Good Thursday morning.

In today’s Daily Kickoff, we report on new allegations of an antisemitic culture at the Heritage Foundation and cover New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s response to questions over the absence of Jews from his Advisory Committee on the Judiciary. We report on a conversation between Yasir Al-Rumayyan, a close associate of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, and Reza Pahlavi, the exiled son of Iran’s former shah, during Tuesday’s funeral service in Washington for the late Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), and spotlight an announcement by the rabbinic arm of the Conservative movement to further welcome interfaith families. Also in today’s Daily Kickoff: Sen. Roger Wicker, Adm. Brad Cooper and Erica Schwartz.

We also have a new on-demand Live Briefing that you can access throughout the day via our new app (on Apple and Android) and on our website.

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

The morning after a double hate crime targeted an Asian American and a Jewish man wearing a yarmulke in Manhattan, during which the attacker allegedly yelled “Allahu Akbar” and “Justice for Islam” while passing a synagogue and stabbing the second victim, New York City Comptroller Mark Levine offered what may prove a eulogy for a political era in America’s greatest metropolis.

“There is no New York without us,” the Jewish Democrat said at a press conference outside The Jewish Center, the Modern Orthodox synagogue where the Jewish victim worshipped, invoking the deep history and contributions of Jews to the Big Apple.

But Mayor Zohran Mamdani, the lone citywide official not to attend the gathering, seems to wager that he can govern New York City without much support from the dense web of religious and civic organizations that historically shaped Jewish life there and helped guide the choices of his predecessors. Mamdani received only about one-third of the Jewish vote in the mayoral election, but little support from legacy Jewish groups.

One need only look to the state Assembly district covering the site of the assault to see how Mamdani is at odds with the mainstream Jewish leadership. As mayor, he endorsed an opponent of Rabbi Stephanie Ruskay, the favorite of local Jewish Democratic leadership, as she sought the seat in June. The rabbi serves as associate dean of Jewish Theological Seminary, and is the daughter-in-law of retired longtime UJA-Federation of New York CEO John Ruskay. In doing so, Mamdani even spurned one of his most vocal Jewish supporters, former Manhattan Borough President Ruth Messinger, long a standard-bearer of a Jewish liberalism rooted in communal institutions.

Read the rest of 'What You Should Know' here.

Nine months after the Heritage Foundation came under fire for defending Tucker Carlson’s friendly interview with a neo-Nazi, the conservative think tank is facing fresh scrutiny over accusations that it has enabled an extreme culture in which new hires feel free to question the Holocaust and to engage in historically revisionist debates about World War II, with no apparent internal policing from leadership, Jewish Insider’s Matthew Kassel reports.

Internet influence: Andrew Hale, a trade policy analyst at Heritage who left in January to join a rival think tank launched by former Vice President Mike Pence, recalled that prior to departing he had found new hires were fixated on antisemitic conspiracy theories about the Holocaust and Israel of the sort popularized by Nick Fuentes, Carlson and Candace Owens, the extreme-right podcast host. Hale confirmed to JI in an interview on Wednesday that new, particularly younger, staffers at Heritage “openly said things which were antisemitic, whether they realized it or not,” crediting their views to an obsession with far-right social media channels.

Read the full story here.

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani continued to face questions on Wednesday about how he managed to appoint a panel of attorneys to recommend city judges that did not include a single Jewish member. The  absence of any Jewish representation on the Advisory Committee on the Judiciary came despite a vow from the mayor’s chief counsel, Ramzi Kassem, that the panel was “truly representative cross-section of the legal profession in New York City,” Jewish Insider’s Will Bredderman reports.

What he said: The mayor, at an unrelated event on Wednesday, maintained he had not inquired about nominees’ religious affiliations. “Any suggestion that there would be any decision made or motivated by religion, it does bother me,” Mamdani told reporters. “Any suggestion that the composition of the advisory committee was motivated by religion is false.”

Read the full story here.

Yasir Al-Rumayyan, the powerful head of Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund and a close associate of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, was seen greeting and conversing with Reza Pahlavi, the exiled son of Iran’s former shah, during Tuesday’s funeral service in Washington for the late Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), Jewish Insider’s Matthew Shea reports.

Zoom in: In video footage first published Tuesday by the Christian Broadcasting Network, the two men shared an embrace and spoke briefly during the service. The interaction marked a rare public exchange between a top Saudi official and one of the most prominent Iranian opposition figures. Al-Rumayyan holds several key leadership roles across Saudi state interests, including as governor of the Saudi Public Investment fund and chair of oil giant Saudi Aramco, English football club Newcastle United and Riyadh Air.

