Read the online version of the Daily Kickoff August 6th, 2025 Good Wednesday morning. In today’s Daily Kickoff we talk to Jewish Democrats in Virginia concerned by the anti-Zionist rhetoric espoused by Virginia state Del. Sam Rasoul, who chairs the Education Committee in the state’s House of Delegates, and report on Republican Derek Dooley’s outreach to the Jewish community as he's entered the Georgia Senate race. We also cover comments by Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro about the humanitarian crisis in Gaza and interview Democrat Jeff Grayzel, a leader in northwest New Jersey Jewish communal organizations and deputy mayor of Morris Township, N.J., who launched his congressional campaign this week. Also in today’s Daily Kickoff: Sen. Tom Cotton, Ted Deutch and Robert Kraft. Spread the word! Invite your friends to sign up.👇 SHARE WITH A FRIEND 🔓 Still reading JI like you always have? You’ll continue getting the Daily Kickoff — no changes there. But to read articles on our website, you’ll now need a free login. 👉 Set up your login » What We're Watching The Department of Justice is reportedly seeking hate crime charges and the death penalty against Elias Rodriguez, who has been charged with the murder of two Israeli Embassy staffers, Yaron Lischinsky and Sarah Milgrim, outside the Capital Jewish Museum in May. A group of House Intelligence Committee members including Chairman Rick Crawford (R-AR) and Reps. Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ) and Ronny Jackson (R-TX) is visiting Israel, joining several other congressional delegations currently in the country. The New Jersey Jewish Business Alliance will host its 11th annual Legislative and Business Luncheon today, featuring gubernatorial candidates Rep. Mikie Sherrill (D-NJ) and former Republican state Rep. Jack Ciattarelli. The two will face off in the Garden State’s November general election, with recent polling showing Sherrill with a comfortable lead. What You Should Know A QUICK WORD WITH JI'S LAHAV HARKOV Israel’s Security Cabinet is set to vote this week on occupying the remaining parts of Gaza that it does not currently control, after Hamas refused last month’s ceasefire and hostage deal proposal and did not return to negotiations. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Eyal Zamir and Defense Minister Israel Katz held a three-hour meeting on Tuesday, which was reportedly very tense due to disagreement over the plan, though Zamir ultimately said he will follow through with the government’s decision. Zamir argued that the IDF should surround the areas in Gaza in which it currently does not have a presence, including Gaza City and towns in the center of Gaza in which hostages are believed to be held. Entering those areas, Zamir warned, would endanger the lives of the 20 hostages who are thought to be alive. Hamas has threatened to kill hostages if the IDF approaches, as it had executed six hostages a year ago. Beyond the fraught issue of the hostages, there is the matter of what “occupation” means. While “occupation” is the correct military term for what Israel would be doing by taking control of territory, the connotation of the word in the Israeli context tends to be the West Bank, which Israel has controlled since 1967 and where over half a million Jewish citizens of Israel live. Some Cabinet ministers have advocated for allowing Israelis to move to Gaza, where 21 Israeli settlements were forcibly evacuated in 2005; Netanyahu has repeatedly rejected such a plan. What senior Israeli officials have long said is that, while Israel seeks to have other countries and some Palestinians administer Gaza, they will not do so until it’s clear that Hamas has been ousted. As such, Israel may have to take control for some time until other arrangements are made. Read the rest of ‘What You Should Know’ here. 🕔 Catch up before the day is over. Upgrade now and get access to our new Daily Overtime afternoon briefing — available only to premium subscribers. 👉 UNLOCK YOUR ACCESS NOW » RASOUL RHETORIC Virginia Democrat under fire for calling Zionism ‘evil’ while leading Education Committee SAMUEL CORUM/GETTY IMAGES Since soon after the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attacks, Virginia state Del. Sam Rasoul, a Democrat who chairs the Education Committee in the House of Delegates, has used his social media accounts to attack Israel and decry American support for the Jewish state. But Jewish Democrats in the state fear that a series of recent posts from Rasoul vilifying Zionists has taken his anti-Israel rhetoric to a new level, prompting concerns about his leadership of the committee that is tasked with reviewing the education-related legislation that comes before the Statehouse, Jewish Insider’s Gabby Deutch reports. Speaker says: “Zionism has proven how evil our society can be,” Rasoul wrote in a July 26 Instagram post that described Zionism as a “supremacist ideology created to destroy and conquer everything and everyone in its way.” Former Virginia House Speaker Eileen Filler-Corn, a Democrat from Northern Virginia, told JI on Tuesday that Rasoul’s rhetoric is “fueling one of the oldest forms of hatred in the world, repackaged in the language of activism.” Read the full story here. PEACH STATE POLITICS Derek Dooley, Georgia GOP candidates aim to pick up Jewish support against Ossoff MICHAEL ALLIO/ICON SPORTSWIRE VIA GETTY IMAGES With the entry this week of Derek