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JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.

WHAT’S DRIVING THE AMERICAN JEWISH CONVERSATION

Good morning. Today: A triumphant last DNC lap for Doug Emhoff; Shin Bet chief warns that Jewish terrorism poses existential threat to Israel; and a contender for the most Jewish film of the year.

DEMOCRATIC NATIONAL CONVENTION

Vice President Kamala Harris, speaking on Thursday night. (Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

Vice President Kamala Harris made a strong statement in support of Palestinians in her speech accepting the Democratic presidential nomination on Thursday — while also offering a rock-solid commitment to Israel’s right to defend itself, and U.S. financial support for the Israeli military.

“The people of Israel must never again face the horror that a terrorist organization called Hamas caused on Oct. 7, including unspeakable sexual violence and the massacre of young people at a music festival,” she said, after calling for an immediate ceasefirie and hostage deal.

“At the same time, what happened in Gaza over the past 10 months is devastating. So many innocent lives lost. So many desperate, hungry people, fleeing for safety over and over again. The scale of suffering is heartbreaking.” Met by massive roars, she shared her commitment to ensuring dignity and self-determination for Palestinians. It was a clear statement to those frustrated by the DNC’s refusal to grant a mainstage speaking slot to a Palestinian: Even if Palestinian voices weren’t fully highlighted on this week’s agenda in Chicago, they and their allies have been heard.

Opinion | Kamala Harris did the impossible, and said exactly the right thing about Israel and Gaza. Harris’ statement on the conflict was spot on, writes senior columnist Rob Eshman: “She pivoted from rational support for both Israel and Palestinians to an attack on Trump in a handful of sentences — that was the politically astute part,” he writes. “But she also tied her support for Israeli security — including her willingness to enable Israel to defend itself, meaning to supply it with arms — to Palestinian security and self-determination.” Read his essay ➤

Opinion | The DNC should have featured a Palestinian speaker. The convention’s last day was marked by conflict over the decision not to invite a Palestinian speaker to speak. It was what sports aficionados — like Harris’ running mate, “Coach” Tim Walz — might call an “own goal,” writes editor-in-chief Jodi Rudoren. To refuse to meet demands for a Palestinian appearance “flies in the face of the Democrats’ insistence that they are the party of inclusivity,” and “runs counter to the ‘freedom’ message touted from the podium at the United Center, because freedom includes freedom of speech,” she writes. Read her essay ➤

Plus:

• Harris campaign says Trump ‘denigrates American Jews’ as war of words over Jewish voters escalates

  
  

• What Jewish Democrats hoped Harris would say in her DNC acceptance speech

  
  

• Reacting to Harris’ speech on his social media site, Truth Social, former President Donald Trump, the Republican nominee, claimed Harris “caused” Oct. 7 and appeared to suggest that the Hamas attack of that day had been carried out by Hezbollah. Neither assertion is true.

  
  

• Josh Shapiro: ‘Donald Trump is obsessed with me’

  
  

• What Jews and Bill Clinton talk about when they talk about ‘class’

  
  

• Meet the rabbi who offered the final benediction of the DNC — and conducted Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s funeral

Second gentleman Doug Emhoff, stopping by the Jewish Democrats gathering Thursday in Chicago. (Jacob Kornbluh)

Before Harris got down to outlining the policies she hopes will define her future administration, she opened her speech by wishing her husband, Doug Emhoff — “Dougie” — a happy anniversary. It was 10 years since they wed, in a courthouse wedding they concluded by breaking a glass, in accordance with Jewish tradition.

What a decade it’s been.

