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JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT. |
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WHAT’S DRIVING THE AMERICAN JEWISH CONVERSATION |
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Israel and Hamas revive hostage negotiations, Amazon reverses course on book about Oct. 7, Israeli Olympic team doubles security ahead of Paris Games, amateur detectives search for library lost during the Holocaust, and the U.K.’s incoming prime minister is adamant about not missing his family Shabbat dinner. |
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Harris’ advantage over other potential candidates partly stems from her position as a sitting vice president who has already been vetted on the national stage. (Getty) |
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What would a Kamala Harris presidency mean for American Jews and Israel?
When Vice President Kamala Harris was a child, she raised money for the Jewish National Fund. As an attorney, she prosecuted hate crimes. As vice president, she has spoken out against antisemitism and Hamas’ sexual violence. With her husband, Doug Emhoff, who is Jewish, she affixed mezuzahs to their home, where they’ve hosted Hanukkah celebrations and Passover Seders.
For some Jewish Democrats worried about President Biden after a disastrous debate performance, Harris seems like an obvious choice to replace him on the ticket, especially since she has already been vetted on the national stage. Rep. Adam Schiff on Sunday said he thinks Harris “would be a phenomenal president.” Jacob Kornbluh, our senior political reporter, takes a deep dive this morning into what that would look like for American Jews and Israel. |
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Doug Emhoff, the second gentleman, at the Birkenau concentration camp last year. (Laura E. Adkins) |
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The war: As a presidential candidate, Harris would continue Biden’s Gaza policy, backing a proposal for a hostage-ceasefire deal accepted by Israel, the U.S. and the United Nations. If elected president, she would likely be engaged in a postwar plan for regional peace and the creation of a Palestinian state.
The husband: Emhoff became the public face of the national plan to counter antisemitism and has traveled the globe promoting it — speaking at Jewish events and with interfaith leaders. Last year, Emhoff traveled to Auschwitz and Birkenau, and to the town in Poland his grandparents fled from to escape religious persecution.
The running mate: Harris could strengthen the ticket by choosing a VP from a swing state, like Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro. He’s on the shortlist of many Democrats for future presidential candidates. Shapiro openly embraces his Judaism — he keeps a kosher kitchen at the governor’s mansion where he hosts Shabbat dinners with his family.
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READERS LIKE YOU SHAPE EVERY PART OF OUR WORK |
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An artist who volunteers with Healing Ink, a project that gives free tattoos to victims of violence. (Courtesy) |
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‘The most important tattoo I ever did’ | Artists volunteer to ink Oct. 7 survivors: Over the past few days, in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, 20 tattoo artists volunteered their time to ink survivors of the Nova music festival, the attacks on kibbutzim and relatives of hostages taken that day. “These tattoos say, ‘This is my body. This is my life. And I will not let anyone — even a terrorist — rob me of that,’” said Craig Dershowitz, director of a nonprofit called Healing Ink, which organized the events. Read the story ➤
The latest… An Israeli team traveled to Cairo to resume negotiations on the release of hostages and a ceasefire. Describing devastating losses in Gaza, several senior Hamas officials have urged the group’s leaders to accept the deal. Ahead of the trip, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu presented a list of nonnegotiable demands.
The IDF launched an operation in Gaza City overnight, warning civilians before it targeted an infrastructure it believes is hosting terror activities.
The three-letter Hebrew abbreviation of “May God avenge his blood,” has long been put on gravestones of victims of war and terrorism, but was not allowed on the tombstones of Israeli soldiers. Until now.
Insiders at YouTube shared the company’s playbook for handling videos about the war in Gaza. They argue that it shows inconsistent enforcement.
After initially refusing to sell a new book that offers graphic details about the Oct. 7 Hamas attack, Amazon reversed course and agreed to sell it. |
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– From our Sponsors: Spertus Institute – |
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| Equipping Lay Leaders to Combat Rising Antisemitism |
| Antisemitism has reached historic levels. As a Jewish community leader, you need to be equipped to respond with strength, skill, and expertise. To be effective, you need training. Spertus Institute's Leadership Certificate in Combating Antisemitism for Lay Leaders is a new program launched to fill this critical need. Now accepting applications from trustees and board members of Jewish organizations at spertus.edu/LCCA-LL |
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| Understanding antisemitism requires facts, not fear. The new Antisemitism Notebook newsletter, hosted by Forward enterprise reporter Arno Rosenfeld, is your weekly guide through the news and the noise to examine the truth behind the data and the issues driving the headlines. |
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Britain's new prime minister, Keir Starmer, and his wife Victoria, are greeted as they arrive inside 10 Downing Street, their new official residence, on Friday in London. (Getty) |
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Related: The Labour Party faced years of antisemitism accusations and, in 2019, received just 11% of the Jewish vote. But in last week’s elections, estimates suggest that close to half of British Jews voted for Labour. Our Talya Zax spoke with Jonathan Freedland, a columnist for The Guardian and author of a book about the Holocaust, about the shift.
In France: For Jews fearing the worst, there was a sigh of relief after the left wing united in Sunday’s election to keep from power a far-right party with a history of antisemitism. In an opinion essay, historian Robert Zaretsky writes that it was a “stunning turn of events” and “reason for celebration.”
And in the U.S.: A Texas school district banned Kasher in the Rye, the memoir by Jewish comedian Moshe Kasher. He took it as a badge of honor, telling our editor-in-chief, Jodi Rudoren, for her latest column that he “could not possibly be more proud.”
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WHAT ELSE YOU NEED TO KNOW TODAY |
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Israeli climber Ayala Kerem at an Olympic qualifying event last month in Budapest. (Getty) |
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🥇 As nearly 90 Israeli athletes prepare to go to the Paris Olympics this month, the delegation has doubled its security budget in anticipation of possible protests and even terror attacks. (Jewish Insider)
📚 On the eve of the Holocaust, Berlin was home to one of the world’s largest and most important Jewish libraries — about 60,000 books of theology, history and literature that reflected the diversity of German Jewish society. Few traces remain, but now a group of amateur detectives believes those lost books can be found. (JTA)
⛪ The Detroit church run by Father Coughlin, who promoted anti-Jewish views on his popular radio show in the lead up to World War II, is acknowledging its painful past and is officially declaring Coughlin an antisemite — and educating visitors about his legacy of hate. (JTA)
✍️ A new online exhibit at the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research shines the spotlight on a Jewish teen’s diary vividly recounting his time in a Nazi ghetto. “He was an extraordinary literary talent,” said the co-curator. (New York Times)
Shiva calls ➤ Stanley Moss, a poet who tackled a troubled world — including writing about the Holocaust — died at 99 … Yitzhak Yifat, one of three paratroopers in an iconic photo taken after Israel captured the Western Wall during the 1967 War, died at 81 … Jon Landau, an Oscar-winning producer of Titanic and two Avatar films, died at 63.
What else we’re reading ➤ Supporters of jailed journalist Evan Gershkovich are cooking and sending care packages to show their love … Bills to add religion into public schools spur fights between faiths … A new online exhibit explores how some Jews chose love and marriage during the Holocaust.
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As the war entered its ninth month Sunday, thousands of Israelis held nationwide anti-government protests, calling for a ceasefire and the return of hostages. They demonstrated in front of the homes of Knesset members and disrupted traffic. |
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Thanks to Jacob Kornbluh, Lauren Markoe, Julie Moos and Jodi Rudoren 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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