Axios

The influential conservative pro-Israel leader, Morton Klein, says he's deeply concerned to read a CNN report that former Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison is the leading contender to be the U.S. ambassador to NATO.

Klein, who leads the conservative Zionist Organization of America, is close to Republican and pro-Trump mega-donor Sheldon Adelson. Klein tells me the Trump administration gave assurances to his associates that the NATO post would go to the former U.S. spokesman at the United Nations, Richard Grenell.

"Ric Grenell is a very strong supporter of Israel...He understands the reality of the Arab-Islamic war against Israel, and I know he has strong feelings, if he were to become the ambassador to NATO, to push to have Israel to become a member of the [UN] Security Council," Klein said.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Russian President Vladimir Putin faced off in a terse joint press conference in Sochi ahead of this summer's G-20 summit in Hamburg, per Bloomberg.

The big topics: Ukraine and Russia's election meddling.

The split on Ukraine: Putin called the 2014 Ukrainian revolution — that pushed Russia's annexation of Crimea — a "coup d'etat," while Merkel said that Ukraine's current government "came to power through democratic means."

Putin on U.S. election interference: "Just gossip…We never interfere in the political life of other countries."

Hamas released a new policy document suggesting a softer stance on Israel.

What the document says: The group is willing to accept a Palestinian state based on the 1967 borders, dropping it's longstanding call for the destruction of Israel. Hamas is seeking to draw a distinction between the political and religious fight, calling themselves an "Islamic Palestinian national liberation movement aimed at liberating Palestine and confronting the Zionist project."

Between the lines: There is no specific mention of ties to the Muslim Brotherhood, a sign that Hamas may be trying to cool over relations with Arab states.

What Israel is saying: "Hamas is attempting to fool the world but it will not succeed," said a spokesperson for Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu.