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JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.

WHAT’S DRIVING THE AMERICAN JEWISH CONVERSATION

Televangelist says Iran attack is sign of the end times, how Batman creators are helping a young Israeli hostage, HIAS lays off 12% of U.S. staff, popular fashion brand accused of antisemitism, and a Jewish comedian looks to break an obscure baseball record.

IRAN’S ATTACK

A man on Monday walks past a mural drawn by the "Grafitiyul" graffiti art group depicting President Joe Biden dressed as "Captain America,” along a street in Tel Aviv. (Getty)

The weekend attack marked the first time Iran, which has been involved for years in a shadow war with Israel, launched a direct military assault on the Jewish state. Iran fired some 300 drones and missiles, most of which were intercepted thanks to the help of allies including France, the U.K., the U.S. and even Jordan, the Arab kingdom next door.

The White House is framing the weekend’s military response as a net positive and urging Israel to stand down to prevent an escalation of the conflict.

Opinion | In 1991, Iraq attacked. Israel didn’t retaliate. Is Netanyahu capable of the same choice? During the first Gulf War, Saddam Hussein launched a barrage of missiles at Israel, aiming to provoke the country. Had Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir taken the bait, Israel’s involvement would have fractured the American-led coalition. But Shamir stood down under American pressure, helping to avert a much broader regional crisis. Larry Cohler-Esses, who was a reporter in Israel as that saga unfolded, sees many parallels between that crisis and the choices facing Israel now — with one exception. “Whether they agreed with him or not, most Israelis had faith that Shamir would make crucial strategic decisions based exclusively on his view of the nation’s best interest,” Cohler-Esses writes. “Few have a similar confidence in Netanyahu.” Read his essay ➤

Opinion | A pivotal moment for Iran — but also for Gaza: “By not retaliating, Israel could recover something of the moral high ground and global sympathy that existed in the days after Hamas’ Oct. 7 massacre — sympathy that has been buried under the rubble of Gaza because of Netanyahu’s apparent indifference to the civilian death toll and broader humanitarian crisis,” writes Tel Aviv-based Dan Perry, the author of two books on Israel. Read his essay ➤

Iran’s attack draws Israel and US closer together after weeks of growing tension:President Joe Biden and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have spoken throughout the Israel-Hamas war, but in recent months, there was some debate and disagreement on those calls. Now, however, Biden is shifting into diplomatic overdrive to isolate Iran, and Israel is leveraging reinvigorated diplomatic support. Read the story ➤

"We should follow and have Israel’s back in this situation,” said Sen. John Fetterman. (Getty)

Plus…

• Sen. John Fetterman, a Democrat from Pennsylvania who has become an outspoken supporter of Israel since Oct. 7, said on Sunday that with a common enemy in Iran, it would be “astonishing” if U.S. citizens don’t support Israel.

  
  

• Congress is under pressure to pass an Israel aid package after the Iran attacks. Speaker Mike Johnson left unclear whether the security package would also include aid for Ukraine.

  
  

• “It’s antisemitic to make Israeli aid contingent on funding Ukrainian Nazis,” Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, Republican from Georgia, wrote on X, referring to Russian propaganda about Ukraine.

  
  

• Former President Donald Trump claimed that Iran’s attack on Israel would not have occurred if he were in office.

  
  

• Televangelist John Hagee, the founder of Christians United for Israel, said that Iran’s missiles are the prophetic start of the “Gog and Magog” war from the Bible.

  
  

• This weekend’s Iranian attack may be the end of this round of conflict or the beginning of a wider war. Here’s what could happen next.

ISRAEL AT WAR

A Jewish student watches a pro-Palestinian rally on Columbia University’s campus in November. (Getty)

Opinion | The growing panic about antisemitism isn’t a reflection of reality: Forward columnist Jay Michaelson argues that much of the recent increase in antisemitism is due to the war in Gaza and does not reflect broader peril for American Jews. “The most obvious explanation for the current eruption is not a grand meta-narrative of American or European history,” he writes, “but rage at an ongoing war.” Read his essay ➤

Counterpoint: Jews who blame Israel for antisemitism are only helping antisemites, argues Sruli Fruchter in an opinion essay.

