Hanukkah horror down under
Plus, Mast flags coordinated antisemitism campaign
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In today’s Daily Kickoff, we report on the aftermath of yesterday’s deadly attack on a Hanukkah celebration in Sydney, Australia, and look at U.S. lawmakers’ responses to the shooting, in which 15 people were killed. We cover the House Education Committee’s new investigation into antisemitism at the American Psychological Association, and spotlight the Jewish military chaplains serving at U.S. bases across Europe. Also in today’s Daily Kickoff: Rep. Brian Mast, Gov. JB Pritzker and Narges Mohammadi.
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
- As Australia’s Jewish community mourns those killed in yesterday’s terror attack at a Hanukkah celebration at Sydney’s Bondi Beach, we are continuing to monitor the situation. More below.
- U.S. Ambassador to Turkey Tom Barrack is in Israel today, where he is meeting with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
- Tonight, Vice President JD Vance is holding the vice president’s annual Hanukkah party at the Naval Observatory.
- Elsewhere in Washington, the Jewish Federations of North America is holding its Hanukkah celebration with Capitol Hill staff, while Young Jewish Conservatives is holding its “Liberty & Latkes” party, honoring the Heritage Foundation’s Daniel Flesch.
- In New York, outgoing Mayor Eric Adams is hosting a Hanukkah party.
What You Should Know
A QUICK WORD WITH JI’S MELISSA WEISS
For the Jews of Sydney, Australia, the horror that unfolded on the popular Bondi Beach during a Hanukkah celebration was a shock, but not a surprise.
Nor was it a surprise for much of the global Jewish community, which, while always on alert and monitoring threats, scales up its efforts around holidays — a task even more critical in the wake of antisemitic terror attacks earlier this year on Passover and Yom Kippur.
But the deadly attack in Sydney seemed — somehow — to have caught Australian officials by surprise, despite a warning from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu four months ago over the potential for attacks against the Australian Jewish community, as well as a spate of attacks targeting Jewish institutions, some of which were orchestrated by Iran.
An Israeli tourist who was at Bondi during the attack who spoke to JI on Sunday said that he sensed “that [Australian authorities] don’t know how to deal with mass casualty events. … I didn’t see anything on the news for almost an hour, and when I asked locals why they weren’t calling news hotlines or reporting on news apps, they said Australia doesn’t have that. In Israel, it would be in the news three minutes later.”
Indeed, within an hour of the onset of the attack, Israeli news networks were covering the carnage. International news outlets and networks, as well as Australian media, were slow to note that the attack had taken place at a Hanukkah celebration. Three hours after the attack, the Sydney Morning Herald’s top story was headlined “Ten Dead in Bondi Beach Shooting.” The subhead, too — “Multiple dead, two police officers among injured after shots fired at Bondi Beach” — gave no indication that the attack had taken place at a Hanukkah celebration, and that rabbis and Jewish community members had been shot.
It was a year ago this week that JI reported on concerns from Australian Jewish leaders over Canberra’s response to the antisemitism that dramatically increased following the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas terror attacks and ensuing war between Israel and Hamas.
A travel advisory issued by the Simon Wiesenthal Center more than a year ago specifically cited the Australian government’s response, saying that “in failing to act against the demonization of Jews, Israel and Zionism on the streets of Australian cities, the Australian government has allowed violence against Jews and Israelis to be normalized.”
“Moreover,” the advisory continued in an ominous and prescient warning, “authorities have failed to take necessary measures to protect Jewish communities from increasingly belligerent and violent targeting by Islamists and other extremists.”
TERROR DOWN UNDER
Fifteen dead in shooting at Sydney Hanukkah event
At least 15 people were killed on Sunday in an attack at a Hanukkah event in Sydney, Australia, in what authorities described as a targeted terror attack on the Jewish community. The event was hosted by Chabad of Bondi, a neighborhood with a major Jewish community in Sydney. Two gunmen opened fire with long rifles from outside the gated-off event, killing at least 15, and injuring 40. Among the victims were Rabbi Eli Schlanger, the Chabad emissary to Bondi, Holocaust survivor and immigrant from the Former Soviet Union Alex Kleytman, 87, and a 10-year-old girl identified by the Australian press only as Matilda. Eyewitnesses spoke with Jewish Insider’s Lahav Harkov.
