Daily Briefing July 2: When Israel becomes a US campaign issue

Welcome to The Times of Israel’s Daily Briefing, your 20-minute audio update on what’s happening in Israel, the Middle East and the Jewish world.

US reporter Luke Tress joins host Jessica Steinberg for today’s episode.

WATCH the full episode here:

After anti-Israel Democratic candidate Melat Kiros won in the Colorado primaries, Tress discusses the emerging pattern of far-left candidates running on Israel issues and winning, first in New York and now in Colorado.

Tress also reviews last week’s New York primary winners, comparing Darializa Avila Chevalier with Kiros — both young doctoral students without legislative experience who beat long-term Democratic incumbents, creating a new model of outsiders sweeping the primaries.

Along similar lines, Tress reports on a video that shows Scott Weiner, a left-wing Jewish and openly gay legislator from the San Francisco area who is a longtime supporter of the transgender community, being run out of a transgender march by anti-Zionists.

Tress notes the wide swath of 700 rabbis who condemned New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s referring to lobby group AIPAC as “monsters,” along with other comments that evoked antisemitic tropes.

Finally, Tress discusses a New York City council law that was meant to protect schools from protests as part of a broader plan to combat antisemitism, but was narrowed and watered down by a Mamdani veto.

Check out The Times of Israel’s ongoing liveblog for more updates.

For further reading:

Anti-Israel candidate wins Colorado primary, says she’s aiming to ‘end genocide in Palestine’

Mamdani-backed primary sweep further cements anti-Zionist politics in NYC

Over 700 rabbis denounce Mamdani’s AIPAC ‘monsters’ speech as ‘dangerous’ to Jews

NYC passes law to protect schools, but not colleges, after anti-Israel protests

Subscribe to The Times of Israel Daily Briefing on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. This episode was produced by Ari Schlacht.

Check out yesterday’s episode here: