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JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT. |
| WHAT’S DRIVING THE AMERICAN JEWISH CONVERSATION |
|  | | Today: 83% of Jewish students faced campus antisemitism • South Carolina pulls rabbi’s sermon from website • Jew-ish notes from the Grammys • Remembering Marion Wiesel • And much more. |
| | MR. NETANYAHU GOES TO WASHINGTON |
|  | Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Donald Trump in the Oval Office in Jan. 2020. (Getty) |
| Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu arrived in Washington, D.C., on Sunday, checking into Blair House, the official guest residence for visiting dignitaries. This marks his 14th stay there, the most by any foreign leader.
Netanyahu is set to meet with President Donald Trump Tuesday at the White House, marking Trump’s first meeting with a foreign leader since resuming office. Their discussions are expected to focus on the current ceasefire with Hamas, strategies to counter Iran and efforts to expand diplomatic relations with Arab nations, including potential normalization with Saudi Arabia.
Negotiations are set to begin this week on a full Israeli withdrawal from Gaza following a six-week pause in fighting and the release of at least 38 hostages. The current agreement began on Jan. 19; 18 hostages have been released so far in four exchanges for Palestinian prisoners.
Our senior political reporter, Jacob Kornbluh, updates us from a gathering of Jewish House Democrats on Sunday who warned that Netanyahu is likely to impede those talks for his own political purposes. Go deeper ►
Tentative schedule… Monday: Netanyahu is expected to meet with Steve Witkoff, Trump’s Mideast envoy, to discuss the forthcoming second phase of the hostage-for-ceasefire deal. The two also met last week in Israel. (Haaretz)
Tuesday: Trump and Netanyahu are set to meet at 6 p.m., followed by a late dinner at 9 p.m. They might also hold a press conference with families of the hostages. (Times of Israel)
Wednesday: Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth and Congressional leaders are set to meet with Netanyahu. (Times of Israel)
More on the war… Trump invited Jordan’s King Abdullah II to the White House later this month, their first meeting since Trump suggested Egypt and Jordan take in Palestinian refugees from Gaza. (Times of Israel)
Jordan joined the other 21 members of the Arab League on Saturday in denouncing the idea. (AP, Times of Israel)
Opinion | The Arab League has mostly been ineffectual in its efforts for peace since its founding in 1945, writes our Tel Aviv-based columnist, Dan Perry. But it now has an opportune moment “for a difficult-but-achievable task of freeing the Palestinians of Hamas.” In place of the terrorist group, he argues, they should restore the Palestinian Authority to power in Gaza, in what he describes as “the least bad option.” Read his essay ►
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| | |  | After his firing from the White House, Darren Beattie, pictured, worked for former Rep. Matt Gaetz. (Getty) |
| Secretary of State Marco Rubio is expected to appoint a former White House speechwriter — fired in 2018 for speaking at a white nationalist conference — to a top State Department position. Trump gave Darren Beattie, who is Jewish, a new job in 2020: leading the preservation of Nazi sites in Europe. The Anti-Defamation League’s Jonathan Greenblatt called it “absolutely outrageous” at the time. Beattie has also suggested that George Soros, the Holocaust survivor and billionaire Democratic donor who has long been the target of antisemitic tropes, was behind attempts to remove Trump from office. Go deeper ►
Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth on Friday banned observances of Pride Month, Black History Month and other cultural celebrations at the Pentagon, claiming they “erode camaraderie and threaten mission execution.” Initial news reports included Holocaust Remembrance Day on the list of banned observances, but the Department of Defense website no longer lists it. (CBS News)
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| | |  | Taylor Goldsmith, on guitar, and brother Griffin Goldsmith opened the 67th Annual Grammy Awards on Sunday in Los Angeles. (Getty) |
| The 67th Grammy Awards went on with the show despite the recent devastating fires in Los Angeles, functioning as both a benefit for and celebration of the city. My colleague, culture reporter PJ Grisar, jotted down some notes while watching.
In his opening monologue, host Trevor Noah gave props to Jewish brothers and L.A. natives Taylor and Griffin Goldsmith of the band Dawes. The brothers lost their homes, instruments and studio in the fires, but gave back by raising money for nearly 100 other families. The duo kicked off the ceremony joined by Sheryl Crow, St. Vincent, John Legend and Brittany Howard, performing, what else, Randy Newman’s “I Love L.A.”
Kendrick Lamar won five Grammys, including Record and Song of the Year, for his Drake diss track “Not Like Us.” Drake filed a lawsuit against Universal Music over the track, alleging that, among other things, it alludes to his “Jewish heritage,” and prompted antisemitic smears online.
Something you didn’t see (or saw too much of): Ye — the artist formerly known as Kanye West and perhaps most known for his antisemitic behavior — showed up to the red carpet with his wife, Bianca Censori, the latter of whom was dressed in little more than a sheer minidress. It was first reported that they were escorted out, but TMZ said the couple left of their own volition before the ceremony. (TMZ)
Former President Jimmy Carter won a posthumous Grammy for narrating an audiobook of his Sunday school lessons. (AP)
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| |  | | |  | Protesters outside of Glen Echo Amusement Park. (Courtesy Amy Bookbinder) |
| Black History Month
A new documentary explores the 1960 protests against segregation at Maryland's Glen Echo Amusement Park, founded as a white-only establishment — a racist policy maintained when two Jewish brothers bought the place in 1955. Among the protesters? Fellow Jews. “This complicated story demonstrates that Jewish people are not and have never been a political monolith,” writes our Olivia Haynie. “And that occasionally Jews have played a role in the systemic racism that has plagued America since its founding.” Go deeper ►
Plus: In a new film, a son faces up to his Jewish mother’s mental illness. Our reviewer calls it “unmissable.”
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| | WHAT ELSE YOU NEED TO KNOW TODAY |
|  | Marion Wiesel, who died Sunday, at a 2007 event with Oprah Winfrey and her husband, Elie. (Getty) |
| 🎒 Roughly 83% of Jewish American college students have experienced or witnessed antisemitism firsthand since Oct. 7, 2023, according to a new study from the Anti-Defamation League and Hillel International. (Times of Israel)
🛑 The University of Michigan suspended a pro-Palestinian student group for two years, citing violations of conduct during protests advocating for divestment from companies associated with Israel. (Detroit Free Press)
🇦🇺 Vandals sprayed antisemitic graffiti on cars and homes in Sydney over the weekend, marking the latest in a spate of attacks on Australia’s Jewish community. (Reuters)
🎬 The producers behind No Other Land, the Oscar-nominated documentary about Israeli military demolitions in the occupied West Bank, are releasing the movie independently after not being able to find a studio to distribute it. (IndieWire, X) Related: Read our interview with the filmmakers.
🎤 A South Carolina rabbi’s Holocaust memorial speech was pulled from a local PBS website for being too “political” — at the request of the state Holocaust Council that invited him to speak. (JTA)
Shiva calls ► Marion Wiesel, the wife of Elie Wiesel and a fellow Holocaust survivor, died at 94 … Rabbi Elazar Teitz, a longtime leader of the Jewish community of Elizabeth, N.J., died at 89. |
| | |  | The second season of Mo, a dramedy about a Palestinian American family living in Houston, debuted this weekend on Netflix. Watch the trailer above, and catch up on the first season, which our senior columnist Rob Eshman says “should be required viewing for every Jew.” |
| Thanks to PJ Grisar 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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