WHAT’S DRIVING THE AMERICAN JEWISH CONVERSATION

Good morning. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is back in Israel today, as U.S. officials have begun to warn that Israel risks losing American support over its war with Hamas. Separately, some Israeli families of Oct. 7 victims have brought war crimes complaints against Hamas to the International Criminal Court.

ISRAEL AT WAR

The Theatre of Bacchus in Athens. (Getty Images)

For Israel, a predicament that would be familiar to the authors of Greek tragedy. Greek tragedians tended to write plays that followed an ethically devastating formula, ending with “dilemmas in which not only is there no good choice, but even the best bad choices are soul-battering,” our contributor Robert Zaretsky writes. Those plays have a terrifying lesson for Israel today, particularly when it comes to the more than 200 hostages held in Gaza, whose plight has left the country grappling with “a collision between equally powerful and equally righteous imperatives.“ Read his essay ➤

And:

• Hundreds of Holocaust survivors pose with posters of Hamas hostages in a statement of solidarity

  
  

• ‘We were broken to see what we saw’: US rabbis visit Israel during wartime

  
  

• New York City Marathon runners to wear T-shirts with pictures of hostages held by Hamas

A settler killed a Palestinian farmer — and what happened next. Robby Berman, a Tel Aviv-based activist and tour guide who speaks Arabic, awoke on Monday to an unusual request: Would he be willing to drive deep into the West Bank to help rescue a donkey? The donkey belonged to Bilal Muhammad Saleh, who was shot and killed by an Israeli settler while harvesting olives on Saturday; it had been left in the olive groves after the assault, as Saleh’s family and neighbors fled in fear. “The last thing Israel needs in the middle of this war is to push the Palestinians of the West Bank into the arms of Hamas,” Berman writes. “But that’s what happens when armed settlers run amok in the olive groves.” Read his essay ➤

And:

• Opinion | In Jerusalem, Arab citizens are less visible now. Do they hate us?

Families of hostages blocked a Tel Aviv road during a Friday protest ahead of U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken‘s arrival. (Alexi J. Rosenfeld/Getty Images)

Plus…

• The Israel Defense Forces said they had fully encircled Gaza City, as U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrived in Israel to push Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to accept “humanitarian pauses” in the war. President Joe Biden’s administration is privately warning Israeli officials that there’s a ticking clock on how long it can maintain support for the war, as global concern mounts over humanitarian issues in Gaza.

  
  

• The House of Representatives passed a controversial aid bill, which ties almost $14.5 billion in funds for Israel to cuts in spending by the IRS, targeting money earmarked to help the tax agency pursue tax evaders. Biden said he would veto the bill should it pass the Senate.

  
  

• The families of nine victims of Hamas’ Oct. 7 terrorist attack have lodged a war crimes complaint over the massacre with the International Criminal Court. The complaint includes charges of genocide.

  
  

• The IDF warned Hezbollah that its northern troops are on high alert, as the leader of the Lebanon-based terror group announced he would make his first public remarks on the war today.

  
  

• Cornell University canceled all Friday classes as the campus reeled from the arrest of a junior for making violent threats against Jewish students online. Separately, a swastika was found in a residence hall at Bucknell University in Pennsylvania.

  
  

• Two dozen major law firms issued a letter to top law schools, including Harvard and Yale, demanding they crack down on antisemitism, writing, “It is imperative that you provide your students with the tools and guidance to engage in the free exchange of ideas, even on emotionally charged issues.”

  
  

• The Russian mob that stormed a Dagestan airport Sunday, shouting antisemitic slogans as a flight from Tel Aviv landed, was the product of weeks of disinformation spread in the region, a New York Times investigation found. The disinformation suggested that Israelis were going to be resettled in the region, and social media users began threatening violence against Jews days before the riot. Separately, a Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson described Israel’s recommendation that Israelis in the region leave as “anti-Russian.”

  
  

• The popular social media app TikTok pushed back against accusations that it spreads antisemitism, saying it had removed millions of videos related to hate speech since the Oct. 7 attack. A group of Jewish creators on the platform said in a Wednesday letter that the app was “not protecting the safety of its Jewish creators and community.”

  
  

• Some 20,000 people reportedly attended a Vienna rally against antisemitism and calling for the release of Israeli hostages, days after a fire was set in the Jewish section of the city’s central cemetery, amid rising concerns over escalating antisemitism in Europe related to the war.

