Plus, General Motors’ new anti-Israel hire
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Newly appointed UK Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood leaves Number 10 Downing Street as Keir Starmer holds a cabinet reshuffle after the resignation of Angela Rayner, on September 5, 2025 in London, England.
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In today’s Daily Kickoff, we look at how the U.K. Cabinet shake-up could impact London’s approach to Israel, and report on outgoing Northwestern President Michael Schill’s defense of a recent hire who met with Hamas head Yahya Sinwar. We cover Rep. Seth Magaziner’s co-sponsorship of the “Block the Bombs” legislation halting offensive military sales to Israel, and report on the anti-Israel online activism of General Motors’ newly appointed head of global philanthropy. Also in today’s Daily Kickoff: Mark Levine, Gal Muggia and Vania Heymann.
Today’s Daily Kickoff was curated by Jewish Insider Executive Editor Melissa Weiss and Israel Editor Tamara Zieve, with an assist from Marc Rod. Have a tip? Email us here.
What We’re Watching
- We’re monitoring the situation in Jerusalem, where six people are confirmed killed after a terror attack on a public bus near the Ramot junction entrance to the city. Ten others were wounded in the attack.
- President Donald Trump is delivering remarks this morning to the newly established White House Religious Liberty Commission at the Museum of the Bible in Washington.
- Elsewhere in Washington, the Israel Policy Forum is hosting an event this evening focused on Israel, Palestinian and U.S. perspectives on American foreign policy and the war in Gaza. RAND’s Shira Efron will speak in conversation with Samer Sinijlawi, the Jerusalem Development Fund’s founding chairman, and former U.S. Ambassador to Saudi Arabia Michael Ratney.
- Up the Northeast Corridor, American Friends of Nir Oz is holding a benefit at Baltimore’s Beth Tfiloh featuring writer Douglas Murray and former Israeli hostage Gadi Moses, who was freed earlier this year.
- In New York, the Rabbi Sacks Legacy is holding an event at Fifth Avenue Synagogue to mark the launch of the Magerman Edition of the Koren Shalem Humash. Rachel and Jon Goldberg-Polin, whose son, Hersh, was killed in Hamas captivity last year, will keynote the event. Read more about the new edition of the text here.
- Elsewhere in New York, the Jewish Theological Seminary’s inaugural storytelling festival continues today. Later today, the Sami Rohr Prize for Jewish Literature is hosting an event focused on bearing witness, featuring 2025 Sami Rohr Prize winner Sasha Vasilyuk, as well as Gal Beckerman and Benjamin Balint, who won in 2012 and 2020, respectively.
- French Prime Minister François Bayrou is calling a confidence vote in Paris’ National Assembly this afternoon that The New York Times described as a “suicidal move.” A no-confidence vote in the body — which is all but expected to pass given plans by France’s far-right National Rally party and a group of leftist parties to vote against Bayrou — would topple the government for a fifth time in 20 months.
- The U.N. Human Rights Council begins its 60th session today in Geneva. On the sidelines of the gathering, B’nai B’rith is holding “Seeking Truth, Justice and Reconciliation: Jewish Refugees in the Middle East.”
- The second annual two-day Hili Forum, cohosted by the Emirates Center for Strategic Studies and Research and the Anwar Gargash Diplomatic Academy, kicked off earlier today in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. Following up on comments made last week on Israeli proposals to annex parts of the West Bank, senior Emirati diplomat Lana Nusseibeh said earlier today at the conference that such a move “would betray the very spirit of the Abraham Accords.”
What You Should Know
A QUICK WORD WITH JI’S LAHAV HARKOV
As tensions rise around antisemitism in the U.K. and questions mount over Britain’s stance on Israel, Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s Cabinet reshuffle has put a spotlight on some familiar concerns. But despite fresh scrutiny — particularly over new Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood’s past involvement in anti-Israel activism — experts tell Jewish Insider that little is likely to shift when it comes to U.K. policy toward Israel.
A 2014 video of Mahmood resurfaced on X over the weekend, where it received millions of views. Mahmood made the selfie video during Operation Protective Edge, launched by Israel in Gaza after Hamas kidnapped three Israeli teenagers, at a protest outside a Sainsbury’s supermarket in Birmingham. Mahmood called on the store to boycott products from Israeli settlements, though the viral post, boosted by Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), falsely claimed she called to “globalize the Intifada.” Days after the supermarket protest, Mahmood spoke against Israel at a Palestine Solidarity Campaign rally in London, telling Britons to start “getting involved with the boycott campaign” and accusing Israel of killing children.
The resurfaced footage has reignited debate over Mahmood’s past, especially within the Jewish community. Jonathan Sacerdoti, a British Jewish journalist and columnist for The Spectator, told JI Mahmood “is not inspiring confidence in any Jews I know.” He added, “She appeals to the more antisemitic elements in the country. She is no friend of Israel and has never been shy about that … Her views are aligned with the Muslim electorate and community in the U.K. and beyond.”
