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JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT. |
| WHAT’S DRIVING THE AMERICAN JEWISH CONVERSATION |
| | | Today: RFK Jr. defends past Nazi comments • Universities crack down on anti-Israel protests • Visiting Anne Frank’s house — in New York. |
| | | | Militants from Hamas and Islamic Jihad hand over hostage Arbel Yehud today to the Red Cross. (Getty) |
| After 482 days, freedom
Hamas released eight hostages this morning as part of the ceasefire deal, with a total of 33 people set to be freed as part of the agreement. Israel is expected to release Palestinian prisoners in exchange, but Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has paused today’s planned release after the handover of hostages in Gaza required people to walk through a crowd of masked militants. Read the story ► Three Israelis were released this morning: Agam Berger, 20, who was abducted on her first day of work at the Nahal Oz military base; Gadi Moses, the oldest hostage, at 80, to be released as part of this ceasefire, and the first man; Arbel Yehoud, 29, believed to be one of the last living female civilian hostages. (JTA)
Five Thai agricultural workers were also released: Watchara Sriaoun, 33; Pongsak Tanna, 36; Sathian Suwankam, 35; Bannawat Seathao, 27; and Surasak Lamnau, 32. (Associated Press)
In exchange, Israel is set to free 110 Palestinian prisoners, including Mohammad Abu Warda, the mastermind behind two 1996 bus bombings that killed 45 Israelis. (Haaretz)
Three more hostages are set to go free on Saturday. American Keith Siegel, 66, will reportedly be among them. His wife, Aviva, was released during a temporary ceasefire in Nov. 2023. (Times of Israel)
American Sagui Dekel-Chen, a 36-year-old whose third daughter was born after he was taken hostage, is also still being held captive. His condition is unknown. (NBC News) |
| | Orange balloons have become a symbol of the Bibas family because of the abducted children’s red hair. (Flash90) |
| Israel demanded that Hamas clarify the condition of the Bibas family — parents Shiri and Yarden, and their young sons Ariel and Kfir, who was taken captive at 9 months old and whose second birthday was this month. The Israeli government seems to be priming the public for tragedy, as Hamas was supposed to set free living children and female civilians first during this ceasefire. But Jews across the globe are holding out hope that they are still alive. “We’re all just waiting,” said a Dallas mom. “Holding our breath.” Go deeper ►
Plus… After a trip to Saudi Arabia, Steve Witkoff, the Trump administration’s Middle East envoy, visited Gaza on Wednesday, the first high-ranking U.S. official in years to visit the enclave. He then met with Netanyahu. (Haaretz, Wall Street Journal)
An Israeli law went into effect Thursday that bans UNRWA, the UN’s main agency serving Palestinians, from operating in the country. Israel previously accused the agency of working in collaboration with Hamas. (New York Times)
A far-right Polish member of the European Parliament disrupted a moment of silence for Holocaust victims by calling out what he termed the "Jewish genocide in Gaza.” The lawmaker previously disrupted a 2023 Hanukkah celebration when he used a fire extinguisher to put out a menorah. (JTA) |
| | | | President Donald Trump signing one of several executive orders on Wednesday. (Getty) |
| Combatting antisemitism
President Donald Trump signed an executive order Wednesday to combat antisemitism, which could see the deportation of international student protesters, my colleague Arno Rosenfeld reports. “Immediate action will be taken by the Department of Justice to protect law and order, quell pro-Hamas vandalism and intimidation, and investigate and punish anti-Jewish racism in leftist, anti-American colleges and universities,” stated a separate White House fact sheet about the order.
