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WHAT’S DRIVING THE AMERICAN JEWISH CONVERSATION

U.S. may be negotiating without Israel for release of American hostages, readers think a new Hunger Games book is about Gaza, survey finds American Jews fearful of antisemitism, why there’s a boom in Holocaust TV, meet the other Bernie Sanders, and two cheesecake recipes to enjoy for Shavuot.

 ISRAEL AT WAR

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Benny Gantz, a war cabinet minister, in October. (Getty)

Benny Gantz, a longtime rival of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, resigned Sunday from Israel’s war cabinet.

Analysis: The U.S. has lost a centrist partner at a pivotal moment in the war. In Israel, the move could strengthen Netanyahu’s grip on power, writes our senior political reporter, Jacob Kornbluh.

The hostages…

• The IDF rescued four hostages on Saturday during a raid in Gaza. The father of one of the hostages died hours before he could learn of his son’s return.

  
  

• Hamas claimed, without evidence, that three other hostages were killed during the raid. The IDF denied those claims.

  
  

• If other hostages were killed, it may have come at the hands of Hamas operatives who have “standing orders” to “shoot the captives” if they think IDF forces are coming, according to a report in The New York Times.

  
  

• Secretary of State Antony Blinken is traveling to Egypt and Israel today, his eighth visit to the region since the war broke out, to help broker a hostage-for-ceasefire deal. NBC News is reporting that the U.S. may also be negotiating a deal without Israel to release five American hostages. What the U.S. would give Hamas in exchange is unclear.

In the opinion section: Rob Eshman on how the hostage rescue was a joyous distraction from an all-important deal; Dan Perry on how the rescue underscored a great paradox about Israel; and Andrew Silow-Carroll on how “bring them home” means something different to Israelis and American Jews.

Thousands of pro-Palestinian protesters rallied on Saturday outside the White House. (Getty)

In the United States…

Thousands of pro-Palestinian demonstrators rallied in front of the White House Saturday, with some defacing statues in Lafayette Park. They called for “jihad” and the killing of Zionists. “Endorsing murderous terrorist organizations like Hamas is repugnant, dangerous and against everything we stand for as a country,” said a White House spokesperson.

More than 40% of American Jews say they feel unsafe wearing Jewish symbols in public since Oct. 7, according to a survey released Monday. And 55% said Biden would be better at combating antisemitism versus 20% who preferred Trump on that issue.

Plus…

• The commander of the IDF Gaza division, Brig. Gen. Avi Rosenfeld, resigned from his post, becoming the second senior officer in the IDF to do so since Oct. 7. “I failed in my life’s mission” he said, citing his inability to protect the Israeli communities near the Gaza border.

  
  

• An IDF reservist with PTSD died by suicide this weekend after he was called to report for duty in Rafah.

  
  

• Danny Danon is set to return to the position of Israeli ambassador to the United Nations, a position he held from 2015-2020.

  
  

• The temporary pier that the U.S. built in Gaza to provide aid requires at least $22 million in repairs to fix damages it suffered last month in rough seas. Meanwhile, the U.S. on Sunday resumed airdrops of humanitarian aid into Gaza.

  
  

• A new book in the popular Hunger Games series was just announced. Here’s why some readers think it will be about Gaza.

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ALSO IN THE FORWARD

Bernie Sanders grew up in Brooklyn, like his famous namesake, but the two share little else in common. (Benyamin Cohen)

Meet the other Bernie Sanders | He’s voting for Trump and thinks his namesake is an antisemite: About the only thing he has in common with the senator from Vermont, besides the name, is that they share a gruff “tell-it-like-it-is” attitude they both nurtured in their native Brooklyn. “Whatever he goes for, I go the other way,” Sanders told me when I visited him in Israel last month. “I’ve got more seichel than him,” he said using the Yiddish word for intelligence.

What’s behind the boom in Holocaust TV?The streaming shows The Tattooist of Auschwitz and We Were the Lucky Ones, both based on 2017 novels, have returned the Holocaust to the zeitgeist with their stories of survival, both in the death camp and in hiding from the Nazis. In a discussion, our Mira Fox and PJ Grisar ponder why these narratives are coming to our TVs and screens and what these particular stories, focusing on survivors, mean for the greater project of remembrance.

Plus…

• Jewish Trump supporters who say the former president’s recent felony conviction was rigged are not following a classic Talmudic tenet, writes Rabbi Avi Shafran in an opinion essay.

  
  

• Jewish institutions in Canada have faced a series of alarming acts of vandalism, including midnight shootings and arson attacks, our Arno Rosenfeld reports in his weekly antisemitism newsletter.

WHAT ELSE YOU NEED TO KNOW TODAY

Former Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad addressed the media last week in Tehran. (Getty)

🇮🇷  Iran approved six candidates to run in the country’s June 28 presidential election to replace President Ebrahim Raisi, who was killed in a helicopter crash last month. Former President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad will not be allowed to run. (AP)

😲  A Palestinian businessman is flying a swastika flag outside his auto repair shop in Florida. “What happened in World War II is happening today,” he said. “It’s a modern-day Holocaust.” (First Coast News)

🕍  A traveling exhibit about the Tree of Life synagogue shooting was on display at the Capitol last week, and included a prayer book ripped by a bullet. Later this month, congregational leaders in Pittsburgh will break ground on the new sanctuary. (Washington Post)

🌋  The U.S. Space Force wanted to build telescopes on top of a volcano in Hawaii.

but local officials voted against it because they said it’s a holy site used for religious ceremonies. (AP)

Shiva calls ➤  Sigmund Rolat, a Holocaust survivor who helped build a museum devoted to the history of Jews in Poland on the site of the Warsaw Ghetto, died at 93 … Debby Lee Cohen, an eco-activist who helped eliminate foam trays from New York City’s public schools, died at 64.

What else we’re reading ➤  One family was all in on Biden. Now they’re divided over Gaza … In secular France, chaplains prepare to provide Olympians with spiritual support during the Games … How Oct. 7 sparked a wave of Jewish conversions in America.

VIDEO OF THE DAY

Jews have a custom to eat dairy on the holiday of Shavuot, which begins Tuesday at sundown. In the video above, Rukhl Schaechter, our Yiddish editor, and chef Eve Jochnowitz share recipes for a traditional eastern European dairy cheesecake, as well as a chocolate vegan version.

Related: The group representing the hostage families released a cookbook to share their loved ones’ favorite Shavuot recipes.

Thanks to PJ Grisar, Jacob Kornbluh and Jodi Rudoren for contributing to today’s newsletter, and to Beth Harpaz for editing it. You can reach the “Forwarding” team at [email protected].

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