|
| Don’t miss our latest newsletter, Antisemitism Decoded,your guide to help separate the signal from the noise about antisemitism and understand current debates over Jewish safety. Sign up now ->> |
|
| | | WHAT’S DRIVING THE AMERICAN JEWISH CONVERSATION |
| | Good morning. Today: Gaza aid sites close amid ongoing turmoil • New U.S. sanctions against the International Criminal Court • Looking forward to the Tony Awards. |
| | | | New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani. (Yuki Iwamura/AP Photo/Bloomberg/Getty Images) |
| Zohran Mamdani once said mayoral candidates should pledge to boycott Israel. Now, he’s not so forthcoming. Mamdani, 33, has made striking gains on former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo in New York City’s Democratic mayoral primary. One thorn in the progressive state representative’s side: scrutiny over his record on Israel.
Our political reporter, Jacob Kornbluh, reports that in 2020, Mamdani told activists to demand participants in that year’s contentious mayoral primary stake out a clear position on the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement. Now, he may be evading similar demands. “Asked Thursday about the unearthed video” of Mamdani’s 2020 remarks, Jacob writes, Mamdani’s “campaign told the Forward that Mamdani ‘has been crystal clear from day one of this campaign that his focus is squarely on lowering the cost of living for working and middle-class New Yorkers and delivering a safer city for everyone.’” Read the story ➤ |
| | | | A flyer shows deceased Israeli hostages Gadi Haggai and Judith Weinstein Haggai. (Bryan R. Smith/AFP/Getty Images) |
| Opinion | Don’t be grateful two hostages’ bodies were recovered. Be furious. The Israeli government called the recovery of the remains of Judi Weinstein Haggai and Gadi Haggai, an Israeli-American couple killed on Oct. 7, “closure.” “But it is no such thing,” writes our Israel-based columnist, Dan Perry. “The Haggais’ delayed funeral is an unmitigated tragedy, and yet another reminder that the nearly 60 hostages who remain in Gaza, many of whom are believed to be dead, have been abandoned by a shockingly cynical and inhumane Israeli leadership.” Read his essay ➤ |
| | Children gather at a meal distribution point in Gaza on June 4. (Eyad Baba/AFP via Getty Images) |
| Plus… The embattled Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, the U.S. and Israel-backed effort whose efforts to distribute aid in Gaza have been marked by violence and organizational upheaval, closed all distribution sites today, telling Gaza residents to keep away “for their safety.” (Times of Israel)
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu confirmed that Israel armed a criminal gang in Gaza with the aim of fomenting opposition to Hamas; the gang has been accused of looting humanitarian aid trucks. (Times of Israel)
The war is “accomplishing nothing. Nothing,” said Tamir Pardo, a former Mossad head who recently signed a letter advocating against the Israeli government’s plan to expand the war in Gaza. “I’m not talking about those people who are living or dying in Gaza,” Pardo said. “I’m talking about Israel. From Israel’s point of view, it’s a waste of time.” (Atlantic)
The United States placed sanctions on four International Criminal Court justices, citing the court’s issuance of warrants for Israeli officials including Netanyahu, following an earlier round of sanctions overseen by Secretary of State Marco Rubio. The ICC called the action “a clear attempt to undermine the independence of an international judicial institution.” (Guardian)
An upcoming United Nations conference on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict aims “to keep the two-state solution alive,” said Secretary-General Antonio Guterres. France, which is co-chairing the conference, is considering taking steps against Israel over its conduct in Gaza, with President Emmanuel Macron saying “We will ramp up pressure in coordination with the Americans to obtain a ceasefire.” (AP, Times of Israel)
|
| | | | Operation Mincemeat, on Broadway. (Julieta Cervantes) |
| The Tony Awards will be presented on Sunday. Find a full list of nominees here.
