Plus, Hamas rejects Trump’s Gaza deal
BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP via Getty Images
US Senator Markwayne Mullin (R-OK) (L) and US Senator John Thune (R-SD) (R) listen as US President Donald Trump speaks during a dinner for Republican US Senators in the State Dining Room of the White House July 18, 2025, in Washington, DC.
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In today’s Daily Kickoff, we report on Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand’s comments that the Israel rhetoric employed by some Democratic officials has stoked antisemitism, and talk to former Obama speechwriter Sarah Hurwitz about her new book that focuses on Jewish identity. We have the scoop on a call from Sen. Bernie Moreno for Ohio universities to adopt the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s working definition of antisemitism, and report on a senior Hamas official’s rejection of the Trump administration’s ceasefire proposal. Also in today’s Daily Kickoff: Bruce Pearl, Ken Weinstein and Amb. Charles Kushner.
Today’s Daily Kickoff was curated by Jewish Insider Executive Editor Melissa Weiss and Israel Editor Tamara Zieve, with assists from Marc Rod and Danielle Cohen-Kanik. Have a tip? Email us here.
What We’re Watching
- Jeff Blau, Aby Rosen, Laurie Tisch and Gregg Hymowitz are convening a meeting of associates this morning to strategize over how to boost Andrew Cuomo in New York City’s mayoral election, as a new Siena/New York Times poll shows the former governor trailing Democratic nominee Zohran Mamdani by four points in a head-to-head matchup.
- In Virginia, voters in the 11th Congressional District head to the polls today to vote in the special election to succeed Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-VA), who died earlier this year. James Walkinshaw, who for years served as a top aide to Connolly, is the heavy favorite in today’s race.
- On Capitol Hill, the House Committee on Education & the Workforce’s HELP subcommittee is holding a hearing on “Unmasking Union Antisemitism.”
- Elsewhere in DC, the MEAD conference kicks off today, and the National Union for Democracy in Iran is holding its fourth annual Iran conference.
- The U.S. Embassy in Israel is hosting a belated Fourth of July celebration tonight in Jerusalem.
- The Hili Forum continues today in Abu Dhabi.
- And in Cairo, Rafael Grossi, the head of the U.N. nuclear watchdog, is slated to meet with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Aragchi for the first time since the 12-day war between Israel and Iran.
What You Should Know
A QUICK WORD WITH jI’S HALEY cohen and josh kraushaar
Over the weekend, The New York Times published a story contending that the momentum for settlements with elite universities was stalling amid divisions between those in the Trump administration looking to make a deal and those looking for more meaningful reforms in combating antisemitism.
The story glossed over the related development we’ve been hearing from officials involved in the negotiating process: that a zeal for dealmaking from some officials is overshadowing the main reason the Trump administration was playing hardball with these schools in the first place — the rampant antisemitism that has been festering on campus.
In fact, the word “antisemitism” was hardly mentioned in the lengthy Times story, a sign in itself of the administration’s flagging focus.
Indeed, many of the deals struck — along with the outlines of potential future deals — have focused on the dollar amounts in the settlement, without requiring many significant reforms that would deal with antisemitism at the elite schools.
WAR TALKS
Hamas official says disarmament not negotiable, rejects Trump’s Gaza ceasefire plan
A senior Hamas official publicly rejected any deal requiring the terrorist organization to lay down its arms, after Israel said it would support such a deal proposed by the Trump administration. In response to the Trump deal, Bassem Naim, a Turkey-based senior Hamas official, released a statement on his Telegram channel on Monday calling the proposal a “humiliating surrender document” and not a serious offer to end the war, Jewish Insider’s Lahav Harkov reports.
What he said: Naim told Middle East Monitor, a pro-Hamas, Qatar-funded site, that the terrorist group would agree to a long-term ceasefire and would release all of the hostages in exchange for Palestinian prisoners, but the Palestinians “right” to weapons and to fight Israel “cannot be relinquished.” He also said the terrorist group would only agree to a full IDF withdrawal from Gaza. The Trump administration’s deal, according to Israel’s Channel 12, would require Israel to stop its military operation in Gaza City and start a 60-day ceasefire. In the first 48 hours, Hamas would release all 48 remaining hostages, 20 of whom are believed to be alive, in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners. Then, the sides would negotiate the end to the war.
SPEAKING UP
Gillibrand says that some Democrats’ rhetoric is inadvertently stoking antisemitism
Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) said in comments to Jewish leaders in New York City on Monday that anti-Israel protesters and, in some cases, fellow Democratic lawmakers are fueling antisemitism through the rhetoric and slogans they use, though she said that in many cases it is unintentional, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports.
