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WHAT’S DRIVING THE AMERICAN JEWISH CONVERSATION

Today: The Bibas family • Rubin “Hurricane” Carter • Timothée Chalamet • The Gulf of America • And Kanye West says, on second thought, he’s not a Nazi.

ISRAEL AT WAR

Israelis wave the national flag as the convoy of cars transporting the bodies of the four Israeli hostages, including the Bibas family, arrives Thursday in Tel Aviv. (Getty)

‘A wrenching day’

The white cars moved slowly, their cargo of coffins unbearably heavy, their silence louder than sirens. Inside, the bodies of Shiri Bibas; her two small sons, Ariel and Kfir; and Oded Lifshitz, a retired journalist — all hostages stolen from their homes on Oct. 7, returned in death.

The convoy drove past Nir Oz, the kibbutz where they had been taken. Crowds lined the road as the cars passed — somber, standing with Israeli flags and some whispering the national anthem.

• Jews grieved together on social media, where an orange square and orange hearts — referencing the redheaded Bibas family — quickly spread as symbols of heartbreak. (Forward)

  
  

• At Hostage Square in Tel Aviv, mournful music played as large monitors showed video clips of the four hostages in happier times. (Times of Israel)

  
  

• Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called it “a wrenching day, a day of grief.” (CNN)

  
  

• Argentinian President Javier Milei, who has close ties with Israel, is set to declare a national day of mourning. (Times of Israel)

  
  

• On Saturday, Hamas is expected to release six hostages in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners. The group may include the terrorist who murdered Ari Fuld, an American-Israeli father of four, in 2018. “It’s a punch to the gut,” said his brother, Hillel. (i24News)

A woman cries as she stands among Israeli flags in Hostage Square Thursday in Tel Aviv. (Getty)

Elsewhere in the war…

Opinion | Trump’s plan to displace 2 million Palestinians from their homes in Gaza would be fatal for Israel, because it runs counter to Jewish morality, argues Sruli Fruchter, a contributing columnist and rabbinical student. “Who will Israelis and Israel’s Jewish supporters be if we back another people’s expulsion — especially after experiencing the pain of similar traumas throughout our own history?” Read his essay ►

Plus…

• The Knesset passed a bill barring entry into Israel to Oct. 7 deniers and those supporting IDF war crimes prosecutions, expanding a 2017 law targeting boycott supporters. (Haaretz)

  
  

• Israel charged five soldiers with severely abusing a Palestinian detainee; the attack sparked widespread condemnation and calls for accountability. (Wall Street Journal)

THE TRUMP ADMINISTRATION

President Donald Trump signed a proclamation renaming the Gulf of Mexico as the Gulf of America while aboard Air Force One en route to New Orleans earlier this month. (Getty)

Opinion | The White House is excluding the Associated Press from news briefings because it won’t use the name “Gulf of America” in its reporting, the preferred term of President Trump. It’s a fight our Israel-based columnist, Dan Perry, knows all too well: He worked for the AP in the Middle East. “Words shape narratives, influence perceptions and, in the context of international reporting, can either bridge cultural divides or deepen existing chasms,” he writes. Read his essay ►

Ashley St. Clair, a Jewish right-wing social media influencer, claims that Elon Musk fathered her son — then told her to keep it secret. Musk has acknowledged fatherhood of a dozen children with three different women. Could this be his first Jewish child?

- From our Sponsor, Friends of Mishpacha Orphanage Odessa

CULTURE

Sam Chaiton, left, and Terry Swinton, right, with Rubin “Hurricane” Carter, center, in Toronto. (Courtesy)

Sam Chaiton’s new memoir, We Used to Dream of Freedom, has two seemingly unrelated narratives: the trauma of growing up as the child of Holocaust survivors, and the battle to free Rubin “Hurricane” Carter, the boxer who served close to 20 years in a New Jersey prison for a crime he didn’t commit. Chaiton, a 74-year-old author and playwright, writes “that the trajectory of my parents’ lives was scarily similar to Rubin’s,” citing the “unjustness of their incarceration based entirely on racism rather than reason.” Go deeper ►

Italian artist AleXsandro Palombo painted a mural in Milan honoring Holocaust survivors, restoring it after each time it was vandalized in recent months. Now, the artwork has a permanent home in Rome’s Holocaust Museum. Known for his provocative style — like depicting Holocaust victims as Simpsons characters — Palombo uses art to challenge indifference. “Visual art,” he said, “can become a powerful shield against all this.” Go deeper ►

Plus: What should a mourner do while sitting shiva? A rabbi offers four suggestions.

WHAT ELSE YOU NEED TO KNOW TODAY

Brookings Hall on the campus of Washington University in St. Louis. (Wikimedia)

On campus…

🏫  Since Oct. 7, 2023, Washington University has quietly offered Jewish college students an under-the-radar option: midyear transfers from hostile campuses instead of waiting until fall. (JTA)

🎒 The New York State Education Department is pulling public funding from two Brooklyn yeshivas and directing parents to enroll their children elsewhere next year, citing the schools’ failure to meet required secular education standards. (JTA)

💻  The Massachusetts Teachers Association will remove certain materials from its online educational resource after concerns were raised about antisemitic and anti-Israel content. (State House News Service)

And elsewhere…

🪦  New York City Mayor Eric Adams is standing by his comparison of Hitler’s Mein Kampf to calls for his resignation, though he says his remarks were “misconstrued.” On Tuesday, he visited the Ohel, the grave of the Lubavitcher Rebbe, a tradition followed by many politicians hoping to win Jewish support. (Forward, JTA)

🥓  U.S. Rep. Don Bacon, Republican of Nebraska, said he would co-chair a bipartisan task force aimed at fighting antisemitism. In 2022, the congressman, who is not Jewish, co-chaired the “caucus for the advancement of Torah values.” (Algemeiner, Forward)

🇮🇱  Several staffers have resigned from Sen. John Fetterman’s office, with one ex-employee saying the job with the Democrat from Pennsylvania had become “just working on Israel all the time.” (Intercept)

💨  Members of Louisiana’s Jewish community and a group called Jews Against Gassing are calling on the state to stop the execution of two death row inmates next month using gas, claiming it is inhumane and evokes echoes from the Holocaust. (Haaretz)

🏒  In hockey’s 4 Nations Face-Off, Team USA boasts multiple Jewish standouts. The final is tonight against Canada, which snubbed its Jewish star. (Forward)

😮‍💨  “After further reflection I’ve come to the realization that I’m not a Nazi,” Kanye West posted Wednesday to social media. (X)

Shiva call ► Gerd Stern, a Beat-era poet and the founder of an influential 1960s artists’ collective, died at 96.

VIDEO OF THE DAY

In case you missed it: 60 Minutes profiled Jewish heartthrob Timothée Chalamet, covering his rapper alter ego in high school (“Lil’ Timmy Tim”) and his Oscar-nominated turn as Bob Dylan in A Complete Unknown. Watch the interview above, and then catch him at the Academy Awards on March 2.

Thanks to Louis Keene and 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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