At the scene: Lissy Abrahams was walking with her adult daughter to a bar mitzvah party being held nearby and parked by where the Chabad party was being held. As they were walking, she and her daughter heard gunshots. “We looked at each other and said ‘run,’” Abrahams recounted to JI. Abrahams and her daughter saw a storage area, where lifeguards keep their equipment, and ran down to the beach to take shelter with beachgoers, including parents holding babies. “People were standing in the doorway and didn’t know what to do, but as Jews, we understood what was going on.”
‘Horrified but not surprised’: U.S. officials and lawmakers across the political spectrum are condemning the terrorist attack, tying the murder of 15 attendees to the rise of antisemitism across the world, Jewish Insider’s Danielle Cohen-Kanik reports.
MAST’S MESSAGE
HFAC chair Brian Mast calls out global network seeking to fuel antisemitism on the left and right
Rep. Brian Mast (R-FL) said on Friday that there is a concerted network, on both the right and left, pushing antisemitic and anti-Israel ideology to the point that it has become “pervasive,” particularly among younger people, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports.
What he said: Speaking at a Hudson Institute conference on antisemitism, Mast, the chair of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said he does not have a “silver bullet” to address the problem because of how widespread it has become. He recounted a speech in a class at a military academy where he saw “probably a 50/50 divide about why we have this relationship [between the U.S. and Israel], what is the benefit of this relationship?” He said that he sees a “very specific network that is in place that works together to sow antisemitism that is now, in many cases, working on the left and right across the media, to go out there and put this wedge in this relationship.” Mast described the effort as “pervasive, systematic, planned out, orchestrated” and a “very, very serious global threat across multinational organizations, media across the globe and adversaries and terrorist organizations.”
PSYCH OUT
House Education Committee opens investigation into antisemitism at the American Psychological Association
The House Education and Workforce Committee announced on Friday that it’s opening an investigation into antisemitism in the American Psychological Association, a move that follows mounting reports of antisemitism and unaddressed discrimination inside the organization, which represents more than 170,000 individuals in the psychology field and is responsible for the accreditation of psychology professionals, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports.
On notice: “The Committee is gravely concerned about antisemitism at the APA,” Committee Chairman Tim Walberg (R-MI) wrote in a letter to APA President Debra Kawahara on Friday informing the organization of the investigation. “Jewish APA members have reported being harassed and ostracized by their colleagues within the APA and at APA events because of their Jewish identity, their efforts to speak out against antisemitism, and their Zionist beliefs. Members have also stated that their complaints to the association have gone unanswered, raising significant concerns about the APA’s commitment to addressing harassment.”
ON DEFENSE
NSC’s Gorka pushes back on criticisms of Muslim Brotherhood executive order
Sebastian Gorka, the National Security Council’s senior director for counterterrorism, defended the Trump administration’s executive order mandating the assessment of certain branches of the Muslim Brotherhood for designation as foreign terrorist organizations, which some critics have argued does not go far enough, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports.
Pushback: “It’s a statement of designation to occur, not a de facto designation, because we follow the law in the Trump administration. We believe in the Constitution and the statutes agreed upon by Congress and signed by the president. We don’t just do stuff because we want to,” Gorka said. Gorka said that the three branches named in the executive order are “slam dunk cases,” and that the administration plans to go after additional branches. “For the record, this is not the end, it is just the beginning, and we are assiduously working on the next tranche of designations right now,” Gorka continued.
PRIMARY MATCHUP
Lander struggles to land hits on Goldman — beyond disagreeing on Israel
The primary matchup between outgoing New York City Comptroller Brad Lander and Rep. Dan Goldman (D-NY) was widely expected to be a bellwether race that would test the strength of pro-Israel sentiment within the Democratic Party. The race pits Lander, an outspoken critic of Israel and its war in Gaza, against Goldman, a more moderate incumbent viewed as a strong defender of the Jewish state. But nearly a week after announcing his challenge, Lander, the progressive New York City comptroller, is so far tiptoeing around such differences, even as they are arguably the driving contrast in the primary, Jewish Insider’s Matthew Kassel reports.
