Doha pays, CNN & Semafor play
Plus, race to the finish in Michigan
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In today’s Daily Kickoff, we report from last night’s Republican Jewish Coalition event for GOP Senate nominee Mike Rogers in Michigan with Sen. Ted Cruz, report on KIND founder Daniel Lubetzky’s criticism of the “outsized unethical” backing that Semafor receives from Qatar and talk to Israeli expats who flew in to cast their ballots in this week’s election as they departed the country. Also in today’s Daily Kickoff: Bari Weiss, Noah Wyle and Karlie Kloss.
Today’s Daily Kickoff was curated by JI Executive Editor Melissa Weiss, with assists from Tamara Zieve and Danielle Cohen-Kanik.
Today’s Agenda
We’re keeping an eye on U.S. efforts, led by Vice President JD Vance, to restart talks with Iran after Vance sent a letter to Mohsen Rezaei, the head of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, in an effort to relaunch negotiations. President Donald Trump — who days earlier had said the U.S. is “not negotiating” with Iran — told reporters on Wednesday that he had agreed to Vance’s request to make contact with Rezaei. “They need help with medical supplies and various things,” Trump said. “He asked me what I thought. I said, ‘If you want to do that, that’s OK.’”
As the final votes in Israel’s election are being tallied — with no clear winner — the head of the country’s Central Elections Committee asked Shin Bet chief David Zini to investigate possible outside influence in the elections, a day after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party released a statement claiming “evidence of election theft in many Arab polling stations.”
In Michigan, surrogates for the state’s Senate nominees — Republican Mike Rogers and Democrat Abdul El-Sayed — are assisting in the final push ahead of Tuesday’s midterms. Former Senate candidate and state Sen. Mallory McMorrow, who dropped out of the race ahead of the Democratic primary, stumped for El-Sayed this week, downplaying to a group of Jewish Michiganders convened by the pro-El-Sayed Michigan Jews for Democracy the influence he’d have on Israel policy in the Senate while arguing that Rogers’ camp contains antisemitic individuals. Read more here.
Meanwhile, Rogers has gotten boosts this week from two sitting senators. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) headlined a Republican Jewish Coalition event in Birmingham, Mich., last night (more below on that), while Sen. Dave McCormick (R-PA) said during yesterday’s Northeast Indiana Defense Summit that a victory by El-Sayed could place the U.S. on the same trajectory as France. “If you want to know where this ends, if these folks win, just turn on the television,” McCormick said. “You see burning down beautiful buildings in Paris.” More on McCormick’s comments here.
CNN’s Global Perspectives forum is taking place today in Doha, Qatar. Speakers at the inaugural summit include Sheikha Al Mayassa bint Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani, the head of Qatar Museums who last month promoted a divisive exhibition at the Venice Biennale on Gaza, and Martin Griffiths, the former head of the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs who faced criticism for a 2024 interview in which he said that Hamas was “not a terrorist group for us.”
Former Israeli hostage Noa Argamani, who joined Vine Ventures earlier this year as a platform manager, will take the stage in New York today for Business Insider’s “The Long Play: Stories of Reinvention.” Also speaking at the daylong event are Barry Diller, Strauss Zelnick and Carolyn Tisch Blodgett.
One Thing To Know
CROSSING OVER
By Marc Rod
BIRMINGHAM, Mich. — Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) argued at an event alongside former Rep. Mike Rogers (R-MI) on Wednesday that electing Democratic Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed and giving him access to classified intelligence could lead to the deaths of Americans.
Before an audience of around 600 organized by the Republican Jewish Coalition, joined by U.S. Holocaust Memorial Council Chair Jeff Miller, two lifelong Democrats from the Temple Israel community supporting Rogers and Republican National Committee Chairman Joe Gruters, Cruz and Rogers hammered El-Sayed with now-well-established attacks over his ties to extremist figures and groups.
Perhaps the most remarkable element of the event wasn’t just those on stage, but also someone in the audience, whose appearance was the subject of many murmured conversations on the sidelines of the event: Jason Turkish, the Democratic fundraiser and fiancé of Rep. Haley Stevens (D-MI) who announced publicly that he planned to vote for Rogers shortly before the event began.
The Big Reads
two paths diverged
Jason Turkish, the fiancé of Rep. Haley Stevens (D-MI) and a prominent Jewish Democrat in Michigan, said he plans to vote for Republican Mike Rogers over Democrat Abdul El-Sayed in the state’s closely watched and bitterly fought Senate race, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports. Hours later, Stevens herself affirmed on CNN that she still supports El-Sayed. But she also emphasized that in order to win over undecided voters, El-Sayed should openly denounce an ad from his own campaign featuring Tucker Carlson and an outside ad blaming aid to Israel for high prices in the United States.
qatar-ing favor
Daniel Lubetzky, the founder of KIND Snacks, accused the global news publication Semafor of compromising its journalistic independence through its financial ties to Qatar, alleging that the outlet was receiving outsized resources from the Qatari government for programs that did not require that level of funding, Jewish Insider’s Haley Cohen reports. In a post on X Wednesday, Lubetzky alleged that Semafor’s CEO and co-founder Justin Smith told him about the program funding after the outlet was founded in 2022 as he was ostensibly seeking Lubetzky’s investment. A Semafor spokesperson said it had never accepted investment from a government or sovereign wealth fund but did not directly address Lubetzky’s allegation about a payment for journalist training or other revenue received from Gulf governments.
departures Lounge
A day after the polls closed in Israel, Ben Gurion Airport was packed. The long lines for security were populated in part by Israeli expats who had returned to the Jewish state to vote, and were returning to their homes abroad, Jewish Insider’s Lahav Harkov reports. Some 67,000 Israelis were estimated to have flown in for the vote. All of the expats who spoke with JI at the airport on Wednesday night voted for the bloc led by former IDF Chief of Staff Gadi Eisenkot, with most choosing the left-wing Democrats party. Rae, 45, was traveling alone back to the Bay Area. “Obviously I’m disappointed,” she said. “I’m hopeful it’s not the end.”
The Rundown
blind spot
mccormick’s message
surrogate assurance
On Our Radar
● The Live Briefing. Word on the street, clips, podcasts and quick updates — the items we’re tracking all day in our Live Briefing on the app (on Apple and Android) and website.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth fired Army Lt. Gen. Brett Sylvia, the Pentagon’s head of strategy, plans and policy, a year after Sylvia’s predecessor was ousted from the role…
Democratic Majority for Israel is taking out ads in Jewish newspapers across Long Island supporting Reps. Laura Gillen (D-NY) and Tom Suozzi (D-NY), the latest expansion of the group’s efforts to bolster pro-Israel Democrats in contested seats ahead of the midterms…
The leadership of Temple Israel, the site of a Hezbollah-inspired terrorist attack in Michigan, condemned as “antisemitism, plain and simple,” a recent Rebellion PAC ad supporting Democratic candidate Abdul El-Sayed; “We call on every political leader in Michigan on every side of the aisle to name this ad for what it is and refuse to normalize its message. We ask our neighbors of every faith and background to stand with us and use their voices to denounce this rhetoric,” the clergy and lay leadership said…
The New York Times reports that former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, a Democratic megadonor, has “taken a liking” to Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro as donors begin to line up behind potential 2028 Democratic presidential candidates…
Washington Post executives met earlier this week with Israeli Ambassador to the U.S. Yechiel Leiter to voice concern over the recent extremist settler attack on Post photojournalist Heidi Levine in the West Bank…
Speaking at The Information’s WTF Summit yesterday, CBS News’ Bari Weiss said that those who have criticized the network since she was named its editor-in-chief last year should “judge us by the journalism” the network produces…
Despite the postponement of Saudi Arabia’s flagship Future Investment Initiative summit, executives including Apollo Global Management CEO Marc Rowan, BlackRock CEO Larry Fink, Blackstone Group CEO Stephen Schwarzman and KKR co-CEO Scott Nuttall still visited the region this week, making stops in the UAE and Kuwait.
During his visit, Rowan announced in an interview with “The Inside Brief” podcast that Apollo acquired a 10% stake in Abu Dhabi-based asset management firm Mubadala Capital this week for over $1 billion, adding that he believed the Middle East is a safer region for investment now than a year ago…
The Brooklyn woman accused of attacking two Jewish men in separate incidents in New York’s Diamond District last week was charged with federal hate crimes; Anna Mochalova reportedly approached a third man and asked if he was Jewish, but walked away when he said he was Muslim…
Life magazine, backed by Karlie Kloss’ Bedford Media, will relaunch next month as a quarterly print publication, 26 years after it ceased publication as a monthly magazine…
People magazine named “The Pitt” actor Noah Wyle its 2026 “Sexiest Man Alive”…
The Hollywood Reporter looks at the efforts of the U.K.-based Newscord digital activist platform to push a boycott of actor Sacha Baron Cohen’s new sequel “Ali G: Who Iz I?”…
A Milan judge ordered the release of an anti-Israel activist accused of helping orchestrate violent protests that left more than 100 officers injured — infuriating Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, who called the decision “shameful” and “an unbearable humiliation of the work of the police”…
Actor Barbara Barrie, who was nominated for an Oscar for her performance in 1979’s “Breaking Away,” died at 95…
Judge Alvin Hellerstein, who recently oversaw the government’s case against former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, died at 92; in his New York Times obituary, it was noted that he “was known to hold sentencings on Fridays so he could reflect on his decisions over the Sabbath”…
Worthy Reads
Find more Worthy Reads in our Live Briefing via our app (on Apple and Android) and website.
Strait Jacket: In Foreign Affairs, The Washington Institute for Near East Policy’s Dana Stroul considers how the U.S. and its allies can protect the Strait of Hormuz from becoming a regular flashpoint in efforts by Iran and its Houthi proxies to disrupt global shipping and commerce. “What is needed instead is a single, sustained multinational effort to secure both waterways that combines American military capabilities with the imprimatur of a unified coalition of Asian, European, and Middle Eastern countries. Otherwise, Iran and the Houthis will again learn that threatening global commerce in maritime chokepoints is a strategy worth repeating.” [ForeignAffairs]
The Comeback Kid, Again?: In The Free Press, Haviv Rettig Gur lays out the possible outcomes of this week’s Israeli election in which no bloc won an outright majority. “Netanyahu did not win on Tuesday. In pure mathematical terms, he crashed. But he may have done just well enough to deny his opponent, Eisenkot, a win of his own and buy himself the time he desperately needs to achieve the task he has consistently declared his primary legacy: The final felling of Israel’s greatest and most dangerous foe, the regime in Tehran.” [FreePress]
Having Woodward’s Ear: In The Wall Street Journal, presidential historian Tevi Troy reflects on learning from journalist Bob Woodward’s new book the degree to which many of Woodward’s sources during his career were liberal Republicans. “Seeing a number of Mr. Woodward’s sources revealed at once shows that they tended to be on the ‘squish,’ or liberal, side in the liberal-versus-conservative divide in the GOP administrations of that era. … For decades, conservatives in and out of administrations have bristled at the superior coverage that the squishes got in places like the Post. While they suspected that leaking played a role, the scale that Mr. Woodward has now described is shocking.” [WSJ]
Picture of the Day
Israeli singers Noa Kirel and Static joined forces, releasing their new song, “Obsessive Exes.”
Birthdays
Ralph Bakshi, Haifa-born director and screenwriter of animated and live-action films including “The Lord of the Rings,” turns 88
Charlotte Knobloch, former president of the Central Council of Jews in Germany, turns 94
Jeffrey E. Garten, dean emeritus of the Yale School of Management, he has served in the Nixon, Ford, Carter and Clinton administrations, turns 80
Richard Dreyfuss, Academy Award-winning actor, who played Yoni Netanyahu in the 1976 film “Victory at Entebbe,” turns 79
Dimitri Simes, retired CEO of the Center for the National Interest and publisher of its namesake foreign policy magazine, The National Interest, turns 79
Rabbi Mordechai E. Liebling, former director of the social justice organizing program at the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College, turns 78
David Remnick, Pulitzer Prize-winning author and editor of The New Yorker since 1998, turns 68
Rabbi Dana Evan Kaplan, rabbi of Temple Beth Shalom in Sun City, Ariz., turns 66
Evan Sayet, author, satirist and public speaker, turns 66
Susan Merdinger, classical pianist, turns 64
Drew Rosenhaus, sports agent who has negotiated billions of dollars of player contracts, turns 60
Grayson McCouch, actor who starred in the daytime soap opera “As the World Turns,” turns 58
Andrea Dorfman, screenwriter and film director based in Halifax, Nova Scotia, turns 58
Daniel Bernstein, mathematician, cryptologist and computer scientist, turns 55
Michael Schur, Emmy Award-winning television producer, writer and actor, best known for NBC’s “The Office” and “Parks and Recreation,” turns 51
Moses Hacmon, Israeli collaborative artist, designer and photographer, turns 49
Rachel Barinbaum, VP for strategic communications and business development at Anchorage-based Northern Compass Group
David Cohen, jockey inducted into the Southern California Jewish Sports Hall of Fame, turns 42
Leigh Shirvan Helfenbein, marketing director for Fox Lifestyle Hospitality Group
Samantha Zeldin, director of product management at Audible, an Amazon company
Seth Schuster, former national spokesperson for the Harris-Walz campaign, now an AVP for public affairs at the NYC Economic Development Corporation
Leora Eisenberg, Ph.D. candidate in Russian and East European history at Harvard
David Siegel, booking producer at NBC Universal
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