But Alex Hearn, a director of Labour Against Antisemitism, said of Mahmood: “I don’t think I’ve ever heard so much misinformation about someone.” Hearn argued that not only was the video of Mahmood at the protest taken during her “pre-government, pre-political life,” but noted she has taken a more nuanced approach as a member of parliament and has “no red flags” in her record on Israel.
Meanwhile, a new YouGov poll commissioned by the Campaign Against Antisemitism was released yesterday, finding that the Jewish community is currently experiencing “the worst antisemitism in the U.K. in living memory”: One in five Britons holds antisemitic views and 45% believe Israel treats Palestinians like Nazis treated Jews.
Some 70,000 people took to the streets on Sunday to take part in London’s March Against Antisemitism, organized by the Campaign Against Antisemitism. Protesters marched from the BBC headquarters — selected due to perceived anti-Israel bias in its reporting — to Parliament Square.
Absent from the gathering was any senior representative from Labour, a party whose previous leader, Jeremy Corbyn, had a history of antisemitic remarks and supporting antisemites, Campaign Against Antisemitism said.
CAMPUS BEAT
Outgoing Northwestern president defends hiring professor who met with Sinwar in newly-revealed congressional testimony
Michael Schill, the Northwestern University president who announced his resignation last week amid widespread controversy over his tenure, appeared unfazed to hear that a Palestinian professor he hired as part of a deal with encampment protestors had once met with the late Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, an interview with the House Committee on Education and Workforce, released on Thursday, reveals. In the Aug. 5 interview, which was released as a response to Schill’s resignation announcement on Thursday, House investigators pressed Schill on the hiring of Mkhaimar Abusada as a visiting associate professor of political science, Jewish Insider’s Haley Cohen reports.
What he said: Abusada, who Schill described as “someone who is regularly quoted as an authority on Palestine governance and politics,” published a piece in Haaretz last year about his 2018 meeting with Sinwar. “Hypothetically, if somebody, you know, 4 years, 5 years before Oct. 7 has met with someone who — and, I mean, I’m not sure — my guess is — I’ve never been to Gaza, but it’s a pretty small place, and that you are going to meet people and talk to people,” said Schill, who claimed to not be aware of that meeting when he hired Abusada but noted in the interview that the professor’s position had been extended to August 2026. “I don’t know whether a seasoned professor who is doing the politics of Gaza could avoid getting to know some of these people, or whether that would be not doing his job right.”
Bonus: The New York Times reports that talks between the Trump administration and Northwestern, Harvard and Cornell have stalled in recent weeks.
ONLINE FOOTPRINT
Newly appointed GM head of global philanthropy has long record of anti-Israel hostility
Sirene Abou-Chakra, the newly appointed head of global philanthropy for General Motors, has a lengthy history of anti-Israel tweets on her public X account. A native of Dearborn, Mich., Abou-Chakra, who took over the auto company’s mammoth philanthropy arm in June, previously served as the chief development officer for the city of Detroit and also spent a decade with Google as an account executive, Jewish Insider’s Emily Jacobs reports.
X archive: But it’s her extensive anti-Israel social media history that raises questions about how her hiring will impact GM’s relationship with the Detroit-area Jewish community, in addition to its extensive business relationships with the Jewish state. “The country was built on lies and justifies its ongoing savagery on continued lies,” Abou-Chakra wrote of Israel in a since-deleted post on X in September 2022.
ARMS ARGUMENT
Rep. Seth Magaziner backs bill to restrict U.S. weapons sales to Israel
Rep. Seth Magaziner (D-RI) announced Friday that he is co-sponsoring a bill, pushed by far-left House members, to place strict restrictions on U.S. weapons sales to Israel, which critics have described as an effective arms embargo on the Jewish state, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports.
Why it matters: The move comes as a surprise from the relatively moderate Magaziner, who has maintained a largely pro-Israel record during his time in office and has not joined in prominent previous calls to suspend weapons shipments to Israel. “I have taken this action to do my part to pressure Prime Minister Netanyahu to implement a ceasefire in Gaza, allow significantly increased humanitarian aid into Gaza, and to stop the expansion of settlements in the West Bank,” Magaziner, a member of the House Jewish Caucus, said in a statement.
CANDIDATE CRITIQUE
Lawler challenger Peter Chatzky says Israel violating U.S. arms sales laws
Peter Chatzky, the deputy mayor of Briarcliff Manor, N.Y., and the latest of seven candidates to join the field of Democrats hoping to unseat Rep. Mike Lawler (R-NY) in New York’s Hudson Valley region, is standing out from the field with the comparatively critical stance he’s taking toward the U.S.-Israel relationship, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports.
