WHAT’S DRIVING THE AMERICAN JEWISH CONVERSATION

University presidents to testify to Congress on campus antisemitism, dogs bring comfort to freed hostages, Rep. George Santos may be expelled Friday, and meet Jewish couples who, like The Golden Bachelor, found love later in life.

HENRY KISSINGER 1923-2023

(Getty)

Henry Kissinger, a statesman whose influence rivaled that of presidents, died at 100.

A diplomatic strategist and Nobel winner, Kissinger left an enduring imprint on global politics as secretary of state and national security adviser to two U.S. presidents and as an informal adviser to several others.

Despite fleeing his native Germany as the Nazis rose to power in the 1930s and losing several members of his family in the Holocaust, Kissinger evinced little sentimental attachment to Jewish interests. “He was very insecure,” said historian Gil Troy. “The trauma of being a survivor, and the trauma of being an immigrant, of being an outsider. The 1970s was not a very Jewish decade. It was strange to have Jews in power.”

But after leaving office, Kissinger appeared to shed some of his reluctance to be perceived as Israel’s champion. In the decades that followed, he publicly defended Israeli interests, which helped secure his embrace by many in the Jewish mainstream.

Kissinger also leaves behind a controversial legacy, including his support for the 1973 coup in Chile, Argentina’s junta and bombings in Cambodia.

Read the story ➤

Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir and Henry Kissinger in Israel on Feb. 27, 1974. (Getty)

From our archives…

How should Jews view Kissinger? “If it were not for the accident of my birth, I would be antisemitic,” Kissinger once said. “Any people who has been persecuted for two thousand years must be doing something wrong.” Read the story ➤

Henry Kissinger wasn’t bad for Israel — he helped save it: “A deep historical review of thousands of declassified documents,” wrote Martin Indyk, the author of a book about Kissinger and Middle East diplomacy, “reveal that, rather than undermining the nascent Jewish state, he did much to ensure its survival and well-being.” Read the story ➤

And: Remembering Walter Kissinger — Henry’s menschy and self-effacing brother

ISRAEL AT WAR

The latest:Hamas gunmen killed three people, and wounded six others, two of them seriously, in a terror attack this morning at a bus stop at the entrance to Jerusalem … Sixteen more hostages were released on Wednesday. Israel confirmed early Thursday morning that the temporary truce would extend for at least one more day.

A person holding a dog watches as a helicopter with released Israeli hostages lands at the Schneider Medical Center in Israel. (Getty)

How dogs are bringing comfort to released hostages and their families in Israel: Videos capturing poignant reunions between canines and their newly freed owners have been flooding social media. In one case, a dog was not yet a part of the family, but getting one had been a hotly debated topic prior to Oct. 7. Hen Avigdori, whose wife Sharon and daughter Noam, 12, were abducted, went on Israeli TV and vowed to get his daughter a dog upon her return. They were released on Sunday. Read the story ➤

When the city council in Oakland, Calif., voted this week to call for a cease-fire, some pro-Palestinian activists took turns denying the Hamas atrocities: “There have not been beheadings of babies and rapings,” one speaker at the lectern said, contravening the testimony of multiple firsthand accounts and mainstream news reports. “The notion that this was a massacre of Jews was a fabricated narrative,” said another, of the attack that claimed some 1,200 lives and in which Hamas took 240 hostages. Read the story ➤

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken met with Israeli President Isaac Herzog today in Tel Aviv. (Getty)

Plus…

Secretary of State Antony Blinken met with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Isaac Herzog today in Israel, and said that he hopes the temporary truce will continue.

Pro-Palestinian protesters disrupted the lighting ceremony of the Christmas tree at Rockefeller Center Wednesday night. Fights broke out and several arrests were made.

Israel is investigating Hamas’ claim that its youngest hostages — Ariel Babas, 4, and his younger brother Kfir, 10 months — are dead, along with their mother Shiri.

