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Daily Kickoff: Day 7 in search for kidnapped boys | ‘Heeb’ & ‘Redskin’ | Iran digs in | Study: Listing Religion On Resume Hurts – Unless You’re Jewish

By Jacob Kornbluh & JI Staff

SCENE LAST NIGHT: The Endowment for Middle East Truth held its 8th annual dinner last night at the Grand Hyatt in downtown D.C. The evening’s featured speakers were Dr. Charles Krauthammer, Israeli Ambassador Ron Dermer and former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee. Krauthammer noted that while there are multiple narratives in the Middle East today, there is only one history and one set of facts…. Krauthammer compared middle east news analysis to watching the weather. “The evening news shows present the weather with a map of the entire United States and then five minutes later – when they move on to cover the middle east – Israel takes up the same screen space as the entire U.S… In reality, the Jordan River is like Rock Creek Park after a rainstorm… Mt Olives is a speed bump… And the Sea of Galilee is a pond that could easily disappear in Cape Cod. Your job is to tell Americans the reality and the truth.” (more…)

Daily Kickoff: Day 6 in search for kidnapped boys | How Yeshiva University Lost $1B | US, Iran close to a deal? | NY Mistrial – No Yiddish Translation

By Jacob Kornbluh & JI Staff

DEEP DIVE: “How To Lose $1 Billion: Yeshiva University Blows Its Future on Loser Hedge Funds” by Steven I. Weiss in TakePart: “What they couldn’t have known… a decade ago was that the real danger in Yeshiva’s new leadership was not to the school’s spiritual welfare but to its very existence. Over the years to come, the new leadership at Yeshiva would ramp up risk in the school’s investment portfolio, vastly increase spending, and do little to insure against a rainy day. When rainy days did arrive, with the global financial meltdown of 2008, Yeshiva was heavily exposed. Today, its finances are overwhelmed by a sea of red ink. According to a recent announcement by credit ratings agency Moody’s, the school will run out of cash next year. (more…)

Daily Kickoff – Dec. 10th

Driving the Day: Bipartisan Senate group nears deal on new Iran sanctions – “A bipartisan group of Senators is close to an agreement on tougher Iran sanctions in opposition to the White House, which is easing them as part of an interim accord Tehran struck with world powers aimed at curbing its nuclear ambitions, CNN has learned. A Senate deal would include a new round of sanctions to begin in six months and would not allow for the enrichment of uranium. But it would permit commercial nuclear power as long as it was monitored by the international community. The bipartisan group includes Democrats Chuck Schumer of New York; Robert Menendez of New Jersey; Republicans Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and Mark Kirk of Illinois.” [CNN] “Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif told Time magazine in Tehran during the weekend that new sanctions – even if delayed – would kill the agreement reached in Geneva. “The entire deal (would be) dead,” Zarif said, adding that Iran’s parliament could also adopt legislation that would go into effect if talks fail. “But if we start doing that, I don’t think that we will be getting anywhere.” [Reuters]

Secretary of State John Kerry to Visit Israel, Again! – According to the State Department, John Kerry will travel to Jerusalem, Ramallah, Ho Chi Minh City, Hanoi, Tacloban, and Manila from Dec. 11-18, 2013. In Jerusalem, Kerry will meet with Prime Minister Netanyahu to discuss a range of issues including Iran and the ongoing final status negotiations with the Palestinians. In Ramallah, Kerry will meet with President Abbas, where he will also discuss the ongoing final status negotiations, among other issues. [StateDept]

Last Night: John Kerry and David Brooks addressed the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee’s Centennial Celebration Dinner in DC — Kerry: “We will not allow Iran to develop a nuclear weapon. Not now. Not Ever.” “Spoke today with Netanyahu, after my 8th trip to Israel, back for dinner with Bibi on Thursday – this is a commute folks.” David Brooks: “When we do philanthropy, it’s not enough to give money. It’s important to communicate the soft and squishy things.” [JewishInsider] — (Also watch David Brook’s Keynote at Yeshiva University’s Hanukkah Convocation [YouTube]) (more…)

Video: White House Kitchen “Kashered”

The White House released a time-lapsed video of the process required to turn the White House kitchen into a kosher kitchen. According to the White House video description, “this entails wrapping existing kitchen surfaces and a complete separation of milk and meat, as well as the use of kosher ingredients and utensils that have only been used for kosher. This allows the kitchen to prepare and serve a completely kosher meal for this year’s Hanukkah celebration at the White House. Local Rabbi’s (Rabbi Levi Shemtov) were on hand to oversee the koshering. ” Last year, the New York Times in an article titled “Overnight Makeover for a Kosher First Kitchen,” described the process in great detail.

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