The rise of radicalism in Democratic primaries
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In today’s Daily Kickoff, we look at the rise of far-left Democratic candidates around the country, and report on former Rep. Cori Bush’s plans to challenge Rep. Wesley Bell for her old House seat in Missouri. We scoop the departure of General Motors’ head of philanthropy following the discovery of her anti-Israel social media activity, and report on the Anti-Defamation League’s deletion of its Glossary of Extremism following pressure over its entry on Turning Point USA. Also in today’s Daily Kickoff: Rep. Greg Landsman, Brad Parscale and David Zini.
Ed. note: In observance of Yom Kippur, the next Daily Kickoff will arrive on Monday, Oct. 6.Today’s Daily Kickoff was curated by Jewish Insider Executive Editor Melissa Weiss, with an assist from Danielle Cohen-Kanik. Have a tip? Email us here.
What We’re Watching
- Hamas’ response to President Donald Trump’s 20-point peace proposal could come as soon as today, following Trump’s comments on Tuesday in which he said he was giving the terror group “three or four days” to respond to the proposal, threatening a “sad end” if it rejected the plan.
- We’re also keeping an eye on the Global Sumud Flotilla to Gaza as it nears Israeli maritime space. Last night, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, citing the delicate diplomatic situation following Trump’s proposal to end the war, called on the flotilla’s organizers to “stop now and accept one of the various proposals put forward for the safe delivery of the aid.”
- As the second anniversary of the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas terror attacks nears, Jewish organizations around the world will begin hosting memorials and ceremonies to mark the day. Read more in eJewishPhilanthropy about efforts to commemorate the anniversary of the attacks.
- In New York on Sunday, the Museum of Jewish Heritage – A Living Memorial to the Holocaust is opening “Lessons from The Tree of Life: Lighting the Path Forward,” a traveling exhibition from Pittsburgh’s Tree of Life ahead of the seventh anniversary of the deadly synagogue attack.
- Also Sunday, Democratic Jewish Outreach Pennsylvania is holding its annual Defender of Democracy Event. This year’s event, which will include an appearance by Gov. Josh Shapiro, will honor Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker.
What You Should Know
A QUICK WORD WITH JI’s Josh kraushaar
Zohran Mamdani isn’t the only far-left, anti-Israel candidate running for mayor in a city with a notable Jewish constituency in November. As we’ve noted in these pages, socialist Katie Wilson is vying to unseat Mayor Bruce Harrell in the Seattle mayoral race. (More below on that race.) And far-left challenger Omar Fateh is running competitively against Mayor Jacob Frey in a closely watched Minneapolis mayoral contest.
But one lower-profile race featuring a Democratic Socialists of America activist with involvement in anti-Israel groups has flown under the radar. In the progressive city of Somerville, Mass. — just outside Boston and bordering Cambridge — City Councilor Willie Burnley Jr. advanced to a runoff against another city council member, Jake Wilson.
In the city’s first round of balloting, which ousted the city’s sitting mayor, Katjana Ballantyne, Wilson finished first with 42% of the citywide vote, but Burnley wasn’t far behind with 34%. Ballantyne, facing a backlash to the city’s rising housing costs, lagged in third place with just 23% of the vote.
If Burnley prevails, he would be the city’s first Black, openly queer and polyamorous mayor, according to Axios.
But Burnley’s unconventional self-identification pales in comparison to his radical record. He’s been endorsed by the Democratic Socialists of America, and has been active in the organization for at least the last several years. He has participated in anti-Israel protests, including one where he is standing in front of a protester holding a sign with a Nazi swastika flag next to an Israeli flag. At a Tufts University anti-Israel protest last year, he posed in front of posters reading “Glory to the martyrs.”
He has touted his endorsement from the anti-Israel group “Somerville for Palestine” and walked out on a Jewish constituent objecting to the city council’s consideration of a measure that would require Somerville to divest city funds business from companies that do business with Israel. In 2018, he was pictured being involved with the anti-Israel group IfNotNow.
