On the Nose: Recent Episodes
Jewish Currents
On the Nose is a biweekly podcast by Jewish Currents, a magazine of the Jewish left founded in 1946. The editorial staff discusses the politics, culture, and questions that animate today’s Jewish left.
In early June 2024, the Holocaust historian Raz Segal was offered a job directing the Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies at the University of Minnesota after roundly impressing an academic search committee. But as soon as the offer was extended, donors, politicians, and Jewish advocacy groups mobilized against his hire due to his public advocacy against Israel’s genocide in Gaza, which included his Jewish Currents article “A Textbook Case of Genocide” from October 13th, 2023. Within a week, the university’s interim president intervened to rescind Segal’s offer. Now, two years later, Segal, an associate professor of Holocaust and genocide studies and the endowed professor in the study of modern genocide at Stockton University, has reached a $250,000 settlement with the University of Minnesota.
On this episode of On the Nose, senior editor Mari Cohen guest hosts to interview Segal about the lessons from his struggle at Minnesota and recent developments in the field of genocide studies, which Cohen reported on extensively in a 2024 Jewish Currents feature. In their conversation, Segal traces the history of genocide studies and the political contexts that have made it difficult for scholars in the field to adequately address Israeli violence, and reflects on “A Textbook Case of Genocide” nearly three years after its publication. Is genocide studies finally evolving to meet the moment? And what should we make of the fact that many liberal commentators are only now willing to accept the argument Segal made six days after October 7th?
Thanks to Jesse Brennemen for editing and to Nathan Salsburg for the use of his song “VIII (All That Were Calculated Have Passed).”
Media Mentioned and Further Reading
“A Textbook Case of Genocide,” Raz Segal, Jewish Currents
“Can Genocide Studies Survive a Genocide in Gaza?,” Mari Cohen, Jewish Currents
“An Israeli professor lost a prestigious US job offer after speaking out on Gaza. Now the university is paying him $250,000,” Alice Speri, The Guardian
“A Holocaust Scholar Called Israel’s Actions in Gaza ‘Genocide.’ It Cost Him a Job Offer,” Maggie Hicks, Chronicle of Higher Education
“Many American Jews sharply critical of Israel on Gaza, Post poll finds,” The Washington Post
“Bad Memory,” Jewish Currents
“Israel Must Stop Weaponizing the Holocaust,” Raz Segal, The Guardian
“Tenured California Professor Fired Over Gaza Protest Wins Job Back,” Alice Speri, The Guardian
The Problems of Genocide by Dirk Moses
IAGS Resolution on the Situation in Gaza
Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide
“Museum Statement on the Attack on Israel,” US Holocaust Memorial Museum
“No, Israel is Not Committing Genocide in Gaza,” Bret Stephens, The New York Times
“US Universities Are Seeing an Influx of ‘Antisemitism Centers.’ Some Jewish Scholars Are Worried,” Alice Speri, The Guardian
“Disputed Gaza Language No Longer on Stockton Holocaust Studies Page,” Buzz Keough, The Press of Atlantic City
Transcript forthcoming.
The resounding success of Here Where We Live Is Our Country, Molly Crabapple’s vividly told and extensively researched history of the Jewish Labor Bund—a socialist group founded at the end of the 19th century on principles of internationalist solidarity, doikayt (or hereness), and Jewish national-cultural autonomy—has improbably brought the Bund, decimated in the Holocaust, into the 21st century. In this interview, Arielle Angel speaks with Crabapple about what it means to see the Bund from this vantage, from the other side of a century where Jews have gone from victims of genocide to genocidaires. What can we learn about purity politics and principled refusal, about solidarity and its failures?
Thanks to Julia Natt for editing and to Nathan Salsburg for the use of his song “VIII (All That Were Calculated Have Passed).”
Media Mentioned and Further Reading
Here Where We Live Is Our Country by Molly Crabapple
“Back to the Bund,” Samuel Hayim Brody, Jewish Currents (forthcoming in the Fall issue)
Transcript forthcoming.
A strange fire has consumed the land between the river and the sea.
Fiction by Henry Bean from our Fall 2025 issue.
"The Event" was written by Henry Bean and edited for the page by Arielle Angel and Nathan Goldman. It was narrated by the author, with sound design and music by Amber Devereux at Tin Can Audio
"The Event" was recorded in New York City by Will Coley, with additional recording by Annie Bennett. It was produced and directed by Ella Watts and Arielle Angel, with Executive Production by Arielle Angel.
Special thanks to Leora Barish, Max Bean, Andy Bienan, Dana El Kurd, Matthew Francis, Jessica Marglin, David Myers, Hussein Omar, Josephine Riesman, Adam Liam Rose, Jonathan Shamir, and Elisheva Urbas.
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Last week, two videos of constituents aggressively confronting California State Senator Scott Wiener on his stance on Israel/Palestine went viral—one from a World Cup watch party and one from a trans march during Pride. Wiener, the likely replacement in the House for the retiring Nancy Pelosi, has joined commentators in labeling the incidents as antisemitic harassment. But pro-Palestine constituents have some basis for being wary of Wiener: In January, Wiener awkwardly—perhaps opportunisitically—reversed his position on applying the word “genocide” to the devastation in Gaza after declining to use the term on the debate stage.
In this premium episode of On the Nose, Arielle Angel talks with Jewish Currents senior politics editor Mari Cohen parse the two videos, and discuss how the left should relate to even the most opportunistic reversals on Palestine in the Democratic Party.
Thanks to Jesse Brenneman for editing and to Nathan Salsburg for the use of his song “VIII (All That Were Calculated Have Passed).”
Media Mentioned and Further Reading
Letter to the editor on the imperative to welcome Scott Wiener
“S.F. Trans March organizers defend protesters who drove out Scott Wiener,” Lucy Hodgman, San Francisco Chronicle
“Democratic Presidential Contenders Are Turning on Israel. Will They Convince Progressives?,” Alex Kane, Jewish Currents
“Facing backlash after accusing Israel of genocide, Scott Wiener steps down as Calif. Jewish Caucus co-chair,” Philissa Cramer, JTA
“Harris reaches out to Mamdani, pro-Palestinian activists in run-up to 2028,” Holly Otterbein, Alex Thompson, Axios
“Justice Department opens civil rights probe after NYC coffee shop bans congressman over Israel support,” Katherine Tangalakis-Lippert, Business Insider
“In California, Jewish Groups’ Win Is Students’ Loss,” Gabi Kirk, Jewish Currents
Zohran Mamdani being confronted on Palestine
Transcript forthcoming.
Last week, the Supreme Court ruled on several issues related to immigration policy. While the court narrowly preserved birthright citizenship, it issued other rulings that will put an untold number of people in danger. One ruling, Mullin v Al Otro Lado, upheld the federal government’s policy of turning back asylum seekers before they can reach the US-Mexico border—a policy also known as “metering”—hollowing out the right to asylum enshrined in both domestic and international law. In her dissent, Justice Sonia Sotomayor referenced the St. Louis, the ship of Jewish refugees from Nazi Germany turned away from the US, whose passengers were mostly killed in the Holocaust: “Congress passed the Refugee Act in 1980 because it did not want this country to repeat the mistakes of its past. Yet if the refugees on the M. S. St. Louis were to walk up to a port of entry on our southern border today, the majority’s interpretation would allow immigration officers to refuse even to consider their asylum applications by physically blocking them from stepping foot onto US soil,” she said.
In another ruling, Mullin v Doe, the Supreme Court granted the president the power to end the Temporary Protected Status program, or TPS, which has allowed vetted and eligible immigrants to live and work legally in the US if they cannot return safely to their countries. Justice Samuel Alito, in his majority opinion, said courts do not have a say in what the president and the Department of Homeland Security decide; the president can end TPS for Haitians and Syrians without judicial review. He also rejected a separate claim brought by Haitians that the move to deport them was based in racial prejudice. TPS has been in effect since 1990. There are 350,000 Haitians who have been in the US legally under TPS, and whose lives have now been thrown into chaos.
In our spring issue, we published a prescient piece by immigration reporter Tanvi Misra about the death of asylum, and the ways that its decline is a dire portent for democracy itself. Asylum, Misra reminds us, is a “place-based right” designed to prioritize human life over national borders: As soon as an endangered person steps foot onto a country’s soil, they “are entitled to that body’s protection,” regardless of whether they crossed with permission. This is exactly the principle that has been undermined with this recent ruling, which prevents people from arriving and making an application. As this ruling suggests, for as long as asylum has existed in the US, so have efforts to weaken it. It has been issued selectively and on racial grounds—much more easily been granted to German-speaking Protestants than to Jews escaping the Holocaust; readily offered to Cubans fleeing Castro but not to Haitians fleeing the US-supported Duvalier dictatorship.
Misra’s essay tells us that this tactic of denying landfall to migrants as a way of denying them asylum has gone into overdrive in the past decades as border agents try to intercept asylum seekers earlier and earlier in their journeys. In the process, the US border has, Misra says, “not just hardened, but expanded”—into Mexico, Guatemala, Panama, and beyond. Under Trump 2.0, the border has also spilled inward, into LA, Chicago, Minneapolis, and all the other places where border agents are chasing down asylum seekers and, increasingly, all migrants.
In this episode of On the Nose, recorded in mid-June before the Supreme Court rulings, Misra speaks about these grievous attacks on asylum with John Washington, a staff reporter at Lookout and the author of the forthcoming book,How to Close a Camp: Dispatches from the Fight Against Immigrant Detention, as well as The Case for Open Borders and The Dispossessed: A Story of Asylum at the US-Mexico Border.
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Thanks to Jesse Brenneman for editing and to Nathan Salsburg for the use of his song “VIII (All That Were Calculated Have Passed).”
Media Mentioned and Further Reading
“The Death of Asylum,” Tanvi Misra, Jewish Currents
How to Close a Camp: Dispatches from the Fight Against Immigrant Detention by John Washington
The Case for Open Borders by John Washington
The Dispossessed: A Story of Asylum at the US-Mexico Border by John Washington
The Suppliants by Aeschylus
Oedipus at Colonus by Sophocles
“The principle of non-refoulement,” European Union Agency for Asylum
1951 UN Refugee Convention and its 1967 Protocol
“A History of Haitian Discrimination by United States Immigration Policy,” US Committee for Refugees and Immigrants
“‘Metering’ of Asylum Seekers Is Bad Policy, Bad Law, and Bad for the Border,” Aaron Reichlin-Melnick, American Immigration Council
“US flight carrying deported migrants lands in Central African Republic,” France24
“What Are Third-Country Removals? Understanding Their Use In U.S. Immigration Policy,” American Immigration Council
“Broader Crises,” Tanvi Misra, The Baffler
“The Unraveling of Afghan Asylum,” Tanvi Misra, New York Review of Books
Transcript forthcoming.
Over the last couple weeks, there has been an enormous amount written—from The New York Times to Le Monde to Haaretz, among other places—about a controversy centered on Nadav Lapid, an Israeli filmmaker living in France. Lapid has made several critically acclaimed films, including Synonyms, Ahed’s Knee, and, most recently, Yes, and his work has taken home jury prizes at the Berlinale and Cannes.
The recent controversy was focused on the FIDMarseille international film festival. There was a planned retrospective of Palestinian films at the festival this year. Meanwhile, Lapid was invited to head the jury. It was also decided that there would be an event honoring him, and that he would teach a master class. When a dozen filmmakers threatened to pull their films from the festival, Lapid withdrew as head of the jury. When that did not quell the protests, he decided to cancel the event and the master class, as well.
The response from many in the film world has largely been to rally around Lapid, with two letters published in Le Monde, one of them garnering over 350 signatures of high-profile figures in the industry. The letters allege that Lapid is being boycotted solely because of his identity. One of them declares, “Nothing justifies the silencing of an artist . . . the cultural boycott is an intellectual dead end that we must collectively overcome.”
Meanwhile, Film Workers for Palestine, allied with PACBI, which coordinates the academic and cultural boycott of Israel, published a translation of a statement by Palestine Will Save Cinema, pointing to the fact that Nadav Lapid’s latest film, Yes, received support from the Israeli Film Fund, was presented at the 2025 Cannes Film Festival as an Israeli co‑production, and competed for the Ophir Awards (akin to Israel’s Academy Awards). “States have always invested in cinema, literature, the arts, and festivals as instruments of influence and legitimacy. Cultural production does not circulate in a political vacuum. It contributes to the representation of nations, the construction of their international image, and the dissemination of their narratives,” they wrote. “This is precisely why cultural boycott exists. Not because artists are responsible for the crimes committed by their governments, nor because certain works should be prohibited, but because cultural institutions, funding systems, and distribution policies play a concrete role in states’ strategies of legitimation.” There can be no mistaking the content of Yes, which seeks to depict the depravity of Israeli society during the genocide. But it does open with the icon of Israel’s Ministry of Culture, due to the support it took from the Israeli Film Fund, which accounted for 13% of the film’s funding.
On this episode of On the Nose, Arielle Angel talks to Nadav Lapid about the recent controversy, and the two hash out some of their disagreements about cultural boycott.
Thanks to Jesse Brenneman for editing and to Nathan Salsburg for the use of his song “VIII (All That Were Calculated Have Passed).”
Media Mentioned and Further Reading
“‘Guilty by Virtue of My Identity,’” Nirit Anderman, Haaretz
Two letters in support of Nadav Lapid, published in Le Monde
Film Workers for Palestine translation of Palestine Will Save Cinema statement on FID Marseillle
Film Workers for Palestine Pledge to End Complicity
“What the NY Knicks Mania Reveals About Israelis and Collective Blame for Gaza,” Libby Lenkinski, Haaretz
“Thank You for Boycotting Me: As an Israeli Filmmaker, Here’s Why Global Pressure Amid Gaza Matters,” Avigail Sperber, Haaretz
“Paul Simon’s Graceland: the acclaim and the outrage,” Robin Denselow, The Guardian
“Non,” Catherine Haas, lundimatin
“Is the cultural boycott of Israel an effective political tool for the Palestinian cause?” on Radio France
“Israeli Grotesque,” Mitchell Abidor, Jewish Currents
Transcript forthcoming.
In the latest issue of Jewish Currents, we published a piece called “Does the Jewish Body Keep the Score?” by Jon Danforth-Appell, which looks at three recent left-wing books about the relationship between Jewish trauma and Zionism, and challenges the view that Zionism in Jewish communities constitutes a trauma response that will need to be healed in order to be fought. On this episode of On the Nose, Arielle Angel speaks with the author of one of those books, Wendy Elisheva Somerson, known as Wes, a somatic healer who helped found the Seattle chapter of Jewish Voice for Peace and published An Anti-Zionist Path to Embodied Jewish Healing last year. Angel and Somerson discuss the risk of essentializing about “Jewish bodies,” whether implanted or prosthetic trauma still needs to be “healed,” and what it means to claim Jewish ritual as somatic practice.
Thanks to Jesse Brenneman for editing and to Nathan Salsburg for the use of his song “VIII (All That Were Calculated Have Passed).”
Media Mentioned and Further Reading
An Anti-Zionist Path to Embodied Jewish Healing by Wendy Elisheva Somerson
Ruach healing groups
“Western Philosophy as White Supremacism,” Crispin Sartwell, The Philosophical Salon
Power-Under: Trauma and Nonviolent Social Change by Steven Wineman
“Prosthetic Trauma at the Nova Exhibition: Holocaust Memory, Reenactment, and the Affective Reproduction of Genocidal Nightmares,” Ben Ratskoff, Journal of Genocide Research
“Picturing Power,” Arielle Angel, Jewish Currents
Wounds Into Wisdom: Healing Intergenerational Jewish Trauma by Tirzah Firestone
Taking the State Out of the Body: A Guide to Embodied Resistance to Zionism by Eliana Rubin
Transcript forthcoming.
Last Sunday, New York City officials took part in the annual Israel Day Parade on Fifth Avenue. Mayor Zohran Mamdani was notably absent, insisting that this was not a “Jewish pride parade,” as it is often styled, but a celebration of a country committing genocide, and saying he did not need to be present to “ensure the safety” of the parade. His resolve proved prudent, as New York officials found themselves scrambling to distance themselves from the far-right Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who is responsible for the creeping annexation and violent ethnic cleansing of the West Bank, and who took part in the march along with a rogues gallery of openly genocidal Israeli government officials.
On this episode of On the Nose, host Arielle Angel, senior reporter Alex Kane, and news director Josh Nathan-Kazis discuss the history and makeup of the Israel Day Parade, parse the responses from New York officials facing criticism for marching with extremists, and debate the feasibility of an actual “Jewish pride parade” in New York City.
Thanks to Jesse Brenneman for editing and to Nathan Salsburg for the use of his song “VIII (All That Were Calculated Have Passed).”
Media Mentioned and Further Reading
“A Litmus Test Backfires,” Josh Nathan-Kazis, Jewish Currents
“NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani missed the Israel Day Parade. Many who went didn’t miss him.” Grace Gilson, The Forward
“Progressive Zionists Choose a Side,” Mari Cohen, Jewish Currents
Documentation of abuses in Hebron on B’Tselem
“Meet the U.S. Nonprofit That Funds the Israeli Guards Who Terrorize Palestinians,” Alex Kane, In These Times
“Universal Jurisdiction in Action: Peru Investigates Israeli Soldier for Genocide and War Crimes after HRF Complaint,” The Hind Rajab Foundation
Nerdeen Kiswani tweet about protesting the Israel Day Parade
“Bitter Rift Over Israel Hits LGBTQ Jews Hard After Controversial Protest At Celebrate Israel Parade,” Ari Feldman, The Forward
“Jewish New York deserves a parade as diverse as its communities,” Jill Jacobs, JTA
Transcript forthcoming.
In 2021, famed Irish author Sally Rooney declined to publish her book in Israel because there was no BDS-compliant publisher. At the time, she said she would be “pleased and proud” to have her books translated into Hebrew, as long as it was done in a way that respected the principles of the boycott. Last week, Rooney announced that she was publishing a Hebrew translation of her latest book, Intermezzo, with November Books and +972 Magazine. The publishers had been vetted by PACBI, the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel, and deemed BDS compliant. This means November Books does not operate in Israeli settlements, receives no state funding, and explicitly recognizes the Palestinian right of return. In The Guardian, Rooney said she “kept in touch with PACBI along the way to try to ensure that I was upholding both the letter and the spirit of the institutional boycott.”
Immediately, there was backlash. Some Palestinian writers, including Mohammed El Kurd and Susan Abulhawa, questioned the decision to use this “loophole” in BDS guidelines to bring the book to Israeli audiences. Why now? And why this? Even if it adheres to the letter of the boycott, does it capture the spirit, as Rooney says? On this episode of On the Nose, Arielle Angel speaks with Ahmed Moor, a writer and fellow at the Foundation for Middle East Peace; Maya Rosen, assistant editor at Jewish Currents; and Muhammad Shehada, a writer from Gaza and a visiting fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations, about this tempest in a teapot surrounding the Hebrew translation of Intermezzo. They discuss whether this action hit its strategic marks, and what the response says about the Palestine movement’s relationship to both the Israeli left and the prospect of changing Israeli society.
Thanks to Jesse Brenneman for editing and to Nathan Salsburg for the use of his song “VIII (All That Were Calculated Have Passed).”
Media Mentioned and Further Reading
BDS Guidelines
“On +972 Magazine, Sally Rooney, and the centering of Israelis in an anti-colonial movement,” Susan Abulhawa, Mondoweiss
The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine by Ilan Pappé
“Yuval Noah Harari on Donald Trump’s Core Delusion,” The Ezra Klein Show
Perfect Victims by Mohammed El Kurd
“We’re publishing Sally Rooney in Hebrew, in line with BDS. Here’s how and why,” Haggai Matar, +972 Magazine
Salma Shawa discussing Hebrew on Instagram
“In the Middle of Our Palestinian Neighborhood, My Daughter Started Yelling in Hebrew,” Sari Bashi, Haaretz
PACBI’s Position on No Other Land
“Did Zionism Go Wrong or Was It Always Wrong?,” Peter Beinart with Omer Bartov and Gideon Levy on the Beinart Notebook on Substack
Transcript forthcoming.
Over the last eight years, streamer and leftist political commentator Hasan Piker has built a following of millions on Twitch, where he streams seven to ten hours a day, discussing current events and interacting with followers in a rapid-fire chat. Lately, Piker, who has hit the campaign trail for Democratic candidates like Michigan Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed, has become the object of a raging debate about the direction of the Democratic Party. For many progressives, establishment attacks on Piker and the candidates he supports are evidence that the party is out of touch with its base, especially young people. For the establishment, embrace of Piker by Israel-critical candidates is evidence that the party is becoming too radical. A recent op-ed in The Wall Street Journal by leaders of the centrist think tank Third Way labeled Piker a “Jew hater,” and urged Democrats to denounce him.
The irony is that Piker, who appeals to exactly the sorts of young men who are being lured to the right in large numbers by the “manosphere,” is unique in how often he speaks about the principled fight against antisemitism. As figures like Tucker Carlson, Candace Owens, and Nick Fuentes become more prominent in the pro-Palestine digital ecosystem, Piker may be one of the most important figures on the left countering a simplistic narrative of Jewish control and American innocence. On this episode of On the Nose, Arielle Angel speaks with Piker about keeping the nuance in a media environment that wants easy answers, using electoral politics to build class consciousness, and why he keeps talking about antisemitism.
Thanks to Jesse Brenneman for editing and to Nathan Salsburg for the use of his song “VIII (All That Were Calculated Have Passed).”
Media Mentioned and Further Reading
Hasan Piker on Twitch
“Hasan Piker Has a Few Choice Words for His Bad-Faith Critics,” Aaron Regunberg, The New Republic
“The Right Is Capturing the Online Palestine Conversation,” On the Nose
“Charlie Kirk and American Innocence,” On the Nose
“Where Cenk Uygur and I Disagree,” Beinart Notebook on Substack
“The Many Equivocations of Curt Mills,” Will Alden, Jewish Currents
“Ocasio-Cortez warns against associating with Greene, calling her a ‘proven bigot,’” Ryan Mancini, The Hill
“AOC vs. MTG on Palestine: the voting records don't lie,” Mehdi Hassan on Zeteo
“This Is Why There’s No Liberal Joe Rogan,” Ezra Klein, The New York Times
“Democrats Are Too Cozy With Hasan Piker,” Jonathan Cowan and Lily Cohen, The Wall Street Journal
“Some Democrats Shun Him, but Young Voters Want a Selfie,” Nathan Taylor Pemberton, The New York Times
“House Democratic leaders condemn Texas candidate for antisemitic comments,” Ben Kamisar, NBC News
Transcript forthcoming.
On April 29th in London, an attacker stabbed a Muslim acquaintance before traveling to the largely Jewish neighborhood of Golders Green and stabbing two Jewish men at random. This was only the latest in a string of attacks on Jews, synagogues, or other communal infrastructure in the UK since mid-March; other instances have included arson attacks on three synagogues as well as Hatzola ambulances. The British Jewish community—already on edge since the Yom Kippur attack on a Manchester synagogue that killed two and injured three—is in a state of rising alarm. Predictably, Jewish communal leaders, politicians, and the police have baselessly sought to tie the attacks to the Palestine solidarity movement, justifying crackdowns in civil liberties and proposing increased police budgets.
The backdrop to these attacks is a local election cycle in which the two major parties, Conservative and Labour, lost substantial ground to tertiary parties on their wings: Reform on the right, and the Green Party on the left. Though newly elected members of the Reform Party include avowed racists and Holocaust deniers, much of the media attention has been on candidates whom the Green Party has removed from contention because of charges of antisemitism. There is particular focus on the head of the Green Party, 43-year-old Zack Polanski, whose Jewish identity and pro-Palestine stance has shattered some of the received wisdom about who British Jews are, announcing a new era in UK Jewish left politics.
To discuss the London attacks and their political fallout, Arielle Angel speaks with Brendan McGeever, co-director of the Birkbeck Institute for the Study of Antisemitism at the University of London, and Em Hilton, co-founder of Na’amod, an organization of British Jews opposing Israeli occupation and apartheid. They parse what we do and don’t know about these attacks, and critique the government’s response, which casts Jews as special wards of the state at the expense of civil liberties and the safety of other minority groups.
Thanks to Jesse Brenneman for editing and to Nathan Salsburg for the use of his song “VIII (All That Were Calculated Have Passed).”
Articles Mentioned and Further Reading
Brendan McGeever in the Jewish Currents newsletter
Jewish Policy Research survey on UK Jews’ feelings about antisemitism, UK Jewish voters voting Green, and UK Jewish identification with Zionism
“The present crisis,” editors of Vashti
“Good Jews, Bad Jews,” Barnaby Raine interviewed by Gavin Jacobson, Equator
“The difficult truth about antisemitism in the UK,” Brendan McGeever, Ben Gidley, David Feldman, Prospect
“Anti-terrorist programme Prevent ‘outdated and inadequately prepared’, report finds,” Rajeev Syal, The Guardian
David Cameron’s 2015 speech at the Community Security Trust
Keir Starmer echoing Enoch Powell
“U.K. Vows Crackdown on Pro-Palestinian Protests After Latest Antisemitic Attack,” David Luhnow, Wall Street Journal
“Five members of biggest British Jewish body suspended after Israel criticisms,” Harriet Sherwood, The Guardian
“Processing the Attack at Bondi Beach,” On the Nose, Jewish Currents
Ashok Kumar on Julia Hartley-Brewer
“Over 2,000 U.K. Jews Sign Petition Against Nigel Farage Attending Antisemitism Rally,” Hagar Shezaf, Haaretz
“How Palestine Action put the justice system on trial,” Rikki Blue, Declassified UK
“Zack Polanski’s Jewish identity is being erased because he is leftwing,” Owen Jones, The Guardian
Zack Polanski on Sky News
“Green Party candidate arrested over antisemitic social media posts,” Athena Stavrou, The Independent
“Police charge two men over filming antisemitic TikToks in London,” Lauren Turner, BBC
Na’amod, British Jews Against Occupation
Transcript forthcoming.
Harriet Clark comes from a long line of radicals. Her ancestors were gun runners in Minsk. Her grandparents were active members of the Communist Party USA, and the family moved to Moscow for a time, where her grandfather wrote for the Daily Worker. Her mother is Judith Clark, a former member of the Weather Underground and the May 19th Communist Organization, who was given a life sentence for her participation in the Brinks robbery in 1981 that killed three people. (Judith was paroled in 2019.)
Harriet Clark’s debut novel, The Hill, tells the story of a girl who vows to visit her mother every week in the upstate New York prison where she is being held. In this episode of On the Nose, Arielle Angel speaks with Harriet about her stunning new book, what comes after failure in radical movements, and the heroism of trying to keep families affected by incarceration together.
Thanks to Jesse Brenneman for editing and to Nathan Salsburg for the use of his song “VIII (All That Were Calculated Have Passed).”
Media Mentioned and Further Reading
The Hill by Harriet Clark
“I’m Not Black, I’m Kanye,” Ta-Nehisi Coates, The Atlantic
“Photos of the migrant caravan and the Trump military response tell different stories,” Johnny Simon, Quartz
Joseph Campbell’s Hero’s Journey
“Judith Clark’s Radical Transformation,” Tom Robbins, The New York Times
House and Fire by Maria Hummel
Housekeeping by Marilynne Robinson
“To a Student” by Diane Di Prima
After more than ten years as the rabbi of the anti-Zionist synagogue Tzedek Chicago, Rabbi Brant Rosen is stepping down. On this episode of On the Nose, Rosen speaks with editor-in-chief of Jewish Currents,Arielle Angel—who after eight years is also leaving her post—about what has changed in the building of anti-Zionist institutions over the last decade, what it means to do Jewish left communal work in a time of crisis for Judaism, and whether we must believe we will win.
Thanks to Jesse Brenneman for editing and to Nathan Salsburg for the use of his song “VIII (All That Were Calculated Have Passed).”
Media Mentioned and Further Reading
Tzedek Chicago
“We Need New Jewish Institutions,” Arielle Angel, Jewish Currents
“Our Approach to Zionism,” Jewish Voice for Peace
Mariame Kaba talking to Dean Spade about hope
“Mailbag #3 — Live!,” On the Nose
“Stay In,” Arielle Angel, Jewish Currents
On this episode of On the Nose, Jewish Currents editor-in-chief Arielle Angel, publisher Daniel May, editor-at-large Peter Beinart, and advisory board member Simone Zimmerman answered listener questions about what accountability looks like for US rabbinic leadership, how American Zionists will respond to Israel’s plummeting popularity, and more. For the very first time, this episode of On the Nose was recorded live in front of an audience, which gathered at Littlefield in Brooklyn.
Thanks to the Littlefield staff for hosting and recording the event. Thanks to Jesse Brenneman for editing and to Nathan Salsburg for the use of his song “VIII (All That Were Calculated Have Passed).”
Media Mentioned and Further Reading
“J Street says Israel should fund its own defense,” Jacob Kornbluh, The Forward
“Democratic Senators Face Pressure on Israel Arms Sales Vote,” Josh Nathan-Kazis, Jewish Currents
“Democratic Presidential Contenders Are Turning on Israel. Will They Convince Progressives?,” Alex Kane, Jewish Currents
“A Majority of Voters Support Senate Resolutions To Block Bombs and Bulldozers To Israel,” Common Dreams
“The Many Equivocations of Curt Mills,” Will Alden, Jewish Currents
Here Where We Live Is Our Country by Molly Crabapple
JFNA Survey of Jewish Life since October 7 – Zionism Findings
“Rhetoric Without Reckoning,” Simone Zimmerman, Jewish Currents
“At Synagogues, Tensions Are Boiling Over,” Eyal Press, The New Yorker
“The Rabbinic Freak-Out About Zohran Mamdani,” On the Nose
“Nostra Aetate” from the Second Vatican Council
“MAGA Catholics in Revolt,” On the Nose
“Do No Harm! Palestinian Call for Ethical Tourism/Pilgrimage” from the BDS movement
Everything You Have Is Yours, film about Hadar Ahuvia
“The Capitalist’s Kibbutz,” Sam Adler-Bell, Jewish Currents
As right-wing streamers like Tucker Carlson and Candace Owens have become more outspoken against Israel and against Zionist influence in American politics, their content has found new audiences online, even in a Palestine movement traditionally more associated with the left. Though the fracture on the right around Israel is a welcome development, the anti-Israel right’s racist, misogynist, anti-trans, anti-immigrant, and antisemitic views raise questions about how the left should relate to this development, and what it can offer instead.
On this episode of On the Nose, Jewish Currents editor-in-chief Arielle Angel speaks with Izz al-Din Mustafa, co-executive director of the Palestinian-led advocacy organization Adalah Justice Project, and Stefanie Fox, executive director at Jewish Voice for Peace, about whether the ubiquity of right-wing anti-Israel voices online was showing up in their face-to-face organizing. They discuss the perils and opportunities created by the growing popularity of conservative anti-Israel voices, the importance of IRL organizing, and how the left might reclaim the conversation.
Thanks to Jesse Brenneman for editing and to Nathan Salsburg for the use of his song “VIII (All That Were Calculated Have Passed).”
Media Mentioned and Further Reading
Adalah Justice Project
Jewish Voice for Peace
“The Bondi Memo’s Quiet Rewriting of Domestic Terrorism Rules,” Thomas E. Brzozowski, Lawfare
“Verified pro-Nazi X accounts flourish under Elon Musk,” David Ingram, NBC News
“Meta’s Broken Promises: Systemic Censorship of Palestine Content on Instagram and Facebook,” Human Rights Watch
“Joe Kent’s Resignation Was Brave. His Analysis Was Faulty,” Peter Beinart, Jewish Currents
“American Evangelicals’ Declining Support for Israel,” Jonathan Kuttab, Arab Center Washington DC
Christians for a Free Palestine
“We need an exodus from Zionism,” Naomi Klein, The Guardian
“MAGA Catholics In Revolt,” On the Nose
“The Democratic Party debate over Hasan Piker is really a fight over Palestine’s new place in U.S. politics,” Walter Lucken IV, Mondoweiss
“Why do elite Democrats fear Hasan Piker?” Bhaskar Sunkara, The Guardian
The US and Israel began a joint strike on Iran on February 28th, with the US immediately striking a girls’ elementary school, killing more than 180, the vast majority of them children. The Supreme Leader of Iran, Ali Khamenei, was assassinated the very same day, and later replaced by his son Mojtaba; the US and Israel have continued to kill high-ranking figures in Iranian leadership. The human toll of this war is already being felt in Iran. Almost 1,500 Iranians have been killed since the war’s start, and more than three million have been displaced. On March 6th, Israel struck three oil depots around Tehran, destroying crucial infrastructure while sending noxious particulate into the sky that will do long-term damage to the health of the city’s inhabitants.
Meanwhile, Iranians on the ground and in the diaspora are fracturing over US and Israeli actions. This war was preceded, in early January, by a grassroots uprising against the regime, which may have killed tens of thousands in crackdowns on the protests. This crackdown has been cited by opponents of the Iranian state as a justification for the war, and many in the diaspora have expressed support instead for the return of the monarchy, led by Reza Pahlavi, who has been living in exile since 1979, when his father, Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, was deposed. This argument between pro- and anti-war segments of the community has become deeply fraught—sometimes relationship-ending—as Iranians across the globe battle over the future of their community.
On this episode of On the Nose, Jewish Currents editor-in-chief Arielle Angel speaks with Narges Bajoghli, a professor at Johns Hopkins and the author of How Sanctions Work and Iran Reframed, and Manijeh Moradian, a professor at Barnard College and the author This Flame Within: Iranian Revolutionaries in the United States about the fractures roiling the Iranian diaspora, the nuances of the anti-war position in the face of a repressive regime, and the need to build an anti-imperialism for the 21st century.
Thanks to Jesse Brenneman for editing and to Nathan Salsburg for the use of his song “VIII (All That Were Calculated Have Passed).”
