WHAT’S DRIVING THE AMERICAN JEWISH CONVERSATION

Meet the man defending Israel at The Hague this week, Congress gives Harvard two weeks to produce documents in antisemitism case, how TikTok is spreading pro-Palestinian rhetoric, France’s new prime minister says his gay and Jewish identity shaped him, and why an Orthodox couple is suing a New Jersey town over a garage renovation.

OUR LEAD STORY

(Photo by Getty/Design by Imagine.AI)

Opinion | How Twitter activists turned a viral story about Orthodox Jews into a modern blood libel

We shared with you yesterday the story of how yeshiva students built a tunnel under the Brooklyn Chabad headquarters, and refused to evacuate when a cement truck arrived to fill it in. A dozen were arrested and the incident took on a life of its own online. Our columnist, Elad Nehorai, explains what happened next.

Seizing an opportunity: Since Oct. 7, many white nationalist accounts have exploited the lack of moderation on X — the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, which is owned Elon Musk — to rebrand themselves as pro-Palestinian advocates, and have grown their followings exponentially as a result. “What these grifters do is seek out trending news and any culture war news and then twist it to support their own narrative,” Taylor Lorenz, a reporter who specializes in internet culture, told Elad.

Tunnel vision: Conspiracy theories circulated that the Chabad tunnel was used for nefarious purposes. It felt eerily similar to Pizzagate, the 2016 conspiracy theory which claimed that a child sex ring was operating under a D.C. pizza shop.

Spreading hate: Musk has in the past interacted with many of the accounts now spreading these conspiracy theories, contributing to their amplification. Keith Woods, the neo-Nazi whose attack on the Anti-Defamation League Musk once elevated, has shared a post claiming that “Jewish rabbis are over 18x more likely to molest a child than a Catholic priest” along with his own commentary: “Chabad headquarters are in Brooklyn.”

Well, this is awkward: Musk is scheduled to visit Auschwitz this month, ahead of International Holocaust Remembrance Day.

So why were those yeshiva students digging a tunnel? The incident concerns the ideological future of a Hasidic movement and a feud over who controls its building. The brouhaha has brought the community’s divisions into the public eye, underscoring a “leadership vacuum” that has existed since the Lubavitcher Rebbe’s death three decades ago, according to Samuel Heilman, a City of New York University professor emeritus and Chabad expert. But Heilman dismissed one theory — that the students undertook the digging only recently because they believe the Israel-Hamas war presages the Rebbe’s imminent return. “There’s always war in the Middle East,” he said. Read the story ➤

Related: How Chabad’s headquarters became the world’s most-recognizable Jewish building

(Getty/Forward montage)

The war on social media…

Researchers and lawmakers used a tool on the TikTok app to search for content related to the Israel-Hamas war. What they found was an inordinate amount of pro-Palestinian content. TikTok has now quietly turned off that particular search feature, making it harder to do this kind of research.

Jewish content creators on TikTok say the Chinese-owned video-sharing app is not doing enough to stop the spread of hate and antisemitism on the platform.

Young Americans are turning against Israel — and you can thank TikTok. Our opinion editor, Laura E. Adkins, explains.

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ISRAEL AT WAR

People in New York City demonstrate for a ceasefire in Gaza on Dec. 28. The ADL included more than 1,300 rallies in its tally of antisemitic incidents since Oct. 7, although many of those appear to be anti-Zionist events rather than the overt forms of antisemitism the group has historically documented. (Getty)

Have there really been 3,000 antisemitic incidents in the U.S. since Oct. 7? Depends on your definition of antisemitism: A new ADL study out this morning purports to have identified 3,283 antisemitic incidents since Oct. 7, which director Jonathan Greenblatt said represented a threat to Jews “unprecedented in modern history.” But the count appears to be based on the ADL’s recent emphasis on criticism of Israel, and it includes more than 1,300 rallies, many of which may have only been “anti-Zionist,” rather than antisemitic in the traditional sense. Read the story ➤

Opinion | Jews must reject calls for ‘voluntary emigration’ of Palestinians: Members of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition have — publicly and privately — suggested that they are looking for countries to take in thousands of Gazans. These calls are “disingenuous and morally repugnant,” writes Daniel Sokatch, the CEO of the New Israel Fund. “American Jews have an obligation to vocally oppose them.” Read his essay ➤

Left: A pro-Palestinian protest in front of The Hague on Oct. 18, 2023. Right: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Supreme Court Chief Justice Aharon Barak meet in Jerusalem in 1997. (Getty)

Opinion | Netanyahu’s allies spent years slandering the man now tasked with cleaning up their mess Thursday at The Hague: Israel has been accused of genocide in Gaza and will stand trial this week at the International Court of Justice. The man tasked with defending Israel? Aharon Barak, the country’s former president of the Supreme Court. The irony, argues Alex Lederman, is that Barak has been a constant target of Netanyahu’s coalition. “After months of enduring one far-right incitement campaign,” Lederman writes, “Barak has now been tasked with handling the reputational repercussions of another.” Read his essay ➤

Plus…

The executive editor of the Los Angeles Times is stepping down. Did his policy on Israel coverage lead to his ouster?

New footage discovered from GoPro cameras shows Hamas terrorists infiltrating Israel unopposed on Oct. 7.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken met on Tuesday in Israel with families of the hostages, and reportedly conveyed some optimism for a potential release deal.

– From our Sponsor: The Association for Jewish Studies –

WHAT ELSE YOU NEED TO KNOW TODAY

The U.S. Capitol. (Getty)

🏫 A Congressional committee investigating antisemitism at Harvard University gave the school a two-week deadline to produce documents — including the board’s text messages, information on Jewish enrollment trends and foreign donations. (Wall Street Journal, Harvard Crimson)

Related: A Jewish MIT lecturer resigned, saying he “could no longer deal with the pervasive antisemitism” on campus.

🇫🇷 France’s new prime minister, Gabriel Attal, is the youngest ever to hold that position and the first to be openly gay. He says another facet of his identity also shapes him: His father’s Jewishness. (JTA)

🤔 A Missouri state representative who was expelled from the Democratic House caucus after she shared antisemitic conspiracy theories is now running for governor. (Forward)

📚 A Florida school district is heading to court today in a closely watched legal challenge to its decision to remove more than 1,600 books, including Anne Frank’s original diary. (JTA)

🔨 An Orthodox couple is suing a town in New Jersey, alleging discrimination because a zoning board refused to allow them to renovate their detached garage into a small synagogue. (Asbury Park Press)

🍽️ Eyal Shani, the celebrity Israeli chef, opened a restaurant in Times Square in November to much fanfare. Starting later this month, it will become certified glatt kosher. (NY Jewish Week)

Shiva call ➤ Emanuel S. Goldsmith, a Yiddish literature scholar, died at 88.

PHOTO OF THE DAY

(Getty)

Family and friends, one of them an injured soldier, attend the funeral Tuesday for IDF soldier Sgt. Roi Tal, who was killed in battle in Gaza.

Thanks to Lauren Markoe, Arno Rosenfeld and Talya Zax 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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