Emotional Doug Emhoff shows up for Jewish Democrats at DNC. A Jewish Democratic event Thursday had Emhoff verklempt, Jodi writes, in part because it felt so familiar. “I think I know most of you,” Emhoff said. “I could go around and say ‘Hi’ to literally every single one of you.” Can you say mishpacha? Read the story ➤

• Why Doug Emhoff took the bus to Hebrew school — and more about his childhood synagogue

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ISRAEL AT WAR

Blindfolded Palestinian detainees at the Israeli military prison camp Sde Teiman in May. (Photo obtained by CNN)

Opinion | If Israel cannot curb the horrific abuse of Palestinian detainees in its prisons, international tribunals will. “While there is a long history of Palestinians being abused under Israeli custody, including cases before the Israeli Supreme Court, in my 23 years following this issue as a civil rights lawyer, and currently as chair of the International Advisory Council of the Association for Civil Rights in Israel, I have never seen so much evidence of such wide scale abuses of detainees under Israeli custody,” writes Udi Ofer. At least 27 Palestinians have died in Israeli military facilities since the onset of war; for its own good, he writes that Israel must act to investigate and curb the violence. Read his essay ➤

Latest from the war…

• The chief of the Shin Bet warned Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his cabinet that violence by Jewish settlers in the West Bank, and inflammatory actions taken by National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, are inflicting “indescribable damage” on Israel, including through “global delegitimization, even among our greatest allies” and “spreading thin the IDF’s personnel.” Separately, Israeli police arrested four settlers suspected of participating in a recent attack on the Palestinian West Bank village of Jit.

  
  

• Palestinian leaders said they will introduce a U.N. General Assembly resolution this fall aiming to set a timeline for an end to Israel’s occupation of the West Bank and East Jerusalem, following a ruling by the International Court of Justice that declared Israel’s presence there unlawful.

  
  

• As talks around a potential ceasefire and hostages deal once more appear imperiled, Netanyahu has reportedly been railing against Israel’s negotiating team behind the scenes, accusing them of “just looking for ways to capitulate.”

  
  

• Only 70 of the 3,000 Haredi men drafted after a recent end to the longstanding Haredi exemption from conscription have reported to IDF induction centers, as protests against the policy change continue.

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ALSO IN THE FORWARD

Jason Schwartzman, teaching a group of young Jews about what it means to love one’s neighbor. (Sean Price Williams, courtesy of Sony Pictures Classics)

Carol Kane, Robert Smigel and Nathan Silver on how Between the Temples is an ode to Jewish questioning and lifelong learning. Call it an early candidate for most Jewish film of the year: A flick about a recently widowed cantor (Jason Schwartzman) helping his elementary school music teacher (Kane) study for her bat mitzvah — and maybe finding love along the way. One of Kane’s inspirations for her turn in the latter role: Her own mother, who moved to Paris at 55 to become a music teacher.

WHAT ELSE YOU NEED TO KNOW TODAY

A man holds an Israeli flag while counter-demonstrating against a pro-Palestinian protest at George Washington University. (Mostafa Bassim/Anadolu via Getty Images)

😧  Some one-third of U.S. college students hold hostile ideas about Jews or Israel, per a new study from Brandeis University. (JTA)

😓  An Oregon man was charged in a bomb threat and swatting scheme that targeted Jewish hospitals. Domagoj Patkovic allegedly made threats in at least six threatening calls to hospitals in New York City and on Long Island. (United States Attorney’s Office)

⛪  Protesters gathered as Germany’s president opened the refurbished tower of a church associated with the Nazis. President Frank-Walter Steinmeier said he hoped those visiting the church would see it as a prompt to reckon with the country’s past. (Associated Press)

🎮  A popular sports video game is getting its first Jewish cover star — actually, three of them. Jack, Luke and Quinn Hughes, hockey star siblings, will grace the cover of the next addition of EA Sports’ NHL 25. (JTA)

What else we’re reading ➤ “If you dream big, one day, as a nice Jewish boy, you can be the first gentleman of the United States” … Inside “the life of Yahya Sinwar, the leader of Hamas in Gaza” … “Of course I wrote a play about death. I’m Jewish.”

VIDEO OF THE DAY

OK, sure, everyone was disappointed that Beyoncé didn’t actually perform at the DNC Thursday night. But there were still some powerhouse musicians present. We had a soft spot for this appearance by Pink — whose mother is Jewish — alongside her 13-year-old daughter, Willow Sage, performing Pink’s 2017 protest song “What About Us.”

Thanks to Benyamin Cohen 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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