WHAT’S DRIVING THE AMERICAN JEWISH CONVERSATION

Today: Greta Thunberg refuses to watch Oct. 7 footage • Why Marjorie Taylor Greene opposed antisemitism resolution • and a new action flick stars Hasidic mobsters.

Off the top ►

President Donald Trump has called in the Marines to quell unrest in Los Angeles after ordering the National Guard to do the same. This crackdown recalls the ways in which Hitler asserted and consolidated power after the infamous 1933 Reichstag fire, writes historian Rob Zaretsky. (Forward)

Dave Portnoy now says he doesn’t know “if it did any good” to engage in a public spat with Mo Khan, a student at Temple University who posted a photo that said ‘F–k the Jews’ at a Philadelphia sports bar owned by Portnoy. The Barstool Sports owner initially offered Khan an educational trip to Auschwitz then later rescinded the offer. (JTA, NPR)

Zohran Mamdani, who is polling second to frontrunner former Gov. Andrew Cuomo in the Democratic primary for New York City mayor, detailed his go-to bagel order in a new interview: “Poppy seed bagel, scallion cream cheese … And this is going to lose me some votes, but to be honest with you: toasted.” Cuomo’s “bagel” order – bacon, egg, and cheese on a muffin – generated its own controversy. (New York Times, Forward)

ISRAEL

Greta Thunberg with part of the crew of the ship Madleen, shortly before their departure for Gaza on June 1 in Catania, Italy. (Getty)

The Gaza flotilla…

Greta Thunberg was deported from Israel and boarded a plane en route to Sweden this morning, after she and 11 other activists were detained Monday when Israeli forces intercepted their ship headed for Gaza, which aimed to challenge Israel’s blockade with a symbolic aid delivery. (Times of Israel)

Israel’s defense minister instructed the army to screen a 47-minute film of the atrocities of the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks for Thunberg and the crew. But they refused to watch the footage. (Times of Israel)

Opinion | Thunberg’s media-grabbing protest distracted the world from the starving Palestinian civilians it aimed to aid, writes our deputy opinion editor, Nora Berman. “There’s a difference between understanding that activism is a kind of art form — in which building a powerful narrative is key — and performative activism, which happens when the focus shifts from the desired political goals to the activists themselves,” Nora writes. Read her essay ►

Plus…

President Trump gathered with Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth and others on his foreign policy team at Camp David for several hours on Sunday to map out U.S. approaches to the Iran nuclear standoff and the Gaza war. (Axios)

After speaking with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for about 40 minutes Monday, Trump told reporters that the U.S. is working on a deal with Iran “so that there’s no destruction and death.” (Times of Israel)

Some of Netanyahu’s Haredi partners have warned they’ll dissolve the Knesset unless a bill exempting yeshiva students from the draft is approved. U.S. Ambassador Mike Huckabee says he is not intervening in a bid to persuade them to stick with Netanyahu, despite published reports that say he is. (X, Times of Israel)

The Israeli navy on Tuesday attacked a port city in Yemen controlled by Houthi rebels. (AP)

Argentinian President Javier Milei arrived in Israel Monday for a three-day visit where he plans to meet with Netanyahu, visit the Western Wall and receive the 2025 Genesis Prize, often referred to as the “Jewish Nobel.” This is the first time the award has been given to a non-Jew or a head of state. (Haaretz, JTA)

BY THE NUMBERS

Various efforts to count the number of Jews in the world have yielded an array of tallies. (Getty

How did America ‘lose’ 1.8 million Jews?

In 2020, the Pew Research Center estimated there were about 7.5 million Jews in the U.S. But a new study released Monday puts the figure closer to 5.7 million. That drop reflects Pew’s decision to count only those who self-identify with Judaism as a religion, excluding those who see their Jewishness as primarily ethnic, cultural or familial.

The report — which culls from a variety of censuses and surveys and acknowledges that counting Jews is “complicated” — includes a broader ethnic definition when counting Jews worldwide.

It found that from 2010 to 2020, the number of global Jews increased by about 6%, climbing from an estimated 14 million to nearly 15 million. The growth occurred mostly in Asia, Israel and North America, while Sub-Sharan Africa and Latin America saw declines.

That total remains below the estimate of around 16.6 million Jews in 1939. By the end of the Holocaust, the global Jewish population had dropped by a third to about 10.6 million.

POLITICS

“Americans from every background are being murdered — even in the womb — and Congress stays silent,” Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene posted on social media. (Getty)

Debating antisemitism

On Monday, the House approved two resolutions condemning antisemitic attacks — one Republican-led measure focused on the Boulder, Colorado incident and immigration issues that split Democrats, and a bipartisan resolution denouncing a series of attacks, which sailed through almost unanimously, with just two lawmakers voting “present”: Rep. Rashida Tlaib, Democrat of Michigan, and Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, Republican of Georgia. (JTA)

Greene posted on social media that “antisemitic hate crimes are wrong, but so are all hate crimes. Yet Congress never votes on hate crimes committed against white people, Christians, men, the homeless, or countless others.” (X)

“The Jewish community needs real action, not just resolutions,” a group of eight Jewish House Democrats wrote in a statement, calling for progress on the Antisemitism Awareness Act and increased federal funding for synagogue security. (Jewish Insider)

WHAT ELSE YOU NEED TO KNOW TODAY

A pro-Palestinian encampment at the University of California, Berkeley in May 2024. (Getty)

On campus…

🎙️ Congress said its next hearing on campus antisemitism will include testimony from the leaders of Georgetown University, University of California, Berkeley and the City University of New York. It is set for July 9. (Jewish Insider)

🎓 Police arrested a student at Williams College in Massachusetts hours before graduation after he took down an American flag and replaced it with a Palestinian one and painted anti-Israel graffiti. (Algemeiner)

🎒 The only consistent major donor to Los Angeles’ nondenominational Kadima Day School is pulling his financial support, leaving the pre-K through 8th grade school uncertain of its future. (eJewishPhilanthropy)

And elsewhere…

🎶 Local Jewish organizations pulled out of participating in San Diego’s Pride festival after organizers refused to cancel a concert by R&B singer Kehlani, who has been outspoken about Israel’s campaign in Gaza. (JTA)

🥇 Berlin announced a bid to host the 2036 Summer Olympics — exactly 100 years after the Games were held under Hitler’s Nazi regime. (AFP)

Transitions ► Gary Torgow, a Michigan businessman, is the new board chair of the Jewish Federations of North America, replacing Julie Platt.

What else we’re reading ► Freed hostage Omer Shem Tov spent 505 days in a Hamas tunnel. That’s where he found God — and Nietzsche (New York Times) … Northern Ireland’s lone, beleaguered synagogue aims to stave off decline by engaging Christian neighbors (JTA) … Meet the kosher chef who can heal your gut — with pickles (Jewish Chronicle).

VIDEO OF THE DAY

Sneak peek: Check out the trailer for Darren Aronofksy’s Caught Stealing, an action comedy set in the New York City crime underworld in the late 1990s — featuring Hasidic mobsters played by Liev Schreiber and Vincent D’Onofrio. The movie arrives in theaters on August 29.

Today’s newsletter made me:

🤓 Confident I understand issues impacting American Jews.

🔗 Connected to the Jewish world.

💡 Curious to learn about something I read.

🤷🏽‍♀️ No different.

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