Lankford says Middle East is eyeing Michigan
Plus, West Bloomfield packs the pews
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In today’s Daily Kickoff, we look at how small Israeli political parties hovering around the electoral threshold could become kingmakers in the upcoming election, report on last night’s event moderated by Dan Senor in West Bloomfield, Mich., on antisemitism and Jewish American life, and cover the Trump administration’s mixed signals over its potential response to European sanctions on West Bank products. Also in today’s Daily Kickoff: Quentin Tarantino, Sacha Baron Cohen and Ben Taub.
Today’s Daily Kickoff was curated by JI Executive Editor Melissa Weiss, with assists from Tamara Zieve and Danielle Cohen-Kanik.
Today’s Agenda
Former Rep. Max Rose (D-NY) is holding a fundraiser this afternoon in New York for Rep. Jared Moskowitz (D-FL) and Texas Democratic congressional candidate Bobby Pulido…
The USC Shoah Foundation is hosting the grand opening of its Washington office today, with dinner and a Q&A with Wolf Blitzer, moderated by the foundation’s CEO, Robert Williams.
Development Finance Corporation CEO Ben Black is slated to sit with the Heritage Foundation’s Kevin Roberts this morning for a conversation on economic statecraft and global competition.
Elsewhere in Washington, the Israeli Embassy is hosting a screening tonight of “NAZA: The Real Story,” aimed at countering the recently released film “NAZA,” which has stirred controversy in Israel and prompted some members of government to threaten to revoke the citizenships of the original film’s directors. Following the screening, filmmakers Roi Danino and Ariel Averbuch will sit for a Q&A.
One Thing To Know
analysis
With the electoral blocs led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former IDF Chief of Staff Gadi Eisenkot running neck-and-neck in the polls only two weeks before the Israeli election, a few very small parties hovering around the electoral threshold could end up tipping the scales in favor of the prime minister or his main rival. If one or more of those small parties pass the threshold and enter the Knesset, they could end up being kingmakers.
While 10 to 12 parties have generally been represented in the Knesset in recent years, there are 38 parties running in this month’s election. Only those that receive at least 3.25% of the vote will get into the Knesset, where seats will be divided proportionally between the parties that pass that threshold.
This year, two parties that have cleared the threshold in some polls are Amcha Yisrael, led by hawkish former Brig. Gen. Ofer Winter, and the Reservists and Economy party, a merger of small parties led by right-leaning former Communications Minister Yoaz Hendel, economist Yaron Zelekha and former Knesset member and author Einat Wilf.
The Big Reads
packed pews
More than 1,100 people gathered Monday night at Temple Israel in West Bloomfield, Mich., the site of a terror attack earlier this year, for an event organized by local Jewish groups featuring Reps. Hillary Scholten (D-MI) and Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ) alongside commentators Dan Senor and Bret Stephens, discussing the rise of antisemitism and anti-Israel sentiment in political life, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports.
Though the Michigan Senate race wasn’t directly addressed, the event came ahead of the election in less than a month, in which Israel and the Jewish community have been central topics of discussion. During the event, Scholten and Gottheimer discussed the rising antisemitic and anti-Israel trends in their party and why they’ve remained outspoken against them.
going global
Sen. James Lankford (R-OK) told reporters on Monday that Lebanese and Israeli leaders both expressed to him strong interest in the Michigan Senate race, where pro-Israel Republican Mike Rogers faces Democrat Abdul El-Sayed, while he was on a trip to the Middle East last week, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports.
Lebanese Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, Lankford said, made an offhand comment that there was an “extension of [his] party in Michigan that he just initiated.” Berri leads the Amal Movement, a Shia political faction allied with Hezbollah. Michigan hosts one of the largest Lebanese diaspora populations in the United States.
UNSETTLED POLICY
The assistant attorney general for civil rights, Harmeet Dhillon, warned last week that countries participating in boycotts of Israel could face U.S. retaliation, raising the prospect of sanctions against Britain and other European governments. But Washington still has yet to clarify its policy, and it remains unclear whether the Trump administration plans to move forward with retaliatory measures, Jewish Insider’s Matthew Shea and Emily Jacobs report.
The Rundown
PROBLEMATIC POSTS
diplomatic push
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.
