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JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT. |
| WHAT’S DRIVING THE AMERICAN JEWISH CONVERSATION |
|  | | Good morning ☕ President Biden gives George Soros highest civilian honor • Backlash brewing over Gal Gadot’s role in Snow White • Arab Christian singer is frontrunner to represent Israel at Eurovision • And bracing for today’s winter storm — in Yiddish. |
| | THE NEW TRUMP ADMINISTRATION |
|  | Morgan Ortagus, who previously clashed with Trump, will now serve on his Middle East team. (Getty) |
| Trump names former foe to Middle East team
President-elect Donald Trump tapped Morgan Ortagus as a deputy to Steve Witkoff, his special envoy to the Middle East. Trump struck a lukewarm tone about the decision, highlighting her past criticism of him and suggesting her appointment was influenced by other Republicans. During Trump’s first term, Ortagus served as a state department spokesperson and was part of the team that worked on the Abraham Accords, which normalized relations between Israel and four Arab nations. She also held positions in both the Bush and Obama administrations.
Ortagus, a former evangelical Christian, converted to Judaism in 2007 while working in Iraq for USAID. The late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg officiated at her wedding.
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| |  | Can Jimmy Carter’s Israel lessons help Donald Trump? (Getty) |
| Opinion | The legacy of former President Jimmy Carter, whose state funeral is set for Thursday in D.C., can offer many Middle East lessons for Trump, writes Jeremy Ben-Ami, who volunteered for the Carter campaign in 1976 and is now the president of J Street. Read his essay ►
The new Congress… Here’s a look at what to expect from the 34 Jewish members of the 119th Congress. (JTA)
Sen. Elissa Slotkin, Democrat from Michigan, was sworn in on a book of women’s Torah commentary from the Reform movement. (JTA)
Today is the anniversary of the attack on the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. Congress is ready to certify the election results and Vice President Kamala Harris is set to preside over her own defeat. (AP)
President Biden… During his administration, President Joe Biden swore in the first ambassador-level envoy to combat antisemitism and created the first White House national strategy to counter it. But buried in the annals of a government office is an icon of how his team struggled to convince Americans that Democrats are best suited to protect Jews against hate. My colleague Arno Rosenfeld explains. Read the story ►
On Saturday, Biden awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian honor, to George Soros, the Holocaust survivor and Democratic donor who is a frequent target of right-wing attacks. Two other Jews also received the award: David Rubenstein, a philanthropist, and the fashion designer Ralph Lauren. (JTA)
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| |  | | |  | Adrien Brody won a Golden Globe for his performance as a Holocaust survivor in The Brutalist. (Getty) |
| About last night
The Golden Globes — the first awards show of the season — aired live Sunday from Hollywood. There was no shortage of Jewish content up for awards, including the hit Netflix rabbi rom-com Nobody Wants This, the road trip Holocaust film A Real Pain and The Brutalist, about a Shoah survivor’s immigrant odyssey in America. Our culture reporter PJ Grisar was watching and spotted these Jewish moments... In her opening roast, host Nikki Glaser referred to Adrien Brody as a “two-time Holocaust survivor,” a nod to his performances in The Pianist and The Brutalist.
The Brutalist, an epic about a Hungarian survivor of Dachau building a community center in rural Pennsylvania, won best drama. The filmmaker behind it, Brady Corbet, won best director.
Israeli actress Gal Gadot presented the award for best male actor in a motion picture to Brody. In his speech, he called the film a “triumph and monument to humanity and the arts” and tearfully thanked his parents, particularly his mother who, like his character, came to America as a refugee from Hungary.
Kieran Culkin won best supporting actor for playing one of two Jewish cousins on a Holocaust tour through Poland in A Real Pain. In his speech, Culkin thanked his writer, director and costar, Jesse Eisenberg, and revealed he was working on his “mania” with a therapist. Culkin isn’t Jewish, but that’s a pretty Jewish confession — no wonder he pulled the part off.