Notable quotable: “Some of the rhetoric that comes out of various protests globally, various protests on college campuses is so damaging. When they say words like ‘river to the sea,’ whey they say words like ‘globalize the intifada,’ it means end Israel. It means destroy Jews,” Gillibrand said in a video from a roundtable with Jewish leaders in Borough Park shared by The Forward. “No matter what words they intend to be saying, that is the meaning of these simple phrases.” She said some Democratic colleagues, “don’t know how to articulate political disagreement [with Israel], and sometimes it comes out as anti-Israel.”
ALABAMA RACE
Auburn University basketball coach Bruce Pearl leaning against Senate run
Auburn University men’s basketball coach Bruce Pearl is leaning against running to replace outgoing Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) and will make a final decision on entering the race by the end of the month, Jewish Insider’s Emily Jacobs has learned.
Status update: Pearl, 65, spent the summer meeting with GOP campaign operatives and Republican senators as he considered whether to enter the race following Tuberville’s announcement in late May that he would not seek a second term in the Senate to run for governor of Alabama. At the beginning of the summer, Pearl had just finished the academic year coaching Auburn’s basketball team, which he joined in 2014 and where he has led the SEC team to six NCAA tournament appearances, including this year’s Final Four. Two sources familiar with Pearl’s thinking told JI that he has not officially decided against running yet and has given himself until the end of September to make a final call, though he is unlikely to enter the contest.
BOOK SHELF
In new book, former Obama speechwriter calls on Jews to stand proud for their values
After debuting her first book Here All Along, about rekindling her Jewish faith, in 2019, former Obama speechwriter Sarah Hurwitz’s follow-up work comes out today. In As A Jew: Reclaiming Our Story From Those Who Blame, Shame, and Try to Erase Us, Hurwitz speaks to progressive Jews grappling with identity, Zionism and belonging. In an interview with Jewish Insider’s Gabby Deutch, she explained how the book — pitched before the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attacks — has taken on new urgency in the wake of rising antisemitism. “This book was very much my journey to stripping away all those layers of internalized antisemitism, anti-Judaism, all of that internalized shame from so many years of persecution, and just saying, ‘You know what, no, I’m a Jew,’” said Hurwitz.
Post- Oct. 7: Hurwitz said the events of the last two years have only furthered her argument that Jews throughout history have felt the need to separate from parts of their community to earn the approval of the rest of society. “Oct. 7 did not change the overall argument at all. It unfortunately, in many ways, gave this devastating, heartbreaking, new evidence from the argument,” Hurwitz said.
CHANGING TACK
Hudson Institute’s Ken Weinstein tapped as CBS News ombudsman
Ken Weinstein, the former president and CEO of the pro-Israel Hudson Institute think tank, has been named ombudsman of CBS News, where he will be tasked with reviewing complaints about editorial bias from consumers and employees, Paramount announced on Monday. The hire represents a shift for the news organization, which has faced accusations of anti-Israel bias in the wake of Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attacks, Jewish Insider’s Matthew Kassel reports.
Following through: The creation of the new role also follows through on a pledge that Skydance Media had made as it sought approval from the Federal Communications Commission for its merger in late July with Paramount, CBS’ parent company. Weinstein will report to Jeff Shell, the president of Paramount. “I’ve known him for many years and have great respect for his integrity, sound judgment and thoughtful approach to complex issues,” Shell said in a statement on Monday. “Ken brings not only a wealth of advisory experience in media and beyond but also a calm, measured perspective that makes him exceptionally well-suited to serve as our ombudsman.”
SCOOP
Bernie Moreno urges schools in Ohio to adopt IHRA definition of antisemitism
Sen. Bernie Moreno (R-OH) is asking the presidents of the largest colleges and universities in Ohio to adopt the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s working definition of antisemitism and ensure that their respective institutions have plans in place to combat campus antisemitism during the upcoming school year, Jewish Insider’s Emily Jacobs has learned.
What he wrote: Moreno sent letters on Tuesday to the presidents of The Ohio State University, Miami University, Kent State University, Cleveland State University, Youngstown State University, the University of Cincinnati, Central State University, the University of Toledo, Bowling Green State University, Akron University, Ohio University, Wright State University, Northeast Ohio Medical University and Shawnee State University. In the letters, the Ohio senator requested information on how each school was responding to “the unacceptable and disgusting rise in antisemitism” and the ways each plans to “protect students’ safety while on campus from antisemitism and/or other religiously motivated crimes.”
