Daily Kickoff
MONDAY, OCTOBER 26, 2026
Good Monday morning.
In today’s Daily Kickoff, we look at how U.S. critics of Israel are laying the groundwork to oppose the next Israeli government regardless of the outcome of the country’s election on Tuesday, report on the Bank of Israel’s rejection of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s suggestion to circumvent sanctions on Israel with cryptocurrency, and spotlight the race in California’s 34th Congressional District, where Rep. Jimmy Gomez is facing a challenge from a far-left anti-Israel activist. Also in today’s Daily Kickoff: Josh Safdie, Lucie Kon and Erielle Azerrad.
Today’s Daily Kickoff was curated by JI Executive Editor Melissa Weiss, with assists from Tamara Zieve, Danielle Cohen-Kanik and Marc Rod.
Today's Agenda
Today is the last day of campaigning in Israel before voters head to the polls to cast their ballots in tomorrow’s election, which is taking place against a backdrop of uncertainty over a potential resumption of hostilities with Iran.
News coverage leading up to both the Israeli election and U.S. midterms has leaned heavily into the ‘will they-won’t they’ of a potential military confrontation with Iran. President Donald Trump told Fox News on Sunday that it was “getting to be decision time” regarding action against Iran. “I have a decision to make: Do I finish it off, which would be very easy to do, or do I make a deal? That’s all,” Trump said.
Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz this morning, meanwhile, denied a report from Israel’s Channel 12 last night that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and IDF Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir clashed after Zamir resisted a military order from Netanyahu to carry out an unspecified military action that could provoke a confrontation with Iran ahead of the election.
Senior security officials from Mecca Pact signatories Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Pakistan are in Tehran today for meetings with their Iranian counterparts, the first high-level meeting between officials from the countries since the Iran-backed Houthis resumed attacks on Saudi Arabia.
In Washington this morning, the Hudson Institute is hosting an event looking at how the Mecca Pact and the India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor are reshaping the Middle East and Gulf. Chaim Martin, who serves as the Israeli economic attaché in Washington, will join a panel with the Brookings Institution’s Asli Aydıntaşbaş, The Washington Institute for Near East Policy’s Soner Cagaptay and Hudson’s Mike Doran and Ken Moriyasu.
Antisemitic streamer Hasan Piker is in Minnesota today, where he’ll sit for a live podcast taping with Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) and state Sen. Omar Fateh. The sold-out event had drawn condemnation and calls for cancellation from local Jewish leaders and a range of state Democratic figures, including Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), Rep. Angie Craig (D-MN), Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, lieutenant governor and Senate candidate Peggy Flanagan — as well as Rep. Betty McCollum (D-MN), who is a frequent critic of Israel on Capitol Hill.
And in Brazil, President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, a leftist, won his reelection bid over Flávio Bolsonaro, a conservative and the son of former President Jair Bolsonaro. The younger Bolsonaro has so far refused to concede, citing a last-minute effort to keep some polls open for several additional hours due to heavy rains and public transport delays — despite both candidates having asked for extended polling hours.
One Thing to Know
By Marc Rod
Regardless of how Israel’s election tomorrow turns out, Israel’s U.S. critics on the American left are already laying the groundwork to frame any Israeli government that forms as problematic — even if Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is defeated.
For months, as Israeli opposition figures have gained in the polls, anti-Israel activists here have framed all potential Israeli leaders as equally unacceptable as Netanyahu, a response to the many Democrats who have asserted that their anger with Israel is directed toward the Netanyahu government, rather than the state as a whole.
Jon Finer, the principal deputy national security advisor in the Biden administration and a frequent Israel critic, wrote in an op-ed on Friday that the U.S. should “not expect major changes” under a new government. “Rather than offering a new Israeli government the benefit of the doubt, Democrats should learn from the past and make it choose between the abundant and irreplaceable benefits of the U.S. relationship and the indefensible policies that are driving a wedge between our societies,” Finer wrote.
The Big Reads
chain reaction
Bank of Israel rejects Netanyahu’s suggestion to circumvent sanctions with cryptocurrency
Israel should try to prevent sanctions rather than circumvent them, the Bank of Israel said in a statement on Saturday night, a day after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel may need to use cryptocurrency if it faces further sanctions, Jewish Insider’s Lahav Harkov reports. Netanyahu’s remarks were met with criticism from economists, sanctions experts and his opponents in the election set for Tuesday. “Cryptocurrency cannot be used as a route to circumvent sanctions,” the statement from Israel’s central bank reads. “The correct thing for Israel’s economy is to preserve economic relations with its main trading partners and to focus on preventing sanctions and their negative influence on the market.”
socal showdown
Anti-Israel encampment member emerges as far-left threat to Rep. Jimmy Gomez
Angela Gonzales-Torres, a Democratic Socialists of America member and anti-Israel activist running against Rep. Jimmy Gomez (D-CA) in a Los Angeles-based district, became the latest candidate to appear with antisemitic influencer Hasan Piker, joining his livestream on Friday, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports. Gonzales-Torres has staked out positions sharply critical of Israel on the campaign trail including supporting the Block the Bombs Act, embracing an arms embargo and accusing Israel of genocide. She was a member of the anti-Israel encampment at the University of California, Los Angeles.
