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Daniel Lurie, Jewish Levi Strauss heir and philanthropist, is running for San Francisco mayor

(J. Jewish News of Northern California via JTA) — Daniel Lurie, an heir to the Levi Strauss fortune who is a philanthropist and nonprofit founder, is running for mayor of San Francisco.

Lurie is seeking to lead the California city at a time of great challenge. San Francisco experienced a steep population decline during the pandemic; the tech economy on which much of its tax base rests is shaky; and high rates of property crime, homelessness and drug abuse have troubled locals and undercut perceptions nationally.

Lurie will challenge Mayor London Breed, who will be running for a second full term next year. This is Lurie’s first campaign for public office, and in a video announcing his campaign, he highlighted public safety, affordable housing and combating “the era of open-air drug dealing.”

“When I say I’m going to do something, I get it done and I bring everyone along with me,” Lurie, 46, said in the video, posted on Tuesday. “I love this city, but what we are seeing on the streets of San Francisco is not progressive.”

Though Lurie is not widely known by San Franciscans, his family’s roots are deep and their wealth has made them prominent in the Jewish community locally and beyond.

His mother, Mimi Haas, is a billionaire, according to Forbes, who owns 16% of Levi Strauss & Co. and for years sat on its board. Her second husband, from 1981 until his death in 2005, was Peter E. Haas, the great-grandnephew of Levi Strauss.

Mimi is also president of the Mimi and Peter Haas Fund, a grant-making organization focused on early childhood education. The Haas family has donated massive sums to institutions across the Bay Area, much of it anonymously.

Lurie’s father, Rabbi Brian Lurie, was director of the San Francisco-based Jewish Community Federation from 1974 to 1991. In the late 1990s, he was president of the San Francisco Jewish Museum for five years as it transitioned from a small operation into the Contemporary Jewish Museum. Later, he served as president of the New Israel Fund, which funds progressive causes in Israel.

Daniel Lurie’s own resume includes chairing the host committee for Super Bowl 50 in 2016. The committee raised millions for charity.

He earned his master’s degree in public policy from the University of California, Berkeley in 2005, and that same year, he founded Tipping Point Community, which has given more than $350 million to Bay Area organizations involved in combating poverty through housing, early childhood education and employment opportunities.

In addition to Breed and Lurie, the 2024 San Francisco mayor’s race will include Supervisor Ahsha Safaí.

A version of this story originally appeared in J. Jewish News of Northern California and is reprinted with permission.


The post Daniel Lurie, Jewish Levi Strauss heir and philanthropist, is running for San Francisco mayor appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.

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‘With or Without Russia’s Help’: Iran Pledges to Block South Caucasus Route Opened Up By Peace Deal

U.S. President Donald Trump speaks during a cabinet meeting at the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., July 8, 2025. Photo: Kevin Lamarque via Reuters Connect.

i24 NewsIran will block the establishment of a US-backed transit corridor in the South Caucasus region with or without Moscow’s help, a senior adviser to Iran’s supreme leader was quoted as saying on Saturday by the Iran International website, one day after the historic peace agreement between Azerbaijan and Armenia.

“Mr. Trump thinks the Caucasus is a piece of real estate he can lease for 99 years,” Ali Akbar Velayati said of the so-called Zangezur corridor, the establishment of which is stipulated in the peace deal unveiled on Friday by US President Donald Trump. The White House said the transit route would facilitate greater exports of energy and other resources.

“This passage will not become a gateway for Trump’s mercenaries — it will become their graveyard,” the Khamenei advisor added.

Baku and Yerevan have been at loggerheads since the late 1980s when Nagorno-Karabakh, a mountainous Azerbaijani region mostly populated by ethnic Armenians, broke away from Azerbaijan with support from Armenia. Azerbaijan took back full control of the region in 2023, prompting or forcing almost all of the territory’s 100,000 ethnic Armenians to flee to Armenia.

Yet that painful history was put to the side on Friday at the White House, as Trump oversaw a signing ceremony, flanked by Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan.

The peace deal with Azerbaijan—a pro-Western ally of Israel—is expected to pull Armenia out of the Russian and Iranian sphere of influence and could transform the South Caucasus, an energy-producing region neighboring Russia, Europe, Turkey and Iran.

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UK Police Arrest 150 at Protest for Banned Palestine Action Group

People holding signs sit during a rally organised by Defend Our Juries, challenging the British government’s proscription of “Palestine Action” under anti-terrorism laws, in Parliament Square, in London, Britain, August 9, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Jaimi Joy

London’s Metropolitan Police said on Saturday it had arrested 150 people at a protest against Britain’s decision to ban the group Palestine Action, adding it was making further arrests.

Officers made arrests after crowds, waving placards expressing support for the group, gathered in Parliament Square, the force said on X.

Protesters, some wearing black and white Palestinian scarves, chanted “shame on you” and “hands off Gaza,” and held signs such as “I oppose genocide. I support Palestine Action,” video taken by Reuters at the scene showed.

In July, British lawmakers banned Palestine Action under anti-terrorism legislation after some of its members broke into a Royal Air Force base and damaged planes in protest against Britain’s support for Israel.

The ban makes it a crime to be a member of the group, carrying a maximum sentence of 14 years in prison.

The co-founder of Palestine Action, Huda Ammori, last week won a bid to bring a legal challenge against the ban.

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‘No Leniency’: Iran Announces Arrest of 20 ‘Zionist Agents’

Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi addresses a special session of the Human Rights Council at the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, June 20, 2025. REUTERS/Denis Balibouse

i24 NewsIranian authorities have in recent months arrested 20 people charged with being “Israeli Mossad operatives,” the judiciary said, adding that the Islamic regime will mete out the harshest punishments.

“The judiciary will show no leniency toward spies and agents of the Zionist regime, and with firm rulings, will make an example of them all,” spokesperson Asghar Jahangiri told Iranian media. However, it is understood that an unspecified number of detainees were released, apparently after the charges against them could not be substantiated.

The Islamic Republic was left reeling by a devastating 12-day war with Israel earlier in the summer that left a significant proportion of its military arsenal in ruins and dealt a serious setback to its uranium enrichment program. The fallout included an uptick in executions of Iranians convicted of spying for Israel, with at least eight death sentences carried out in recent months. Hit with international sanctions, the country is in dire economic straights, with frequent energy outages and skyrocketing unemployment.

In recent weeks Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi affirmed that Tehran cannot give up on its nuclear enrichment program even as it was severely damaged during the war.

“It is stopped because, yes, damages are serious and severe. But obviously we cannot give up of enrichment because it is an achievement of our own scientists. And now, more than that, it is a question of national pride,” the official told Fox News.

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