WHAT’S DRIVING THE AMERICAN JEWISH CONVERSATION

Today: The Bibas family • Bernie Sanders • Ben & Jerry’s • Gal Gadot • Debra Messing • The Washington Wizards • And the world’s oldest Holocaust survivor died at 113.

OUR LEAD STORY

Milbank Hall at Barnard College in New York City was the site of a violent pro-Palestinian protest Wednesday night. (Getty)

Campus unrest

Pro-Palestinian protesters stormed Barnard College’s Milbank Hall on Wednesday, injuring a college employee and prompting new security restrictions. The demonstration, which followed the expulsion of two students over a pro-Palestinian classroom protest, marks the most serious escalation on campus this year.

Why it matters: Nationwide campus tensions over the Israel-Hamas war triggered clashes, resignations and political scrutiny at elite universities. At Barnard, an affiliate of Columbia University, the administration’s swift crackdown signals a shift toward stricter enforcement.

What’s next: Barnard has restricted campus access and scheduled a meeting with protesters for later today, but leaders warn further disruptions won’t be tolerated. “Their disregard for the safety of our community remains completely unacceptable,” said Laura Rosenbury, the school’s president.

Related…

• New York Gov. Kathy Hochul ordered Hunter College to remove job listings for two Palestinian studies positions, following criticism from pro-Israel groups. (Forward)

  
  

• Australia’s universities unanimously adopted a new definition of antisemitism that includes calling for the elimination of Israel. (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

From our Sponsor, Institute for Israel and Jewish Studies

ISRAEL AT WAR

The Empire State Building was lit up in orange Wednesday to honor the memories of Shiri Bibas and her two redheaded sons, Ariel and Kfir. (Getty)

Loss, and looking ahead

Hamas today returned the bodies of four Israelis: Itzhak Elgarat, Tsahi Idan, Shlomo Mantzur and Ohad Yahalomi, and Israel released more than 600 Palestinian prisoners. This marks the final exchange of the first phase of a fragile ceasefire that is set to end on Saturday. (JTA)

• An official with the Israeli Defense Forces said on Thursday that Israel won’t withdraw from the Philadelphi Corridor in Gaza, potentially throwing a truce into question. (AP, Times of Israel)

  
  

• There are 59 hostages still in captivity, about half of them believed to be dead. (AP)

  
  

• Landmarks around the world — including the Empire State Building in New York City and the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin — were lit up in orange on Wednesday night to honor Shiri, Ariel and Kfir Bibas, the Israeli mother and redheaded sons killed in captivity in Gaza. (JTA)

A woman stands among mourners in Tel Aviv Wednesday as they watch the funeral for the Bibas family on a large screen. Her poster reads in Hebrew: “Sorry you were neglected. Sorry you were abandoned. Sorry.” (Getty)

Opinion | “Embedded in Yarden Bibas’ Wednesday eulogy for his wife and young sons was a line that could be a whole prayer,” writes our senior columnist, Rob Eshman. “Standing before the single casket that held their three bodies, he said, ‘Guard me, so I don’t sink into darkness.’”

Opinion | President Trump shared an A.I. video of a gauzy and gold “Trump Gaza” resort. To a certain population — including Trump’s domestic supporters and to many Israelis — it will be profoundly compelling, argues Alex Lederman.

Opinion | Trump may soon bless an Israeli plan to annex the occupied West Bank, with some allies saying the move mirrors the U.S.-Puerto Rico relationship. That comparison doesn’t hold up, writes our columnist Dan Perry.

Plus…

• Republican Congressional staffers were told to refer to the occupied West Bank by its biblical name, Judea and Samaria. (Axios)

  
  

• Only a third of Democrats view Israel favorably, a sharp drop from recent years, per a new Gallup poll. In contrast, 83% of Republicans hold a positive view. (JTA)

  
  

• Quotable ► “They say it’s always darker before dawn, so I hope that this terrible place we are in now really leads us to the change we all seek. The light will win.” — Israeli actress Gal Gadot in a new interview, speaking about the war.

WHAT ELSE YOU NEED TO KNOW TODAY

The entrance of the ice cream shop inside the Ben & Jerry's factory in 2021 in southern Israel. (Getty)

🍨  Ben & Jerry’s namesake founders are interested in buying back the brand from corporate giant Unilever. The two sides have been fighting since 2021, when the ice cream maker said it would halt sales in the occupied West Bank. (Bloomberg)

🧑‍⚕️  Sydney police have charged a nurse after a viral video surfaced showing her and a colleague allegedly threatening Israeli patients and boasting about denying them treatment. (JTA)

🇺🇦  Israel is facing blowback after it voted with the U.S. against a United Nations resolution condemning Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. (JTA)

⚖️   The trial began for a Chicago landlord accused of fatally stabbing a six-year-old Palestinian American boy in a hate crime, a week after the Hamas attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. (New York Times)

🇧🇿  Belize is deporting three men, including a leader of Lev Tahor, back to Guatemala after detaining them at the border. The extremist Jewish sect, long accused of child abuse and forced marriages, has repeatedly relocated to evade authorities. (Times of Israel)

💰  The Anti-Defamation League and JLens, a financial firm, are launching what they describe as the first exchange-traded fund (ETF) that invests in S&P 500 companies based on their support for Jewish causes. (BNN Bloomberg)

🏀  The Washington Wizards hosted a Jewish Heritage Night Wednesday. The team lost to the Portland Trail Blazers 129-121. (ESPN)

Shiva calls ► Rose Girone, a knitting legend and the world’s oldest Holocaust survivor, died at 113 … Renen Schorr, the founder of the Sam Spiegel Film School in Jerusalem, died at 72 … Michelle Trachtenberg, an actress who starred in Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Gossip Girl, died at 39.

What else we’re reading ► A Jewish man called the desecration of hundreds of graves a shanda. It was his mitzvah to do something about it. (New York Times) … How a small group of Syrian Jews were able to travel back to their homeland (JTA) … Hitler wanted to kill him because he’s Jewish. Putin wants to kill him because he’s Ukrainian. (Kyiv Independent)

VIDEO OF THE DAY

In case you missed it: In the latest episode of Finding Your Roots, actress Debra Messing sees for the first time a photo of her first cousins twice removed who died in the Holocaust. Oh, and she also discovered that Sen. Bernie Sanders is her distant cousin. “Are you kidding me? Bernie Sanders?!” Messing exclaimed. “No way! Oh my gosh. That is mind-blowing.” Watch a clip above, or stream the whole episode on PBS.

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