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JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.

WHAT’S DRIVING THE AMERICAN JEWISH CONVERSATION

UC Berkeley under investigation over campus antisemitism, Jewish film festival in Canada canceled over security concerns, racist song inspired popular Purim tune, Congress to honor “Ghost Army” that fooled Hitler, and the secret Jewish history of James Bond.

ISRAEL AT WAR

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, left, and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer. (Getty)

Lunch date: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is tentatively scheduled to speak via video at a lunch gathering today of Senate Republicans. It comes nearly a week after Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, a Democrat from New York, called for new elections in Israel.

Conference call: Schumer’s speech last Thursday highlighted the growing alienation between Israel and the Democrats, which serves as the political home for most American Jews. After a flurry of pushback, Schumer, the highest-ranking Jewish elected official in the U.S., spoke on Tuesday with an umbrella group for large Jewish organizations.

Post-mortem: While some on the call said they remain “distressed,” others said they were “grateful” for Schumer’s leadership and allyship to Israel. “Schumer spoke out of his honest love and concern for Israel and its future, even when doing so was difficult,” Americans for Peace Now said in a statement. “More Jewish leaders should do so.”

Jared Kushner in the Oval Office in 2020. (Getty)

The latest…

• Jared Kushner said “Gaza’s waterfront property could be very valuable,” adding that Israel should move civilians from Gaza to the Negev desert.

  
  

• The IDF says troops have so far killed more than 90 Hamas gunmen during its ongoing raid at Gaza City’s Shifa Hospital, and detained more than 160.

  
  

• Sen. Bernie Sanders, an independent from Vermont, praised Canada’s decision to stop selling weapons to Israel, adding that “the U.S. should not provide another nickel for Netanyahu’s war machine.”

  
  

• Eylon Levy, who has become somewhat of a celebrity as the prominent English-language spokesperson for Israel since the war began, was suspended after complaints from the UK government.

  
  

• A Jewish film festival in Ontario scheduled for April was abruptly postponed after security concerns arose.

Students at the University of California, Berkeley hang out in the office of Professor Ron Hassner, whose own “sleep-in” inspired them to start their own. (Courtesy)

On campus…

• Jewish students and faculty across multiple campuses, mostly in California, launched a “sleep-in” protest Tuesday night to inspire Jews to take nonviolent action and pressure administrators to better deal with antisemitism at the schools.

  
  

• The University of California, Berkeley on Tuesday became the fifth school that a congressional House Committee is investigating for antisemitism on college campuses.

  
  

• A Harvard Law School student group is hosting a conference this week featuring an NYU student leader who blamed Israel for the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks.

On the charts…

• Israel has been downgraded from a “liberal democracy” to an “electoral democracy” for the first time in over 50 years, according to a new index. It’s “primarily due to substantial declines in the indicators measuring the transparency and predictability of the law, and government attacks on the judiciary,” the report says.

  
  

• Meanwhile, the annual World Happiness rankings were revealed on Wednesday. Israel continued to rank high, dropping one spot to fifth place — though the findings predate Oct. 7 and the subsequent war. The U.S. dropped eight spots to 23rd.

FESTIVAL OF PURIM

Participants dancing at a Purim party last year in Berlin. (Getty)

Opinion | To truly tap into the spirit of Purim, we must hold two themes from the megillah — Jewish existential fear and Jewish violence: “The Torah offers us multiple models of ancestors who recognized real vulnerability and took defensive action, while maintaining their seriousness about the moral risk that force could lead to unwarranted violence,” writes Rabbi Aviva Richman. “When viewed through the lens of these other parts of our tradition, Purim can teach us that existential fear and distress about killing others need not cancel each other out. On the contrary, these fears together should strengthen us to act responsibly.” Read her essay ➤

You should probably be aware of that Purim song’s racist backstory: Mishenichnas Adar, marbim b’simcha is sung at schools and shuls around the world. There are a few different tunes for it, but you may be surprised to learn that one of those tunes comes from “Pick a Bale of Cotton,” a once-popular folk song of African American origin that became controversial in the latter half of the 20th century. Among the reasons: One version of the English lyrics included the N-word. Read the story ➤

Read all of our Purim coverage.

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ALSO IN THE FORWARD

Sean Connery is not Jewish, but the actor likely cast as the new James Bond is. (Getty/iStock)

What would a Jewish James Bond look like? Aaron Taylor-Johnson, a Jewish British actor, has reportedly been offered the role of the fabled secret agent. Upon hearing the news, our PJ Grisar put his imagination to work: A young James “Yaakov” Bond (ne Goldband), born to a family of orthopedists, obtains a kosher gadget that converts any lift into a Shabbat elevator, making for a thrilling sequence of vertical brawling. Working title is Quantum of Shabbos or License to Kvell. Read the story ➤

Related: The secret Jewish history of James Bond

Opinion | Why Jews should support a TikTok sale:As antisemitic and pro-Palestinian “rhetoric has surged on the platform following the terror attacks of Oct. 7 and the ensuing war, TikTok has removed crucial transparency tools,” making it harder “to understand the extent of — and eventually curb — the hate speech rampant on its platform,” writes Laura E. Adkins. “Things have only gotten worse, as new evidence has emerged about the extent to which the Chinese government leverages social media in ways that are harmful to our democracy.” Read the story ➤

NEW FROM THE FORWARD

WHAT ELSE YOU NEED TO KNOW TODAY

A public menorah on display last December in Kyiv, Ukraine. (Getty)

🇺🇦  Many Ukrainian Jews have left over two years of war. But others are still invested in rebuilding their communities. “Of course we struggle with anxieties,” one local said, “But somehow we got used to it, we adapted, and we live.” (JTA)

🪖  During World War II, the U.S. sent 1,100 sound engineers, radio broadcasters, fashion designers, artists, actors and theater set designers masquerading as a combat force more than 30 times its actual size to fool Hitler. On Thursday, that “Ghost Army” is set to receive the Congressional Gold Medal. (Washington Post)

🛩️  A Muslim American man was put on a no-fly list after he refused to become an informant for the U.S.. The Supreme Court ruled unanimously Tuesday that he can sue the government. (New York Times)

🫄 No more peeing on a stick. A Jerusalem-based company has developed a pregnancy test that uses saliva instead. (Times of Israel)

What else we’re reading ➤  Keeping kosher in the age of AI … From apps to labyrinths, walking increased as a spiritual tool during COVID-19 … A Nazi-hunting couple’s audacious scheme to take down a top SS officer.

VIDEO OF THE DAY

Happy 35th birthday to Alex Edelman, one of our favorite Jewish comedians. His Broadway show Just for Us will be available to stream starting April 6 on Max.

Thanks to Susan Greene 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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