| JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT. |
| WHAT’S DRIVING THE AMERICAN JEWISH CONVERSATION |
| | | Good morning. Today: UPenn bans encampments; UK Labour Party takes on the issue of Palestinian statehood; and an NFL rookie with a particularly biblical name. |
| | | | When it comes to U.S. arms sales abroad, “a system has developed that gives Israel an entirely unique standing,” writes Eric Alterman. (David McNew/Getty Images) |
| Opinion | Nothing about U.S. arms policy toward Israel makes sense. As Israel’s use of U.S. weapons in Gaza comes under increasing scrutiny — including following the revelation that Israel used a U.S.-made bomb in a much-criticized Thursday strike on a U.N. school — it’s time for an “examination of the oddness of the U.S. arms sales to Israel, now in their seventh decade,” writes Eric Alterman. “They are, after all, evidence of one the most extraordinary relationships between two nations in the history of great power diplomacy.” One of the unusual aspects of that relationship: “We frequently just give Israel the money it uses to buy weapons — not only from the U.S., but also from themselves.” Read his essay ➤
Opinion | Israeli civilians will determine Israel’s recovery from the war, not its leaders. When “a group of peace activists in purple T-shirts managed to distract a band of extremist settlers on Sunday, ensuring that dozens of trucks filled with food could get through a checkpoint without being ransacked, it felt like cause for celebration,” writes Laura E. Adkins of Jewish Women International (formerly opinion editor of the Forward). The incident was a reminder that “the devastation and destruction caused by Israel’s inept and incapable leaders will have to be cleaned up by civilians on all sides” — and that, through the war, many civilians have shown themselves ready to meet that call. Read her essay ➤
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| | A man and woman mourned the death of a loved one following Israeli bombardment in Gaza on Friday. (Bashar Taleb/AFP via Getty Images) |
| Latest on the war … The number of civilians killed in the Thursday strike on a U.N. school in Gaza remains unclear. The Associated Press found that the dead included at least nine children and three women. Separately, an AP analysis found that the number of women and children being killed in the war “appears to have declined sharply.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is set to address a joint session of Congress on July 24. In an interview with ABC, President Joe Biden said Netanyahu had heeded his concerns over Israel’s planned operations in the southern Gaza city of Rafah, saying Israel had planned to go “full bore, invade all of Rafah, go into the city, take it out, move, move with full force. They haven't done that.”
Israel declared opposition to a United Nations Security Council resolution, advanced by the U.S., that supports the Israeli ceasefire proposal Biden laid out last week; Israel’s objections include that the resolution calls for a “ceasefire” rather than a “cessation of hostilities.”
U.S. and Israeli officials estimate that half of Hamas’ fighting forces in Gaza have been eradicated during the war.
The United Kingdom’s Labour Party is expected to include a promise to acknowledge a Palestinian state — when peace talks reach an appropriate point — in its manifesto leading up to July elections.
The U.S. imposed sanctions on a Palestinian militant group, Lions’ Den, amid efforts to encourage peace in the West Bank. The sanctions are the first against Palestinians active in West Bank violence; several Israeli settlers have previously been sanctioned.
Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who is also head of the far-right Religious Zionism party, once more called for Israeli settlements to be reestablished in Gaza.
A federal judge who visited Israel as part of a delegation after Oct. 7 recused himself from a case brought by Palestinian rights activists aiming to block the Biden administration's military support of Israel. |
| | Fred Wesley, who played trombone for James Brown, is one of the composers who created music for a new concert by Black and Jewish musicians. (Courtesy of PRISM) |
| A dream of a utopian Black-Jewish music collaboration is going forward — even after the war in Gaza complicated it. After a visit to a Croatian exhibit on what the Nazis called “degenerate music,” Jewish American saxophonist Matthew Levy dreamed up a project to bring Black and Jewish musicians together in an effort to “discredit American bigotry against Blacks and Jews.” The result: a concert program that will be performed this weekend in Philadelphia and Brooklyn. In commissioning original pieces from eight artists, Levy said, he hoped to open space for them to “be honest and speak their feelings about being Black and Jewish Americans.” Read the story ➤ |
| | A single counter protester Thursday at SOAS University of London, where a pro-Palestinian encampment has been up for a month. (Guy Smallman/Getty Images) |
| It’s summer break, but there’s still news from campus … The University of Pennsylvania banned encampments on campus in new temporary rules that aim to broadly curtail protests.