Media Mentioned and Further Reading
“Hard Feelings,” Narges Bajoghli, New York
“All Modern Warfare Is Chemical Warfare,” Narges Bajoghli, New York
How Sanctions Work by Narges Bajoghli
Introduction to “Iran in Crisis: Seven Essays on the Obstacles to Freedom,” Manijeh Moradian and Ida Nikou, Jadaliyya
This Flame Within: Iranian Revolutionaries in the United States by Manijeh Moradian
International Women’s Day AI slop depicting Israeli fighter pilots “liberating” the women of Iran
“Iran Is Not an Existential Threat,” Peter Beinart, Jewish Currents
On March 12th, 41-year-old Ayman Ghazali rammed his car into the front of Temple Israel, a synagogue in West Bloomfield, Michigan. He engaged in a shootout with synagogue security, injuring one guard before turning the gun on himself. Thankfully, no one else was injured. Earlier in the month, Ghazali’s two brothers, niece, and nephew had been killed in an Israeli airstrike in Mashghara, Lebanon. (The Israeli military claimed that one of the brothers was affiliated with Hezbollah, but offered no proof to The New York Times; Hezbollah denied his affiliation.)
After spending years insisting on the absolute intertwinement of Judaism and Zionism, the Anti-Defamation League and other mainstream agents of anti-antisemitism rushed to insist that American Jews must be separated from the actions of the Israeli government. Meanwhile, like many American synagogues, Temple Israel proudly advertised its support for the Jewish state: raising funds, sharing hasbara resources, sponsoring trips, and even featuring an Israeli flag in its logo.
This event raises uncomfortable questions about the interrelationship between safety and complicity in the Jewish diaspora: How do we talk about the material relationships between American Jews and the State of Israel in the wake of attacks on Zionist institutions? And how do we on the Jewish left keep pushing for daylight between Judaism and Zionism given the conflation pushed by the anti-antisemitism machine—a conflation that endangers Jews all over the world? On this episode of On the Nose, editor-in-chief Arielle Angel, publisher Daniel May, news director Josh Nathan-Kazis, and advisory board member Simone Zimmerman parse the Michigan attack and the missed opportunity for American Jewish reckoning.
Thanks to Jesse Brenneman for editing and to Nathan Salsburg for the use of his song “VIII (All That Were Calculated Have Passed).”
Media Mentioned and Further Reading
“Suspect in Michigan synagogue attack had lost family in Israeli strike on Lebanon,” William Christou and Richard Luscombe, The Guardian
“The Tangled Knot of Anti-Zionist Violence,” Daniel May, Jewish Currents
“A Poll Muddles the Picture of What American Jews Think,” Josh Nathan-Kazis, Jewish Currents
Ben Lorber on anti-Zionism as an anti-antisemitism strategy
Angela McCahey and Stephen Kent on GBN
“America’s Threat to the World,” On the Nose
“The Right’s Anti-Israel Insurgents,” Ben Lorber, Jewish Currents
“We Need New Jewish Institutions,” Arielle Angel, Jewish Currents
In early February, clips began circulating from Trump’s Religious Liberty Commission hearing, where the former Miss California Carrie Prejean Boller challenged Jewish activists Yitzhak Frankel and Shabbos Kestenbaum about the killing of Palestinian civilians in Gaza and the conflation of anti-Zionism and antisemitism. Notably, Prejean Boller framed her opposition to political Zionism in terms of her Catholicism: “I’m a Catholic and Catholics do not embrace Zionism,” she said. She raised the charge of deicide, reading the New Testament verse about the Jews killing Jesus and questioning a panelist about whether he would have tech platforms censor the Bible on account of antisemitism claims. And she challenged the theology undergirding evangelical support for Zionism, dispensationalism, which understands Jews as God’s chosen people that help fulfill the end times prophecy by settling in the land of Israel.
A number of prominent “America First” isolationists are Catholic, including Pat Buchanan, one of the fathers of America First paleoconservatism who famously opposed the Iraq War. Vice President J.D. Vance, Heritage Foundation president Kevin Roberts, far-right strategist Steve Bannon, and columnist Sohrab Ahmari are all America Firsters skeptical of foreign intervention. Catholicism also appears dominant among a cohort of extremist Groyper-style figures infusing their anti-Israel worldview with classically antisemitic language and ideas, including streamers Nick Fuentes and Candace Owens, the Florida gubernatorial candidate James Fishback, and now Prejean Boller, who has aligned herself with Owens in particular.
On this episode of On the Nose, Jewish Currents editor-in-chief Arielle Angel speaks with Matthew Cressler, author of the forthcoming Catholics and the Making of MAGA: How an Immigrant Church Became America’s Law and Order Faith, and Julie Schumacher Cohen, co-author with Jordan Denari Duffner of the forthcoming Palestine, Israel, and Catholic Social Teaching: A Guide. They discuss how we should understand this apparent connection between skepticism about American intervention abroad and Catholicism. Cressler and Schumacher Cohen explain what Catholic theology has to say about Judaism, Zionism, and the modern political state of Israel. They explore how some figures on the right are hearkening back to the earlier days of the Church—before the Second Vatican Council’s modernizing changes, which included a condemnation of antisemitism—and they dissect the antisemitic and fascist threads in the Catholic tradition that are being surfaced in Fuentes’s and Owens’s rhetoric.
Thanks to Jesse Brenneman for editing and to Nathan Salsburg for the use of his song “VIII (All That Were Calculated Have Passed).”
Media Mentioned and Further Reading
Fifth Religious Liberty Commission Hearings, Parts 1 and 2
“Nostra Aetate” from the Second Vatican Council
Matthew Cressler discussing MAGA Catholics on the Reign of Error podcast
“No Catholic Brand of Christian Zionism, or Tolerance for Antisemitism,” Julie Schumacher Cohen and Jordan Denari Duffner, Contending Modernities
“Catholic Guilt and Gaza,” Julie Schumacher Cohen, Commonweal Magazine
“I am a Catholic. And a Zionist.,” R.R. Reno, The Washington Post
“Maga Catholics are on a collision course with Leo XIV. They have good reason to fear him,” Julian Coman, The Guardian
“Portrait of a Campus in Crisis,” Will Alden, Jewish Currents
“‘Christ is king’ becomes a loaded phrase in US political debates, especially on the right,” Peter Smith, Associated Pres
Kevin Roberts’s first statement on Nick Fuentes’s appearance on Tucker Carlson’s show
Tucker Carlson interviews US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee
“The Dangerous Exceptionalism of Christian Zionism,” Halah Ahmad and Mimi Kirk, Al-Shabaka
Last weekend, the United States and Israel started a war with Iran. The Trump administration has offered no real or convincing reason why they have dragged the country into war except “Israel was going to do it anyway,” and the president has no discernible war plan. Many have commented that this war seems to be an expression of pure power, undertaken by Trump largely because he can. Have we entered a new phase in malignant American foreign policy or is this just a striking “mask off” moment? In this episode of On the Nose, Jewish Currents editor-at-large Peter Beinart speaks with Aslı Ü. Bâli, the Howard M. Holtzmann Professor of Law at Yale and a non-resident fellow at the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, about what the war in Iran signals about the kind of global power the US has become, whether it represents rupture or continuity in the history of US imperialism, and what it means for the stability of the Middle East and the world.
This episode first appeared on the Beinart Notebook on Substack. Thanks to Daniel Kaufman for editing help and to Nathan Salsburg for the use of his song “VIII (All That Were Calculated Have Passed).”
Further Reading
“The Path to the Trump Doctrine,” Aslı Ü. Bâli and Aziz Rana, Boston Review
Recently, the Jewish Federation of North America released a poll they conducted last year that shows that while 88% of respondents said they “believe Israel has the right to exist as a Jewish, democratic state,” only 37% identified as “Zionist.” A small number identified as “anti-Zionist” and “non-Zionist,” 7% and 8% respectively, with a plurality answering “not sure” (18%) or “none of these” (30%). These numbers are confusing; they seem to indicate that while Zionist identification is waning—perhaps due to the stink of the term amid the genocide—the underlying commitment to a Jewish state, albeit one paradoxically imagined as “democratic,” is not.
At the recent Conference on the Jewish Left at Boston University, nearly every presentation discussed or confronted questions about the terms “Zionist” and “anti-Zionist,” and whether they had enough of an agreed-upon meaning within the community to be useful terms to organize around. On this episode of On the Nose, editor-in-chief Arielle Angel speaks with Ari Lev Fornari, senior rabbi at Kol Tzedek in Philadelphia; Dove Kent, interim executive director of Diaspora Alliance and former executive director of Jews For Racial and Economic Justice; and Fadi Quran, the senior director at Avaaz and a Ramallah-based strategist and organizer. They try to make sense of the recent polling numbers and discuss different strategic considerations about using the Z-word in organizing contexts, including how to welcome newcomers to the Palestine liberation movement without coddling them.
Thanks to Jesse Brenneman for producing and to Nathan Salsburg for the use of his song “VIII (All That Were Calculated Have Passed).”
Media Mentioned and Further Reading
JFNA Survey of Jewish Life since October 7 – Zionism Findings
“The ‘Zionism’ gap: What JFNA data really shows about Jews, Israel and Zionism today,” Mimi Kravetz, JTA
Combined Jewish Philanthropies’ 2025 Greater Boston Jewish Community Study
“Do American Jews Really Know What ‘Zionism’ Means?,” Mira Sucharov, Haaretz
Jewish Electorate Institute July 2021 National Survey of Jewish Voters
Synagogues Rising
2026 Conference on the Jewish Left sessions on YouTube
Recently, the Department of Justice released millions of files from disgraced financier and pedophile Jeffrey Epstein. Since their release, part of the discussion has revolved around the way Jewishness appears in the files. Epstein and his friends make clannish jokes about Jews and “goyim,” many of them simultaneously self-deprecating and chauvinistic. Epstein himself is extremely interested in genetics, sending out a number of DNA Kits to Jews and non-Jews alike, and referencing a natural Ashkenazi intelligence. The files also show close—and sometimes criminal—relationships to a number of prominent Jewish men. These details, along with information about Epstein’s role as fixer for former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak, have fueled conspiracy theories about Jewish power. But what do we do with a story whose real-life details are so fitted to antisemitic conspiracy? In this episode of On the Nose, editor-in-chief Arielle Angel speaks with author, thinker, and activist Naomi Klein about how to make sense of the capitalist conspiracy outlined in the files, and the grave importance of holding our depraved elites accountable.
Thanks to Jesse Brenneman for producing and to Nathan Salsburg for the use of his song “VIII (All That Were Calculated Have Passed).”
Media Mentioned and Further Reading
Doppelganger: A Trip Into the Mirror World by Naomi Klein
Harsha Walia on Epstein and sexual violence
A collection of Epstein’s comments on “Jews” and “goyim” from Tikkun Olam
“Eugenics Isn’t Dead—It’s Thriving in Tech,” Julia Métraux, Mother Jones
“Jeffrey Epstein’s assistant ordered so many 23andMe kits, the company asked why,” Ariana Bindman, SFGate
“The Myth of the Chosen Nation: The Colonial Period,” Richard T. Hughes
“The crisis in modern masculinity,” Pankaj Mishra, The Guardian
Epstein in China
“Epstein tells ex-Israeli PM Ehud Barak to speak with Palantir founder Peter Thiel in released audio,” Middle East Eye
“Epstein celebrated Brexit and ‘return to tribalism’, newly released emails suggest,” Millie Cooke, Independent
“Jewish Moneylending,” Norman Roth, My Jewish Learning
Here Where We Live Is Our Country by Molly Crabapple
“Latest Epstein files release unleashes wave of antisemitic conspiracy theories on social media,” Grace Gilson, JTA
“Epstein trained as an Israeli spy, FBI document says,” Peter McNamara, Middle East Eye
“How the men in the Epstein files defeated #MeToo,” Elizabeth Lopatto, The Verge
“The Right Kind of Continuity,” Ari Brostoff and Noah Kulwin, Jewish Currents
Origins of Totalitarianism by Hannah Arendt
“DOJ Files Contain Alleged Epstein-Gates Discussion on 'Getting Rid of Poor People,'” National Today
“Peter Thiel and the Antichrist,” Ross Douthat, The New York Times
“What Barak-Epstein audio says about Israeli controlling demographics,” Al Jazeera
“U.N. Says It’s in Danger of Financial Collapse Because of Unpaid Dues,” Farnaz Fassihi, The New York Times
“Why would Elon Musk pivot from Mars to the Moon all of a sudden?” Eric Berger, Ars Technica
“New data reveals how Jewish neighborhoods split between Cuomo and Mamdani,” Jacob Kornbluh, The Forward
In December, ICE agents began arriving in Minneapolis under the Trump administration’s “Operation Metro Surge.” As of late January, 3,000 agents are on the ground in the city, outnumbering local police officers three-to-one, pursuing a campaign defined by its cruelty: ICE has abducted children as young as two, and agents have used those children as bait to draw out and arrest their families. To counter these efforts, locals have organized vast mutual aid and rapid response operations, with block-by-block networks mobilizing to deliver supplies and run errands for undocumented people who can’t leave their homes without fear of detention. These locals have been met with violence. On January 7th, Renee Good, a mother and poet, was shot in the face by an ICE agent while she attempted to turn her car around. On Saturday—one day after a general strike brought tens of thousands to the streets in subzero temperatures—Alex Pretti, an ICU nurse, was murdered while observing ICE, with agents firing at least ten shots at close range.
On this episode of On the Nose, Jewish Currents editor-in-chief Arielle Angel speaks with three organizers on the ground in Minneapolis: Lily Cooper from UNIDOS’s rapid response team, which has conducted legal observer trainings for almost 30,000 people across Minnesota; Kandace Montgomery, a local organizer, trainer, and movement strategist who co-founded Black Visions in 2017; and Jesse Meisenhelter, an organizer with Minneapolis Families for Public Schools, whose current campaign aims to build sanctuary school teams across the state. They discuss the legacies of local organizing since George Floyd’s murder in 2020, the opportunities for the left-liberal coalition in this moment, and navigating the steep risks involved in this resistance work.
Thanks to Jesse Brenneman for producing and to Nathan Salsburg for the use of his song “VIII (All That Were Calculated Have Passed).”
Articles Mentioned and Further Reading
“Organizing for Abolition in the Spotlight,” Kandance Montgomery and Hahrie Hahn, Hammer & Hope
“Ten years ago, killing of Jamar Clark prompted wave of Twin Cities activism,” Danny Spewak, Kare11
The St. Paul Principles
Minneapolis Families for Public Schools
ICE OUT OF MN Toolkit
UNIDOS MN and Monarca
“ICE Is a Virtual Secret Police,” Jamelle Bouie, The New York Times
“Minnesota National Guard mobilizes around Minneapolis following fatal shooting,” Jonathan Limehouse, USA Today
“Minneapolis City Council votes unanimously to strengthen separation ordinance,” MPRnews
“Minneapolis schools cancel classes after Border Patrol clash disrupts dismissal at Roosevelt,” Elizabeth Shockman, MPRnews
“How Should Activists Relate to Risk?” Aryeh Bernstein and Maya Rosen, Jewish Currents
“‘I heard screaming, I heard crying:’ Inside ICE detainment at the Whipple Building,” Katelyn Vue, Sahan Journal
“ICE Making List of Anyone Who Films Them,” Ken Klippenstein, Substack
“‘Trumped-Up Charges’: Out of Jail, Nekima Levy Armstrong Faces Prosecution for Anti-ICE Church Protest,” Democracy Now!
“Whose Concentration Camps?” Noah Kulwin, Jewish Currents
US Holocaust Museum tweet about Minneapolis
“Trump ousts Biden-appointed Holocaust Museum board members, including Doug Emhoff,” Ed O’Keefe and Kathryn Watson, CBS News
“Walz Invokes Holocaust, Calls ICE Agents ‘Modern-Day Gestapo,’” Lonny Goldsmith, TC Jewfolk
An Open Letter from Catholic, Evangelical, and Jewish Community Leaders to Minnesota’s Federal, State, and Local Elected Officials
On Christmas, director Josh Safdie released his new film, Marty Supreme, starring Timothée Chalamet as a young table-tennis player bent on global recognition. Like Safdie’s previous film—Uncut Gems, co-directed with his brother Benny Safdie—Marty Supreme focuses on an American Jewish antihero and unfolds in a deeply Jewish milieu. But while Uncut Gems takes place in present-day New York, Marty Supreme transports us back to the Lower East Side of 1952, examining American Jewish ambition in the immediate aftermath of the Holocaust and amid assimilation into whiteness. This mid-century setting is complicated by various anachronistic elements, including a soundtrack rooted in the ’80s and, perhaps most notably, Chalamet’s conspicuous lack of a period-accurate accent. On this episode of On the Nose, Jewish Currents editor-in-chief Arielle Angel, senior editor Nathan Goldman, contributing editor David Klion, and contributing writer Mitch Abidor discuss what, if anything, the film has to say about American Jewishness then and now.
Thanks to Jesse Brenneman for producing and to Nathan Salsburg for the use of his song “VIII (All That Were Calculated Have Passed).”
Media Mentioned and Further Reading
Uncut Gems, dir. Josh and Benny Safdie
“An Unserious Man,” Jewish Currents
“Marty Supreme’s Megawatt Personality,” Richard Brody, The New Yorker
What Makes Sammy Run? by Budd Schulberg
Erik Baker’s Letterboxd review
Marie Antoinette, dir. Sofia Coppola
Anti-Semite and Jew by Jean-Paul Sartre
“Marty Supreme Is the Moment, With Josh Safdie!,” The Big Picture
Tough Jews by Rich Cohen
Mari Cohen on Sally Rooney’s Beautiful World, Where Are You, Jewish Currents Shabbat Reading List
“Demon Doubt,” Vivian Gornick, interview by Rebecca Tuhus-Dubrow, Boston Review
“Is This Anything?,” Mitchell Abidor, Jewish Currents
On Saturday, January 3rd, President Trump announced that a military raid on Caracas had captured Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro, and brought him back to the US to face drug charges. The operation followed months of deadly US strikes against boats purportedly ferrying drugs from Venezuela and a military buildup off its coast. But even after Maduro was seized, the administration still could not, or would not, clearly explain its intense interest in Venezuela any more than it could explain its plans for the country. And beyond the practicalities of “running” Venezuela, as Trump said the US would be doing, are even more disturbing questions about what comes next under the “Donroe doctrine”—the administration’s update of the 202-year-old Monroe Doctrine, which was used to justify generations of US interventions throughout the Western Hemisphere.
This episode of On the Nose turns to a foremost expert on US interference in Latin America, Greg Grandin, to help us understand the historical context of Trump’s surge—and what it may suggest about his military adventures going forward. A Pulitzer Prize-winning history professor at Yale, Grandin has written several books on the tangled history of the US and Latin America, including his sweeping 2025 chronicle, America, América: A New History of the New World. Jewish Currents editor-at-large Peter Beinart asks Grandin to break down the political situation in Venezuela and the history of its nationalized oil reserves—and to explain what Trump’s new doctrine of pure power may hold in store for the US and the Americas.
This episode originally appeared on The Beinart Notebook on Substack. Thanks to Daniel Kaufman for editing help and to Nathan Salsburg for the use of his song “VIII (All That Were Calculated Have Passed).”
Books Mentioned and Further Reading
America, América: A New History of the New World by Greg Grandin
Empire’s Workshop: Latin America, the United States, and the Making of an Imperial Republic by Greg Grandin
The End of the Myth: From the Frontier to the Border Wall in the Mind of America by Greg Grandin
“What the ‘Donroe Doctrine’ is and where Trump could use it next,” Rebecca Falconer and Julianna Bragg, Axios
“After Venezuela, Trump Offers Hints About What Could Be Next,” David E. Sanger, The New York Times
“The Trump Doctrine,” Patrick Iber, Dissent
On December 14th, two gunmen opened fire on a celebration marking the first night of Hanukkah at Bondi Beach in Sydney, Australia, killing 15 and injuring more than 40. The gunmen, a father and son, have since been linked to the Islamic State. Immediately, as observers near and far were just beginning to process and mourn, bad actors rushed in to claim the narrative. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu offered a rebuke of Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, linking the antisemitic attack to Albanese’s call for a Palestinian state. Australianantisemitism envoy Jillian Segal similarly linked the attack to a peaceful August 3rd Palestine solidarity march over Harbour Bridge attended by 300,000. She used the opportunity to promote her controversial 20-point plan to combat antisemitism, which would necessitate the broad adoption of the flawed IHRA definition of antisemitism, mandate Trumpian funding cuts to universities, and crown herself arbiter of acceptable speech related to Israel/Palestine in the media. American politicians quickly weighed in to express solidarity with the state of Israel and link the violence to the nonviolent Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movement. Some prominent American Jewish figures like New York Times columnist Bret Stephens and former US antisemitism envoy Deborah Lipstadt claimed—without evidence and before anything was known about the shooters—that the attack was downstream from use of the phrase “globalize the intifada,” a dig at New York City mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani who chose not to condemn the phrase.
On this episode of On the Nose, Jewish Currents editor-in-chief Arielle Angel and senior editor Mari Cohen spoke with Sarah Schwartz, the Melbourne-based executive officer of the new progressive, independent Jewish organization the Jewish Council of Australia. They parsed the various responses, from Australia to the US to Israel; explored the folly of conflating the ideology of the Islamic State with Palestinian national or solidarity politics; and reflected on the role and responsibility of the Jewish left amid antisemitic violence.
Thanks to Jesse Brenneman for producing and to Nathan Salsburg for the use of his song “VIII (All That Were Calculated Have Passed).”
Articles Mentioned and Further Reading
“Jews, antisemitism and power in Australia,” Max Kaiser, Meanjin
“Bondi Beach Is What ‘Globalize the Intifada’ Looks Like,” Bret Stephens, The New York Times
Benjamin Netanyahu’s statement on Bondi Beach
Tweets from Rep. Claudia Tenney, Rep. Cory Mills, and Deborah Lipstadt
“'Not a blame game': Antisemitism envoy responds to Bondi attack, following Netanyahu snipe,” Ewa Staszewska, Anna Henderson, SBS News
“Labor is fast-tracking its response to the antisemitism envoy’s report after the Bondi attack. What are the recommendations?,” Sarah Basford Canales, The Guardian
“I was at Bondi Beach last week. Our concerns were ignored,” Marina Rosenberg, eJewishPhilanthropy
“A Canadian Antisemitism Statistic Went Viral—But It Has No Source,” Blake Lambert, Jewish Currents
Israeli figures talking about antisemitism as an opportunity to trigger immigration to Israel
“Sydney Gunmen Were Motivated by ISIS, Australia’s Leader Says,” The New York Times
“Understanding ISIS’s Palestine Propaganda,” Samar Batrawi, Al-Shabaka
“Islamic State's Response to October 7,” Ilana Winter, Washington Institute for Near East Policy
“The importance of understanding the differences between Hamas, IS and al-Qaeda,” Dino Krause, Danish Institute for International Studies
“The Centrality of Anti-Semitism in the Islamic State’s Ideology and Its Connection to Anti-Shiism,” Daniel Rickenbacher
“Criminal complaint reveals new details in alleged ISIS-inspired plot to attack Jewish people in NYC,” Aaron Katersky, ABC News
Tweet by Deputy Permanent Observer of the State of Palestine to the UN Majed Bamya
“Australian state proposes ban on protests at places of worship to fight rising antisemitism,” Rod McGuirk, AP
“The Tangled Knot of Anti-Zionist Violence,” Daniel May, Jewish Currents, and the accompanying letters
“Chabad’s Extremist Turn,” On the Nose, Jewish Currents
Rabbi Eli Schlanger’s Zionist activism
Transcript forthcoming.
This year saw the release of two memoirs concerned with the Palestinian diasporic experience. Tareq Baconi’s Fire in Every Direction is a story of queer adolescent unrequited love, braided together with a family history of displacement from Haifa to Beirut to Amman. Sarah Aziza’s The Hollow Half is a story of surviving anorexia and the ways that the body holds the intergenerational grief of the ongoing Nakba. In this episode of On the Nose, Jewish Currents editor-in-chief Arielle Angel speaks with Baconi and Aziza about what it means to claim Palestinianness as a political identity, not just a familial one, and the radical necessity of turning silence—around queerness, Gaza, the Nakba—into speech.
Thanks to Jesse Brenneman for producing and to Nathan Salsburg for the use of his song “VIII (All That Were Calculated Have Passed).”
Books Mentioned and Further Reading
The Hollow Half by Sarah Aziza
Fire in Every Direction by Tareq Baconi
Hamas Contained: The Rise and Pacification of Palestinian Resistance by Tareq Baconi
“Al-Atlal, Now: On Language and Silence in Gaza’s Wake,” Sarah Aziza, Literary Hub
“The Work of the Witness,” Sarah Aziza, Jewish Currents
“The Trap of Palestinian Participation,” Tareq Baconi, Jewish Currents
Black Atlantic by Paul Gilroy
“Selling the Holocaust,” Arielle Angel, Menachem Kaiser, and Maia Ipp, Jewish Currents
In spring 2023, journalist and filmmaker Antony Loewenstein published The Palestine Laboratory, a book tracing the way that Israeli military technology and weaponry, battle-tested on Palestinians, is exported around the world. Lowenstein argues that as Israel’s surveillance and combat technologies are sold far and wide, we can expect to see the forms of violence carried out in Gaza, for example, appear elsewhere in the world. Last month, Jewish Currents published an article by Rhys Machold called “The Myth of Israeli Innovation,” which takes a critical look at what Machold has termed “the laboratory thesis” and examines how it obscures Israel’s dependence on powerful allies, while doing PR for the overhyped Israeli tech sector.
On this episode of On the Nose, Jewish Currents editor-in-chief Arielle Angel hosts Loewenstein and Machold for a comradely debate about the “laboratory thesis” and whether it serves a narrative of Zionist exceptionalism. The guests discuss how advanced Israeli weapons really are; how “Israeli” they are, given the role of Western governments and corporations in their development; and how much of Israel’s “innovation” should be considered technological as opposed to political. They also explore whether or not Israel is on the verge of collapse, and how to characterize the balance of power between Israel and the US.
Thanks to Jesse Brenneman for producing and to Nathan Salsburg for the use of his song “VIII (All That Were Calculated Have Passed).”
Articles and Media Mentioned and Further Reading
The Palestine Laboratory by Antony Loewenstein
The Palestine Laboratory, documentary series by Antony Loewenstein on Al Jazeera
“The Myth of Israeli Innovation,” Rhys Machold, Jewish Currents
“Reconsidering the laboratory thesis: Palestine/Israel and the geopolitics of representation,” Rhys Machold, Political Geography
“How Palantir, Google & Amazon armed Israel's genocide in Gaza,” interview with Antony Loewenstein on The Big Picture, Middle East Eye
“‘Lavender’: The AI machine directing Israel’s bombing spree in Gaza,” Yuval Abraham, +972 Magazine
“Profiting from Terror in Cold War Latin America: Bishara Bahbah’s Israel and Latin America: The Military Connection,” Alexander Aviña, Liberated Texts
“From Domination to Extermination,” Shir Hever, Phenomenal World
“Global Spyware Scandal: Exposing Pegasus,” Frontline, PBS
“Zionism is an anachronism,” Makdisi Street
“The rot is very, very deep,” Makdisi Street
Israel on the Brink by Ilan Pappé
“How Israel’s War Economy Defied Economic Predictions,” Assaf Bondy and Adam Raz, Jacobin
The Israeli Connection: Who Arms Israel and Why by Benjamin Beit-Hallahmi
Drop Site reporting on “Epstein and Israel” by Ryan Grim and Murtaza Hussein
“On Jeffrey Epstein,” On the Nose
“Survey: Young, diverse generation of evangelicals shows growing ambivalence toward Israel,” Jack Jenkins, Religion News Service
“Real life conspiracies pose a certain challenge for political analysis,” wrote Jewish Currents contributors Noah Kulwin and Ari Brostoff in their 2019 piece on Jeffrey Epstein, the child sex trafficker, financier, and international rainmaker. As recently reported in a series of articles at Drop Site News, Epstein had close ties to the Israeli intelligence community, and frequently brokered meetings for former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak, including meetings that resulted in the establishment of security ties with Mongolia and the sale of mass surveillance infrastructure to Cote d’Ivoire’s authoritarian government. What do these revelations tell us about the flows of power and money across the billionaire class? And what do we do with the extent to which Epstein’s story reads like an antisemitic conspiracy come to life? To explore these questions, Jewish Currents editor-in-chief Arielle Angel spoke with Kulwin, a co-host of Blowback,a podcast about US empire and interventionism, and Ryan Grim, co-founder of Drop Site News and the co-author of multiple recent reports about Epstein.
Thanks to Jesse Brenneman for producing and to Nathan Salsburg for the use of his song “VIII (All That Were Calculated Have Passed).”
Articles and Media Mentioned and Further Reading
Drop Site reporting on “Epstein and Israel” by Ryan Grim and Murtaza Hussein
“The Right Kind of Continuity,” Ari Brostoff and Noah Kulwin, Jewish Currents
“The worst thing about Davos? The Masters of the Universe think they are do-gooders,” Hamilton Nolan, The Guardian
Spyfail: Foreign Spies, Moles, Saboteurs, and the Collapse of America’s Counterintelligence by James Bamford
The Power Elite by C. Wright Mills
Doppleganger by Naomi Klein
The art of Marc Lombardi
“Jeffrey Epstein Claimed to Have Meddled in Israel’s Elections,” Branko Marcetic, Jacobin
“JPMorgan Alerted U.S. to Epstein Transfers Involving Wall St. Figures,” Matthew Goldstein, David Enrich, Jessica Silver-Greenberg, and Steve Eder, The New York Times
“The Book of Epstein,” Chapo Trap House
Supermob: How Sidney Korshak and His Criminal Associates Became America's Hidden Power Brokers by Gus Russo
Transcript forthcoming.
On November 11th, Israeli soldiers who had admitted to raping a Palestinian detainee at the now infamous detention camp Sde Teiman were met with applause and a standing ovation as they entered an Israeli courtroom. The scene ricocheted around the world, the latest portrait of the depravity that has gripped Israeli society. Accounts of the torture taking place at Sde Teiman were among the first things to emerge from testimonies collected from soldiers by the Israeli group Breaking the Silence in the aftermath of October 7th. The 21-year-old group has long encouraged soldiers to speak candidly about what they have perpetrated during their service; for this, they have been vilified and discredited within Israeli society, which largely prefers to celebrate the soldiers as heroes—a narrative that can only be maintained through their silence.
On this episode of On the Nose, Jewish Currents editor-in-chief Arielle Angel speaks with Breaking the Silence executive director Nadav Weiman about the testimonies they have collected over the last two years of the Israeli army’s annihilatory campaign in Gaza. Breaking the Silence’s testimonies have uncovered clear evidence that contrary to official reports, many of the war crimes we have seen are not the result of rogue soldiers, but protocols that come straight from command. In this episode, Weiman details the dehumanizingly named “mosquito protocol,” in which soldiers used Palestinians as human shields in Gaza—a chilling echo of the Israeli government’s oft-repeated accusation about Hamas. Weiman paints a picture of the mindset of the average Israeli soldier, ensconced in a “bubble” of support. He also fields questions about what accountability might look like for those who have perpetrated the genocide in Gaza—not just for top brass but for foot soldiers—and what the deradicalization of Israeli society could entail.
Thanks to Jesse Brenneman for producing and to Nathan Salsburg for the use of his song “VIII (All That Were Calculated Have Passed).”
Articles and Media Mentioned and Further Reading
“Abuse in Israeli jails caused deaths of more than 90 Palestinians,” Simon Speakman Cordall, Al Jazeera
“Strapped down, blindfolded, held in diapers: Israeli whistleblowers detail abuse of Palestinians in shadowy detention center,” CNN
“Mosquito Protocol: Ex-Israeli Soldier on Army’s Systematic Use of Palestinians as Human Shields,” Democracy Now!
“Some Israeli soldiers traveling abroad face action for alleged war crimes in Gaza,” Molly Quell, PBS
Transcript forthcoming.
Last week, the Holocaust-denying, white nationalist influencer Nick Fuentes sat down with former Fox News host turned podcaster Tucker Carlson on The Tucker Carlson Show, where the two discussed Fuentes’s trajectory, the evolution of his “America First” ideology, and the ways his rejection of the neoconservative common sense on Israel put him at odds with parts of the right-wing establishment. For many, Carlson’s seeming embrace of Fuentes on his popular show signaled a shift, a recognition that what was once taboo on the right has arrived in the mainstream. Cementing the sense of a sea change, Kevin Roberts, president of the Heritage Foundation, the right-wing think tank that has crafted many of Donald Trump’s most destructive policies, refused to disavow or scold Carlson, saying in a video that criticism of Israel is not antisemitism. He asserted that Americans should support Israel as long as Israel’s action are in American interests—and that there is no obligation to support Israel if they are not. (Since this taping, he has had to walk back this statement, particularly the use of the phrase “venomous coalition” to describe those trying to “cancel” Carlson over the interview with Fuentes.)
That same week, far-right talk show host Candace Owens, dismissed from her Daily Wire post over antisemitism, sat down with left-wing former academic and Palestine advocate Norman Finkelstein. In a conversation laced with Owens’s many antisemitic conspiracy theories, they attempted to find common ground.
In this episode of On the Nose, Jewish Currents editor-in-chief Arielle Angel and publisher Daniel May are joined by Ben Lorber, researcher of antisemitism and white nationalism, and Andrew Marantz, a New Yorker writer who profiled Carlson last year. They discussed the uncomfortable resonances between right and left anti-Zionism in this moment, and the even more disturbing antisemitic, white and Christian nationalist divergences.
Thanks to Jesse Brenneman for producing and to Nathan Salsburg for the use of his song “VIII (All That Were Calculated Have Passed).”
Articles and Media Mentioned and Further Reading
JD Vance is asked about American support for Israel at a Turning Point USA event
“The Tucker Carlson Road Show,” Andrew Marantz, The New Yorker
“Nick Fuentes Has Officially Breached the MAGA Gates,” Ben Lorber, The Nation
Transcript forthcoming.