92NY, a New York cultural venue first founded as a Jewish organization, canceled a talk by the author Viet Thanh Nguyen after he signed an open letter calling for a cease-fire in Gaza. (Getty Images)

A timeline of cultural events canceled since Hamas’ attack on Israel. A Parisian suburb canceled a planned performance by a theater troupe based in the West Bank city of Jenin; the Boston Palestine Film Festival canceled all its live events, switching to virtual streaming instead; the Frick Pittsburgh postponed an exhibit on Islamic art meant to open in November. An accounting of all the cultural events canceled or delayed in response to the Israel-Hamas war gives a sense of how deeply the conflict has shaken the world of arts and humanities, our Irene Katz Connelly writes, especially as “influential cultural figures have faced discipline or firing for taking public pro-Palestinian stances.” Read the story ➤

And:

• ‘But we must speak’: Palestinian scholars, activists, allies address packed Manhattan crowd

  
  

• Hillel chapter says Sarah Lawrence College is violating Jewish students’ civil rights

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ALSO FROM THE FORWARD

Jack Dempsey’s restaurant, a renowned purveyor of New York cheesecake. (Getty Images)

How a few judiciously placed slices of New York Jewish cheesecake changed the world of rock ‘n’ roll. Richard Gottehrer, a musician who with his songwriting partners Bob Feldman and Jerry Goldstein wrote hits for rock bands like The Angels and The McCoys, used to bribe a Buffalo radio station to play pre-release singles by sending them a New York cheesecake. It wasn’t about getting airwave time — it was about letting the team hear how a song sounded on AM radio before its release, so they could tell if it needed remastering. It was a tactic they later used across the world: Eventually, Gottehrer said, even European labels would come to meetings and “say, ‘You got the cheesecakes?’ And I’d say, ‘Of course! What do you got for us?’”

Watch us make a delicious vegetarian version of cholent, the Shabbat stew. Cholent, an Ashkenazi Shabbat staple, is traditionally made with meat simmered overnight with potatoes and beans. In a new video, Forverts editor Rukhl Schaechter and Eve Jochnowitz share a recipe for a vegetarian version — and show you just how to make it.

WHAT ELSE YOU NEED TO KNOW TODAY

Councilwoman Inna Vernikov (R-Brooklyn) on July 13, 2023. (Screenshot/Youtube)

👀  A New York City councilwoman was charged with criminal possession of a firearm after allegedly bringing a gun to a pro-Palestinian protest at Brooklyn College. Inna Vernikov, who is Jewish, attended a pro-Israel counterprotest; a new state law makes carrying a gun at a protest illegal. (ABC7)

😨  A Florida man faces charges after allegedly threatening to kill Jews in a phone call to a Jewish organization. The 21-year-old allegedly said, “I would kill every one of you Israelis” in a voicemail left for the World Jewish Congress. (ABC News)

⚖️  The founder of the Goyim Defense League was sentenced to 30 days in jail in Florida on charges related to antisemitic littering. (JTA)

😔  A man holding a pellet gun was arrested outside the Jewish Federation of Detroit’s building Thursday, but the Federation says the incident wasn’t antisemitic, adding in a statement that the man was believed to be experiencing a mental health crisis. (Click On Detroit)

🎾  The winner of the WTA Finals, a major women’s tennis tournament, said she would donate part of her prize money to aid Palestinians. Iga Swiatek, who is Tunisian and was the first Arab woman to win a Grand Slam singles final, said her decision “is not a political message. It is humanity. I want peace in this world.” (Associated Press)

🙄  A Fox host falsely claimed CNN’s Wolf Blitzer’s parents weren’t victims of the Holocaust. Mark Levin, who is Jewish, called CNN’s Jewish personalities “self-hating” in a rant over Blitzer’s coverage of the Israel-Hamas war. In fact Blitzer’s parents both survived the Holocaust, which killed all four of his grandparents, alongside many other family members. (Media Matters)

😳  A Melbourne man will be the first person to face charges for performing the Nazi salute in the Australian state of Victoria. Jacob Hersant, 24, performed the salute last week while leaving court after avoiding jail time on charges related to an attack on hikers in 2021. (9news.com.au)

What else we’re reading ➤ “An ‘Israel explainer’ makes her country’s case in America” … “How Israel is splitting the Democrats” … “Ireland’s criticism of Israel has made it an outlier in the EU. What lies behind it?”

PHOTO OF THE DAY

(JAAFAR ASHTIYEH/AFP via Getty Images)

Israeli soldiers scuffled with Jewish settlers Thursday in the Israel-occupied West Bank as the settlers sought to enter the town of Deir Sharaf. Tensions in the West Bank continue to rise; according to the Palestinian Authority’s health ministry, the IDF killed seven Palestinians there overnight, with some 130 dead since Oct. 7.

Thanks to Beth Harpaz for editing today’s newsletter. You can reach the “Forwarding” team at [email protected].

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