Qatar at a crossroads
Plus, NY Jewish leaders fearful of Mamdani mayoralty
Add JewishInsider on GoogleGood Thursday morning.
In today’s Daily Kickoff, we talk to Jewish leaders who are reacting with fear and resignation to the increasing likelihood that Zohran Mamdani will be the next mayor of New York City, and cover remarks made by Sen. Elissa Slotkin about rising left-wing antisemitism. We report on House Speaker Mike Johnson’s efforts to push back on GOP isolationists and cover Education Secretary Linda McMahon’s comments about the Trump administration’s settlements with universities over campus antisemitism. Also in today’s Daily Kickoff: Richard Goldberg, Mimi Kravetz and Ken Marcus.
Today’s Daily Kickoff was curated by Jewish Insider Israel Editor Tamara Zieve and U.S. Editor Danielle Cohen-Kanik. Have a tip? Email us here.
What We’re Watching
- The Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions is holding a hearing this morning on the state of K-12 education.
- The Atlantic Festival begins in New York City today, opening with a session including former Vice President Mike Pence and former National Security Advisor H.R. McMaster.
- The Washington Institute for Near East Policy is holding a policy forum today on “Recognizing ‘Palestine’: Rationale, Expectations, Implications” with speakers Rob Satloff, the Washington Institute’s executive director, and Tal Becker, former legal advisor to the Israeli Foreign Ministry.
- The American Jewish Historical Society is hosting an interview with media executive Barry Diller about his recent memoir, Who Knew.
- Tonight, the Israeli Embassy will host its Rosh Hashanah reception in Washington.
- United Hatzalah will hold its 2025 Los Angeles gala with honorary guest Gal Gadot. Israeli Eurovision performer Yuval Raphael will receive United Hatzalah’s Hero Award and American venture capitalist Shaun Maguire will receive its Am Israel award.
What You Should Know
A QUICK WORD WITH JI’S LAHAV HARKOV
In the aftermath of Israel’s strike aimed at Hamas leaders in Qatar, questions have emerged about how much the U.S. knew, the extent of President Donald Trump’s frustration with Israel’s actions and what it means for the U.S.-Israel relationship.
But another important question is whether the strike marks a turning point for Qatar — and whether the Gulf nation may now be considering a shift in its own role and behavior.
The fact that the Trump administration has not dwelled on the attack — even sending Secretary of State Marco Rubio to Israel for a warm visit days after the strike — may give Doha pause. While Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said the strike “did not advance Israel or America’s goals,” in the next breath, she said that “eliminating Hamas, who have profited off the misery of those living in Gaza, is a worthy goal.” That goes against the Qataris’ preferred narrative, that the U.S. wants it to host terrorists because they’re the only conduit to Hamas, the Taliban and others.
With that in mind, Qatar could reconsider the business of harboring terrorists, because it has become risky and could impact its relations with Western companies and institutions. Though the UAE was not in the terror-supporting business and has long opposed the Muslim Brotherhood, it didn’t prevent people like Hamas terrorist Mahmoud al-Mabhouh from visiting the UAE until the Mossad killed him in Dubai in 2010. The Emiratis publicly railed against Israel and the then-quiet relations between the countries were set back, but the UAE cracked down and banned such individuals associated with terror groups from entering their country.
However, Qatar does not seem to be taking recent events as a signal to change. Doha roundly condemned Israel, threatened to stop mediating hostage talks and convened an Arab summit to condemn Israel further. Senior Hamas official Ghazi Hamad appeared on Al Jazeera yesterday, with the chyron stating that he was in Doha, and the wife of senior Hamas official Khalil al-Haya was spotted visiting the grave of her son, killed in the strike, with Qatari security. On Tuesday, the Qatari Defense Minister hosted his Taliban counterpart.
And while Qatar could respond to the strike by turning away from America, it does not seem to have done that, either. Doha publicly denied reports that they were reconsidering its relationship with Washington. After its initial statement, Qatar said it would continue mediating Gaza hostage and ceasefire talks, and shifted to blaming Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, rather than Israel, broadly. Doha softened its language in Arabic to describe the hostages, moving from “prisoners” to “captives,” according to Ariel Admoni, a Qatar expert at the Jerusalem Institute for Strategy and Security (JISS).
