JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.

WHAT’S DRIVING THE AMERICAN JEWISH CONVERSATION

Good morning from Morgantown, where my weather app has given up on words and is just flashing an ice cube emoji 🧊: Kanye West defends swastika T-shirt • NYC mayor invokes Mein Kampf • Saturday Night Live brings back beloved Jewish character • And much more.

FIRST IN FORWARDING

An attendee wears a “Make America Pray Again” hat at a Christian conference last year in Nashville where Donald Trump was speaking. (Getty)

Christian nationalism is rising. A group of Christians is trying to stop it.

As Christian nationalism gains political traction, a growing number of faith leaders — including Baptists, Methodists, Presbyterians, and even conservative evangelicals — are pushing back from inside the church. I report this morning on why they believe the movement undermines both democracy and Christianity.

Why it matters: With policies like mandatory Ten Commandments displays in public schools and a new federal task force on “anti-Christian bias,” Christian nationalist ideals are increasingly shaping laws and governance. Critics warn this threatens religious pluralism and the separation of church and state.

What they’re saying: “It’s a gross distortion of the teachings of Jesus,” said Amanda Tyler, who leads Christians Against Christian Nationalism, and is married to a Jewish man. It “takes Jesus and turns him into a political mascot.”

Related…

Our guide to the most notable Christian nationalists influencing the nation includes pastors, podcasters and politicians. (Forward)

Meet Rachel Lasar, the first Jew to lead Americans United for Separation of Church and State. (JTA)

Opinion | Pete Hegseth’s belief in Christian dominion should deeply trouble American Jews, writes Diane Winston. (Forward)

In other political news…

Some of Georgia’s Democratic donors and Jewish leaders are so frustrated with Sen. Jon Ossoff’s stance on Israel that they’ve privately encouraged Republican Gov. Brian Kemp to challenge him. (New York Times)

Secretary of State Marco Rubio defended Vice President JD Vance’s decision to meet with a far-right party in Germany, dismissing criticism that the group’s rhetoric echoes Nazi ideology. (Forward)

Related: Germany sees banning extremist parties as essential to preventing another Hitler, but Vance and Elon Musk are questioning that strategy. (New York Times)

Elon Musk, left, and George Soros. (Getty)

Our most-read story over the long weekend: Elon Musk is doing everything conspiracy theorists accuse George Soros of, argues Armin Langer in an opinion essay.

Opinion | At a synagogue in the Northeast, which sits in a suburb with a sizable Central American population and runs a public pre-K program in partnership with the local school district, the leadership has spent the last month grappling with what they’ll do if Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents show up at their door. “It’s not abstract” for them, the rabbi told our editor-in-chief, Jodi Rudoren. Read her essay ►

ISRAEL AT WAR: DAY 501

An Israeli soldier prays in front of a bus at the border with Lebanon on Tuesday, after troops left south Lebanon. (Getty)

In Gaza…

Monday marked 500 days of captivity for the remaining hostages. Ian Horn, released on Saturday, urged officials to bring back all the hostages, including his brother, Eitan, saying they “do not have any more time.” (AP, Times of Israel)

Israel is expecting Hamas to hand over four dead hostages on Thursday, and six live ones on Saturday. (Times of Israel)

Israeli Diaspora Minister Amichai Chikli told U.S. Jewish leaders that he opposes advancing the ceasefire-for-hostage deal, arguing that releasing Palestinian prisoners poses a serious risk. (JTA)

A bipartisan group of U.S. Senators visited Israel this weekend, and said there was “little appetite” for Trump’s plan to take over Gaza and displace more than 2 million Palestinians. (Times of Israel)

Egypt is developing its own Gaza recovery plan, which would enable Palestinians to stay during the rebuilding. (AP)

Saudi Arabia is spearheading an Arab nations summit on Friday — with Bahrain, Egypt, Jordan, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates — to find alternatives to Trump’s plan. (Jewish Insider)

Plus…

Secretary of State Marco Rubio met with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu while in Israel Sunday, and also toured the Yad Vashem Holocaust museum. (Reuters)