The order expands on a 2019 executive order from Trump’s first term that directed federal agencies to interpret a crucial provision of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 as covering antisemitism, and endorsed the widespread but controversial International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s definition of antisemitism, which includes many expressions of anti-Zionism. |
| | Related… Many universities have already begun to crack down on anti-Israel campus protesters. (New York Times)
More than half of the top U.S. medical schools experienced open expressions of antisemitism during last year’s graduation ceremonies, according to a new study out today. (NY Post)
Everyone seems to have plans to fight antisemitism. Few have studied what actually works. (JTA) |
| | Robert F. Kennedy Jr. at his Senate confirmation hearing on Wednesday. (Getty) |
| Cabinet hearings…
Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the nominee to lead the Department of Health and Human Services, has for years said that the COVID-19 pandemic was an “ethnically targeted” bioweapon that spared Ashkenazi Jews and Chinese people. When asked about this at his confirmation hearing Wednesday, he replied, “I didn’t say it was deliberately targeted.” Go deeper ► Kennedy, who has a history of comparing vaccine mandates to the Holocaust, also denied that he once compared the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s work to “Nazi death camps.”
One group hoping RFK Jr. gets confirmed? Conservative Christian moms who homeschool their children. (New York Times)
The Senate is set to hold a confirmation hearing today for former U.S. Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, Trump’s pick to coordinate U.S. spy agencies. She has long faced questions about her specific branch of Hindu faith, which some people refer to as a cult. (Religion News Service)
A new investigation found that in 2017, her congressional campaign hired a PR firm to suppress coverage of an alleged pyramid scheme linked to her Hindu sect. (Wall Street Journal)
Plus: After days of confusion over who it would impact, the White House rescinded its order to freeze federal grants and loans. The freeze, initially announced Monday, had left many in the Jewish community worried about the long-term effects on synagogue security and other social service needs. Go deeper ► |
| | | | | | “Anne Frank The Exhibition” at the Center for Jewish History in New York City. (Getty) |
| Secret annex recreated
Anne Frank’s secret annex in an Amsterdam home draws more than a million visitors every year. A new exhibition that opened this week in New York City features a full-scale replica of those famous rooms, and more than 100 artifacts from the Franks. “I could guess that a recreation wouldn’t conjure the precise alchemy I’d felt in Amsterdam all those years ago,” writes our contributor Stav Ziv, who visited both the original home and the new exhibit. But, she writes, “I didn’t anticipate just how compelling this one would be.” Read her essay ►
Related: A new book about Anne Frank is a “melding of biography, literary exegesis and cultural history,” writes Julia M. Klein in a review.
Mark your calendar ► Forward archivist Chana Pollack and Beth Harpaz, who manages our century-old Bintel Brief advice column, will be giving a talk about Bintel, past and present, at Woodlands Community Temple in Greenburgh, N.Y. on Sunday, Feb. 9, 2-4 PM. It’s free but the synagogue asks that you register if you plan to attend. |
| | WHAT ELSE YOU NEED TO KNOW TODAY |
| | | 🥩 A kosher steakhouse in Houston lost its rabbinical supervision after it reportedly failed to provide documentation for a particular shipment of fish. The restaurant’s owner claims he’s already lost $500,000 from private dinners and catering contracts since last week’s decision. (Culture Map)
🌿 Speaking of meat: New archaeological findings from northern Israel reveal that early humans were enjoying carb-rich, processed plant foods like acorns and water lilies as far back as 780,000 years ago, debunking the notion that our ancestors were strictly meat-eaters. (Times of Israel)
⚖️ The director of A Wider Bridge, a group that advocates for Israel in the LGBTQ+ community, is facing criminal charges over alleged sexual misconduct. He pleaded not guilty. (JTA)
📚 Former Secretary of State Antony Blinken is writing a book offering an insider’s look at critical global events during his tenure, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the war in Gaza. (AP)
🎞️ If you watched The Tattooist of Auschwitz miniseries on Peacock, you may be interested in the new documentary The Tattooist’s Son, which follows the story further. (Deadline) |
| | | | Watch: Hostage Agam Berger, freed from captivity today, reunites with her parents. |
| Thanks to Arno Rosenfeld and Jodi Rudoren 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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