SEATTLE SPOTLIGHT
Seattle Jewish leaders express concern with mayoral front-runner Katie Wilson’s Mamdani-esque views
As progressives have gained traction in local races across the country, Katie Wilson, a self-described socialist now mounting a formidable bid for mayor of Seattle, has increasingly drawn comparisons to Zohran Mamdani, the far-left Democratic nominee for mayor of New York City whose primary upset in June stunned the national political establishment, Jewish Insider’s Matthew Kassel reports.
Track record: While Wilson’s record of commentary on Israel and the war in Gaza is far more limited than Mamdani’s, who has long been an outspoken critic of the Jewish state, many Jewish leaders in Seattle are expressing concern over her statements about the conflict amid what they describe as a lack of outreach from her campaign with just five weeks until the election. In a handful of recent remarks, Wilson has accused Israel of genocide in Gaza — a characterization that Jewish leaders and community activists have found troubling as voter sympathy for the Jewish state, especially in the progressive Seattle area, has sharply declined. Meanwhile, Wilson has suggested that she is “open to divestment” if Seattle “has investments that are indirectly supporting Israel’s actions,” according to an email response to a person who asked about her stances on Israel that was posted to social media in July.
St. Louis Showdown
Ousted anti-Israel lawmaker planning comeback campaign in Missouri
Former Rep. Cori Bush (D-MO), one of the most virulently anti-Israel members of Congress during her tenure in Washington, is expected to launch a rematch against Rep. Wesley Bell (D-MO), who defeated her in 2024, according to political observers in St. Louis, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports. Bell, who garnered substantial support from the Jewish community locally and pro-Israel groups nationally, has remained a strong supporter of Israel in office, even amid criticism from local progressive activists.
The Lou-down: Braxton Payne, a St. Louis-based political strategist, said that this cycle, when Bell is still a freshman, would be Bush’s best chance of ousting the incumbent and reclaiming her seat. “Her strongest place is inside the city [of St. Louis] and you’re seeing… a strong pendulum swinging in regards to the conflict in Gaza and Palestine, and I think that is going to be probably one of her main narratives that she’ll lead with,” Payne told JI. “Among some of the progressive votes, especially among her base in St. Louis City, I think she’s going to do fairly well with those people.” But one of Bush’s biggest vulnerabilities, he continued, is that she failed, once in office, to engage with or show up for major local groups and organized labor.
prairie state politics
Wave of anti-Israel candidates hits Chicago’s Democratic congressional primaries
With numerous incumbent House members retiring or seeking higher office, the 2026 election will bring four open seats to the deep-blue Chicago area — a level of turnover unprecedented in recent history — each of which is being hotly contested by a series of diverse candidates. And in each of the districts — the 2nd, 7th, 8th and 9th — at least one viable candidate is staking out positions strongly critical of Israel, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports.
Breaking it down: In the 2nd District, anti-Israel state Sen. Robert Peters, who converted to Judaism, has been critical of Israel’s operations in Gaza and joined at least one anti-Israel protest affiliated with the far-left Jewish Voice for Peace and IfNotNow. In the 7th District, Justice Democrats-affiliated Kina Collins, who has been opposed in past races by the AIPAC-affiliated United Democracy Project super PAC, is expected to make a third bid for the seat, after two primary challenges to retiring Rep. Danny Davis (D-IL). In the 8th District, Yasmin Bankole, a Hanover Park trustee, is vowing to co-sponsor the “Block the Bombs Act” and has accused the Trump administration of being complicit in potential ethnic cleansing, while Junaid Ahmed lists “Peace in Gaza and Palestinian self-determination” as a top campaign priority and describes the war in Gaza as a genocide. In the 9th District, prominent candidates Evanston Mayor Daniel Biss and influencer Kat Abughazaleh have both been vocally critical of Israel.