Last week, a group calling itself The Jewish Majority published a “Rabbinic Call to Action” aimed at New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani in the last weeks of the campaign. “We cannot remain silent in the face of rising anti-Zionism and its political normalization throughout our nation,” the letter reads. Signed by over 1,100 rabbis, the letter quotes New York rabbis Ammiel Hirsch and Elliot Cosgrove, who had each issued their own anti-Zohran sermons and videos, insisting that Mamdani poses a danger to the safety of the city’s Jews and that Zionism is an inextricable part of Jewish identity.
On this episode of On the Nose, Jewish Currents editor-in-chief Arielle Angel, editor-at-large Peter Beinart, senior reporter Alex Kane, and advisory board member Simone Zimmerman discuss this rabbinic campaign, what it means for the sizable Jewish minority who supports Mamdani, and what it says about the priorities of institutional Judaism at a moment of profound political instability.
Thanks to Jesse Brenneman for producing and to Nathan Salsburg for the use of his song “VIII (All That Were Calculated Have Passed).”
Articles and Media Mentioned and Further Reading
Rabbi Cosgrove’s sermon on Mamdani
Rabbi Ammiel Hirsch on Mamdani
“Why Mamdani Frightens Jews Like Me,” Bret Stephens, The New York Times
The Jewish Majority, “A Rabbinic Call to Action”
“Brad Lander’s Campaign of Solidarity,” On the Nose
“Tax the Rich” post on X by Maria Danzilo
Halachic Left High Holidays reader
“Zohran Mamdani is not antisemitic, Satmar’s Brooklyn leadership says,” Jerusalem Post
“Jewish New York’s reckoning with Zohran Mamdani,” Noa Yachot, The Guardian
“Many American Jews sharply critical on Gaza, Post poll finds,” Naftali Bendavid, Scott Clement, and Emily Guskin, The Washington Post
“‘The Issue is Not the Issue’ – The Free Speech Movement 1964 - The Anti-Mamdani Craze,” Shaul Magid on Substack
Mamdani’s video “My Message to Muslim New Yorkers—and Everyone Who Calls This City Home”
“The racism and Islamophobia behind many of the attacks on Zohran Mamdani,” Richard Luscombe, The Guardian
“Religion, Secularism, and the Jewish Left,” On the Nose
“The Anti-Soros Strategy at the Heart of Trump’s War on Progressive Nonprofits,” Alex Kane, Jewish Currents
“Trump’s war on the left: Inside the plan to investigate liberal groups,” Nandita Bose, Jana Winter, Jeff Mason, Tim Reid, and Ted Hesson, Reuters
Beyond Israelism with Simone Zimmerman on Zeteo
Transcript forthcoming.
For the second year in a row, Rabbis for Ceasefire held a Yizkor service on the streets of Brooklyn, using the traditional Yom Kippur memorial service as a means to mourn the dead in Gaza, to atone for American and Jewish communal participation in the genocide, and to refuse further complicity. After the Yizkor service—attended by 1,500 people and watched online by ten times that number—rabbis and others blocked the Brooklyn Bridge while performing the Ne’ilah service that closes the holy day; dozens were arrested. In this episode, Jewish Currents editor-in-chief Arielle Angel speaks with Rabbis for Ceasefire organizers Alissa Wise and Elliot Kukla about their experience planning and carrying out this ritual action, and what it revealed about the nature of the tradition itself. They also discuss the power of collective grief, and the difference and interrelation between Palestine solidarity work and the work of building a Judaism beyond Zionism.
This episode is dedicated to the memory of Rabbi Arthur Waskow.
Thanks to Jesse Brenneman for producing and to Nathan Salsburg for the use of his song “VIII (All That Were Calculated Have Passed).”
Articles Mentioned and Further Reading
Rabbis for Ceasefire Yizkor service on Instagram
“Jewish activist and leader Rabbi Arthur Waskow dies at 92,” Deena Prichep, NPR
“‘Chronic traumatic stress disorder’: the Palestinian psychiatrist challenging western definitions of trauma,” Bethan McKernan, The Guardian
“Can the Palestinian Mourn?,” Abdeljawad Omar, Rusted Radishes
“‘They Destroyed What Was Inside Us’: Children with Disabilities Amid Israel’s Attacks on Gaza,” Human Rights Watch Report
“The Right to Grieve,” Erik Baker, Jewish Currents
“Synagogue Struggles,” On the Nose
“We Need New Jewish institutions,” Arielle Angel, Jewish Currents
Transcript forthcoming.
Last week, President Donald Trump announced that Israel and Hamas had reached a ceasefire deal. A series of momentous events followed the announcement: First, Israel halted its military assault on Gaza—widely considered by international legal experts to be a genocide. Then, 20 Israeli captives who had been held by Hamas for two years were returned to Israel, while Israeli authorities released around 2,000 Palestinians from prison, 1,700 of whom had been detained without charge or trial.
The events led Trump to declare that the “war is over.” But Israeli troops are still stationed deep in Gaza, controlling over half of the enclave, and many questions remain about the future of Gaza.
In this episode, senior reporter Alex Kane talks to Middle East experts Khaled Elgindy and Daniel Levy about the ceasefire. They discuss why Trump forced Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to agree to the ceasefire, why former President Biden failed to stop Israel’s bombardment, whether Hamas will disarm, and how the deal impacts efforts to hold Israeli officials accountable for genocide.
Thanks to Jesse Brenneman for producing and to Nathan Salsburg for the use of his song “VIII (All That Were Calculated Have Passed).”
Articles Mentioned and Further Reading
“How Fury Over Israel’s Qatar Attack Pushed Netanyahu on Gaza,” Mark Mazzetti, Adam Rasgon, Katie Rogers and Luke Broadwater, The New York Times
“Read Trump’s 20-point proposal to end the war in Gaza,” Associated Press
“Why Hamas Agreed to Release the Hostages,” Isaac Chotiner, The New Yorker
“Arab Mediators Believe Hamas Could Be Open to Partially Disarming,” Adam Rasgon and Ronen Bergman, The New York Times
As media figures reacted to the assassination of right-wing commentator Charlie Kirk last month, a movement to purge those critical of President Trump and his MAGA movement found success. The most prominent censorship case came when ABC, bowing to pressure from the head of the Federal Communications Commission, pulled late-night host Jimmy Kimmel off the air for his anti-MAGA remarks during his opening monologue. This clampdown on speech critical of Trump comes amid a broader attempt to reshape mainstream media in the right’s image.
In this episode, senior reporter Alex Kane discusses the media’s right-wing turn with Karen Attiah—a journalist fired by the Washington Post for her comments following Kirk’s assassination—and Mehdi Hasan, a former MSNBC host and founder of independent news outlet Zeteo. They spoke about whether Kimmel’s removal signifies full-blown autocracy, the takeover of TikTok by pro-Trump and pro-Netanyahu billionaires, and the role of independent media in this moment.
Articles Mentioned and Further Reading
“The Washington Post Fired Me — But My Voice Will Not Be Silenced,” Karen Attiah, The Golden Hour Substack
“Matthew Dowd’s firing begins flood of people facing consequences for their comments on Kirk’s death,” David Bauder and Ali Swenson, The Associated Press
“Disney reportedly lost 1.7 million subscribers during Kimmel's suspension,” Amanda Yeo, Mashable
“The Billionaire Trump Supporter Who Will Soon Own the News,” William Cohan, The New York Times
“CBS Taps Conservative Policy Veteran for New Ombudsman Role,” Benjamin Mullin and Michael Grynbaum, The New York Times
“Israel wins TikTok,” Kelley Beaucar Vlahos, Responsible Statecraft
Net Delusion: The Dark Side of Internet Freedom, Evgeny Morozov
“Jared Kushner’s firm and the Saudis are taking video game maker EA private in a massive deal,” Jordan Valinsky, CNN
Charlie Kirk, influential right-wing commentator and founder of Turning Point USA, was assassinated on September 10th. Since then, he has been made into a martyr on the right, and the Trump administration has vowed to crack down on the left, despite details about the shooter’s motivation remaining hazy. Among liberals, there has been a baffling rush to hold Kirk up as a paragon of democracy—despite his participation in the attempt to overthrow the 2020 election—and to demonstrate their own grief at his death. In this episode, editor-in-chief Arielle Angel, contributing editor David Klion, assistant editor Maya Rosen, and contributor Ben Lorber, a researcher of antisemitism and white nationalism, discuss reactions to Kirk’s assassination across the political landscape, the mostly imagined specter of left violence versus the reality, the meaning of Kirk’s deification in Israel, and the ways reactions to his death have become a proxy for conversations about the genocide in Gaza.
Thanks to Jesse Brenneman for producing and to Nathan Salsburg for the use of his song “VIII (All That Were Calculated Have Passed).”
Articles Mentioned and Further Reading
“Charlie Kirk Was Practicing Politics the Right Way,” Ezra Klein, The New York Times
“How to mourn in our polarized age,” Rachel Cohen Booth, Vox
“Charlie Kirk’s Murder Is a Tragedy and a Disaster,” Ben Burgis and Meagan Day, Jacobin
“JD Vance threatens crackdown on ‘far-left’ groups after Charlie Kirk shooting,” Rachel Leingang, The Guardian
Sarah Schulman on the sublimation of the Palestinian genocide into mourning for Charlie Kirk on X
“Light Among the Nations,” Suzanne Schneider, Jewish Currents
“The Group Forging a ‘Judeo-Christian’ Zionism for the New MAGA Age,” Ben Lorber, Jewish Currents
“A Jewish clothing brand is making Charlie Kirk yarmulkes,” PJ Grisar, The Forward
“In Israel, public tributes to Charlie Kirk include a street naming, a mural and a missile in Gaza,” Grace Gilson, JTA
“The Measure of the World,” Claire Schwartz, Jewish Currents
“Since the Hamas attack, Israelis have begun arming themselves the American way,” Jonathan M. Metzel, The Los Angeles Times
Transcript forthcoming.
In this episode, Jewish Currents editor-at-large Peter Beinart interviews the philosopher, activist, author, and educator Angela Davis, whose writing and organizing have shaped Black liberation, feminist, queer, and prison abolitionist movements for more than 50 years. In a wide-ranging conversation, the two discuss how Jews shaped Davis’s formative years, analyze the Jewish role in the civil rights movement, compare the campus activism of the 1960s to today’s college protests, and explore why Palestine is central to the global left.
This conversation first appeared in The Beinart Notebook on Substack.
Thanks to Jesse Brenneman for producing and to Nathan Salsburg for the use of his song “VIII (All That Were Calculated Have Passed).”
Media Mentioned and Further Reading
Freedom Is a Constant Struggle: Ferguson, Palestine, and the Foundations of a Movement, Angela Davis
Angela Davis: An Autobiography, Angela Davis
“How the 1960s Civil Rights and Black Power Movements Split on Israel,” Michael R. Fishbach, Mondoweiss
The Wretched of the Earth, Frantz Fanon
In this episode, Jewish Currents editor-in-chief Arielle Angel, editor-at-large Peter Beinart, associate editor Mari Cohen, and senior editor Nathan Goldman answer reader questions. They discuss the challenge of sustaining Jewish social reproduction outside of Zionism; the attachment to putting out a print magazine; the difficulties of comparing genocides; the discomforts of subscribing to the free Jewish children’s book service PJ Library; and the perils of regarding Zionism as a singular, unparalleled evil.
Thanks to Jesse Brenneman for producing and to Nathan Salsburg for the use of his song “VIII (All That Were Calculated Have Passed).”
Media Mentioned and Further Reading
“Reclaiming a Minor Literature,” Maya Rosen, Jewish Currents
“We Need New Jewish Institutions,” Arielle Angel, Jewish Currents
“What We Talk About When We Talk About ‘Intermarriage,’” Jewish Currents staff roundtable, Jewish Currents
The Necessity of Exile: Essays from a Distance by Shaul Magid
The No-State Solution: A Jewish Manifesto by Daniel Boyarin
“Against Analogy,” Ben Ratskoff, Jewish Currents
“The Law Cannot Let Itself See the Nakba,” Joshua Abramson Cohen’s interview with Rabea Eghbariah, Jewish Currents
“Living with the Holocaust: The Journey of a Child of Holocaust Survivors,” Sara Roy, Institute for Palestine Studies
“Can Genocide Studies Survive a Genocide in Gaza?”, Mari Cohen, Jewish Currents
Sammy Spider’s First Yom Kippur by Sylvia Rouss
“Tell PJ Library: Zionism is Not Judaism!” petition
“Rhetoric Without Reckoning,” Simone Zimmerman, Jewish Currents
“History Lesson,” Laleh Khalili, Jewish Currents
“A Logic of Elimination,” Abe Silberstein’s interview with Lorenzo Veracini on settler colonialism, Jewish Currents
In this episode, editor-in-chief Arielle Angel speaks with filmmaker Sarah Friedland and feminist scholar and activist Lynne Segal about aging through a feminist lens, on the occasion of the digital release of Friedland’s award-winning film Familiar Touch. The film follows cookbook author Ruth Goldman (Kathleen Chalfant) as she transitions to a memory care unit in an assisted living facility and struggles with a shifting sense of self and a different relationship to dependence and care.
Friedland was inspired to tell this story by watching the fiercely independent women in her grandmother’s Jewish Communist milieu as they aged, as well as by Segal’s book Out of Time: The Pleasures and Perils of Ageing—particularly its description of how aging renders the elder at once “all ages and no age,” and capable of experiencing time in less linear ways. Angel, Friedland, and Segal discuss what it would mean to embrace, rather than fear, the experience of aging; to center a politics of care and interdependence over a neoliberal idea of self-sufficiency; and to allow for elder desire.
Thanks to Jesse Brenneman for producing and to Nathan Salsburg for the use of his song “VIII (All That Were Calculated Have Passed).”
Media Mentioned and Further Reading
Out of Time: The Pleasures and Perils of Ageing by Lynne Segal
Lean on Me: A Politics of Radical Care by Lynne Segal
The Care Manifesto: The Politics of Interdependence by The Care Collective
“How the 'One Big Beautiful Bill' Impacts Older Adults,” AARP
The Moosewood Cookbook by Mollie Katzen
Sarah Friedland’s speech about Gaza at the Venice Film Festival
“Why We, 18 Elder Jewish Women, Chained Ourselves to the White House,” Jewish Voice for Peace
“Exodus From Now,” Arielle Angel, Jewish Currents
Transcript forthcoming.
In this episode, editor-at-large Peter Beinart speaks to children’s television star Rachel Griffin Accurso, better known to her fans as Ms. Rachel, about her advocacy for Palestinian children in Gaza, tens of thousands of whom have been maimed or killed by Israel over the last 22 months, with many more enduring a relentless campaign of starvation. Ms. Rachel, who has been called this generation’s Mister Rogers, began speaking out in May 2024, when she participated in a Save the Children fundraiser for kids in conflict zones, including Gaza. The backlash from the pro-Israel camp was so pronounced that Ms. Rachel soon posted a teary video discussing the bullying she was facing. The Zionist backlash has continued, with the doxxing outfit Stop Antisemitism formally requesting in April that the Department of Justice investigate Ms. Rachel to determine if she was “being remunerated to disseminate Hamas-aligned propaganda to her millions of followers.” But Ms. Rachel has not stopped insisting that Palestinian children, like all children, deserve safety and care. In May, she invited a three-year-old double amputee from Gaza named Rahaf onto her show. Beinart spoke to Ms. Rachel about her advocacy for Palestinian children and the pro-Israel backlash, the role faith and prayer have played in her decision to speak out, and why more celebrities haven’t followed suit.
This conversation first appeared on The Beinart Notebook on Substack.
Thanks to Jesse Brenneman for producing and to Nathan Salsburg for the use of his song “VIII (All That Were Calculated Have Passed).”
Media Mentioned and Further Reading
“Pro-Israel group asks DoJ to investigate Ms. Rachel over posts on Gaza children,” Joseph Gedeon, The Guardian
“Ms. Rachel’s emotional plea for the lives of Palestinian children,” Christiane Amanpour, CNN
Ms. Rachel’s fundraising page at the Palestine Children’s Relief Fund
“A year of tears: 12 months of war on children,” UNICEF Report
In 2020, Jewish Currents editor-in-chief Arielle Angel and University of Washington professor of Sephardic studies Devin Naar, both descendants of Ladino speakers from Salonica (Thessaloniki) in Greece, had a conversation about what meaningful Sephardic representation might look like in the wake of near-total erasure. In this week’s episode, Angel and Naar join community leader and singer of Arab Jewish music Laura Elkeslassy and professor of Hebrew literature and Mizrahi studies Oren Yirmiya to deepen the discussion about Sephardi and Mizrahi reclamation work. What are the practical entry points to this identity today? What is the use of catchall caucuses that bring together Sephardi and Mizrahi Jews from many different countries and linguistic lineages, and does this identity have to homogenize in order to survive? What does it mean to do this work amid the genocide in Gaza? And how do we make sure reclamation work is not only backward-looking, but responsive to the present?
Thanks to Jesse Brenneman for producing and to Nathan Salsburg for the use of his song “VIII (All That Were Calculated Have Passed).”
Media Mentioned and Further Reading
“Are We Post-Sepharadim?,” Arielle Angel in conversation with Devin Naar, Jewish Currents
Ya Ghorbati: Divas in Exile by Laura Elkeslassy, live in concert and the artist’s reflections in Ayin on the songs she performs
Shirei Yedidut, book of Moroccan piyyutim and bakashot
Translations of the writings of Hayyim Ben-Kiki by Moshe Behar and Zvi Ben-Dor Benite in Modern Middle Eastern Jewish Thought: Writings on Identity, Politics, and Culture 1893–1958
“Before the Law,” Franz Kafka
“Going Out on a Limb: Joha,” Jane Mushabac
The story about Djohá and the land can be found in Bewitched by Solika and Other Judeo-Spanish Tales by François Azar.
Devin Naar discusses Djohá in his introduction to the Moabet column in Ayin.
In May, a project called the Community Safety Campaign released a 134-page guide for Jewish organizers seeking to push their synagogues and communities towards an abolitionist approach to safety. The guide outlined a critique of the dominant “safety through surveillance” paradigm, in which Jewish communities rely on collaboration with police, the FBI, the Department of Homeland Security, and private security forces to prevent violence and other threats. This approach is often tied in with these organizations’ embrace of the criminalization and repression of Palestine solidarity. As an alternative, the Community Safety Campaign guide offers a blueprint for Jewish organizations based on the Jewish left rallying cry of “safety through solidarity,” focused on creating trained community teams that provide safety at events and work closely with other religious and ethnic groups to share resources. Two Community Safety Campaign organizers, Nadav David and Erica Riddick, join associate editor Mari Cohen to discuss the political context that drove them to create the guide, the big players of the “safety through surveillance” paradigm, and existing successes in piloting community safety efforts across multiple synagogues in Boston. They also talk through approaching cases in which law enforcement has successfully combatted white supremacist violence and synagogue attacks, and consider how to draw the line between community safety and vigilante violence.
Thanks to Jesse Brenneman for producing and to Nathan Salsburg for the use of his song “VIII (All That Were Calculated Have Passed).”
Texts Mentioned and Further Reading
Community Safety Campaign Guide
“The Dismal Failure of Jewish Groups to Confront Trump,” Stephen Lurie, The New Republic
Understanding Antisemitism, JFREJ
“Skin in the Game,” Erik Ward, Political Research Associates
Safety Through Solidarityby Ben Lorber and Shane Burley
“In Letter To President-Elect Trump, SCN Calls For Action Against Non-Citizens,” Secure Communities Network
“Fears of Government Surveillance Complicate Muslim Groups’ Access to Federal Security Funding,” Mari Cohen, Jewish Currents
“Reject Increases to the Nonprofit Security Grant Program,” Community Safety Campaign and JFREJ
“Reconsidering Hate: A Forum on the ‘Hate’ Frame,” by Kay Whitlock
Freedom House Ambulance: The FIRST Responders, PBS
“How Rabbi Charlie Cytron-Walker’s training helped fellow hostages survive the Texas synagogue attack,” Holly Yan, CNN
“Do Armed Guards Prevent School Shootings?”, Laura Esposito and Alex Yablon, The Trace
New York City Comptroller Brad Lander—a longtime fixture of the city’s progressive Jewish life—got 11% of the vote in the Democratic mayoral primary, but his cross-endorsement of Zohran Mamdani helped propel the latter to victory. This partnership inspired many: In a race marred by Islamophobia and false accusations of antisemitism (even against Lander himself), the cooperation between a Muslim and Jewish candidate, focused squarely on beating disgraced former governor Andrew Cuomo and making the city more affordable, was a breath of fresh air.
On this episode of On the Nose, editor-at-large Peter Beinart talks to Lander about encountering Mamdani and Cuomo on the campaign trail, his cross-endorsement of Mamdani despite their differences on Israel, and what he’d like to see from New York Democrats who have been slow to support Mamdani. This conversation first appeared in the Beinart Notebook on Substack.
Thanks to Jesse Brenneman for producing and to Nathan Salsburg for the use of his song “VIII (All That Were Calculated Have Passed).”
Related Videos and Articles
Lander curses Cuomo in Yiddish
Lander and Mamdani’s cross-endorsement video
Lander and Mamdani on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert
“Brad Lander Is Having a Great Day,” Emily Leibert, The Cut
On Tuesday, Democratic New Yorkers went to the polls and elected a democratic socialist as their candidate for the November general election for mayor. Zohran Mamdani’s wide margin of victory—and the decisive defeat of Andrew Cuomo—shocked the political establishment and upended assumptions about who can win an election. In particular, Mamdani’s refusal to back away from his record as an unabashed pro-Palestine candidate proved that vocal opposition to Israel’s destruction of Gaza is not necessarily a political death knell, and in fact may be a political asset in some contexts.
Jewish Currents staffers Peter Beinart, Arielle Angel, Mari Cohen, and Alex Kane gathered in the immediate aftermath of the election to discuss Mamdani’s victory and what it might mean for the issue of Israel in US electoral politics and the New York City Jewish vote. We discussed the Jewish reaction to the win, how Mamdani spoke about Palestine on the campaign trail, what his success means for pro-Israel groups that focus on electoral politics, and the role that City Comptroller Brad Lander and groups like Jews for Racial and Economic Justice played in the election.
Thanks to Jesse Brenneman for producing and to Nathan Salsburg for the use of his song “VIII (All That Were Calculated Have Passed).”
Articles and Videos Mentioned
“The Most Detailed Map of the N.Y.C. Mayoral Primary,” Martín González Gómez, Saurabh Datar, Matthew Bloch, Andrew Fischer and Jon Huang, The New York Times
“What Zohran’s Victory Means,” Peter Beinart, The Beinart Notebook
“Zohran Mamdani’s Moral Stand,” Jewish Currents
“Colbert Talks NYC Mayoral Race With Candidates Zohran Mamdani & Brad Lander,” The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, CBS
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez interview, Firing Line with Margaret Hoover, PBS
“States Don’t Have a Right to Exist. People Do,” Peter Beinart, The New York Times
“Escape from New York: Business Leaders Say They’ll Flee If Mamdani Wins,” Olivia Reingold, The Free Press
X post from Republican Jewish Coalition
X post from Betar
X post from Blake Flayton
X post from Jacob Kornbluh
“Why Are Progressive Legislators Opposing New York’s First Anti-Settlement Bill?,” Alex Kane and Mari Cohen, Jewish Currents
“Palestine Is a Proxy Fight in a Fractious DSA,” Alex Kane, Jewish Currents
“Jamaal Bowman’s Trip to Israel Sparks Debate in DSA Over Electoral Strategy,” Alex Kane, Jewish Currents
On Friday, June 13th, just days before the sixth scheduled round of US–Iran talks over the country's nuclear energy program, Israel carried out a series of punishing airstrikes in many different parts of Iran. The bombings were unprecedented in targeting Iran’s nuclear energy infrastructure, and have since expanded to target Iranian state television, the energy industry, and high-rise apartment buildings. Israel’s bombing campaign has so far killed over 240 people, and has scuttled US–Iran nuclear diplomacy—at least for now. In response, Iran has launched drones and missiles at Israel, killing over 20 Israelis. Now, the escalating conflict, which has prompted thousands of Iranians to flee their homes and brought Israelis into bomb shelters, threatens to grow even deadlier as news outlets report that the Trump administration is weighing a US strike on Iran.
In this episode of On the Nose, senior reporter Alex Kane assesses Israel’s war with Daniel Levy, president of the US/Middle East Project, and Ellie Geranmayeh, the Deputy Director for the European Council on Foreign Relation’s Middle East and North Africa program. They discuss the Trump administration’s position on the conflict, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s war goals, and where the region might be heading in the wake of this bombing campaign.
Articles Mentioned and Further Reading
“Israel Built Its Case for War With Iran on New Intelligence. The U.S. Didn’t Buy It,” Alexander Ward, Lara Seligman, and Dustin Volz, The Wall Street Journal
“How Trump Shifted on Iran Under Pressure From Israel,” Jonathan Swan, Maggie Haberman, Mark Mazzetti, and Ronen Bergman, The New York Times
“America First or Israel First? Will Trump Join Netanyahu's War on Iran?” Daniel Levy, Zeteo
“Europe must act now to prevent a major war between Israel and Iran,” Ellie Geranmayeh, European Council on Foreign Relations
“Unpacking the Rift Between Trump and Netanyahu,” Alex Kane, Jewish Currents
“Israeli Army Estimates It Can Hit All Planned Targets in Iran Within Week, Including Fordow Nuclear Site,” Yaniv Kubovich, Haaretz
This episode of On the Nose comes from a live Zoom conversation between associate editor Mari Cohen and Rabbi Andrue Kahn in February, in which they discussed the anti-nationalist tradition of the American Reform movement and the American Council for Judaism (ACJ), the anti-Zionist organization created by Reform rabbis in 1942. Kahn, the executive director of a newly revived ACJ, answers questions about the Reform movement’s roots in German Jewish emancipation, its attempts to offer a religious paradigm appealing to American Jews, and why early leaders eschewed Zionism. They also discuss early Reform anti-Zionists’ racial politics, how some ACJ leaders developed a concern for Palestinian rights, and what a revived ACJ might offer American Jews today, in a world where official Reform Judaism has long been Zionist.
Thanks to Jesse Brenneman for producing and to Nathan Salsburg for the use of his song “VIII (All That Were Calculated Have Passed).”
Texts Mentioned
“The Pittsburgh Platform”
“The Columbus Platform”
“Declaration Adopted by the Biltmore Conference”
“Antisemitism, Anti-Zionism, and the American Racial Order,” Matthew Berkman, American Jewish History
Our Palestine Questionby Geoffrey Levin
The Threshold of Dissentby Marjorie Feld
“A Conversation with Professor Matt Berkman,” American Council for Judaism
“A Reconstructionist Reckoning,” Shane Burley, Jewish Currents
Last year saw the release of Kneecap, a fictionalized account of the real-life West Belfast-based Irish language rap group of the same name. The group is know for their bombastic, irreverent take on politics in the North of Ireland and their advocacy for the Irish language, which faced centuries of suppression under British colonial rule. Longtime advocates for Palestine, Kneecap has made headlines recently for their on-stage statements at Coachella in support of Gaza. Last week, UK prosecutors charged band member Mo Chara with a terrorism-related offense for allegedly displaying a Hezbollah flag at a show and chanting in support of Hezbollah and Hamas—part of a global trend in which pro-Palestinian speech is conflated with material support for terror. (The band has released a series of statements distancing themselves from calls for violence against civilians and redirecting attention to the ongoing genocide in Gaza.)
This episode of On the Nose, hosted by contributing writer Rebecca Pierce, uses the Kneecap film as a jumping-off point for discussing the relationship between language reclamation, nationalism, and resistance. Joining her is scholar of Sephardic studies and Ladino speaker Devin Naar, and Yiddish-language musicians and culture workers Isabel Frey and Ira Temple. They discuss Kneecap’s advocacy for speaking Irish, the place of music and language in both national and decolonial movements, and the connections between such movements and Jewish efforts to preserve Ladino and Yiddish.
Thanks to Jesse Brenneman for producing and to Nathan Salsburg for the use of his song “VIII (All That Were Calculated Have Passed).”
Articles and Social Media Posts Mentioned
Di fliendeke pave, Isabel Frey
Ira Temple
Ya Ghorbati, Laura Elkeslassy
“Zog nit keyn mol,” Yiddish partisan song
Kneecap speaking out on anti-immigrant riots in Belfast
“How Irish diplomats reacted to Bernadette Devlin's 1969 US tour,” Melissa Baird, RTE
Kneecap on sectarianism
On Wednesday night, two Israeli embassy aides—30-year-old Yaron Lischinsky and 26-year-old Sarah Milgrim—were shot and killed outside the Capital Jewish Museum, where the American Jewish Committee was hosting an event for young diplomats. The suspect, 30-year-old Chicago resident Elias Rodriguez, was immediately arrested. Upon being taken into custody, he chanted “free Palestine,” according to video of the scene; elsewhere, in a manifesto attributed to him, he allegedly wrote “The atrocities committed by Israelis against Palestine defy description and defy quantification.” Immediately, politicians from across the political spectrum and mainstream Jewish groups responded by condemning the killings as a specifically antisemitic act, with some blaming the Palestine solidarity movement for inciting violence.
In a rapid response podcast, Jewish Currents editor-in-chief Arielle Angel discussed the shootings with assistant editor Mari Cohen, senior reporter Alex Kane, and contributing editor and historian Ben Ratskoff. They parsed the media consensus that this was primarily an antisemitic attack, the response from Israeli politicians, the history of diplomat assassinations, and more.
Thanks to Jesse Brenneman for producing and to Nathan Salsburg for the use of his song “VIII (All That Were Calculated Have Passed).”
Articles and Social Media Posts Mentioned
X post from Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez
“The Israel Embassy Shooter Manifesto,” Ken Klippenstein, Substack
“Capital Jewish Museum shooting suspect killed 2 ‘for Gaza.’ His victims were peace advocates,” Louis Keene, The Forward
“Israel fires 'warning shots' near diplomats in West Bank,” Adam Durbin, BBC News
“How to Oppose Pro-Palestinian Antisemitism,” Peter Beinart, The Beinart Notebook
“Far-right ministers blame Yair Golan for shooting of Israeli embassy staffers,” Sam Sokol, Times of Israel
“How a Jewish Teenager Went From Refugee to Assassin to Puppet of Nazi Propaganda,” Lorraine Boissoneault, Smithsonian
“Recentering Palestine, reclaiming the movement,” Columbia Palestine Solidarity Coalition, Columbia Daily Spectator
“Argov denounces war on Lebanon,” JTA
X post by Israeli opposition leader Yair Golan
Segment on soccer riots in Amsterdam, Democracy Now
In April, Israel’s Minister of National Security Itamar Ben-Gvir toured the United States in his first-ever trip to the country as a government official. Many Jewish groups refused to meet with Ben-Gvir, a follower of Meir Kahane whose extremism stands out even in an Israeli political scene awash in anti-Palestinian racism. But Ben-Gvir was welcomed by Chabad rabbis at Yale in New Haven, in South Florida, as well as at 770 Eastern Parkway, the Chabad headquarters in Crown Heights, Brooklyn. The latter appearance sparked protests outside 770, which were met with violence by Chabadniks. In particular, a mob chanting “Death to Arabs” chased a female passerby for several blocks, kicking, spitting, and throwing objects at her. Other videos showed Chabadniks lighting a keffiyeh on fire, shoving and kicking members of the Hasidic anti-Zionist group Neturei Karta, and bloodying a female protester (herself a Jewish Israeli).
To discuss Chabad’s alignment with Ben-Gvir, its long-standing antipathy to leftist movements, and its uneasy relations within Crown Heights, Jewish Currents editor-in-chief Arielle Angel spoke with Jewish studies scholars Shaul Magid and Hadas Binyamini. They discuss Chabad’s historic anti-Zionism, the quasi-Zionist cultural shifts that have solidified after October 7th, and the tensions the movement is currently navigating between its outreach orientation and its increasingly exclusionary politics.
Thanks to Jesse Brenneman for producing and to Nathan Salsburg for the use of his song “VIII (All That Were Calculated Have Passed).”
Texts Mentioned and Further Resources:
The Rebbe, the Messiah, and the Scandal of Orthodox Indifference,David Berger
“Israel’s Class War Conservatives,” Joshua Leifer, Jewish Currents
“The three-decade saga that led to the Crown Heights tunnels,” Chananya Groner, The Guardian
“The Happy-Go-Lucky Jewish Group That Connects Trump and Putin,” Ben Schreckinger, Politico
Letter to Hitler from the German Free Association for the Interests of Orthodox Jewry, 1933
“Lubavitcher Hassidim Oppose Public Demonstrations on Behalf of Soviet Jews,” JTA
“The New Heimish Populism,” Joshua Leifer, Jewish Currents
Race and Religion Among the Chosen Peoples of Crown Heights, Henry Goldschmidt
“The Passion of 964 Park Place,” Ari Brostoff, Jewish Currents
In September 2024, an Israeli sniper shot and killed Turkish American human rights activist Ayşenur Ezgi Eygi outside of Nablus in the northern West Bank. Her murder was a devastating example of a sharp uptick in military and settler violence against both Palestinian residents and the international and Israeli activists who work with them. For years, solidarity activists such as Eygi have responded to the violent reality in the West Bank by physically accompanying Palestininans in the hopes that their “protective presence” will serve as a buffer to prevent attacks. This strategy has received heightened attention thanks to the Oscar-winning documentary No Other Land, which features Palestinians resisting colonialism in the villages of Masafer Yatta, and Israelis engaging in protective presence with them.