Standing apart: Though Chatzky called Israel a “critical ally of the United States,” he told JI in a recent interview that he believes, from public information and reports he has seen, that Israel is violating conditions in U.S. arms sales law relating to humanitarian aid and international law — requiring the suspension of arms sales. The district, New York’s 17th, has one of the largest Jewish constituencies in the country. Lawler has made his support for Israel a centerpiece of his time in Congress, and most of the Democratic candidates in the race are showcasing their pro-Israel bona fides.
Worthy Reads
The JD Doctrine: In Israel Hayom, Israeli journalist Amit Segal compares Vice President JD Vance’s approach to Israel and the Middle East to that of former President Barack Obama, and considers what that portends for the future of the U.S.-Israel relationship. “And while Vance’s book [Hillbilly Elegy] barely touches on foreign policy, it still offers lessons about the new Republican Party. It supports Israel, but the warmth is largely platonic. The prevailing view is this: every spare dollar belongs at home, not in grand projects abroad. There is respect for strength and a deep distrust of radical Islam (don’t forget Vance’s suggestion that Britain is ‘the first truly Islamist country to get a nuclear weapon’), but no appetite for blank checks or an endless supply of weapons. Israel’s challenge with the new Republicans is not hostility, it’s indifference, and Jerusalem needs to prepare for that reality now, perhaps by phasing out American security aid, just as Netanyahu ended civilian aid three decades ago.” [IsraelHayom]
Yom Kippur This Year: In The Times of Israel, Yossi Klein Halevi suggests that Israel is at a “moral crossroads” in the weeks leading up to the Jewish High Holidays. “How then, in this poisoned atmosphere, are we to subject ourselves to moral self-critique? How dare we risk inadvertently reinforcing the campaign of hatred and lies? Because we have no choice. Because preserving our moral credibility is essential for our strength. Because we cannot let the haters determine the inner life of the Jewish people. Because engaging in moral introspection reminds us that Zionism has won and that, even though we are vulnerable, we are no longer victims. Because we owe an accounting of our actions to our friends who have stood with us. Most of all, because Judaism demands it. This season of self-reckoning that begins with the Hebrew month of Elul and culminates on Yom Kippur is intended not only for individual Jews but also – in fact primarily – for the Jewish collective. Undergoing this process as a people doesn’t weaken us. It provides spiritual protection.” [TOI]
The Final Mitzvah: In The Forward, Austin Albanese reflects on his chevra kadisha volunteer work, in which he prepares bodies for Jewish burials. “Despite the sacred nature of this work, one thing has always stood out to me: the scarcity of younger volunteers. I’m in my late 20s, and in nearly nine years of participating in taharah, I’ve only once worked with someone close to my age. That person was also a convert. The work of the burial society is too meaningful, too vital, to be left only to older generations. For those who might hesitate to participate, I can only say this: Try it. You don’t need to be particularly religious. You don’t need to have all the answers about faith or tradition — this work welcomes anyone willing to honor and respect those who came before us. For me, the work of the chevra kadisha has been a profound reminder of some of Judaism’s central values: humility, equality before God, and the sanctity of memory.” [TheForward]
Word on the Street
President Donald Trump, while attending the U.S. Open finals in New York on Sunday, where he was photographed sitting with Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, posted on his Truth Social site that it was “time for Hamas to accept” the terms of a ceasefire proposal he said Israel had already accepted; Witkoff had last week sent a ceasefire and hostage-release proposal to Hamas through peace activist Gershon Baskin…
Trump signed an executive order cracking down on countries that unlawfully detain U.S. nationals…
Maryland Gov. Wes Moore told NBC’s “Meet the Press” that he “is not running for president” in 2028…
New York City Democratic mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani said he backs City Comptroller Brad Lander’s decision to divest the city from Israel Bonds; Mark Levine, the Democratic candidate to succeed Lander, has said he will restore the city’s investments in Israel Bonds if elected…
Jack Schlossberg, who has been floated as a potential candidate in New York’s 12th Congressional District following Rep. Jerry Nadler’s announcement that he won’t seek reelection in 2026, said he is forming an exploratory committee…
As part of its agreement with the Trump administration, Columbia University will establish a $21 million claims fund for Jewish employees who experienced antisemitism at the school…
The Wall Street Journal looks at how the Trump administration’s crackdown on college campuses is affecting radical student activism that could attract the attention of administration officials…
Singer Sabrina Carpenter’s “Manchild” music video, which was directed by Israelis Gal Muggia and Vania Heymann, won the MTV Video Music Award for Best Visual Effects…
Israel’s Supreme Court ordered that Palestinian prisoners receive increased and improved rations, saying that the current food offered falls below dietary standards…
A Gaza-bound flotilla carrying climate activist Greta Thunberg docked in Tunisia on Sunday; the boat will continue toward Gaza on Wednesday…
A Houthi drone struck the arrivals terminal of Ramon Airport outside Eilat, Israel, on Sunday, injuring two people; an investigation is underway into why the drone did not trigger an Israeli siren notifying of an impending attack…
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu confirmed that a Hamas terrorist who was recorded on Oct. 7, 2023, calling his parents and boasting about killing Jews was killed in an IDF operation in Gaza City…
Israel’s basketball team fell short, 84-79, in its Round of 16 match against Greece in the FIBA EuroBasket tournament…
Iran paved over a burial ground containing the remains of people executed during the country’s Islamic Revolution in 1979…
Barbara Jakobson, art aficionado and longtime trustee of the Museum of Modern Art, died at 92…
Sports photographer Art Seitz, who rose to prominence for his images of tennis players and matches, died at 82…
Pic of the Day
President Donald Trump and Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff huddled at the U.S. Open men’s singles final in New York on Sunday between Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner.