HITTING THE ROAD
GM philanthropy head with history of anti-Israel tweets exits role
Sirene Abou-Chakra, the head of General Motors’ global philanthropy division with a history of posting anti-Israel messages on her public X account, is no longer in her role, a GM spokesperson confirmed to Jewish Insider’s Emily Jacobs. The spokesperson did not say if Abou-Chakra, who previously served as the chief development officer for the city of Detroit and also spent a decade with Google as an account executive, was fired or had left on her own accord.
Toxic tweets: Abou-Chakra, a native of Dearborn, Mich., took over the auto company’s mammoth philanthropy arm in June amid questions about how her extensive anti-Israel social media history would impact GM’s relationship with the Detroit-area Jewish community and its extensive business relationships with the Jewish state. From late 2019 through the summer of 2024, Abou-Chakra posted a series of tweets that were critical of the Jewish state and Republicans, accusing Israel of being “built on lies,” alleging the country “is not a democracy” and claiming the pro-Hamas protests in Washington during Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s speech to a joint session of Congress last July were “planted” by pro-Israel actors.
scoop
ADL deletes Glossary of Extremism under pressure from conservatives
Under pressure from Elon Musk, Donald Trump Jr. and prominent right-wing activists in the wake of the assassination of Charlie Kirk, the Anti-Defamation League is removing from its website the Glossary of Extremism and Hate, one of the organization’s signature anti-hate resources, Jewish Insider’s Emily Jacobs and Gabby Deutch report.
Scrubbing the site: The database identifies over 1,000 terms relating to extremist ideologies and groups, and it has faced scrutiny in recent days after viral social media posts revealed that the Glossary of Extremism included an entry about the slain Turning Point USA founder and his organization. An ADL spokesperson confirmed to JI that the organization removed the glossary entirely and that it does not consider TPUSA an “extremist group.” The glossary no longer appears on the ADL website. The ADL’s webpage about Kirk, which remains active, still says that Kirk “created a vast platform that was used by numerous extremists and far-right conspiracy theorists. A number of such individuals speak and attend his annual AmericaFest and other events sponsored by TPUSA.”
Reality check: Earlier this week, Musk and several prominent right-wing influencers falsely accused the ADL of attacking Christianity by misrepresenting the organization’s classification of the antisemitic Christian Identity movement as an extremist group, JI’s Emily Jacobs reports. The controversy, fueled by a partial, out-of-context screenshot of the ADL’s website, gained traction on X and other social media platforms.
Exclusive
Hollywood’s anti-Israel boycott against the law, according to Jewish civil rights group
The current boycott by Hollywood actors, directors and other industry workers against Israeli counterparts “violates federal and state civil rights laws,” according to a letter distributed on Wednesday by the Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law to major U.S. film industry leaders, Jewish Insider’s Haley Cohen has learned.
Legal liability: The letter was sent to top studios, distributors, platforms, talent agencies and film festivals — including Walt Disney Studios, Warner Bros. Motion Picture Group, Universal Pictures, Sony Pictures, Lionsgate, Netflix, Amazon, MGM Studios and Apple Studios. It warns that participation in the “Hollywood Blacklist,” a boycott circulated last month by Film Workers for Palestine that calls for industry professionals to blacklist Israeli artists, companies and institutions, could result in legal consequences. Boycotting Israeli institutions would also jeopardize studios’ eligibility for film tax credit status, the letter said, noting that “a production that participates in the Hollywood Boycott may also violate its contractual obligations in connection with receiving state tax breaks.”
Worthy Reads
Rubik’s Cube of Diplomacy: The New York Times’ Tom Friedman posits that President Donald Trump’s proposal to end the war in Gaza could fundamentally reshape the region for the better. “In a lifetime of covering this conflict, I have never seen it broken into so many little pieces, each soaked in more distrust and hatred of the other than ever before. Aggregating these pieces together to implement this complex plan for a cease-fire, phased Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, hostage release, Palestinian prisoner release and then rebuilding of the Strip under international supervision will be a herculean task. It will require solving a diplomatic Rubik’s Cube every day — while all the enemies of the deal try to scramble it every day. … If, if, if this Trump peace plan can create a bridge back to a two-state solution, it will give enormous leeway for Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Syria and even Iraq to consider joining the Abraham Accords and normalize relations with Israel.” [NYTimes]
Qatar’s New Calculus: In The Wall Street Journal, Amit Segal considers why Qatar is now applying pressure on Hamas to accept the proposed deal to end the war. “The regime, which thwarted the last hostage deal, changed its mind because the war has reached its home. After the Israel Defense Forces operated in five Muslim capitals — Gaza, Beirut, Damascus, Sana’a, and Tehran — it hit Doha. The attempted killing of senior Hamas officials in broad daylight in Qatar signaled to the natural-gas emirate that it couldn’t continue the double game it has played in recent years. Despite the threats against Israel, the Qataris are now working to make Hamas accept the demands from Jerusalem. Qatar had until recently defended Hamas’s efforts to remain in power and its demands for a full Israeli withdrawal in exchange for releasing the hostages. Now, Doha is among those threatening Hamas with destruction if it won’t accept a deal. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s telephone apology for violating Qatar’s sovereignty is lip service to divert attention from the emirate’s turnaround.” [WSJ]
The New Neo-Nazis: In his Substack “The Reset,” Yashar Ali reflects on the surge in antisemitism he has observed online since the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas terror attacks. “Over the past two years I have tracked a stunning but not surprising shift: the ranks of Neo-Nazis and outright Jew haters were growing rapidly and becoming very diverse in a way that has not ever been seen in American history (including in the 1920s–30s). To be clear, I am not talking about the blanket antisemitism label that conflates various types of antisemitism and the mislabeling of criticism of the Israeli government and military as antisemitism. I am talking about unquestionable hatred of global Jewry and the embracing of some of the most dangerous and oldest conspiracies about Jews. The point is that I was seeing groups of people, by age, race, ethnicity, and socioeconomic status, who traditionally would never have been attracted to Neo-Nazi ideology, suddenly becoming radicalized, believing in it, and becoming dedicated to the cause.” [TheReset]
Word on the Street
The University of Maryland Student Government Association is set to consider a resolution at the start of Yom Kippur on Wednesday evening calling on the university and its charitable foundation to implement a boycott of companies and academic institutions with ties to “Israel’s regime of apartheid and occupation,” Jewish Insider’s Haley Cohen reports…
Rep. Greg Landsman (D-OH), speaking in a webinar with Democratic Majority for Israel on Tuesday, emphasized that colleagues who push to block aid to Israel or recognize a Palestinian state risk emboldening Hamas, Hezbollah and Iran when they are on their back foot, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports…
President Donald Trump told reporters that the administration is close to reaching a deal with Harvard after a monthslong deadlock and legal battle that will see the university pay around $500 million to open and operate trade schools; “They’re going to be teaching people how to do AI and lots of other things,” Trump said at an executive order signing…
The Equal Employment Opportunity Organization sued Apple on behalf of a Jewish employee in the company’s Reston, Va., location who said his manager made antisemitic remarks and refused his request not to be scheduled to work on Shabbat…
Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) and 18 other House progressives wrote to Secretary of State Marco Rubio accusing Israel of genocide and demanding that the U.S. protect the Global Sumud Flotilla attempting to breach the Israeli maritime blockade of Gaza…
A federal judge in Boston ruled that the Trump administration’s effort to deport international students who participated in anti-Israel campus activity was unconstitutional…
Following a court ruling, the Trump administration restored hundreds of grants from the National Institutes of Health that it had suspended from the University of California, Los Angeles over the summmer…
The Department of Justice opened an investigation into the University of Nevada, Las Vegas’ response to campus antisemitism…
Former Trump campaign manager Brad Parscale filed paperwork under the Foreign Agent Registration Act registering his work with Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs; Parscale’s work through his Clock Tower X LLC is expected to focus on digital outreach to younger Americans…
Singer Cat Stevens, who changed his name to Yusuf Islam in 1978, postponed an upcoming book tour in North America, citing visa issues; Stevens, who has expressed support for Hamas, has previously backed a fatwa issued by Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei against writer Salman Rushie…
A new survey from the Council for a Secure America found high levels of support for the U.S.-Israel relationship among Israeli respondents…
Israel’s Cabinet unanimously approved David Zini as the new head of the Shin Bet, effective Oct. 5…
The family of Rabbi Dr. Mordechai “Mark” Steintzag, who was killed in a terror attack in Jerusalem last month, is working to complete the writing of a Torah scroll he commissioned before his death, eJewishPhilanthropy’s Judah Ari Gross reports…
The Associated Press reports on the sexual exploitation of Palestinian women in Gaza by aid workers affiliated with the U.N. Relief and Works Agency and other international groups…
A new survey found that 15% of Italians consider physical attacks on Jews to be “entirely or fairly justifiable,” while 18% said that antisemitic graffiti was legitimate…
The Foundation for Defense of Democracies is launching its Program on Energy and National Security; the new program will be led by Rich Goldberg, a senior advisor at FDD and former senior counselor on the White House National Energy Dominance Council…
Pic of the Day
Families of hostages with German citizenship who are still being held in Gaza met on Tuesday with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz in Berlin. The families pressed Merz to leverage Germany’s relationship with Turkey to influence Hamas into accepting President Donald Trump’s proposal to end the war.
Birthdays
Reality television personality, model and actress, Cynthia Dawn “Cindy” Margolis turns 60…
U.S. District Court judge for the Eastern District of Wisconsin, Lynn Steven Adelman turns 86… MLB second baseman who appeared in 18 straight All-Star Games, he is immortalized as Jewish in Adam Sandler’s Chanukah Song, Rod Carew turns 80… Senior judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit, Andrew David Hurwitz turns 78… Professor at the Technion, he won the 2004 Nobel Prize in chemistry, Aaron Ciechanover turns 78… Tony Award-winning writer and lyricist for the musical theater, television and film, Lynn Ahrens turns 77… Former co-owner of the NBA’s Atlanta Hawks and co-founder of the publicly traded TechTarget, Bruce Levenson turns 76… Professor emeritus of Jewish History at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel Jacob Yuval turns 76… Copy editor at Politico since 2009, Andrew Goodwin… Film, stage and television actress and, since 2009, an ordained Jewish cantor, Lorna Patterson turns 69… Israel’s ambassador to the United States, a native of Scranton, Pa., Yechiel “Michael” Leiter turns 66… The first-ever Jewish chief justice of the Washington State Supreme Court, Steven C. González turns 62… Member of the Aspen City Council from 2011-2019, Adam Bennett Frisch turns 58… Retired in 2024 after 16 years as director of philanthropic partnerships at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Robert A. Rosen… Film director, screenwriter and producer, Stacie Passon turns 56… Partner at FGS Global, specializing in telecommunications, technology, consumer protection and privacy for companies in regulated industries, Robert Bennett Seidman… Former law clerk to Justice Antonin Scalia, now a nominee for a judgeship on the 7th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals, Rebecca L. Taibleson turns 42… Director of investor relations and strategic engagement at FDD, Samantha J. (Greenberg) Weinberg… Chief policy officer at the Israel Policy Forum, Michael Koplow… Former consultant at Deloitte focused on critical infrastructure risk, now an MBA candidate at Georgetown, Samuel Koralnik… Account manager at Fiserv, Yossi Raskas… Scott Rosenthal…
