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Happy 96th birthday to Dr. Ruth! 🎂 Now, on to today’s news: Netanyahu to address Congress, Delta to resume flights to Tel Aviv, Jews for Jesus shifts focus to Israel and hires CEO who served in IDF, a trip to a Marx brothers festival, and Wisconsin has a brisket bandit.

 ISRAEL AT WAR

Relatives and friends of Israelis hostages gathered at a rally Monday in Jerusalem. (Getty)

The hostages…

• Four more hostages held in Gaza since Oct. 7 are believed dead, the IDF said Monday. The revelations mean that more than a third of the 120 hostages are dead. Here is a list of the hostages killed in captivity.

  
  

• The news drew an immediate plea to make a deal for the release of the remaining hostages. A protest broke out at the IDF headquarters in Tel Aviv Monday night, with hundreds of demonstrators blocking traffic on the highway.

The latest…

• Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was set to address Congress on June 13, but that coincides with the second day of Shavuot, and so a new date is being sought. Sen. Bernie Sanders, who called Netanyahu a “war criminal” over the weekend, said he won’t attend the speech.

  
  

• Bushfires sparked by Hezbollah rockets raged overnight in northern Israel, with emergency services straining to control the blazes.

  
  

• Vandals scrawled pro-Palestinian messages outside the law office of a Jewish member of the University of Michigan Board of Regents. This is the second time he was targeted: Last month, as his family was asleep, his home doorbell app obtained footage of a stranger wearing a kaffiyeh over his face walking up to the front door.

  
  

• Police arrested 70 pro-Palestinian protesters who refused to vacate the lobby of the Israeli consulate in San Francisco.

  
  

• After a backlash, a Vancouver comics festival apologized for excluding a Jewish artist over her past service in the IDF.

  
  

• Delta is set to resume daily nonstop service from JFK to Tel Aviv on Friday. The flights had been suspended since the start of the war.

President Biden arriving at the airport in White Plains, New York, ahead of a campaign event Monday. (Getty)

Opinion | Protesters want a ceasefire. Why won’t they speak out in support of Biden’s plan for one? “After President Joe Biden announced his three-part plan for a ceasefire and hostage release on Friday, I visited the campus of UCLA, where I was overjoyed to see thousands of students demonstrating for Hamas and Israel to accept the deal. Their sea of signs read, ‘Hamas: Take the Deal!’ and ‘Bibi: Say Yes!’” writes our senior columnist, Rob Eshman. “I’m kidding. There was nothing. No one. Bupkis.” Read his essay ➤

From the “Wait, what?” Dept.: A rally to combat antisemitism scheduled for later this month in Manhattan is getting mixed reactions from Jewish leaders. The event is sponsored by a group whose mission is to convince Jews that Jesus is the Messiah.

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ALSO IN THE FORWARD

Claudia Sheinbaum was elected the new president of Mexico, the first woman and the first Jew to hold that position. (Getty)

Opinion | I’m a Mexican Jew. I wish Claudia Sheinbaum would embrace the complexity of our shared heritage:Sheinbaum’s election as Mexico’s new president, “a Jewish leader in a nation of nearly 100 million Catholics should be inspiring, an opportunity to display the rich history of Mexican Jewry and the diversity of the Jewish diaspora more broadly,” writes Ben Raab, a student at Yale. “Instead, her tortured cultural balancing act feels all too familiar.”

Nudniks, nude performers and a Nobel winner have one thing in common — they all love the Marx Brothers: At Marxfest, a six-day celebration of the Jewish brothers’ act that took the world by storm with their joyful chaos, devotees from across the country gathered to pay tribute. Our PJ Grisar was on the scene to witness academic lectures, walking tours and even a risqué burlesque revue that showed off a lot of Harpo, Groucho and Chico.

WHAT ELSE YOU NEED TO KNOW TODAY

Aaron Abramson is the new CEO of Jews for Jesus, the first with an Israeli background. (Courtesy)

✝️  Jews for Jesus has shifted a lot of its focus to Israel, where it now has 60 staff members. Indeed, the organization’s new CEO, Aaron Abramson, served in the Israeli army and is the first Israeli to lead the organization. (JTA)

⚖️  The man who shot and wounded two Jewish men last year in Los Angeles as they left separate synagogues pleaded guilty on Monday. He faces up to 40 years in prison. (CBS News)

🇦🇷  The president of Argentina, who is not Jewish, has a surprising devotion to Judaism and Israel. For many in his country, that pride is fraught with peril. (AP)

📺  ChaiFlicks, a streaming service focusing on Jewish content, is partnering with the Yiddish Book Center for a Yiddish programming deal, including an oral history project with Leonard Nimoy. (Deadline)

💰  An anonymous donor bequeathed $260 million to Israel’s Bar-Ilan University, earmarked for science and technology development. The school says it is the largest donation it has ever received. (Times of Israel)

What else we’re reading ➤  Holocaust museums debate what to say about the Israel-Hamas war … Machine learning confirms unique status of some Talmudic tracts … Wisconsin has a brisket bandit.

VIDEO OF THE DAY

Zili Wenkert, an 83-year old Holocaust survivor in Gedera, Israel, has been waiting for news about her grandson Omer Wenkert, who was abducted by Hamas on Oct. 7. In the video above — in Yiddish with English subtitles — she shares that she’s already prepped his favorite dish, schnitzel, and put it in the freezer in anticipation of his return. She also shares the recipe.

Thanks to PJ Grisar, Louis Keene, Lauren Markoe, Jodi Rudoren and Talya Zax 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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Reporting from the ground in Israel and campuses takes resources. Support the news that matters to you with a monthly donation.