For those engaged in solidarity work in the West Bank, this moment of increased violence has amplified ever-present moral questions: What is my responsibility to intervene when someone else is in danger? How much risk must I take upon myself to try and protect my Palestinian comrades? And to what extent must I recruit others to join me in taking that risk? In this chevruta, Rabbi Aryeh Bernstein explores these quandaries with Jewish Currents assistant editor Maya Rosen. As a long-time protective presence activist, Rosen is regularly weighing the danger that she and the activists she recruits will take on in the course of their work: How can she adequately prepare people without scaring them off? And how can she communicate the rewards of the work alongside the risks? Bernstein and Rosen discuss these questions through the lens of three texts—two Talmudic texts, and one Holocaust-era responsum—with the aim of helping those who are attempting to share the burden of serious risk find pathways to greater collective courage.
This podcast is part of our chevruta column, named for the traditional method of Jewish study, in which a pair of students analyzes a religious text together. In each installment, Jewish Currents matches leftist thinkers and organizers with a rabbi or Torah scholar. The activists bring an urgent question that arises in their own work; the Torah scholar leads them in exploring their question through Jewish text. By routing contemporary political questions through traditional religious sources, we aim to address the most urgent ethical and spiritual problems confronting the left. Each column includes a written conversation, podcast, and study guide. You can find the column based on this conversation here, and a study guide here.
Thanks to Jesse Brenneman for producing and to Nathan Salsburg for the use of his song “VIII (All That Were Calculated Have Passed).”
Articles Mentioned:
All Jewish sources are cited in the study guide, linked above
“‘It was revenge for our movie’: Oscar winner says soldiers helped settlers attack him in West Bank,” Lorenzo Tondo, The Guardian
“Justice for Ayşenur Eygi: Family of U.S. Citizen Killed by Israel Meets with Blinken Demanding Probe,” Democracy Now!
“Shocking spike in use of unlawful lethal force by Israeli forces against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank,” Amnesty International
“Co-Resistance at a Crossroads,” Maya Rosen, Jewish Currents
From the ICE arrest and detention of pro-Palestinian organizers to the mass revocation of student visas to the deportation of hundreds of immigrants to El Salvador, the Trump administration’s assault on noncitizens has been as headline-grabbing as it has been brutal. But even though the sheer speed and spectacle of the offensive makes it appear new, many of the legal and enforcement tools at play are old, with the administration drawing on Cold War-era laws, War on Terror-era agencies, and Obama- and Biden-era precedents. In this episode of On the Nose, we speak with the deportation defense lawyer Sophia Elena Gurulé and immigration reporter Tanvi Misra about the ongoing clampdowns, where they are following precedents and where they are setting them, and the stakes of understanding these historical continuities.
Thanks to Jesse Brenneman for producing and to Nathan Salsburg for the use of his song “VIII (All That Were Calculated Have Passed).”
Texts Mentioned and Further Resources:
“Mapping Who Lives in Border Patrol’s ‘100-Mile Zone,’” Tanvi Misra, Bloomberg
“The Origins of American Immigration Detention,” Tanvi Misra, Bloomberg
“Civil War-Era Parallels to the Sanctuary City Movement,” Tanvi Misra, Bloomberg
“If You Build It, ICE Will Fill It: The Link Between Detention Capacity and ICE Arrests,” Detention Watch
“Trump says he wants to deport US citizens to El Salvador,” Gaby Del Valle, The Verge
Border and Rule: Global Migration, Capitalism, and the Rise of Racist Nationalism by Harsha Walia
Unbuild Walls: Why Immigrant Justice Needs Abolition by Silky Shah
In October 2024, Zohran Mamdani launched his New York City mayoral campaign in relative obscurity. Half a year later, excitement about the state assemblymember from Queens is palpable. Mamdani, whose campaign is focused on housing justice and transit affordability, is the first in the race to hit its fundraising cap, raising $8 million dollars from more than 17,000 donors. A member of the Democratic Socialist of America, he boasts over 15,000 volunteer canvassers. Mamadani is now polling in second place, behind Andrew Cuomo, former New York governor who resigned in disgrace following sexual harassment allegations.
Meanwhile, Cuomo, who began a lackluster second act in Israel advocacy following his resignation from office, is attempting to make Israel and antisemitism central issues in the campaign. In a speech earlier this month at a Modern Orthodox synagogue on Manhattan’s Upper West Side, he blasted Mamdani, as well as fellow competitors Brad Lander and Adrienne Adams, for being insufficiently supportive of Israel, while asserting that anti-Zionism is unequivocally antisemitism. He also zeroed in on Mamdani’s “Not On Our Dime” legislation, which targets charities funding Israeli settlements in the West Bank. Mamdani has continued to stress an adherence to international law, and a commitment to the principle of the equality of all human life.
As the mayoral race enters its final months, Jewish Currents editor-at-large Peter Beinart interviewed Mamdani in a conversation that first appeared in the Beinart Notebook on Substack. They discussed how Israel/Palestine is making its way into New York politics, how Mamdani would stand up to President Trump, and his detailed plan for public safety. Jewish Currents is a non-profit organization and does not endorse candidates for office. We hope that our listeners in New York City will vote in the primary on June 24th.
Thanks to Jesse Brenneman for producing and to Nathan Salsburg for the use of his song “VIII (All That Were Calculated Have Passed).”
FURTHER READING:
“Cuomo’s ‘most important issue,’” Jeff Coltin, Nick Reisman, and Emily Ngo, Politico
“Cuomo and Mamdani gain ground as Democratic primary turns into two-person race,” Adam Daly, amNY
“Socialist Assemblymember Zohran Mamdani Wants to End Columbia and NYU’s Tax-Exempt Status,” Sarah Wexler, Jacobin
“Feds seized $80 million in FEMA funds given to NYC to house migrants, city comptroller says,” Jennifer Bisram, CBS News
“Migrant family swept up by ICE allowed to return home,” Brian Mann, NPR
Zohran Mamdani’s public safety plan
In a recent article in Jewish Currents, Jon Danforth-Appell proposes that the Jewish left is operating under a paradigm of what he calls “Zionist realism.” This idea draws on theorist Mark Fisher’s notion of “capitalist realism,” which describes the way capitalism makes it impossible to imagine alternative world structures; Zionist realism, in Danforth-Appell’s conception, similarly makes it difficult for Jews to separate from a received sense of Jewish collectivity, and imagine alternative futures. Danforth-Appell writes that particularist Jewish organizing, typified by the slogan “Not in Our Name,” reinforces a picture of Jews as a monolith, while contributing to an overemphasis on Jewish culpability for Israel’s actions. This approach may underemphasize “material processes of capital and geopolitics,” like the weapons industry’s bottom line and American interests in the Middle East. “What ultimately matters is not an abstract notion of Zionism as a totalizing spiritual contaminant upon the Jewish people,” he writes, “but the ways in which American Jews, alongside all other Americans, hold multiple kinds of material relationships to Israel.”
In the episode, Jewish Currents editor-in-chief Arielle Angel and associate editor Mari Cohen talk with Danforth-Appell about his article and the questions it raises. Even given the diversity among Jews, can we abandon collective complicity while so many Jews materially support Zionism? Why aren’t we seeing more mass anti-war organizing, where people can show up as Americans? And what are the limits of a Jewish politics of collective complicity?
Thanks to Jesse Brenneman for producing and to Nathan Salsburg for the use of his song “VIII (All That Were Calculated Have Passed).”
Texts Mentioned and Further Resources:
“Against Zionist Realism,” Jon Danforth-Appell, Jewish Currents
Capitalist Realism: Is There No Alternative? by Mark Fisher
“Canary Mission’s Newest Funders,” Alex Kane, Jewish Currents
The Cultural Politics of Emotion by Sarah Ahmed
“Can Genocide Studies Survive a Genocide in Gaza?,” Mari Cohen, Jewish Currents
Last week, Columbia capitulated to Trump’s extensive demands on the university, in hopes of recovering $400 million in government funding that was revoked by the Trump administration. Almost a week later, there is still no indication that Columbia will get the money back. The university has agreed to a long list of changes, among them the creation of a new 36-officer campus police force with the power to arrest students; the adoption of the IHRA definition of antisemitism, which conflates anti-Zionism and antisemitism; broad commitments to disciplinary action for student protesters; and even the advancement of Columbia’s Tel Aviv Center. Strikingly, the university has placed the Middle Eastern, South Asian, and African Studies department into what the Trump administration is referring to as “receivership,” appointing a new senior vice provost to exert control over the teaching of Israel/Palestine in particular, starting with the Center for Palestine Studies. Meanwhile, the university committed to “the expansion of intellectual diversity among faculty,” indicating that they are going to hire more Zionists to teach in the Institute for Israel and Jewish Studies and in the School for International and Public Affairs. All of this follows the targeting and abduction of Columbia students, including Palestinian green card holder and student activist Mahmoud Khalil, who remains in ICE detention, and Ranjani Srinivasan, an Indian student who was not significantly involved in protests and who fled to Canada to avoid detention after her visa was revoked.
It’s hard to overstate the significance of Columbia’s surrender, at a moment when the US appears to be in democratic freefall, and when academic freedom and the fundamental right to free speech hangs in the balance. Editor-at-large Peter Beinart and Columbia professor Nadia Abu El-Haj, who also serves as the co-director of the Center for Palestine Studies, spoke just hours before this shocking development, but their conversation probes what’s been happening at Columbia and Barnard, and what’s at stake—both for the study of Israel/Palestine and for the future of higher ed. This conversation first appeared in the Beinart Notebook on Substack.
Thanks to Jesse Brenneman for producing and to Nathan Salsburg for the use of his song “VIII (All That Were Calculated Have Passed).”
ARTICLES MENTIONED AND FURTHER READING:
“‘Mahmoud Is Not Safe,’” Nadia Abu El-Haj, New York Review of Books
“The Columbia Network Pushing Behind the Scenes to Deport and Arrest Student Protesters,” Natasha Lennard and Akela Lacy, The Intercept
Letter from Mahmoud Khalil from ICE detention in Louisiana
“The Perils of Universities’ Unscholarly Antisemitism Reports,” Peter Beinart, Jewish Currents
“The new definition of antisemitism is transforming America – and serving a Christian nationalist plan,” Itamar Mann and Lihi Yona, The Guardian
“The Fight for the Future of Israel Studies,” Mari Cohen, Jewish Currents
“The Civil Rights Law Shutting Down Pro-Palestine Speech,” Alex Kane, Jewish Currents
Letters from Columbia journalism alumni and from Columbia law faculty
American Association of University Professors sues the Trump administration
Noor Abdalla, wife of Mahmoud Khalil, on NPR’s Morning Edition
On March 8th, federal immigration agents arrested Mahmoud Khalil, a former Palestinian student activist at Columbia University, in his New York home and moved him to a detention facility in Louisiana. Khalil, a recent graduate from Columbia’s public affairs masters program and a prominent leader in the school’s movement to pressure the university to divest from companies complicit in Israel’s genocide, is a legal permanent resident, and is not accused of any crime. The Trump administration has pointed to his political activism as the reason for why he should be deported, invoking a rarely-used Cold War-era law to argue that Khalil’s presence in the US is contrary to US foreign policy interests. Jewish American organizations are split over the administration’s reactions: The Anti-Defamation League has praised it, other mainstream groups have remained silent, and liberal Zionist and anti-Zionist Jewish organizations have sharply condemned it.
On this episode of On the Nose, editor-in-chief Arielle Angel, associate editor Mari Cohen, and senior reporter Alex Kane discuss the Jewish political reaction to the arrest and detention of Khalil. They talk about how the mainstream Jewish establishment paved the way for this authoritarian act, whether liberal Jewish opposition to the arrest could portend new political alignments, and the rise of new reactionary Jewish groups such as Betar and Mothers Against College Antisemitism.
Note: When this podcast was recorded, the American Jewish Committee had not yet made a statement on Khalil. On March 12th, the AJC released a statement condemning Khalil’s political speech but calling for “due process” in deportation proceedings against him.
Articles Mentioned and Further Reading
“A growing number of Jewish groups are condemning Mahmoud Khalil’s arrest,” Ben Sales, Jewish Telegraphic Agency
“The Push to ‘Deactivate’ Students for Justice in Palestine,” Alex Kane, Jewish Currents
“Why the ADL is encouraging Jews to invest in Tesla,” Arno Rosenfeld, The Forward
“Elon Musk, the Jews, and the ADL,” Know Your Enemy podcast
“Campus protest crackdowns claim to be about antisemitism – but they’re part of a rightwing plan,” Arielle Angel, The Guardian
“The Boomerang Comes Back,” Noura Erakat, Boston Review
“In leaked messages, members of ‘Columbia Alumni for Israel’ group chat work to identify, punish pro-Palestinian protesters,” Sarah Huddleston, Columbia Spectator
“The Astroturf “Civil Rights” Groups Fueling Trump’s Deportation Attacks,” Emmaia Gelman, Academe
“Trump Administration Seeks to Expel a Green-Card Holder Over Student Protests,” Edward Wong, Charlie Savage, Hamed Aleaziz, and Luis Ferré-Sadurní, The New York Times
On February 4th, President Donald Trump said that all Palestinians in Gaza should leave the coastal enclave and go to other Arab countries such as Egypt or Jordan—a move that, if actualized, would mark a drastic chapter in the Palestinians’ history of being ethnically cleansed. Israel immediately embraced the idea, with the country’s war minister ordering the military to draft plans to facilitate a mass exodus of Palestinians from Gaza. Palestinian groups as well as Egypt, Jordan, and many other countries have roundly rejected the idea, but Trump and his foreign policy team continue to insist that they will carry out the plan which would end in a US takeover of Gaza.
On this episode of On the Nose, Jewish Currents senior reporter Alex Kane spoke to Mouin Rabbani, a co-editor of Jadaliyya, and Tariq Kenney-Shawa, US policy fellow at Al-Shabaka, about situating this moment in the long history of Palestinians displacement, whether and how a Trump ethnic cleansing plan is likely to unfold, and how it will impact the ceasefire in Gaza.
Thanks to Jesse Brenneman for producing and to Nathan Salsburg for the use of his song “VIII (All That Were Calculated Have Passed).”
Further Reading
“With No Buy-in From Egypt or Jordan, Trump Appears to Back Away From His Gaza Plan,”Michael Shear, The New York Times
“‘Trump Gaza is finally here!’: US president promotes Gaza plan in AI video,” Mick Krever and Mostafa Salem, CNN
“Palestinians in Paraguay,” Hadeel Assali, London Review of Books
“Trump Revives Biden's Failed Proposal To Remove Palestinians From Gaza,” Matthew Petti, Reason
“Netanyahu’s Goal for Gaza: ‘Thin’ Population ‘to a Minimum,’” Ryan Grim, The Intercept
“WikiLeaks: Israel Intentionally Kept Gaza on Brink of Economic Collapse,” Joshua Norman, CBS News
“Exclusive: Egypt's alternative to Trump's 'Gaza Riviera' aims to sideline Hamas,” Andrew Mills, Reuters
“Trump wants Palestinians out of Gaza. Here are Egypt's plans to keep them there,” Aya Batrawy, NPR
“Israel has cut off all supplies to Gaza. Here’s what that means,” Cara Anna, Associated Press
Brady Corbet’s epic Academy Award-nominated film, The Brutalist, traces the career and personal life of fictional architect and Holocaust survivor László Toth, played by Adrien Brody, as he seeks to find his place in the United States after World War II. In this episode of On the Nose, contributing writer Rebecca Pierce, associate editor Mari Cohen, contributing editor Siddhartha Mahanta, and contributor Noah Kulwin unpack the film’s symbolic use of Israel and Zionism as an apparent solution to the racialized antisemitism faced by its Jewish characters upon their arrival in the US. The conversation delves into the film’s explorations of post-Holocaust Jewish life and American racialized white supremacy, as well as the contrast between its clear artistic vision and ambiguous politics. This episode includes spoilers for the film and discussions of its onscreen depictions of sexual violence.
Thanks to Jesse Brenneman for producing and to Nathan Salsburg for the use of his song “VIII (All That Were Calculated Have Passed).”
Texts Mentioned and Further Resources:
“About the Destination: The Brutalist and Israel,” Noah Kulwin, Screen Slate
“Adrien Brody Addresses Backlash Over Halle Berry Oscars Kiss—but Stops Short Of Apologizing,”Kelby Vera, Huffington Post
“The Suppressed Lineage of American Jewish Dissent on Israel,” Emma Saltzberg, Jewish Currents
The Tribes of America byPaul Cowan
Israeli warplanes have stopped dropping bombs on Gaza, at least for now, but there’s no ceasefire in the occupied West Bank. Since October 2023, and especially since this January, the intensity of Israeli military operations in the West Bank has escalated to a degree unseen since the Second Intifada. On January 21st, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced “Operation Iron Wall”—a bombing campaign and ground invasion centered on the city of Jenin in the northern West Bank. Jenin houses a large Palestinian refugee camp populated by families expelled by Israeli forces in 1948. As such, it has long been an epicenter of Palestinian militancy, and has faced waves of Israeli ground invasions and sieges for decades. Now, Israel’s defense minister has said that the army is returning to Jenin to apply the “lessons” it learned in Gaza—which have included the widespread destruction of civilian infrastructure, the siege of a hospital, and, in a particularly brazen act, the simultaneous blowing up of 23 buildings on February 2nd.
To discuss Israel’s application of the “Gaza model” in the West Bank and its impact on Palestinians, Jewish Currents senior reporter Alex Kane spoke with journalist Azmat Khan and analyst Tahani Mustafa.
Thanks to Jesse Brenneman for producing and to Nathan Salsburg for the use of his song “VIII (All That Were Calculated Have Passed).”
Articles Mentioned and Further Reading
“Israeli military operation turns Jenin refugee camp into 'ghost town,'” Ali Sawafta, Reuters
“Demolitions in Jenin signal Israel’s new approach in the West Bank,” Marcus Walker, The Wall Street Journal
“In West Bank raids, Palestinians see echoes of Israel’s Gaza war,” Raja Abdulrahim and Azmat Khan, The New York Times
“Two young children were getting ready for school. An IDF drone killed them,” Hagar Shezaf, Haaretz
“The civilian casualty files,” The New York Times
“Palestinian Authority’s raid on Jenin appeals to Israeli, Western interests,” Mat Nashed, Al Jazeera English
“Palestinian gunman kills Israeli soldiers as UN warns over W Bank operation,” David Gritten, BBC News
“The settler strategy accelerating Palestinian dispossession,” Dalia Hatuqa, Jewish Currents
On Sunday, Israel and Hamas entered into the first phase of what could become a permanent ceasefire. Under the agreement that led to the pause, Israel will release hundreds of Palestinians, many held without charge or trial, from its prisons in exchange for the release of 98 Israeli hostages by Palestinian militants in Gaza. The deal also allows Palestinians forcibly displaced from the north of Gaza to return to that area, promises a surge in humanitarian aid to a Palestinian population that was starving as a result of Israel’s siege, and leaves open the door for further negotiations resulting in a permanent ceasefire. But significant questions remain about the deal—foremost of which is whether it will lead to the permanent end of Israel’s bombardment and hermetic siege of Gaza, an assault experts have termed a genocide. To discuss why Israel agreed to stop its bombing after 15 months, whether the ceasefire is likely to last, and the future of Gaza’s governance, Jewish Currents senior reporter Alex Kane spoke to analysts Yousef Munayyer and Zaha Hassan.
Thanks to Jesse Brenneman for producing and to Nathan Salsburg for the use of his song “VIII (All That Were Calculated Have Passed).”
Further Reading
“A long-awaited ceasefire has finally begun in Gaza. Here’s what we know,” Sophie Tanno, Lauren Kent and Christian Edwards, CNN
“Jared Kushner says Gaza’s ‘waterfront property could be very valuable,’” Patrick Wintour, The Guardian
“Ben Gvir says he repeatedly foiled hostage deals, urges Smotrich to help him stop this one,” Times of Israel staff, Times of Israel
“UNRWA said preparing to shutter Gaza, West Bank operations ahead of Israeli ban,” Times of Israel staff, Times of Israel
“Gangs looting Gaza aid operate in areas under Israeli control, aid groups say,” Claire Parker, Loveday Morris, Hajar Harb, Miriam Berger and Hazem Balousha, The Washington Post
“The Pro-Israel Donor With a $100 Million Plan to Elect Trump,” Theodore Schleifer, The New York Times
On this episode of On the Nose—a recording of an online event for Jewish Currents members, co-sponsored by the Beinart Notebook—editor-at-large Peter Beinart speaks with Mahmoud Muna, Matthew Teller, and Juliette Touma, three of the editors of the new anthology Daybreak in Gaza: Stories of Palestinian Lives and Culture. This volume includes nearly 100 stories from people in Gaza, recorded both before and amidst Israel’s ongoing assault. In this conversation, the editors discuss the collection and the process of compiling it, and read some of the powerful testimonies it contains.
Thanks to Daniel Kaufman and Jesse Brenneman for producing and to Nathan Salsburg for the use of his song “VIII (All That Were Calculated Have Passed).
Texts Mentioned and Further Reading:
Daybreak in Gaza: Stories of Palestinian Lives and Culture, ed. Mahmoud Muna and Matthew Teller with Juliette Touma and Jayyab Abusafia
“Letter from Gaza” by Ghassan Kanafani, Marxists Internet Archive
“The Only Refuge I Could Offer” by Anonymous, Jewish Currents
“Exile from Gaza” by Zak Hania, Safa Al-Majdalawi, Amal Al-Majdalawi, and Mohammed Ghalayni (as told to Jonathan Shamir), Jewish Currents
“The Scenes in Rafah Are Straight From a Nightmare” by Zak Hania, Ahmed Totah, and Sameera Wafi (as told to Jonathan Shamir), Jewish Currents
“Even as We Are Trying to Help, We Are Being Attacked” by Jameel, Juliette Touma, and Mohammed Al Khatib (as told to Jonathan Shamir and Aparna Gopalan), Jewish Currents
“We Have Lost the Ability to Provide True Care” by Hammam Alloh, Yousef Al-Akkad, and Reda Abu Assi (as told to Maya Rosen), Jewish Currents
“Dispatches from Gaza” by Mohammed Zraiy, Khalil Abuy Yahia, and Rania Hussein (as told to Alain Alameddine, Maya Rosen, and Julia), Jewish Currents
Since October 2023, Palestine solidarity activists have faced a climate of McCarthyist repression, and all signs point to the incoming Trump administration escalating that campaign to silence the anti-genocide movement. Trump’s cabinet appointees and supporters have embraced plans to revoke visas of pro-Palestine student organizers, sue colleges to ensure they crack down on protesters, subject anti-Zionist students to FBI questioning, and more—all in the name of fighting antisemitism.
In this episode, associate editor Mari Cohen and senior reporter Alex Kane join Emma Saltzberg, US strategic campaigns director for Diaspora Alliance, and Dylan Saba, a staff attorney at Palestine Legal and a contributing writer at Jewish Currents, to discuss the possible shape of the Trump repression regime. We discuss the use of civil rights law to quash student protest, the Heritage Foundation’s unnerving “Project Esther” blueprint for suppressing the Palestine solidarity movement, and Congressional attempts to attack the nonprofit status of anti-Zionist groups. We also analyze the multiple right-wing approaches at play—including the distinct but sometimes overlapping “anti-discrimination” and “anti-terrorism” paradigms—and consider possibilities for mobilizing a broader liberal-left coalition to oppose these strategies.
Thanks to Jesse Brenneman for producing and to Nathan Salsburg for the use of his song “VIII (All That Were Calculated Have Passed).”
Texts Mentioned and Further Resources:
“Trump DOJ civil rights pick blasted campus protests, opposed Antisemitism Awareness Act,” Marc Rod, Jewish Insider
“The Biden-Harris administration has failed to combat campus antisemitism,” Jonathan Pidluzny, America First Policy Institute
“Trump attorney general pick Pam Bondi: 5 things Jews should know,” Lauren Markoe, Forward
“The civil rights law shutting down pro-Palestine speech,” Alex Kane, Jewish Currents
“Linda McMahon meets with Senators, addresses approach to fighting antisemitism,” Emily Jacobs, Jewish Insider
“Project Esther,” The Heritage Foundation
“Evangelical Christians are politicizing the Jewish story of Esther,” Jane Eisner, The Washington Post
“Congressional Republicans launch 'fishing expedition' against progressive, Jewish, and Palestinian nonprofits,” Matthew Petti, Reason
“Virginia judge denies pro-Palestinian group’s bid to limit attorney general’s demand for documents,” Dean Mirshahi, WRIC ABC 8News
A Real Pain is a film starring Jesse Eisenberg and Kieran Kulkin as two American Jewish cousins who take a trip to Poland to visit the childhood home of their grandmother. In this episode of On the Nose, editor-in-chief Arielle Angel, contributing editor Maia Ipp, and author Menachem Kaiser—all of whom are grandchildren of Holocaust survivors—dissect the movie’s depiction of millennial neuroses, its relationship to other Holocaust films, and its grappling with the question of how to make meaning out of inherited memory.
Thanks to Jesse Brenneman for producing and to Nathan Salsburg for the use of his song “VIII (All That Were Calculated Have Passed).”
Texts Mentioned and Further Resources:
“Selling the Holocaust,” Arielle Angel, Menachem Kaiser, and Maia Ipp, Jewish Currents
“(Re)Writing Remembrance,” Arielle Angel and Maia Ipp, Jewish Currents
Plunder: A Memoir of Family Property and Nazi Treasure, Menachem Kaiser
“If I were a Zionist, I'd be Z: How Generations of Jews have Abandoned their Children to Face the Reckoning Alone,” Natasha Gill, Substack
Between the Temples
On this episode of On the Nose—recorded at an online event on October 30th—editor-in-chief Arielle Angel speaks with author Naomi Klein and writer and clinical psychologist Hala Alyan about the place of feelings and affect in the movement for Palestinian liberation. They discuss the role of grief and rage, how movements can accommodate affective diversity, and what it means to channel emotions politically.
Thanks to Jesse Brenneman for producing and to Nathan Salsburg for the use of his song “VIII (All That Were Calculated Have Passed).
Texts Mentioned and Further Resources:
“How Israel has made trauma a weapon of war,” Naomi Klein, The Guardian
The Generation of Postmemory: Writing and Visual Culture After the Holocaustby Marianne Hirsch
Prosthetic Memory: The Transformation of American Remembrance in the Age of Mass Cultureby Alison Landsberg
“‘Chronic traumatic stress disorder’: the Palestinian psychiatrist challenging western definitions of trauma,” Bethan McKernan, The Guardian
“Can the Palestinian Mourn?,” Abdaljawad Omar, Rusted Radishes
“‘Resistance Through a Realist Lens,’” Arielle Angel in conversation with Abdaljawad Omar, Jewish Currents
“Mourning and Melancholia,” Sigmund Freud
The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalismby Naomi Klein
“One Year,” Palestinian Youth Movement, The New Inquiry (originally published in The New York War Crimes)
Recognizing the Stranger: On Palestine and Narrativeby Isabella Hammad
“A Surge in American Jewish Left Organizing,” On the Nose, Jewish Currents
“Gaza and the Coming Age of the ‘Warrior,’” Ghassan Hage, Allegra
“One Year,” Arielle Angel, Jewish Currents newsletter
The Secret Life of Saeed: The Pessoptimistby Emile Habibi
“Theses on the Philosophy of History,” Walter Benjamin
Doppelganger: A Trip Into the Mirror World by Naomi Klein
“Naomi Klein on Israel’s ‘Doppelganger Politics,’” On the Nose, Jewish Currents
“Unpacking the Campus Antisemitism Narrative,” On the Nose, Jewish Currents
“The Power of Changing Your Mind,” Hala Alyan, Time
On this special episode of On the Nose—recorded live on November 4th at McNally Jackson Books in Manhattan—Jewish Currents senior reporter Alex Kane hosts a discussion about foreign policy and the 2024 presidential election. Historian Stephen Wertheim, Arab American Institute executive director Maya Berry, and national security reporter Spencer Ackerman discuss Donald Trump’s and Kamala Harris’s foreign policy visions, regional war in the Middle East, and the bipartisan consensus on upholding US empire.
Thanks to Jesse Brenneman for producing and to Nathan Salsburg for the use of his song “VIII (All That Were Calculated Have Passed).
Further Reading:
“Some Muslim Americans moving to Jill Stein in potential blow to Kamala Harris,” Andrea Shalal, Reuters
“New Poll Finds Arab American Voters Evenly Divided in the 2024 Presidential Election,” Arab American Institute
Reign of Terror: How the 9/11 Era Destabilized America and Produced Trump by Spencer Ackerman
“How Kamala Harris Should Put America First — for Real,” Stephen Werheim, The New York Times
“America’s Foreign Policy Inertia,” Stephen Wertheim and Christopher S. Chivvis, Foreign Affairs
In 2003, a group of Indian Americans deeply involved in India's Hindu supremacist, or Hindutva, movement established the Hindu American Foundation (HAF), an organization explicitly modeled on the Anti-Defamation League (ADL). Just as the ADL has long insisted that fighting American antisemitism requires bolstering support for Israel, the HAF committed itself to lobbying for Hindutva in the name of protecting Hindu Americans’ civil rights, an approach that helped the group's rightwing politics find a foothold in liberal, anti-racist circles. The HAF is not the only organization that has drawn inspiration from the ADL. In 2021, the Asian American Foundation (TAAF) was formed in direct partnership with the ADL as a way to address growing anti-Asian racism. While lacking connection to a single ethnonationalist movement, TAAF nevertheless drew on the ADL’s and HAF’s approaches in positioning anti-Asian racism as a unique problem requiring carceral solutions instead of solidaristic organizing. As such, TAAF debuted with ADL head Jonathan Greenblatt as the only non-Asian person on its board, and Hindu nationalist Sonal Shah as its founding president.
The HAF and TAAF’s use of the ADL model has thus far helped them achieve support and legitimacy. However, as the ADL itself faces an unprecedented crisis of legitimacy in the wake of October 7th, affiliation with it now risks becoming a liability. For instance, following members’ criticism over its ties to an increasingly repressive Greenblatt, TAAF removed him from his board this July (while still affirming its “strategic relationship” with the ADL). As dissent continues to grow in Asian and South Asian American communities—with reporters and activists questioning ties of anti-racist groups in the US to injustices abroad—it is not just ties to the ADL but the power of the ADL model of antiracism that stands to come into question. To discuss these developments, Jewish Currents news editor Aparna Gopalan spoke to associate editor Mari Cohen, New Yorker contributing writer E. Tammy Kim, and Savera coalition activist Prachi Patankar about the similarities and differences between the ADL, the HAF, and TAAF; their embrace of a “hate crimes” approach to anti-racism and what it leaves out; their ties to supremacist movements; and their shifting fortunes in the wake of the pressures over the past year.
Thanks to Jesse Brenneman for producing and to Nathan Salsburg for the use of his song “VIII (All That Were Calculated Have Passed).
Texts Mentioned and Further Reading:
“How the ADL’s Israel Advocacy Undermines Its Civil Rights Work,” Alex Kane and Jacob Hutt, Jewish Currents
“ADL Staffers Dissented After CEO Compared Palestinian Rights Groups to Right-Wing Extremists, Leaked Audio Reveals,” Alex Kane and Mari Cohen, Jewish Currents
“HAF Way to Supremacy: How the Hindu American Foundation Rebrands Bigotry As Minority Rights,” Savera Coalition
“The Hindu Nationalists Using the Pro-Israel Playbook,” Aparna Gopalan, Jewish Currents
“The ADL of Asian America,” E. Tammy Kim, The New Yorker
“The Asian American Foundation’s ADL partnership is a betrayal to Asian American communities,” Sharmin Hossain, Mondoweiss
Ta-Nehisi Coates, one of the most celebrated American political writers of our time, devotes much of his new book, The Message, to a withering and deeply personal critique of Israel’s oppression of Palestinians. On this bonus episode of On the Nose—a recording of an online event for Jewish Currents members, co-sponsored by the Beinart Notebook and the Foundation for Middle East Peace—editor-at-large Peter Beinart speaks with Coates about his time in Israel and the West Bank, the silencing of Palestinians in American media, and what it means when nationalism’s victims become its adherents.
Thanks to Jesse Brenneman for producing and to Nathan Salsburg for the use of his song “VIII (All That Were Calculated Have Passed).
Texts Mentioned and Further Reading:
The Messageby Ta-Nehisi Coates
“Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break Silence,” Martin Luther King, Jr.
Our American Israelby Amy Kaplan
The Riot Report, directed by Michelle Ferrari
“The Case for Reparations,” Ta-Nehisi Coates, The Atlantic
“One Year of War in the Middle East,” Pod Save the World
The Yellow Windby David Grossman
“Obama on his criticism of Israeli settlements: ‘I’m basically a liberal Jew,’” Avery Anopol, The Hill
“US media talks a lot about Palestinians—just without Palestinians,” Maha Nassar, +972 Magazine
Ta-Nehisi Coates interview on CBS
Black Panther graphic novels by Ta-Nehisi Coates
Makdisi Street podcast
“Ta-Nehisi Coates: I Was Told Palestine Was Complicated. Visiting Revealed a Simple, Brutal Truth,” Democracy Now!
On this episode of On the Nose—recorded live at Jewish Currents’sdaylong event on September 15th—editor-in-chief Arielle Angel speaks with a panel of authors, scholars, and activists about the movement for Palestinian freedom in the wake of Israel’s genocide. Noura Erakat, Fadi Quran, Dana El Kurd, Amjad Iraqi, and Ahmed Moor discuss the challenge of Palestinian unity under Israel’s program of fragmentation, the resurgence of the two-state solution and decline of the coexistence paradigm, American Jews’ role in organizing their communities against Zionism, and the task of imagining a liberated future.
Thanks to Jesse Brenneman for producing and to Nathan Salsburg for the use of his song “VIII (All That Were Calculated Have Passed).
