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WHAT’S DRIVING THE AMERICAN JEWISH CONVERSATION

Today: Oct. 7 survivor dies by suicide, donations to Harvard drop 15% during year of protests, Park Slope Food Coop accused of antisemitism, Saturday Night Live tackles the war in Gaza, and much more to start your week.

ELECTION 2024

Doug Emhoff, the second gentleman, speaks to Jewish voters on Sunday in Southfield, Michigan. (Getty)

Campaign trail mix


Doug Emhoff, the second gentleman, questioned how Jewish Americans could support former President Donald Trump. In a speech to Jewish voters in Michigan on Sunday, Emhoff pointed out that Trump repeatedly engaged in antisemitic tropes, dined in 2022 with Holocaust denier Nick Fuentes, and has said that Jews would in large part be to blame if he loses the election. “It’s so vexing to me that any Jew supports him,” Emhoff said. “He foments antisemitism everywhere he goes. He does not care about us.” Go deeper ►


David McCormick, Pennsylvania’s Republican nominee for Senate, praised a self-described Christian nationalist who has trafficked in antisemitic tropes and attended the Jan. 6 Capitol riot, as a role model for demonstrating “strength and moral courage,” according to audio obtained exclusively by the Forward. Go deeper ►


Plus…

ISRAEL AT WAR

The Israeli military hit bank branches across Lebanon overnight to target Hezbollah‘s finances. (Getty)

Blindly supporting Israel is not a sign of true friendship, U.S. Ambassador to Japan Rahm Emanuel said on Sunday, countering Republican criticism that President Joe Biden’s opposition to some tactics and policies of Israel’s right-wing government indicates insufficient support for the country. “You have to be honest when Israel is wrong.” Go deeper ►


The latest…

  • Shirel Golan, who survived the massacre at the Nova music festival, died by suicide on her 22nd birthday. Her family says she suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder. (Times of Israel)


  • Secretary of State Antony Blinken is heading to the Middle East today to push for diplomatic solutions to the fighting in Gaza and Lebanon. (NBC News)


  • Ronen Bar, the chief of Israel’s Shin Bet, was in Cairo Sunday to revive hostage negotiations now that Yahya Sinwar, the Hamas leader, is dead. (Times of Israel)


  • Amos Hochstein, a senior adviser to President Biden, is meeting today with Lebanese officials in Beirut about a ceasefire. (Reuters)


  • Israel has given its demands for a truce in Lebanon, which include access to airspace “to engage in ‘active enforcement’ to make sure Hezbollah doesn’t rearm and rebuild.” (Axios)

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Yahya Sinwar, the Hamas leader killed last week. (Getty)

Opinions…


Opinion | Sinwar, Sukkot and what Netanyahu needs to do now: “The remarkable news that Israel had killed Hamas chief Yahya Sinwar broke in the middle of a Jewish holiday, just like the horrific massacre Sinwar orchestrated last Oct. 7,” writes our editor-in-chief Jodi Rudoren. “If Netanyahu does the right thing,” the hostages “could be home before the holiday ends.” Read her essay ►


Opinion | With Hezbollah and Iran, war is Israel’s only reasonable option: “In theory, we should all be pacifists,” writes contributing columnist Sruli Fruchter. “At the same time, idealism cannot substitute for reality. Iran and Hezbollah pose existential threats to Israel, and military means are the best way to guarantee Israel’s safety. Denying that accomplishes nothing — except endangering Israel’s existence.” Read his essay ►

Tune in: The latest episode of our new podcast, Make Art Not War, just dropped. Host Libby Lenkinski chats with Mira Awad, an Arab Israeli singer, who has merged art with activism. Listen to it now, and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.

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ALSO IN THE FORWARD

Ta-Nehisi Coates has been criticized for his new book about the Middle East conflict. (Getty)

Why we should listen to Ta-Nehisi Coates even if we may disagree with him: The acclaimed author’s new book — which compares Israel’s treatment of the Palestinians to the Jim Crow South — warns against the dangers of mythologizing the past. “When people in the Jewish community rush to defend a fictionalized perfect Jewish state instead of responding with calls to do better,” writes our Olivia Haynie, “it is a disservice not only to the Palestinians who have been displaced and killed by Israeli policy, but to ourselves.” Read her essay ►


Related: “The historic alliance between Blacks and Jews has completely broken down,” writes CNN’s Van Jones in an opinion essay. He offers five paths to bringing the communities back together.


Switching gears ► Oct. 21 is “Back to the Future Day” because it’s the day when the movie’s characters travel in time. It’s my favorite film, and I wrote an essay about how it inspired me while I was sitting shiva for my mom. My wife and I are attending a special screening tonight at the local movie theater.

WHAT ELSE YOU NEED TO KNOW TODAY

Pro-Palestinian demonstrators protest during Harvard’s graduation ceremony in May. (Getty)

On campus…


📉  After a tumultuous year of campus protests over the war in Gaza, donations to Harvard dropped 15%. “Our university will emerge stronger from this time — not in spite of being tested, but because of it,” said the school’s president. (Bloomberg, Harvard Crimson, WSJ)


🏕️  Officials at Northwestern University and UC Berkeley removed sukkahs erected on their campuses built by pro-Palestinian Jewish students, which had signs on it reading “Gaza solidarity sukkah” and “Stop arming Israel,” because the students did not get permission and violated other campus policies. (Chicago Tribune, San Francisco Chronicle)


✍️  The dean of the Berkeley School of Law at the University of California, writing in an opinion essay, called on other college officials to condemn students who praise Hamas. (NY Times)


🎒 A new Louisiana law requires the Ten Commandments be displayed in every public school classroom. Opponents claiming it violates the separation of church and state will plead their case today in front of a federal judge. (AP)


And elsewhere…


🍉  Several Jewish members of the Park Slope Food Coop in Brooklyn filed a complaint with the state alleging that the grocery has “has devolved into a hotbed of antisemitic and anti-Israel hate.” (NY Post)


Related: This summer we visited the Coop, where members were debating whether or not to boycott Israel.


🛣️  An electronic billboard in a Jewish suburb of Chicago displayed anti-Israel messages. The billboard company says its sign was hacked, and investigators are looking into the matter. (NBC Chicago)


Shiva calls ► Yehuda Bauer, a prominent Holocaust scholar in Israel, died at 98 … Yigal Calek, the founder of the London School of Jewish Song, died at 84. Watch the group perform in 1991 at Lincoln Center.


What else we’re reading ► The grandchildren of Holocaust survivors are creating art that makes new meaning from ancestral trauma … What training puppies is teaching a group of monks about God, life and love … The Jewish quarterback at Brigham Young University, a Mormon college, has a new nickname: BYJew.

VIDEO OF THE DAY

Emil Wakim, a new Saturday Night Live cast member with family in Lebanon, talked about why people are less afraid of him because he’s a Christian Arab and the hypocrisy of some progressive young Americans when it comes to the war in Gaza. Watch it above.

Dept. of Corrections: In Wednesday’s edition of this newsletter, we mentioned that the president and CEO of Keshet, a prominent Jewish LGBTQ+ organization, would be stepping down after 24 years. Her name is Idit Klein, not Ida Klein.

Thanks to Jacob Kornbluh and Julie Moos 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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