WHAT’S DRIVING THE AMERICAN JEWISH CONVERSATION

Netanyahu rejects deal to end war for release of hostages, anti-Trump Jewish Republicans rally around Haley after DeSantis drops out, and Law & Order TV series tackles war in Gaza.

ISRAEL AT WAR

Relatives of Israeli hostages held in Gaza rally on Sunday near the residence of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem. (Getty)

The latest…

President Joe Biden’s steadfast support of Israel in the war against Hamas in Gaza may face an electoral test on Tuesday. A grassroots campaign to write in the word “cease-fire” on the ballot in the New Hampshire Democratic presidential primary gained traction over the weekend.

Now that Israel has scaled back its offensive in Gaza, the U.S. is pushing Israel and Hamas to agree on a phased plan to end the war, starting with freeing hostages. The two sides are in early talks, but remain far apart.

On Sunday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejected a deal from Hamas that would end the war and release hostages, but would leave Hamas in power in Gaza.

Families of the hostages pitched tents outside Netanyahu’s home, demanding an immediate deal, while others disrupted a Knesset committee meeting. “You will not sit here while our children die,” some screamed. There are more than 130 hostages still held captive.

Netanyahu has doubled down on his opposition to the creation of a Palestinian state, again rebuffing pressure from Biden to agree to that path after the war in Gaza is over.

Eylon Levy is a prominent Israeli government spokesman who has become a familiar face on U.S. and U.K. news networks. Netanyahu’s wife, Sara, reportedly wants Levy fired.

Actress Tehmina Sunny as the pro-Palestinian Professor Nasser on Law & Order. (NBC)

The Israeli-Palestinian conflict has made it onto TV’s Law & Order: The season opener of the ripped-from-the-headlines show opens with the murder of the Jewish president of fictional Hudson University, who is under scrutiny for plagiarism. The cops find many on campus who dislike him. Some Jewish professors and donors felt he allowed pro-Palestinian student groups and protesters too much leeway, and criticized him for failing to release a statement condemning Hamas after the Oct. 7 attack. Pro-Palestinian students and professors, meanwhile, were mad that he canceled their film symposium, and called him “a puppet of the Zionist regime.” Read the story ➤

Israel knocked for jailing, killing journalists: The Committee to Protect Journalists released its annual report and found that Israel was holding 17 journalists in December. China and Myanmar topped the list, detaining 44 and 43 journalists respectively. This year’s ranking of the 10 worst offenders marks the first time that Israel has been included. Israeli officials and some pro-Israel advocacy groups suggested that some journalists collaborated with Hamas during the Oct. 7 attack and are therefore legitimate military targets. Read the story ➤

Impact journalism: Yasmine Ayyoub, a 30-year-old psychologist in Gaza who specializes in trauma among children, has been displaced five times since the war began. She’s looking to raise money to escape. Since our editor-in-chief, Jodi Rudoren, wrote about Yasmine’s plight in her Friday column, 182 people have donated nearly $10,000 to a crowdfunding campaign.

ALSO IN THE FORWARD

Left to right: Gidon Lev, a Holocaust survivor; Rabbi Menachem Margolin, chair of the European Jewish Association; Elon Musk with his son atop his shoulders; and Ben Shapiro, the conservative commentator, at Auschwitz on Monday. (Yoav Dudkevitch)

Elon Musk, criticized for spreading antisemitism on Twitter, visits Auschwitz: The world’s richest man, who has been accused of tolerating and promoting antisemitic posts on X, the social media platform he owns formerly known as Twitter, visited the concentration camp in Poland on Monday. He made the trip with Ben Shapiro, the outspoken Jewish conservative pundit. International Holocaust Remembrance Day is this Saturday.

In a conversion comedy, France’s Jerry Seinfeld flirts with Catholicism: In 2022, Gad Elmaleh’s reported conversion to Catholicism sent shockwaves throughout the Jewish world. But, it turns out his fans’ fears were both well-founded and premature. He is interested in Catholicism, and even made a film, Stay With Us, about converting, but he maintains he never really went through with it. Recently shown at the New York Jewish Film Festival, the comedy, our PJ Grisar writes in his review, “comes off as more self-indulgent than searching.”

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WHAT ELSE YOU NEED TO KNOW TODAY

Nikki Haley speaking at the Christians United for Israel summit in Virginia on July 17, 2023. (Getty)

🇺🇸 Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis exited the presidential race on Sunday, potentially boosting Nikki Haley’s support among anti-Trump Jewish Republicans. (JTA)

🤦 Harvard University named the director of the school’s Center for Jewish Studies as co-chair of a new antisemitism task force. The choice is drawing fire because he’s been critical of Israel and has, in the past, downplayed antisemitism on campus. (Jewish Insider)

😲 Alabama is set to execute a death row inmate this Thursday using, for the first time, a method called “nitrogen hypoxia,” which critics have dubbed a “gas chamber.” Several rabbis are pleading with the state’s governor to stop the killing. (NPR, Action Network)

🛕 India inaugurated a controversial new Hindu temple on the site of a centuries-old mosque destroyed in a Hindu mob attack. (AP, New York Times)

📺 Amazon Prime ordered a new TV series called House of David, about the royal drama between the biblical Saul and David. The dramatic tagline? “Two kings. One Kingdom. The outcome is war.” (Hollywood Reporter)

Shiva calls ➤ Berish Strauch, who revolutionized reconstructive surgery procedures, died at 90 … Robert Rosenthal, a psychologist whose most famous finding was the “Pygmalion effect,” died at 90 … Tanya Berezin, a co-founder of the Circle Repertory Company and an actress who performed on and off Broadway, died at 82.

What else we’re reading ➤ An atheist chaplain and a death row inmate’s final hours … Only two Jewish players are in the baseball Hall of Fame. Who could join Koufax and Greenberg in Cooperstown? … The Jewish team behind the classic comedy Airplane! explains how it got off the ground.

VIDEO OF THE DAY

Actor Jesse Eisenberg (The Social Network, Fleishman Is in Trouble) wrote and directed a new film that debuted this weekend at the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah. A Real Pain follows two cousins — portrayed by Eisenberg and Kieran Culkin (Succession) — who embark on a trip to Poland and to a former concentration camp following the death of their grandmother. Watch an interview above with the cast.

Thanks to Jacob Kornbluh and Talya Zax for contributing to today’s newsletter, and to Lauren Markoe for editing it. You can reach the “Forwarding” team at [email protected].

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