Center at Yeshiva University, he is also the rabbi of NYC’s Congregation Shearith Israel (The Spanish and Portuguese Synagogue), Rabbi Meir Yaakov Soloveichik turns 49… Data and investigative journalist at the Associated Press, Aaron Kessler… Former member of the Canadian Parliament, David de Burgh Graham turns 45… Iraq war veteran, political and communications strategist, she is now a visiting fellow at George Mason University’s National Security Institute, Allison Jaslow… Rabbi, writer, educator and physician assistant, Rabbi Levi Welton… White House principal deputy communications director during the Biden administration, Herbie Ziskend… EVP in the Los Angeles office of Edelman, Jason Levin… Israeli actor, model and television presenter, Maya Wertheimer turns 36… Policy advisor to Sen. Ed Markey (D-MA), Daniel Ryan Vinik… Tony Award-winning actor, Ari’el Stachel turns 35… Uriel Wassner… Broadcaster for the Windy City Bulls, Sam Brief… Quarterback for the NFL’s Washington Commanders, Sam Hartman turns 27…
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