Fwd: 🎸 Lone Star Jews have the Senate blues
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From: Jewish Insider Daily Kickoff <editor@jewishinsider.com>
Date: Fri, Oct 2, 2026 at 5:08 PM
Subject: 🎸 Lone Star Jews have the Senate blues
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Daily Kickoff
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 2, 2026
Good Friday morning.
In today’s Daily Kickoff, we talk to conflicted Jewish voters in Texas about the state’s upcoming Senate election between James Talarico and Ken Paxton, have the scoop on a letter from the editor-in-chief of New York magazine responding to Jewish leaders’ concerns over the magazine’s coverage of Israel and Jewish issues, and report on the new guidelines for a federal educational tax credit program that most Democratic governors are still mulling. Also in today’s Daily Kickoff: Quentin Tarantino, Selma Blair and Maya Regev.
Today’s Daily Kickoff was curated by JI Executive Editor Melissa Weiss, with assists from Danielle Cohen-Kanik and Tamara Zieve.
The Weekly Print
For less-distracted reading over the weekend, browse this week’s edition of The Weekly Print, featuring stories from Jewish Insider and eJewishPhilanthropy, including: Inside New York magazine’s anti-Israel shift — and the Jewish staffers left behind; Elisha Wiesel: U.S. Holocaust Museum has ‘unique responsibility’ to counter genocide claims against Israel; and U.S. protection revives Hormuz oil traffic as debate shifts to how long it can last. Print the latest edition here.
Today's Agenda
We’re keeping tabs on the latest developments regarding FlyDubai 1073. This morning, El Al’s repatriation flights from the United Arab Emirates slated for today were canceled after the airline did not receive landing permissions. Some stranded passengers originally scheduled on FlyDubai flew to Israel via Abu Dhabi or European stopovers.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke this morning with Capt. Smit Machchhar, the hero pilot of FZ1073, who recounted the moments after the initial attack when he managed to open the cockpit’s door to allow passengers to overpower his co-pilot. “I had so many injuries, but I told myself I have to get up and act,” Machchhar said. “At the time, I pushed myself to open the cockpit door.”
President Donald Trump suggested on Thursday that, “based on what I’m hearing,” the attacking co-pilot had ties to Iran. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that the co-pilot had undergone “Islamist radical indoctrination,” while cautioning that investigators have not yet determined whether he had ties to Iran or other foreign actors or was acting alone. Read more here.
In Yemen, the country’s internationally recognized government said its army carried out 20 strikes on Houthi targets today. Yesterday, Saudi Arabia claimed the Iran-backed terror group on Tuesday attacked a power station in Medina, the country’s second holiest city after Mecca. The Houthis denied responsibility for the attack.
A Washington state man employed by the Department of Energy will make his first court appearance today following his arrest by federal authorities who charged the man with providing material support to the Houthis.
On Saturday, Sen. Elissa Slotkin (D-MI) will appear with Democratic Michigan Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed at a town hall in Macomb County, Mich.
One Thing to Know
By Emily Jacobs
Caught between a scandal-plagued Republican nominee and a young Democrat who tacks further left on Israel than many are comfortable with, Jews in the Lone Star State find themselves in a Texas-sized bind when it comes to the pivotal Senate race between state Attorney General Ken Paxton and state Rep. James Talarico.
“I think Texas Jews are between a rock and a hard place in this race,” Norri Leder, a co-founder of Houston Jewish Women Vote and a board member of the local Jewish Federation, told Jewish Insider. “On one hand, you have Ken Paxton, who has a lot of ethical issues that trouble a lot of voters across party lines. With Talarico, you’ve got someone who, like many Democrats, is just afraid to discuss this subject [Israel] with the Jewish community too much. That’s been hard.”
In fact, Jewish leaders in Texas say, neither candidate has done much in the way of outreach to their community, which has left them seeking more engagement in what is a neck-and-neck race.
The Big Reads
media moment
New York magazine editor seeks to reassure Jewish leaders but stands by contentious cover issue
Weeks after meeting privately with a group of Mizrahi and Sephardic leaders to address their concerns about a recent New York magazine cover package accused of erasing Jews from its narrative, the outlet’s editor-in-chief, David Haskell, vowed in response “to publish journalism that’s both accurate and empathic about the Jewish experience,” even as he otherwise declined to add a requested correction, according to an email he sent on Thursday, Jewish Insider’s Matthew Kassel reports.
Haskell’s note to the Jewish leaders, which was reviewed by JI, came as New York has faced mounting scrutiny over its hostile turn against Israel in the years since Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attacks, an ideological shift that has sparked internal tensions with some Jewish staffers who have raised objections to the magazine’s direction.
exhibit a
No major U.S. art museum counts Jewish identity in its diversity commitments, ADL report finds
None of the 40 leading U.S. art museums evaluated by the Anti-Defamation League includes Jewish identity in its diversity commitments, according to a new report the group released on Thursday, Jewish Insider’s Haley Cohen reports.
At the report’s launch event, held at the Jewish Museum on Manhattan’s Upper East Side, actor Selma Blair, who is Jewish, said she has felt a similar exclusion in Hollywood. After the actor publicly backed Israel in the months following the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attacks, “the brands I worked with were gone within a day,” Blair said. “A few partnerships I built were shelved. My agency was gone. My lawyer was gone. My publicist was gone. My book agent was gone. My social media manager was gone. My son’s godmother was gone — my best friend.”
education deliberation
Democratic governors face looming deadline to opt in for educational tax credit
With the publication of regulations on Thursday for the new federal educational tax credit program, governors now have until the end of the year to decide whether to opt their states into the program, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports. Blue-state governors have been caught between cross-pressures from Jewish community groups and other advocates that support the program and teachers’ unions, which vehemently oppose it. Spokespeople for the governors of New York, New Jersey and Illinois, as well as the District of Columbia government, all said that they are still reviewing the new guidelines, with an eye toward protecting and supporting public schools.
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.
The Department of Defense is deploying a third aircraft carrier with up to 10,000 troops to the Middle East; the deployment comes amid a report that Iran has for weeks been unsuccessfully conducting attacks on commercial vessels transiting through the Strait of Hormuz…
The U.S. military sent two additional Patriot missile batteries to Saudi Arabia and Qatar last month to protect key oil and gas facilities amid concerns that Iran could retaliate against the Gulf states if President Donald Trump resumes major combat operations; one battery was sent to Saudi Arabia to protect an oil facility and another to Qatar to protect a natural gas facility...
Secretary of State Marco Rubio waived human rights conditions on $320 million in U.S. military aid to Egypt, citing national security interests and Cairo’s “helpful role” following the start of the war with Iran, according to a State Department memo…
The Wall Street Journal does a deep dive into aviation security measures in the Middle East amid the investigation of FZ1073…
The Senate passed, by unanimous consent, a resolution led by Sens. Rick Scott (R-FL) and Jacky Rosen (D-NV) honoring the third anniversary of the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attacks on Israel…
The Senate also passed by unanimous consent a bill providing tax relief to Americans taken hostage, preventing them from facing interest, fines and other penalties for tax payments that were due while they were unjustly held abroad…
A Palestinian man who is a media representative for Hamas based in Gaza was indicted by a federal grand jury in New York on charges that he sent $1.7 million, including more than $600,000 from American donors, to the terror group; two brothers from Louisiana who were arrested last month are being charged with material support for a terror group in connection with the case…
The University of California asked a federal judge to dismiss the Department of Justice’s antisemitism case against UCLA as it seeks to block a government demand that the school repay more than $2 billion in grants issued in the last several years; a lawyer for the university system accused the Trump administration of “political coercion” and “weaponizing” civil rights laws…
The Denver school board will give an outside investigator one week to look into claims that the board’s vice president used antisemitic language; the board’s president and Denver Public Schools superintendent accused the vice president of a slew of offenses, including referring to a Jewish member of the board as a “Zionist b***h”...
