WHAT’S DRIVING THE AMERICAN JEWISH CONVERSATION

Good morning. Israeli troops pushed deeper into Gaza City this morning, as a new analysis suggests nearly a third of buildings in northern Gaza have been destroyed or damaged. Today: Montreal synagogue firebombed; Biden warns Netanyahu on Gaza plans; and we focus on the migrant workers killed, injured and taken hostage by Hamas.

ISRAEL AT WAR

Elena Colombo draws a Star of David at a makeshift memorial to 69-year-old Paul Kessler, who died following a Sunday altercation with a pro-Palestinian protestor. (Mario Tama/Getty Images)

A 69-year-old Jew died after a confrontation at a protest. His death offers important warnings. The circumstances of Paul Kessler’s death after an altercation with a pro-Palestinian protester in Greater LA remain murky, but the avoidable tragedy of his passing is all too clear, writes our senior columnist Rob Eshman. As the Jewish community, particularly in LA, grapples with grief and fear in the wake of Kessler’s death, Eshman writes, it’s important to remember that while the Israeli-Palestinian conflict inflames passions in American Jews and Muslims alike, we have many more reasons to be united than we do to meet as enemies. Read the story ➤

And:

Police interviewed suspect in death of Jewish protester but say situation isn’t ‘crystal clear’

Flowers, candles and anger at LA street corner where a Jewish pro-Israel protester was killed

Thousands gather for pro-Israel rally in NYC, 30 days after Oct. 7 massacre

After employees quit due to pro-Israel stance, hundreds show up to support Upper East Side coffee shop

The front doors of Congregation Beth Tikvah in the Montreal suburb of Dollard-des-Ormeau were hit with a firebomb on Nov. 6, 2023. (B’nai Brith Canada)

Rising antisemitism…

A synagogue and Jewish center in a Montreal suburb were attacked with Molotov cocktails; police said no one was injured, and that the buildings sustained minor damage.

A Tempe, Arizona, man was charged after allegedly making death threats against a rabbi. “If you do not use your influence to right this wrong I will execute you and every other Jew I can find at midnight of your Sabbath,” Jeffrey Mindock, 47, reportedly wrote.

The FBI is investigating after antisemitic threats were sent to staff at the University of Pennsylvania. University President Liz Magill wrote in an email to the Penn community that “vile, disturbing antisemitic emails ” had been sent that threatened “violence against members of our Jewish community, specifically naming Penn Hillel and Lauder College House.”

A global group of Jewish organizations, led by the American Jewish Committee, called on tech companies to take a stronger hand in combating “the surge in online content celebrating the terrorist organization Hamas,” writing “praise of any kind for these organizations and their leaders enhances the real danger Jews face today.”

The European Commission, an arm of the European Union, wrote in a weekend statement that “European Jews today are again living in fear.” after a “spike of antisemitic incidents across Europe has reached extraordinary levels in the last few days, reminiscent of some of the darkest times in history.”

President Joe Biden’s administration warned against a possible Israeli reoccupation of Gaza as an outcome of the war. (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)

The policy front…

President Joe Biden’s administration warned that “reoccupation by Israeli forces” would be the wrong move in Gaza, a day after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in an interview that Israel will take “security responsibility” for Gaza “for an indefinite period” as an outcome of the war.

The House of Representatives censured Democratic Rep. Rashida Tlaib over her criticism of Israel, after a similar effort to reprimand her failed last week. Separately, Democrats introduced a censure motion of Republican Rep. Brian Mast after he compared “innocent Palestinian civilians” to “innocent Nazi civilians.”

Americans are split on the question of whether Israel’s actions in Gaza are too extreme, a new poll reveals, although they have become more likely to describe Israel as an ally aligned with U.S. values since the onset of war. Four in 10 respondents said Israel’s response was going too far, while 36% considered sending aid to Israel to assist with the war to be important.

The third Republican presidential debate — which takes place tonight without the frontrunner, former President Donald Trump — is expected to feature a prominent focus on the Israeli-Hamas war.

Education Secretary Miguel Cardona said universities risk losing federal funding if they demonstrate an insufficient response to antisemitism and Islamophobia on campus. Cardona said his department’s Office of Civil Rights has seen an uptick in complaints as campuses have been seized by conflict in the wake of the war.

South Africa became the latest country to recall its diplomats from Israel over the war, following Bolivia, Turkey and Jordan.

India has banned protests in solidarity with Palestinians in Kashmir, a majority-Muslim area, amid fears that such protests could lead to a renewed call for the country to cede control of the contested region.

