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WHAT’S DRIVING THE AMERICAN JEWISH CONVERSATION

New poll shows Israelis prefer Trump over Biden, the story behind those red-hand pins at the Oscars, Canada removes Nazi-adjacent monument after uproar, and an Orthodox passenger suing JetBlue for discrimination.

WAR IN ISRAEL

An Israeli soldier carries a stuffed animal on Tuesday as he gathers with other soldiers after coming out from the Gaza Strip. (Getty)

Five months of war…

Opinion | After 5 months of fierce fighting, how close is Israel to its goals?“Netanyahu could put politics aside and accept the international proposals as a basis for a ceasefire agreement,” writes Dan Perry, the author of two books about Israel. “Project to the world that Israel does not want the war to last another minute, and all Hamas has to do is agree to the above terms. The window of legitimacy would reopen, at least a little. You cannot win a war of narratives without a narrative.” Read his essay ➤

​​Five months after Oct. 7, volunteers fight fatigue as they push for hostages’ release: While family members and even the released hostages themselves have become fixtures at public events, fewer people are taking part. And internal tensions at the Hostages and Missing Families Forum have burst into public view with the recent departures of the group’s three founders. Family members have also sparred over how much to oppose Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is seen by some as being insufficiently committed to securing the hostages’ release. Read the story ➤

Students on the University of Pennsylvania campus in December. (Getty)

On campus…

The Faculty for Justice in Palestine group at the University of Pennsylvania is suing the school in an attempt to stop it from participating in a U.S. Department of Education investigation into antisemitism on campus.

The New York Civil Liberties Union and an organization that represents pro-Palestinian activists are suing Columbia University for what they describe as the “unlawful suspension” of two pro-Palestinian student groups on campus.

A New Jersey school district apologized for an email to staff encouraging them to “contextualize” lessons about Ramadan by explaining how Israel prevents Palestinian Muslims from celebrating the holiday as it “enacts a genocide.”

A group of pro-Palestinian activists disrupted an astrophysics lecture on black holes by a visiting Israeli professor at the University of Nevada. The lecture had to be canceled.

Hillels of Westchester filed a Title VI complaint Tuesday against Sarah Lawrence College on behalf of Jewish students over “persistent and pervasive” antisemitism.

Related: ‘Astonishing’ volume of investigations tests legal protections for Jewish students

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke Tuesday via video to the AIPAC conference. (Courtesy)

In Israel…

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu criticized President Joe Biden and other world leaders Tuesday for saying they support Israel’s war against Hamas but oppose a ground operation in Rafah.

The U.N. and Morocco delivered humanitarian aid to Gaza on Tuesday using new land routes through Israel.

By a margin of 44% to 30%, Israelis prefer Trump to Biden as the next U.S. president, according to a poll published Tuesday.

A U.S. Army officer says goodbye to his children before departing by ship from Virginia to the Middle East, where he will help set up a floating pier on the Gaza shore to deliver humanitarian aid. (Getty)

In the United States…

U.S. army soldiers said goodbye to their families at a dock in Virginia as they headed to sea on four ships loaded with equipment to build a pier in Gaza to deliver humanitarian aid. The voyage could take up to a month.
Neo-Nazis and white supremacists are capitalizing on the Israel-Hamas war by accelerating their antisemitism since Oct. 7 with city council meeting disruptions and violent online threats.

Many celebrities wore red ceasefire pins at the Oscars. To some Jewish observers, the red hand on the pins recalled the lynching of two Israel Defense Forces soldiers by Palestinians in Ramallah in 2000.

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ALSO IN THE FORWARD

Heinrich Himmler inspects the SS Galichina in 1944. (Wikimedia)

Monument to Ukrainian soldiers who served under Nazis removed from Canadian cemetery: Efforts to have it removed gained steam last fall after the Forward reported that a 98-year-old Ukrainian-Canadian war veteran honored in Canada’s Parliament had served in a unit connected to the Third Reich. Other monuments to the SS unit remain in Canada, the U.S. and elsewhere. Previous investigations by the Forward led to a similar monument being temporarily boarded up in Philadelphia, as well as a monument for another SS unit being removed in Belgium.

GOP state senator aligns with rabbi who blames Zionism for the Holocaust: Doug Mastriano, a Christian nationalist Pennsylvania state senator and failed gubernatorial candidate, introduced a bill Monday to promote Holocaust education. At the ceremony, he chose as his guest a Hasidic rabbi who promoted the QAnon conspiracy, defended the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol, and wrote that millions of Jews were murdered during the Holocaust “because of Zionism.”

In a universe of rigid rules and unsanctioned passions, everyone’s a heretic: A Chabad housewife who can’t stand her husband’s beard. A gay mindfulness guru disturbed by his secret sexual fantasies. An observant Israeli teenager plagued by ominous visions of a dreamy classmate. What unites these different characters? They all appear in the debut short story collection from Rabbi Jay Michaelson, a Forward contributor.

WHAT ELSE YOU NEED TO KNOW TODAY

(Getty)

✈️ An Orthodox passenger is suing JetBlue, accusing the airline of religious discrimination, claiming that he was ordered off a plane for trying to change seats after refusing to sit next to a woman. (Business Insider)

📱 The House is expected to vote today on a bill that could ban TikTok. Jewish groups are supporting the move due to the deluge of antisemitic and pro-Palestinian content on the platform. (Forward)

🤦 Former President Donald Trump once again referred to those imprisoned for their roles in the Jan. 6 Capitol attack as “hostages.” (Axios)

🏀 The U.S. Department of Education is investigating a public school district in Yonkers, New York, months after basketball players from one of its schools directed antisemitic slurs at their opponents from a Jewish day school. (JTA)

🤼 Paul Heyman, who has been a wrestling promoter for nearly four decades and described himself as a “schmuck son of two extraordinary human beings,” is set to be inducted into WWE Hall of Fame in April. (JTA)

Shiva call ➤ Olga Murray, whose foundation rescued thousands of girls from a life of poverty in Nepal, died at 98.

PHOTO OF THE DAY

Eli Beer, founder and president of United Hatzalah of Israel, and Floyd Mayweather. (Courtesy)

Floyd Mayweather, the former world champion boxer, paid a visit Tuesday to the Jerusalem headquarters of United Hatzalah of Israel, the volunteer EMS organization, to hear stories of the work it has been doing since Oct. 7.

Thanks to Jacob Kornbluh and Talya Zax 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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