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WHAT’S DRIVING THE AMERICAN JEWISH CONVERSATION

Since it’s Memorial Day, we’ve kept today’s newsletter brief.

Dave Chappelle calls Gaza war a “genocide,” some staff at UCLA and UC Davis to stage pro-Palestinian walkout on Tuesday, New Jersey mayor opposed hiring Jews, and why a famous Jewish actor applied for Polish citizenship.

 ISRAEL AT WAR

Palestinians mourn Monday in a displaced persons camp, after a Sunday night Israeli strike in Rafah killed dozens. (Getty)

There was strong international criticism of Israel on Monday after an overnight airstrike on a tent encampment in Rafah killed at least 40 people, mostly civilians, according to the Gaza Health Ministry. Read the story ➤

• An IDF spokesperson said the military was targeting a Hamas compound.

  
  

• Qatar said the attack could hinder a deal for a ceasefire and hostage exchange.

  
  

• French President Emanuel Macron said he was “outraged.”
  

The strike came a day after Hamas fired eight rockets on Tel Aviv for the first time in nearly four months. The Iron Dome intercepted three of them, and five landed in open areas. Two people were injured.

Meanwhile in the United Arab Emirates, comedian Dave Chappelle called Israel’s war in Gaza a genocide and said that fighting antisemitism in the U.S. would make Jews feel safer and less reliant on Israel. Chappelle came under fire in late 2022 for a Saturday Night Live monologue filled with antisemitic tropes.

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CONFLICT ON CAMPUS

LAPD officers stand guard after clearing a pro-Palestinian encampment on Thursday at UCLA. (Getty)

Academic personnel are set to stage a walkout Tuesday at UCLA and the University of California, Davis, to protest the  universities’ handling of pro-Palestinian demonstrations.

The walkout is in support of a strike at U.C. Santa Cruz, according to the Washington Post, and its leader claims administrators committed “unfair labor practices” by failing to stop violent pro-Israel counter-protesters at UCLA and then arresting students and staff involved in the encampment there.

Pro-Palestinian protesters demonstrated briefly during a commencement ceremony on Sunday at Brown University in Rhode Island. 🔎 Zooming out: Our Mira Fox reports why Jewish students from Brown were able to keep antisemitism at bay, while protests rocked other elite college campuses.

In case you missed it: Our editor-in-chief, Jodi Rudoren, spoke with Lee C. Bollinger, the longtime president of Columbia University, about the conflict on campuses this spring. “It’s hard when people are angry and so passionate — and maybe wrong and misguided as well — to try to bring this to a better place.”

Catch up on all our coverage from campuses around the country.

WHAT ELSE YOU NEED TO KNOW TODAY

Jesse Eisenberg said he’s drawn to Poland because that’s where his family “lived for so many generations, centuries.” (Getty)

🇵🇱  Actor Jesse Eisenberg, who lost family in the Holocaust and whose forthcoming movie is about looking for relatives in Poland, said he applied for Polish citizenship because he “would love to create better relationships between Jews and Polish people.” (Variety)

⚖️  A California woman was sentenced to 32 months in prison after pleading guilty to making hate-filled, antisemitic telephone calls to several people, including the former executive director of Pittsburgh’s Tree of Life synagogue. (CBS News)

👮  Police arrested a man on suspicion of tearing down blue ribbons at the Jewish Community Center in Newton, Massachusetts. He is also accused of harassing two Jewish children in a separate incident last month. (NBC Boston)

🏫  The mayor of Linden, New Jersey, opposed hiring Jews in a local school district, according to a new lawsuit, which quotes him as saying he wanted to keep the city from “being taken over by guys with big hats and curls.”  (NJ.com)

🇨🇦  Police in Toronto are looking for multiple suspects accused of shooting at a Jewish elementary school early Saturday morning. There were no injuries. (CBC)

Shiva calls ➤   Adele Faber, a bestselling author of books on communication between parents and children, died at 96 …  Richard Sherman, the famed songwriter behind Mary Poppins, It’s a Small World and other Disney classics, died at 95.

VIDEO OF THE DAY

In honor of Memorial Day, check out this Yiddish rendition of the Star Spangled Banner. And learn more about the lyrics here.

Thanks to Jacob Kornbluh 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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