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JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.

WHAT’S DRIVING THE AMERICAN JEWISH CONVERSATION

Columbia University president to testify to Congress today about campus antisemitism, Secretary of State Blinken meets with U.S. Jewish leaders to discuss Iran and Gaza, United Airlines cancels Israel flights, and who’s the yarmulke-wearing lawyer at the Trump hush money trial?

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ISRAEL AT WAR

Steven Spielberg at a ceremony last month at the University of Southern California. (USC/Sean Dube)

Spielberg’s Shoah Foundation distances itself from pro-Palestinian valedictorian: Asna Tabassum, who promoted an anti-Israel website and had her commencement address canceled, said she earned a minor in “resistance to genocide” and touted her ties to the USC Shoah Foundation, which is affiliated with the University of Southern California, where she is a student. The foundation said it was not involved in her minor and used the opportunity to decry any attempt to use the Holocaust to “dehumanize” Jews and Israelis. Read the story ➤

Can Jews sing Dayenu while there are hostages? The Passover Seder gets a post-Oct. 7 rethink: Many Seder tables will have empty seats representing victims, hostages and soldiers who are unable to return home. Dozens of rabbis and Jewish community leaders recently reimagined the Haggadah; the result of their work will be a supplement for families to use during the first major Jewish holiday since Hamas attacked Israel — an assault that itself pierced the observance of a holiday, Simchat Torah. Read the story ➤

Israeli military spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari, right, and his deputy Masha Michelson next to an Iranian ballistic missile which fell in Israel over the weekend. (Getty)

Iran’s attack…

Opinion | The head of the largest Christian Zionist organization is no friend to Israel — he wants an apocalypse there: Pastor John Hagee, the longtime head of Christians United for Israel, urged Israel to retaliate against Iran. “Not only do Christian Zionists stoke regional flames in the Middle East to bring about their messianic ambitions; they are also Christian nationalists,” writes Rabbi Jay Michaelson. Hagee “has, numerous times, said that Christian morality and Christian prophecy should dictate the policies of the United States.” Read his essay ➤

Opinion | Israel — literally — cannot afford to retaliate against Iran:The Israeli economy, normally quite resilient, has taken a beating over the months of war and protests. “Part of Israel’s military edge comes from its vast investment in technologies to deal with the type of threats seen this weekend, which come directly from a healthy and growing economy,” writes Dany Bahar, a contributing columnist. Read his essay ➤

President Joe Biden speaks with Secretary of State Antony Blinken last week at the White House. (Getty)

The latest…

• Secretary of State Antony Blinken, in a closed meeting with a dozen American Jewish leaders Tuesday, addressed concerns raised by some in the group that the U.S. is airing its disagreements with Israel too publicly, and reinforcing impressions that the divide between the nations is growing.

  
  

• The founder of Guernica, the literary magazine that published and then retracted an essay by an Israeli writer last month, says he never wanted to publish the piece in the first place.

  
  

• Sen. Tom Cotton, Republican from Arkansas, said that people should “take matters into your own hands” against pro-Palestinian demonstrators who are blocking roads.

  
  

• United Airlines, the sole U.S. carrier operating out of Ben Gurion Airport, canceled flights until further notice after this weekend’s Iran attack. The decision has stymied Passover plans for thousands. Meanwhile, El Al said it will be expanding its routes, offering twice-weekly flights to Ft. Lauderdale starting Monday.

  
  

• Mary Jane Rein managed a university Holocaust center. Now she says campus incivility about Israel drove her to a Catholic school.

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ALSO IN THE FORWARD

Gedalia M. Stern, left, and former President Donald Trump at court this week in New York City. (Getty)

Who’s the guy with the yarmulke in Trump’s hush money trial? Eagle-eyed viewers outside the court may have noticed an Orthodox attorney on Trump’s legal team. That’s Gedalia Stern, who specializes in legal cases of bribery, wire fraud, kidnapping and sex crimes. The judge in this case is closing court during parts of Passover to accommodate Stern and other attorneys, as well as any potential Jewish jurors.

Related: Lambs, sex workers and layaway deals. Here’s what the Talmud says about Trump’s hush money trial.

‘His last name was Bernstein’ | Exchange over yarmulke brings antisemitism into focus in murder trial:Any notion that Judaism would take a backseat in Samuel Woodward’s trial for the murder of Blaze Bernstein dissolved in those five words, delivered at the end of the trial’s third day. With the remark, a second front in the courtroom showdown opened: Was Bernstein, who the prosecution claims was stabbed to death because he was gay, also a victim of antisemitism?

Related: Our Louis Keene has been in the courtroom each day of the trial. Read his dispatches here.

J.K. Rowling didn’t want to be called a Holocaust denier. That backfired: The Harry Potter author, in a post on social media, alleged that Nazis did not target trans people. People immediately corrected the record, including a Jewish journalist in Britain named Rivkah Brown. Rowling threatened legal action and demanded that Brown publicly apologize, which she did. Brown said she was concerned that the incident, and others like it, “effectively gives carte blanche to wealthy Holocaust deniers.”

Plus…

• The two Republicans leading the charge to oust House Speaker Mike Johnson over emergency foreign aid bills — including one for Israel — have both been accused of trafficking in antisemitism.

  
  

• House Republicans on Tuesday sent to the Senate articles of impeachment against Alejandro Mayorkas, the homeland security secretary. The impeachment proceedings were laced with a layer of antisemitism, our senior columnist, Rob Eshman, wrote back in January.

  
  

• He outdueled Sandy Koufax to win the greatest Jewish pitching showdown of all time. Here’s an appreciation of Ken Holtzman, who died this week at 78.

NEW FROM THE FORWARD

WHAT ELSE YOU NEED TO KNOW TODAY

Minouche Shafik, president of Columbia University, at a 2023 commencement ceremony. (Getty)

🏫  The president of Columbia University, Minouche Shafik, is expected to testify today about campus antisemitism in front of the same congressional committee which previously saw the presidents of Harvard and the University of Pennsylvania stumble. (New York Times)

Related: Here’s a sneak peek at what Shafik will say

💨  The Louisiana Legislature is considering removing using gas as a method to execute death row inmates just months after adding it to the toolkit. A group called Jews Against Gassing is lobbying for the change. (BR Proud)

💻  Elon Musk’s X, formerly known as Twitter, is a thriving hub for Nazi support and propaganda, with paid subscribers sharing speeches by Adolf Hitler or content praising his regime, according to a review. (NBC News)

🙏  A Muslim student who wanted to pray during lunchtime lost a court fight Tuesday against a London school that had banned prayer on campus. The judge said the student knew and accepted the rules when she enrolled in the school. (AP)

Mazel tov ➤  To author Oren Kessler whose book, Palestine 1936: The Great Revolt and the Roots of the Middle East Conflict, won the Sami Rohr Prize in nonfiction.

Shiva call ➤  Roberta Karmel, the first woman named to the Securities and Exchange Commission, died at 86.

What else we’re reading ➤  Future of legendary Hasidic cantor at storied synagogue uncertain after injury … In time for Passover, the first Ukrainian-language Haggadah goes to print … Ethiopian Jews are planning to host a 4,000-person Seder.

VIDEO OF THE DAY

It’s days before Passover, which can only mean one thing: Jewish a cappella groups are dropping new songs in time for the holiday. Above is this year’s entrant from Six13, a group based out of New York. It’s called Matza Mia!, and is an homage to the ABBA classic.

Thanks to Jacob Kornbluh 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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