President Donald Trump brushed off concerns that Russia and China are assisting Iran in its war against the U.S., writing in a Truth Social post, “If they are, it’s at a very low level, but I don’t believe they are at all”…
The Wall Street Journal reports that Iran is preparing for a potential escalation with the U.S. by fortifying its nuclear sites and preparing Iranians for renewed fighting, including offering training in how to operate shoulder-mounted antiaircraft missiles; Iranian officials have also reportedly hinted at potential land incursions into neighboring countries……
Speaking at the TRENDS conference in Abu Dhabi on Monday, former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo predicted that, given Iran’s destabilizing actions in the Middle East, “the large Islamic nations,” including Malaysia and Indonesia, will “come to see that something akin to the Abraham Accords makes sense for their countries as well.”
Speaking about the future of the region, Pompeo continued, “Saudi normalization with Israel is inevitable,” though a concrete time would be difficult to estimate…
Reuters reports that Saudi Arabia had ended the use of its early warning missile-alert system days prior to the deadly Houthi strikes targeting Riyadh’s airport…
Delta Air Lines delayed the launch of its nonstop flights between Atlanta and Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, initially slated to launch on Oct. 23, days after deadly Houthi strikes targeting King Khalid International Airport killed more than a dozen people; the route is now expected to launch in March 2027…
A federal court in California denied a motion by The Pokémon Company International to dismiss a discrimination lawsuit brought by an Israeli American professional Pokémon player who claimed he was banned from all Pokémon competitions over his efforts to lobby the gaming company to host official tournaments in Israel; the court found that the allegations represent a “plausible claim of discrimination and retaliation,” allowing the case to proceed…
U.K. Prime Minister Andy Burnham said that the suspected plot targeting the U.S.-used RAF Fairford air base was “highly likely to have been coordinated in Iran” and “almost certainly directed by” the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
Meanwhile, U.K. Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband said London was sanctioning two Iranian nationals “for their role in facilitating or engaging in hostile activity on behalf of the Iranian regime”…
Shabana Mahmood, the U.K.’s home secretary, announced an inquiry into the deaths of two Jewish men during a terror attack targeting a Manchester synagogue on Yom Kippur last year…
Oklahoma’s Statewide Charter School Board again rejected an application from the Ben Gamla Jewish Charter School, having received four votes in favor and three opposed; five of the nine members of the board must vote in favor of approval to advance the application…
Sacha Baron Cohen is set to star in Quentin Tarantino’s debut play, “The Popinjay Cavalier,” when the show opens in London’s West End in early 2027…
The New Yorker’s Ben Taub reflects on a 2013 reporting trip to Syria, while he was still in college, and the lessons learned about journalism and traumas experienced in war zones…
A teenager was killed and 24 others were injured when an unexploded Hezbollah cluster munition detonated during a school hike in northern Israel near the Lebanon border…
Officials in Jerusalem excavating a new neighborhood in the city unintentionally uncovered a section of a 2,000-year-old Hasmonean aqueduct that carried water from Solomon’s Pools to the Temple Mount…
An Ethiopian Airlines cargo plane bound for Israel was forced to return to Addis Ababa mid-flight after the flight’s manifest showed that one of the pilots was from Indonesia; the move comes following the implementation of a new Israeli Transportation Ministry rule, instituted following the attempted FlyDubai FZ1073 hijacking, barring pilots from operating flights to Israel if they are from countries without diplomatic relations with Israel…
Worthy Reads
Find more Worthy Reads in our Live Briefing via our app (on Apple and Android) and website.
Twitching Hour For Dems: The Atlantic’s Jonathan Chait does a deep dive into the ideology of antisemitic streamer Hasan Piker. “Alongside his pro-Marxist-Leninist principles, the second pillar of Piker’s worldview is anti-Zionism. This does not distinguish him from other progressives. What does distinguish him is his belief that American Jews who do not share his position deserve punishment. … There is little reason to trust his current self-presentation as a mere Twitch streamer who is too obscure to merit discussion. He sees himself as a representative voice of a movement that can take control of a major party, and then the country itself.” [TheAtlantic]
Crash Course: The New Yorker’s Sudarsan Raghavan looks at the impact of the popular air-disaster show “Air Crash Investigation,” which FlyDubai FZ1073 passenger Yaniv Hayoun said had helped him stabilize the plane during a hijacking attempt in late September. “Last month, during a production meeting for the Canadian documentary television series ‘Air Crash Investigation,’ cellphones started to buzz with text messages and e-mails. … ‘We were all just looking at each other, sort of thinking, “Can you believe what’s happening here?”’ Alex Bystram, the show’s executive producer, who was at the production meeting, told me. ‘The guy who helped save this plane says he learned to do it from watching our show.’” [NewYorker]
Frightened in Frisco: In The Free Press, Ashley Rindsberg reports on an exodus of Jewish families from San Francisco University High School, an elite private school where parents say antisemitism went unchecked after the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks on Israel. “The school also prides itself on a culture that it says prioritizes safe spaces, curiosity, and tolerance. ‘We remember that while we may have different backgrounds and experience things differently, we share a common goal of knowing and understanding more,’ says one of UHS’s seven ‘community agreements.’ Those stated commitments made it even more shocking that the school not only enabled but fostered an environment where hostility against Jewish students was accepted and even encouraged, parents and students said. The incidents they describe are not subtle.” [FreePress]
Picture of the Day
British Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband agreed to host a meeting of ministers from seven countries to coordinate efforts against antisemitism, following talks on Monday in London with Jewish leaders who criticized the British government’s policies and rhetoric toward Israel, Jewish Insider’s AJ Rodriguez reports. Representatives of the J7 Task Force Against Antisemitism — a body of major Jewish organizations representing diaspora communities in the U.S., U.K., Canada, France, Germany, Argentina and Australia — said they expressed to Miliband their “serious concern” about recent British government measures and rhetoric targeting Israel.
The delegation included William Daroff and Betsy Berns Korn, respectively CEO and chair of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, and Jonathan Greenblatt, CEO of the Anti-Defamation League.
Birthdays
Sacha Baron Cohen, award winning actor, comedian and screenwriter, turns 55
SIMON ACKERMAN/GETTY IMAGES
Richard D. Siegel, former deputy assistant secretary at the USDA, he retired in 2024 as an attorney working on organic food law, turns 87
Paul Simon, musician, singer, songwriter, best known for being half of the Simon & Garfunkel duo, turns 85
Esta Epstein, past chair of the Anti-Defamation League
Peter Osnos, founder of PublicAffairs Books, an imprint of Perseus Books at Hachette Book Group, turns 83
Mollie Katzen, author of 12 cookbooks, turns 76
Maria Cantwell, U.S. senator (D-WA), turns 68
Donniel Hartman, president of the Shalom Hartman Institute in Jerusalem, turns 68
Ari Fleischer, former White House press secretary under President George W. Bush, now a media consultant and Fox News contributor, turns 66
Jack Krumholtz, partner at FGS Global until 2024
Steven Gutkin, former AP bureau chief for Israel and the Palestinian territories, now a home builder in the Indian state of Goa
Douglas Emhoff, second gentleman of the United States throughout the Biden-Harris administration, turns 62
Dana Freedman Walden, president and chief creative officer of the Walt Disney Company, turns 62
Richard Lamke
Michael Ellis, former attorney general for England and Wales, he was a member of the U.K. Parliament for 14 years until 2024, turns 59
Amy J. Berg, Emmy Award-winning film director, producer and screenwriter, turns 56
Shiraz Tal, Israeli fashion model, turns 52
Leonard Lebrecht Friedman, offensive lineman in the NFL for eight seasons, now the COO of Raleigh-based VetOvation, turns 50
Sarah Livingston, director of member engagement at the Academic Engagement Network
Emily Gould, e-bookstore owner and author who rose to prominence when she was an editor at Gawker, turns 45
Oren Liebermann, Jerusalem bureau chief for CNN, turns 44
Josh Friedmann, land-use attorney at Seattle-based firm of Hillis Clark Martin & Peterson
Rebecca Shabad, political reporter for NBC News
J.D. Lifshitz, film producer, turns 34
Joel Schwitzer, regional director of AJC Dallas
Rabbi Randy Brown, chaplain at the U.S. Department of Defense
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