Dooley, a friend of Gov. Brian Kemp who hails from college football royalty in Georgia, the Republican field in the Georgia Senate race is taking shape, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports. State of play: With Kemp’s help, Dooley could potentially peel off support from moderate Jewish Democrats still frustrated by controversial votes on arms sales to Israel by Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-GA), though Jewish leaders in the state told JI last week that they’re not yet making any commitments in the race. Dooley, for his part, is wasting little time in courting their votes, and has already met with some Jewish leaders and is preparing a pro-Israel position paper. Read the full story here. AID ADVOCATE Shapiro says U.S. has ‘moral responsibility’ to provide aid to Gaza BRIAN KAISER/BLOOMBERG VIA GETTY IMAGES Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro called the humanitarian crisis in Gaza “awful” and said the U.S. has a “moral responsibility” to “flood the zone with aid,” while speaking to the central Pennsylvania Fox34 news channel on Tuesday, Jewish Insider’s Danielle Cohen-Kanik reports. What he said: “The fact that kids are starving in Gaza is not OK. It is not OK. And I think everyone has a moral responsibility to figure out how to feed these kids. It is true that Hamas intercepts aid. It is true that the aid distribution network is not as sophisticated as it needs to be, but given that, I think our nation, the United States of America, has a moral responsibility to flood the zone with aid. It is awful, what is happening in Gaza,” the Democratic governor continued. He also called Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s claim that there is no starvation in Gaza “quite abhorrent.” Shapiro said, “He is wrong. He is wrong.” Read the full story here. GARDEN STATE RACE N.J. Jewish leader Jeff Grayzel running for Congress as a ‘proud Jew and a proud Zionist’ JEFF GRAZYEL CAMPAIGN WEBSITE Democrat Jeff Grayzel, a leader in northwest New Jersey Jewish communal organizations and deputy mayor of Morris Township, N.J., formally launched his congressional campaign this week, running as a staunchly pro-Israel candidate in the seat that will be vacated by Rep. Mikie Sherrill (D-NJ) if she wins the state’s gubernatorial race, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports. Notable quotable: “I am a proud Jew and a proud Zionist, and I plan to run this race for Congress as such, as a proud Jew and as a proud Zionist. I am not going to shy away from it and everybody will know,” Grayzel said in an interview with JI last week. “I think we need leaders that are going to be more bold in addressing antisemitism in our country, and we need leaders who are going to push harder for a comprehensive solution in the Middle East, so that Israel can once and for all live in peace.” Read the full interview here. UNDER THE MICROSCOPE Sen. Cotton urges IRS to investigate CAIR, consider revoking its tax-exempt status ANNA MONEYMAKER/GETTY IMAGES Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) is urging the Trump administration to investigate the Council on American-Islamic Relations’ (CAIR) alleged “ties to terrorist organizations like Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood” and consider revoking the group’s 501(c)(3) nonprofit status. Cotton, who chairs the Senate Intelligence Committee, announced on Tuesday that he had sent a letter to IRS Commissioner Billy Long requesting he look into “recent news and longstanding evidence” demonstrating CAIR’s reported terrorist connections, Jewish Insider’s Emily Jacobs reports. Cotton’s call: “CAIR purports to be a civil rights organization dedicated to protecting the rights of American Muslims. But substantial evidence confirms CAIR has deep ties to terrorist organizations,” Cotton wrote. The Arkansas senator pointed to CAIR being “listed as a member of the Muslim Brotherhood's Palestine Committee” in the “largest terrorism-financing case in U.S. history,” as well as the group’s executive director Nihad Awad saying he was “happy to see” the Oct. 7 terror attack in a November 2023 speech. Read the full story here. Maryland move: The University of Maryland, College Park and Maryland’s attorney general have asked the state to approve their joint request to settle a First Amendment lawsuit brought by the school’s Students for Justice in Palestine chapter, JI’s Emily Jacobs and Haley Cohen report. DATA DRIVEN FBI report: American Jews remain the most targeted religious group TOM BRENNER FOR THE WASHINGTON POST VIA GETTY IMAGES The FBI reported on Tuesday that the American Jewish community remains the most targeted religious group, accounting for nearly 70% of all religiously motivated hate crimes in 2024, even as overall hate crimes in the country have decreased, Jewish Insider’s Haley Cohen reports. By the numbers: Hate crimes targeting Jews had plateaued following a sharp increase immediately after the Oct. 7 Hamas terror attack. In 2024, 1,938 anti-Jewish hate crimes were reported to the FBI’s data collection program out of 3,096 reported religiously motivated hate crimes. The year 2024 saw the highest number of anti-Jewish hate crimes ever recorded by the bureau since it began collecting data in 1991 — and an increase compared to 1,832 incidents the year prior, which accounted for 67% of all religiously motivated hate crimes that year. Read the full story here.