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WHAT’S DRIVING THE AMERICAN JEWISH CONVERSATION

Scheduling note: Due to the Shavuot holiday, the next edition of this newsletter will arrive in your inbox on Friday.

Today: U.N. urges Hamas to accept latest Israeli ceasefire deal, protesters arrested at UCLA, Supreme Court justices debate if U.S. is Christian nation, a review of Netflix’s new Hitler documentary, and Hollywood museum to fix Jewish exhibit — again.

 ISRAEL AT WAR

Does this child see the antiwar message in Picasso’s Guernica or something else entirely? (Getty)

Whose art is it anyway? Inside the cultural battle between pro-Israel and pro-Palestinian protesters: Since the Israel-Hamas war began, protests and political action have roiled the world of art, music and literature. Our culture reporter Mira Fox argues that these people aren’t engaging with the work itself. “People seem hungry for instructions about which concerts to attend and which to protest, which books to read and which to decry, what art is good — morally and politically speaking — and which is bad,” writes Fox. “But that’s against the nature of art.” Read the story ➤

Benny Gantz walked out. Will Netanyahu survive? Gantz’s resignation from the war cabinet could impact the U.S. partnership with Israel and lead to the ouster of the prime minister. Our senior political reporter, Jacob Kornbluh, explains what you need to know. Read the story ➤

Opinion | Palestinian terror should not be rewarded with a state:After Oct. 7, opposition among Israeli Jews to a Palestinian state rose from 69% to 79%. “Even as the Israeli right has presided over a disaster, Israelis across the political spectrum have become more hawkish,” writes Gedalia Guttentag, the deputy editor at Mishpacha magazine. “The final death of Oslo’s two-state vision in the Israeli mind sets the country on a collision course with the Biden administration, which early on drew the exact opposite conclusion about Oct. 7 from the Israeli electorate and called for a renewed push for a two-state solution.” Read his essay ➤

Secretary of State Antony Blinken talks to reporters after meeting with families of the hostages on Monday in Tel Aviv. (Getty)

The latest…

• The U.N. Security Council on Monday backed a proposal outlined by President Joe Biden for a ceasefire and urged Hamas to accept the deal aimed at ending the eight-month-long war.

  
  

• Four IDF soldiers were killed in a booby-trapped building in Rafah. In a separate incident, a Hamas commander was among four Palestinians killed in a clash in the occupied West Bank.

  
  

• The Knesset voted early Tuesday to revive the controversial bill that, if eventually passed, could increase the rate of ultra-Orthodox conscription in the army.

Hostage rescue…

• Saturday’s hostage rescue took weeks for the IDF to plan. The escape nearly fell apart when the truck carrying three of the hostages broke down and came under fire. Here’s the detailed story of the daring rescue.

  
  

• The U.N. human rights office said on Tuesday that the deaths of civilians in Gaza during the hostage rescue could amount to war crimes. Meanwhile, in newly revealed messages, Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar said such deaths were “necessary sacrifices.”

On campus…

• More than 20 protesters were arrested overnight at UCLA as they tried to re-establish an encampment on the final days of the spring quarter.

  
  

• Prosecutors moved to dismiss a case against a woman charged with hitting an Israeli Columbia student with a stick.

  
  

• A professor who called Israel’s actions in Gaza “a textbook case of genocide” was set to head the Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies at the University of Minnesota. The school has now paused his hiring.

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ALSO IN THE FORWARD

“When the Jewish community is threatened, the progressive movement is undermined,” said. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. (Getty)

AOC says ‘antisemitism is an assault on our values’: Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said on Monday that the rise in antisemitism is an assault on American and progressive values, and acknowledged that there had been instances where criticism of Israel has crossed the line into antisemitism.

Related: When we posted the AOC video to Instagram, our followers were split: Some commenters praised the congresswoman’s “evolution” on antisemitism; others brought up her past remarks.

Is this Hitler documentary worth watching? Adding to the steady drumbeat of Nazi nonfiction films is the new Netflix six-parter Hitler and the Nazis: Murder on Trial. Telling the story through the accounts of William L. Shirer, audio of the Nuremberg trials and with a stable of experts, the show, aimed at a younger audience, is revealing — even for those who know the contours of this history. As our PJ Grisar writes in his review, “what the series does better than almost any of its ilk is explain how a liberal democracy fell victim to an upstart political party with fringe beliefs.”

Plus: A pioneering Jewish rock band got its start in 1965. Nearly six decades later, they’re still slowly and steadily turtling along.

WHAT ELSE YOU NEED TO KNOW TODAY

Chief Justice John Roberts at the 2023 State of the Union. (Getty)

⚖️  In a secretly recorded conversation, Supreme Court Justice John Roberts said he doesn’t think the U.S. is a nation guided by Christian laws, and that the high court should follow the rule of law and not morality. Justice Samuel Alito seemed to disagree. (New York Times)

🏠  A Brooklyn neighborhood is trying to add landmark status to two blocks, which would curtail homeowners’ ability to expand their homes. Some Orthodox Jews say it’s discriminatory and antisemitic. (NY Post)

📸  A New Jersey high school is inserting corrected pages into a yearbook that replaced a photo of the Jewish student group with one showing Muslim students. (NBC New York)

🤦  Remember that far-right Polish politician who used a fire extinguisher on a menorah last December? He just won a seat in the elections for the European Parliament. (Algemeiner)

🗳️  One of the most Jewish elections in the country is happening next Tuesday in Northern Virginia, where two candidates are making Jewish identity a central part of their pitch to voters. (JTA)

🎭  “An exhibit about Jews in Hollywood that launched at the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures in Los Angeles following an outcry from Jewish critics is now getting a revision — following another outcry from Jewish critics,” reports Jacob Gurvis. (JTA)

🤔  More than half of Nevadans can’t define antisemitism, and Holocaust knowledge is low, especially among younger Nevadans, a new survey reveals. (KTNV)

Shiva call ➤  Pnina Blayer, who spent 33 years leading the Haifa International Film Festival, died at 77.

VIDEO OF THE DAY

In honor of International Anne Frank Day, which is tomorrow, we’re sharing two provocative short films. The first is from Adi Eshman (son of our senior columnist, Rob Eshman) and is about two actresses auditioning for the role of Anne Frank. It’s paired with the Academy Award-shortlisted film from Mickey Rapkin and Reboot Studios imagining a marketing meeting between the Anne Frank House and a group of millennial ad execs. Watch them both above.

If you’d like to bring these short films to your synagogue, classroom or community center, reach out to Adi for more details.

Thanks to Mira Fox, PJ Grisar and Julie Moos for contributing to today’s newsletter, and to Beth Harpaz for editing it. You can reach the “Forwarding” team at editorial@forward.com.

Support Independent Jewish Journalism

Reporting from the ground in Israel and campuses takes resources. Support the news that matters to you with a monthly donation.