Congress hits back at Turkey
Plus, The New Yorker's Piker problem
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In today’s Daily Kickoff, we report on a series of amendments to the National Defense Authorization Act targeting Turkey for its support of terrorist groups and hostility toward Israel, and cover The New Yorker’s platforming of antisemitic influencer Hasan Piker at its upcoming festival. We talk to members of the House Foreign Affairs Committee’s MENA subcommittee following yesterday’s closed-door briefing on the West Bank with U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee, and spotlight Iowa Senate candidate Josh Turek’s support for conditioning aid to Israel. Also in today’s Daily Kickoff: Amb. Yechiel Leiter, Rep. George Latimer and Linda Frum.
Today’s Daily Kickoff was curated by Jewish Insider Executive Editor Melissa Weiss and Israel Editor Tamara Zieve, with assists from Haley Cohen and Marc Rod. Have a tip for us? Email us here.
What We’re Watching
- President Donald Trump will convene a call this morning between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and French President Emmanuel Macron, who are both in Paris today for a summit of European allies of Kyiv, as well as Australia and Canada, aimed at formulating postwar security guarantees for Ukraine.
- Israeli President Isaac Herzog is at the Vatican today, where he just concluded a meeting with Pope Leo XIV.
- The Middle East Institute is hosting an event this afternoon in Washington, featuring writers Ross Harrison and Mohsen Milani, focused on Iran’s options following its 12-day war with Israel in June.
- In Israel, we’re keeping an eye on high-level government talks about West Bank annexation. More below.
What You Should Know
A QUICK WORD WITH JI’S MELISSA WEISS
Flashback to 2020: As Israel mulls annexation of the West Bank, a prominent Emirati official communicates to an Israeli outlet that such a move could have disastrous consequences for Israel’s positioning in the region.
“Annexation,” UAE Ambassador to the U.S. Yousef Al Otaiba wrote in a Yediot Ahronoth op-ed in June 2020, “will certainly and immediately upend Israeli aspirations for improved security, economic and cultural ties with the Arab world and with UAE.”
Al Otaiba’s op-ed was part of the groundwork laid for the Abraham Accords, announced less than two months later and signed in September 2020. With the normalization agreement in place, Israel’s annexation plans were shelved — at least temporarily — as it deepened its relations with the UAE and Bahrain, the original signatories to the landmark deal.
Five years later, senior Emirati diplomat Lana Nusseibeh, who previously served as Abu Dhabi’s envoy to the United Nations, is issuing a similar warning.
“Annexation would be a red line for my government, and that means there can be no lasting peace. It would foreclose the idea of regional integration and be the death knell of the two-state solution,” Nusseibeh told The Times of Israel earlier this week.
The five years between Al Otaiba’s op-ed and Nusseibeh’s comments have seen seismic shifts in the region: the Israel-Hamas war and the degradation of Iran’s nuclear capabilities and its regional proxy network, particularly with the collapse of the Assad regime in Syria. Israel has shown itself to be the dominant military player in the region, even as it finds itself on the receiving end of widespread criticism across the Middle East and beyond over its war against Hamas in Gaza.
But they have also seen the rise of the Israeli far right as a more significant player in the country’s politics. The ascensions of Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir have paved the way for a renewed Israeli effort to annex broad swaths of the West Bank, five years after plans to do so were derailed by peace efforts.
ENVOY INTERVIEW
Amb. Leiter: Nature of U.S.-Israel aid may change in coming years
Israeli Ambassador to the U.S. Yechiel Leiter arrived at his post in January as Israel was more than a year into its war with Hamas in Gaza and facing declining American support for the Jewish state. The Trump administration has been much friendlier to the government in Jerusalem than its predecessor, supporting the Israeli war effort in Gaza with no limitations on arms shipments. Yet, the broader political atmosphere is more hostile to Israel than it has been in decades. Leiter spoke with Jewish Insider’s Lahav Harkov and the executive director of the Misgav Institute for National Security and Zionist Strategy, Asher Fredman, on the “Misgav Mideast Horizons” podcast this week about his efforts to engage members of both parties, the future of the U.S.-Israel alliance, what is next in the war in Gaza and more.
MOU musings: Amid these concerning political trends, Leiter said that the U.S. and Israel have started to discuss what will happen after the Obama-era 10-year Memorandum of Understanding between the countries, which currently commits $3.8 billion a year in American defense aid to Israel annually, expires in 2028. While Israel’s official position favors continuing aid, some in Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud Party and others on the Israeli right have been advocating for moving from a model of aid to one of collaboration on joint projects. “Maybe we’ll change the nature [of the MOU], where there will be greater [joint] research and development between our two countries, rather than relying on American weapons,” Leiter said.