Trump talk: Instead, Lander has more actively emphasized a message that is casting Goldman as ineffective in countering President Donald Trump — declaring it is “time for fighters” and “not folders” in Congress. Such comments, however, have failed to note that Goldman, who was elected to Congress in 2022, is recognized as a leading Trump antagonist, having served as the top prosecutor in the president’s first impeachment case.
SPREADING LIGHT
Serving faith and nation: The rabbis bringing light to U.S. troops on Europe’s front lines
From Germany to Poland, Jewish military chaplains are counseling soldiers, leading religious services and connecting Jewish troops to their heritage — often alongside non-Jewish service members. Rabbis Aaron Gaber, Aaron Melman and Laurence Bazer spoke to Jewish Insider’s Gabby Deutch about their drive to be ohr l’goyim, a light unto the nations.
New Year’s in the old country: Last year, Gaber volunteered to spend the High Holidays in Poland and Lithuania. He drove between several different bases to make sure Jewish soldiers had access to religious services, food and learning opportunities tied to the holidays. “I take the idea of ohr l’goyim, or bringing light to the world, I was able to bring light to the world,” Gaber told JI. “If I met 10 Jewish soldiers through the entire two weeks, that was a lot. So it was individual work.”
Worthy Reads
Blood on the Beach: In The Wall Street Journal, law professor Peter Kurti, the director of the Culture, Prosperity and Civil Society program at the Australia’s Center for Independent Studies, looks at how Canberra’s response to antisemitism in recent years affected the Australian government’s ability to prevent terror attacks on the country’s Jewish community. “Australia faces a choice familiar to other liberal democracies: whether to confront antisemitism clearly and decisively or to continue managing it as an embarrassment to be explained away. Too often, political leaders have preferred ritual condemnation over moral clarity and bureaucratic language over responsibility. In the U.S., that choice has already forced a reckoning — from congressional hearings on campus antisemitism to the adoption of a national strategy to counter it. Australia’s hesitation stands in contrast, not because the threat is smaller, but because our political class has been slower to accept that antisemitism is a stress test for democratic institutions.” [WSJ]
From Rhetoric to Violence: The Atlantic’s David Frum considers how anti-Israel rhetoric can morph into antisemitic violence. “Yet there has remained, until now, terrible reluctance by Western governments to accept the appearance on their soil of deadly threats to their Jewish citizens from people motivated by anti-Israel ideology. Those movements have progressively tested what used to be red lines: blocking access to synagogues, for example, as happened in recent weeks in Los Angeles and New York City. … People who dress up like Hamas terrorists and brandish their insignia and chant their slogans are not merely opining. They are propagating, recruiting, and inciting the actions they believe in. Among Western liberals is a strong impulse to show respect to people from other cultures — or who hold other beliefs — by interpreting their words and actions in the most benign way. But sometimes the way to show the deepest respect is by taking people seriously, believing their words as they are spoken, heeding their own accounts of their intentions.” [TheAtlantic]
Flicker of Light: In The Free Press, Rachel Goldberg-Polin reflects on the recently released video of her son, Hersh, and five other Israeli hostages commemorating Hanukkah while captive in Gaza nine months before they were killed by Hamas terrorists. “Seeing these young, vibrant, and luminous Jews keeping alive their over-2,000-year-old tradition of lighting Hanukkah candles, even when in the bowels of hell on earth, you cannot help but feel something. I won’t suggest what you should feel. … In these dark times, it is a flicker of light. The flame is whispering something. If you are quiet and you lean forward, you will hear it. Did you grasp it? The Beautiful Six did. It is hope. Hope! It’s not a suggestion, or advice. It is a command. Hanukkah teaches us there is light. Even in the darkest of times and the most upside-down of places. The camera sweeps by Hersh and he says, ‘Wishing you a Hanukkah of peace.’ From hell, without a hand, he wished us peace.” [FreePress]
Word on the Street
Ben Black was ceremonially sworn in by President Donald Trump to be the CEO of the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation…
The Washington Post spotlights Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker — and his vast war chest, owing to a personal fortune nearing $4 billion — as the Democrat mulls a 2028 presidential bid…
