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JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT. |
| WHAT’S DRIVING THE AMERICAN JEWISH CONVERSATION |
| | | | | | | | Today: Mediator Egypt proposes two-day ceasefire and release of four hostages, Tree of Life survivors mark sixth anniversary, final election ads target Jewish anxieties, new film about Munich Olympics gaining Oscar buzz, and much more. |
| | | | Doug Emhoff’s closing message in the swing state of Pennsylvania will describe Trump as an “agent of chaos and cruelty.” (Getty) |
| Exclusive | ‘There is a fire in this country’: Emhoff to warn of Trump’s threat to American Jews
Doug Emhoff, the husband of Vice President Kamala Harris, will deliver a major speech tonight in Pittsburgh on the threat he sees in former President Donald Trump’s use of antisemitic tropes on the campaign trail and his pursuit of unchecked power.
“There is a fire in this country,” says an advance copy of Emhoff’s speech shared with our senior political reporter, Jacob Kornbluh. “Either we pour water on it, or we pour gasoline.”
A senior campaign official said the estimated 20-minute speech will be Emhoff’s most extensive and pointed remarks on this topic. “Whenever chaos and cruelty are given a green light, Jew-hatred is historically not far behind,” Emhoff is set to say. “That matters today because Donald Trump is nothing if not an agent of chaos and cruelty.” |
| | | Thousands attended a rally for former President Trump Sunday at Madison Square Garden. (Getty) |
| At the Garden
Speakers at Trumps’ much anticipated Madison Square Garden event Sunday night addressed head-on the criticism by Gov. Tim Walz, Hillary Clinton and others that the event reminded them of a famous 1939 fascist rally held in the iconic arena.
“I don’t see no stinking Nazis in here,” said the wrestler Hulk Hogan. Alina Habba, one of Trump’s attorneys, said, “They are now scrambling and trying to call us Nazis and fascists.” Sid Rosenberg, a radio host who once called Emhoff a “crappy Jew,” gave an expletive-laden speech and joked that he was at “a Nazi rally.”
Our opinion columnists Rob Eshman and Rabbi Jay Michaelson both filed their outraged reactions overnight…
Eshman | ‘America is for Americans and Americans only’: That line was said at the rally by Stephen Miller. “It’s worth remembering that Miller’s own great-grandfather, Nison Miller, a persecuted Jew in Eastern Europe, sought refuge here in 1904,” Rob writes. “Now he wants to set up checkpoints, do mass roundups, build internment camps and deputize local police forces to hunt down immigrants.” Read his essay ►
Michaelson | Trump’s rally was a morally disgusting glimpse of the nationalist movement:“Maybe a more productive way to see this rally is as a taste of the world to come, to paraphrase a rabbinic term,” Jay writes. “Is this ultra-nationalist, often Christian Nationalist, world of rage, resentment, and scapegoating the America we want to live in? Are any other values — Israel, tax cuts, less regulation — really worth this devil’s bargain?” Read his essay ►
More from speeches at the rally… Trump said the people who died in Israel on Oct. 7 would still be alive if he were president.
Comedian Tony Hinchcliffe mocked Puerto Ricans, Latinos, Palestinians and Jews.
Rudy Giuliani said, “The Palestinians are taught to kill us at two-years-old.”
David Rem, another Trump surrogate, referred to Harris as “the Antichrist” and “the devil,” while another speaker called for the “slaughter” of Harris voters.
Elsewhere at the rally… The Lincoln Project, a PAC founded by former Republicans who oppose Trump, had two billboard trucks circling Madison Square Garden. They played a new ad featuring Trump’s words in German overlaid on footage of Nazi-aligned German forces.
Shabbos Kestenbaum, the Harvard grad who sued his school over antisemitism and a lifelong Democrat who endorsed Trump, canceled his appearance at the event because it also featured Tucker Carlson, who Kestenbaum called “a dangerous antisemite.” (Jewish Insider)
Related: How a 1943 rally at Madison Square Garden tried to rescue millions of Jews |
| | Actor Adam Brody, who plays the “hot rabbi” in Netflix’s Nobody Wants This, campaigned for the Harris-Walz campaign with Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro on Saturday outside of Philadelphia. (Courtesy) |
| Ad hominem
Ads targeting Jewish voters in the final days of the election warn of “antisemitism, threats to Israel and attacks on democratic norms under which Jews have historically thrived.” They share a similar theme: “Turn your anxiety into action.” Go deeper ►
► In an attempt to counter recent revelations that Trump praised Hitler, his campaign released an ad featuring Jerry Wartski, a 94-year-old Auschwitz survivor. “I know more about Hitler than Kamala will ever know in a thousand lifetimes,” Wartski says in the ad. “For her to accuse President Trump of being like Hitler is the worst thing I’ve ever heard in my 75 years of living in the United States.”