An Israeli military operation in the occupied West Bank, launched in January, has displaced around 40,000 Palestinians. Experts say it’s the largest civilian displacement in the region since the 1967 Arab-Israeli War. (New York Times)

Today marks the deadline for Israel to withdraw from southern Lebanon under a U.S.-brokered ceasefire from November — but the U.S. has authorized the IDF to stay in five key areas. (Times of Israel)

- From our Sponsor, Friends of Mishpacha Orphanage Odessa

CULTURE

In the second season of Mo, the main character, a Palestinian asylum seeker living in Houston, is mistakenly sent to Mexico. (Netflix)

Netflix queue

In Netflix’s Mo, Mo Amer plays a Palestinian asylum seeker whose struggles echo Tevye the Milkman’s in Fiddler on the Roof. The world in which he “strives for dignity and an elusive American dream is in Houston and Palestine, not a shtetl under the Tsar,” writes Sheerly Avni, “but it’s as endangered as any Anatevka.” Go deeper ►

Also on Netflix: A new series, based on a true story, spotlights a Mexican cancer clinic founded by a German Jew fleeing the Nazis. His controversial treatments — including five daily coffee enemas — were later discredited as dangerous. (JTA)

In theaters: Captain America topped the box office this weekend, despite protests over its Israeli superhero. But as our PJ Grisar writes, that controversy is the least of the film’s problems.

WHAT ELSE YOU NEED TO KNOW TODAY

“If you tell lies long enough, loud enough, people will tend to believe it is true,” New York City Mayor Eric Adams said, echoing a concept described by Hitler in Mein Kampf. (Ed Reed/Mayor’s office)

🤔 New York City Mayor Eric Adams is under fire after he invoked Adolf Hitler’s Mein Kampf while defending himself against corruption allegations. Jewish leaders slammed the mayor’s remarks as “offensive” and a “shanda.” (Forward)

👕 Kanye West briefly rejoined Twitter on Monday to say he is “not under Jewish control anymore,” and defended selling swastika T-shirts during the Super Bowl. (JTA)

🤦 Police arrested a Florida Jewish man who shot at two people he thought were Palestinians, but were actually Israeli tourists. They survived, and the suspect was charged with attempted murder. (JTA)

🇨🇦 A vandal painted a swastika onto a Montreal synagogue on Shabbat. Police have yet to identify a suspect. (JTA)

🕍 Police arrested a Utah man who threatened on social media to kill Jews at Central Synagogue, a prominent Reform congregation in New York City. (Times of Israel)

🥊 A mixed martial artist and the only Israeli on the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) roster led a self-defense seminar for Jewish New Yorkers. (Times of Israel)

🎒 Congressional Democrats worry that mass layoffs at the Department of Education, ordered by the White House, will weaken efforts to fight antisemitism on campus. (Jewish Insider, Forward)

✝️ Pope Francis, 88, has canceled several events as he remains hospitalized with a respiratory infection. (AP)

Shiva calls ► Mordechai Ciechanower, an Auschwitz survivor and Holocaust educator, died at 100 … Jacqueline van Maarsen, who dedicated her life to sharing the story of her best friend, Anne Frank, died at 96 … Misha Berson, former theater critic for the Seattle Times and occasional contributor to the Forward, died at 74. Read her final review for us.

What else we’re reading ►

Inside the American Academy of Pediatrics’ battle with antisemitism (Jewish Insider)

A century-old Zionist group is being rebooted with a new motto: “Jews fight back” (JTA)

The lost-and-found center at the world’s largest religious gathering attends to the faithful’s earthly needs (New York Times)

VIDEO OF THE DAY

In case you missed Saturday Night Live’s 50th anniversary special Sunday night, Mike Myers reprised the popular character based on his Jewish former mother-in-law, Linda Richman. She’s obsessed with Barbra Streisand, enjoys a Zabar’s noodle kugel and often gets verklempt.

Thanks to Jacob Kornbluh 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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