Texts Mentioned and Further Reading:
Polarized and Demobilized: Legacies of Authoritarianism in Palestineby Dana El Kurd
Justice for Some: Law and the Question of Palestineby Noura Erakat
After Zionism: One State for Israel and Palestine, edited by Anthony Loewenstein and Ahmed Moor
Hamas Contained: The Rise and Pacification of Palestinian Resistanceby Tareq Baconi
Polling by Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research
“Zionism Killed the Jewish-Muslim World,” Ariella Aïsha Azoulay, Jacobin
Protocol I Additional to the Geneva Conventions
1968 Palestinian National Charter
“How Durham, North Carolina, became the first US city to ban police exchanges with Israel,” Zaina Alsous and Sammy Hanf, Scalawag
For this live taping of the literary podcast Between the Covers—recorded at Jewish Currents’s daylong event on September 15th and presented in partnership with On the Nose—host David Naimon convened a conversation with renowned writers Dionne Brand and Adania Shibli about contesting colonial narratives. Rooted in their long-standing literary practice and in the demands of this moment of genocide, they discuss the vexed meanings of home, how to recover the everydayness of life erased by empire, and what it means to imagine togetherness beyond the nation-state.
This episode was produced by David Naimon, with music by Alicia Jo Rabins. Thanks also to Jesse Brenneman for additional editing and to Nathan Salsburg for the use of his song “VIII (All That Were Calculated Have Passed).
Texts Mentioned and Additional Resources:
Minor Detailby Adania Shibli
A Map to the Door of No Return: Notes to Belongingby Dionne Brand
Civil Serviceby Claire Schwartz
The Blue Clerkby Dionne Brand
Adania Shibli in conversation with Hisham Matar at the 2024 Hay Festival
Adania Shibli in conversation with Madeleine Thien and Layli Long Soldier at the Barnard Center for Research on Women
“Writing Against Tyranny and Toward Liberation,” Dionne Brand
“Dionne Brand: Nomenclature — New and Collected Poems,” Between the Covers
“Adania Shibli: Minor Detail,” Between the Covers
“prologue for now - Gaza,” Dionne Brand, Jewish Currents
“Duty,” Daniel Mendelsohn, New York Review of Books
“A Lesson in Arabic Grammar by Toni Morrison,” Adania Shibli, Jewish Currents
Inventory by Dionne Brand
Recognizing the Stranger: On Palestine and Narrativeby Isabella Hammad
“Isabella Hammad: Recognizing the Stranger: On Palestine and Narrative,” Between the Covers
Freud and the Non-Europeanby Edward Said
“The Horseman and the Lake of Constance,” Gustav Schwab
In this live taping of Jacobin’spodcast The Dig—recorded at Jewish Currents’s recent daylong event and presented in partnership with On the Nose—host Daniel Denvir convened a conversation with scholars Aslı Bâli and Aziz Rana on the past and present of left internationalism. Placing the current eruption of solidarity with Palestine in the context of the rise and fall of Third Worldism, they discuss the history and legacy of that project, the lasting structures of neocolonialism, and the challenge of contesting empire from the heart of empire.
This episode was produced by Alex Lewis and Jackson Roach, with music by Jeffrey Brodsky. Thanks also to Jesse Brenneman for additional editing and to Nathan Salsburg for the use of his song “VIII (All That Were Calculated Have Passed).
Texts Mentioned and Further Reading:
“Left Internationalism in the Heart of Empire,” Aziz Rana, Dissent
“Reviving the Language of Empire,” Aziz Rana in conversation with Nora Caplan-Bricker, Jewish Currents
“The Disastrous Relationship Among Israel, Palestinians and the U.N.,” Aslı Bâli on The Ezra Klein Show, The New York Times
Neo-Colonialism, the Last Stage of Imperialism by Kwame Nkrumah
“What We Did: How the Jewish Communist Left Failed the Palestinian Cause,” Dorothy M. Zellner, Jewish Currents
Empire As a Way of Lifeby William Appleman Williams
Discourse on Colonialismby Aimé Césaire
“From Minneapolis to Jerusalem,” Hannah Black, Jewish Currents
“Charging Israel with Genocide,” On the Nose, Jewish Currents
Recently, far-right figures like Candace Owens and Tucker Carlson have hitched their anti-Israel politics to blatant antisemitism, platforming Holocaust denial and using decontextualized passages from religious texts like the Talmud to argue for the fundamental immorality of Judaism; in some cases their rhetoric has migrated beyond the right-wing echo chamber. Meanwhile, following a cheeky tweet by conspiracy-minded Grayzone editor Max Blumenthal that attributed the congressional losses of Jamaal Bowman and Cori Bush to the “Zionist occupied government,” or “ZOG,” debates raged online about the supposed accuracy or usefulness of the term, which has clear origins in the neo-Nazi movement. In this episode of On the Nose, editor-in-chief Arielle Angel interviews Shane Burley and Ben Lorber, authors of the new book Safety Through Solidarity: A Radical Guide to Fighting Antisemitism,about these trends and how we confront them. They examine the real difficulties of talking about antisemitism—and assessing actual risk—in an alarmist environment where antisemitism is frequently weaponized against Palestinians and their allies, and discuss what it means to build principled movements rooted in mutual self-interest and collective liberation.
Thanks to Jesse Brenneman for producing and to Nathan Salsburg for the use of his song “VIII (All That Were Calculated Have Passed).”
Texts Mentioned and Further Reading:
Safety Through Solidarity: A Radical Guide to Fighting Antisemitism by Shane Burley and Ben Lorber
“The Right’s Anti-Israel Insurgents,” Ben Lorber, Jewish Currents
“Examining the ADL’s Antisemitism Audit,” Shane Burley and Jonah ben Avraham, Jewish Currents
The Necessity of Exile: Essays from a Distance by Shaul Magid
Zioness event about campus antisemitism
“Jewish settlers stole my house. It’s not my fault they’re Jewish,” Mohammed El Kurd, Mondoweiss
Rafael Shimunov’s thread about talking about antisemitism on the left
“What Comes Next for the Palestinian Youth Movement,” Mohammed Nabulsi, Hammer & Hope
Doppelganger: A Trip Into the Mirror World by Naomi Klein
Study on the correlation between antisemitism and Israeli violence against Palestinians
"Are neo-Nazi terms really the only way to criticize U.S. support for Israel?," Mira Fox, The Forward
"Efforts to sell 'Anglo neighborhoods in Israel' at LA synagogue erupt in protests," Lois Beckett, The Guardian
“At Hunter’s ‘Israelism’ screening, the rabbi was rude, not the audience,” The Forward
“Brooklyn bookstore parts ways with worker who canceled event over pro-Israel rabbi as moderator,” Beth Harpaz and Louis Keene, The Forward
“Do American Jews Really Know What 'Zionist' Means?,” Mira Sucharov, Haaretz
On July 31st, Ismail Haniyeh, Hamas’s top political leader, was killed in Iran. Haniyeh came to the capital city of Tehran for the presidential inauguration; an explosive device went off in the guest house where he was staying. Just hours before, Haniyeh had met with Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Israel hasn’t taken responsibility for the attack, but they’re widely believed to be responsible—especially given their history of targeted political assassinations. Indeed, Haniyeh’s killing followed Israel assassination of Hezbollah commander Fuad Shukr in Lebanon one day earlier.
Haniyeh was killed in the middle of ceasefire negotiations between Hamas and Israel. With the death toll in Gaza nearing 40,000, and the family members of Israeli hostages desperately calling for a prisoner exchange, the pressure to come to an agreement has been mounting. But Haniyeh was a chief negotiator in those talks, and now, the chances of arriving at a deal seem further than ever.
Meanwhile, Iran has vowed to retaliate against Israel for the attack on their soil. As of Thursday, August 8th, that hasn’t happened yet, but many now fear that tensions could lead to a wider regional war.
In this collaboration between Unsettled Podcast and On the Nose, Unsettled producer Ilana Levinson interviews Tareq Baconi, author of Hamas Contained: The Rise and Pacification of Palestinian Resistance, to make sense of these developments and what Haniyeh’s assassination means for the future of the region.
This episode was produced by Ilana Levinson with Emily Bell. Music in this episode from Blue Dot Sessions. Thanks to Nathan Salsburg for the use of his song “VIII (All That Were Calculated Have Passed).”
Further Reading:
“Hamas Contained: The Rise and Pacification of Palestinian Resistance,” Tareq Baconi
“Hamas: Gaza (Ep 3),” Unsettled Podcast
“Tareq Baconi: ‘There’s no going back,’” Unsettled Podcast
“Regional War: An Explainer,” Alex Kane and Jonathan Shamir, Jewish Currents
Since October 7th, a low-grade regional war has played out across the Middle East, pitting Israel and its Western allies against various Iran-backed forces. The Yemeni Houthi faction has targeted ships in the Red Sea in response to Israel’s war on Gaza, prompting a wave of US and British airstrikes on Yemen. Meanwhile, Iraqi militias have repeatedly fired rockets at US forces in their country. Hezbollah and Israel have also traded deadly fire on the Lebanon–Israel border, leading to mass displacement on both sides.
Now, with Israel’s recent assassinations of a senior Hezbollah commander in a Beirut suburb, and of Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh in Iran, these relatively-limited conflicts threaten to turn into a far-bloodier conflagration. On this episode of On the Nose, senior reporter Alex Kane interviews regional expert Trita Parsi and scholar Karim Makdisi about these assassinations, the strategies and interests of Iran and Hezbollah, and the Biden administration’s response to the prospect of a full-scale regional war.
Thanks to guest producer Will Smith and to Nathan Salsburg for the use of his song “VIII (All That Were Calculated Have Passed).”
ARTICLES MENTIONED AND FURTHER READING
“Regional War: An Explainer,” Alex Kane and Jonathan Shamir, Jewish Currents
“The Middle East Is Inching Toward Another War,” Trita Parsi, TIME
“Biden Warns Netanyahu Against Escalation As Risk Of Regional War Grows,” Barak Ravid, Axios
“Bomb Smuggled Into Tehran Guesthouse Months Ago Killed Hamas Leader,” Ronen Bergman, Mark Mazzetti, and Farnaz Fassihi, The New York Times
Should leftists vote for the Democratic nominee in the 2024 presidential election? Many have balked at supporting an administration that has funded and armed Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza: Some are refusing to vote outright, while others are conditioning their vote on a dramatic shift in policy. Although President Joe Biden has now dropped out of the race, and will almost certainly be replaced by his vice president, Kamala Harris, this question remains live for many.
American leftists have long debated our relationship to electoral politics, and to the Democratic Party in particular. Do we choose the lesser of two evils, hold our nose, and “vote blue no matter who” in order to avert the catastrophes that would result from a Republican presidency? Or are there acts that are too morally outrageous to permit such a utilitarian calculus? And regardless of what we choose, are there ways to think about the meaning of voting that go beyond the pieties of mainstream liberal discourse?
In this episode, Jewish Currents contributing writer Raphael Magarik explores these questions with Rania Batrice, a first-generation Palestinian American and political strategist who has devoted her career to electoral work, including as Bernie Sanders’s 2016 deputy campaign manager. The conversation—recorded while Biden was still running—examines a legal responsum by Rabbi Menashe Klein, the spiritual leader of the Ungvar Hasidic community in Brooklyn, about whether one is responsible for the actions of a candidate one votes for. Through engagement with Klein’s responsum, Magarik and Batrice turn over their own ambivalences, grappling with competing ways of thinking about voting.
This podcast is part of our chevruta column, named for the traditional method of Jewish study, in which a pair of students analyzes a religious text together. In each installment, Jewish Currents matches leftist thinkers and organizers with a rabbi or Torah scholar. The activists bring an urgent question that arises in their own work; the Torah scholar leads them in exploring their question through Jewish text. By routing contemporary political questions through traditional religious sources, we aim to address the most urgent ethical and spiritual problems confronting the left. Each column includes a written conversation, podcast, and study guide. You can find the column based on this conversation and a study guide here.
Thanks to Ilana Levinson for producing and to Nathan Salsburg for the use of his song “VIII (All That Were Calculated Have Passed).”
Donald Trump’s decision to tap Ohio Senator J.D. Vance as his running mate marks the culmination of a Republican foreign policy transformation. While some aspects of Trump’s foreign policy choices in his first term alienated neoconservatives, other elements aligned with their views—and his previous vice presidential pick, Mike Pence, hailed from the interventionist wing of the party. By contrast, Vance, has stridently denounced the Iraq War and criticized US funding for Ukraine. His selection, which suggests that a second Trump term could represent a sharper break from GOP orthodoxy on foreign policy, heralds the rise of a realist nationalist vision for how the US should conduct itself around the world.
On this episode of On the Nose, senior reporter Alex Kane speaks with historian Suzanne Schneider and political analyst Matt Duss about the ideology driving Vance’s agenda, his argument that “America First” foreign policy must include US support for Israel, and how a second Trump administration would differ from the Biden administration on international affairs.
Thanks to guest producer Will Smith and to Nathan Salsburg for the use of his song “VIII (All That Were Calculated Have Passed).”
Articles Mentioned and Further Reading:
“Light Among The Nations,” Suzanne Schneider, Jewish Currents
“Vance on Iran: ‘If You’re Going to Punch the Iranians, You Punch Them Hard,’” Matthew Kassel, Jewish Insider
Vance’s Keynote Speech at Quincy Institute/The American Conservative Conference
“Trump taps Vance as Running Mate, Anointing Ideological Successor,” Matthew Kassel, Jewish Insider
"Leaked Memo Shows J.D. Vance's Anti-Woke Ideology on Foreign Affairs," John Hudson, The Washington Post
“Harris Candidacy Gives Democrats a Chance to Pivot on Gaza,” Matt Duss, Foreign Policy
Until 1948, around 800,000 Jews lived as an organic and inseparable part of the Arab Middle East and North Africa. But political shifts in the mid-20th century upended this reality. The violent creation of the State of Israel, and the rise of an increasingly exclusivist Arab nationalism, fueled anti-Jewish hostility that led to the exodus of all but a few thousand Jews from the region. The rich Arab-Jewish life that had characterized prior centuries was lost, and the vast majority of Arab Jews ended up in Israel, becoming active participants in the country’s regime of domination over Palestinians. But neither Mizrahi Jews’ enthusiastic embrace of Zionism nor the collapse of Jewish life in the broader Middle East were historical inevitabilities—and these processes did not go unchallenged. Instead, Arab-Jewish thinkers throughout the 20th century drew on their own experiences to offer alternatives to Zionism as well as other kinds of ethnonationalism.
In June, Jewish Currents fellow Jonathan Shamir attended a first-of-its-kind retreat for Arab Jews organized by activist Hadar Cohen and historian Avi Shlaim, where contemporary thinkers came together to figure out how to build on these past efforts. In the latest episode of On the Nose, Shamir speaks with three scholars from the retreat—Hana Morgenstern, who studies Middle Eastern literature; Yaël Mizrahi-Arnaud, a co-founder of the diaspora anti-Zionist group Shoresh; and Moshe Behar, a senior lecturer in Israel/Palestine studies and co-founder of the Mizrahi Civic Collective—about the history of Arab-Jewish political thought and organizing, and its possibilities and limits for our time.
Thanks to Jesse Brenneman for producing and to Nathan Salsburg for the use of his song “VIII (All That Were Calculated Have Passed).”
Texts Mentioned and Further Reading and Listening:
On the Arab-Jew, Palestine, and Other Displacements: Selected Writings by Ella Shohat
The Arab Jews: A Postcolonial Reading of Nationalism, Religion, and Ethnicity by Yehouda Shenhav
Modern Middle Eastern Jewish Thought: Writings on Identity, Politics, & Culture, 1893-1958, edited by Moshe Behar and Zvi Ben-Dor Benite
Three Worlds: Memoirs of an Arab-Jew by Avi Shlaim
Iraqi Jewish Writers (Banipal Magazine of Modern Arab Literature), Shimon Ballas, Sami Michael, Samir Naqqash, et al.
"An Archive of Literary Reconstruction after the Palestinian Nakba," Hana Morgenstern, MERIP
“Were There—and Can There Be—Arab Jews? (With Afterthoughts on the IHRA Definition of Antisemitism and Palestinian Jews),” Moshe Behar
“Weeping for Babylon,” Zvi Ben-Dor Benite and Avi Shlaim, Jewish Currents
“Toward a Democratic State in Palestine,” Palestine National Liberation Movement
"The 'Friends of the IDF' Gala Was Like a Rich Kid’s Bar Mitzvah—Until the Protest Started," Sophie Hurwitz, The Nation
“A Democratic Mizrahi Vision,” the Mizrahi Civic Collective
On June 25th, New York Congressman Jamaal Bowman lost his primary election to George Latimer, a longtime Democratic Westchester County politician. The race attracted national attention because of the unprecedented role played by the Israel-advocacy group AIPAC: The lobby’s super PAC spent $14.5 million on television ads attacking Bowman, while AIPAC donors contributed about $2.5 million to Latimer’s campaign. Bowman’s loss marked a blow for the project of electing leftists to federal office, and the result particularly stung for the pro-Palestine movement; one of the most outspoken Democratic critics of Israel’s war on Gaza will now be replaced by someone who won’t even rebuke Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, which puts him well to the right of Joe Biden.
On this episode of On the Nose, senior reporter Alex Kane is joined by Intercept DC bureau chief Ryan Grim and former Justice Democrats spokesperson Waleed Shahid to discuss the meaning of Bowman’s loss, AIPAC’s electoral strategy, and the future of the movement to elect leftist Democrats.
Articles Mentioned and Further Reading:
“The Road Not Taken: Hard Truths about Jamaal Bowman’s Loss,” Micah Sifry, The Connector
“What the Left Can Learn From Jamaal Bowman’s Loss,” Waleed Shahid, The Nation
“A Trip to Israel Changed Jamaal Bowman’s Worldview—And Could Cost Him His Re-election,” Calder McHugh, Politico
In May 2021, Palestinian American poet, physician, translator, and essayist Fady Joudah wrote two poems engaged with the violence of Israeli apartheid. Reflecting on the conundrum of where and how to publish them, he explained: “I’ve long been aware of the crushing weight that reduces Palestine in English to a product with limited features . . . This sickening delimitation mimics physical entrapment. The silken compassion toward Palestinians in mainstream English thinks the language of the oppressed is brilliant mostly when it teaches us about surviving massacres and enduring the degradation of checkpoints.” His sixth collection of poetry, [...], written between October and December 2023, and published in March, indicts precisely such forms of entrapment. In these lucid yet idiosyncratic poems, Joudah turns his attention to that which exceeds the narrow place of the Western gaze, spurning the market forces that reward the performance of perpetual Palestinian victimhood.
On this episode of On the Nose, culture editor Claire Schwartz speaks with Joudah about publishing [...] in this long moment of anti-Palestinian racism, the dangerous desires of denying our own not-knowing, and the generative capacities of silence.
Thanks to Jesse Brenneman for producing and to Nathan Salsburg for the use of his song “VIII (All That Were Calculated Have Passed).”
Texts Mentioned, and Further Reading and Listening:
“My Palestinian Poem that ‘The New Yorker’ Wouldn’t Publish,” Fady Joudah, Los Angeles Review of Books
“A Palestinian Meditation in a Time of Annihilation,” Fady Joudah, Lit Hub
“Fady Joudah: The poet on how the war in Gaza changed his work,” Aria Aber, The Yale Review
“‘Unspeakable’: Dr. Fady Joudah Grieves 50+ Family Members Killed in Gaza & Slams U.S. Media Coverage,” Democracy Now!
“Aesthetics of Return: Palestinian Poetry with Fady Joudah,” Jadaliyya
“Habibi Yamma,” Fady Joudah, Protean
“Dear [...],” Fady Joudah, Prairie Schooner
“[...],” Fady Joudah, Lit Hub
“[...],” Fady Joudah, Jewish Currents
“Maqam for a Green Silence,” Fady Joudah, Jewish Currents
Since October 7th, American Jews have been sharply divided over Israel’s war on Gaza—a fracture that has been manifest within all manner of institutions, including synagogues. Many leftist Jews do not participate in synagogue life at all, in part because most congregations are explicitly or tacitly Zionist. But for those who are affiliated with a synagogue community that doesn’t completely align with their politics, this moment has raised or reasserted pressing and difficult questions: Should we do political work within these institutions, and if so, how? What is gained and lost by organizing in these spaces, or by withdrawing from them? What kinds of communities can we ethically be part of? On this episode of On the Nose, managing editor Nathan Goldman, managing director Cynthia Friedman, contributing writer Raphael Magarik, and contributor Devin E. Naar discuss their varying approaches to synagogue life in this moment.
Thanks to Jesse Brenneman for producing and to Nathan Salsburg for the use of his song “VIII (All That Were Calculated Have Passed).”
Texts Mentioned and Further Reading:
“Jewish Americans in 2020,” Pew Research Center
“Statement on Israel/Palestine by Scholars of Jewish Studies and Israel Studies” from 2021
“How a Leading Definition of Antisemitism Has Been Weaponized Against Israel’s Critics,” Jonathan Hafetz and Sahar Aziz, The Nation
Making Mensches
“Ale Brider,” Yiddish folk song
“Hayim Katsman’s Vision of Struggle,” Hayim Katsman, Jewish Currents
Ottoman Brothers: Muslims, Christians, and Jews in Early 20th Century Palestine by Michelle U. Campos
Oriental Neighbors: Middle Eastern Jews and Arabs in Mandatory Palestine by Abigail Jacobson and Moshe Naor
“A Democratic Mizrahi Vision,” the Mizrahi Civic Collective
On March 29th, Jewish Currents began publishing a short commentary on the parshah—the portion of the Torah that Jews traditionally read each week—in the Shabbat Reading List newsletter. A note introducing this new feature situated it in the context of mainstream Jewish communal support for Israel’s war on Gaza: “While it might seem strange for a historically secular magazine to embark on such a project . . . we are trying this now because many in our community have expressed an unprecedented alienation from most Jewish institutions, alongside an urgent need for spiritual fortification.” While many readers have written in to express their gratitude and enthusiasm for the series, some people with long histories of close involvement with Jewish Currents have been upset by the inclusion of religious content. The range of reactions highlights an enduring dispute over the place of religion at Jewish Currents. The magazine was founded by a stridently secularist American Jewish left, which was forged in opposition to the reactionary constraints of religion and in alignment with the Communist Party. But this has given way to a movement that’s more interested in religious texts and ritual as generative elements of Jewish identity, and as politically meaningful tools.
On this episode of On the Nose, editor-in-chief Arielle Angel, managing editor Nathan Goldman, JC councilmember Judee Rosenbaum, and contributing writer Mitch Abidor argue about the parshah commentaries, the meaning of secularism at Jewish Currents, and the evolving role of religion on the Jewish left.
Thanks to Jesse Brenneman for producing and to Nathan Salsburg for the use of his song “VIII (All That Were Calculated Have Passed).”
Articles Mentioned and Further Reading:
“Complex Inheritances,” Joy Ladin, Jewish Currents
“Yiddish Anarchists’ Break Over Palestine,” introduced and translated by Eyshe Beirich, Jewish Currents
“Camp Kinderland at 100,” On the Nose, Jewish Currents
“Zhitlovsky: Philosopher of Jewish Secularism,” Max Rosenfeld, Cultural and Secular Jewish Organization (previously in Jewish Currents)
“Secularism,” Daniel May, Sources
Letter to the editor on religious coverage at Jewish Currents, with editors’ response
“Secular Jewish Education, A Critique,” Bennett Muraskin, Jewish Currents
“Why I’m Not a Jewish Secularist,” Mitch Abidor, Jewish Currents
“Why I’m Not a Jewish Secularist: A Response to the Responses,” Mitch Abidor, Jewish Currents
“The Discourse on Voluntary Servitude,” Étienne de la Boétie
On April 7th, Larry David’s sitcom Curb Your Enthusiasm—which debuted in 2000 and ran on and off for 24 years—concluded its twelfth and final season. For many critics, the finale marked not only the completion of a beloved show that sometimes seemed like it would run forever, but also the end of an era of American Jewish comedy, embodied by David and other comics of his generation. Curb follows the everyday antics of a fictionalized version of David, living a posh life in Los Angeles following the success of the iconic ’90s sitcom Seinfeld, which he co-created with Jerry Seinfeld. David’s avatar is an over-the-top archetype of a Brooklyn Jew raised in the mid-century, and the show is animated by the character’s dry affect and hyperbolic intransigence, which often put him at odds with reigning social mores, fueling absurd interactions with strangers, friends, and foes. Over the course of Curb’s long run, it’s had a profound impact on the shape of modern American comedy, while the caricature at its core has emerged as one of the defining representations of American Jewishness.
On this episode of On the Nose, managing editor Nathan Goldman, executive editor Nora Caplan-Bricker, contributing editor Ari M. Brostoff, and contributing writer Rebecca Pierce discuss Curb’s depictions of Jewishness, Blackness—and, in one famous episode, Palestinianness—and share their thoughts on the show’s final season and David’s comedic legacy.
Thanks to Jesse Brenneman for producing and to Nathan Salsburg for the use of his song “VIII (All That Were Calculated Have Passed).”
Articles, Episodes, and Films Mentioned:
“The Ski Lift,” Curb Your Enthusiasm
“The End,” Curb Your Enthusiasm
“American Jewish Comedy Sings a Swan Song,” P.E. Moskowitz, Vulture
“Meet the Blacks,” Curb Your Enthusiasm
A Serious Man, directed by Joel and Ethan Coen
“Atlanta,” Curb Your Enthusiasm
“The Lawn Jockey,” Curb Your Enthusiasm
“The N Word,” Curb Your Enthusiasm
“Palestinian Chicken,” Curb Your Enthusiasm
“No Lessons Learned,” Curb Your Enthusiasm
“The Finale,” Seinfeld
“Jerry Seinfeld Admits He ‘Sometimes’ Regrets the Seinfeld Finale,” Corinna Burford, Vulture
The recent wave of anti-Zionist Gaza solidarity protest encampments on college campuses has reignited a longstanding public debate over how to define “Zionist.” On May 8th, a week after the Columbia University encampment was dismantled by the NYPD, more than 500 Jewish students at the school who identify as Zionists published an open letter in which they laid out their perspective. “A large and vocal population of the Columbia community does not understand the meaning of Zionism, and consequently does not understand the essence of the Jewish People,” they argued, positing that Zionism and Judaism are fundamentally intertwined. The claims echoed a common mainstream Jewish talking point, that the student movement’s stance against Zionism and its adherents is a de facto rejection of Jews—a discourse that plays out against the backdrop of a yearslong Israel advocacy effort to redefine Zionism not as a political ideology but as a protected ethnic identity under US civil rights law. Yet anti-Zionists, Jewish and otherwise, maintain that their position is simply a rejection of the political structure of Jewish supremacy that undergirds the State of Israel.
On this episode, Jewish Currents staff membersdiscuss how they describe their politics in relation to the term “Zionist” and why. They reflect on the comparative advantages and limits of using the labels “anti-Zionist,” “non-Zionist,” and “cultural Zionist” to articulate opposition to a state project of Jewish supremacy and support of Palestinian liberation and right of return, and consider how those identifications impact relationships within the Jewish community and with the broader solidarity movement.
Thanks to Jesse Brenneman for producing and to Nathan Salsburg for the use of his song “VIII (All That Were Calculated Have Passed).”
BOOKS AND ARTICLES MENTIONED AND FURTHER READING:
Excerpt from “Zionism from the Standpoint of Its Victims,” Edward Said
2021 Study of Jewish LA
“How ‘Zionist’ became a slur on the US left,” Jonathan Guyer, The Guardian
“A plan to save Israel — by getting rid of Zionism,” Emily Tamkin, The Forward, on Shaul Magid’s new book exploring a “counter-Zionist” future
Haifa Republic: A Democratic Future for Israel, Omri Boehm
Address by Max Nordau at the First Zionist Congress, 1897
“The Suppressed Lineage of American Jewish Dissent on Zionism,” Emma Saltzberg, Jewish Currents, on the historical evolution of the meaning of the term “Zionism”
Last fall, the Contemporary Jewish Museum in San Francisco put out an open call for artists to apply for the California Jewish Open. Some of the artists that were accepted into the show identified themselves openly in the application as anti-Zionist, and submitted work that contained content that straightforwardly advocated for Palestinian liberation.
But in April, seven of the artists withdrew from the show. A statement released by a group calling themselves California Artists for Palestine cited an “inability to meet artists’ demands, including transparency around funding and a commitment to BDS [Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions].” The artists demanded to be able to have final say on wall text about the works, and to be able to pull or alter their works at any time. They were also concerned about potential “curatorial both-sidesism,” referring to an email they received on March 22nd which asked artists to sign off on the fact that their work would be “presented in proximity to artwork(s) by other Jewish artists which may convey views and beliefs that conflict with [their] own.” The museum has decided to leave blank the wall space designated for this work, “to honor the perspective that would have been shared through these works, and to authentically reflect the struggle for dialogue that is illustrated by the artists’ decisions to withdraw.”
This week, Jewish Currents editor-in-chief Arielle Angel speaks to two anti-Zionist multidisciplinary artists who made divergent decisions about whether to stay in the group show: Amy Trachtenberg, who opted to remain, and Liat Berdugo, who has pulled out. The trio discuss the perils and possibility of Jewish institutional life—in the art world and beyond—at this moment, the applicability of BDS in this case, and the uses and limitations of “dialogue.”
Thanks to Jesse Brenneman for producing and to Nathan Salsburg for the use of his song “VIII (All That Were Calculated Have Passed).”
ARTICLES MENTIONED AND FURTHER READING:
“Jewish Anti-Zionist Artists Withdraw From Contemporary Jewish Museum Show,” Matt Stromberg, Hyperallergic
“Anti-Zionist Jewish artists pull out of CJM exhibit when demands are not met,” Andrew Esensten, J Weekly
“CJM visitors wonder: Does the Palestinian flag belong on the museum’s walls?,” Andrew Esensten, J Weekly
Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI) guidelines
“Campus Politics Takes the Stage in The Ally,” On the Nose, Jewish Currents
Jewish Voice for Peace/IfNotNow Passover Campaign
“Biting the Hand,” The Editors, e-flux
“Seeing It for the Trees” by Liat Berdugo
LABA Bay Area and the New Jewish Culture Fellowship
Chevruta is a column named for the traditional method of Jewish study, in which a pair of students analyzes a religious text together. In each installment, Jewish Currents will match leftist thinkers and organizers with a rabbi or Torah scholar. The activists will bring an urgent question that arises in their own work; the Torah scholar will lead them in exploring their question through Jewish text. By routing contemporary political questions through traditional religious sources, we aim to address the most urgent ethical and spiritual problems confronting the left. Each column will include a column, podcast, and study guide.
On February 25th, Aaron Bushnell, an active-duty member of the US Air Force, self-immolated outside the Israeli embassy in Washington, DC. “I will no longer be complicit in genocide,” Bushnell said in a livestreamed video, broadcasting what he declared an “an extreme act of protest”—though, he added, “compared to what people have been experiencing in Palestine at the hands of their colonizers, it’s not extreme at all.” Bushnell, who was dressed in his army uniform, then doused himself in gasoline and set himself on fire, shouting “Free Palestine” until he collapsed. He died later that day. While some were quick to dismiss Bushnell’s action as a manifestation of mental illness, many on the left expressed admiration for his sacrifice—which, as intended, drew global attention to US complicity in Israel’s brutal, ongoing assault on Gaza.
In this chevruta, Rabbi Lexi Botzum and Jewish Currents editor-in-chief Arielle Angel engage with Jewish texts that examine the concepts of martyrdom, sacrifice, and public spectacle, considering how our tradition might help us to engage with Aaron Bushnell’s act, and the question of how much we must sacrifice for justice.
You can find the column based on this conversation and a study guide here.
Thanks to Jesse Brenneman for producing and to Nathan Salsburg for the use of his song “VIII (All That Were Calculated Have Passed).”
Articles Mentioned:
All Jewish sources are cited in the study guide, linked above
“Aaron Bushnell’s Act of Political Despair,” Masha Gessen, The New Yorker
“The Work of the Witness,” Sarah Aziza, Jewish Currents
“The Nature of Mass Demonstrations,” John Berger, International Socialism
“Burnt Offerings,” Erik Baker, n+1
Last week, the NYPD—called in by Columbia University President Minouche Shafik—arrested 108 Columbia and Barnard students, who had set up a Gaza solidarity encampment on a lawn in the center of campus. The group of students was subsequently suspended, and those at Barnard were evicted from campus housing. Over the following days, others reestablished the encampment—continuing the call for the university to disclose their investments and divest from Israeli companies, to boycott Israeli academic institutions, and to keep cops off campus, among other demands.
In the week since the encampment was established—as the tactic spreads to campuses around the country—the movement has been maligned as a threat to Jewish students, and lawmakers like Sens. Tom Cotton and Josh Hawley as well as Jewish communal leaders like Anti-Defamation League CEO Jonathan Greenblatt have called for bringing in the National Guard. Jewish Currents editor-in-chief Arielle Angel spoke to three Jewish student organizers arrested at the original encampments—Izzy Lapidus, Sarah Borus, and Lea Salim—about their experiences over the past week and what Palestine solidarity organizing has looked like on their campuses since October 7th.
Thanks to Jesse Brenneman for producing and to Nathan Salsburg for the use of his song “VIII (All That Were Calculated Have Passed).”
Further Reading:
"Evidence of torture as nearly 400 bodies found in Gaza mass graves," Al Jazeera
“Statement on Columbia’s Gaza Solidarity Protest Community Values,” Columbia University Apartheid Divest (CUAD)
“Republican Senators Demand Biden Use National Guard to Suppress Columbia Protests,” Nikki McCann Ramirez, Rolling Stone
Jonathan Greenblatt of the ADL calling for NYPD and the National Guard to be brought onto campus on X
Passover seder at the Columbia encampment
"NYPD Investigating 'Skunk' Chemical Attack at Columbia U," Johanna Alonso, Inside Higher Ed
“Republicans Wanted a Crackdown on Israel’s Critics. Columbia Obliged,” Michelle Goldberg, The New York Times
In recent months, a buzzy new pair of articles on the specter of rising “Israel-related” antisemitism have arrived in The Atlantic. One, by Franklin Foer, heralds the end of the “golden age of American Jews,” while another, by Theo Baker, details the current climate on Stanford’s campus. Though similar stories have circulated in Jewish communal outlets for years, these two longform pieces demonstrate how the subject has also taken center-stage in liberal media since October 7th, against a backdrop of increased scrutiny on college campuses. The media handwringing has been accompanied by political and legal crackdowns: The ADL and the Brandeis Center have filed a lawsuit against Ohio State, the House Committee on Education has launched an investigation into Columbia, and Harvard President Claudine Gay and University of Pennsylvania President Liz Magill have both been pushed out of their positions due to their handling of tensions around campus antisemitism. But is this really all about antisemitism? What do these narratives leave out of frame?