EYE ON ANKARA
Lawmakers take aim at Turkey in 2026 defense bill
Bipartisan groups of House lawmakers are aiming to crack down on Turkey in the 2026 National Defense Authorization Act, introducing a series of amendments seeking to place further restrictions on U.S. aid to the NATO ally in response to its support for Hamas and hostility toward Israel, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports.
Angles of attack: Groups of House members introduced amendments to the NDAA, set for consideration next week, that would ban any arms sales or transfers to Turkey until the administration outlines how it is ensuring that Turkey is no longer threatening or violating the sovereignty of U.S. allies, providing support to terrorist groups or purchasing any defense systems from U.S. adversaries; impose new, elevated conditions on the sale of F-35 and F-16 fighter jets to Turkey; and protect Israel’s Qualitative Military Edge over Turkey. It remains to be seen which, if any, of these amendments will receive consideration or be incorporated into the House’s final draft version of the NDAA.
HOSTING HATE
New Yorker Festival invites influencer who justified Oct. 7 attacks as speaker
Hasan Piker, the far-left streamer who frequently stirs controversy for using antisemitic rhetoric in his commentary on Israel and Jewish issues, will join a roundtable discussion next month hosted by The New Yorker Festival, the publication announced on Wednesday in a full lineup of events. The conversation on Oct. 26, which will focus on “how the internet has reshaped political life” and its implications “for the future of democracy,” will also feature Saagar Enjeti, a right-wing populist pundit who co-hosts the “Breaking Points” podcast. It will be moderated by Andrew Marantz, a staff writer for The New Yorker, who published a feature story last March about Piker’s popularity among an audience of young, male voters who have recently gravitated to the right, Jewish Insider’s Matthew Kassel reports.
Backlash: His festival appearance drew criticism from the Anti-Defamation League, which denounced The New Yorker’s “decision to platform Piker” as “the latest example of mainstream media normalizing his brand of antisemitism and anti-Zionism.” The streamer’s “toxic and extreme rhetoric opposing Zionism and the Jewish state normalizes antisemitism, reinforces bigotry and launders terror — and it has no place at a conference devoted to prominent influencers,” an ADL spokesperson told JI on Wednesday, arguing that Piker’s “extreme statements” on a range of topics “should permanently disqualify him from appearing at any major media festival.”
MEMBER UPDATE
Huckabee briefs House committee on West Bank, Gaza war
U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee privately briefed lawmakers on the House Foreign Affairs Committee on Wednesday morning on the security and political situation in the West Bank and the war in Gaza, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports. The briefing was organized by Rep. Mike Lawler (R-NY), who chairs the subcommittee on the Middle East and North Africa, in response to efforts by France and other U.S. allies to recognize a Palestinian state. Despite a focus on the West Bank, attendees indicated that the briefing did not provide specific answers on any U.S. policy toward a potential Israeli move to annex all or part of the territory.
In the room: Lawler told JI the briefing had included a “thorough discussion with the ambassador about Judea and Samaria and the challenges and the opportunities,” using the biblical term for the West Bank preferred by the Israeli government and utilized by the Foreign Affairs Committee. “Given the insistence on the part of the French and other Europeans to recognize a Palestinian state, I thought it was important for my colleagues to have a greater understanding of what we’re actually talking about with respect to Judea and Samaria, or the West Bank, and how it is actually governed post-Oslo,” Lawler continued, referring to the peace accords brokered in the 1990s.
TUREK’S TAKE
Leading Democratic Senate recruit in Iowa backed conditions on U.S. support for Israel
Iowa state Rep. Josh Turek, a leading Democratic Senate candidate in the state, supported an amendment in the Iowa Statehouse earlier this year that called for U.S. support for Israel’s ability to eliminate terrorist groups to be conditional, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports.
About the amendment: The amendment, which failed to pass, would have struck language in a pro-Israel resolution supporting Israel’s “sovereignty and right to pursue, without interference or condemnation, the elimination of any terrorist group until all such groups are permanently neutralized and Israelis can live in peace.” It would have instead inserted language that stated that the Iowa House supports Israeli sovereignty and its right to take action to eliminate terrorist threats but added: “However, this support is conditioned upon the State of Israel’s adherence to international humanitarian law and protection of innocent civilian lives. The House of Representatives affirms its commitment to human rights and condemns acts by any party that constitute war crimes, crimes against humanity or indiscriminate attacks against civilian populations.” Turek ultimately voted in favor of final passage of the original, unamended resolution.
ISRAEL INSIGHTS
Rep. Latimer: Israel’s critics are overlooking Hamas’ responsibility for Gaza war, aid crisis
Returning from a trip to Israel, Rep. George Latimer (D-NY) emphasized that Israel’s critics in the United States and around the world are overlooking Hamas’ key role in perpetuating the conflict and contributing to the humanitarian issues in Gaza, strengthening the terrorist group’s position and insulating it from pressure, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports. At the same time, he also said that Israel must do more to pursue an end to the war, make its case to the world and provide aid in Gaza.