campus clash
Georgetown Law student association brands Cruz aide Islamophobic after lecture on Muslim Brotherhood
Georgetown University law school’s Student Bar Association passed a resolution last week condemning a Jewish attorney on Sen. Ted Cruz’s (R-TX) staff and accusing her of Islamophobia after she appeared on campus to discuss the Muslim Brotherhood and her work representing victims of terrorism, Jewish Insider’s Emily Jacobs reports. Erielle Azerrad has served as Cruz’s deputy chief counsel since December and has been heavily involved in the Texas senator’s recent efforts to target the Brotherhood.
The Rundown
The rest of today’s original stories from Jewish Insider — full stories, all published on the site.
On Our Radar
● The Live Briefing. Word on the street, clips, podcasts and quick updates — the items we’re tracking all day in our Live Briefing on our app (on Apple and Android) and website.
CENTCOM head Adm. Brad Cooper traveled to the Strait of Hormuz over the weekend amid heightened tensions with Iran…
A memo sent to Secretary of State Marco Rubio from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence last week warned that Iran was in the advanced stages of plots to target Americans abroad, as well as in the U.S.; the details of the memo were confirmed by two senior Iranian officials…
The Wall Street Journal traveled to the USS George Washington in the Arabian Sea as the military prepares for a potential resumption of hostilities…
The New York Times looks at Houthi efforts to direct attention toward associates of the Saudi royal family who appear in the Epstein files as part of an information warfare campaign targeting Riyadh in conjunction with its ongoing military campaign…
Pershing Square’s Bill Ackman, who previously said he wouldn’t endorse any candidate or party in the upcoming Israeli election, said on Sunday that far-right ministers Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben-Gvir have “caused Israel enormous reputational damage” and that a new government formed without them “will send a message to the rest of the world that Israel is turning a new page”...
U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee, appearing on PBS’ “Firing Line with Margaret Hoover,” condemned the recent extremist settler attack on Washington Post photojournalist Heidi Levine in the West Bank as an “evil terrorist attack,” calling the violence “inexcusable”; Huckabee said he had received assurances from Israeli officials, including Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, that the assailants would be prosecuted…
Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ) visited Djibouti last week, meeting with State Department and military officials about terrorism and national security priorities, particularly efforts to combat the Houthis. “We must keep the pressure on them. America’s presence in this region is essential to fighting terrorists, safeguarding trade routes, and keeping America safe,” Gottheimer said…
President Donald Trump, campaigning in Michigan, called Democratic Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed a “jihadist” and compared voters in the state to the passengers who thwarted efforts by the 9/11 hijackers to crash United Flight 93 into the Capitol…
Anti-Defamation League CEO Jonathan Greenblatt condemned as "a case study in antisemitism" a digital campaign ad from Cenk Uygur's Rebellion PAC backing El-Sayed in which the ad's actors suggest that rising grocery prices are a result of "killing Palestinians"...
The FBI is considering an economic espionage case against the Saudi engineer formerly employed by OpenAI who is facing allegations that he placed a recording device in a restricted conference room at the AI giant’s headquarters…
Police in New York charged a woman with multiple hate crimes in connection with the assaults last week of two Jewish men in Midtown Manhattan…
Oklahoma’s attorney general issued a ruling barring the state’s charter school board from voting for a third time on the application submitted by the Ben Gamla Jewish Charter, which if approved would have made the online school the first religious charter school in the country…
Director Josh Safdie, sitting down with The New Yorker, broke down his favorite movies filmed in New York as he signed limited-edition silkscreen prints he created of them…
The U.K.’s Board of Deputies of British Jews approved, in a 118-1 vote, a move to declare the country’s Green Party a racist organization over its recent vote calling Zionism a racist movement…
The BBC has paid £400,000 ($533,000) to Lucie Kon, a Jewish producer and documentarian, who said she was subject to antisemitic bullying from BBC colleagues in the wake of the Oct. 7 attacks and eventually pushed out by the broadcaster after submitting a formal complaint…
Marine Le Pen, the leader of France’s far-right National Rally party, rallied supporters on Sunday by highlighting the unrest caused by the violent anti-government riots that have swept cities across the country in recent weeks…
The Eagle’s Nest, Adolf Hitler’s retreat in the German Alps, suffered significant damage in a weekend fire that gutted the building; one person was arrested in connection with the blaze…
Emirati diplomat Lana Nusseibeh, a late entrant into the race to succeed U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres who is positioning herself as a mediator and consensus-building candidate, pledged independence and to “govern with only a commitment to the U.N. and its charter”...
