Protestors stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. (Getty) |
It’s been 17 months since rioters stormed the U.S. Capitol in violent protest of the results of the presidential election. A special House select committee has interviewed hundreds of witnesses – including Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump – and watched thousands of hours of video footage from that fateful day. Tonight, at 8 p.m., we will get our first glimpse at what they’ve found. In a rare primetime session, which some people are comparing to the Watergate hearings, committee members — seven Democrats and Republican Reps. Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger — and will lay out their case. All of the major broadcast and cable networks plan to carry it live — except Fox News, which is instead opting for regular programming from hosts Tucker Carlson and Sean Hannity. That chaotic day in January 2021 exposed the fraying of our American democracy and shined a light on myriad extremists and hate groups – some with antisemitic overtones (here’s the guide we published back then). In the crowd was a man in a “Camp Auschwitz” sweatshirt (who pleaded guilty a year later to illegally entering the Capitol) and a neo-Nazi who nearly beat someone to death for declining to give a “seig heil” salute. |
A protester hangs from the balcony inside the Senate Chamber on Jan. 6, 2021. (Getty) |
Jonathan Greenblatt, CEO of the Anti-Defamation League, warned in a recent Forward OpEd and in his new book, “It Could Happen Here,” that Jan. 6 could happen again. “Perhaps instead of combusting all at once, our nation will fall into violence more gradually,” Greenblatt argues, pointing to the 2017 “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville, Virginia. “The good news is that decent, upstanding Americans far outnumber the haters and insurgents.” Read the essay ➤ Through the collective damage – both physical and psychic – emerged glimmers of hope. A group of Hasidim from New York headed south after the riots in a pickup truck stocked with $10,000 worth of energy drinks, chocolate bars and toiletries, and handed them out to the soldiers deployed to protect the inauguration and federal buildings. Aron Wieder, who was part of that mission, noted that his four grandparents were rescued by the U.S. Army during the liberation of the Dora-Mittelbau concentration camp in 1945. “I will never miss an opportunity to say thank you to you guys and what you are standing for,” he recalled telling the troops. Read the story ➤
Also: Is antisemitism on the docket? Where are the Jewish rioters now? Those and other questions answered in this analysis of the Jewish angles to the hearings.
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The Mapping Project says its goal is to map ‘institutional support for the colonization of Palestine.' |
Boston Jews say a pro-Palestinian group’s map of local ‘Zionist leaders’ is a guide to antisemitism: A Jewish arts group. A Jewish high school. A Jewish newspaper. A pro-Palestinian collective aligned with the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement has listed all these and more on an interactive map that Jewish leaders in Massachusetts and beyond say is an effort to intimidate Jews — and puts them in danger. With its list of addresses and employees of these organizations, says Jeremy Burton of the Jewish Community Relations Council “they are choosing” to “essentially point the finger at the Jewish communal infrastructure of Greater Boston as responsible for every evil under the sun.” Read the story from our partners at JTA ➤ Opinion | Now is the second-best time to talk about Black reparations: With a new California report detailing the lasting effects of slavery and white supremacy, our Los Angeles-based columnist, Rob Eshman, looks back to the post-Holocaust experience. Many Germans did not think it fair to pay for crimes they had not committed themselves, but the country believed reparations could help restore international legitimacy. By 1956, Germany was supplying 87% of Israel’s state revenue, and restitution efforts continue today. “One insight of the task force report,” Eshman writes, “is to show how the case for Black reparations, while more challenging because of the passage of time, is at least as strong.” Read his column ➤ But wait, there’s more… |
This week on our Jewish advice podcast, a quintessentially mid-30s quandary: “Grumpy Grifter” wants to know if she can opt out of the wedding-and-baby-etiquette-industrial complex. “Bachelorette parties, wedding registries, baby showers, meal trains — all those destination weddings and gifts get expensive,” Grumpy Grifter writes. “I find it sad that community support has been reduced to buying people something off an internet list or dropping a postpartum meal at their door.” Hosts Ginna Green and Lynn Harris suggest focusing on the relationships she cares most about and finding a way to give gifts that are meaningful to herself — and the celebrants. Plus: a relevant letter from the Bintel archive. |
WHAT ELSE YOU NEED TO KNOW TODAY |
Daniel Ek is the CEO and co-founder of Spotify. (Getty) |
🎧 Spotify has still not removed the majority of antisemitic content from its platform, according to a new report. The company removed 150 hours of content deemed hate speech in December after a SkyNews investigation, but content still available includes the podcasts “Burn the Jews, they will not survive this time,” “Hitler was right,” and “More gas for the Jews.” (Jerusalem Post) 🖼️ A court ruled in favor of the heirs to two paintings stolen by the Nazis. The owners, descendants of Fritz Grunbaum, a Jewish cabaret performer who died during the Holocaust, had sued a London art dealer in 2015 for return of the paintings, now valued at more than $3 million, and plan to put them up for auction. (New York Post) 📈 Young American Jews report feeling as “favorable” toward Palestinians as toward Israel, according to new findings from the Pew Research Center. Jewish educators are working to confront this dramatic generational shift in attitude by urging young adults to appreciate subtlety when considering the Middle East. (Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle) ✍️ A teenager helped his 98-year-old great-grandmother to write her memoir of surviving Auschwitz. It is now a national bestseller. (New York Times) 🥧 Mamaliga, a Romanian-Ukrainian classic, was once common at kosher restaurants and delis, but is now hard to find. Eve Jochnowitz, co-host of our Yiddish cooking videos, notes that unlike the bagel, “you can’t make a mamaliga emoji.” (Food52) 🎥 Netflix is sponsoring a mentorship program for eight Israeli filmmakers working on projects including a story about a millennial Israeli-Palestinian couple and a comedy set in the Yad Vashem Holocaust museum. (Times of Israel)
What else we’re reading ➤ President Biden’s trip to Israel has been postponed until July … A film about the daughter of the Prophet Muhammad was pulled from theaters following protests … Meet the Israeli folk singer keeping Debbie Friedman’s legacy alive.
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Director Mervyn LeRoy places a crown atop Peter Usitinov, an actor who portrayed Nero in a 1951 film. (Getty) |
On this day in history: The Roman emperor Nero died by suicide on June 9 in the year 68 after being declared a public enemy by the Roman Senate. However, the Talmud tells a different story: that Nero escaped to Jerusalem and converted to Judaism. “Ultimately, Rabbi Meir” — considered one of the greatest sages of his generation — “descended from him,” the Talmud writes. Last year on this day, we reported that a 1,000-year-old, intact chicken egg was discovered in Israel. It was accidentally cracked open while being examined.
On the Hebrew calendar, it’s the 10th of Sivan, the yahrtzeit of Wolf Wissotzky, the founder of the Wissotzky Tea Company. He died in 1904.
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The trailer for “Gabby Giffords Won’t Back Down” was just released. The documentary, from the same team that produced “RBG,” follows the former congresswoman through the decade after she barely survived a 2011 assassination attempt. The film, which will arrive in theaters next month and later in the year on CNN, will likely culminate with Giffords’ 2021 late-in-life bat mitzvah. ––– Thanks to Nora Berman, Rudy Malcom, Rukhl Schaechter, Eliya Smith and Talya Zax for contributing to today’s newsletter. You can reach the “Forwarding” team at editorial@forward.com. |
Support Independent Jewish Journalism The Forward is a non-profit 501(c)3 so our journalism depends on support from readers like you. You can support our work today by donating or subscribing. All donations are tax-deductible to the full extent of US law. Make a donation ➤ Subscribe to Forward.com ➤ "America’s most prominent Jewish newspaper" — The New York Times, 2021 |
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