Shades of gray: “When you see on the ground, you understand it is not a simple black-and-white situation,” Latimer, a first-term congressman from heavily Jewish Westchester County, N.Y., who sits on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said. “People come up to me and say, ‘Israel is practicing genocide. What they’re doing is evil and we need to stop it.’ And then you get on the ground and you realize how much more complicated it is than that.” He said that American critics of Israel fail to acknowledge Hamas’ “role in all of this and its contributory actions.”
Worthy Reads
The Case Against Genocide: In The Wall Street Journal, Bernard-Henri Lévy breaks down misconceptions about Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza. “A genocidal army doesn’t take two years to win a war in a territory the size of Las Vegas. A genocidal army doesn’t send SMS warnings before firing or facilitate the passage of those trying to escape the strikes. A genocidal army wouldn’t evacuate, every month, hundreds of Palestinian children suffering from rare diseases or cancer, sending them to hospitals in Abu Dhabi as part of a medical airlift set up right after Oct. 7. To speak of genocide in Gaza is an offense to common sense, a maneuver to demonize Israel, and an insult to the victims of genocides past and present.” [WSJ]
MAGA’s Nazi Apologists: The Atlantic’s Yair Rosenberg considers the factors motivating far-right influencers, including Tucker Carlson and Candace Owens, who platform antisemites and engage in revisionist history around the Holocaust. “The 21st-century heirs of Lindbergh and Coughlin seek to turn back the clock to a time when such sentiments were seen by many as sensible rather than scandalous. These far-right figures have correctly ascertained that to change what is possible in American politics, they need to change how America talks about itself and its past. Had Carlson and his cohort attempted their revisionism 20 years ago, they would have encountered a chorus of contradiction from real people who had experienced the history they sought to rewrite and know where its conspiratorial calumnies lead. But today, most of those people are dead, and a new generation is rising that never witnessed the Holocaust firsthand or heard about it from family and friends who did.” [TheAtlantic]
Two Roads Diverged…: In Ynet, Nadav Eyal posits that Israeli and Diaspora Jewry are simultaneously at a crossroads that will determine the future of both. “In the Diaspora, Jewish existence is endangered by processes in the surrounding non-Jewish societies. In Israel, Jewish existence is endangered by the region and by the political leadership itself. It is both a junction and a race: which crisis will reach a tipping point first? Because ultimately, one can predict, either the Diaspora will flow into Israel, or Israel will spill into the Diaspora. Actually, both could happen simultaneously. Across the Jewish world, modern Orthodox communities demonstrate increasing aliyah to Israel; this is natural, considering the triangle of hatred built around those who identify as Jews. … It is certainly possible that the antisemitic storm will pass, like a hurricane leaving destruction in its wake, after the war ends. And perhaps Israel will leave behind the current political darkness and commit to major reforms. But what will come first —a positive transformation, or a catastrophe, or both?” [Ynet]
Word on the Street
Former Sen. John Sununu (R-NH) is mulling a bid for his old seat; Sununu served as senator from 2003-2009 before losing his seat to Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), who announced her retirement earlier this year…
The Trump administration reportedly offered a position at the Department of Housing and Urban Development to New York City Mayor Eric Adams in an effort to incentivize Adams to drop his reelection bid against front-runner Zohran Mamdani; Adams met with administration officials in Florida earlier this week…
The New York Times looks at Mamdani’s rhetoric shift away from some of his more fringe political positions as the November election nears…
A federal judge in Massachusetts ruled that the Trump administration’s cancellation of billions of dollars in research funding to Harvard violated the school’s First Amendment and due process rights…
Columbia and NYU launched investigations into student conduct violations days into the start of the new academic year; at Columbia, a student protested with a sign accusing classmates of being “IOF [Israeli occupation forces] criminals committing genocide in Palestine,” while at NYU, a mezuzah was ripped off the doorpost of a student dorm…
Cornell University told Jewish Insider it was rescheduling the start of the housing lottery for rising juniors and seniors to begin at 8 p.m. on Oct. 2 after initially causing controversy for scheduling the lottery to begin earlier in the day, during the last few hours of Yom Kippur…
Israeli artist Ilana Goor listed her home on Manhattan’s Upper East Side for $19 million; the carriage house home was previously listed last year for $37.75 million…
Puck cites a source who said that a deal for David Ellison’s Paramount to acquire Bari Weiss’ Free Press is “on the one-yard line”; the agreement reportedly surpasses The Free Press’ $100 million valuation…