The Associated Press spotlights the large number of Israelis living abroad who are traveling back to Israel to vote in Tuesday’s election, with some estimates finding more than 65,000 citizens living abroad plan to fly to Israel, which requires most voters to cast their ballots in person…
The Financial Times interviews residents of Sderot, the southern Israeli city that was heavily targeted in the Oct. 7 attacks but has remained a stronghold of support for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu…
Israeli biblical scholar and peace activist Uriel Simon died at 97…
Nobel Prize-winning French physicist Claude Cohen-Tannoudji, who as a child living in Algeria was saved from Nazi persecution by the Allied invasion of North Africa, died at 93…
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Tucker’s Next Step: The Financial Times’ Abigail Hauslohner travels to Maine to interview Tucker Carlson about his political evolution and break with President Donald Trump. “He says he’ll have a better sense after the midterms of what direction his vision for an alternate route, or even party, built with his fellow outcasts might take. … It’s easy to imagine a triumphant Carlson returning to Washington under a Vance presidency. But Carlson dismisses the idea and acknowledges that Vance may not be able to escape the legacy of Trump’s war, when the time comes. ‘It’s something I’ve thought about a lot . . . just as someone who really loves JD as a person. I feel sad about it.’” [FT]
Paris Perch: The New Yorker’s Lauren Collins profiles U.S. Ambassador to France Charles Kushner as he balances the stances of the Trump administration with the sensitivities of the top diplomatic posting amid an explosion of antisemitism in the country. “Kushner told me that he’d experienced antisemitism in France directly, when one of his grandsons was visiting and wore a yarmulke out for a walk during Passover. Kushner recalled, ‘We put one step out the door here — people yelling, “F*** the Jew! F*** the Jew!”’” [NewYorker]
What’s at Stake: In The Washington Post, American Israeli filmmaker Jonathan Dekel, who is traveling from New York to Israel to vote in tomorrow’s election, explains the factors driving him to vote. “From the United States, this conflict often looks like a morality play with an easy ending. Pick the right side, say the right words, and peace is one ceasefire away. … Israelis don’t have the luxury of closing their eyes and hoping everything works out. We have to plan for the worst in our enemies and our own leaders but keep hoping for better from both.” [WashPost]
Picture of the Day
AIPAC leaders met with Cypriot President Nikos Christodoulides at the Presidential Palace in Nicosia last week as part of a larger, 100-plus-person delegation of AIPAC senior leadership visiting Cyprus and Greece Cyprus Mail
Birthdays
Evan Gershkovich, journalist for The Wall Street Journal, released from Russian detention in August 2024 as part of a prisoner swap, turns 35
DAVID LEVENSON/GETTY IMAGES
Deborah Tobias Poritz, former chief justice of the New Jersey Supreme Court, the first woman to serve in that position, turns 90
Richard Goldstone, South African judge who led the 2009 U.N. Fact Finding Mission on the Gaza conflict of that year, turns 88
Ron Ben-Yishai, veteran Israeli war correspondent, winner of the 2018 Israel Prize, turns 83
Jaclyn Smith, actor best known as one of "Charlie's Angels," she now develops and markets her own brands of clothing and perfume, turns 81
Leonard Linder, chiropractor in White Plains, N.Y.
Evie Sullivan, certified life coach and hypnotherapist
Gary Hurand, CEO at MDI Real Estate Services in Grand Blanc, Mich.
Hillary Rodham Clinton, former U.S. secretary of state, turns 79
David Zurawik, former media critic at The Baltimore Sun, now assistant professor at Goucher College and the author of The Jews of Prime Time, turns 77
Cecilia Kleiman, Aventura, Fla., resident
Martin Lemelman, illustrator and graphic memoirist, he is an emeritus professor at Kutztown University of Pennsylvania, turns 76
Rabbi Leonard Matanky, rabbi of Congregation K.I.N.S. and dean of Ida Crown Jewish Academy, both in Chicago, he is a past president of the Rabbinical Council of America, turns 68
Perry Howard Apelbaum, of counsel at Kressin Powers, formerly at the Department of Justice, turns 68
Jeffrey Rubin, former director of communications at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy
Stacy Schiff, Pulitzer Prize-winning author, turns 65
Eric Ross Weinstein, cultural commentator and mathematician, turns 61
Jefrey Pollock, founding partner and president of Global Strategy Group
Jessica Sharzer, screenwriter, director, producer and editor, turns 54
David Julian Hirsh, Canadian-born television and film actor, turns 53
Taffy Brodesser-Akner, staff writer for The New York Times Magazine, her 2019 novel Fleishman Is In Trouble hit the bestseller lists, turns 51
Katherine Bear Tur, author and broadcast journalist for MS NOW, turns 43
Sasha Cohen, retired figure skater who won a 2006 Olympic silver medal, plus three World Championship medals and the 2006 U.S. Championship, turns 42
Danielle Feldman, VP of newsroom innovation and AI at Politico
Ryan Warsofsky, head coach for the NHL's San Jose Sharks, he is the league's first Jewish head coach in over 30 years, turns 39
Alberto Calo, Tel Aviv resident
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