► The Democratic Majority for Israel, meanwhile, released an ad criticizing Trump for his associations with antisemites, and asking what a Trump-Israel relationship would look like if Netanyahu leaves office.
Plus… The daughter of the owner of the Los Angeles Times said Saturday that Israel’s military campaign in Gaza motivated her family’s decision to withhold an endorsement in the presidential election — an explanation her father disputed.
Trump once proposed “creating a national registry for Muslims.” Now, he’s courting Muslim voters in the swing state of Michigan. (The New York Times)
Some pro-Palestinian voters are wary of the Biden-Harris administration’s steadfast support for Israel. Sen. Bernie Sanders on Sunday warned them that “Trump is even worse on this issue.” (Meet the Press) |
| | | | | | | Sara Netanyahu, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, President Isaac Herzog and First Lady Michal Herzog at a memorial ceremony Sunday for the Oct. 7 victims. (Getty) |
| Fallout from Iran strike… Israel’s retaliatory missile strike Friday night against Iran garnered bipartisan support in the United States. Harris and Trump both praised it.
Iran on Monday said it would “use all available tools” to respond.
Opinion: Israel’s relative restraint “signals a deeper strategic hope — that after Nov. 5, the U.S. administration will take a harder line on Iran,” writes our columnist Dan Perry.
Context: Ephraim Sneh, a retired IDF general, offered a wider view of Netanyahu’s Iran strategy in an essay earlier this month.
New Gaza ceasefire proposal… With talks for a more permanent Israel-Hamas truce stalled, Egypt has proposed a two-day pause with the the release of four hostages in an effort to “move the situation forward.” Negotiations are set to continue today in Qatar. (AP)
Hostage families have long advocated for a “one-phase deal to bring everyone home.” (Times of Israel)
Plus… A 72-year-old Israeli was killed and dozens of others were injured on Sunday when a truck rammed into a Tel Aviv bus stop. Police shot and killed the driver. (Times of Israel)
After a drone attack on Netanyahu’s home earlier this month, his cabinet said it will not meet at the prime minister’s office due to “security concerns.” (Times of Israel) |
| | LISTEN: COMEDIAN DURING WARTIME |
| | Comedian Noam Shuster-Eliassi. (Courtesy) |
| Tune in: The latest episode of our new podcast, Make Art Not War, dropped Friday. Host Libby Lenkinski chats with Noam Shuster-Eliassi, a comedian who performs in Hebrew, Arabic and English. Listen to it now, and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. |
| | | | Rabbi Jeffrey Myers walks past the Tree of Life synagogue. (Getty) |
| | | | | WHAT ELSE YOU NEED TO KNOW TODAY |
| | The Dodgers celebrate after a 10th inning grand slam in the first game of the World Series. (Getty) |
| ⚾ Some Orthodox Jews missed the first game of the World Series because it coincided with Shabbat. Others looked for loopholes. (Forward)
😞 A Jewish man was shot in the shoulder on the way to synagogue Saturday in a Chicago suburb, and is now recovering at home. Police later shot the suspect, who is in critical condition. (CBS Chicago, Book Club Chicago)
🇦🇺 Australia refused entry to Candace Owens, a conservative commentator, for, among other things, “downplaying the impact of the Holocaust.” (Guardian)
🎬 Actor Timothée Chalamet, who is now starring in a Bob Dylan biopic, surprised fans by crashing his own look-alike contest on Sunday. The real Chalamet did not win. (Gothamist, GQ)
Shiva calls ► Phil Lesh, the “Grateful Dead bassist who hosted musical Passover seders,” died at 84 … Lynda Obst — a former editor of The New York Times Magazine and a Hollywood producer behind Flashdance, Sleepless in Seattle and a host of other films — died at 74 … Rabbi Shlomo Halioua, the head of the famed Chaim Berlin yeshiva in New York, died at 66.
What else we’re reading ► A Jewish faculty member at Harvard on why Hillel does not represent him … Faith groups using election scenarios to prepare spiritually, mentally for what’s next … In new movie, actor Jesse Eisenberg explores what it means to be a grandchild of Holocaust survivors.
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| | | | A new movie called September 5 goes behind the scenes as the ABC Sports TV team broadcasted from the 1972 Munich Summer Olympics, when the terrorist group known as Black September took the Israeli team hostage. The movie stars Peter Sarsgaard and is already garnering Oscar buzz. It arrives in theaters on Nov. 29; watch the trailer above. |
| Thanks to Rob Eshman, Jacob Kornbluh, Lauren Markoe and Julie Moos for contributing to today’s newsletter, and to Jodi Rudoren for editing it. You can reach the “Forwarding” team at [email protected]. |
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