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WHAT’S DRIVING THE AMERICAN JEWISH CONVERSATION |
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Good morning. Here’s the latest on the conflict to start your day:
There’s more news below. First, an internal debate is brewing within the Republican party that has some American Jews worried. |
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In a two-hour testy interview, Tucker Carlson and Sen. Ted Cruz debated U.S. support for Israel. (YouTube/The Tucker Carlson Show) |
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How Tucker Carlson and Ted Cruz’s biblical bickering explains the MAGA divide on Israel
Tucker Carlson’s fiery two-hour interview with Sen. Ted Cruz this week wasn’t just cable drama — it was a live-wire display of the growing rift on the right over whether the U.S. should intervene in Iran, reports my colleague Louis Keene. Viral moment: One exchange in particular — a 2-minute and 26-seconds long confrontation — has racked up millions of views on social media. Carlson, who has the ear of President Donald Trump and is a leader of the MAGA movement’s isolationist wing, pressed Cruz: Why keep sending American tax dollars to Israel, a foreign country?
Christian divide: The two — one Evangelical, one Episcopal — argued about the meaning of a particular Bible verse to bless Israel. Was it referring to biblical-era Jews and their descendants or the modern state of Israel and its government?
Context: The conversation erupted into a fight over the Make America Great Again movement, and whether the most fervent keeper of its flame is Mr. Trump’s original base and the isolationism that animated it or the Republicans who back whatever action he takes in the moment.
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Opinion | To some Christian Zionists like Cruz and Mike Huckabee, the U.S. ambassador to Israel, a showdown between Israel and Iran is the fulfillment of a crucial biblical prediction. And it relates to the Book of Esther, writes Tristan Sturm. Read his essay ►
More on Trump’s base… The Republican party is clashing over two conflicting pledges — avoiding foreign wars and stopping Iran from getting a nuclear bomb. “A direct strike on Iran right now would disastrously split the Trump coalition,” said Jack Posobiec, a right-wing activist. (New York Times)
As his base fractures over a possible Iran strike, Trump dismissed any signs of dissent, saying, “My supporters are more in love with me today” than ever — despite concerns from some MAGA allies that military action would betray his “America First” stance. (AP)
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A tattoo depicting the assassination attempt on President Donald Trump is visible on the arm of Stewart Rhodes, the founder of the Oath Keepers, a far-right group. (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images) |
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How far-right antisemitism in the U.S. shapes Israel-Iran debate
Even as Republicans adopted far-right positions on issues like immigration or transgender rights, the party seemed to sequester hostility toward Jews a safe distance from actual policymaking. But as our Arno Rosenfeld explains in the latest edition of his Antisemitism Decoded newsletter, there is now a comfort among some in the right-wing to criticize both Jews and Israel.
“This growing trend points to one of the dangers in relying on the Trump administration to lead the fight against antisemitism,” he writes. While Trump has taken the kind of aggressive action against universities that Biden did not, “the vanguard of Trump’s political movement is fueled by the kind of resentment, skepticism of minority rights and conspiracy theories that have historically proven to be a toxic combination for Jews and their political priorities.” |
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More on potential U.S. involvement… President Donald Trump said Iran still wants to resume talks with the U.S. and even offered to send a delegation to the White House — but he warned that time for diplomacy is “very late,” adding, “why didn't they negotiate two weeks ago?” (Axios)
Trump is keeping the world guessing about his Iran intentions. Could several key foreign policy decisions from his first term offer clues? (JTA)
The Kremlin warned that any U.S. involvement in the Iran-Israel conflict would trigger a “terrible spiral of escalation.” (Reuters)
Lawmakers from both parties are moving to prevent Trump from drawing the U.S. into Israel’s conflict with Iran. “This is not our war,” said Kentucky Republican Rep. Thomas Massie. (JTA)
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A synagogue in Tehran in February 2020. (Hossein Beris/Middle East Images via AFP and Getty Images) |
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What is life like for Jews in Iran?