Worthy Reads
JD and Rand: Poles Apart: Politico’s Ian Ward spotlights the growing ideological divide in the Republican Party, underscored by recent clashes between Vice President JD Vance and Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky over U.S. strikes targeting international drug cartels. “The exchange gets to the heart of the question dividing the two factions of restrainers: Should U.S. military action be evaluated based on its respect for the separation of powers and civil liberties? (A bar that blowing up a boatful of alleged drug smugglers without congressional approval or any due process likely does not meet — even as the White House has defended the legality of the strike.) Or should it be judged based on its ability to advance U.S. interests — at least its interests as defined by Trump and his allies? That question may sound academic, but it matters for the long-term political efficacy of the restraint camp. For now, Vance’s populist faction seems to have the upper hand over the libertarians. But try as Vance might to define the ‘Trump Doctrine’ in terms that are favorable to the anti-interventionist camp, the core of Trump’s foreign policy remains whatever Trump says it is.” [Politico]
‘Golden Dome’ Domination: The New York Times’ Sheera Frenkel looks at efforts by tech companies to develop technology for potential use in President Donald Trump’s proposed “Golden Dome” defensive system. “Mr. Trump promised during his campaign last year to build a U.S. system similar to Israel’s Iron Dome, which protects the country against missile attacks. In January, Mr. Trump signed an executive order to create the defense shield. … Many have flocked to defense conferences and conducted exercises to display everything from sonars that monitor incoming threats to lasers that shoot missiles from space. Companies chosen for Golden Dome are likely to become the new cornerstones of U.S. defense, military officials involved in the project said. Larger tech firms including Palantir, which builds advanced data processing systems, and Anduril, which makes A.I.-backed weapons systems, have already been in discussions to get involved, two military officials briefed on the conversations said.” [NYTimes]
Word on the Street
Jared Kushner and U.S. Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff met yesterday in Miami with Israeli Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer to discuss ceasefire and hostage-relief efforts and day-after plans for Gaza…
Former Iran envoy Rob Malley, whose security clearance while serving in the Biden administration was suspended in the spring of 2023 amid an investigation into his handling of classified documents, said he would have resigned from the Biden administration but was not allowed to because of the status of his clearance…
Texas state Rep. James Talarico, a Democrat, who is mounting a Senate bid in the state, told Punchbowl News that part of the reason the Democratic Party is losing young voters is due to “our party’s failure to recognize the moral disaster in Gaza”…
Following a fight with New York City’s Board of Elections over his ability to appear on multiple ballot lines in November, Mayor Eric Adams, who is mounting an independent reelection bid, withdrew himself from the “EndAntiSemitism” ballot line…
A suspect in the vandalism of the Weitzman National Museum of American Jewish History in Philadelphia turned himself in to authorities, and is expected to face charges related to two separate incidents last month in which he spray-painted walls of the museum…
The Chicago Commission on Human Relations held a hearing on antisemitism on Monday that included the testimonies of a Chicago Public Schools student who faced antisemitism from both classmates and a teacher, as well as a Jewish man who was shot while walking to synagogue…
In a recently unearthed joint op-ed written in the Bangor Daily News while he was a high school student, Graham Platner, who is mounting a bid for Senate in Maine, suggested that “one man’s terrorist is another man’s freedom fighter,” while lamenting that in media coverage of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, “a sometimes-oppressive Israeli state can be, and often is, portrayed as a victim”…
The New York Times spotlights the efforts of the Jewish Theological Seminary in Budapest to recover tens of thousands of Jewish texts seized by the Nazis before and during World War II…
A letter authored by U.K. Deputy Prime Minister David Lammy, who until last week was serving as the country’s foreign secretary, stated that London’s position was that Israel had not committed genocide in Gaza; Lammy wrote the letter prior to his reassignment within Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s government…
French lawmakers overwhelmingly voted to oust Prime Minister François Bayrou after nine months in office, collapsing the country’s government…
U.S. Ambassador to France Charles Kushner posted a video of himself and his staff participating in what he called the “Ambassador Plank Challenge,” modeled after Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s “Physical Fitness Challenge”; Kushner won, holding the plank for nearly eight minutes…