Pictures of hostages projected on the walls of the old city of Jerusalem on Monday. An estimated 28% of hostages are foreign nationals, said Israel’s embassy in the U.S. (Ahmad Gharabli/AFP via Getty Images)

Hamas terrorists killed and kidnapped people from around the world — not just Israelis and Jews. A month after Hamas’ terrorist strike on Israel launched the war, writes editor-at-large Robin Washington, a group of the attack’s victims are still overlooked: the migrant workers who were killed, injured and kidnapped alongside Israelis. As reports suggest that Thai hostages may be next on the list to be freed, it’s worth contemplating how framing the attack differently might have changed things: “A stronger emphasis on the international nature of the terrorist attack as one against citizens of dozens of countries could have lessened Israel’s isolation as it faces the public relations backlash for its counterstrikes in Gaza.” Read his essay ➤

Israel has always treated migrant workers as second-class residents — the hostage crisis is no different. A focus on the plight of the migrants held hostage in Gaza can reveal distressing truths about Israel, too. As Israel has sought an influx of workers from abroad in recent years, it has also created a system in which such workers are intentionally deprived of significant rights and privileges, and denied a pathway to citizenship. “These workers were weaponized by an Israeli right wing to reinforce a narrow national identity,” a new op-ed argues, noting that the suffering experienced by migrant workers through this war makes the “need for greater legal protection even starker.” Read the essay ➤

And:

A month after Oct. 7 massacre, the ruins of Kibbutz Kfar Aza testify to its horrors

After losing friends on Oct. 7, this Israeli NCAA basketball player looks for an escape on the court

Video of Hamas atrocities being shown to Jewish organizations and Hollywood celebs

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ALSO FROM THE FORWARD

A Center for Jewish History exhibit explores the evolution of Jewish themes in comics. (Courtesy of Center for Jewish History)

How Superman, Captain America and a little-known Hollywood star fought the Nazis. A new exhibit at Manhattan’s Center for Jewish History dives into the Jewish roots of the American comic book industry, adding depth to long-loved narratives about how Jewish immigrants to the U.S. found creative freedom and a path to political resistance in the medium. “If comics can teach us anything, it is there is no tolerance for the intolerant,” one of the exhibit’s curators said.

How a cult Scottish-Jewish rock band finally hit the Top 10 more than four decades after they broke up. Gentle Giant, founded by three Scottish Jewish brothers, never found commercial success on their own terms. But after the rapper Travis Scott used a sample from one of their 1974 songs in a new track, they’ve suddenly reached the top of the charts. “The situation we are in at this time,” the Gentle Giant lyrics included in the track read, “Neither a good one, nor is it so unblest/It can change, it can stay the same.”

– From our Sponsor: Spertus Institute –

WHAT ELSE YOU NEED TO KNOW TODAY

Nazi Party members marked the 14th anniversary of the Beer Hall Putsch at a party at the Burgerbraukeller, Munich, in 1937. (FPG/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

😔 Today marks the 100th anniversary of the start of Hitler’s Beer Hall Putsch, the failed 1923 coup that launched him as a player in Germany’s politics. “If you know what led Germany to ruin a hundred years ago, then you can strengthen Europe and prevent new disasters,” said journalist Jutta Hoffritz. (DW)

👀 Brazil is facing an increasing internal threat from neo-Nazis; it has raided neo-Nazi groups in 10 states so far this year, amid an outbreak of extremist content online. (New York Times)

😨 A fourth Seattle synagogue received a suspicious letter containing a white powder found to be non-hazardous. Hazmat crews responded to Congregation Shaarei Tefilah-Lubavitch on Monday, after three other synagogues received similar letters over the weekend. (KOMO News)

🤐 A University of Alberta panel on the Waffen SS was canceled amid faculty complaints that the school whitewashed Nazism after a scandal over a standing ovation in Canada’s House of Commons for Yaroslav Hunka, who fought alongside a Nazi unit. Speakers at recent events at the university have reportedly claimed that Hunka’s unit of the Waffen SS had no part in war crimes. (Ottawa Citizen)

😐 Two young men were arrested after allegedly breaking into a Jewish center in New Mexico. The Rio Rancho Jewish Center was damaged by a fire in May; the men claimed they were trying to explore an “abandoned church.” (Rio Rancho Observer)

What else we’re reading ➤ “Behind Hamas’s bloody gambit to create a ‘permanent’ state of war” … “Antisemitism scholars like me study perpetrators. We should know more about their victims” … “‘Let me tell them goodbye before they get killed’: How eSIM cards are connecting Palestinian families.”

PHOTO OF THE DAY

(GIL COHEN-MAGEN/AFP via Getty Images)

An Israeli soldier carrying an assault rifle lit a candle during a Tuesday vigil for victims of Hamas’ Oct. 7 terrorist attack near the Western Wall, as Israel marked a month of war.

Thanks to Jaclyn De Bonis and Jay Ehrlich 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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