In this episode, Jewish Currents editor-in-chief Arielle Angel, editor-at-large Peter Beinart, associate editor Mari Cohen, and publisher Daniel May dissect the common features of these campus antisemitism narratives—and consider what ends they serve. They discuss the difference between antisemitism and political ostracism, the need for more accurate reporting on campus dynamics, the confluence between the anti-antisemitism and the anti-DEI crusade, and the ways that the campus antisemitism panic can result in crackdowns on—rather than protection of—liberal freedoms.
Thanks to Jesse Brenneman for producing and to Nathan Salsburg for the use of his song “VIII (All That Were Calculated Have Passed).”
Articles Mentioned and Further Reading:
“The Golden Age of American Jews Is Ending,” Franklin Foer, The Atlantic
“The War at Stanford,” Theo Baker, The Atlantic
“The New Antisemitism,” Noah Feldman, Time Magazine
“‘Pro-Israel’ Pundits Don’t Talk About Israel,” Peter Beinart, Jewish Currents
“Toward a Sober Assessment of Campus Antisemitism,” Ben Lorber, Jewish Currents
“Homeland Violence and Diaspora Insecurity: An Analysis of Israel and American Jewry,” Ayal Feinberg, Politics and Religion (and similar studies from Belgium and Australia)
“U.S. College Students and the War in Israel: Jewish Engagement and Social Tension on Campus,” 2024 study by Eitan Hersh
“Jewish College Students in America,” 2022 study by Eitan Hersh
“The Push to ‘Deactivate’ Students for Justice in Palestine,” Alex Kane, Jewish Currents
“The Campaign Against D.E.I.,” Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor, The New Yorker
“Campus Wars,” On the Nose, Jewish Currents
“Navigating Intersectional Landscapes,” 2019 report by the Reut Group (via Wayback Machine)
“November 2023 National Survey of Jewish Voters,” Jewish Electorate Institute
“Muslim student struck in Stanford hit-and-run calls for love, compassion, from hospital bed,” Camila Bernal and Chris Boyette, CNN
“NYPD Investigating ‘Skunk’ Chemical Attack at Columbia U,” Johanna Alonso, Inside Higher Ed
In The Ally—a new play at the Public Theater by Itamar Moses—an Israeli American adjunct professor is forced to confront the limits of his solidarity when his decision to support a Black student seeking justice for the police murder of a cousin becomes entangled with questions of Israel and Palestine. Though set before October 7th, the play is undoubtedly “ripped from the headlines,” taking up questions of campus antisemitism and liberal Jewish discomfort with left politics, and giving every “side” in the argument—hardline Zionists, Palestinians, young Jewish leftists, Black activists, and Jewish liberals—a chance to state its case. But does the play actually push liberal audiences beyond their preconceived biases, or does it allow them to remain in a state of comfortable ambivalence? In this episode, Jewish Currents editor-in-chief Arielle Angel, contributing writer Alisa Solomon, and artist-in-residence Fargo Nissim Tbakhi discuss what The Ally reveals about liberal America’s view of the left, and the opportunities and limitations of theater in spurring action.
Thanks to Jesse Brenneman for producing and to Nathan Salsburg for the use of his song “VIII (All That Were Calculated Have Passed).”
Plays Mentioned and Further Reading:
The Ally by Itamar Moses at The Public Theater
Disgraced by Ayad Akhtar
“Who Is Tom Stoppard’s “Jewish Play” For?,” On the Nose, Jewish Currents
“Jewish Groups Condemn Black Lives Matter Platform for Accusing ‘Apartheid’ Israel of ‘Genocide,’” Sam Kestenbaum, Haaretz
In the public sphere, the discursive battle over Israel and Palestine often comes down to language, with one’s willingness to use individual words and phrases like “apartheid” and “settler colonialism,” or “the right to exist” and “human shields,” usually offering a pretty reliable indication of their worldview. Since October 7th, mainstream and independent media alike have been faced with endless choices about how to represent the unfolding events: Which words are used to describe the Hamas attacks and which ones are used to describe those of the Israeli military, for example, and what does it say about the perceived humanity of each group of victims? What should reporters do with words like “genocide” or “war crimes,” which will take some time to adjudicate legally, but which also serve a function in naming unfolding events? This isn’t just a question about words, but also grammar and syntax: In a pattern reminiscent of reporting on police attacks on Black Americans, headlines often employ the passive voice when dealing with Israeli military action, obscuring the culpability of those responsible for attacks on Palestinians.
In this episode, Jewish Currents editor-in-chief Arielle Angel talks to Intercept senior editor Ali Gharib, independent journalist Dalia Hatuqa, and former New York Times Magazine writer Jazmine Hughes about the decisions that newsrooms are making regarding the language they use to discuss Israel/Palestine, and what these decisions mean about the state of journalism today.
Thanks to Jesse Brenneman for producing and to Nathan Salsburg for the use of his song “VIII (All That Were Calculated Have Passed).”
Articles Mentioned and Further Reading:
“Coverage of Gaza War in the New York Times and Other Major Newspapers Heavily Favored Israel, Analysis Shows,” Adam Johnson and Othman Ali, The Intercept
“CNN Runs Gaza Coverage Past Jerusalem Team Operating Under Shadow of IDF Censor,” Daniel Boguslaw, The Intercept
“Between the Hammer and the Anvil: The Story Behind the New York Times October 7 Exposé,” Jeremy Scahill, Ryan Grim, and Daniel Boguslaw, The Intercept
“In Internal Meeting, Christiane Amanpour Confronts CNN Brass About ‘Double Standards’ on Israel Coverage,” Daniel Boguslaw and Prem Thakker, The Intercept
“This War Did Not Start a Month Ago,” Dalia Hatuqa, The New York Times
Jazmine Hughes on Democracy Now
“‘There Has Never Been Less Tolerance for This’: Inside a New York Times Magazine Writer’s Exit Over Gaza Letter,” Charlotte Klein, Vanity Fair
Words About War guide
“A Poetry of Proximity,” Solmaz Sharif, Kenyon Review
“Notes on Craft: Writing in the Hour of Genocide,” Fargo Nissim Tbakhi, Protean Magazine
On January 22nd, India’s far-right prime minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the Ram Mandir, a gargantuan new temple dedicated to the Hindu god Ram, in an event that marked the most consequential victory for the Hindu nationalist movement in its 100-year history. The temple has been erected in the exact spot where a centuries-old mosque, the Babri Masjid, stood until Hindutva supporters violently destroyed it in 1992. The attack on the Masjid catalyzed anti-Muslim mass violence across the country, and in the years since, Hindu nationalist, or Hindutva, groups like the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS)—a Nazi-inspired paramilitary of which Modi is a member—have used the campaign to construct a new temple on the site of the demolished mosque as a rallying cry in their efforts to transform India from a secular democracy to a Hindu supremacist nation. That ambition appeared to have been fulfilled at the Ram Mandir opening ceremony, with Modi declaring that “this temple is not just a temple to a god. This is a temple of India’s vision . . . Ram is the faith of India.”
The temple’s inauguration comes months before national elections in which Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) appears certain to emerge victorious. Over the course of its two terms in office, the BJP has already entrenched India’s annexation of the Muslim-majority of Kashmir, presided over anti-minority riots across India, and ratcheted up state-sponsored Islamophobia to such a pitch that experts warn that India’s 200 million Muslims are at risk of facing a genocide. With the completion of the Ram Mandir, this anti-minority fervor seems set only to intensify further. On this episode of On the Nose, news editor Aparna Gopalan speaks to writer Siddhartha Deb, scholar Angana Chatterji, and activist Safa Ahmed about the Hindutva movement’s epochal win, how it was achieved, and what comes next for India’s minorities.
Thanks to Jesse Brenneman for producing and to Nathan Salsburg for the use of his song “VIII (All That Were Calculated Have Passed).”
Articles Mentioned and Further Reading:
“The Idol and the Mosque,” Siddhartha Deb, Tablet
“Ayodhya: Once There Was A Mosque,” The Wire
“Recasting Ram,” Sagar, The Caravan
“Bulldozer Injustice in India,” Amnesty International
“How the Hindu Right Triumphed in India,” Isaac Chotinerand Mukul Kesavan, The New Yorker
“India’s Ayodhya Temple Is a Huge Monument to Hindu Supremacy,” Audrey Truschke, Time
In recent years, religious Jewish communities around the world have turned increasingly toward the right. In Israel, the overwhelmingly right-wing ideology of Religious Zionism is on the rise, and it’s often seen as unusual to be both religious and left-wing. But there's also a growing movement of observant Jews offering an alternative vision for religious life that centers Jewish values of justice, compassion, and freedom.
In this episode of On the Nose, Israel/Palestine fellow Maya Rosen speaks with Mikhael Manekin, Nechumi Yaffe, and Dvir Warshavsky, three activists with the new Israeli religious left-wing group Smol HaEmuni (the Faithful Left), about the experience of the religious left in Israel after October 7th, their work in the West Bank city of Hebron, and the movement's future.
Thanks to Jesse Brenneman for producing and to Nathan Salsburg for the use of his song “VIII (All That Were Calculated Have Passed).”
Texts Mentioned and Further Reading:
End of Days: Ethics, Tradition, and Power in Israelby Mikhael Manekin
“Can religious Zionism overcome its addiction to state power?,” Shaul Magid, +972 Magazine
“The far right is ‘taking over’ the Israeli army—with leftists in its crosshairs,” Oren Ziv, +972 Magazine
“‘Not Our Judaism’: Israel’s Religious Left Takes a Stand Against Netanyahu Government,” Judy Maltz, Haaretz
“There Are No Lights in War: We Need a Different Religious Language,” Ariel Schwartz, The Lehrhaus
On January 26th, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) issued an interim ruling on South Africa’s charge that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza. The ICJ found South Africa’s argument to be “plausible”—meaning it will allow the case to go forward and will fully examine the merits of South Africa’s case. While the court’s final ruling may take years, it ordered a series of immediate provisional measures, including that Israel must prevent violations of the Genocide Convention and punish incitement to genocide, though it stopped short of ordering a ceasefire.
On this episode of On the Nose, associate editor Mari Cohen speaks to human rights attorney and scholar Noura Erakat, legal scholar Darryl Li, and journalist Tony Karon about the meaning of the ICJ’s ruling.
Thanks to Jesse Brenneman for producing and to Nathan Salsburg for the use of his song “VIII (All That Were Calculated Have Passed).”
Further Reading and Resources:
“The Charge of Genocide,” Darryl Li, Dissent
“South Africa’s ICJ Case Against Israel Is a Call to Break Free From the Imperial West,” Tony Karon, The Nation
“South Africa’s Genocide Case Is a Devastating Indictment of Israel’s War on Gaza,” Noura Erakat and John Reynolds, Jacobin
“Quick thoughts on ICJ decision,” Noura Erakat, Instagram
The US labor movement has had an exciting few years. Labor unions are gaining popularity among the general public as workers organize at new shops from Amazon to Starbucks to Harvard. Perhaps most critically, legacy unions are experiencing a democratic upsurge, with both the Teamsters and the United Auto Workers (UAW) recently electing militant leaders. This revival has also been expanding labor’s purview, with unions increasingly taking on demands that exceed “bread-and-butter” concerns about wages and benefits.
But the renaissance in labor is now being tested, as rank-and-file workers begin to demand that their unions break long-standing ties with Israel and materially support Palestinian liberation. This challenge is particularly stark in unions like the UAW, which represent workers producing the weapons being used to kill Palestinians. On this episode of On The Nose, news editor Aparna Gopalan speaks to historian Jeff Schuhrke, organizer Zaina Alsous, and journalist Alex Press about the labor movement’s deep imbrication in Zionism and militarism, the rank-and-file efforts that have challenged this status quo over the decades, and what’s at stake in labor embracing an anti-imperialist politics.
Thanks to Jesse Brenneman for producing and to Nathan Salsburg for the use of his song “VIII (All That Were Calculated Have Passed).”
Articles Mentioned and Further Reading
“The Problem of the Unionized War Machine,” Jeff Schuhrke, Jewish Currents
“US Labor Has Long Been a Stalwart Backer of Israel. That’s Starting to Change,” Jeff Schuhrke, Jacobin
“The UAW Has Had a Big Year. They’re Preparing for an Even Bigger One,” Alex Press, Jacobin
“A Night at the Movies With Brandon Mancilla,” Alex Press, The Nation
“A Working-Class Foreign Policy Is Coming,” Spencer Ackerman, The Nation
“Thousands of Palestinian Workers Have Gone Missing in Israel,” Taj Ali, Jacobin
“This Union Is Famous for Opposing South African Apartheid. Now It’s Standing With Gaza,” Sarah Lazare, The Nation
“Respecting the BDS Picket Line,” Labor for Palestine
“Stop Arming Israel. End All Complicity,” Workers in Palestine
Many months ago, we solicited questions from you, our listeners, for our first-ever mailbag episode. The result was a wide-ranging conversation that wandered from the serious (Torah study) to the relatively frivolous (HBO’s Girls). We planned to release the episode in early October, but shelved it in the wake of Hamas’s attack on Israel and amid Israel’s ongoing assault on Gaza. We’re sharing it now as a piece of bonus holiday content because many of your questions still feel relevant—even if we might have answered them differently from within this moment. In this episode, editor-in-chief Arielle Angel, executive editor Nora Caplan-Bricker, managing editor Nathan Goldman, and associate editor Mari Cohen discuss, among other things, how to deal with right-wing family members and what we say when people ask us why we care about Jewishness.
Thanks to Jesse Brenneman for producing and to Nathan Salsburg for the use of his song “VIII (All That Were Calculated Have Passed).” And many thanks to everyone who sent us such thoughtful questions.
Articles Mentioned and Further Reading:
JewBus
Daf Yomi
“A ufologist claims to show 2 alien corpses to Mexico's Congress,” Eyder Peralta, NPR
“In the sky! A bird? A plane? A ... UFO?,” Jon Hilkevitch, Chicago Tribune
“Former Israeli space security chief says aliens exist, humanity not ready,” Aaron Reich, The Jerusalem Post
HBO’s Girls
“Old Loves (feat. Rebecca Alter),” Girls Room
“On Loving Jews,” Arielle Angel, Jewish Currents
Hora Haslama!, Habiluim
In this episode, Jewish Currents editor-at-large Peter Beinart speaks with two political analysts from Gaza living abroad, Khalil Sayegh and Muhammad Shehada. Sayegh and Shehada discuss what it was like growing up under Hamas rule, how Hamas governs, the motivations behind the October 7th attack, and what’s next for Hamas in Palestinian politics.
Thanks to Jesse Brenneman for producing and to Nathan Salsburg for the use of his song “VIII (All That Were Calculated Have Passed).”
Links and Further Reading:
Khalil Sayegh and Muhammad Shehada on X
The Palestinian Center for Policy Survey and Research poll
In late October, we received a letter: “In almost every conversation I have with young Jews on the left, I find that we are all currently struggling with the same question: What do we do with our families? How do we relate to our parents and grandparents or relatives who are supportive of and complicit in pogroms and genocide? These conversations are feeling fruitless. I’m going home this weekend to visit my family and don’t know what I’ll do.”
Around Thanksgiving, we asked listeners to call in and tell us about how they’re navigating conversations with their families, friends, and communities in this moment. What has worked in getting through to loved ones who are attached to a destructive Zionist politics, and what hasn’t? We wanted to know how people are managing these relationships or coping with their feelings about them.
On this episode—a collaboration between On the Nose and Unsettled—editor-in-chief Arielle Angel, associate editor Mari Cohen, and Unsettled producer Ilana Levinson listen to clips from callers describing the ruptures in their families, their attempts to repair relationships while sticking to their values, and their strategies for getting through to stubborn loved ones. We explore questions of when it is our obligation to keep arguing, and when it’s better to take a break—or give up completely. And we zoom out to think about what this moment says about the future of Jewish American institutional life.
Thanks to Max Freedman, Ilana Levinson, and Jesse Brenneman for producing and to Nathan Salsburg for the use of his song “VIII (All That Were Calculated Have Passed).”
In her new book, Doppelganger: A Trip Into the Mirror World, leftist public intellectual Naomi Klein argues that the phenomenon of “doubling”—of the self or a collective, whether adopted or imposed—shapes the politics of our time. Klein’s frequent confusion with the feminist-writer-turned-Covid-conspiracy-theorist Naomi Wolf provides the jumping-off point for a journey through internet culture, vaccine conspiracism, the wellness world, eugenics, and contemporary dynamics around settler colonial denialism, as she explores the way that “doubling” structures what we see and don’t want to see, what we project and what we hide. The book culminates in an extended discussion of Israel/Palestine, which Klein reveals to be a potent site of such “doppelganger politics,” as the scholar Caroline Rooney has put it, in which Israel has created its own “double” of the European nationalism that has oppressed so many Jews, and which allows it to project everything it cannot bear to see about itself onto the Palestinian Other.
In this episode of On the Nose, editor-in-chief Arielle Angel speaks with Klein about her book and its relation to the present crisis: How can the figure of the doppelganger help us understand the long history that is erupting in the present—both the Holocaust and the Nakba—in ways that can move us toward justice and solidarity? And how can the left adequately respond to this moment—on campus, on the page, and in the streets?
Thanks to Jesse Brenneman for producing and to Nathan Salsburg for the use of his song “VIII (All That Were Calculated Have Passed).”
To leave a voicemail for our upcoming episode about talking to your families in this moment, please call 347-878-1359.
Books, Films, and Articles Mentioned and Further Reading:
Doppelganger: A Trip Into the Mirror World by Naomi Klein
Discourse on Colonialism by Aimé Césaire
They Do Not Exist,1974 film by Mustafa Abu Ali
Repression of Students for Justice in Palestine at Brandeis and Columbia and in the state of Florida
“Light Among the Nations,” Suzanne Schneider, Jewish Currents
Since October 7th, when Hamas attacked Israel and Israel began its ongoing bombardment of Gaza, almost every member of Congress has denounced the killings of Israelis and proclaimed support for Israel’s “right to defend itself.” Far fewer have expressed sorrow for the more than 10,500 Palestinians killed in the bombing, and only 23 have called for a ceasefire and an end to the collective punishment of civilians in Gaza. Among the few dissenting voices in Washington is Cori Bush, the representative for Missouri’s 1st congressional district, which spans the cities of St. Louis and Ferguson and some of their suburbs. Bush responded to the events of October 7th by mourning the Israeli and Palestinian lives lost that day and calling for an immediate ceasefire. She also urged the US government to “do our part to stop this violence and trauma” by ending US support for Israeli apartheid. Nine days later, Bush—alongside Reps. Rashida Tlaib, André Carson, Summer Lee, and Delia C. Ramirez—introduced a “Ceasefire Now” resolution, which demands that the Biden administration call for an end to hostilities in Israel/Palestine and send humanitarian aid to Gaza.
In this episode of On the Nose, senior reporter Alex Kane interviews Rep. Bush about her call for a ceasefire, the role of race and racism in shaping reaction to Israel’s bombing campaign, and the political consequences of anti-war dissent.
Thanks to Jesse Brenneman for producing and to Nathan Salsburg for the use of his song “VIII (All That Were Calculated Have Passed).”
Articled Mentioned and Further Reading:
“Anti-Defamation League calls Congresswoman Bush's comments on Israel 'tone deaf,'” Stuart McMillian, KMOX News
“Calls for a Ceasefire Get Little Traction in Congress,” Alex Kane, Jewish Currents
“House censures Rep. Rashida Tlaib over Israel remarks,” Scott Wong, Kyle Stewart and Zoë Richards, NBC News
“St. Louis Jewish community says Cori Bush made ‘incendiary’ Israel comments, she says that’s ‘unfair and simply untrue,’” Sam Clancy and Justina Coronel, KSDK
“Democrat drops out of Missouri Senate race, challenges Cori Bush for House seat,” Olafimihan Oshin, The Hill
“How ‘Pro-Israel’ Orthodoxy Keeps US Foreign Policymaking White,” Peter Beinart, Jewish Currents
In the weeks since October 7th, when Hamas attacked the south of Israel and Israel began bombing Gaza, American Jewish institutions that had previously expressed alienation from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s right-wing government have mostly united around a pro-Israel position. At the same time, however, record numbers of progressive American Jews have joined the anti-occupation organizations Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP) and IfNotNow in taking to the streets to call for a ceasefire. In the last three weeks, Jewish protestors have blocked entrances to the White House, occupied a Capitol Hill building rotunda, and shut down New York City’s Grand Central station to protest US support for bombings that have already killed more than 8,000 Palestinians in Gaza, 3,000 of whom have been children.
In this episode of On the Nose, associate editor Mari Cohen discusses this surge in Jewish left organizing with Elena Stein, director of organizing strategy at JVP; Eva Borgwardt, national spokesperson for IfNotNow; and Emmaia Gelman, guest faculty in social sciences at Sarah Lawrence College and longtime Jewish left activist. They discuss mourning Israeli civilians killed on October 7th—some of whom were family members of IfNotNow and JVP staff—while simultaneously organizing against Israel’s onslaught on Gaza; they also consider the comparative strategic value of speaking out specifically as Jews versus joining broader antiwar coalitions.
Thanks to Jesse Brenneman for producing and to Nathan Salsburg for the use of his song “VIII (All That Were Calculated Have Passed).”
Articles Mentioned and Further Reading:
“Jewish Groups Rally at White House Urging Biden to Push for Gaza Ceasefire,” Robert Tait, The Guardian
“Jewish Activists Arrested at US Congress Anti-Israel Protest Amid Gaza War,” Al Jazeera staff, Al Jazeera
“‘Let Gaza Live’: Calls for Cease-Fire Fill Grand Central Terminal,” Claire Fahy, Julian Roberts-Grmela and Sean Piccoli, The New York Times
“Survey: A Quarter of US Jews Agree That Israel ‘is an Apartheid State,’” Ron Kampeas, JTA
“The Rise of ‘If Not Now’ and the Collapse of the Pro-Israel Consensus,” Alex Kane, Mondoweiss
“The Anti-Democratic Origins of the ADL and AJC,” Emmaia Gelman, Jewish Currents
“The ADL Doubles Down on Opposing the Anti-Zionist Left,” Mari Cohen and Isaac Scher, Jewish Currents
Anti-Defamation League DC tweet and Jonathan Greenblatt tweet about IfNotNow and JVP
ADL and Brandeis Center letter to presidents of colleges and universities
DroptheADL campaign
Since Hamas’s October 7th attack, Israeli leftists have felt squeezed between a global left response that has sometimes justified or downplayed the deaths of Israeli civilians, and Israeli society itself, which is largely supportive of the state’s campaign of vengeance in Gaza and its crackdown on any expression of dissent. On this episode of On the Nose, editor-in-chief Arielle Angel speaks with Michael Sfard, an attorney specializing in international human rights law and the laws of war; Sally Abed, a Palestinian citizen of Israel and member of national leadership in the Arab-Jewish grassroots movement Standing Together; and Yair Wallach, a social and cultural historian of modern Palestine/Israel at SOAS University of London. They discuss the particular loneliness of the Israeli left in this moment and the precious and endangered horizon for shared struggle beyond it.
Thanks to Jesse Brenneman for producing and to Nathan Salsburg for the use of his song “VIII (All That Were Calculated Have Passed).”
Articles Mentioned and Further Reading:
“In Gaza, Israel Is Racing to the Moral Abyss,” Michael Sfard, Haaretz
“Israelis Must Maintain Their Humanity Even When Their Blood Boils,” Michael Sfard, Haaretz
“Statement on Behalf of Israel-based Progressives and Peace Activists Regarding Debates over Recent Events in Our Region,” an open letter
Organizations mentioned by our guests: Standing Together, B’Tselem, Breaking the Silence, Combatants for Peace, Adalah, The Human Rights Defenders Fund
On Saturday, October 7th, Hamas launched a surprise attack across the Gaza border, killing more than 1,400 Israelis, mostly civilians, and taking at least 150 Israeli hostages, most of whom are still captive in the Gaza Strip. Israel responded to the attack by declaring war and cutting off food, water, and electricity to Gaza. On Friday, October 13th, Israel ordered 1.1 million people in the northern part of Gaza to evacuate as it prepares for a ground invasion, and Israeli air strikes have already killed nearly 4,000 people in the area.
In this episode, we are featuring two interviews conducted by the producers of Unsettled, a podcast that brings listeners intimate, thoroughly reported stories on Israel/Palestine, deepening the conversation by spotlighting voices on the ground, as well as those outside the region working to shape its future. First, Unsettled producer Max Freedman speaks with Tareq Baconi, author of Hamas Contained: The Rise and Pacification of Palestinian Resistance,about the October 7th attack, asking: Why this and why now? In the second conversation, Unsettled producer Ilana Levinson speaks to Isam Hamad, an organizer of 2018’s Great March of Return in Gaza and manager of a Gaza City medical equipment company.
Unsettled is produced by Emily Bell, Max Freedman, and Ilana Levinson, with support from Asaf Calderon. Music in this episode from Blue Dot Sessions.
Thanks to Nathan Salsburg for the use of his song “VIII (All That Were Calculated Have Passed).”
Podcasts Mentioned and Further Reading:
Unsettled Podcast
“Tareq Baconi: Hamas Explained,” Unsettled
“‘We Are Always Met With Violence’: Gaza’s March of Return at One Year,” Jehad Abusalim interviewed by Naomi Dann, Jewish Currents
Throughout September, Elon Musk, the billionaire owner of X—the social media platform formerly known as Twitter—has targeted the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) in response to the group’s attempts, along with several other advocacy organizations, to encourage an advertiser boycott of X. The ADL’s proposed ad boycott was an effort to curb hate speech on the platform, which has grown since Musk’s purchase of the site.
Many observers viewed Musk’s singling out of the ADL, which located the source of his financial troubles in one of the most prominent Jewish groups in the country, as a repurposing of an age-old antisemitic conspiracy theory. And his tweeting spree whipped up anti-ADL sentiment on the far right, with some antisemitic activists calling to “#BanTheADL” from X. Yet in responding to these attacks, ADL CEO Jonathan Greenblatt has conflated far-right attacks with criticisms of his organization from the left, recently comparing the white nationalist #BantheADL tweets to the #DroptheADL campaign, a progressive push to discourage partnership with the ADL.
This week, Jewish Currents associate editor Mari Cohen, senior reporter Alex Kane, and editor-at-large Peter Beinart joined contributor Sam Adler Bell on the Know Your Enemy podcast to untangle the contradictions of an organization that has faced unjust attacks from the right-wing, but has also allied itself with the right in its effort to protect the State of Israel from criticism or protest. Drawing on several years of Jewish Currents reporting, the conversation touched on the ADL’s political history, explored whether the organization’s commitment to Israel advocacy impedes its ability to take on the right, and asked how leftists should respond to Musk’s attacks. Know Your Enemy, produced in partnership with Dissent Magazine and co-hosted by Adler Bell and Matthew Sitman, investigates the history and politics of the American right wing from a leftist perspective.
Thanks to Jesse Brenneman for producing and to Nathan Salsburg for the use of his song “VIII (All That Were Calculated Have Passed).”
Articles Mentioned and Further Reading:
“The Anti-Democratic Origins of the ADL and AJC,” Emmaia Gelman, Jewish Currents
“Has the Fight Against Antisemitism Lost Its Way?,” Peter Beinart, New York Times
“The ADL’s Antisemitism Findings, Explained,” Mari Cohen, Jewish Currents
“The ADL Doubles Down on Opposing the Anti-Zionist Left,” Mari Cohen and Isaac Scher, Jewish Currents
“How the ADL’s Israel Advocacy Undermines Its Civil Rights Work,” Alex Kane and Jacob Hutt, Jewish Currents
“The Unbearable Ignorance of the ADL,” Noah Kulwin, Jewish Currents
“ADL Staffers Dissented After CEO Compared Palestinian Rights Groups to Right-Wing Extremists, Leaked Audio Reveals,” Mari Cohen and Alex Kane, Jewish Currents (2023)
“Internal ADL Memo Recommended Ending Police Delegations to Israel Amid Backlash,” Alex Kane and Sam Levin, Jewish Currents
“Does Abe Foxman Have an Anti-Anti-Semite Problem?,” James Traub, New York Times
Earlier this year, the Trans Halakha Project—an initiative of SVARA, a queer and trans yeshiva—published a series of teshuvot, or answers to questions about halakha (Jewish religious law). These pieces speak to questions of Jewish life and practice for trans people, from who is obligated to undergo circumcision or to follow the prescriptions around menstruation, to whether it’s permissible to wear a chest binder when immersing in the mikveh (a ritual bath that traditionally requires nudity). While there have been some previous efforts to apply halakha to specific questions of trans life, almost none of this work has been produced by trans people themselves until now. On this week’s episode of On the Nose, managing editor Nathan Goldman speaks with three members of the yeshiva’s Teshuva-Writing Collective: Laynie Soloman, Alyx Bernstein, and Rabbi Xava de Cordova. They discuss why the collective took up these particular questions, how they understand the nature of religious authority in Judaism, and what it means to reimagine halakha for trans flourishing.
Thanks to Jesse Brenneman for producing and to Nathan Salsburg for the use of his song “VIII (All That Were Calculated Have Passed).”
Texts, Events, and Further Reading:
Trans Halakha Project
The Teshuva-Writing Collective's teshuvot
Beit Yosef by Rabbi Joseph Karo
The Talmud
“An Unrecognizable Jewish Future: A Queer Talmudic Take,” Rabbi Benay Lappe, ELI Talks
“Euphoric Halakhah,” Laynie Soloman, Evolve
Shulchan Aruchby Rabbi Joseph Karo
“Are Trans Women Obligated in Niddah? How Can That Obligation Be Fulfilled?,” Rabbi Xava de Cordova, Trans Halakha Project
“Embracing Halakhah That Was Not Addressed to You,” Rabbi Xava de Cordova, Evolve
“The Androgynos in the Laws of Milah & Niddah: A Potential Approach to Trans Halakha,” Alyx Bernstein, Trans Halakha Project
“A Created Being of Its Own: Toward a Jewish Liberation Theology for Men, Women and Everyone Else,” Rabbi Elliot Kukla, TransTorah
Trans Talmud: Androgynes and Eunuchs in Rabbinic Literature by Max K. Strassfeld
“The Talmud and Other Trans Archives” event with Max K. Strassfeld, Joy Ladin, Jules Gill-Peterson, and Ari Brostoff, Jewish Currents
“Immersing in a Mikvah While Wearing a Chest Binder,” Jamie Weisbach, Trans Halakha Project
“Mai Mevarech: A Berakha for Testosterone Gel,” Laynie Soloman, Trans Halakha Project
“Milah & Hatafat Dam Brit in a Case of Sakanah (Danger),” Ariel Ya’akov Berry, Trans Halakha Project
“Compiling the Next Trans Codex: Learning from the Writers of the Trans Halakha Project,” upcoming event series, Shel Maala and the Trans Halakha Project
Tefillat Trans: Blessings and Rituals for Trans Lives
Two weeks ago, a trailer was released for the new Leonard Bernstein biopic Maestro. Immediately, controversy surfaced about Bradley Cooper—the director of the film who also stars as Bernstein—wearing a prosthetic nose, intended to resemble Bernstein’s own formidable schnoz. Because Cooper is not Jewish, this also revived a conversation about so-called Jewface, a term that has, over the last several years, become a buzzword in conversations about non-Jews being cast as Jews in dramatic roles. In this episode, Jewish Currents editor-in-chief Arielle Angel talks to contributing writer Rebecca Pierce, author and theater critic Alisa Solomon, and writer and collector of “Jewface” artifacts Jody Rosen about the controversy—exploring the long history of “Jewface” performances and what’s really underneath these repeated dust-ups over Jewish representation.
Thanks to Jesse Brenneman for producing and to Nathan Salsburg for the use of his song “VIII (All That Were Calculated Have Passed).”
Articles, podcasts, and further reading:
Trailer for Maestro, directed by Bradley Cooper
“The Politics of ‘Jewface,’” Rebecca Pierce, Jewish Currents
Jewface: ‘Yiddish’ Dialect Songs of Tin Pan Alley, YIVO exhibition
Jody Rosen discusses “Jewface” on PBS
“A ‘Merchant of Venice’ That Doubles Down on Pain,” Alexis Soloski, The New York Times
“Fables and Lies,” On the Nose podcast about Armageddon Time and The Fabelmans
“On the Nose,” inaugural On the Nose podcast, discussing our Spring 2021 Nose cover
Oppenheimer, Christopher Nolan’s acclaimed new biopic about the physicist who oversaw the invention of the atomic bomb, is the rare mass-market feature film that depicts the complexities of the US left during and after World War II. As the movie shows, J. Robert Oppenheimer was closely affiliated with Communists in his early life; his forays into left-wing politics included sending funds to the Spanish Republicans through the Communist Party. These relationships and activities eventually led to Oppenheimer losing his security clearance during the second Red Scare, and the hearing where this occurs is central to the film. Throughout the narrative, Oppenheimer explores its subject’s Jewishness, which shapes his position in relation to both Communism and Nazism. Nolan also exhibits the Jewishness of Oppenheimer’s political and intellectual milieu—which includes Lewis Strauss, the conservative Jewish politician who foments the physicist’s downfall.
On this week’s episode of On the Nose, presented in partnership with The Nation’s podcast The Time of Monsters, Jewish Currents associate editor Mari Cohen speaks with contributing editor David Klion, contributing writer Raphael Magarik, and The Nation national affairs correspondent Jeet Heer about the ways Oppenheimer illuminates and obfuscates the history it examines.
Thanks to Jesse Brenneman for producing and to Nathan Salsburg for the use of his song “VIII (All That Were Calculated Have Passed).”
Texts and Films Mentioned:
“Oppenheimer Is an Uncomfortably Timely Tale of Destruction,” David Klion, The New Republic
Reds, directed by Warren Beaty
Amadeus, directed by Miloš Forman
Hamilton by Lin-Manuel Miranda
“Nolan’s Oppenheimer treats New Mexico as a blank canvas,” Kelsey D. Atherton, Source NM
American Prometheus by Kai Bird and Martin J. Sherwin
Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus by Mary Shelley
Barbie, directed by Greta Gerwig
“Holy Sonnet XIV” by John Donne
In 1923, Jewish union activists affiliated with the Workmen’s Circle bought a plot of land in Hopewell Junction, New York, aiming to provide working-class children with an escape from the city. The camp, which was founded with a commitment to Yiddish and to instilling leftist values, broke with the socialist Workmen’s Circle several years later, as it came to be affiliated with the Communist Party. Over the years, everything that touched the left made its mark on the camp—from the Spanish Civil War to McCarthyism to the emergence of the New Left. In honor of Kinderland’s centennial, editor-in-chief Arielle Angel spoke with longtime Kinderlanders (and JC councilmembers) Judee Rosenbaum and Mitchell Silver about the legacy of Communism in camp, the difference between education and indoctrination, what’s changed at camp in the last 100 years, and why it’s survived this long. For more information on the Camp Kinderland Centennial, click here.
Thanks to Jesse Brenneman for producing and to Nathan Salsburg for the use of his song “VIII (All That Were Calculated Have Passed).”
Articles mentioned and further reading:
Camp Kinderland Centennial Anniversary
“What We Did: How the Jewish Communist Left Failed the Palestinian Cause” by Dorothy Zellner, Jewish Currents
Chevruta is a column named for the traditional method of Jewish study, in which a pair of students analyzes a religious text together. In each installment, Jewish Currents will match leftist thinkers and organizers with a rabbi or Torah scholar. The activists will bring an urgent question that arises in their own work; the Torah scholar will lead them in exploring their question through Jewish text. By routing contemporary political questions through traditional religious sources, we aim to address the most urgent ethical and spiritual problems confronting the left. Each column will be accompanied by a podcast and a study guide (linked below).
In our second Chevruta podcast, Laynie Soloman, associate rosh yeshiva of the queer and trans yeshiva SVARA, speaks with feminist theorist Sophie Lewis, author of Full Surrogacy Now: Feminism Against Family and Abolish the Family: A Manifesto for Care and Liberation, about the famous biblical injunction to “be fruitful and multiply.” Though this has traditionally been regarded as a foundational commandment, the rabbis were strikingly ambivalent about it—in part because of their profound love of Torah, and of each other. In this Chevruta, Soloman and Lewis explore a Talmudic text from tractate Yevamot that confronts a rabbinic figure who has declined to have children. Through his example, the rabbis normalize a discomfort with this seemingly essential practice of biological reproduction, and offer a way to complicate—and potentially subvert—the status of procreation in the rabbinic mind and in our world.
You can find the column based on this conversation and a study guide here.
Thanks to Jesse Brenneman for producing and to Nathan Salsburg for the use of his song “VIII (All That Were Calculated Have Passed).”
Artworks and texts mentioned and further reading:
Talmud: Yevamot 63b and 64a
Full Surrogacy Now: Feminism Against Family by Sophie Lewis
Anthropocene, Capitalocene, Plantationocene, Chthulucene: Making Kin by Donna Haraway
We the Parasites by A. V. Marraccini
“How Mierle Laderman Ukeles Turned Maintenance Work into Art” by Jillian Steinhauer
Peninei Halakhah: Simchat Habayit U'Virkhato 5:2
“Don’t Hurt Yourself” by Beyoncé
For decades, diaspora Hindus have looked to American Jews as role models for attaining political power in the United States. Hindu Americans have established political groups fashioned after AIPAC, the Anti-Defamation League, and the American Jewish Committee; these organizations have worked to advance India’s economic and security interests much as their Jewish counterparts have protected Israel’s.
Now, as India draws scrutiny for its worsening human rights record under far-right Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Hindu nationalist groups in the US are once again looking to their Jewish allies. This time, they’re modeling their efforts on the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition of antisemitism, which casts certain criticism of Israel as anti-Jewish hatred. A new investigation by Jewish Currents news editor Aparna Gopalan shows how Hindu nationalists are promulgating a concept of “Hinduphobia” that equates opposition to Hindu nationalism with anti-Hindu bigotry. On this week’s episode of On the Nose, Gopalan speaks with Jewish Currents executive editor Nora Caplan-Bricker and Middle East Eye senior reporter Azad Essa about Hinduphobia, the India–Israel alliance, and the potential for the hasbara playbook to be followed by ethnonationalist movements worldwide.
Thanks to Jesse Brenneman for producing and to Nathan Salsburg for the use of his song “VIII (All That Were Calculated Have Passed).”
Articles Mentioned and Further Reading
“The Hindu Nationalists Using the Pro-Israel Playbook,” Aparna Gopalan, Jewish Currents
“The US Rolls Out the Red Carpet For Modi,” Aparna Gopalan, Jewish Currents
“How Modi uses yoga to whitewash India’s crimes,” Azad Essa, Middle East Eye
Hostile Homelands: The New Alliance Between India and Israel by Azad Essa
“The Settler-Colonialist Alliance of India and Israel,” Deeksha Udupa, The Nation
“How the Hindus Became Jews: American Racism After 9/11,” Vijay Prashad, South Atlantic Quarterly
“What FBI data about anti-Hindu hate crimes in the US reveals about fears of ‘Hinduphobia,’” Raju Rajagopal, Scroll.in
“A Gandhi statue is toppled in Queens, but was it a hate crime?” Arun Venugopal, Gothamist
Diasporic Desires: Making Hindus & the Cultivation of Longing in the United States and Beyond by Shana Sippy (forthcoming from New York
In September 2021, the Atlanta City Council approved a proposal to lease 381 acres of the Weelaunee Forest—stolen Muscogee land surrounded by majority-Black neighborhoods—to the Atlanta Police Foundation to build the largest militarized police training center in the US. In response, a decentralized movement has risen up to halt the destruction of the forest and the construction of what has come to be known as “Cop City.” As the Stop Cop City movement has grown, the state has employed increasingly draconian methods of repression. In January of this year, police killed Manuel “Tortuguita” Téran, a 26-year old Indigenous Venezuelan forest defender. Dozens of people have been arrested for protesting, including a legal observer with the Southern Poverty Law Center, and more than 40 have been charged with domestic terrorism. Last month, a heavily armed joint task force raided a community center and arrested three bail fund organizers living there under tenuous allegations of “money laundering” and “charity fraud.” And despite widespread opposition, the Atlanta City Council recently authorized an additional $30 million contribution to the construction of Cop City, bringing the city’s pledged total to $67 million. On this week’s episode of On the Nose, culture editor Claire Schwartz is joined by three guests in Atlanta deeply engaged with Stop Cop City—Micah Herskind, a community organizer and writer; Keyanna Jones, a reverend and organizer; and Josie Duffy Rice, a writer who covers criminal justice—to discuss the movement’s roots and tactics, and what the militarization of Atlanta can teach us about the economic underpinnings of fascism.
Thanks to Jesse Brenneman for producing and to Nathan Salsburg for the use of his song “VIII (All That Were Calculated Have Passed).”
Further Reading and Listening:
“The Fight Against Cop City,” Amna Akbar, Dissent
“Shmita Means Total Destroy,” Fayer Collective, Jewish Currents
“This is the Atlanta Way: A Primer on Cop City,” Micah Herskind, Scalawag
“Atlanta Is Trying to Crush the Opposition to ‘Cop City’ by Any Means Necessary,” Hannah Riley, The Nation
“Targeting bail funds and Stop Cop City activists is an old tactic,” Say Burgin and Jeanne Theoharis, Washington Post
“‘Multiple Grammars of Struggle’ – To Defend the Atlanta Forest and Stop
In May 2022, Israel’s Supreme Court rejected a petition against the forced transfer of more than 1,000 Palestinians who live in Masafer Yatta, a region of rural hamlets in the south of the occupied West Bank. Israel had previously designated a large swath of Masafer Yatta as a military “firing zone,” and argued to the court that it needed to forcibly displace these residents because they were illegally living in a military training area. As a result of the ruling, Israel’s army can move forward with their plans at any time. But for now, Masafer Yatta’s residents remain, even in the face of an escalated campaign of military demolitions, training exercises, and harassment. On this week’s episode of On the Nose, senior reporter Alex Kane speaks with Basel Adra, a Palestinian journalist and activist from the Masafer Yatta village of al-Tuwani, about life in the region, Israel’s campaign of violence against its residents, and what might stop the state from following through on its plans of mass displacement.
Thanks to Jesse Brenneman for producing and to Nathan Salsburg for the use of his song “VIII (All That Were Calculated Have Passed).”
ARTICLES MENTIONED AND FURTHER READING:
“Classified document reveals IDF ‘firing zones’ built to give land to settlers,” Yuval Abraham, +972 Magazine
“I filmed a settler pogrom. Now the Israeli media is smearing me,” Basel Adraa, +972 Magazine
“Largest Palestinian displacement in decades looms after Israeli court ruling,” Henriette Chacar, Reuters
“They Want To Kick Us Out of This Land,” Mari Cohen, Jewish Currents
Netflix’s new reality show Jewish Matchmaking, a follow-up to its hit series Indian Matchmaking, follows Orthodox matchmaker Aleeza Ben Shalom as she helps Jewish singles find their beshert, or soulmate. While Indian Matchmaking documents contemporary approaches to an ancient custom, Jewish Matchmaking finds Aleeza applying the principles of an age-old tradition to modern courtship with a cohort of mostly non-Orthodox Jews. The show includes a wide variety of Jewish traditions and practices: Sephardic, Ashkenazi, and Mizrahi; secular, “flexidox,” and observant. But there are also notable limits to the diversity—particularly on the question of Zionism—and the show’s picture of Jewish life is strikingly insubstantial. On this week’s episode of On the Nose, editor-in-chief Arielle Angel, managing editor Nathan Goldman, associate editor Mari Cohen, and news editor Aparna Gopalan discuss the questions Jewish Matchmaking raises about contemporary Jewishness, dating, and the relationship between endogamy and ethnonationalism.
Thanks to Jesse Brenneman for producing and to Nathan Salsburg for the use of his song “VIII (All That Were Calculated Have Passed).”
Articles and Podcast Episodes Mentioned:
“Two Paths for the Jewish Bachelor Contestant,” On the Nose
“Is He Jewish?,” Mari Cohen, Jewish Currents
“What We Talk About When We Talk About ‘Intermarriage,’” Jewish Currents
“Matchmaker, Matchmaker, Make Me a Match,” Hannah Jackson, The Cut
“It was the million-selling novel that shaped a generation of Jews — does anyone still read it?,” Jenny Singer, The Forward
“Couples Therapy,” On the Nose
One year ago, Israeli soldiers shot and killed Palestinian American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh. To this day, no Israeli soldier has been indicted for the killing. Now, a new report by the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) finds that the lack of accountability for Abu Akleh is part of a pattern: Though the Israeli army has killed 20 journalists since 2001, no Israeli soldier has ever been charged. Jewish Currents senior reporter Alex Kane discusses the report with CPJ’s Sherif Mansour—and also talks about the life and death of Abu Akleh with writer and attorney Jennifer Zacharia, Abu Akleh’s first cousin.
Thanks to Jesse Brenneman for producing and to Nathan Salsburg for the use of his song “VIII (All That Were Calculated Have Passed).”
Articles, Reports and Statements Mentioned
“Deadly Pattern: 20 journalists died by Israeli military fire in 22 years. No one has been held accountable,” Committee to Protect Journalists
“Final Conclusions of Shireen Abu Akleh Investigation,” Israel Defense Forces
“FBI opens investigation into killing of Palestinian American Shireen Abu Akleh,” Barak Ravid, Axios
“Statement on Shireen Abu Akleh,” Senator Patrick Leahy
“‘They were shooting directly at the journalists’: New evidence suggests Shireen Abu Akleh was killed in targeted attack by Israeli forces,” Zeena Saifi, Eliza Mackintosh, Celine Alkhaldi, Kareem Khadder, Katie Polglase, Gianluca Mezzofiore and Abeer Salman, CNN
“How Shireen Abu Akleh was killed,” Sarah Cahlan, Meg Kelly and Steve Hendrix, The Washington Post
"The Killing of Shireen Abu Akleh: Tracing a Bullet to an Israeli Convoy," Raja Abdulrahim, Patrick Kingsley, Christian Triebert, and Hiba Yazbek, The New York Times
"Shireen Abu Akleh: The Extrajudicial Killing of a Journalist,” Forensic Architecture
Trans youth are under severe attack around the country. Sixteen states have enacted laws restricting access to gender-affirming care for young people. At least 15 others are considering similar laws. Missouri is one of those states: State Republicans are pushing legislation that would ban transition-related surgeries, puberty blockers, and hormone therapy for young people, though unlike other states, the bill passed by the state senate allows those already undergoing treatment to continue receiving such care. Last week, the attack on trans people in Missouri escalated when the attorney general proposed new rules that would restrict gender-affirming healthcare for not only young people but adults as well. Rori Picker Neiss—the head of the Jewish Community Relations Council of St Louis and the mother of a trans son—is one of the people fighting back against Missouri’s anti-trans legislation. Over the last several years, her family’s life has been upended by repeated trips to the state capitol in Jefferson City to testify against such laws. Picker Neiss joined Jewish Currents editor-in-chief Arielle Angel to discuss the nationwide assault on trans rights, how her Jewish community has responded to such attacks, and what it’s like talking to legislators who are trying to harm her child.
Thanks to Jesse Brenneman for producing and to Nathan Salsburg for the use of his song “VIII (All That Were Calculated Have Passed).”
ARTICLES MENTIONED
“Everything That Happened in Anti-Trans Legislation This Week: April 15-21,” Trans Formations Project, THEM
“The Anti-Trans Lobby’s Real Agenda,” Jules Gill-Peterson, Jewish Currents
“When Parents Hear That Their Child ‘Is Not Normal and Should Not Exist,’” Megan K. Stack, The New York Times
Despite the progressive politics of early zombie films like George Romero’s Night of the Living Dead, modern narratives about zombies are often strikingly conservative, displaying a world that rewards rugged individualism and presents a pessimistic view of human nature. The recent HBO drama The Last of Us, based on the acclaimed 2013 video game of the same name, exemplifies this tendency. The show takes place two decades after an outbreak of a zombifying fungal infection triggers global societal collapse. In this post-apocalyptic world, a fascist government violently maintains order within walled-off “quarantine zones,” while a brutal resistance group called the Fireflies strives to overthrow them. The Last of Us follows the cynical smuggler Joel (Pedro Pascal) and a teenager named Ellie (Bella Ramsey), who is immune to the fungus, on their treacherous journey to meet up with a team of Fireflies who believe they can use her to create a vaccine. As Joel and Ellie bond against the backdrop of a dog-eat-dog world where no one can be trusted, the show presents a largely right-wing vision in which the only path to redemption is through caring for one’s immediate kin. According to Neil Druckmann—the co-creator of the series as well as the game and its sequel, who spent his early childhood in a West Bank settlement—elements of The Last of Us are informed by the politics of Israel/Palestine. On this week’s episode of On the Nose, editor-in-chief Arielle Angel, managing editor Nathan Goldman, fellow Dahlia Krutkovich, and contributor Hazem Fahmy discuss the politics of the show, its relationship to Israel/Palestine, and its evocations of the Holocaust.
Note that this episode includes spoilers for the HBO series, as well as the game and its sequel, which will form the basis of future seasons of the show.
Thanks to Jesse Brenneman for producing and to Nathan Salsburg for the use of his song “VIII (All That Were Calculated Have Passed).”
Articles Mentioned:
“‘The Last of Us’ Is a Very Conservative Show. Really,” Michelle Goldberg, The New York Times
“The Not So Hidden Israeli Politics of ‘The Last of Us Part II,’” Emanuel Maiberg, Vice
“The Evolution of Ellie,” Elise Favis, The Washington Post
“The Gray Zone,” Primo Levi (from The Drowned and the Saved)
“The Last of Us Is Not a Video-Game Adaptation,” Andrea Long Chu, Vulture
After Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu dismissed his defense minister for calling for a halt to government plans to gut the power of Israel’s judiciary, hundreds of thousands of Israelis took to the streets, participating in spontaneous mass protests and setting bonfires in the street. The next day, after a general strike brought the economy to a halt, Netanyahu backtracked, announcing the Knesset would not vote on the first part of his government’s judicial overhaul plan and that he would instead engage in negotiations with the opposition to forge consensus. To discuss these developments, Jewish Currents editor-in-chief Arielle Angel spoke with senior reporter Alex Kane, contributing editor Joshua Leifer, and contributing writer Elisheva Goldberg. They talked about how anti-occupation activists are relating to the mass protests, why the Israeli right is so intent on curbing judicial power, and the future of Netanyahu’s coalition.
Thanks to Jesse Brenneman for producing and to Nathan Salsburg for the use of his song “VIII (All That Were Calculated Have Passed).”
Articles and Tweets Mentioned:
“Huwara and the Dangers of Annexation,” Elisheva Goldberg, Jewish Currents
“The Laundromat of Dispossession,” Amira Hass, Haaretz (Hebrew)
“The Long Reach of Restraint,”Elisheva Goldberg, Jewish Currents
“What’s Next for Netanyahu’s Judicial Overhaul?”, Alex Kane in conversation with Edo Konrad, Jewish Currents
“Do Israeli Protesters Really Want Democracy”?”, Orly Noy, +972 Magazine
“What American Liberals Can Learn from Israel’s Protests,” Gal Beckerman, The Atlantic
Noah Kulwin’s tweet on the Israeli protests as “Muellerism”
“A Color Revolution in Israel,” Liel Leibovitz, Compact
“American Jewish Committee, Other Jewish Organizations Welcome Suspension of Israeli Judicial Overhaul Legislation,” AJC
Kan News segment on the Histadrut’s links to Netanyahu (Hebrew)
On episode 8, season 27 of The Bachelor, contestant Ariel Frenkel, who hails from a Ukrainian Jewish immigrant family in New York, is seen leading all-American Bachelor Zach Shallcross around New York City, feeding him cow tongue sandwiches and gefilte fish from Sarge’s Deli and telling him her family’s story of fleeing the Soviet Union. Such overt references to Jewishness are unprecedented on the franchise; though the show has featured a few Jewish leads, it tends to downplay contestants’ references to their minority identities and center stories of people using their Christian values to guide them toward love. On this episode of On the Nose, associate editor Mari Cohen and fellow Dahlia Krutkovich join Hannah Srajer, an organizer and PhD candidate in history at Yale University, and Xandra Ellin, a producer at Pineapple Street Studios, to talk about Frenkel’s improbable run on the show. They discuss how the portrayal of Frenkel’s as an exotic other illuminates the show’s identification with white Christian patriarchy, why the Jewishness of another contestant involved in a racist scandal flew under the radar, and what to make of a pro-Israel article Frenkel published in 2014.
Thanks to Jesse Brenneman for producing and to Nathan Salsburg for the use of his song “VIII (All That Were Calculated Have Passed).”
Related Articles:
“‘The Bachelor’ Has A Race — And Racism — Problem,” Emma Gray and Claire Fallon, The Huffington Post
“Why Haven’t We Had an Openly Jewish Bachelorette?” Catherine Horowitz, Jewish Women’s Archive
Former ‘Bachelor’ contestant Greer Blitzer apologizes for defending racist blackface, Jonah Valdez, Los Angeles Times
“This ‘Bachelor’ Finalist’s Op-Ed Was Mysteriously Deleted Before Premiere,” Noor Ibrahim, The Daily Beast
In recent years, German state officials and media outlets have cracked down on Palestinian speech and activism. In 2019, the German parliament passed a nonbinding resolution declaring the global Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement antisemitic, and comparing it to Nazi boycotts of Jewish businesses. Early last year, a state-funded news outlet fired seven Arab and Muslim journalists for “antisemitism” that mostly amounted to criticism of Israel. And last May, Berlin banned several protests planned to mark Nakba Day, which commemorates the 1947-1949 expulsion of an estimated 750,000 Palestinians at the hands of Zionist militias. To discuss Palestine solidarity in Germany, the state’s intensifying assault on Palestinian speech, and the connections between the country’s targeting of Palestine activism and its post-Holocaust “memory culture,” contributing editor Joshua Leifer talks to Germany-based Palestinian-American journalist Hebh Jamal and Palestinian-German lawyer Nadija Samour.
This episode is part two of a two-part series on Germany. Listen to the first episode here.
Thanks to Jesse Brenneman for producing and to Nathan Salsburg for the use of his song “VIII (All That Were Calculated Have Passed).”
Articles, Books and Lectures Mentioned
“How Palestine became a ‘forbidden word’ in German high schools,” Hebh Jamal, +972 Magazine
“Deutsche Welle Firings Set Chilling Precedent for Free Speech in Germany,” Alex Kane, Jewish Currents
The Moral Triangle: Germans, Israelis, Palestinians, by Sa’ed Atshan and Katharina Galor
“Desiring Victimhood: German Self-Formation and the Figure of the Jew,” Hannah Tzuberi, lecture given at the Hijacking Memory Conference in Berlin
“Berlin Bans Nakba Day Demonstrations,” Human Rights Watch
Since early January, hundreds of thousands of Israelis have participated in weekly protests against the right-wing Israeli government’s proposals to weaken the power of Israel’s Supreme Court. The protesters have framed their efforts as a bid to save “Israeli democracy”—rhetoric that has alienated Palestinian citizens of Israel, who say Israel was never a democracy to begin with due to its repressive system of control over Palestinians. Senior reporter Alex Kane hosts a discussion with Palestinian activist Sally Abed of Standing Together and Iranian Israeli activist Orly Noy of B’Tselem and the newly formed Mizrahi Civic Collective about who is participating in these protests—and who is sitting them out.
Thanks to Jesse Brenneman for producing and to Nathan Salsburg for the use of his song “VIII (All That Were Calculated Have Passed).”
Articles Mentioned:
“A Mizrahi Democratic Vision: No to the Constitutional Revolution and No to the Old Order,” Mizrahi Civic Collective (Hebrew)
A new Netflix-produced romcom by Jonah Hill and Kenya Barris tells the story of Ezra, a white Jew, and Amira, a Black Muslim, whose love affair is challenged by the patronizing, casual racism of Ezra’s progressive mother (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) and the antisemitism and militant separatism of Amira’s Farrakhan-loving father (Eddie Murphy). Jewish commentators across the political spectrum have responded overwhelmingly negatively, accusing the film of everything from perpetuating harmful stereotypes of Jewish women, to trafficking in conspiracy theories, to inciting violence against Jews. Jewish Currents editor-in-chief Arielle Angel, JC contributing writer Rebecca Pierce, critic and essayist Jasmine Sanders, and writer and Know Your Enemy co-host Sam Adler-Bell discuss these over-the-top critiques and explore why similarly cringe and stereotypical depictions of the Black family did not raise alarms among Black or Jewish critics.
Thanks to Jesse Brenneman for producing and to Nathan Salsburg for the use of his song “VIII (All That Were Calculated Have Passed).”
ARTICLES, BOOKS, AND FILMS MENTIONED:
You People on Netflix
“In Jonah Hill’s offensive new movie, a Black-Jewish love story comes with a side of conspiracy theories,” Mira Fox, The Forward
“Netflix Hit 'You People' Branded 'Horribly Damaging' to Jewish People,” Ryan Smith, Newsweek
“‘You People’ Normalizes Farrakhan’s Views On Jews,” Allison Josephs, Jew in the City
“'You People' and the Tediousness of the Interracial Romcom,” Zeba Blay, Jezebel
We Charge Genocide
“Precious Angel,” Bob Dylan
Slave Play by Jeremy O. Harris
Last month saw the release of two autobiographical films, now both Oscar nominees, about young artists growing up in complicated, 20th-century American Jewish families. In The Fabelmans, Steven Spielberg follows a precocious child filmmaker, Sammy Fabelman, as he turns his camera on his fracturing family. In Armageddon Time, James Gray meditates on Queens in 1980, where the intersections of school, family, and the police destroy a friendship between two boys, one Black and one Jewish. Do these movies have something new to say about the drama of upwardly mobile Jewish family life, or are they simply retreading familiar territory? Jewish Currents contributing writer Rebecca Pierce joined editors Arielle Angel, Ari Brostoff, and Mari Cohen on this week’s On the Nose to discuss the latest in Jewish film.
MOVIES AND TV EPISODES MENTIONED:
8 ½, dir. Federico Fellini
Pain and Glory, dir. Pedro Almodóvar
Cinema Paradiso, dir. Giuseppe Tornatore
Lincoln, dir. Steven Spielberg
Star Wars, dir. George Lucas
Jaws, dir. Steven Spielberg
“Miami Mama-Mia/Pigeon on the Roof,” Animaniacs
Thanks to Jesse Brenneman for producing and to Nathan Salsburg for the use of his song “VIII (All That Were Calculated Have Passed).”
Chevruta is a new column named for the traditional method of Jewish study, in which a pair of students analyzes a religious text together. In each installment, Jewish Currents will match leftist thinkers and organizers with a rabbi or Torah scholar. The activists will bring an urgent question that arises in their own work; the Torah scholar will lead them in exploring their question through Jewish text. By routing contemporary political questions through traditional religious sources, we aim to address the most urgent ethical and spiritual problems confronting the left. Each column will be accompanied by a podcast and a study guide (linked below).
In our debut Chevruta podcast, rabbinical student Allen Lipson explores debt’s moral implications with Sparky Abraham and Eleni Schirmer—organizers from the Debt Collective, the nation’s first debtors’ union. Lipson chose a rabbinic responsum from 14th-century Spain by Rabbi Isaac bar Sheshet Perfet, generally known as the Rivash, on the question of whether a debtor can be seized and imprisoned according to Torah law. By tracing the Rivash’s ambivalence about debt enforcement, Lipson, Abraham, and Schirmer consider questions about state force and economic consent raised by the text that still resonate today.
You can find the column based on this conversation and a study guide here. The full Hebrew text of the letter and Lipson’s translation are available here.
Thanks to Jesse Brenneman for producing and to Nathan Salsburg for the use of his song “VIII (All That Were Calculated Have Passed).”
Tom Stoppard, perhaps the most famous living British playwright, learned only in his fifties that his mother’s family was Jewish and that nearly all her relatives were killed in the Holocaust—a fate his own immediate family narrowly escaped. Now in his eighties, Stoppard has turned these revelations into the material of his play Leopoldstadt, which tells the story of a bourgeois Viennese Jewish clan inspired by his own Czech family, and an assimilated British grandson’s discovery of their fate at the hands of the Nazis. The play, now a Broadway hit, has drawn accolades, but left several of us at and around Jewish Currents distinctly underwhelmed. Why is theater still treating the Holocaust as an object of dramatic irony? What are audiences looking for in stories of this kind? Where does Leopoldstadt fit in the long history of anti-Nazi theater, and what are its politics around Zionism? Alisa Solomon, who reviewed the play for Jewish Currents, and dramaturg Gabrielle Hoyt joined JC editors Arielle Angel and Ari Brostoff to discuss.
Articles and Reports Mentioned:
“Review: In Stoppard’s ‘Leopoldstadt,’ a Memorial to a Lost World,” Jesse Green, The New York Times
“Attention Must Be Paid,” Alisa Solomon, Jewish Currents
“Monuments to the Unthinkable,” Clint Smith in The Atlantic
“Culture Under the Nazis,” Brooks Atkinson, The New York Times
Thanks to Jesse Brenneman for producing and to Nathan Salsburg for the use of his song “VIII (All That Were Calculated Have Passed).”
In the last two years, Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International have begun using the word “apartheid” to describe Israeli rule over Palestinians, marking a significant shift within the human rights establishment. But Palestinian intellectuals have been critiquing Israeli apartheid for decades—albeit in a different fashion. As scholars of international law Noura Erakat and John Reynolds wrote in an essay published in the summer issue of Jewish Currents, a rich archive of Palestinian writing from the 1960s and ’70s frames apartheid as “an inevitable outcome of Israeli settler colonialism,” and a key “vehicle for its continuance.” Erakat and Reynolds argue that if we understand apartheid as a tool of settler colonialism, it appears to “require the same remedies as other manifestations of colonial rule and foreign occupation: collective liberation and land restitution.” By contrast, the human rights organizations have advanced a more legalistic understanding of apartheid, and suggested accordingly that the solution is to institute formal legal equality in Israel/Palestine—in other words, to extend equal rights to all who live in the land. Alex Kane discusses this and more with Erakat, Reynolds, and Omar Shakir, the Israel and Palestine Director at Human Rights Watch.
Articles and Reports Mentioned:
“Understanding Apartheid,” Noura Erakat and John Reynolds, Jewish Currents
“A Threshold Crossed,” Human Rights Watch
“Israel’s apartheid against Palestinians: Cruel system of domination and crime against humanity,” Amnesty International
“The Israeli Occupation of the West Bank and the Crime of Apartheid,” Michael Sfard, Yesh Din
“A regime of Jewish supremacy from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea: This is apartheid,” B’Tselem
“Decolonization is not a metaphor,” Eve Tuck and K. Wayne Yang
Thanks to Jesse Brenneman for producing and to Nathan Salsburg for the use of his song “VIII (All That Were Calculated Have Passed).”
Dave Chappelle’s controversial monologue on the November 12th episode of Saturay Night Live, whichfound much to laugh at in Kanye West’s and Kyrie Irving’s recent antisemitic remarks, set off a new round of discourse about blackness, Jewishness, power, and the entertainment industry. Chappelle’s monologue, which some viewers accused of propagating antisemitic tropes itself, also revealed that part of what is at stake in the current contretemps is comedy—specifically, the nexus of Black and Jewish comedy, where an American idiom of humor about insiders and outsiders, envy and identification, privilege and suffering was born. What makes us keep returning to this well of humor, and what happens when the laughter stops? Jewish Currents senior editor Ari Brostoff, JC contributing writer Rebecca Pierce, critic and essayist Jasmine Sanders, and writer and Know Your Enemy co-host Sam Adler-Bell discuss.
Articles, Books, Films, Tweets, and Clips Mentioned:
Hebrews to Negroes: Wake Up Black America, dir. Ronald Dalton Jr.
Dave Chappelle’s Saturday Night Live monologue
Jonathan Greeblatt tweet about Dave Chappelle
Kanye West performs on Chappelle’s Show
Donald Trump on using tax loopholes
Oreo by Fran Ross
Thanks to Jesse Brenneman for producing and to Nathan Salsburg for the use of his song “VIII (All That Were Calculated Have Passed).”
In last Tuesday’s Knesset elections, the Israeli electorate delivered a big win to Benjamin Netanyahu and his right-wing coalition in the fifth Israeli election since 2019. The right-wing bloc won 64 Knesset seats, which will likely give Netanayhu and allied parties enough votes to form a stable and ideologically coherent coalition government. Netanyahu’s probable return to power is thanks to the strength of the Religious Zionism coalition, consisting of three of the most extreme parties in Israeli politics. The coalition won 14 seats, the most it has ever gotten.
Jewish Currents senior reporter Alex Kane spoke to editor-at-large Peter Beinart, contributing editor Joshua Leifer, and contributing writer Elisheva Goldberg about the rise of the Religious Zionism coalition, the commonalities between that coalition and the Israeli center-left, and how these elections might affect the US-Israel relationship.
Articles Mentioned:
“Kahanism’s Raucous Return,” Joshua Leifer, Jewish Currents
“Israel’s Ascendant Far Right Can’t Be Understood by Analogy,” Peter Beinart, Jewish Currents
“U.S. unlikely to work with Jewish supremacist expected to be made Israeli minister,” Barak Ravid, Axios
Thanks to Jesse Brenneman for producing and to Nathan Salsburg for the use of his song “VIII (All That Were Calculated Have Passed).”
In the last week and a half, Ye, the artist formerly known as Kanye West, has appeared on Tucker Carlson’s show on Fox News, been photographed with far-right provocateur Candace Owens wearing a “White Lives Matter” shirt, and tweeted that he was going “death con 3 on JEWISH PEOPLE” (which landed him in social media jail). Redacted footage from the Fox interview revealed that Ye made a number of antisemitic comments there too, referring to Hannukah as a vehicle for “financial engineering” and casting Black people as the real Jews, with non-Black Jews as imposters. In the wake of these comments, Jewish organizations have raised the alarm about worsening antisemitism; meanwhile, tensions have been rising online between some Black and Jewish people, playing out familiar grievances about acknowledgement and allyship. What, if anything, can we learn from this instance of high-profile antisemitism and this latest round of Black–Jewish discourse? And is there any path to solidarity between those targeted by Ye’s anti-Black and antisemitic ideas? Jewish Currents contributing writer Rebecca Pierce, Atlantic staff writer Adam Serwer, and Currents editor-in-chief Arielle Angel discussed Ye’s antisemitism.
Note: This episode was taped on Friday, October 14th, before it was announced that Ye plans to buy the right-wing social media platform Parler. Stay tuned at the end of the episode for a postscript from Pierce and Angel on this new development.
Articles and Tweets Mentioned:
“Watch the Disturbing Kanye Interview Clips That Tucker Carlson Didn’t Put on Air,” Anna Merlan, Vice
“Musk and West, Inc.,” John Ganz’s Substack
“What Kanye Can Teach Us About Anti-Semitism,” Yair Rosenberg, The Atlantic
Kimberly Nicole Foster’s tweets about antisemitism
“Black Antisemitism Is Not Inherently ‘Left Wing,’” Rebecca Pierce, Jewish Currents
“Beyond Grievance,” Arielle Angel, Jewish Currents
Sarah Silverman’s Jewish grievance tweet
“Kanye West to acquire conservative social media platform Parler,” Brian Fung, CNN Business
“An Antisemitic Judge, a White Supremacist System,” Rebecca Pierce, Jewish Currents
Thanks to Jesse Brenneman for producing and to Nathan Salsburg for the use of his song “VIII (All That Were Calculated Have Passed).”