Larry Ellison’s Oracle is laying off an unknown number of employees in a handful of states, weeks after laying off hundreds of staffers…
Record executive Scooter Braun and actress Sydney Sweeney are reportedly dating after meeting at the Venice wedding of Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sanchez over the summer…
C-SPAN reached an agreement with YouTube for the streaming platform to carry the nonprofit network’s three channels; the network will also be available on Hulu+LiveTV…
CNN announced the hiring of former Walla journalist Tal Shalev to be a senior reporter for the network and Zeena Saifi as a Jerusalem-based field producer…
A hospital in Belgium suspended a doctor who had described a 9-year-old patient’s condition as “Jewish” after conducting an investigation and finding the medical provider had posted dozens of antisemitic messages on social media…
Jillian Segal, Australia’s antisemitism envoy, suggested that Canberra cut funding to organizations that fail to address antisemitism, making a comparison to the Australian government’s threat to end funding to childcare facilities that do not prevent child abuse…
The Wall Street Journal reviews Operation Wrath of God: The Secret History of European Intelligence and Mossad’s Assassination Campaign, Aviva Guttmann’s new book examining the European role in the Mossad’s efforts to track down those responsible for the 1972 Munich Olympics massacre…
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reportedly spiked a planned visit to Israel by French President Emmanuel Macron, conditioning the French leader’s trip on Macron rescinding a previous call for Palestinian statehood…
Israel’s Shin Bet said it arrested Hamas members planning an assassination attempt on National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir…
A report from the International Atomic Energy Agency found that Iran significantly increased its stockpile of weapons-grade enriched uranium in the weeks prior to Israel’s June strike on Iranian nuclear facilities and ensuing 12-day war…
Former U.S. Chamber of Commerce CFO Stefan Freiberg is joining Hillel International as chief financial officer…
Linda Frum was elected as the new board chair of UN Watch…
Artist and writer Rosalyn Drexler died at 98…
Pic of the Day
Former Israeli Ambassador to the U.K. and author Daniel Taub (right) spoke on a panel on Tuesday hosted at Israel’s Foreign Ministry in Jerusalem about Israeli foreign policy and the country’s relationship with world Jewry.
The panel, which was organized by the ministry and the Anu Museum’s Peoplehood Coalition and conducted in accordance with Chatham House Rule, was moderated by eJewishPhilanthropy Managing Editor Judah Ari Gross (left) and also included Shuli Davidovich, head of the Foreign Ministry’s Diaspora and Religions Bureau; Shelly Wolkowicz, who until last month served as CEO of the World Union of Jewish Students; and Dani Dayan, chair of Yad Vashem.
Birthdays
Israeli singer-songwriter David Broza turns 70…
Award-winning computer scientist and philosopher who is a pioneer in artificial intelligence, he is the father of slain Wall Street Journal journalist Daniel Pearl, Judea Pearl turns 89… Israeli architect renowned for designing public buildings across Israel and internationally over six decades, Meir Nir turns 86… Emeritus professor of law and former acting dean at the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law, Lester Brickman turns 85… Retired professor at the University of Puerto Rico School of Medicine, Edmundo N. Kraiselburd, Ph.D. turns 82… Saxophonist, flautist and jazz educator, in 2010 he received a lifetime achievement award from the National Endowment for the Arts, David Liebman turns 79… Attorney and political consultant who has served as board president of Louisville, Kent.’s, Jewish Family & Career Services, Mark Steven Ament… Celebrity doctor, he is a board-certified internist, addiction medicine specialist and media personality, known as “Dr. Drew,” David Drew Pinsky, M.D. turns 67… Musician, music producer, audio engineer and corporate speaker, Mark Schulman turns 64… Former member of the House of Representatives (D-NY), Anthony Weiner turns 61… Real estate strategic advisor, political strategist and commentator, E. O’Brien (“Obi”) Murray… Screenwriter best known as the writer of the 2008 film “Vantage Point,” Barry Louis Levy turns 53… Former member of Knesset for the Labor / Zionist Union party, he was the secretary general of Israel’s Labor party until early 2017, Yehiel “Hilik” Bar turns 50… Painter, sculptor, filmmaker, actor, writer, producer, photographer and restaurateur, Andrew Levitas turns 48… EVP and chief corporate affairs officer at BioMarin Pharmaceutical, Marni Kottle turns 47… Former special assistant and personal aide to President George W. Bush, later at Thrive Capital, Jared Weinstein… Television and film actor, he has also written four children’s books, Max Greenfield turns 45… Israeli former professional basketball player and coach, currently serving as an assistant coach for Maccabi Tel Aviv, Guy Pnini turns 42… Development officer at Atlanta’s Jewish Home Life Communities, Melissa Horen Kaplan… Javelin thrower, she won the Israeli national championship seven times, Marharyta Dorozhon turns 38… Television and film actor, Carter Mark Jenkins turns 34…