BITING THE BULLET
New York Jewish leaders reckon with a potential Mamdani win
As Jewish leaders reckon with the increasing likelihood that Zohran Mamdani will be the next mayor of New York City, many who have voiced anxiety over his avowedly anti-Israel policies are reacting with a mix of fear and resignation. Their concerns have been mounting as Mamdani, the Democratic nominee, has continued to hold a comfortable lead in the race, where polling shows him handily prevailing over the divided field, Jewish Insider’s Matthew Kassel reports. The 33-year-old democratic socialist and Queens state assemblyman has recently claimed endorsements from prominent party leaders including New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, who clarified she does not agree with him on Israel issues but said she appreciated his commitment to combating antisemitism as well as his efforts to meet with Jewish community members to address “their concerns directly.”
Community concerns: But multiple Jewish leaders said in interviews with JI on Wednesday that they remain deeply skeptical of his campaign’s outreach and pledges to confront rising antisemitism, citing a string of recent statements in which he has doubled down on his hostile approach to Israel — as well as an ongoing refusal to explicitly denounce extreme rhetoric espoused by his allies on the far left. “I believe that he will genuinely work to drive a wedge between Jews and their neighbors as long as he serves in public office,” Sara Forman, executive director of New York Solidarity Network, a group that supports pro-Israel Democratic candidates for state and local office, told JI. “To this date,” she said of Mamdani, “his actions certainly have given us no indication they match his words.”
calling it out
Sen. Slotkin sounds alarm on left-wing antisemitism at Jewish security briefing
Sen. Elissa Slotkin (D-MI), speaking on Wednesday to a gathering of Jewish activists on Capitol Hill, highlighted concerns about rising left-wing antisemitism and the ways that antisemitic narratives are being spread to and by college students, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports.
What she said: “We’re used to the right-wing side. What is new and what I think has so many in the Jewish community on our heels is that new left-wing antisemitism and how to approach it,” Slotkin said at a pre-High Holidays security briefing organized by several Jewish communal organizations. “How do we counteract it? How do we protect against it? How do we educate? And certainly, we’re watching, on many college campuses, a lot of young people who actually maybe didn’t grow up with the Jewish community at all, get to campus and maybe repeat what they’re hearing, sometimes not even understanding or knowing,” she continued. “I would just say that one of our responsibilities as Jewish leaders and Jewish activists is to try and really parse through how to deal with antisemitism on the left, since antisemitism on the right isn’t good, but it’s more of a well-known threat.”
HOLDING THE LINE
Johnson discusses efforts to push back on GOP isolationists with pro-Israel leaders
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) spoke about his efforts to hold the line against the isolationist wing of the Republican Party in a private meeting with pro-Israel leaders on Capitol Hill on Wednesday, several individuals who attended the meeting told Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod. Johnson, who described himself to the group as a “Reagan Republican” focused on “peace through strength,” acknowledged that isolationism is rising in the Republican Party, and that the party is likely bound for a major debate on the issue after President Donald Trump leaves office.
Preventative action: Johnson also told the group that, in his candidate recruiting efforts, he’s working to filter out isolationists to prevent that wing of the party from growing larger in the House, four people who attended the meeting said. “The speaker was very, very direct about the U.S. role with Israel and in the world and understands that there are voices that don’t agree in both parties, on both extremes, and urges us all to be involved in fighting back against those extremes,” Eric Fingerhut, the CEO of the Jewish Federations of North America, told JI.
education cooperation
Education Secretary McMahon says administration not looking for prolonged legal battle with Harvard
Education Secretary Linda McMahon said on Wednesday that the Trump administration’s goal is not to engage in a prolonged legal battle with Harvard University and expressed hope that the federal government would be able to reach a settlement that delivers meaningful reforms to the elite campus. McMahon made the comments while appearing at the Federalist Society and the Defense of Freedom Institute’s annual Education Law & Policy Conference on Wednesday morning, after being asked during a moderated conversation with Washington Examiner politics editor Marisa Schultz where negotiations between Harvard and the administration stand, Jewish Insider’s Emily Jacobs reports.
McMahon’s mission: “I’m certainly hopeful on the settlement. I have spoken to Alan Garber, their very good president, at the very beginning of this. I haven’t spoken to him since, but I do think that with the idea that Harvard has already started to take certain measures to change what they were doing, I certainly hope that there will be an agreement,” McMahon said. “It’s not our goal to have to go to court to make people abide by the law, to make universities abide by the law.” Asked by Schultz about the ongoing negotiations with the University of California, Los Angeles and other schools, and how the settlements fit into the Trump administration’s “big picture mission for elite universities and colleges in America,” McMahon said that their “goal is really not to be punitive necessarily, but to have universities, I think, return to what we all believe that universities started out to be.”