Former Israeli hostage Eli Sharabi met former President Joe Biden on the sidelines of the Philadelphia Eagles’ Sunday game against the Las Vegas Raiders…
EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin had a basal cell carcinoma removed from his face…
Two U.S. servicemembers and an interpreter were killed in an attack in Palmyra, Syria, by a Syrian member of the country’s security forces who was set to be fired over his extremist views…
Harvard removed the head of its public health school, which had increasingly come under fire over what the school’s antisemitism task force described as programming and curricula that focused “heavily on Palestinians” and “also rarely presented Israeli points of view except those of the state’s harshest critics”…
Conservative lawyer José Antonio Kast won Chile’s presidential election in a landslide on Sunday over Communist leader Jeannette Jara…
Israel’s Cabinet approved the construction of 19 West Bank settlements, including two that had been evacuated during the 2005 disengagement…
Israel killed senior Hamas commander Raed Saad in a targeted drone strike on Saturday; Saad had been involved in preparations for the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas terror attacks…
U.S. forces last month raided a ship bound for Iran from China that was carrying military-related materials; the cargo was seized from the vessel and allowed to continue on…
Iran seized a tanker transiting through the Gulf of Oman that was carrying 6 million liters of what Iranian state media described as “smuggled diesel”…
The family of Narges Mohammadi said the Nobel peace laureate was arrested by Iranian authorities while giving a speech at a memorial service in the Iranian city of Mashhad…
Rob Reiner died at 78; the actor and director was killed at his Los Angeles home, along with his wife; LAPD is investigating the deaths as homicides…
Pic of the Day
Israeli President Isaac Herzog and First Lady Michal Herzog lit the first Hanukkah candle with the family of Staff Sgt. Ran Gvili, the last hostage still held in Gaza, at the President’s Residence in Jerusalem last night. Gvili was injured in battle and taken hostage during the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas terror attacks on Israel and later died in captivity.
Birthdays
Washington, D.C.-based chef and restaurateur, Spike Mendelsohn turns 45…
Former member of the New York State Assembly, attorney general of New York and member of the New York City Council, Oliver Koppell turns 85… Senior rabbi emeritus at Congregation Mt. Sinai in Brooklyn Heights and EVP of the New York Board of Rabbis, Rabbi Joseph Potasnik turns 79… Film, stage and television actress and voice artist, Melanie Chartoff turns 75… Owner of the largest construction company for gas pipelines in Russia, Arkady Rotenberg turns 74… University of Wyoming professor for over 20 years, now president of the Colorado Hebrew Chorale, Seth Ward turns 73… President and CEO at Jewish Family & Children’s Services of the Suncoast in Sarasota, Fla., Dr. Helene Lotman… Founder and former chairman of BizBash, David Adler turns 72… Sportscaster, he was the radio voice for the Alabama Crimson Tide football team for 36 years, Eli Gold turns 72… U.S. senator (D-VA), Mark Warner turns 71… Executive chairman of South Africa’s Resolve Communications, Tony Leon turns 69… Executive director at Silicon Couloir in Jackson Hole, Wyo., until 2024, Gary S. Trauner turns 67… Partner at Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz specializing in M&A, Adam O. Emmerich turns 65… Actress, singer and songwriter, she appeared in the title role of the 1984 film “Supergirl,” Helen Slater turns 62… Television and movie producer, screenwriter and executive, producer of the first eight seasons of the “Pokémon” TV series and writer of most of the “Pokémon” films, Norman J. Grossfeld turns 62… Rabbi serving communities in California’s Central Valley including as a prison chaplain, Paul Gordon… Chicago-born stand-up comedian and author, Joel Chasnoff turns 52… Director of community relations and Israel affairs at the Jewish Federation of Greater Charlotte, Tal Selinger Stein… Actor, writer and musician, he is known for his role as Seth Cohen on “The O.C.,” Adam Brody turns 46… Former mayor of Bal Harbour, Fla., he is an attorney and public speaker, Gabriel Groisman turns 45… Israeli singer-songwriter and actress, she played the role of Hila Bashan on Season 3 of “Fauda,” Marina Maximilian Blumin turns 38… Client solutions manager at Samsung Ads, Julie Winkelman Lazar… Musician and actress, her first major film, “Licorice Pizza,” was released in 2021, Alana Mychal Haim turns 34… Associate partner at Activate Consulting, Lily Silva… and her twin brother, a special policy advisor at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security until earlier this year, Nicholas Silva… Figure skater who represented the U.S. at the 2014 and 2022 Winter Olympics, Jason Brown turns 31…
