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WHAT’S DRIVING THE AMERICAN JEWISH CONVERSATION |
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In today’s edition: Trump meets with hostages and threatens Hamas • Pentagon spokeswoman under fire for antisemitic tweets • and why Jesse Eisenberg got Polish citizenship. |
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Campus unrest
Barnard College, an affiliate of Columbia University, tightened security and limited access to campus on Thursday following a bomb threat and a pro-Palestinian protest that led the NYPD to arrest at least nine people.
🎒 Catch up quick: The unrest began Wednesday when demonstrators staged a sit-in at Barnard’s Milstein Center.
After several hours, a Barnard administrator asked everyone to evacuate due to a bomb threat; many protesters stayed, and police officers moved in to clear the building. They took at least nine people into custody. It’s unclear whether any charges have been filed.
The Student Government Association condemned the arrests, accusing the school of prioritizing “optics over integrity.”
Earlier this week, the Trump administration threatened to pull over $50 million in federal contracts from Columbia and review more than $5 billion in grants, citing concerns over antisemitism on campus.
Last week, pro-Palestinian protesters stormed another Barnard building, injuring a college employee. That demonstration followed the expulsion of two students over a pro-Palestinian classroom protest.
In an op-ed, Barnard President Laura Rosenbury wrote that the expulsions “needed to be done, and we will continue to do so.”
(Sources: Chronicle of Higher Education, Columbia Spectator, Forward, Haaretz, Times of Israel)
Plus… Trump is expected to issue an executive order aimed at eliminating the Education Department, and may sign it as soon as today. The agency serves as the main federal body investigating allegations of campus antisemitism. (Forward, Wall Street Journal)
The Department of Justice is opening an investigation into the University of California system for allegedly discriminating “against employees who are or are perceived to be Jewish or Israeli.” (The Free Press)
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Freed Israeli hostages thanked President Donald Trump in the Oval Office on Wednesday. (Getty) |
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Trump and the hostages
The White House confirmed that it has been holding secret talks directly with Hamas about the release of the hostages. The talks are unprecedented, as the U.S. and Israel have long relied on intermediaries with Hamas and usually negotiated together, not separately. (Axios, JTA) Trump met with a group of freed Israeli hostages in the Oval Office on Wednesday. “We believe that you have been sent by God to release them,” said freed hostage Omer Shem Tov. (JTA)
There are 59 hostages still being held in Gaza. At least 35 are dead. (JTA)
In a social media post after the meeting, Trump called Hamas “sick and twisted,” and said that “not a single Hamas member will be safe if you don’t do as I say.” He added: “This is your last warning!” (JTA)
Hamas claimed that Trump’s threats are making it harder to finalize a ceasefire, accusing him of encouraging Israel to delay the next phase of the deal. (AP, Times of Israel)
Elsewhere in D.C. Kingsley Wilson, the Pentagon’s new deputy press secretary, has posted numerous far-right, antisemitic conspiracies — including a neo-Nazi trope about Jewish lynching victim Leo Frank and a comparison of abortion to the slaughter of Israeli babies by Hamas. Republicans are denouncing her comments and raising questions about the vetting process. (Jewish Insider, JTA, Politico)
The Senate held a hearing Wednesday on how to confront rising antisemitism. The witnesses came from diverse backgrounds, and some accused the Trump administration of elevating antisemites and embracing far-right rhetoric that could harm Jews. (Jewish Insider, U.S. News & World Report)
Dept. of Corrections: An opinion essay we shared yesterday about Trump and democracy was not by David N. Myers. It was by Yehuda Kurtzer.
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Purim celebrations in Israel, at left, and the aftermath of an Israeli airstrike in Gaza. (Getty) |
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Americans’ support for Israel has dropped to a 25-year low at 46%, while sympathy for Palestinians hit a record high of 33%, according to a new survey out this morning. (Gallup)
Opinion | This Purim, writes Michael David Lukas, it’s impossible to ignore the brutal assault on Gaza and the Book of Esther’s bloody final chapter, where the Jews don’t just survive — they massacre their enemies. In a year of devastating violence, he asks: What does it mean to celebrate survival when it comes at such a cost? Read his essay ►
Opinion | The refusal by most Haredim to serve in the Israeli military is a long-festering issue that is now set to explode with a Mar. 31 deadline looming, explains our columnist, Dan Perry.
Plus… A 17-year-old Israeli girl who was critically hurt last week in a car-ramming terrorist attack has died from her wounds. (JTA)
Jerusalem police are on high alert ahead of the first Friday prayers of Ramadan at the Temple Mount, a site long prone to tensions and past outbreaks of violence. (Times of Israel)
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Left to right: Alan Price of the Animals, Bob Dylan and Bob Neuwirth in 1965 in London. (Getty) |
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Of Bobs and Dans
Ever wanted Bob Dylan’s harmonica or the cowboy hat he wore on tour? Now’s your chance. More than 100 items from Dylan and his longtime collaborator Bob Neuwirth — the singer-songwriter who helped shape Dylan’s early career — are up for auction, celebrating a friendship that helped define a musical era. Go deeper ►
Our art critic Dan Friedman knows what it’s like to have a common name. He’s been confused for a novelist, a right-wing reporter — and now, he’s reviewing a gallery show by designer Dan Friedman. “It’s like arriving in an alternate reality,” our Dan writes, “where signs everywhere remind you that you made objects you have never seen before.” Go deeper ►
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WHAT ELSE YOU NEED TO KNOW TODAY |
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Joe Rogan hosts the most popular podcast in America. He had an antisemitic conspiracy theorist on Wednesday’s episode. (Getty) |
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🎙️ A conspiracy theorist who claimed last year that Israel was responsible for 9/11 joined Joe Rogan on the top podcast in the U.S., to peddle more unverified claims, saying that Israel was the reason Americans would never learn the full truth of the Jeffrey Epstein sex abuse scandal. (Forward)
🇵🇱 Jesse Eisenberg, fresh off his Oscar nomination for the Holocaust film A Real Pain, was granted Polish citizenship. He was eligible because his ancestors lived there before fleeing the Nazis. (Variety)
🔥 A kosher restaurant in Madrid was targeted in an attempted arson attack, raising concerns of rising antisemitism in Spain. (Algemeiner)
🪨 Ancient artifacts discovered in Israel suggest humans were making art at least 100,000 years ago, challenging previous beliefs about the origins of symbolic expression. (Times of Israel)
🎭 A revival of Fiddler on the Roof, the 1964 Broadway musical, got 13 nominations for this year’s Olivier Awards, Britain’s equivalent of the Tonys. (New York Times)
What we’re listening to ► Rescued, a new podcast about a lost cache of klezmer sheet music that was recently found and is now entering the Jewish musical canon.
What else we’re reading ► Meet the Israelis and Palestinians speaking Yiddish with each other (Haaretz) … An exit interview with former Ambassador Deborah Lipstadt, Biden’s antisemitism envoy (New York Times) … The rise of the Jewish heartthrob (Moment).
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Good news for fans of Netflix’s Shtisel (which, let’s be honest, is most of us): the new prequel series Kugel is here. This time, the story follows another branch of the Shtisel family, set in Antwerp’s Orthodox diamond district — with a few grifters thrown in. Our culture reporter Mira Fox asks: Is this an antisemite’s dream? Read her essay ►
Watch the trailer above, and stream the series on Izzy.
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Thanks to Jacob Kornbluh for contributing to today’s newsletter, and to Julie Moos for editing it. You can reach the “Forwarding” team at editorial@forward.com. |
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