Israeli President Isaac Herzog criticized the U.K.’s recent ban on settlement products and services, describing the move as “unfair and politically motivated” interference in the upcoming Israeli election…
The U.K.’s Royal College of Nursing cut ties with Teva, one of the largest drug suppliers to the U.K.’s National Health Service, and dropped the Israeli pharmaceutical company as a cosponsor of an upcoming summit on migraines and headaches, citing Teva’s Israeli military ties and concerns over past price-fixing and corporate abuse…
A dual British-Iranian citizen was arrested in London on suspicion of preparing terrorist attacks in connection with a security incident near the U.S.-run RAF Fairford base, which was used in the war against Iran…
U.K. Green Party leader Zack Polanski is facing questions over a speech in which he claimed his family fled Nazi-occupied Poland, despite records indicating that all four of his grandparents were born in the U.K. years prior to the Nazi invasion of Poland…
A French investigative outlet published additional screenshots of antisemitic messages purportedly sent by Jordan Bardella, the leader of the country’s far-right National Rally party, when he was a teenager; Bardella called Mediapart’s initial findings “crude fabrications”…
Anti-Israel protesters in Dublin disrupted a soccer match between Ireland and Austria by throwing tennis balls onto the field as part of a call for the Irish team to boycott its upcoming match against Israel…
Director Quentin Tarantino and his wife, Israeli singer and actor Daniella Pick, announced they are expecting their third child…
Bennett Schachter is joining Centerview Partners as a partner to lead the firm’s Capital Advisory business…
Gil Thompson, who previously served as a senior advisor to Rep. Brad Schneider (D-IL), is joining the Institute for an Interconnected Middle East as executive director, based in Paris…
French Resistance fighter Lucien Lazare, who assisted Allied troops and fought against the Nazis in southern France before moving to Israel, where he became an educator and peace activist, died at 101…
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A Lot Like Barack: The Atlantic’s Russell Berman spotlights Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro’s “Obama-esque speeches” and cadence, as attention begins to turn to the 2028 presidential election, for which Shapiro is considered a potential candidate. “Like Barack Obama, Baruch Obama emphasizes pragmatism over doctrinaire progressivism; he has performed well in conservative areas of Pennsylvania that voted for Obama before turning to the right. Shapiro can wield a rhetorical knife, but he infuses his messaging with appeals to hope and optimism. Yet the most obvious similarity is that when Shapiro gives a speech, he really sounds an awful lot like the Democrats’ most renowned speechmaker.” [TheAtlantic]
Claude Consciousness: The New York Times’ Elizabeth Dias does a deep dive into Anthropic’s efforts to engage religious thinkers spanning faiths and denominations as the AI company builds a moral code for its platform. “The religious scholars had come to hear about technology’s next frontier. Now they were being confronted with a mind-bending existential question of almost unimaginable weight: What would it mean for humanity’s future if artificial intelligence systems possessed a consciousness that rivals our own?” [NYTimes]
Picture of the Day
Thousands of people gathered on Thursday morning at the Western Wall in Jerusalem for the Birkat Kohanim (Priestly Blessing). Amir Levy/Getty Images
Birthdays
Marek Ariel Schulman, filmmaker and actor, turns 45
JOHN NACION/VARIETY VIA GETTY IMAGES
friday
Richard Manekin, partner in Baltimore's Workshop Development and leading commercial real estate broker
Diana Ely Epstein, co-chair of external relations at the Melvin J. Berman Hebrew Academy (Rockville, Md.)
Martin E. Hellman, professor emeritus of electrical engineering at Stanford and an inventor of public key cryptography, turns 81
Samuel Kaplan, Bethesda, Md., resident
Donna Karan, fashion designer and the creator of the Donna Karan New York and DKNY clothing labels, born Donna Ivy Faske, turns 78
Annie Leibovitz, portrait photographer whose work has been used on numerous album covers and magazines, turns 77
Douglas Norman Cotler, Grammy Award-winning singer-songwriter and composer, focused on Jewish music, turns 77
Yitzhak Cohen, former longtime member of the Knesset for the Shas party, turns 75
Omer Bar-Lev, Israel's former minister of public security, he is the son of former IDF chief of staff and Minister of Police Haim Bar-Lev, turns 73
Scott Hochberg, former member of the Texas House of Representatives, turns 73
Idan Ofer, Israeli entrepreneur with interests in shipping, drilling, mining and soccer, turns 71
Paula Pretlow, chair and trustee of The Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Foundation
Bruce Blakeman, executive since 2022 of Nassau County, N.Y., he is running for governor of New York, turns 71
Bruce Sholk, chairman of the Budget and Finance Committee of The Jewish Agency for Israel
Gary Tuchman, former national correspondent for CNN, turns 66
Mark Pelavin, former chief program officer of the Union for Reform Judaism
Alexander Karp, co-founder and CEO of the software firm Palantir Technologies, turns 59
Andrew Weinstein, managing partner of the Fort Lauderdale-based Weinstein Law Firm, he is a major Democratic bundler in Florida
Scott Schoeneweis, former MLB left-handed pitcher with more MLB appearances than any other Jewish pitcher, turns 53
Michael "Mordechai" Gottlieb, insurance agent at Herman E. Wealcatch Inc.
Michelle Sara King, U.S. government official at the International Trade Administration, she serves on the American Jewish Committee's regional board
Lindsay Gottlieb, head coach of women's basketball at USC, she was an assistant coach in the NBA, turns 49
Kobi Yakob Arad, award-winning jazz pianist, composer and music producer, turns 45
Jena Griswold, secretary of state of Colorado since 2019, turns 42
Diana Diner, director of community affairs at Israel Bonds
Alex Fullman, associate attorney at Cooley LLP
Benjamin Lasky, rapper and record producer known by his stage name Quadeca, turns 26
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