‘Operation Mincemeat’ is a musical farce about fooling Hitler — with nothing much to say about Nazis. Perhaps the most Jewish show up for Broadway honors on Sunday night, Operation Mincemeat is “a glitzy, riotous affair with box-stepping, bedazzled blood splatter and a biplane with a swastika-shaped propeller in the finale,” writes our PJ Grisar. But it omits a rich Jewish backstory to the titular plot, which involved deceiving the Nazis via a beached human corpse, and “minces words when it comes to the Nazis and their ideology.”
|
| | Just how Jewish is Betty Boop?BOOP! The Musical, a surprise darling of the Broadway season, brings everyone’s favorite cartoon flapper to the stage. There’s a rich Jewish backstory to her, too: “She was created by Max (Majer) Fleischer, a Krakow-born Jew from Brooklyn, who together with younger brother Dave founded the Fleischer Studios in 1929,” wrote Roy Schwartz in 2022. “The Fleischers were pioneers of animation and at the time the only major competitors to Walt Disney.” |
| | And: Today is the 81st anniversary of D-Day. (It’s a particularly evocative moment where I’m writing this newsletter, on a visit to friends who live just outside Dartmouth, in the United Kingdom — a spot that played a crucial role in the lead-up to the operation.) Here are three great reads to mark the occasion: |
| | | | WHAT ELSE YOU NEED TO KNOW TODAY |
| | President Donald Trump and Chancellor of Germany Friedrich Merz in the Oval Office of the White House on Thursday. (Demetrius Freeman/The Washington Post via Getty Images) |
| In Washington, D.C… Speaking of D-Day, President Donald Trump suggested to German Chancellor Friedrich Merz that the anniversary of the Allied invasion of Normandy was “not a pleasant day for you.” “In the long run, Mr. President, this was the liberation of my country from Nazi dictatorship,” Merz responded. (Independent)
The Supreme Court decided unanimously in favor of a Catholic charity seeking a religious tax exemption, in a case Forward contributor Michael A. Helfand wrote might have a “far-reaching impact” for the world of nonprofit Jewish institutions. (NPR, Forward)
The American Jewish Committee spoke out against the Trump administration’s new ban on travelers from 12 countries, which Trump said was issued in response to last weekend’s Boulder, Colorado, attack on marchers raising awareness for Israeli hostages. “We are concerned that the broad Proclamation issued June 4 seeks to address this alarming issue in a way that lacks a clear connection to the underlying problem and will have an adverse impact on other longstanding immigration and refugee policies,” the group said. (JTA)
Everywhere else… The suspect in the Boulder attack was charged with 28 counts of attempted murder in state court; he also faces federal charges, filed earlier this week. Organizers for Run for Their Lives, which aims to raise awareness of the Israeli hostages still in Gaza, say participation is up after the attack, which targeted the movement’s Boulder chapter. (Reuters, JTA)
A judge blocked the Trump administration’s ban on Harvard students participating in the U.S. student visa program. Separately, Harvard defended its choice to issue an honorary degree last week to a California professor who supports boycotts against Israel, but said it does not endorse her views. (Guardian, Harvard Crimson)
The pro-Israel watchdog CAMERA fired its CEO, who had led the organization for more than three decades. (Forward)
Touro Synagogue in Newport, Rhode Island, has been closed to all visitors by its New York-based landlord, Congregation Shearith Israel, in the latest evolution of long-standing conflicts over the oldest synagogue in the U.S. (Providence Journal)
French politicians unanimously backed a bill to posthumously promote Alfred Dreyfus, the Jewish army captain who became a cause célèbre after he was falsely accused and convicted of treason in the late 19th century, to the rank of brigadier general. (Guardian)
Shiva call ➤ Marina von Neumann Whitman, who in the 1970s became the first woman ever to serve on the White House Council of Economic Advisers, died at 90.
What else we’re reading ➤ “Trump tries to blame the Colorado attack on ‘open border’ policies” (Atlantic) “As the Lebanese Army tries to assert its authority in the war-torn south, calls to disarm Hezbollah are rising” (New Yorker) “The Jewish dealer who bought art hated by the Nazis – and created one of the greatest collections ever seen” (Guardian) “I was the only Jewish kid in my class, and I felt like an outcast” (Atlantic)
|
| | | | Two weeks after Sarah Milgrim was killed in a shooting outside the Capital Jewish Museum, her family spoke out in their first televised interview, with CBS. “She was, in all her heart, working towards finding a way for everyone to live together peacefully,” said her mother, Nancy. |
| Thanks to Benyamin Cohen for contributing to today’s newsletter, and to Adam Langer for editing it. You can reach the “Forwarding” team at editorial@forward.com. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| | | | | | | | | Support independent Jewish journalism |
| Become a member and ensure the Forward’s journalism remains free for all. |
| | | |
|
|
|
| |
|