Backing McMahon: Ken Marcus, the founder of the Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law, said on Wednesday that he had faith in McMahon to ensure that any settlements the Trump administration were to make with Harvard University or other schools would ensure concrete reforms to address campus antisemitism.
OU Action: Members of the Orthodox Union Advocacy Center met with McMahon yesterday to discuss federal efforts to counter antisemitism and new legislation promoting school choice, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports.
EXPLAINING SNAPBACK
What to expect from snapback sanctions on Iran
The Sept. 27 deadline to snap back United Nations sanctions on Iran’s nuclear and other weapons programs is rapidly approaching. The E3 — as France, Germany and the U.K. are known — announced last month that they planned to trigger the snapback sanctions mechanism, meaning the likely return of all U.N. sanctions that had been “sunsetted” per the 2015 Iran nuclear deal. In an interview with Jewish Insider’s Lahav Harkov on an episode of the Misgav Institute for National Security and Zionist Strategy’s “Mideast Horizons” podcast, Richard Goldberg, the Foundation for Defense of Democracies’ senior advisor, explained the snapback procedure and how the sanctions are expected to damage Iran’s economy. Goldberg recently finished a stint as the Trump administration’s National Energy Dominance Council’s senior counselor and was the director for countering Iranian weapons of mass destruction in the first Trump administration.
Now or never: Goldberg said it is important not to stop the snapback process, even if Iran suddenly agrees to cooperate. “You don’t stop the snapback, which goes away in just a few weeks,” he said. “You cannot trigger this again after October; it’s done. Iran just wins all these strategic gains forever. … You have to complete the snapback because you don’t get another chance at it.” The impact of snapback would be significant on several fronts. “On a strategic level, they will no longer have any claim of legitimacy to transfer weapons to Russia,” Goldberg said. “Technically, the Russians today will tell you that it is fully legal under the Security Council, which is true. … That will be done after the snapback is completed.”
survey says
Jewish ‘surge’ post-Oct. 7 slowing for marginalized groups
In the aftermath of the deadly Oct. 7 attacks two years ago, many American Jews were pulled off the sidelines and got much more involved in Jewish life — a trend, dubbed “the surge,” that has continued into a second year, according to a survey released this spring. But a further breakdown of that survey data, shared this week by the Jewish Federations of North America (JFNA), shows that the impact of “the surge” is waning more quickly among Jews from minority populations, including LGBTQ Jews, Jews of color, Jews with disabilities and financially vulnerable Jews, than it is among the broader Jewish community, Jewish Insider’s Gabby Deutch reports.
Yearly comparison: The survey found that 31% of Jewish respondents said this year that they are engaging more with the Jewish community now than before Oct. 7, down from 43% last year — still significant post-Oct. 7 growth, but slightly down from the immediate aftermath. But among historically marginalized populations, that decrease was even more pronounced. “We’re sad and disheartened to see that these marginalized groups are engaging so much less than they were at this time last year,” JFNA’s chief impact and growth officer, Mimi Kravetz, told JI on Wednesday. “It’s still higher than baseline. There’s still people showing up more. But there has been a more significant drop among these most marginalized groups.”