Birthdays
Drummer for the funk metal band Infectious Grooves, he is the son of Bruce Springsteen drummer Max Weinberg, Jay Weinberg turns 35…
Chair emeritus of Bath & Body Works, Leslie H. “Les” Wexner turns 88… U.S. senator from Vermont, he was a 2016 and 2020 presidential candidate, Bernie Sanders turns 84… Labour party member of the U.K. House of Commons, Dame Margaret Eve Hodge (née Oppenheimer) turns 81… Pharma executive, Samuel D. Waksal turns 78… Chairman of Douglas Elliman and its parent company, NYSE listed Vector Group, he is also chairman of Nathan’s Famous, Howard Mark Lorber turns 77… Owner of the NFL’s Philadelphia Eagles, Jeffrey Lurie turns 74… Former co-chair of the Jewish National Fund, he was previously a member of Knesset, Eli Aflalo turns 73… CEO of Weight Watchers until early 2022, Mindy Grossman turns 68… Owner of Sam’s Fine Wines & Spirits in Walpole, Mass., for 41 years until 2022, Jay W. Abarbanel… British physician and professor of neuroscience at Columbia University, Daniel Mark Wolpert turns 62… Professional wrestler, known by his ring name, Raven, Scott Levy turns 61… Founder and president of Cedille Records, a classical music label, he is the son of the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, James Steven Ginsburg turns 60… Real estate developer in Russia owning 14 million square feet of retail as well as many luxury hotels and shopping centers, Zarakh Iliev turns 59… Australian businessman, James Douglas Packer turns 58… Senior rabbi of the Jewish Center of Princeton, Rabbi Andrea Merow… Aspen, Colo., resident, Adam Goldsmith… Actress, model and television personality, she is the host of “Penn & Teller: Fool Us,” Brooke Burke turns 54… Founder and executive education consultant at Atlanta-based JewishGPS, Robyn Faintich… Classical music composer and professor of music at Towson University, titles to his works include “Zohar,” “Nekudim” and “Heichalos,” Jonathan Leshnoff turns 52… CEO and co-founder of BerlinRosen, now known as Orchestra, Jonathan Rosen… One of the world’s best-selling music artists, known professionally as Pink, Alecia Beth Moore turns 46… Head coach for the University of Hawaii men’s basketball team, Eran Ganot… and his twin brother, the creative director of an eponymous clothing line, Asaf Ganot, both turn 44… Founder and CEO at SPARK Neuro, Spencer Gerrol… Director of corporate communications at Related Companies, Andrei Berman… Senior national correspondent for Jewish Insider, Gabby Deutch… and her twin sister, an MBA candidate at Tulane, Serena Deutch… Director of education at Itrek, Gilad Peled… Philip Ehrensaft…
In the latest issue of the New Yorker Magazine, Nick Paumgarten questions why are so many people paying so much money for art? In the article, Kenny Schachter, a Jewish London-based private art dealer/curator from London who is a son-in-law of the late commodities trader Marc Rich, is quoted several times with his opinion on the art world.
“There’s a chemical reaction when you buy something—it’s intoxicating,” Kenny Schachter, a private dealer and curator who lives in London, told me. “I bought a painting at 1 A.M. the other night on the elevator in my hotel.”
Art, like love, can’t always be had just for money. This was a question of status, or the perception of it. The affront, and the yearning, can get the blood boiling. As Kenny Schachter, the London dealer, told me, “When people want an artist, they’ll kill for it.” Or they’ll sue.
Tilton had been one of Zwirner’s first buyers when he opened on Greene Street. After the lawsuit, they continued to do business together, even with work by Dumas. “The art world is too small to exclude enemies,” Schachter said. “You get stabbed in the front, not the back, and then you go to dinner.”