Read the full story here.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency announced on Wednesday that 1,600 out of 6,000 applications received for the long-delayed 2025 Nonprofit Security Grant Program cycle were approved, meaning that less than 27% of organizations that applied received any funding — a significant dip from previous years, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports.

Details: The grants were approved nearly a year after applications opened for the 2025 cycle on Aug. 13, 2025, and after applications for 2026 NSGP funding were already due last week. FEMA indicated that state agencies responsible for administering the grants on the state level and repeated Department of Homeland Security shutdowns relating to immigration enforcement disputes were responsible for the delays.

Read the full story here.

Senate Republicans said this week that a House-passed budget reconciliation bill does not contain enough defense-related funding and that they want to significantly increase it, setting up a clash between GOP lawmakers in the two chambers, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports.

What they’re saying: Sen. Roger Wicker (R-MS), who chairs the Senate Armed Services Committee, told JI, “I’d rather it be much bigger.” The bill passed by House Republicans includes $73 billion in defense-related funding, designed to largely cover the administration’s $87.6 billion supplemental funding request for the Iran war. But the administration has said it needs an additional $350 billion, separate from the Iran war funding, to help bring to fruition the $1.5 trillion defense budget it envisions for 2027.

Read the full story here.

Scoop: Reps. Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ) and Ronny Jackson (R-TX) are set to introduce legislation on Friday to investigate whether the Iran-linked Polisario Front, a paramilitary group that claims sovereignty over parts of the Western Sahara, can be designated as a terrorist organization.

Eight months after the Conservative movement apologized to interfaith couples for treating them as if their relationships were a threat to Jewish survival, the rabbinic arm of the movement announced a new set of Jewish legal rulings to provide concrete ways congregations and rabbis can better welcome interfaith families. But the new reforms stop short of allowing Conservative rabbis to officiate at interfaith weddings, eJewish Philanthropy’s Jay Deitcher reports.

Majority vote: The announcement came in the form of a publication titled, “Gateways Into Jewish Living: Guiding the Conservative/Masorti Rabbi in Supporting Families with Non-Jewish Loved Ones,” authored by the Rabbinical Assembly’s Committee on Jewish Law and Standards. The nine rulings were voted on by 23 rabbis from the committee, with most passing by a wide margin. The most contentious issue — passed with 14 votes in favor, five against and four abstentions — dealt with offering a Hanukkat Habayit, a dedication of the Jewish home, for interfaith families who are building an “exclusively” Jewish home.

Read the full story here and sign up for eJewishPhilanthropy’s Your Daily Phil newsletter here.

Who Fills the Void? The Wall Street Journal’s Barton Swaim examines the scramble to succeed the late Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), weighing the candidacy of former Gov. Mark Sanford against Graham's own sister, Darline, drafted into the race by a Trump endorsement she didn't seek. “Lindsey Graham and Mark Sanford were once close; so much so that Mr. and Mrs. Sanford, as they then were, named Graham godfather to their youngest son. Still I strongly suspect Mr. Sanford, a quasi-libertarian at heart, would view the hawkish policies advocated by Graham in narrowly fiscal terms and deem them too expensive … Will Ms. Graham carry on her brother’s 'legacy,' as her campaign literature claims? The task of replacing the ubiquitous Lindsey Graham seems undoable, but his sister signals the right attitude." [WSJ]

Why Now? In his Substack, “It’s Noon in Israel,” Amit Segal explores the reasoning behind Iran’s renewed attacks on the U.S. “The logic is simple. Both sides are running out of time, but on different clocks. Iran’s runs on resources; [President Donald] Trump’s — whatever the reports of munitions shortages suggest — runs on patience. Iran can afford to lose resources if the spending drains Trump’s patience faster. Quiet slows his clock. Silence is Iran’s worst enemy. That is also why [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu is not pushing for another military campaign. Such a campaign would drain Trump completely — and if the regime survived, as it is certain it would, then even amid the rubble it would have won. Iran thinks it can out-stubborn Trump. Netanyahu is working around that bet rather than trying the strategy himself.” [Substack]

Friends and Foes: In The Free Press, Elliott Abrams, the former diplomat who now serves as a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, argues that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky arrived in Washington this week as the two allies bearing the heaviest burden for U.S. interests — yet still uncertain whether President Donald Trump will fully commit to backing them. “The issue this week is not so much the personal relationships, though those matter far more than they should to Trump. Instead, the issue is how Trump sees friends, partners, allies, and democracies, versus opponents and enemies. Trump continues to treat Putin and Chinese president Xi Jinping with remarkable deference and respect despite the direct threats they pose to U.S. interests. There’s every reason to believe that Russia is providing Iran with intelligence helping it hit U.S. bases in the Middle East. Meanwhile, the U.S. is pampering an ally with far less skin in the game than Israel and Ukraine. Last week, the Trump administration announced its acceptance of a nuclear energy deal that will allow Saudi Arabia to enrich uranium, without subjecting it to inspections from the International Atomic Energy Agency.” [FP]