Three Jewish students filed suit against UCLA, alleging that pro-Palestinian protesters kept them from accessing parts of campus.
A glass door was kicked in at the Chabad Jewish Student Center of the University of Southern California earlier this week.
A graduate student strike across the University of California system, sparked in response to administrative crackdowns on pro-Palestinian protesters, has spread to six campuses. |
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| | | | | Colts fans hope Adonai Mitchell (left) is the, uh, answer to their prayers at wide receiver. (Jonathan Bachman/Getty Images) |
| The NFL rookie with the name Jews cannot say aloud. (Or can they?): “Thou shalt not take the Lord’s name in vain, the Ten Commandments tell us,” writes our Louis Keene. “But what if the Lord’s name is lining up at wide receiver?” That’s the unexpected conundrum faced by Jewish fans of the Indianapolis Colts, who just signed rookie Adonai Mitchell. One rabbi’s feedback: There’s no real need to worry, because “it's obvious” no one is referring to a wide receiver as god. |
| | My friend is making antisemitic comments. What should I say? PS: I’m not Jewish. What to do when a left-leaning friend, who is active in diversity efforts and herself a minority, starts to parrot antisemitic talking points? “You don’t say what country you live in, but here in the U.S., we’re big on baseball. And in baseball, it’s one, two, three strikes, you’re out,” writes our Beth Harpaz, in the latest installment of our advice column, Bintel Brief. “So if you’ve reminded her a couple of times where you stand, and she keeps making these offensive statements, it’s time to end the relationship.” |
| | | | WHAT ELSE YOU NEED TO KNOW TODAY |
| | Yarden Gonen, sister of hostage Romi Gonen, was met with eye rolls during a conversation with commentator Briahna Joy Grey, who was fired from The Hill after the interaction went viral. (Julia Nikhinson/Bloomberg via Getty Images) |
| 🙅♂️ The Hill fired the co-host of its morning talk show after she rolled her eyes during an interview with the sister of an Israeli hostage. In announcing the news, Briahna Joy Gray, formerly Sen. Bernie Sanders’ campaign press secretary, accused her former employers of suppressing speech “critical of the state of Israel.” (Times of Israel)
🖼️ The San Francisco Jewish Museum left blank wall space in a new exhibit to “honor the perspectives” of seven artists who withdrew their work after making demands including “institutional divestment by the museum from companies that do business with Israel and boycotting Israel itself.” (New York Times)
🖼️🖼️ Two paintings once looted by the Nazis were donated to the Louvre by the descendants of Mathilde Javal, the artworks’ original owner. Separately, a U.S. federal judge in Chicago dismissed a case brought by heirs of a German Jewish banker, who argue he sold Vincent van Gogh’s Sunflowers under duress by the Nazis, on grounds that the court has no jurisdiction over the Japanese company that currently owns the painting. (ARTnews, The Art Newspaper)
⚖️ The family of a 6-year-old Palestinian boy who was murdered in Chicago have filed a wrongful death lawsuit against his alleged killer. The suit comes on top of criminal charges, including first-degree murder and hate crimes, that Joseph Czuba already faces in the October death of Wadee Alfayoumi. (CBS News)
What else we’re reading ➤ “Israeli settlers in the West Bank were hit with international sanctions. It only emboldened them” … “What Israel’s leaders can’t — or won’t — say about Biden’s ceasefire announcement” … “How French winemakers outwitted the Nazis.” |
| | | | Ukraine’s Jewish president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, had an emotional interaction with a Jewish D-Day veteran at a Thursday commemoration of the operation’s 80th anniversary in France. “You’re the savior of the people,” Melvin Hurwitz, 99, told Mr. Zelenskyy, adding “You bring tears to my eyes.” “No, no, no, you saved Europe,” Zelenskyy said in response. |
| Thanks to Benyamin Cohen 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. |
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