Worthy Reads
The Ties That Bind: The Wall Street Journal examines why the strong relationship between President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been resilient. “Trump, meanwhile, doesn’t want a public break with Netanyahu. He is proud of his close ties to Netanyahu and support for Israel, U.S. officials said. He often boasts about the Abraham Accords brokered during his first term, and continues to push for renewed ties between Israel and Saudi Arabia, a grand diplomatic prize he openly covets. Netanyahu also finds ways to ingratiate himself with Trump’s inner circle and flatter the president directly. On Saturday, Netanyahu, alongside U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee, participated in a cornerstone-laying ceremony to name a promenade in the beachside city of Bat Yam after Trump. In effect, Netanyahu has shaped a relationship where he can temporarily risk Trump’s ire, knowing it won’t last.” [WSJ]
Arrest Warning: Former Harvard Law School professor Alan Dershowitz argues in The Wall Street Journal against New York City Democratic mayoral nominee Zohran Mamdani’s pledge to arrest Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu if he travels to the city. “It’s easy to mock Zohran Mamdani’s pledge that he will order the New York City Police Department to arrest Benjamin Netanyahu if the Israeli prime minister visits the city while Mr. Mamdani is mayor. Does he expect the NYPD to overcome Mr. Netanyahu’s Shin Bet and Secret Service bodyguards? Or will a New York City Criminal Court judge issue a warrant and wait for the prime minister to turn himself in? Has Mr. Mamdani even heard of diplomatic immunity? … Should a Mayor Mamdani attempt such a stunt, I would happily represent the prime minister in a federal lawsuit, which would be the easiest win of my career. … New Yorkers deserve leaders who focus on the city’s and state’s real challenges, not on grandstanding gestures that flirt with illegality and embarrass this great city on the world stage.” [WSJ]
The Charlie Kirk I Knew: In The Free Press, Harvard Law School graduate Adam Sharf recalls how interactions with Charlie Kirk as an undergraduate influenced him to become Orthodox. “He never tried to convert me. What he said instead changed my life: ‘It’s important that you be Jewish.’ … He made a 19-year-old take first principles seriously: why we are here and what we are here for. I began attending Shabbat dinners, meeting weekly with my rabbi to try to understand the covenant Charlie told me about.” [FreePress]
Word on the Street
The Israeli Ministry of Defense announced that it has completed the development of the Iron Beam laser missile interception system, which will be operational by the end of the year…
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer delayed his announcement to recognize a Palestinian state until this weekend, after President Donald Trump has departed from his state visit to London…
Former U.K. Prime Minister Tony Blair, backed by Trump, has proposed creating a “Gaza International Transitional Authority” to govern Gaza postwar, with the goal of replacing Hamas and eventually handing control to a reformed Palestinian Authority, The Times of Israel reports…
An immigration judge in Louisiana ruled that anti-Israel protest leader Mahmoud Khalil must be deported to Syria or Algeria for omitting details from his green card application, despite another court ruling in New Jersey blocking his deportation. Khalil’s lawyers said they intend to appeal the decision but do not expect the appeal to be successful…
Trump told aides that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “is f***ing me,” officials told The Wall Street Journal, after Israel attempted to strike Hamas leaders in Doha, Qatar, as Trump reportedly grows more frustrated with the Israeli prime minister…
The State Department designated four Iran-aligned militias as Foreign Terrorist Organizations on Wednesday…
Israeli Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer reportedly met with U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff last night in London in a bid to revive ceasefire and hostage-release efforts…
National Students for Justice in Palestine asked members on Wednesday to send letters to a judge in New York asking for a lenient sentence for Tarek Bazrouk, who pleaded guilty in June to attacking three Jews for their Jewish or Israeli identity…
In separate statements, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and Rep. Becca Balint (D-VT) on Wednesday accused Israel of committing genocide in Gaza, the first Jewish lawmakers to do so…
House lawmakers voted down a Republican resolution to censure Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) over a social media video she reposted that called Charlie Kirk a “reprehensible human being” and criticized the right’s reaction to his killing…
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) became the latest voice turning Charlie Kirk’s killing into a referendum on his views on Israel and Judaism with a series of social media posts on Wednesday. “Do not allow a foreign country, foreign agents, and another religion [to] tell you about Charlie Kirk. And I hope a foreign country and foreign agents and another religion does not take over Christian Patriotic Turning Point USA,” she wrote, indirectly referring to Israel and Jews…
