Biden headed to Israel + Supreme Court to hear religious freedom case today

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Jewish leaders relieved after France's presidential election, Florida school district removes Purim book with two dads, book explores Leonard Cohen's Yom Kippur War tour, and remembering Orrin Hatch.

THE WEEK IN POLITICS

Our senior political correspondent, Jacob Kornbluh, on what’s happening in Jerusalem, Washington, and beyond…

President Joe Biden is expected to travel to Israel in the coming months, the White House said on Sunday, following a phone call with Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett. Biden first visited Israel 49 years ago – in 1973 – and met with then-Israeli prime minister Golda Meir.

The timing of the trip could benefit both men politically. Bennett recently lost his Knesset majority and could be facing early elections, so a visit from the president of the United States could help boost his stature. Biden could also use the visit to bolster support among Jewish voters – his approval rating among Jews has fallen to 63% from a high of 80% last summer – before November’s midterm elections, when his party is projected to suffer heavy losses.

Bennett’s 60-member coalition is facing a test of survival when the Knesset reconvenes May 8. The Islamist Arab Party Ra’am suspended its membership in the coalition after clashes between Israeli police and rioters on the Temple Mount last week. And the prime minister himself faced media scrutiny over the weekend about public money being spent on his family and his home in Raanana, which has turned into his official residence because the Balfour Street complex in Jerusalem is undergoing renovation.

The United Nations Security Council is slated to discuss the violence at the holy sites during its monthly meeting on the Middle East later this morning. In a briefing to reporters on Sunday, Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid accused Hamas of “hijacking” religious activities at the Al-Aqsa Mosque during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. And the United Arab Emirates has pulled its airlines out of a May 5 fly-by event for Israel’s Independence Day because of the situation.

In Ohio: The campaign of Rep. Shontel Brown is pushing back against an attempt by her progressive rival, Nina Turner, to gain ground with Jewish voters in a rematch primary in Cleveland and its suburbs. Brown’s campaign manager said Turner had recently refused to condemn the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movement against Israel, called Turner’s comments in a recent Forward article about “dark money” from pro-Israel groups an “antisemitic trope,” and touted Brown’s relationship with Jewish leaders as “based on trust, respect, and shared values that was developed over many years.”

Shiva call ➤Former Sen. Orrin Hatch, who died on Saturday at 88, wore a mezuzah around his neck for more than four decades, wrote a catchy Hanukkah song with Jeffrey Goldberg of The Atlantic, and admired Jewish megastar and actress Barbra Streisand. He also sat in for then-Vice President Joe Biden on the dais during Benjamin Netanyahu’s controversial joint address to Congress against the Iran deal in 2015.

ALSO FROM THE FORWARD

Leonard Cohen sings to troops during the Yom Kippur War. (Photo by Yaakovi Doron)

Leonard Cohen changed Israel during the Yom Kippur War. Did it change him? In October of 1973, Leonard Cohen left his partner and his 1-year-old son to fly to Israel – it’s never been entirely clear why or what his plan was. Enter Matti Friedman’s “Who By Fire: Leonard Cohen in the Sinai,” the first book-length account of Cohen’s Yom Kippur War tour. Speaking with soldiers who heard Cohen perform, and reviewing portions of a previously unpublished manuscript by Cohen himself, Friedman concludes that the trip changed his artistic trajectory. Read our review ➤

Opinion | Hate crimes and antisemitism are rising in NYC. The governor’s plan will make things worse: Rikers Island is awash in dysfunction, unsanitary conditions and violence. Meanwhile, New Yorkers are scared of rising attacks on Asians and Jews. Alana Sivin, a Jewish woman of color and former public defender who is running for the state legislature, says that Gov. Kathy Hochul’s plan to change the bail system would incarcerate more Black and brown New Yorkers but do nothing to address the rise in crime. Read her essay ➤

But wait, there’s more…

WHAT ELSE YOU NEED TO KNOW TODAY

Marine Le Pen lost to President Emmanuel Macron in Sunday's election in France. (Getty)

🇫🇷 Jewish groups expressed relief at Marine Le Pen’s defeat in the French presidential runoff on Sunday, but warned of a new battle ahead. “This is no victory,” said one community leader. “The progress she has made is frightening.” (Haaretz)

🏈 The Supreme Court will hear arguments today in the case of a high school football coach who was fired after praying on the 50-yard line after games. It is a key test of separation of church and state under the court’s expanded conservative majority. (New York Times, AP)

🚫 A Florida school district removed “Purim Superhero,” a 2013 picture book about a Jewish kid with two dads, from schoollibraries. This follows a national controversy after Tennessee officials removed “Maus,” Art Spiegelman’s Pulitzer Prize-winning Holocaust graphic novel, earlier this year. (JTA)

🥫 Kosher food certification is a $24 billion global market – and it’s projected to grow 11.5% by 2025. Industry experts say this is in part due to people who don’t keep kosher nonetheless buying the products. “People have a lot of reverence for a religious set of eyes, which cannot be compromised,” said Jamie Geller, a chef and cookbook author. “So they really know that whatever is in the package is actually in the package – nothing more, nothing less.” (Food Dive)

🎙️ Nearly 80 years ago, a Jewish singer named Madeline Forman dreamed of being the next Judy Garland. At 95, thanks to the discovery of long-buried recordings, she’s finally getting recognized. Her songs have now been downloaded hundreds of thousands of times. “I’m still here,” Forman said, “and I’m still singing. And I’m smiling all the time.” (JTA)

🏆 Jon Stewart received the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor at the Kennedy Center Sunday night. Stewart was also celebrated for his activism on behalf of veterans and 9/11 emergency workers. “Comedy doesn’t change the world, but it’s a bellwether,” Stewart said. “We’re the banana peel in the coal mine.” (Reuters)

What else we’re reading ➤ Rep. Jamie Raskin, a Maryland Democrat, described some Republican House colleagues as acting like “members of a religious cult" and said he’s “consulting deprogrammers” … The climate crisis is increasingly a refugee crisis, faith resettlement groups said … Gwyneth Paltrow funded a historical signboard at her Jewish ancestors’ cemetery in Poland.

ON THE CALENDAR

Gestapo agents were arrested and put in a cell after the liberation of Liège in October, 1944. (NARA National Archives)

On this day in history: The political police of Nazi Germany, known as the Gestapo — short for Geheime Staats Polizei, or Secret State Police — was formed on April 25, 1933. Hermann Göring, the Nazi leader who was its architect, intended to combine police agencies from across Europe that would, from the shadows, eliminate left-wing and “Jewish elements” from politics. Adolf Hitler would later name Göring minister of the interior, recognizing the Gestapo as a legitimate police agency and giving Göring executive powers to openly carry out the persecution and murder of Jews in the Holocaust.

On the Hebrew calendar, it’s the 24th of Nisan when, according to the Bible, the Jewish people celebrated their first Shabbat after crossing the Red Sea.

EVENT TONIGHT

PHOTO OF THE DAY

Nora Berman, our deputy opinion editor, arrived in Poland this morning where she’ll be spending the week participating in the March of the Living, likely the final one with Holocaust survivors in attendance. Read a preview of her trip here ➤

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Play today’s Vertl puzzle (aka the Yiddish Wordle)

Thanks to Nora Berman, PJ Grisar, Jacob Kornbluh, Amanda Rozon and Angelie Zaslavsky for contributing to today’s newsletter. You can reach the “Forwarding” team at editorial@forward.com.

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