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JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.

WHAT’S DRIVING THE AMERICAN JEWISH CONVERSATION

Good morning. Today: Historic protests in Israel demand return of hostages; new survey suggests large majority of Jewish voters support Harris; and alarming details on the IDF’s failure to protect partygoers at the Nova festival.

ELECTION 2024

Former president Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris. Saul Loeb via AFP/Getty Images; Emily Elconin via Bloomberg/Getty Images)

The last debate changed history. Here’s what Jews should watch for in the next. Tomorrow night’s matchup between Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump could be a pivot point in the presidential election, as voters compare the two on the same stage for what will likely be the only time. Three savvy political observers weighed in, for us, on what Jewish voters will be watching for. American Jews “who haven’t made up their minds, feel torn,” said Jonathan Sarna of Brandeis University. “There are problems on the right. There are problems on the left.” Read the story ➤

Plus…

Are there really so many Jewish voters who haven’t made up their minds? A new survey by the Jewish Democratic Council of America suggests 68% of American Jews plan to vote for Harris, and 25% for Trump, leaving a small undecided segment. Another noteworthy finding from that poll: “87% of American Jewish voters support the Biden administration’s efforts to reach a ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war that would release the Israeli hostages held in Gaza.”

Trump’s running mate, Sen. JD Vance, defended Tucker Carlson after the media personality featured Holocaust revisionism on his show on X, formerly Twitter. Carlson last week hosted a conversation in which his guest argued that the Nazi slaughter of Jews was not a pre-planned genocide. “We believe in free speech,” Vance said.

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ISRAEL AT WAR

Israeli security forces at the scene of a reported attack near the Allenby Bridge between the occupied West Bank and Jordan. (Ahmad Gharabli / AFP / Getty Images)

Opinion | After three Israelis were killed, a border crisis with Jordan is another nightmare scenario for Israel. A terrorist’s slaughter of three Israelis at a crossing between the West Bank and Jordan poses a terrifying challenge to Israel: Can it avoid an unexpected escalation on a third border? There’s good reason to hope the answer is yes, writes columnist Dan Perry: “The Israel-Jordan peace treaty has survived numerous terrorist attacks in the past,” he writes, adding that “Israeli-Jordanian relations have long been shaped by cooperation in the shadow of conflict.” Read his essay ➤

Organizers said a Saturday protest in Tel Aviv demanding a hostages-for-ceasefire deal was one of the largest in Israel’s history, with an estimated 500,000 attendees. But a Sunday report in Israeli media suggested that Israel’s negotiators increasingly see very little possibility that such a deal might be achieved.

Friends of Aysenur Eyzi Eygi, a 26-year-old Turkish American who was shot and killed at a protest in the West Bank on Friday, mourned the loss of an activist who they said was clear-eyed about the dangers she might face demonstrating alongside Palestinians: “I think she knew the risks going in,” one said.

A new report showed that the security personnel of the Nova festival, where at least 364 people were killed on Oct. 7, repeatedly asked military authorities about the possibility that a terror threat from Gaza might target the party. The IDF, which held off on approving the event due to concerns about escalated activity on the Gaza border, declined to provide a military presence to help protect partygoers.

Israel struck a number of targets in Syria on Sunday, reportedly killing at least 16 people.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan urged the creation of an “alliance of Islamic countries” to combat “the growing threat of expansionism” from Israel.

Israel’s attorney general told Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that opening a domestic query into Israeli military and intelligence failures leading up to Oct. 7 would be the best route to try to avoid the issuance of international warrants for Israeli leaders over the war in Gaza.

The coffin of Yagev Buchshtav, one of the hostages taken captive during the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks. (Getty Images)

Can there be poetry after Oct. 7? A new collection shows how. As the one-year anniversary of the worst terror attack in Israel’s history nears, a new anthology edited by Rachel Korazim, titled Shiva, works to emotionally contextualize the nation’s grief. “What makes the poems in Korazim’s collection particularly sacred is not only their poignancy, their pain, or the flashes of irony and even occasional dark humor they contain,” writes Rabbi Jeffrey K. Salkin. “Many of these poems are poems of protest — a prayerful protest.” Read the story ➤

ALSO IN THE FORWARD

‘Man working a mechanical loom’ in Ben Shahn’s ‘Resources of America’ mural. (Joshua Nefsky)

Hidden away for a decade, a beloved Jewish artist’s mural awaits its return to the public eye. “For the last 10 years, ‘Resources of America,’ an important 13-piece mural inside the former Bronx General Post Office, has been almost impossible to see,” writes Jordan Moss. The 1930s work by the influential Jewish artist Ben Shahn and his wife, Bernarda Bryson, has remained behind locked doors inside a building that’s spent years in limbo, awaiting a potential sale. That’s a tragedy for the public, especially given the renewed relevance of Shahn’s political focus: “I would say that Shahn reminds us of the dangers of authoritarianism,” one curator said.

At the nexus of Bertolt Brecht and Bernie Sanders, a young playwright finds his place. “We are being taught politics by every piece of art,” said Jesse Jae Hoon, one of seven playwrights commissioned by Washington, D.C.’s Theater J to “explore what it is being a Jew of color.” For Jae Hoon, that means examining the perilous experiences of contemporary life he saw everyday citizens grappling with as a volunteer for the Democratic Socialists of America: “Understanding how people live their lives, and how people form beliefs and habits out of their given circumstances,” is what theater is all about, he said.

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WHAT ELSE YOU NEED TO KNOW TODAY

An attack on Jewish students at the University of Pittsburgh may not have been an isolated incident. (iStock by Getty Images)

😧 A man who attacked Jewish students at the University of Pittsburgh might be implicated in an earlier incident at Carnegie Mellon University, in which an assailant threw a glass bottle at two students. (NBC)

🏅 Israel won 10 medals at the Paralympics in its best showing ever, including four gold medals. (Times of Israel)

👏 Jewish songwriter Benj Pasek achieved EGOT status — meaning he has won an Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony — after winning a Creative Arts Emmy with his songwriting partner, Justin Paul. (Hollywood Reporter)

What else we’re reading ➤ “Israeli journalist Amir Tibon survived the Oct. 7 massacre. He worries the country won’t” … “Chased away by Israeli settlers, these Palestinians returned to a village in ruins” … “In the Warsaw Ghetto, the journalist Rokhl Auerbach risked her life to capture the stories of the Jewish community.”

PHOTO OF THE DAY

(Photo by Omar Al-Qattaa/AFP via Getty Images)

Children sleep in a camp for those displaced by the war in Jabalia, Gaza. Last week, a U.N. investigator accused Israel of carrying out a “starvation campaign” in Gaza.

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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