Disney-owned ABC is taking Jimmy Kimmel’s late night talk show off air after he said during his Monday show, “The MAGA Gang (is) desperately trying to characterize this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them and doing everything they can to score political points from it.” …
In an excerpt from former Vice President Kamala Harris’ forthcoming book, 107 Days, she admits she would have preferred to choose former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigeig as her running mate in the 2024 election, but “we were already asking a lot of America: to accept a woman, a Black woman, a Black woman married to a Jewish man”…
The Gothamist reports on growing tensions between Democratic New York City mayoral nominee Zohran Mamdani and City Comptroller Brad Lander, just months after they cross-endorsed each other in the primary race. Lander is reportedly insinuating behind closed doors that he’ll be appointed first deputy mayor, the mayor’s right hand, should Mamdani win the election, while Mamdani has told him to back off and insists no personnel decisions have been made…
Pro-Israel philanthropist Ronald Lauder injected $750,000 to the Fix the City PAC, which is backing former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo in his bid to defeat Mamdani as an independent, despite Cuomo’s recent turn away from his full-throated support of Israel’s war in Gaza…
Top EU diplomat Kaja Kallas announced plans today for the EU to impose tariffs on Israel and sanction Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, following on European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen’s call last week for the EU to suspend free trade measures with Israel…
The Israeli Ministry of Culture announced it’s cutting state funding for the Ophir Awards, known as the “Israeli Oscars,” after a film about a Palestinian boy from Ramallah seeing the ocean in Tel Aviv won five awards at the show on Tuesday, including 2025 Best Picture. The movie, “The Sea,” is now slated to represent Israel at the Oscars…
Bloomberg profiles Rachel Accurso, also known as Ms. Rachel, a popular children’s content creator and outspoken critic of Israel’s war in Gaza, which she regularly refers to as genocide……
The New York Times speaks to Jewish and Muslim experts on whether followers of the religion can accept pig heart transplants…
Restaurateurs Emily and Alon Shaya, along with Tulane University Professor Mara Force, recreated dishes from a recipe book of the Fenves family, saved as they were taken to Auschwitz in 1944, in a project dubbed “Rescued Recipes”…
Pic of the Day
The Michael Levin Base for lone soldiers marked its annual gala on Tuesday evening at the Jerusalem Theater at which U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee gave the keynote address. Michael Dickson, executive director of StandWithUs Israel (left), moderated a panel on the rise of global antisemitism, with panelists (from left to right) Fleur Hassan-Nahoum, Israel’s special envoy for trade and innovation and honorary board member of The Michael Levin Base; Adir Schwarz, deputy mayor of Jerusalem; and Matti Friedman, author and journalist.
Birthdays
Winner of three Grammy Awards for music videos, he is also a filmmaker and photographer, Mark Lee Romanek turns 66…
Marina Del Rey, Calif., resident, Kathy Levinson Wolf… Retired Johns Hopkins neurosurgeon, he served as U.S. secretary of Housing and Urban Development in the Trump 45 administration, Dr. Ben Carson turns 74… Business executive who served as co-CEO of SAP and CEO of Hewlett-Packard, Léo Apotheker turns 72… Harvard professor of psychology, specializing in visual cognition and psycholinguistics, Steven Pinker turns 71… U.S. senator (R-AL), he had a career prior to politics as a collegiate football coach, Tommy Tuberville turns 71… Former CEO of The Jewish Federation of Sarasota-Manatee, Howard Tevlowitz… Former executive director of the Los Angeles Westside Jewish Community Center, Brian Greene… Attorney general of Israel, Gali Baharav-Miara turns 66… Professor of economics at MIT and a 2021 Nobel Prize laureate in economics, Joshua Angrist turns 65… One of the earliest Israeli tech entrepreneurs, he is best known for starting Aladdin Knowledge Systems in 1985, Yanki Margalit turns 63… Founder and executive chairman of Delek US, Ezra Uzi Yemin turns 57… Classical pianist, Simone Dinnerstein turns 53… Chief policy officer at the Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law, Karen Paikin Barall… NBC and MSNBC legal analyst, she was a 2021 candidate for Manhattan district attorney, Tali Farhadian Weinstein turns 50… Founding partner of Shore Capital Partners, he is a part-owner of the NBA’s Phoenix Suns and the WNBA’s Phoenix Mercury along with his brother Mat Ishbia, Justin Ryan Ishbia turns 48… Comedian, actor, producer and screenwriter, Billy Eichner turns 47… Rome bureau chief of The New York Times, covering Italy and the Vatican, Jason Horowitz… Director of operations at Camp Ramah in Wisconsin, Robin Anderson… Co-host of Bloomberg Surveillance every morning on Bloomberg Television and Bloomberg Radio, Lisa Abramowicz turns 46… Author and CNN analyst, he was a member of the South Carolina House of Representatives, Bakari Sellers turns 41… Founder of the Jerusalem Journal, Avi Mayer… Professional poker player whose total career live tournament winnings exceed $24.5 million, Nick Schulman turns 41… Baseball broadcaster for the Washington Nationals, Dan Kolko… Television and film actress, Shoshana Bush turns 37… Senior director at TLG Communications – the Levinson Group, Zak Sawyer…
