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Good Friday morning. 

In today’s Daily Kickoff, we interview Israeli Ambassador to Japan Gilad Cohen about Tokyo’s approach to Palestinian statehood, and report on a resolution by seven Senate Democrats calling for the U.S. to unilaterally recognize a Palestinian state. We cover a meeting between Senate and House lawmakers with Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani and report on House Foreign Affairs Committee votes rejecting conditions on aid to Israel. We cover Israeli Ambassador to the U.S. Yechiel Leiter’s remarks at the embassy’s Rosh Hashanah reception in Washington last night and report on the New York Democratic Party chair’s decision not to endorse Zohran Mamdani for mayor of New York City. Also in today’s Daily Kickoff: Jonathan Greenblatt, Rep. Elise Stefanik and Erika Kirk.

Today’s Daily Kickoff was curated by Jewish Insider Israel Editor Tamara Zieve and U.S. Editor Danielle Cohen-Kanik with an assist from Marc Rod. Have a tip? Email us here.

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For less-distracted reading over the weekend, browse this week’s edition of The Weekly Print, a curated print-friendly PDF featuring a selection of recent Jewish Insider and eJewishPhilanthropy stories, including: New York Jewish leaders reckon with a potential Mamdani win; Palantir’s Alex Karp says Jews need to ‘leave their comfort zone’ to defend community; and Former Mossad chief Yossi Cohen talks covert missions, Oct. 7 failures in new book. Print the latest edition here.

In Washington, whether a public official or their spokesperson is speaking honestly is usually not fully known until much later. Take Israel’s attack on Qatar last week: the Trump administration claimed not to have known about it ahead of time, but Israeli officials told Axios that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had given President Donald Trump a heads-up.

When a president leaves office, his former staffers tend to get rather loose-lipped — an opportunity for them to rehabilitate their reputation and, perhaps, tell the truth about their views (or at least the narrative they’d like to put forward on their own terms, not those of their boss). 

The past few months have provided such an opportunity to the three architects of President Joe Biden’s Middle East policy team: Secretary of State Tony Blinken, National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan and Brett McGurk, Biden’s coordinator for the Middle East at the White House. All of them played a crucial role in shaping American policy toward Israel and Gaza after Oct. 7. Each has in recent months written op-eds and made lengthy appearances on podcasts and cable news to comment on developments in the Middle East. 

Looking at where Blinken, Sullivan and McGurk have positioned themselves publicly, without the constraints of government service, is a sign of the options available to Democrats right now, at a moment when the party’s future is up for grabs — with an ascendant anti-Israel wing that is exerting stronger influence than ever, though it remains in the minority.

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As reports swirl that Japan indicated it is no longer considering recognizing a Palestinian state at the United National General Assembly on Monday, Israeli Ambassador to Japan Gilad Cohen remains wary, but hopeful, he told Jewish Insider’s Haley Cohen in a wide-ranging interview on Friday in Tokyo. “Japan hasn’t decided yet. There is no official statement yet by Japan,” said Cohen, adding that he expects a decision will be finalized over the weekend.

Envoy’s efforts: “A recognition of a Palestinian state would be a reward to Hamas after the Oct. 7 terrorist attacks, would not contribute to peace and would not build on the trust of Israelis in the future,” he continued. In recent weeks, Cohen relayed that message to Japanese ministers as the country weighed recognizing a Palestinian state as several governments, including those in Britain, France, Australia and Canada, have announced plans to do at UNGA.

Read the full interview here.

A group of seven Senate Democrats introduced a resolution on Thursday calling for the U.S. to unilaterally recognize a Palestinian state, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports. The resolution was led by Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-OR) and co-sponsored by Sens. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), Tim Kaine (D-VA), Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Peter Welch (D-VT), Tina Smith (D-MN), Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) and Mazie Hirono (D-HI).

Merkley’s mission: Merkley and Van Hollen recently traveled to Israel and released a scathing report accusing Israel of deliberate ethnic cleansing and collective punishment. “Recognition of a Palestinian state is not only a practical step the United States can take to help build a future where Palestinians and Israelis can live in freedom, dignity, and security, but it is the right thing to do. America has a responsibility to lead, and the time to act is now,” Merkley said in a statement. “The goal of a Palestinian state can’t be put off any longer if we want the next generation to avoid suffering from the same insecurity and affliction.”

Read the full story here.

Senate and House lawmakers met Thursday with Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani, in the first trip by a Syrian government official to Congress in decades. Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) said that their meeting was “very encouraging and constructive,” Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports.

Takeaways: “I think we are on a path to eliminate sanctions in a way that safeguards interests of other nations in the region, and at the same time, provides for reconstruction in Syria, in a way that negates the influence of Iran and Russia,” Blumenthal said. He said there was broad, but inconclusive, discussion about talks between the Syrian and Israeli governments. Sen. Andy Kim (D-NJ), who worked on Syria and Middle East issues at the State Department, called the trip “historic.” This was his first meeting with officials from the new Syrian government. “He very much expressed a deep interest in being able to work as partners with us to stand up against ISIS, to stop Iranian reach and meddling throughout the Middle East, to push back on Russian interference,” Kim said.

In the room: Along with Kim and Blumenthal, Sens. Jim Risch (R-ID), Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), Roger Wicker (R-MS), Chris Coons (D-DE), Joni Ernst (R-IA), Jacky Rosen (D-NV), Markwayne Mullin (R-OK) and Lindsey Graham (R-SC) and Reps. Joe Wilson (R-SC) and Abe Hamadeh (R-AZ) met with al-Shaibani.

Read the full story here.

Reporter’s notebook: Times of Israel Editor in-Chief David Horovitz spent 48 hours in Damascus, accompanying a U.S. Jewish group to holy sites and meetings with Syrian government officials.

The House Foreign Affairs Committee, during a marathon markup of legislation to reform and reorganize the State Department, resoundingly rejected amendments seeking to condition U.S. aid to Israel on a bipartisan basis, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports. The committee also engaged in vigorous debate over the U.S. relationship with Turkey and the future of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency.

Key votes: By two votes of 45-5, the committee rejected a pair of amendments by Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-WA) that would have added new conditions to $1 billion of the $3.3 billion in direct military funding the U.S. provides to Israel each year. Jayapal and Reps. Joaquin Castro (D-TX), Sara Jacobs (D-CA), Jonathan Jackson (D-IL) and Madeleine Dean (D-PA) voted in favor of the amendments.

Read the full story here.

Coming soon: The world’s first laser-based missile defense system, known as "Iron Beam," will be delivered to the IDF by the end of 2025, the Israeli Defense Ministry and arms manufacturer Rafael announced on Wednesday, Jewish Insider’s Lahav Harkov reports.

The Anti-Defamation League filed a new federal lawsuit on Thursday on behalf of more than 140 U.S. victims of the Oct. 7 attacks alleging that several different terrorist groups carried out the attacks with material support from U.S.-designated state sponsors of terror: Iran, Syria and North Korea. The suit, filed in U.S. District Court in Washington, comes a year after a similar federal suit by the ADL targeting Iran, Syria and North Korea, but it relies on an additional statute to seek compensation for the American victims of the attacks, which left 1,200 people dead. The suit also includes more plaintiffs than the original case, Jewish Insider’s Gabby Deutch reports.

Seeking justice: The new case names the terror groups — Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine, the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, the Palestinian Mujahideen Movement, Hezbollah and the Popular Resistance Committees — and invokes two American laws that provide civil remedies to victims of international terrorism. “The victims of the October 7 massacre deserve justice, accountability and redress,” ADL CEO Jonathan Greenblatt said in a statement. “This lawsuit seeks to do that by holding those responsible for the carnage accountable, from the state sponsors who provided the funding, weapons and training to the terrorist organizations who carried out these unspeakable atrocities.”

Read the full story here.

Exclusive: ADL and the Community Security Initiative of New York are partnering to launch a national threat monitoring and assessment network, following a year marked by two deadly attacks on North American Jewry, eJewishPhilanthropy’s Nira Dayanim reports. 

Jay Jacobs, the chairman of the New York Democratic Party, said on Thursday he will not endorse Zohran Mamdani for mayor of New York City, notably breaking with Gov. Kathy Hochul, who recently announced her support for the Democratic nominee. In a statement, Jacobs said he had a “positive conversation” with Mamdani, the 33-year-old democratic socialist and Queens assemblyman, soon after the primary, and dismissed what he called “the fear-mongering around him and his candidacy” as “wrong and a gross over-reaction,” Jewish Insider’s Matthew Kassel reports.

But: While Jacobs said he shared Mamdani’s belief that “America’s greatest problem is the continued growth in income disparity in our nation,” the state party chair noted they “fundamentally disagree” on “how to address it.” Jacobs, who is Jewish, also cited Mamdani’s staunch opposition to Israel, an issue on which the nominee has recently indicated he has no intention of budging, as a major source of contention. “Furthermore, as I expressed to him directly, I strongly disagree with his views on the State of Israel, along with certain key policy positions,” Jacobs said of Mamdani, who has vowed, if elected, to arrest Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and said he would move to terminate a city program to foster partnerships between companies in Israel and New York City, among other positions that have raised concerns among Jewish leaders.

Read the full story here.

AAA push: Citing Mamdani’s stated plans to revoke the city’s use of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s working definition of antisemitism, Reps. Mike Lawler (R-NY) and Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ) called on Thursday for the House to pass the long-stalled Antisemitism Awareness Act, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports.

Green Light for Annexation?: Philip Gordon, former national security advisor to Vice President Kamala Harris, argues in The New York Times that the international community must pressure Israel to stop any expansion in the West Bank due to the Trump administration’s permissiveness. “The Trump administration has not officially given its blessing to Israeli annexation of the West Bank. But it appears to be doing nothing to stand in Israel’s way. … Given America’s apparent acquiescence, only international action can prevent a coming disaster. It was encouraging that the United Arab Emirates said earlier this month that Israeli annexation in the West Bank would be a “red line,” jeopardizing Israel’s prized relationship with Abu Dhabi. A conference sponsored by France and Saudi Arabia at the U. N. General Assembly next week on the Palestinian issue will be another chance for the international community to put down a marker that most of the world objects to this Israeli government’s agenda. The government of Mr. Netanyahu should know that it can have flourishing relations with the rest of the world, or total control of the West Bank — but not both.” [NYT]

Ellison’s Empire: Former Wall Street banker and founding partner of the Puck media company William Cohan suggests in The New York Times that Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison’s rising profile as a “media magnate,” along with his friendship with President Donald Trump, threatens to reshape American journalism into a more partisan landscape. “Along with his son, David, [Ellison] could soon end up controlling a powerful social media platform, an iconic Hollywood movie studio and one of the largest content streaming services, as well as two of the country’s largest news organizations. Given Mr. Ellison’s friendship with, and affinity for, Donald Trump, an increasingly emboldened president could be getting an extraordinarily powerful media ally — in other words, the very last thing our country needs right now. … No matter their motives, two independent journalistic voices, CBS News and CNN, could soon be combined into something potentially almost unrecognizable, something way too close to what is served up on a daily basis by the Murdochs. And that will put yet another chink in the fragile armor that is America’s democracy.” [NYT]

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President Donald Trump said at a press conference with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer yesterday that the recognition of a Palestinian state, which the U.K. plans to do this weekend, is “one of [the] few disagreements” between the two leaders. “We want [the war] to end. We have to have the hostages back immediately. That’s what the people of Israel want, they want them back. And we want the fighting to stop,” the president continued…

Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping are set to talk today, their second conversation in Trump’s second term, about trade and the framework deal to save TikTok in the U.S…

Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa told reporters on Wednesday that Syria and Israel could reach a security agreement “within days”...

Saudi Arabia signed a defense pact with Pakistan on Wednesday, as its leaders are reportedly angry with Washington over Israel’s recent strike against Hamas leaders in Qatar and are seeking alternative defense relationships…

Sens. Ted Cruz (R-TX), Tom Cotton (R-AR), Joni Ernst (R-IA), John Barrasso (R-WY), Rick Scott (R-FL), Lindsey Graham (R-SC), Bill Hagerty (R-TN) and Ashley Moody (R-FL) reintroduced the SEVER Act, which would bar sanctioned Iranian officials from entering the U.S. to visit the United Nations…

French President Emmanuel Macron told Israel’s Channel 12 that, despite European attempts to negotiate with Iran over its nuclear program, U.N. Security Council snapback sanctions will be implemented at the end of the month, likely on Sept. 27…

Israel’s i24 News reports it has obtained recent audio of Macron speaking to former French parliament member Meyer Habib where Macron is heard saying, “I will not recognize a Palestinian state without the release of the hostages,” contrary to his reported plan to do so next week…

Two Israeli soldiers were killed yesterday at the Allenby Crossing between Jordan and the West Bank by an assailant driving a truck of humanitarian aid destined for the Gaza Strip…

Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY) sent a letter to Attorney General Pam Bondi requesting that she investigate the organization Doctors Without Borders for terrorism, saying it had proliferated “propaganda continuously pushed by Hamas”...

Former Vice President Kamala Harris reflects on her decision-making in choosing a vice president to run on her presidential ticket in the 2024 campaign in her forthcoming book, 107 Days; she was concerned that Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro seemed to be more interested in being VP than in helping her win, according to Politico’s review of the memoir…. 

After several headlines positioned former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo as shifting away from his previously full-throated support of Israel, Cuomo told the Forward on Wednesday that his position “hasn’t shifted one iota. I said we want three things: We want killing to stop, because it’s a matter of humanity. We want the hostages returned, and Hamas eliminated. If you don’t eliminate Hamas, you accomplish nothing. This will happen again and again”...

After her endorsement of New York City Democratic mayoral nominee Zohran Mamdani, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul has “pledged to anxious private sector leaders that she will use her power to act as a check on Mamdani’s agenda,” Politico reports…

A man in Texas was arrested for making death threats towards Mamdani over the phone and in writing, including saying in a message, “I’d love to see an IDF bullet go through your skull”...

Trump told reporters he is working to regain control of the Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan, which is now under Taliban control since the U.S. withdrawal in 2021…

The Board of Deputies of British Jews, the Executive Council of Australian Jewry and the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs in Canada released a joint statement urging their respective governments to reconsider their plans to recognize a Palestinian state next week…

Former President Barack Obama said that the firing of Karen Attiah — the anti-Israel Washington Post columnist who justified the Oct. 7 attacks and was let go from the Post earlier this week over social media posts on Charlie Kirk’s killing — is “precisely the kind of government coercion that the First Amendment was designed to prevent”...

The board of directors of Turning Point USA, the organization Kirk founded, unanimously named Erika Kirk, his widow, as its new CEO and board chair…

SHMULIK ALMANYX

Speaking at a Rosh Hashanah reception at the Israeli Embassy in Washington yesterday, Yechiel Leiter, Israel’s ambassador to the U.S., compared congressional efforts to block U.S. weapons transfers to Israel to the antisemitic “blood libel” and he took aim at Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) for leading the charge, Jewish Insider’s Gabby Deutch reports.

Gilbert Flores/Variety via Getty Images

Author, theater producer, television personality and philanthropist, Candy Spelling turns 80 on Saturday...

FRIDAY: Professor of Jewish history and literature at Yeshiva University, he is the only son of Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik, Haym Soloveitchik turns 88... Member of the New Hampshire House of Representatives until 2022, he has served as synagogue president, Jeffrey Colman Salloway turns 84... Professor at Yeshiva University's Cardozo School of Law and director of the Innocence Project, Barry Scheck turns 76... Distinguished senior fellow at the Gatestone Institute, after a 28-year Pentagon career as a Middle East expert, Harold Rhode turns 76... Freelance reporter, he was a writing instructor at Montana State University Billings, Bruce Alpert... Archaeologist and professor of early Judaism at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Jodi Magness turns 69... Stockton, Calif.-based physician at The Pacific Sleep Disorders Center, Ronald Kass M.D.... Producer of over 40 films in his career and executive producer of the television series Monk, David Elliot Hoberman turns 73... Rabbi emeritus of Sinai Temple in Los Angeles, he is the inaugural rabbinic fellow at the ADL, David J. Wolpe turns 67... Boston-based attorney focused upon Section 529 college savings plans, Mark A. Chapleau... Chairman and CEO of NYC's Metropolitan Transportation Authority, John Nathan "Janno" Lieber turns 64... Bow tie-clad field reporter for Fox Major League Baseball since 2005, he is also a senior baseball writer for The Athletic, Ken Rosenthal turns 63... Inspector general of the Federal Reserve Board and the CFPB, Michael Evan Horowitz turns 63... U.S. senator (R-SC), he chairs the Senate Banking Committee, Tim Scott turns 60... CEO of the Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Washington, Ron Halber... Author of eight popular business books, former small business columnist for The Wall Street Journal, Mike Michalowicz... Founder and managing director at Two Lanterns Venture Partners, he is also the founder of MassChallenge, John Harthorne... Pole vaulter, she competed for the U.S. in the 2004 Olympics and for Israel in the 2012 Olympics, now an associate brand manager at Kraft Heinz, Jillian Schwartz Dickinson turns 46... CEO of Enduring Cause Strategies, Neal Urwitz... Former MLB player for nine seasons, he was on Team Israel for the 2020 Summer Olympics and the 2023 World Baseball Classic, Danny Valencia turns 41... Public affairs director at Elliott Investment Management, Joe Kristol... Singer-songwriter and producer, he frequently wears a Magen David pendant when performing, Charlie Burg turns 29... Former NFL placekicker, his college teammates nicknamed him the "Kosher Cannon," Sam Sloman turns 28…

SATURDAY: Wealth management advisor, he won four Super Bowls with the Steelers during his eight-year career as a tight end, C. Randy Grossman turns 73... Dean of the Yeshiva of Greater Washington, Rabbi Ahron Lopiansky turns 72... Senior chairman of Goldman Sachs since 2019, prior to which he served as CEO there for 13 years, Lloyd Blankfein turns 71... Co-founder and board chair of Broadcom and owner of the NHL's Anaheim Ducks, Henry Samueli turns 71... Justice of the Supreme Court of Israel since 2017, Yosef Elron turns 70... Insurance agent in Tulsa, Okla., Lawrence M. Schreier... Real estate developer, sports agent and boxing promoter, Marc Roberts turns 66... Former rabbi of Congregation Beit Torat Chaim of Jakarta, Indonesia, Rabbi Tovia Singer turns 65... Emergency medicine physician in Austin, Texas, he was the goalkeeper for the U.S. field hockey team at the 1984 Summer Olympics, Randolph B. "Randy" Lipscher turns 65... Civil rights attorney, author and legal analyst on “The Today Show,” “NBC Nightly News” and MSNBC, Lisa Bloom turns 64... SVP of marketing and communications at BBYO, Deborah Gavin Shemony... Former member of the Knesset for the Likud party, Keren Barak turns 53... Founder of PFAP Consulting and COO of PizzaIDF, Melissa Jane Kronfeld... Senior advisor to the under secretary of defense for research and engineering, James Mazol... Deputy news team lead at Bloomberg Law, Drew Singer... Principal at Blue Laurel Advisors, Emily Grunewald... Climate activist in Oakland, Calif., Carter Lavin... Senior director of strategic initiatives at Sony Music Entertainment, Alison Bogdonoff... VP of marketing at Cumulus Coffee, Zoe Plotsky Rosen... Isabel Eliana Tsesarsky... Actor, best known for his leading role as young aspiring filmmaker Sammy Fabelman in Steven Spielberg's semi-autobiographical film “The Fabelmans,” Gabriel LaBelle turns 23... Theater, film and television actor, Jason Ian Drucker turns 20... Lauren Ackerman…

SUNDAY: One of the highest-grossing Hollywood box office producers of all time, plus the producer of many commercially successful TV shows, Jerry Bruckheimer turns 82... Chairman of the board of JDC, The American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee, Mark B. Sisisky turns 75... Immediate past chair of the Board of the Jewish Community Relations Council of New York, Cheryl Fishbein... Professor at Harvard Law School, following a three-year stint in the Obama White House, Cass Sunstein turns 71... and his wife, with whom he shares a birthday, administrator of the U.S. Agency for International Development during the Biden administration, Samantha Power turns 55... Immediate past president of the Women’s League for Conservative Judaism, Debbi Kaner Goldich... Owner of Total Wine & More, the largest alcohol retailer in the U.S., he was a member of the U.S. House of Representatives (D-MD) until January, David Trone turns 70... Member of the Knesset for the Likud party since 1998, he serves as Israel's defense minister, Israel Katz turns 70… Professor of political science at Tel Aviv University and professor emeritus at Georgetown, Yossi Shain turns 69... One-half the renowned filmmaking team of the Coen Brothers, Ethan Jesse Coen turns 68... Attorney, author of 10 books and Fox News host of "Life, Liberty & Levin," Mark R. Levin turns 68... Retired managing director of equity trading at Goldman Sachs, Andrew Berman... Co-founder of the private investment firm Centerbridge Partners, he is a former board chair of Johns Hopkins University, Jeffrey Aronson turns 67... Russian businessman who fell out of favor with President Vladimir Putin, now living in Israel, Leonid Nevzlin turns 66... Co-founder of Wisdom Without Walls, she is the author of a series of courses for the Melton School of Adult Jewish Learning, Sandra Lilienthal... Director of the Board of Jewish Education of Metropolitan Chicago, Alissa C. Zuchman, Ph.D.... Janet Bunting... Senior partner at polling firm Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research, Anna Greenberg, Ph.D.... Emmy Award-winning talk show host, actress and producer, Ricki Lake turns 57... Guitarist and music producer in Israel, Nachman Fahrner turns 53... Managing editor of the New York Jewish Week, Lisa Keys... Member of the Maryland House of Delegates, Marc Alan Korman turns 44... Associate professor of radiology at Duke, he is an Olympic gold medalist in swimming, Dr. Benjamin M. Wildman-Tobriner turns 41... Former program director for strategic engagement at B'nai B'rith International, now a senior manager at Meridian International Center, Sienna Girgenti... COO of TAMID Group, Nathan Gilson... Lecturer in expository writing at UMass Boston, Mia Appelbaum... Member of the Michigan House of Representatives since 2023, Noah Jeremy Arbit turns 30... Global director of communications at Gallagher Bassett, Scott Frankel...