The country is home to a longstanding Jewish community, with at least a dozen active synagogues in the capital city of Tehran, mikvahs, kosher butchers, a Jewish library, and even a Jewish newspaper. But there is a growing fear — both of escalating antisemitism and of further bombings. “It’s just overwhelming,” an expert on Iranian Jews told our Hannah Feuer. “They are terrified.” Read the story ►
Plus… Stranded tourists in Israel are resorting to desperate measures to leave, facing WhatsApp scams, sky-high prices, and even sold-out tugboats. (Jewish Insider)
The U.S. embassy in Jerusalem is organizing evacuation flights and cruise ship departures for Americans trying to leave Israel as the conflict with Iran intensifies. (Times of Israel)
As fighting between Israel and Iran intensifies, social media is being flooded with fake, AI-generated images claiming to show the destruction. (404 Media)
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Zohran Mamdani, a New York City mayoral candidate, speaks to the press after a primary debate this month. (Vincent Alban/The New York Times/Bloomberg via Getty Images) |
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Opinion | A NYC mayoral candidate compared the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising to an “intifada.” Was he right? Context: Zohran Mamdani, a top contender in next week’s Democratic primary for New York City mayor, said the slogan “globalize the intifada” is a call for Palestinian rights and likened it to the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising.
Translation: According to a Jewish professor of Arabic literature, the term “intifada” — used regularly outside of the Palestinian context — has also appeared in texts describing the ghetto uprising.
Room for disagreement: “But as anyone who speaks more than one language can attest, there is a world of difference between the literal translation of a word and its meaning,” writes our deputy opinion editor, Nora Berman.
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Mamdani responds: “It pains me to be called an antisemite,” he said on Wednesday. “It pains me to be painted as if I am somehow in opposition to the very Jewish New Yorkers that I know and love and that are such a key part of the city.” (JTA) |
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An attendee adjusts his hat during a 2023 Juneteenth festival in Washington, D.C. (Nathan Howard/Getty Images) |
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In honor of Juneteenth, commemorating the ending of slavery in the United States, we’re resharing three opinion essays from our archives…
Why Juneteenth, which marks the end of slavery, should be a Jewish holiday: For American Jewry, celebrating civic holidays “has symbolized our commitment to the American project,” writes Tema Smith. “Commit yourself to acts of social justice that will dismantle systemic inequalities in America. This, and more, our moral tradition compels us to do.” Read her essay ►
Plus… |
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WHAT ELSE YOU NEED TO KNOW TODAY |
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In Boulder, Colorado, participants at a rally for Israeli hostages on June 8, a week after a man attacked a similar event. (Chet Strange/Getty Images) |
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⚖️ A federal judge ruled Wednesday that the hate crime case can move forward against Mohamed Soliman, who’s accused of throwing Molotov cocktails at a group rallying for Israeli hostages in Boulder, Colorado — injuring more than a dozen people. (USA Today)
🏫 Police are investigating an incident at Georgetown University where antisemitic graffiti was found this week in two residence halls. This follows a similar incident in April. (Hoya, Georgetown)
🏥 A U.K. nurse is suing his employer after being told to remove a video call background featuring a fruit bowl with a watermelon, which he was warned could be seen as antisemitic. (Guardian)
🍉 Context: Since the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks, pro-Palestinian demonstrators have used various symbols — including images of a watermelon — to express their support. Our Mira Fox explains why. (Forward)
What we’re listening to ► This episode of NPR’s Code Switch podcast about how the Trump administration’s fight against antisemitism is dividing Jews. Our Arno Rosenfeld joined the conversation and said: “It's very jarring to have this kind of split-screen dynamic where you have folks who are rushing to the aid of Jews who have been attacked in these horrendous acts of violence, while simultaneously cozying up to openly, explicitly antisemitic figures on the far right.”
What else we’re reading ► Once the poster child of the yeshiva reform movement, he now has regrets (JTA) … What would make the Minnesota shooter, a Christian assassin, put down his Bible and pick up his gun? (New York Times) … New novel is an intimate portrait of being young, Jewish and gay in the 1990s. (Hey Alma) |
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From left: President Donald Trump, Jared Kushner, his children Theodore and Arabella, Ivanka Trump, Seryl Kushner, and Charles Kushner, at a swearing-in event Wednesday at the White House. (Ken Cedeno/UPI/Bloomberg via Getty Images) |
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Charles Kushner — Jared Kushner’s father and a former convict pardoned by President Trump — was sworn in Wednesday as the new U.S. ambassador to France at a White House event attended by his family. |
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Thanks to Louis Keene and Jake Wasserman 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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