WHAT’S DRIVING THE AMERICAN JEWISH CONVERSATION

Hague may deliver genocide ruling Friday, trial set for man accused of murdering Detroit shul president, controversial Orthodox social media firebrand to advise Oklahoma libraries, and a century-old synagogue is now a luxury home.

IN THE FORWARD

House Republican leaders, appearing with family members of hostages held by Hamas, have rallied alongside Democrats around Israel following the Oct. 7 Hamas attack. But some Democrats have objected to Republican efforts to classify criticism of Israel as antisemitic. (Getty)

How a new group is convincing Democrats to separate Israel criticism from antisemitism: When dozens of Democrats refused to support a Congressional resolution condemning antisemitism last month, it marked a significant shift in how political leaders have responded to claims of antisemitism related to Israel. Behind the shift — which also showed up in the White House strategy to counter antisemitism — was a group of academics and liberal Jewish leaders operating as the Nexus Task Force. They’ve spent the last few years trying to explain the line between criticism of Israel and antisemitism to policymakers. Now, as concern over antisemitism mounts, that group is hiring staff to step up its lobbying. Read the story ➤

Why did London police take a half-hour to respond to an antisemitic attack despite 10 phone calls for help? The victims, three Israelis in their 20s, were speaking Hebrew while walking to a nightclub in a heavily populated tourist section of London when they were attacked by more than a dozen people. The assailants also vandalized a shop where the Israelis sought refuge, and the store owner demanded that the Israelis pay for the damage. Read the story ➤

Bradley Cooper, as Leonard Bernstein, gets fresh makeup on the set of Maestro. (Netflix)

What if Oscar voters pick Bradley Cooper’s nose? It’s quite possible the only Academy Award for Maestro, the Leondard Bernstein biopic which has so far struck out this awards season, will be for hair and makeup: Yes, the controversial prosthetic schnozz could win by a nose. “A win,” writes our PJ Grisar, “would place the conversation over who is allowed to play a Jew back in the spotlight for another grueling round of discourse.” Read the story ➤

California regents to vote on measure prompted by anti-Zionism on university websites: The governing board of the University of California system will vote today on a controversial measure to curtail political expression on websites and other official channels of university communication — a change proponents say is necessary to combat spiking antisemitism and anti-Zionism on campuses. Many professors and students of ethnic studies, which focuses on the experiences of people of color within and beyond the U.S., are rallying against the vote, calling it an attack on freedom of speech. Read the story ➤

Chaya Raichik at a news conference outside the U.S. Capitol in March 2023. (Getty)

Plus…

• Oklahoma appointed Chaya Raichik, the Orthodox Jew whose social media accounts have made her a culture-war firebrand and put her at the forefront of anti-LGBTQ+ advocacy, to advise the state on its school libraries.

  
  

• Around 1,000 Sudanese refugees in Israel scored a legal victory Monday when a court ruled that Israel must grant them temporary residency. The refugees, who fled fighting in their home country, are now eligible for health care, social rights and benefits, according to HIAS, whose Nov. 2022 petition on the refugees’ behalf led to the ruling. Our Rob Eshman wrote about the ongoing genocide in Sudan’s Darfur region last September.

  
  

• A pro-Palestinian rally outside a university career fair in California turned into a violent confrontation Tuesday after campus police barricaded the entrance to the protesters. Eight people were arrested.

ISRAEL AT WAR

Soldiers salute during a funeral Tuesday for Capt. Nir Binyamin, killed in battle in Gaza. (Getty)

The latest…

• Reuters reported that Israel and Hamas agreed in principle that an exchange of Israeli hostages for Palestinian prisoners could take place during a monthlong cease-fire, but Israeli officials on Wednesday pushed back saying there are still “big and dangerous question marks.”

  
  

• The International Court of Justice at The Hague will deliver its initial ruling in the genocide case against Israel on Friday, according to South African media.

  
  

• U.S. forces again struck the Houthis in Yemen. The war is giving the Houthis an international stage for their anti-American and anti-Israel rhetoric.

  
  

• Tal Mitnick, an 18-year-old dual American-Israeli citizen, is beginning his second 30-day sentence for refusing to be conscripted into the Israeli army.

  
  

• Israeli hostage posters at Harvard University were vandalized with antisemitic messages as students returned from winter break this week. University police are investigating the incident.

Plus: Watch a video of the Forward’s Israel correspondent, Susan Greene, talking about the mood in Israel Tuesday, after it was announced that the IDF suffered its deadliest day of the war.

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WHAT ELSE YOU NEED TO KNOW TODAY

Mark Zuckerberg, the CEO of Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram. (Getty)

🤦  An oversight panel found that Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, is failing to catch memes and innuendo promoting Holocaust denial. In one instance, a post featuring a SpongeBob SquarePants character promoting “fun facts about the Holocaust” stayed up despite multiple complaints. (JTA)

⚖️  A judge on Tuesday said there is enough evidence to charge the man accused of murdering Samantha Woll, the president of a Detroit synagogue, and ordered a trial. (AP)

🖼️  Prosecutors in New York returned two modernist drawings Nazis seized over 80 years ago to relatives of a Jewish cabaret performer killed at Dachau, who was believed to have owned at least 450 works of art … And the University of North Carolina returned a painting stolen by the Nazis to a Jewish family. (USA Today/ABC)

📜  A private collection of 60,000 ancient Yemenite Hebrew manuscripts and text fragments were donated to the National Library of Israel. (JTA)

🕍  A synagogue built in 1908 in Manhattan by Hungarian immigrants complete with stained glass windows has been turned into a luxury triplex penthouse, which can be yours for a cool $2.3 million. (NY Jewish Week)

Mazel tov ➤  To Rabbi Jay Michaelson, a Forward opinion columnist, on the publication of his new collection of short stories, The Secret That Is Not a Secret … And happy 83rd birthday to Neil Diamond. Here’s why the “Jewish Elvis” still matters.

VIDEO OF THE DAY

The Jewish festival of Tu B’shvat begins tonight at sundown. Our Rukhl Schaechter shares how to say various Yiddish phrases related to what’s known as the New Year for Trees.

Related: Ahead of the holiday, Israelis and Jews worldwide are planting trees in memory of the Oct. 7 victims.

Thanks to Rob Eshman, Arno Rosenfeld and Talya Zax for contributing to today’s newsletter, and to Beth Harpaz for editing it. You can reach the “Forwarding” team at editorial@forward.com.

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