Sharren Haskel, Israel’s deputy foreign minister, met in Abu Dhabi with Ali Al Nuaimi, the chairman of the United Arab Emirates’ Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee…
The Wall Street Journal interviews hostage families tied to the Tikva Forum, who support continued IDF action in Gaza and oppose the widespread Israeli public pressure on the government to cut a deal to secure the hostages’ release before Israel’s strategic aims in Gaza are accomplished…
Israel banned two far-left Spanish legislators from entering the country following Madrid’s announcement that it would formalize a de facto weapons ban to Israel and ban ships carrying fuel bound for Israel from docking in Spain…
Syria accused Israel of conducting airstrikes near the cities of Palmyra, Latakia and Homs…
Israel’s soccer team fell short in its World Cup qualifier match to Italy 5-4; the Israeli players wore black armbands in recognition of the Jerusalem terror attack earlier in the day in which six people were killed…
Tunisian authorities denied a claim from the Global Sumud Flotilla that one of its vessels attempting to reach Gaza had been struck by a drone; a spokesperson for Tunisia’s National Guard said the allegations “have no basis in truth”…
International Atomic Energy Agency head Rafael Grossi said that if Iran allows nuclear inspectors into the country, “the possibility of further military action will be diminished”…
More than 1,800 actors, entertainers, producers and other film industry workers signed a pledge not to screen films or work with Israeli film institutions “that are implicated in genocide and apartheid against the Palestinian people”; signatories include Emma Stone, Javier Bardem, Mark Ruffalo, Ayo Edebiri and Olivia Colman…
AIDS activist Michael Seltzer, who raised millions to fund treatment and prevention of the virus, died at 78…
Pic of the Day
U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee met in Jerusalem on Monday with the families of Sarah Milgrim and Yaron Lischinsky, who were killed in a May terror attack outside an American Jewish Committee event at the Capital Jewish Museum in Washington.
Birthdays
President of Israel from 2014 to 2021, Reuven “Ruvi” Rivlin turns 86…
Beverly Hills resident, Barbara Schechter… Senior fellow emeritus in the foreign policy program at The Brookings Institution, Kenneth G. Lieberthal turns 82… Former administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, Donald M. Berwick turns 79… President of the Middle East Forum and publisher of its Middle East Quarterly journal, Daniel Pipes turns 76… President emeritus of Yeshiva University, Richard M. Joel turns 75… A founder of the Shas party, he served in the Knesset for 16 years, Nissim Mordechai Ze’ev turns 74… Founding president of Shalem College in Jerusalem, he has been a visiting professor at University of Chicago, Cornell, Johns Hopkins and Georgetown, Martin Seth Kramer turns 71… Brooklyn educator, Steven Elworth… Retired editorial director of Schocken Books (the Judaica imprint of the Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, which is part of Penguin Random House), Altie Karper… Israeli businesswoman and philanthropist, Shari Arison turns 68… Israeli businessman and president of Limmud FSU, Aaron G. Frenkel… Suzanna Stone… D.C.-based communications strategist and tactician, Jeffrey Weintraub… Crisis management consultant, author and founder of D.C.-based PR firm Dezenhall Resources, Eric B. Dezenhall turns 63… Founder and managing member of Alternative Asset CFO Services, Lloyd Eric Appel… U.S. senator (D-DE), Chris Coons turns 62… Professional golfer formerly on both the PGA Tour and then on the Champions Tour, Jules Ira “Skip” Kendall turns 61… Actor, comedian, screenwriter, film producer and musician, famous for “The Chanukah Song,” Adam Sandler turns 59… Author and former senior national correspondent at HuffPost for 10 years, now a correspondent and podcast host for The Bulwark, Jonathan Cohn turns 56… Former member of the Knesset for the Yesh Atid party, Dov Lipman turns 54… Former partner and associate director at Boston Consulting Group, now an independent consultant, Sacha Frédéric Litman… Features writer and political columnist for New York magazine, David Freedlander… Israeli entrepreneur and the CEO and co-founder of Lightricks, Zeev Farbman turns 46… Global head of financial innovation and digital assets at Amazon Web Services, Michael B. Greenwald… Program specialist at USC’s school of architecture, Carla Hashley… Former head of Google Cuba, now an investor and strategist, Brett Perlmutter… Managing director at Alums for Campus Fairness, he is also the D.C. chair of B’nai B’rith Connect, Trey Meehan… Co-founder of International Hummus Day in 2012, now an angel investor, he served in the IDF’s signals intelligence group, Unit 8200, Ben Lang… Fourth overall pick by the New Jersey Devils in the 2021 NHL draft, he is the son of hockey star Ellen Weinberg-Hughes, Luke Hughes turns 22…