Emilia Pérez won many awards — including best comedy or musical. It has a brief sequence in Israel.
When Seth Rogen presented the award for best female actor in a limited series, a trivia box popped up on the screen to inform viewers that an octopus at the aquarium in his local Vancouver is named after him — Ceph (like cephalopod) Rogen.
Thanks, PJ! This weekend I watched A Real Pain, which is now available to rent at home. I give it two thumbs up and highly recommend it.
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| | |  | Valerie Hamaty, an Arab Christian, often collaborates with Jewish Israeli singers. (Getty) |
| The voice
The frontrunner to represent Israel at the Eurovision Song Contest in May in Switzerland is an Arab Christian. Valerie Hamaty, a ninth-generation native of Jaffa, is currently competing on Rising Star, an Israeli talent show whose winner goes on to represent the country at Eurovision. Her success is sparking debate at a time when the war has tested relations between Jewish and Arab Israelis. Read the story ►
The latest… Gunmen killed three Israelis and wounded eight more when they shot at a bus and two cars Monday in the occupied West Bank. Authorities are pursuing the attackers. (AP, Times of Israel)
A list of 34 hostages that Hamas would release in exchange for a ceasefire deal was leaked over the weekend, but Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said it is an old list from July and that it has not received confirmation from Hamas as to the status of those hostages. (Times of Israel)
Hamas released a video of hostage Liri Albag, a 19 year-old Israeli soldier, taken hostage on Oct. 7, 2023. Her family urged leaders to “make decisions as if your own children were there.” (New York Times)
The Israel Defense Forces drafted its first 50 Haredi soldiers into the newly formed Hasmonean Brigade, aiming to address troop shortages and integrate the Haredi community into military service. (Times of Israel)
Secretary of State Antony Blinken acknowledged that “public daylight” between Israel and the U.S. over the war in Gaza hardened Hamas’ positions in talks on a ceasefire-hostage deal. (Forward)
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| | WHAT ELSE YOU NEED TO KNOW TODAY |
|  | Gal Gadot as the evil queen in the upcoming live-action Snow White. (Disney) |
| 🍎 Will pro-Palestinian activists boycott Disney’s live-action Snow White in March because it stars Israeli actress Gal Gadot? Possibly — she plays the evil queen. (Haaretz)
💰 UCLA lost a multi-million-dollar gift due to donor dissatisfaction with the university's handling of campus protests related to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. (KTLA)
🐷 A vandal placed a pig’s head at the entrance to a Holocaust memorial site in Germany over the weekend. Authorities are investigating. (Ynet)
🏒 Australia’s Ice Hockey Federation reportedly decided not to host a planned world championship in April, citing concerns over Israel’s participation and the protests that may ensue. (Haaretz)
🌳 A 118-acre Buddhist retreat center in Florida sued in federal court, claiming a new U.S. Army Corps of Engineers conservation project in the Everglades would disrupt the tranquil views and violate their religious freedom. (Religion News Service)
Shiva calls ► Martin Karplus, a Nobel Prize winner in chemistry, died at 94 … Richard Foreman, affectionately known as the rabbi of New York’s downtown theater scene, died at 87 … Charles Shyer — who wrote and directed comedies, many in collaboration with his former wife, Nancy Meyers — died at 83 … Jeff Baena, a screenwriter and director who was married to actress Aubrey Plaza, died at 47.
What else we’re reading ► The war has brought conflict — and opportunities — to college campuses (New York Times) … Vatican decides not to put kaffiyeh back in Nativity scene (Religion News Service) … What it was like to have Sunday School class with Jimmy Carter (AP).
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| | |  | With a major winter storm barreling across the East Coast — we’re expecting up to 10 inches of snow here in the mountains of West Virginia — I think it’s safe to say we’re comfortably in hot chocolate season. Thankfully, my colleague Rukhl Schaechter has a short lesson on how to talk about winter in Yiddish. Bundle up in dos shalikl and enjoy! |
| Thanks to PJ Grisar 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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