“Ultimately, we are alone”: In a 45-minute speech on the Senate floor, Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, the most senior Jewish elected official in U.S. history, took some of his political allies to task for rising antisemitism on the left since the war began.

Avigail Idan turned 4 while in Hamas custody following the Oct. 7 attack, when her parents were murdered. She was released last week. (Courtesy)

Republican House impeachment investigators are questioning whether the hostage release of American Israeli Avigail Idan — a 4-year-old whose parents were murdered by Hamas — happened because the child’s aunt is a Democratic donor who bought artwork from Hunter Biden.

Rep. Jamaal Bowman, Democrat from New York, seemed to accuse Israel of genocide and ethnic cleansing in the war against Hamas in Gaza, in a speech Wednesday night.

The presidents of Harvard University, MIT and the University of Pennsylvania are scheduled to testify before Congress next week at a hearing about antisemitism on campus.

Following weeks of pressure on the United Nations to condemn Hamas for reported sexual violence during its Oct. 7 attack on Israel, U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres urged an investigation into the allegations.

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ALSO IN THE FORWARD

Carol Osher and Edward Reingold met on a Jewish dating site. (Courtesy)

Beyond The Golden Bachelor | Meet Jewish couples who found love later in life: The dating show, which airs its finale tonight, featured a 72-year-old widower and two dozen senior women vying for his affection. Inspired by the hit show, we set out to find Jewish couples who met around or well after their 50th birthdays. “Each day for me is a holiday, each morning for me is an event,” said Genrietta Lagutina, 85, and Eugene Plotkin, 91, who met in 2002 when Genrietta’s daughter married Eugene’s son.

And: At 95, Lore Segal is one of the oldest active American writers. Haunted by the Kindertransport and COVID-19, her latest collection of short stories chronicles a changing world.

WHAT ELSE YOU NEED TO KNOW TODAY

Elon Musk holds up a pendant from Israel that says “Bring Them Home” as he speaks at a business summit Wednesday in New York City. (Getty)

🤦 Elon Musk, fresh off his trip to Israel on Monday, lashed into advertisers who are boycotting his social media platform after he endorsed an antisemitic post. In an expletive-laden appearance at a business conference Wednesday in New York City, Musk expressed regret, called himself “philosemitic” … and also seemed to suggest that some Jewish organizations have funded Hamas-affiliated groups. (JTA)

🤷 The U.S. House of Representatives appears to have enough votes to expel scandal-plagued Republican George Santos, who lied about his career and Jewish heritage, over criminal corruption charges. The vote is expected Friday; Santos said this morning he refuses to resign. (CNN, Politico)

🕎 The grinch who stole Hanukkah? A borough in London decided not to allow a giant menorah to be erected outside its town hall “in light of escalating tensions from the conflict in the Middle East.” (Jewish News)

👮 A vandal described as going on a “one-man crime spree” in Boston — smashing windows at the city’s Holocaust memorial, damaging a police car and vandalizing Paul Revere’s tombstone — was arrested. (NY Post)

🔥 A man who pleaded guilty to setting fire to a synagogue in Austin, Texas, in 2021 was sentenced on Wednesday to 10 years in prison. (JTA)

🎶 Damaged sheet music written by a prisoner was discovered at Auschwitz. The song was played publicly for the first time during a concert this week. (Washington Post)

Mazel tov ➤ To Billy Crystal who is set to receive the Kennedy Center Honors on Sunday.

What else we’re reading ➤ Hollywood, with its lengthy list of Jewish founders, flourished during an era of rampant antisemitism … New documentary offers a peek into the triumphs and struggles of Muslim chaplains in U.S. military … How Jews built the American theater as we know it.

PHOTO OF THE DAY

(Robert A. Cumins)

Henry Kissinger, right, chats with Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis and her boyfriend, Maurice Tempelsman, at a dinner honoring Israeli diplomat Abba Eban at the United Nations in 1990.

Thanks to Bob Cumins, Jacob Kornbluh, Adam Langer and Jake Wasserman 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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