WHAT’S DRIVING THE AMERICAN JEWISH CONVERSATION

Today: Schumer warns of left-wing antisemitism • Robert De Niro and the ‘magic Mossad agent’ • The secret Jewish history of St. Patrick’s Day • And much more.

ON POLITICS

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer last month at the Capitol. (Getty)

📚 Schumer’s warning

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer has long warned about antisemitism on the right — from Charlottesville’s neo-Nazis to white nationalist rhetoric. But in his new book, which we preview before it publishes Tuesday, he argues that the antisemitism coming from the left can be just as insidious — and, in some ways, even harder to fight.

• Why it matters: In Antisemitism in America: A Warning, Schumer — who is the highest-ranking Jewish elected official in U.S. history — also calls out pro-Palestinian protesters who, he writes, can cross the line from legitimate criticism of Israel into dangerous antisemitic rhetoric.

  
  

• What he’s saying: “Jewish people were subject, at least in my judgment, to the worst genocide ever,” Schumer said, recalling the many family members who died in the Holocaust. For anti-war activists to accuse Israel of committing genocide in its war against Hamas is “vicious,” Schumer said. “You know what it does? It increases antisemitism because they’re making Israel and the Jewish people look like monsters, which they are not.”

In an interview with The New York Times, where he also addresses criticism of his decision to avert a government shutdown, Schumer talks about an antisemitic attack on his father that he witnessed as an 8-year-old.

A woman at a Saturday demonstration in support of Mahmoud Khalil at the University of Washington campus in Seattle. (Getty)

On campus…

• ​The arrest of Mahmoud Khalil, a Palestinian activist and Columbia University graduate, has sparked fear among international students at universities across the nation. (CNN)

  
  

• Many international students at Columbia’s journalism school are too afraid to go to class. (Columbia Spectator)

  
  

• Immigration agents arrested a second Palestinian student who protested at Columbia University, Leqaa Kordia, on charges of overstaying a student visa. (NBC News)

  
  

• A third international student, Ranjani Srinivasan from India, fled to Canada after ICE officials came looking for her. (New York Times)

  
  

• Agents from the Department of Homeland Security searched two Columbia University student rooms late last week. (Guardian)

  
  

• The Justice Department is investigating whether Columbia hid students who were being sought by the government. (AP)

  
  

• The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee sued the Trump administration, arguing that its efforts to deport international students and academics who support Palestinian rights are unconstitutional. (Times of Israel)

  
  

• Leo Terrell, the head of the Trump administration’s task force on antisemitism, said he would consider creating a new group to combat “anti-white bias” on college campuses. (Forward)

Go deeper: How did Khalil go from Columbia activist to federal detainee? The New York Times explains.

Opinions…

Is Mahmoud Khalil the new Emma Goldman? A World War I-era attorney general used the Jewish anarchist’s fame as a pretext to go after thousands of legal immigrants — just as Trump now appears to be doing with Khalil. Asks Larry Cohler-Esses: “Will Jews remember that they, too, were once strangers in the land of Egypt?” Read his essay ►

• Dan Perry: Trump’s economic assault on Europe is terrible news for Israel

  
  

• Terrence Petty: Neville Chamberlain taught us where Trump’s appeasement of Putin could lead

ON CULTURE

Robert De Niro plays a former U.S. president in Zero Day. (Netflix)

🕵️  Netflix’s new political thriller, Zero Day starring Robert De Niro, brings back the trope of the “magic Mossad agent,” writes our Mira Fox. The show features an all-knowing Israeli spy who conveniently appears to solve problems, reinforcing Hollywood’s long-running fascination with Mossad mythology — often at the expense of nuance and realism. Go deeper ►

🏫  Oak Park, Illinois, was home to Ernest Hemingway, Frank Lloyd Wright and the founder of McDonald’s. For decades, the Chicago suburb was also home to a high school custodian who used to be a guard at a Nazi concentration camp. Instead of being shunned, many in the town welcomed him, recasting his history into one of a victim seeking redemption. A teacher in that very same school has now written a book, Our Nazi, exploring what happened. Go deeper ►

Coming tomorrow: I traveled to a luxury resort in White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia, to a century-old palatial hotel that has hosted presidents, celebrities, aristocrats and royalty. I went chasing details, compelled by an extraordinary story: For seven surreal months during World War II, Nazis lived there. I’ll explain why and share the details first in Forwarding.

WHAT ELSE YOU NEED TO KNOW TODAY

Rep. Nita Lowey in the Capitol in 2019. She died this weekend at 87. (Getty)

In Israel…

🇮🇱  Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu plans to dismiss Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar, escalating a power struggle over responsibility for the Hamas attack, while Bar insists he will stay to complete critical investigations and hostage recovery efforts. (Times of Israel)

🇺🇸  The White House withdrew its nominee for hostage affairs envoy, Adam Boehler, a week after he touted his direct talks with Hamas, circumventing Israel. (Washington Post)

✈️  In a first, Amichai Chikli, Israel’s minister of Diaspora affairs, has invited European far-right politicians to Israel, sparking controversy over their histories of antisemitism. (JTA)

And elsewhere…

💻  Elon Musk shared and then quickly deleted a social media post claiming Hitler, Mao, and Stalin were not responsible for millions of deaths, but that public sector workers were. (New York Times)

🎙️ Joe Rogan, host of one of the country’s top podcasts, welcomed a Holocaust revisionist who complained about “paranoid” Jews. The interview came about a week after Rogan hosted an antisemitic conspiracy theorist. (JTA)

✝️  An Arizona bill, following similar laws passed in Florida and Texas, wants to place chaplains as counselors in public schools. “I think Jesus is a lot better than a psychologist,” said one state representative.  (Arizona Mirror)

Shiva call ► Nita Lowey, a longtime Jewish congresswoman and an advocate for Middle East peace, died at 87.

What else we’re reading ► Could 1,600-year-old Galilee synagogue rewrite history of Jewish life under the Romans? (Times of Israel) … At the Vatican switchboard, nuns soothe anxious callers about Pope Francis (AP) … Andrew Cuomo’s pro-Israel group promised big plans. Did it deliver? (New York Times)

Plus: The secret Jewish history of St. Patrick’s Day 🍀

PHOTO OF THE DAY

Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir with President Richard Nixon at the White House in 1969. (Getty)

On this day in history: Golda Meir became the first (and, so far, only) female prime minister of Israel on March 17, 1969. When we asked our readers to share the story behind one of their favorite heirlooms, Norma Salz sent us a photo of a handwritten letter — in Yiddish! — that she received from Meir, who spent the night in the Salz family home in Buffalo, New York, in 1931. Read all about it in “The night Golda Meir slept in my bed” ►

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