WHAT’S DRIVING THE AMERICAN JEWISH CONVERSATION

Today: Columbia student freed • Jerusalem-area wildfires jeopardize Independence Day celebrations • Dana Bash on her favorite Jewish ritual • and Streisand and Dylan (finally) team up.

OUR LEAD STORY

Pro-Palestinian and pro-Israel protesters clashed at an encampment at UCLA last year. (Getty)

Can L.A.’s Jewish city attorney fairly prosecute Gaza protesters?

Los Angeles City Attorney Hydee Feldstein Soto is facing backlash for what critics call selective prosecution. They say she is charging pro-Palestinian protesters — including dozens who shut down a highway — while publicly declaring that “every moral person must support Israel.”

Campus unrest: Feldstein Soto has also filed charges against demonstrators involved in UCLA and USC encampments last April — including a pair of Jewish protesters: one pro-Israel, one pro-Palestinian.

War of words: Feldstein Soto told our California-based Louis Keene that her job “is not to listen to noise and not to be bullied by innuendo and intimidation.” An attorney for the protesters called Feldstein Soto’s persistence in pursuing the case “unhinged.”

POLITICS

Sen. Bernie Sanders proposed an amendment to the Antisemitism Awareness Act that said criticism of the Israeli government is not antisemitic. (Getty)

The latest version of the Antisemitism Awareness Act will likely not move forward after senators from both sides of the aisle blamed each other for stuffing it with “bad amendments” that were a “waste of time.” (Jewish Insider)

► One amendment said that criticism of the Israeli government is not antisemitic, while another allowed for Christians to blame Jesus’ death on the Jews.

On campus…

• Mohsen Mahdawi, a pro-Palestinian student activist at Columbia University, is now free after a federal judge ruled Wednesday that his continued detention without criminal charges was unlawful. (JTA)

  
  

• R&B artist Kehlani pushed back against accusations of antisemitism tied to her pro-Palestinian views, after Cornell University called off her campus concert following backlash from Jewish student groups. “I am anti-genocide,” she said. “I am not antisemitic.” (JTA)

  
  

• Opinion | Jacob Miller, a former student president of Harvard Hillel, writes that he’s tired of the debate over whether anti-Israel activity is antisemitic. He argues that something worse is at play. (Crimson)

Plus: The White House is hosting a National Day of Prayer service at 11 a.m. Watch it here.

From our Sponsor, OAJA.org

FREE

The World’s Largest Database of Official Anti-Jewish Acts

The website’s foundation owner is looking for a responsible government or nonprofit entity that has the resources to keep www.OAJA.org (and www.OAJA.com) - Free for Public Use for at least 25 years.

Please contact April at [email protected]

ISRAEL

A helicopter pours water on one of the wildfires that burned around Jerusalem on Wednesday. (Getty)

Today is Israel Independence Day, and many public celebrations have been nixed due to raging wildfires.

• Roughly 5,000 acres near Jerusalem were destroyed Wednesday. Thousands of people who were forced to evacuate their homes are returning today. (New York Times, Times of Israel)

  
  

• International aid is expected to arrive today — including firefighting planes from Cyprus, Italy and other countries. (Times of Israel)

  
  

• Blame for the fires has fallen on suspected arson — and on years of government neglect in addressing the growing wildfire threat. Yair Netanyahu, the prime minister’s son, blamed left-wing activists hoping to cancel Independence Day celebrations.

Plus: Israel launched a warning strike targeting an extremist group it said was planning an attack on a Druze community in Syria — fulfilling its promise to defend the minority as violence escalated Wednesday near Damascus. (NBC News)

CULTURE

My pug Spike. (Benyamin Cohen)

Fur and faith

We don’t say kaddish for dogs. After my pug Spike died on Passover, I spoke with the caretaker of America’s oldest pet cemetery and to a rabbi who performs pet funerals — she calls them essential, not eccentric. They both helped me understand why grieving a pet can feel lonelier than mourning a person — and how memory, even without a script, becomes its own kind of prayer. Read the essay ►

Bob Dylan and Barbra Streisand have never performed a duet — until now. (Getty)

Babs and Bob

Barbra Streisand announced a forthcoming album of duets with Paul McCartney, Mariah Carey, Ariana Grande and — finally — Bob Dylan, resolving decades of a great musical will-they-won’t-they, writes our PJ Grisar. Both are Jewish voices of their generation and they have admired each other’s work for decades. “In the 1970s,” Streisand wrote in her memoir, “he sent me flowers and a charming note, written in colored pencil with childlike letters, asking me if I would like to sing with him.” Go deeper ►

WHAT ELSE YOU NEED TO KNOW TODAY

Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan expressed skepticism about the legality of a proposed publicly funded religious charter school. (Getty)

🎒  The Supreme Court signaled Wednesday that it may permit Oklahoma to use public funds to operate the country’s first religious charter school, which would incorporate Catholic teachings into its curriculum. (New York Times)

🤔  Justice Elena Kagan warned that the case could, in theory, require New York to fully fund yeshivas — even those that provide minimal instruction in core secular subjects like English and math. (JTA)

💻  A bipartisan group of 23 lawmakers sent a letter to the foundation behind Wikipedia, raising concerns about antisemitism and anti-Israel bias on the site and asking how it plans to address discrimination and editor misconduct. (Jewish Insider)

🗣️  At least 30 Maryland rabbis are condemning a conference kicking off today in Baltimore, organized by the anti-Zionist group Jewish Voice for Peace. (Times of Israel)

🇦🇷  Argentina digitized and made publicly available nearly 2,000 declassified documents revealing how hundreds of war criminals fled to the country after the fall of Nazi Germany in World War II. (Algemeiner)

✝️  Martin Scorsese is set to produce a documentary centered on the late Pope Francis’ final on-camera interview, highlighting the global education initiative the pontiff launched before his death. (AP, CNN)

Shiva calls ► Julia Parsons, who decoded Nazi messages that helped the U.S. win WWII, died at 104 … Andrew Gross, a bestselling author of thrillers, including one involving Jewish mobsters, died at 72.

What else we’re reading ► How a reading group helped young German students defy the Nazis and find their faith (Conversation) … She wanted to be a comedian. Now, she’s a nun with a popular TikTok account (New York Times) … The next pope inherits new tension with Jewish community over Israel (Wall Street Journal).

VIDEO OF THE DAY

CNN’s Dana Bash, whose maiden name is Schwartz and who is the grandchild of Holocaust survivors, joined the latest episode of Jonah Platt’s Being Jewish podcast for a conversation about media, politics and the quiet daily practice that connects her to her Jewish identity every time she steps into the kitchen.

Today’s newsletter made me:

🤓 Confident I understand issues impacting American Jews.

🔗 Connected to the Jewish world.

💡 Curious to learn about something I read.

🤷🏽‍♀️ No different.

❤️ Love this newsletter? Check out what else the Forward has to offer!

Support independent Jewish journalism

Become a member and ensure the Forward’s journalism remains free for all.