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JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.

WHAT’S DRIVING THE AMERICAN JEWISH CONVERSATION

Israel agrees to withdraw from Gaza-Egypt border as part of ceasefire deal, U.S. criminally charges Hamas leaders for killing Americans, Tucker Carlson hosts interview with Holocaust revisionist, Jewish amputee wins photo-finish at Paralympics, and Kristen Bell dates a rabbi in new Netflix romantic comedy.

ON CAMPUS

A pro-Palestinian student at the University of Michigan's commencement in May. (Getty)

Distinguishing anti-Zionists from antisemites on campus

Two recent studies of college students found that animosity toward Israel is not clearly linked to an embrace of antisemitic ideas — even while these hostile attitudes can alienate them from Jews on campus.

‘Consensus antisemitism’: That’s a term that scholar Keith Kahn-Harris uses to describe ideas that virtually all Jews recognize as offensive, like the trope that Jews are greedy. A new study from Brandeis University found that 16% of college students agree with statements in this category.

Little overlap: But the students who embraced antisemitic tropes were not necessarily hostile toward Israel — in fact, they were more likely to support the Israeli government than the average student. Meanwhile, another 15% of students were very hostile toward Israel while rejecting a variety of antisemitic statements.

More evidence: The study tracks with one from earlier this year that found right-wing students were more likely than liberals to support Hamas terrorism, and could bolster claims by anti-Zionists that there is nothing antisemitic about their movement.

Skeptical scholar: But the study also found that most students who were hostile toward Israel wouldn’t be friends with someone who supported its existence as a Jewish state, potentially alienating a big share of Jewish students. “It’s just a different way of expressing the same old hostility, the same old prejudices,” said Len Saxe, who led the study.

Recommended reading ► My colleague Arno Rosenfeld wrote the above story as part of his weekly antisemitism newsletter. If you don’t already subscribe, sign up here to get it delivered for free.

Pro-Israel demonstrators gathered last week in front of Columbia University. (Getty)

Elsewhere on campus…

Pro-Palestinian demonstrators returned to Columbia University on Tuesday, its first day of fall classes, and vandalized an iconic campus statue with red paint.

Rebecca Massel, our former intern and a junior at Columbia, spoke about the new semester on the local news. Watch it here.

An alleged “hazardous chemical” spewed at a Columbia anti-Israel protest in January, which some claimed was a bio-weapon used by the IDF, was actually a non-toxic novelty spray, according to a new report.

A bipartisan group of Jewish legislators in New York City is demanding that CUNY schools take action to protect its students after pro-Palestinian demonstrators protested at Baruch College and Hunter College.

The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign said “its nondiscrimination policy will now extend to harassment or discrimination based on Jewish students’ connections to Israel and Zionism.”

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ISRAEL AT WAR

A child receives a polio vaccine on Wednesday in Gaza. (Getty)

The latest…

The U.S. Department of Justice revealed that it criminally charged Yahya Sinwar, the Hamas leader, and other terrorists for the murder of at least 43 Americans during the Oct. 7 attack.

Israel agreed to withdraw from the Philadelphi Corridor, an area along the Gaza-Egypt border as part of a proposed ceasefire deal, according to the White House. That was confirmed by Israeli officials to negotiators in Qatar, despite contrary statements from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

A mass campaign to give polio vaccines to about 640,000 children in Gaza is ahead of schedule. Israel and Hamas agreed to “staggered pauses in fighting” this week to ensure the medicine can be administered.

A grand jury indicted a Texas woman for a hate crime for a May incident in which she attempted to drown a 3-year-old Palestinian American girl.

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ELECTION 2024

Doug Emhoff, 59, has maintained a hectic schedule since his wife replaced President Joe Biden on the Democratic ticket in July. (Getty)

In Doug Emhoff, the Harris campaign sees a skilled surrogate with wide appeal: The second gentleman serves as the face of the administration’s campaign to combating antisemitism and its spokesperson at important gatherings of Jewish Americans — like on a Zoom call with Jewish voters Tuesday. “Emhoff has embraced this role, leaning into Jewish identity and Jewish joy at a time when that really matters,” said Amy Spitalnick of the Jewish Council for Public Affairs. Read the story ►

“I’m gutted,” Emhoff said at a service Tuesday night at a D.C. synagogue to memorialize the six hostages killed by Hamas this weekend. Watch his speech.

In the GOP…

“Our country is missing a lot of religion,” former President Donald Trump said on a podcast released Tuesday. “I think it really was a much better place with religion.”

The Republican Jewish Coalition’s annual Leadership Summit begins today in Las Vegas.

WHAT ELSE YOU NEED TO KNOW TODAY

Tucker Carlson speaks at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee. (Getty)

🤦 Tucker Carlson hosted a conversation with a Holocaust revisionist, and Elon Musk told his 196 million social media followers to watch the interview. (Daily Beast, Haaretz)

⚖️ A Florida man was sentenced to 10 years in prison for a 2022 incident in which he attacked four Jewish teens during the festival of Sukkot. (AP)

🤔 A Jewish Floridian is proposing a ballot measure in South Dakota that would require a daily prayer be recited in public schools. (JTA)

🚌 London has temporarily added a direct bus route between two heavily Jewish areas so that Jews can “be safe and feel safer” without having to switch buses, said Mayor Sadiq Khan. (Algemeiner)

🎞️ An upcoming documentary features never-before-seen footage of police interrogating Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu related to charges of bribery and fraud. (Variety)

🏅 A 19-year-old Jewish amputee from Los Angeles won gold in the 100-meter dash on Monday at the Paralympics in Paris. It was one of the closest races of the Games: the top five finishers crossed the line in the same tenth of a second. On Tuesday, he won a second gold, this time in the high jump. (WSJ, JTA)

🇮🇱 Meanwhile, Israeli Paralympians have won seven medals, including four golds, all while their country is convulsing over the hostage deaths back home. (JTA)

What else we’re reading ► New traveling exhibition explores impact that baseball had on Jews’ integration into America … At 28, Ireland’s new chief rabbi is leading an aging population in a time of turmoil … Dr. Ruth shares a final lesson after her death.

VIDEO OF THE DAY

How’s this for a meet-cute? A non-Jewish woman who has a sex podcast (Kristen Bell) and a newly single rabbi (Adam Brody) fall in love, but can their relationship survive their varied backgrounds and meddling families? Netflix dropped the trailer for its new series, Nobody Wants This, which debuts on Sep. 26. Go deeper ►

Thanks to Jacob Kornbluh and Arno Rosenfeld 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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