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JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.

WHAT’S DRIVING THE AMERICAN JEWISH CONVERSATION

Congrats, we’ve made it to Friday. Turkey to pause trade with Israel, wife of slain hostage gives birth, the Orthodox man with a surprising case in front of the Supreme Court, religious imagery in Taylor Swift’s new album, and a review of Jerry Seinfeld’s new movie about Pop-Tarts.

CONFLICT ON CAMPUS

“There’s the right to protest, but not the right to cause chaos,” President Joe Biden said Thursday. (Getty)

More than 2,000 people were arrested nationwide in pro-Palestinian campus protests. Let’s get you caught up…

“Dissent must never lead to disorder,” President Joe Biden said in his first address about the pro-Palestinian protests rocking campuses nationwide.

Pro-Palestinian demonstrators set up an encampment in the main quad of Binghamton University, a school known to attract Jews but not activists.

Dartmouth was heralded for its reaction after Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack. Now it’s the latest campus to be rocked by protests.

After Northwestern University brokered an agreement with protesters, members of the school’s antisemitism committee resigned, saying they were not consulted.

The Philadelphia police department declined a request from the University of Pennsylvania to disband the Gaza solidarity encampment.

Pro-Israel protesters at UCLA reportedly attacked four student journalists, sending one to the hospital.

Protesters at Rutgers cleared out after reaching a deal with administrators.

The University of Minnesota and protesters reached an agreement to end the dayslong encampment on the campus.

To get protesters off lawns, some universities agreed to consider ending investments in Israel. But that’s not a simple task.

A new survey found that 47% of U.S. voters believe colleges should ban pro-Palestinian protests.

A protester waves a Palestinian flag inside an encampment Thursday at the University of Toronto. (Getty)

Opinions…

Opinion | Student activists aren’t antisemites; they’re partners in a dance of death: “These aren’t pro-peace protests; they are pro-war protests,” writes our columnist Rabbi Jay Michaelson. While many students are motivated by the carnage in Gaza, “the protests’ overwhelming messaging and leadership call not merely for a ceasefire but for the destruction of the state of Israel itself.” He adds: “These are not the messengers that the Palestinian cause deserves.” Read the story ➤

“Is it possible to hope for students who are idealistic without being hateful, selfless but not self-righteous?” asks Steve Kelman, a Harvard professor.

Columbia squandered ample opportunities to chart a path without involving police, writes Lux Alptraum.

Police escort Lee Roberts (left), interim chancellor of the University of North Carolina, through a crowd of protesters to restore an American flag to a pole at the center of campus. (Heather Diehl/The Daily Tarheel)

What happens when conservative students join with pro-Israel Jews: An unusual scene unfolded at the University of North Carolina earlier this week, writes our Arno Rosenfeld in the latest edition of his antisemitism newsletter. Conservative fraternity brothers, angry that protesters from the Gaza tent encampment had taken down an American flag, rallied with pro-Israel Jewish students. It was a coalition with little precedent on campus and it comes at a time of mounting violence and arrests directed at the left-wing protesters. Read the story ➤

🔌 Two plugs: If you don’t already get Arno’s weekly newsletter, sign up here to receive it in your inbox. And if you’re in D.C., Arno is moderating a conversation about the Jewish history of Washington Monday evening at D.C.’s Martin Luther King Jr. Library.

But wait, there’s more: Pro-Palestinian tent protests have spilled onto Canadian campuses. What happens next? Arno explained when he was a guest on the Canadian Jewish News podcast.

ISRAEL AT WAR

Families and supporters of hostages held in Gaza rallied this week in Tel Aviv. (Getty)

The latest…

Kibbutz Be’eri said that Dror Or, one of its residents who was taken hostage, is now believed to have been killed on Oct. 7 with his body being held in Gaza.

Ella Chaimi — whose husband, Tal, was murdered on Oct. 7 — gave birth to her fourth child, a baby boy, on Thursday in Israel.

AIPAC and the Republican Jewish Committee have both stopped fundraising for 15 Republican lawmakers who recently voted against emergency military aid for Israel.

Turkey said it would temporarily pause trade with Israel, until an “uninterrupted and sufficient flow of aid is allowed into Gaza.”

Organizers at next week’s Eurovision Song Contest said Palestinian flags will not be allowed, but fans can wave the flag of Israel, which is participating in the competition.

Apple TV+ will delay the release of the third season of Tehran, the Emmy-award winning Israeli spy drama, until after the war.

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ALSO IN THE FORWARD

A scene from Bros, a new comedy about fans of a popular Israeli soccer team. (Netflix)

In new Israeli Netflix show about fanatical soccer fans, anti-Arab racism is an unspoken companion: Netflix has acquired plenty of successful Israeli shows, but the streaming platform has finally invested in producing one of its own. Bros is a comedy about the fans of soccer team Beitar as they prepare to see them play a qualifying match in Poland. But Bros conveniently ignores that Beitar is infamous for the anti-Arab racism of its fan club, La Familia. Still, its characters’ escapades are often violent and illegal, a fact that our Mira Fox argues paints Israel in a bad light.

Plus…

Novelist Paul Auster, who died this week at 77, used Jewish literature and family life as inspiration for his works.

Still in the Passover mood? A Manhattan theater is staging a Seder/0pera/chamber drama based on a Jewish play from the 2nd century B.C.E.

WHAT ELSE YOU NEED TO KNOW TODAY

Comedian Alex Edelman will receive a Tony Award for his show about antisemitism. (Stephanie Augello)

🎭 Alex Edelman will receive an honorary Tony Award for his one-man Broadway show, Just for Us, about growing up Orthodox in Massachusetts and, as an adult, attending a neo-Nazi meeting in New York. It is now streaming on Max. (Hollywood Reporter)

📫 A North Carolina man was charged with mailing an antisemitic threat to a rabbi in Georgia. If convicted, he faces up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine. (AP)

⚖️ The Supreme Court is set to decide a case fit for small claims court: Is a 73-year-old Orthodox man, mostly representing himself and writing legal briefs filled with poetry, due $3,000 in back pay? (Wall Street Journal)

📫 When a German World War II soldier was raiding the famed yeshiva in Lublin, Poland, he reached into the trash and grabbed 36 postcards so he could augment his stamp collection. His granddaughter recently discovered the postcards and returned them to the yeshiva. (JTA)

🏈 Sam Salz believes he is the only Orthodox Jewish player in college football. Meet the 5-foot-6, 160-pound college student living an improbable dream. (Athletic)

What else we’re reading ➤ Religious imagery in Taylor Swift’s new album … A Sonic the Hedgehog spinoff is the TV show Jews need right now … Are we living through a bagel renaissance?

VIDEO OF THE DAY

It should come as no surprise that Jerry Seinfeld, who rose to fame by making a sitcom about nothing, is making his directorial debut with a film about … Pop-Tarts. It debuts today on Netflix. Watch the trailer above.

Our PJ Grisar writes that the movie “sings with the sensibilities of adults who refuse to grow up.” Read his review ➤

Thanks to Mira Fox, PJ Grisar, Jacob Kornbluh and Lauren Markoe 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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