Opinion | I’m a Jewish college student. I wish external activists were promoting education, not confrontation: Lauren Haines, a junior at the University of Michigan, shares her experience at a recent BBYO convention where Israeli activist Noa Tishby talked to teens about entering their freshman year of college. “Instead of speaking to the crowd about the excitement of their upcoming journey, she incited fear of their pro-Palestinian peers, told them to expect antisemitism from their classmates and anointed them as the designated warriors of the Jewish people.” Read her essay ➤

Related…

• A number of Jewish students and Hillel directors say a new ADL “report card” about campus antisemitism was a “massive oversimplification” and “misleading.”

  
  

• Harvard filed a motion in court on Friday to dismiss a lawsuit filed by six Jewish students that alleged the school failed to address “severe and pervasive” antisemitism on campus.

Ofri Bibas Levy, the aunt of Ariel Bibas, pleads for her nephew’s release in November. (Getty)

Plus…

• More than 50 writers, artists and editors associated with the Batman character have signed a letter to the Egyptian and Qatari ambassadors in Washington, urging them to press for the release of a young Batman fan who is among the hostages held by Hamas in Gaza.

  
  

• Thousands of Israelis were using mind-altering substances when Hamas attacked a desert music festival on Oct. 7. Now, scientists are studying the ravers to determine the effects of such drugs at a moment of extreme trauma.

  
  

• The theater charity group Broadway Cares donated $400,000 to four Israeli aid organizations after coming under fire for its contributions to Gaza relief.

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ALSO IN THE FORWARD

Yehuda Levi plays a charismatic, guru-like rabbi in Fire Dance. (Shlomo Gelber)

Eroticism and faith merge in a haunting TV series about a married rabbi and a troubled young woman:Fire Dance, a new eight-part series on ChaiFlicks, centers on a Hasidic rabbi and the young woman who works in his home. Like many of the women who flock around him (the rabbi also leads a sewing workshop for neurotic and unhappy women), she interprets his compassion as personal. Which is not surprising, considering the rabbi has a reputation as a womanizer. Our critic says it’s “one of the most haunting, even mystical and, in the end, compelling works that I’ve seen in a long time.”

Plus…

• HIAS, the Jewish refugee advocacy group, laid off 12% of its U.S. workforce after discovering errors that led to “unsustainable” spending.

  
  

• A Tennessee court ruled that Jews have a religious liberty right to an abortion. Law professor Michael A. Helfand explains why that matters in a new opinion essay.

  
  

• In the latest edition of our weekly antisemitism newsletter (sign up here!), Arno Rosenfeld takes a look at a new Pittsburgh group that’s fighting antisemitism and donating to local candidates.

  
  

• Turns out the book of Genesis discusses income tax. Here’s the secret Jewish history of Tax Day.

NEW FROM THE FORWARD

WHAT ELSE YOU NEED TO KNOW TODAY

Rescue workers sift through the rubble after the Jewish community center was bombed in 1994 in Buenos Aires, killing 85 people. (Getty)

🇮🇷  An Argentine court ruled that Iran and Hezbollah were behind the 1994 bombing of a Jewish community center in Buenos Aires, a landmark development that may open the door to international legal action. (JTA)

👗  Executives at fashion brand Brandy Melville shared Hitler memes and antisemitic messages in a group chat, according to a new documentary on HBO. One screenshot shown in the film features a skeletal woman wearing a sash that reads “Miss Auschwitz, 1943.” (New York Times)

🎬  An Israeli journalist wrote a magazine article in 1983 that served as the basis for Top Gun. When the sequel came out in 2022, the journalist’s family sued the studio, claiming it infringed on their copyright. A judge has now ruled in favor of the studio. (Variety)

🎞️  A new film opening today tells the story of how 12 Jews survived the Holocaust hidden by a maid in a Nazi officer’s basement. (Times of Israel)

⚾  This baseball season, someone is attempting to break an obscure record: the most ceremonial opening pitches thrown by one person in one baseball season. He’s a Jewish comedian hoping to raise money for the Make-A-Wish Foundation. (NY Jewish Week)

What else we’re reading ➤ Meet the internet provocateur who is riding rage over Israel to online prominence … When a Trump rally feels like a tent revival … How these 29 last names became a cheat code for researchers surveying American Jews.

VIDEO OF THE DAY

Classical violinist Itzhak Perlman shared with us — in Yiddish! — his favorite Passover recipes, including potato salad with schmaltz. Watch the interview with Perlman, then see us make those dishes in the video above.

Thanks to Jacob Kornbluh, Arno Rosenfeld, Rukhl Schaechter 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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