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In an interview with ABC News, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he discussed with President Donald Trump various options to proceed with handling the conflict with Iran, but ultimately, “It’s his decision.” Netanyahu said, "The truth is, we're partners. We're allies. He's the senior partner. It's the United States of America, let's not forget. And I'm a junior partner. But I'm the prime minister of Israel, and when I have to stand up for the interest of my country and the security of my country, I do so"... 

Addressing Vice President JD Vance’s comments to podcaster Joe Rogan this month that American politics are being swayed by Israeli “influence campaigns,” Netanyahu said he “had a very good conversation with the vice president this morning, and I think we straightened that out because we're not. That's not our policy”...

Netanyahu also met with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth at Blair House on Wednesday morning. Israeli Ambassador to the U.S. Yechiel Leiter and Israeli National Security Advisor Shmuel Ben Ezra participated in the meeting, along with Elbridge Colby, undersecretary of defense for policy, and Sean Parnell, assistant to the secretary of defense for public affairs…

The late Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) worked privately with Netanyahu just before the 2024 election to organize a bipartisan group of senators to denounce the International Criminal Court's investigation of the Israeli leader — coordination captured in footage from filmmaker Alex Holder, in which Graham joked he should be paid "tons of shekels" for his help…

Saudi Defense Minister Prince Khalid bin Salman traveled to Washington and met with Trump and Vance at the White House on Wednesday, according to Axios, where Prince Khalid told them that, despite Riyadh having engaged in joint strikes with the U.S. on Iranian proxies, the kingdom still wants to see hostilities with Iran de-escalate…

CENTCOM head Adm. Brad Cooper has prepared a two-week intensive bombing campaign against Iran as an option for Trump to consider, The Wall Street Journal reports, outlining a strategy to cripple Tehran's missile capabilities in order to reduce the strain on U.S. defensive munitions…

The Treasury Department sanctioned the Persian Gulf Marine Insurance Company and Hormuz Safe Marine Services Authority, which are backed by the IRGC, for running "insurance" schemes in the Strait of Hormuz, whereby the terror group creates threats to commercial shipping and then charges vessels for insurance coverage…

Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan met on Wednesday in Ankara with new Hamas head Khalil Al-Hayya...  

A Brooklyn federal judge sentenced Dan Sohail to serve six months in jail and pay $19,000 in restitution for ramming his car into Chabad's world headquarters in Brooklyn in January…

The New York Times profiles Reihan Salam, the conservative Manhattan Institute president working to make the think tank the "intellectual engine of the resistance" to New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani…

The New York Times’ "The Daily" podcast on Wednesday spotlighted AIPAC and the role it is now playing in U.S. politics, describing it as a once-bipartisan organization that has now become partisan and a polarizing force in the Democratic Party. During the conversation, among other statements that drew the ire of AIPAC, guest Jonathan Mahler said the advocacy group’s actions “have provided an opening, honestly, for bad actors, but in particular, in a sort of worrying sense for people who are not just criticizing Israel but who are criticizing Jews and Jewish influence”...  

In an X thread responding to several of the accusations made against it during the podcast, AIPAC said, “This is an outrageous accusation. Suggesting that politically active pro-Israel American citizens are to blame for antisemitism is shameful. Antisemites are responsible for the rise in antisemitism”...

The Associated Press spotlights a fringe group of Israeli settlers, the Pioneers of Bashan, who have repeatedly breached the border with Syria, with the ultimate goal of establishing Jewish settlements inside the country — despite condemnation from the IDF...

Opposition lawmakers in Israel filibustered an 11-hour Knesset Finance Committee session yesterday to block NIS 392 million ($127 million) for Haredi education and West Bank settlements…

The Forward tells the story of Nik Jakobs and his family — namely his grandmother, Edith, who was hidden by the entire Dutch town of Stadskanaal to survive the Holocaust, a story which the town recently restaged as a play — as Jakobs is now building a synagogue in an Illinois cornfield from the salvaged remnants of shuttered American shuls…

Jewish summer campers who were headed home to Baltimore during Tuesday night's storms hauled a fallen tree off a Washington road, clearing the way for a blocked ambulance…

The Associated Press examines the growing far-left media ecosystem, including Drop Site News and Hasan Piker’s stream, that has helped to boost a range of progressive candidates during this primary cycle…

Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) declined to answer questions from a Drop Site News reporter, responding, “Oh, you’re Drop Site! It’s like a race between who's the more pro-Hamas: Drop Site or Zeteo?" Fetterman went on to reiterate his support for Israel and said he wanted Drop Site viewers to know “how much I love to watch Israel eliminating the Hamas leadership”...

A new Washington Post-Ipsos poll found that 3 in 4 Democrats would consider backing a socialist for president, but only 39% of overall respondents would do the same...

Boston University’s Conference on the Jewish Left has rescinded its invitation to Curt Mills, editor of The American Conservative magazine and a prominent voice in MAGA's anti-Israel wing, after backlash over his inclusion in the March 2027 program, reports Jewish Currents, a magazine associated with the anti-Zionist Jewish left…

CBS News announced that Wall Street Journal correspondent Dov Lieber will join its team in September as a senior reporter based in Israel… 

The American Jewish Committee named Andrew Gross, who was previously director of international innovation and partnerships at the New Jersey Economic Development Authority, as director of its New York regional office…

Frances "Fran" Belzberg, a Vancouver philanthropist and Order of Canada recipient whose family founded Israel's OneFamily terror-victims organization, died last Shabbat at 99…

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Erica Schwartz, founder of The Well, a new Jewish dating app, mingled with prospective users at the app's launch event on Tuesday in Manhattan. The Well — named for the biblical story of Eliezer finding Isaac’s wife, Rebecca — is slated to launch in the coming weeks. The app matches Jewish day school alumni using AI and matchmakers, Jewish Insider’s Haley Cohen reports.

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Commissioner emeritus of Major League Baseball, his 2019 memoir is For the Good of the Game, Allan Huber "Bud" Selig turns 92... 

Retired attorney from the firm of Hatton, Petrie & Stackler in Aliso Viejo, Calif., Ronald E. Stackler turns 89... The first woman justice on the Nebraska Supreme Court, as a teen she won two gold medals and a silver medal as a swimmer at the Maccabiah Games in Israel, Justice Lindsey Miller-Lerman turns 79... Actor, director and producer, Ken Olin turns 72... Philanthropist and investor, of Uzbek Bukhari background, known as the "King of Diamonds," Lev Leviev turns 70... Sports executive, attorney and president of Paris Basketball, David Kahn turns 65... Former mayor of Arad and then a member of the Knesset for the Kulanu and Likud parties, Tali Ploskov turns 64... President of C&M Transcontinental, he served as COO for the first two Trump campaigns, Michael S. Glassner turns 63... Emmy Award-winning actor, comedian and producer, Lisa Kudrow turns 63... Head coach of men's tennis and director of tennis operations at Columbia University, Howard Endelman turns 61... Best-selling nonfiction author, contributing editor at Vanity Fair and Rolling Stone magazines, he is a co-creator of the HBO series "Vinyl," Rich Cohen turns 58... District chief of staff for retiring Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-NY), Robert M. Gottheim turns 55... Assistant attorney general for antitrust at the DOJ during most of the Biden administration, Jonathan Seth Kanter turns 53... Motivational speaker, author and entrepreneur, he served as a law clerk in 2008 for Justices O'Connor and Ginsburg, the first blind person to clerk for the U.S. Supreme Court, Isaac Lidsky turns 47... President of MS NOW, Rebecca M. Kutler... Member of the Knesset for the Otzma Yehudit party, Limor Son Har-Melech turns 47... Senior producer at Vox and host and producer of the podcast of the Association for Jewish Studies, Avishay Artsy... President and founder in 2014 of Dallas-based ECA Strategies, Eric Chaim Axel... Pittsburgh-based therapist, Lewis Sohinki... Author of Jerusalem Drawn and Quartered: One Woman’s Year in the Heart of the Christian, Muslim, Armenian and Jewish Quarters of Old Jerusalem, Sarah Tuttle-Singer turns 45... Former director of policy and public affairs for the Jewish Community of Denmark, now in the renewable energy and offshore wind industry, Jonas Herzberg Karpantschof... Attorney and member of the Los Angeles County GOP Central Committee for Assembly District 42, which includes Pacific Palisades, Elizabeth Barcohana turns 43... Former head of digital operations at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Israel, Tamar Schwarzbard... Managing principal of West Egg Development, a New York-based real estate development firm, Samuel Ezra Eshaghoff turns 34... Former trade officer at Israel's economic mission to the South and Midwest U.S., Joshua Weintraub... Winner of the Miss Israel pageant in 2014, she is now an international businesswoman, Mor Maman turns 31... Actor, as a 10-year-old she starred in the comedy film “Ramona and Beezus,” and since then in many movies and television shows, Joey Lynn King turns 27...