For 15 years, Israel has imposed an air, land, and sea blockade on the Gaza Strip, barring most Palestinians in the coastal enclave from leaving the area under any circumstances. Fishermen who venture out past an Israeli-imposed limit are https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/israel-palestine-gaza-fishermen-wounded-navy-off-coast (shot at) and arrested, while Palestinian farmers have been http://mezan.org/en/post/23919/News+Brief%3A+Al+Mezan+Issues+a+report%3A+Farming+in+a+Buffer+Zone%2C+The+conditions+Gaza+farmers+face+under+closure (killed by soldiers) for working land that lies near the boundary fence. Israel also tightly controls the entry and exit of goods, and its restrictive policies have devastated the Gazan economy and led to an https://www.worldbank.org/en/results/2022/08/09/mobilizing-private-finance-to-generate-jobs-in-the-west-bank-and-gaza (unemployment rate) of about 50%. In the same period, Israel has waged five military assaults on Gaza, killing thousands of Palestinians, the majority of whom were civilians. To discuss Israel’s severe restrictions on Palestinian movement from Gaza and what it’s like to live under blockade and bombardment, Jewish Currents staff reporter Alex Kane interviewed Kholoud Balata, a lecturer, poet, and writer from Gaza and a contributor to Jewish Currents, and Miriam Marmur, the director of public advocacy for https://gisha.org/en/about-gisha/ (Gisha—Legal Center for Freedom of Movement,) the leading Israeli group focusing on Israel’s blockade of Gaza. This episode also features a special segment from Palestinian think tank https://al-shabaka.org/en/ (Al-Shabaka’s) podcast https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/rethinking-palestine/id1537774938 (Rethinking Palestine) that analyzes Israel’s extrajudicial killings of Palestinian fighters in Nablus and the psychology of the new generation of Palestinian armed resistance fighters. ARTICLES MENTIONED https://jewishcurrents.org/ramadan-in-gaza (“Ramadan in Gaza,”) Kholoud Balata, Jewish Currents https://jewishcurrents.org/a-butterfly-in-gaza (“A Butterfly in Gaza,” )Kholoud Balata, Jewish Currents https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/from-jenin-to-gaza-to-nablus-palestinian-resistance/id1537774938?i=1000577669630 (“From Jenin to Gaza to Nablus: Palestinian Resistance Under Attack,”) Rethinking Palestine, Al-Shabaka
Thanks to Jesse Brenneman for producing and to Nathan Salsburg for the use of his song “VIII (All That Were Calculated Have Passed).”
In the wake of https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/11/nyregion/hasidic-yeshivas-schools-new-york.html (the recent extensive New York Times investigation) into Hasidic yeshivas, a fierce and often acrimonious debate has emerged about the ethics of covering the Hasidic world from the outside, how private institutions that receive government funds are accountable to the broader public, and religious minority communities’ right to insist on their way of life, even when it brings them into conflict with the state. On this episode, Jewish Currents Contributing Editor Joshua Leifer hosts a conversation between Naftuli Moster, executive director of Young Advocates for Fair Education (https://yaffed.org/who-we-are/ (YAFFED)), and Frieda Vizel, a writer and https://friedavizel.com/ (tour guide) of Hasidic Brooklyn. Moster and Vizel—who both grew up in, and later left, Hasidic communities—draw on their own educational experiences to offer very different perspectives on the Times article and reactions to it, on the best way to advocate for change in the Hasidic world, and on what’s at stake in the fight over secular education. Articles and Podcast Episodes Mentioned: “https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/11/nyregion/hasidic-yeshivas-schools-new-york.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare (In Hasidic Enclaves, Failing Private Schools Flush With Public Money),” Eliza Shaprio and Brian M. Rosenthal, The New York Times “https://friedavizel.com/2022/09/13/thoughts-on-the-nyt-expose-on-hasidic-education/ (Thoughts on the NYT exposé on Hasidic education),” Frieda Vizel “https://jewishcurrents.org/progressives-have-abandoned-haredi-children (Progressives Have Abandoned Haredi Children),” Naftuli Moster, Jewish Currents “https://www.commentary.org/john-podhoretz/the-great-yeshiva-slander/ (The Great Yeshiva Slander),” Commentary podcast “https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2022/09/private-religious-schools-have-public-responsibilities-too/671446/?fbclid=IwAR3Teyc_1DNpkBy3RnELpMLHoAxPsx7Ku_4U8-DkGRMigva28-SUo_2Hif0 (Private Religious Schools Have Public Responsibilities Too),” Nomi M.Stolzenberg and David N. Myers, The Atlantic Thanks to Jesse Brenneman for producing and to Nathan Salsburg for the use of his song “VIII (All That Were Calculated Have Passed).”
On this episode, Jewish Currents Editor-in-Chief Arielle Angel talks with her mother, Jeri Cohen, co-founder of the Women’s Emergency Network, the first abortion fund in South Florida. Cohen, who spent 28 years as a judge in child abuse and dependency court, retired two years ago and has since gotten back into the struggle for reproductive justice. But the movement has changed since the peak of her involvement in the ’70s and ’80s, rooting itself in different political frameworks and organizing cultures, and she now finds herself a fish out of water—a committed liberal on the cusp of 70, learning the mores of the contemporary left. Cohen discusses the process of reacquainting herself with the struggle that defined her young adulthood and which has subsequently transformed. If you liked this podcast, please donate to the https://www.wen-online.org/ (Women’s Emergency Network), an abortion fund serving women in South Florida.
On this episode, Jewish Currents Contributing Editor Joshua Leifer talks with Oren Ziv—co-founder of the award-winning photojournalist collective Activestills and reporter for +972 Magazine and its Hebrew sister site, Local Call—about Oren’s decade-plus experience documenting protest and resistance in Israel/Palestine. Since the Activestills collective’s founding in 2005, Ziv and the group have captured some of the most iconic, and often painful, images of social and political struggle: from the demonstrations against the Israeli separation barrier in the late 2000s, to the campaign for African asylum seekers’ rights in the 2010s, to the opposition to gentrification in the Mizrahi neighborhood of Givat Amal, and much more. Ziv’s own dogged reporting has made him one of the most perceptive journalists in the field; through his camera, Ziv has opened up the injustices of the occupation to the world. Ziv discusses his journalistic method and the experience of documenting the violence of apartheid. One note: This conversation was recorded before August 18th, when Israeli forces https://www.972mag.com/palestinian-ngos-army-raids-offices/ (raided and sealed) the offices of six leading Palestinian civil society and human rights organizations in the occupied West Bank. Articles, Statements, and Websites Mentioned “https://www.972mag.com/bilin-photographing-a-decade-of-popular-struggle/ (Bil’in: Photographing a decade of popular struggle)” by Activestills “https://www.972mag.com/desperation-and-hope-in-the-eviction-of-givat-amal/ (Desperation and hope in the eviction of Givat Amal)” by Haggai Matar “https://www.972mag.com/reconstruction-of-umm-al-hiran-killings-proves-no-car-ramming-attack/ (Reconstruction of Umm al-Hiran killings disproves car-ramming claims)” by Yael Marom https://www.972mag.com/watch-visual-analysis-undermines-police-version-of-events-in-umm-el-hiran/ (Visual investigation of Umm al-Hiran incident), by Forensic Architecture and Activiestills “https://www.972mag.com/joint-attacks-israeli-settlers-soldiers/ (Joint militias: How settlers and soldiers teamed up to kill four Palestinians)” by Yuval Abraham “https://www.972mag.com/sent-to-rwanda-by-israel-we-have-no-food-or-work-dont-come-here/ (Sent to Rwanda by Israel: ‘We have no food or work. Don’t come here)’” by Oren Ziv “https://www.972mag.com/at-tel-aviv-rally-a-mizrahi-asylum-seeker-alliance-is-born/ (At Tel Aviv rally, a Mizrahi-asylum seeker alliance is born)” by Joshua Leifer “https://www.npr.org/2022/06/24/1107254898/israeli-gunfire-shireen-abu-akleh-un-human-rights (Israeli gunfire killed journalist Shireen Abu Akleh, U.N. says)” by Bill Chappell “https://theintercept.com/2021/11/04/secret-israel-dossier-palestinian-rights-terrorist/ (Secret Israeli document offers no proof to justify terror label for Palestinian groups)” by Yuval Abraham, Oren Ziv, and Meron Rapoport “‘https://www.972mag.com/palestinian-ngo-directors-shin-bet/ (You will pay the price’: Shin Bet threatens Palestinian NGO directors)” by Oren Ziv “‘https://www.972mag.com/gaza-soldiers-civilians-intelligence/ (We killed a little boy, but it was within the rules)’” by Yuval Abraham “https://www.972mag.com/netanyahu-authoritarian-protests-corruption/ (Netanyahu’s authoritarian rule is turning Israelis against the state)” by Meron Rapoport “https://www.972mag.com/peace-now-balfour-settlements-outposts/ (Peace Now is taking direct action against settler outposts. Can it succeed?)” by Oren Ziv and Meron Rapoport “https://www.thenation.com/article/world/palestine-israel-green-line/ (The End of the Green Line—Two Views)” by Haggai Matar
Last week, Graywolf Press released Civil Service, the debut poetry collection by Jewish Currents Culture Editor Claire Schwartz. The book is a daring study of the violence woven into our world, from everyday encounters to the material of language itself. The poems unfold in three main sequences: a quartet of lyric lectures, a fragmentary narrative that follows a cast of archetypal figures named for the coordinates of their complicities with power—the Dictator, the Curator, the Accountant, and so on—and a series of interrogation scenes centered on a spectral, fugitive figure named Amira, who gives us a glimpse of another world. To celebrate the release of Civil Service, Schwartz spoke with Managing Editor Nathan Goldman and the book’s editor at Graywolf Press, Chantz Erolin, about the book, as well as poems by Paul Celan and Edmond Jabès that deeply informed it. They discussed dispersed responsibility for state violence, thinking as feeling, and the political possibilities of poetry. Works Mentioned: https://bookshop.org/a/1530/9781644450949 (Civil Service) by Claire Schwartz “https://granta.com/lecture-on-loneliness/ (Lecture on Loneliness)” by Claire Schwartz “https://www.sas.upenn.edu/~cavitch/pdf-library/Freud_MourningAndMelancholia.pdf (Mourning and Melancholia)” by Sigmund Freud “https://apogeejournal.org/2016/09/06/the-felt-house-that-moves-us-a-conversation-with-saretta-morgan/ (The Felt House That Moves Us: A Conversation with Saretta Morgan),” a conversation with Muriel Leung and Joey De Jesus “https://sahityaparikrama.weebly.com/uploads/1/2/0/9/120943912/the_concept_of_character_in_fiction_william_gass.pdf (The Concept of Character in Fiction)” by William H. Gass The Souls of Black Folk by W.E.B. Du Bois “https://poets.org/poem/death-fugue (Death Fugue)” by Paul Celan, trans. Pierre Joris “https://poets.org/poem/stretto (Stretto)” by Paul Celan, trans. Pierre Joris “https://jewishcurrents.org/celans-ferryman (Celan’s Ferryman),” a conversation between Fanny Howe and Pierre Joris Voyage of the Sable Venus by Robin Coste Lewis “https://lithub.com/robin-coste-lewis-black-joy-is-my-primary-aesthetic/ (Robin Coste Lewis: ‘Black Joy is My Primary Aesthetic,’)” a conversation between Claire Schwartz and Robin Coste Lewis The Book of Questions by Edmond Jabès, trans. Rosmarie Waldrop “https://tinhouse.com/podcast/rosmarie-waldrop-the-nick-of-time/ (Rosmarie Waldrop: The Nick of Time),” a conversation with David Naimon Austerlitz by W.G. Sebald, trans. Anthea Bell “https://nourbese.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/Gasp.pdf (The Ga(s)p)” by M. NourbeSe Philip “https://www.newyorker.com/culture/persons-of-interest/fred-motens-radical-critique-of-the-present (Fred Moten’s Radical Critique of the Present)” by David S. Wallace Minima Moralia by Theodor Adorno Reconsidering Reparations by Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò “https://jewishcurrents.org/assuming-the-perspective-of-the-ancestor (Assuming the Perspective of the Ancestor),” a conversation between Claire Schwartz and Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò “https://lithub.com/perennial-a-poem-by-claire-schwartz/ (Perennial)” by Claire Schwartz
Thanks to Jesse Brenneman for producing and to Nathan Salsburg for the use of his song “VIII (All That Were Calculated Have Passed).”
On this episode, Jewish Currents editor-in-chief Arielle Angel speaks with two Germany-based writers and organizers, Emily Dische-Becker and Michael Sappir, about the bizarre and worrisome ways that Germany’s understandably zealous Holocaust memory culture is playing out among Jews, Palestinians, and other Germans in contemporary Germany. An anti-BDS resolution passed in the Bundestag in 2019 has led to draconian repression of speech across German society, much of it directed not only at Palestinian Germans, but also at some critical Israeli Jews, upward of 10,000 of whom live in Germany. These politics are complicated further by the prevalence on the left of an “anti-Deutsche” tendency, characterized by strong support for the state of Israel as part of a nominally antifascist politics, and also by high numbers of German converts to Judaism who sometimes bring different assumptions about Jewishness to the table when weighing in on questions of communal concern. Recently, Dische-Becker, a German American leftist Jew, has become a target of the ongoing German anti-antisemitism hysteria. As one of the organizers of the recent Hijacking Memory conference in Berlin, which sought to explore the ways the global right is appropriating Holocaust memory, and as an erstwhile adviser to the German art fair documenta, which has been embroiled in antisemitism scandals for months, Dische-Becker has emerged as the latest bogeyman for Germans eager to prove their anti-antisemitism bona fides. In this conversation, Dische-Becker and Sappir lay the groundwork for Germany’s upside-down politics and discuss the meaning of the recent attacks. This is Part 1 of a two-part series on Germany. Part 2, featuring different guests, will cover crackdowns on Palestinian identity and political expression, particularly in German media. ARTICLES, STATEMENTS AND WEBSITES MENTIONED: “https://jewishcurrents.org/the-challenge-of-defending-memory-in-germany (The Challenge of Defending Memory in Germany)” by Joshua Leifer “https://jewishcurrents.org/when-antifa-is-the-enemy (When ‘Antifa’ Is the Enemy),” an interview with Michael Sappir by Isabel Frey “https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/2020-12-10/ty-article-magazine/.highlight/in-germany-a-witch-hunt-rages-against-israel-critics-many-have-had-enough/0000017f-db0d-df0f-a17f-df4fa21b0000 (In Germany, a Witch Hunt Is Raging Against Critics of Israel. Cultural Leaders Have Had Enough)” by Itay Mashiach http://aboutblank.li/faq_en/ (About Blank FAQ on Israel/Palestine politics) https://twitter.com/goetheinstitut/status/1537753910139559936 (Goethe-Institut rescinding an invitation to Mohammed El-Kurd) Hannah Tzuberi’s lecture on “https://www.hkw.de/en/app/mediathek/video/91243 (Desiring Victimhood: German Self-Formation and the Figure of the Jew)” at the Hijacking Memory Conference in Berlin “https://www.nytimes.com/2022/06/24/arts/design/documenta-review.html (Documenta Was a Whole Vibe. Then a Scandal Killed the Buzz.)” by Siddhartha Mitter “https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/157800579.pdf (Rethinking empathy: emotions triggered by the Holocaust among Muslim-minority in Germany)” by Esra Özyürek Thanks to Sophia Steinert-Evoy for producing and to Nathan Salsburg for the use of his song “VIII (All That Were Calculated Have Passed).”
Late last month, the Autonomous Tenants Union Network—a collaboration of tenant unions from cities across North America—held its first-ever in-person convention in Los Angeles. ATUN formed in 2018 to consolidate the energies of a movement that has exploded in scope in response to a deepening crisis for tenants. Over the course of the weekend, members of 20 tenant unions from Eugene, Oregon to Houston, Texas held strategy sessions on everything from organizing around climate disaster to mutual aid to political education. On this episode, senior editor Ari Brostoff—who attended the conference as a member of the Crown Heights Tenants Union in Brooklyn—spoke with Kenia Alcocer, of the Los Angeles Tenants Union; Claire Spiehler, of the Houston Tenants Union; and Danya Martinez-Spider, of the West River Tenants Union in South Dakota. Thanks to Sophia Steinert-Evoy for producing and to Nathan Salsburg for the use of his song “VIII (All That Were Calculated Have Passed).”
In early June, an anonymous collective of Boston-area activists published “The Mapping Project,” an interactive map listing various institutions in Massachusetts and descriptions of their complicity in Zionism or US imperialism. The list includes universities, foundations, nonprofits, schools, and police departments. The group said they set out to deepen activist “understanding of local institutional support for the colonization of Palestine,” as well as how Israel’s colonization of Palestine is connected to US policing, US foreign policy, and the displacement of local communities. Mainstream Jewish groups such as the Anti-Defamation League reacted to the map with outrage, claiming that listing Jewish foundations, nonprofits, and the like—alongside their addresses—could incite antisemitic violence. Jewish establishment groups were particularly incensed at The Mapping Project’s call to “dismantle” and “disrupt” the institutions listed. Dozens of congressional lawmakers also denounced the project, and the FBI announced it was investigating it. Meanwhile, the map also sparked controversy from an unexpected source: the Palestinian-led Boycott National Commitee, which distanced itself from the website and, in a private letter to BDS Boston, a local group that endorsed the project, said the project will lead to backlash and open up Palestinian rights groups to “infiltration” and “repression.” Jewish Currents editor-in-chief Arielle Angel, contributing editor Josh Leifer, assistant editor Mari Cohen, and senior reporter Alex Kane convened to discuss the accusations against The Mapping Project, whether the website is an effective way to counter Israeli apartheid, and the political divisions that have come to the fore because of the controversy over the project. Articles, Statements and Websites Mentioned: https://mapliberation.org/ (The Mapping Project) “https://jewishinsider.com/2022/06/mapping-project-capitol-hill-federal-investigation-gottheimer-bacon/ (House lawmakers urge federal inquiry into ‘Mapping Project’)” by Marc Rod “https://forward.com/fast-forward/505739/fbi-mapping-project-boston-bds/ (FBI looking into ‘The Mapping Project,’ pro-Palestinian site targeting ‘Zionist leaders’ in Boston)”https://forward.com/fast-forward/505739/fbi-mapping-project-boston-bds/ ( )by Forward staff https://twitter.com/bandlersbanter/status/1539691734963146753?s=21&t=z3dSWGp-WoxLPXPsUmTy6A (Boycott National Committe’s letter to BDS Boston) “https://bdsmovement.net/news/palestinian-bds-national-committee-has-no-connection-and-does-not-endorse-mapping-project (Palestinian BDS National Committee Has No Connection To and Does Not Endorse The Mapping Project)” by Palestinian BDS National Committee “https://mondoweiss.net/2022/06/our-struggles-are-truly-connected-an-interview-with-the-mapping-project/ (‘Our struggles are truly connected’: an interview with the Mapping Project)”https://mondoweiss.net/2022/06/our-struggles-are-truly-connected-an-interview-with-the-mapping-project/ ( )by Adam Horowitz “https://mondoweiss.net/2022/06/the-mapping-project-is-not-antisemitic-but-it-is-destructive-activism/ (The Mapping Project is not antisemitic but it is destructive activism)” by Nora Lester Murad “https://jewishcurrents.org/sunrise-sunset (Sunrise, Sunset)” podcast by Jewish Currents staff Thanks to Sophia Steinert-Evoy for producing and to Nathan Salsburg for the use of his song “VIII (All That Were Calculated Have Passed).”
A broad spectrum of the American left agrees that the existing political system is not working—that it is dysfunctional, corrupt, anti-majoritarian, and utterly unable to address the serious economic, social, and ecological crises confronting the public. But despite pervasive exhaustion with the status quo, and despite omnipresent warnings about a looming constitutional threat from the radical right, there have been few signs of mobilization for a full-scale left-wing revolution since the 2020 uprisings against racism and police violence after the murder of George Floyd. Today, America’s most liberal cities have largely doubled down on carceralism, and the right has far more insurgent energy than the left. To discuss the dog that isn’t barking, David Klion spoke with Mike Duncan—the creator of the popular podcast Revolutions, which examines the history of ten historical upheavals in great detail—about what makes America in 2022 different from France in 1789 or Russia in 1917, and what it would take to see a real revolution. Books, Articles, TV Shows, and Podcasts Mentioned: Mike Duncan’s Revolutions and History of Rome https://thehistoryofrome.typepad.com/revolutions_podcast/ (podcasts) https://bookshop.org/a/1530/9781541724037 (The Storm Before the Storm) by Mike Duncan https://bookshop.org/a/1530/9781541730335 (Hero of Two Worlds) by Mike Duncan https://bookshop.org/a/1530/9780679724674 (The Black Jacobins) by C.L.R. James “https://www.thecut.com/article/dianne-feinstein-abortion-gun-civil-rights.html#_ga=2.116538756.381718568.1655143573-1672611386.1586182978 (The Institutionalist: Dianne Feinstein’s Long Fight for Abortion and Gun Control)” by Rebecca Traister “https://newrepublic.com/article/163313/mike-duncan-turmoil-history-revolutions-podcast-lafayette-review (Mike Duncan Takes on the Turmoil of History)” by David Klion Thanks to Jesse Brenneman for producing and to Nathan Salsburg for the use of his song “VIII (All That Were Calculated Have Passed).”
The killing of the beloved Palestinian journalist Shireen Abu Akleh, who was https://www.cnn.com/2022/05/24/middleeast/shireen-abu-akleh-jenin-killing-investigation-cmd-intl/index.html (shot by Israeli forces) while covering an IDF raid of occupied Jenin on May 11th, has sparked massive outcry in Palestine and widespread condemnation from the international community—as did the subsequent attack on her funeral procession by Israeli police. Though Abu Akleh, a veteran correspondent for Al Jazeera, was a singular figure, her death is only the latest reminder that Israel has routinely targeted journalists and civilians, sustaining its impunity through obfuscation in the media and the routine dehumanization of Palestinians. Jewish Currents fellow Dylan Saba speaks with political scientist Dana El Kurd and activist Fadi Quran about Israeli media strategy, shifting public opinion outside the region, and the discursive and strategic challenges faced by the Palestine solidarity movement. Topics Mentioned: “https://www.cnn.com/2022/05/24/middleeast/shireen-abu-akleh-jenin-killing-investigation-cmd-intl/index.html (New evidence suggests Shireen Abu Akleh was killed in targeted attack by Israeli forces)” - CNN “https://www.aljazeera.com/features/2020/9/30/behind-the-lens-remembering-muhammad-al-durrah (Behind the lens: Remembering Muhammad al-Durrah, 20 years on)” by Talal Abu Rahma “https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/on-this-day-stern-gang-assassinates-un-mediator-count-folke-bernadotte-in-1948-679649 (On This Day: Stern Gang assassinates UN mediator Count Folke Bernadotte in 1948)” by Aaron Reich https://twitter.com/fadiquran/status/1524340592863584256?s=20&t=b8yHN-2Fggpgej95aHmfpw (Twitter thread) by Fadi Quran on the pattern of Israeli obfuscation following an attack “https://theintercept.com/2018/08/11/israel-palestine-drone-strike-operation-protective-edge/ (Secret Israeli Report Reveals Armed Drone Kills Four Boys Playing on Gaza Beach in 2014)” by Robert Mackey https://twitter.com/noatishby/status/1526964029830340610?s=20&t=aXnivfKQBwJtDUkjwBY61A (Noa Tishby invoking antisemitism) regarding the response to Shireen’s death Israeli military spokesperson saying the press is “https://www.timesofisrael.com/veteran-al-jazeera-journalist-shot-dead-during-israeli-raid-in-jenin/ (armed with cameras)” “https://jewishcurrents.org/you-cannot-unsee-this-image (You Cannot Unsee This Image),” an interview with Rashid Khalidi by Dylan Saba “https://arabcenterdc.org/resource/key-messages-from-the-oppressed/ (Key Messages from the Oppressed)” by Dana El Kurd
Since the launch of the global Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement against Israel and the collapse of the Oslo Peace Process in the early aughts, the college campus has been a locus of American political conflict over Israel/Palestine. As student Palestine solidarity activists have attempted to introduce BDS resolutions across the country, Israel advocacy organizations have responded by building a vast organizing infrastructure to intervene in student debates about Israel, painting campuses as threatening and hostile places for Jewish students and pushing for greater restrictions on pro-Palestine student speech. In only the latest example, members of the NYU law school’s Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) chapter—half of them Jewish—are facing media defamation for a statement the group sent to the law school listserv. How does it transform campus activism and the experience of individual students when outside organizations and media commentators get involved? Is it misleading to frame these conflicts as simply a fight between two opposing camps? What do you do when your mom forwards you Bari Weiss’s substack? Jewish Currents Editor-in-Chief Arielle Angel, Assistant Editor Mari Cohen, and Contributing Editor Joshua Leifer discuss these questions and the recent NYU events with Dylan Saba, Jewish Currents fellow and Palestine Legal staff attorney. Books and Articles Mentioned: “https://bariweiss.substack.com/p/to-the-antisemites-who-sit-next-to?s=r (To the Antisemites Who Sit Next to Me in School)” by Tal Fortgang “https://davidlat.substack.com/p/nyu-law-erupts-in-controversy-over?s=r (NYU Law Erupts In Controversy Over Alleged Anti-Semitism)” by David Lat “https://jewishcurrents.org/whos-trying-to-kill-bds-on-campus (Who’s Trying to Kill BDS on Campus? An Interview with Josh Nathan-Kazis)” by Rachel Cohen “https://jewishcurrents.org/how-israel-advocates-shut-down-a-unions-motion-to-endorse-bds (How Israel Advocates Shut Down a Union’s Motion to Endorse BDS)” by Isaac Scher https://twitter.com/YehudaKurtzer/status/1516808603981819907 (Twitter exchange) between Yehuda Kurtzer and Joshua Leifer https://www.ajc.org/Jewish-Millennial-Survey-2022/American-Jewish-Millennials (AJC’s Survey on American Jewish Millennials) “https://bariweiss.substack.com/p/everybody-hates-the-jews?r=exstm&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&utm_source=twitter&s=r (Everybody Hates the Jews)” by Bari Weiss “https://jewishcurrents.org/does-everybody-really-hate-the-jews (Does Everybody Really Hate the Jews)?” by Mari Cohen “https://jewishcurrents.org/princeton-students-voted-to-boycott-machinery-used-by-israel-proponents-of-israel-are-countering-with-misinformation (Princeton Students Voted to Boycott Machinery Used by Israel. Proponents of Israel Are Countering with Misinformation)” by Isaac Scher “https://jewishcurrents.org/maccabee-games (Maccabee Games)” by Jess Schwalb “https://jewishcurrents.org/deborah-lipstadt-vs-the-oldest-hatred (Deborah Lipstadt vs. ‘The Oldest Hatred’)” by Mari Cohen “https://www.jta.org/2022/04/21/united-states/american-university-muslim-student-group-withdraws-from-interfaith-seder-with-hillel-over-its-israel-support (American University Muslim student group withdraws from interfaith seder with Hillel over its Israel support)” by Andrew Lapin “https://www.jta.org/2022/02/24/united-states/israel-studies-endowment-revoked-over-professors-israel-criticism-at-university-of-washington (Donor yanks Israel Studies endowment at U of Washington over professor’s Israel criticism)” by Andrew Lapin “https://www.972mag.com/us-media-palestinians/ (US Media Talks A Lot About Palestinians—Just Without Palestinians)” by Maha Nassar “https://jewishcurrents.org/waging-lawfare (Waging Lawfare)” by Natasha Roth-Rowland Thanks to Jesse Brenneman for producing and to Nathan Salsburg for the use of his song “VIII (All That
Life in Israel/Palestine is always characterized by a high level of violence; for instance, Israel’s control of millions of stateless Palestinians in the West Bank who live without due process under military law is inherently violent. But recent weeks have seen a surge in violence: Palestinians from both the West Bank and Israel proper have attacked and in some cases killed Israeli civilians and soldiers, and Israeli soldiers and Jewish settlers have attacked and in some cases killed Palestinian civilians. With the unusual confluence of the holidays of Ramadan, Easter, and Passover, many worry that the violence will grow, and even spiral into the kind of massive bloodshed that unfolded last spring. (Since this episode was recorded on April 13th, tensions have escalated further as Israeli police attacked worshipers at the Al-Aqsa mosque, and Israel bombed Gaza in response to a Hamas rocket.) On this episode, Editor-at-Large Peter Beinart speaks with political scientist Dana El Kurd and attorney Daniel Seidemann about why violence is rising now, shifting Palestinian public opinion on violent and nonviolent resistance, and what the coming weeks may bring. Books and Articles Mentioned: “https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=4075395 (Support for Violent vs. Non-violent Strategies in the Palestinian Territories)” by Dana El Kurd (April 15th, 2022) “https://arabcenterdc.org/resource/key-messages-from-the-oppressed/ (Key Messages from the Oppressed)” by Dana El Kurd (April 6th, 2022) “https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium-idf-mi-chief-palestinian-despair-among-reasons-for-terror-wave-1.5416577 (IDF Intelligence Chief: Palestinian Despair, Frustration Are Among Reasons for Terror Wave)” by Barak Ravid (November 3rd, 2015) “https://www.972mag.com/hamas-gaza-jerusalem-protests/ (Hamas Breaks Out of its Gaza Cage)” by Amjad Iraqi (May 21st, 202)1 “https://apnews.com/article/hamas-middle-east-science-32095d8e1323fc1cad819c34da08fd87 (Poll Finds Dramatic Rise in Palestinian Support for Hamas)” by Joseph Krauss (June 15th, 2021) “https://jewishcurrents.org/the-end-of-nonviolent-resistance (The End of Nonviolent Resistance)” by Isaac Scher (April 12th, 2022) “https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium-israel-imposes-sanctions-on-jenin-the-west-bank-hometown-of-tel-aviv-terrorist-1.10731480 (Israel Imposes Sanctions on Jenin, the West Bank Hometown of Tel Aviv Terrorist)” by Yaniv Kubovich and Jack Khoury (April 9th 2022) “https://jewishcurrents.org/it-is-impossible-to-shrink-the-conflict (It is Impossible to ‘Shrink the Conflict)’” by Peter Beinart (November 11th, 2021) Thanks to Jesse Brenneman for producing and to Nathan Salsburg for the use of his song “VIII (All That Were Calculated Have Passed).”
In the month since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has become a global icon. Zelensky, who was elected in 2019 and chose to remain in his country during the assault, is Ukraine’s first Jewish president. His Jewishness, already notable given the nation’s history of antisemitism, has taken on new symbolic importance in light of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s claim that the assault is justified by its goal of “denazification.” Many Jews around the world, some of whose ancestors once lived in Ukraine, have come to identify with Zelensky, who embodies many of the contradictions of post-Soviet Jewishness, and whose attempts to lobby on behalf of his nation—including in a recent speech before the Israeli Knesset—have highlighted questions about the politics of post-Soviet Holocaust memory. On today’s episode, Newsletter Editor David Klion speaks with a panel of writers and contributors to the new Soviet Issue of Jewish Currents—Julia Alekseyeva, Linda Kinstler, and Helen Betya Rubinstein—about Zelensky’s Jewishness and the meaning of Jewish identity in post-Soviet Russia and Ukraine. Books, Articles, TV Shows, and Podcasts Mentioned: https://jewishcurrents.org/issue/winter-spring-2022 (The Soviet Issue of Jewish Currents) “https://jewishcurrents.org/travesty-show (Travesty Show: An Illustrated Correspondence)” by Nicholas Muellner and Helen Betya Rubinstein https://www.netflix.com/title/80119382 (Servant of the People) “https://jewishcurrents.org/our-oligarch (Our Oligarch)” by David Klion “https://jewishcurrents.org/the-many-oblivions-of-babi-yar (The Many Oblivions of Babi Yar)” by Linda Kinstler https://bookshop.org/a/1530/9781621069690 (Soviet Daughter: A Graphic Revolution) by Julia Alekseyeva https://thehistoryofrome.typepad.com/revolutions_podcast/ (Revolutions podcast) “https://www.timesofisrael.com/is-ukraines-top-presidential-candidate-jewish-even-his-spokesman-wont-comment/ (Is Ukraine’s top presidential candidate Jewish? Even his spokesman won’t comment)” by Julie Masis Thanks to Jesse Brenneman for producing and to Nathan Salsburg for the use of his song “VIII (All That Were Calculated Have Passed).”
Over the past few weeks, we’ve seen a new wave of executive and legislative attacks on trans people and abortion rights across the country. In Texas, Governor Greg Abbott issued a directive for the state to treat gender-affirming care for trans youth as child abuse; Idaho passed a six-week abortion ban, and a bill prohibiting gender-affirming care for trans children passed in the House before being killed in the Senate; a proposed bill in Missouri attempts to prevent people from seeking abortions in other states. The growing anti-trans movement seems to be drawing from the same playbook as the anti-abortion movement, as the American right is forcefully pushing both agendas. To understand these alarming developments, Senior Editor Ari M. Brostoff speaks with scholar Jules Gill-Peterson (author of Histories of the Transgender Child), journalist Meaghan Winter (author of All Politics Is Local), and reproductive justice advocate Laurie Bertram Roberts (executive director of the Yellowhammer Fund) about the relationship between the anti-trans and anti-abortion movements and strategies for resistance. Books and Articles Mentioned: “https://jewishcurrents.org/the-anti-trans-lobbys-real-agenda (The Anti-Trans Lobby’s Real Agenda)” by Jules Gill-Peterson Cruel Optimism by Lauren Berlant Thanks to Jesse Brenneman for producing and to Nathan Salsburg for the use of his song “VIII (All That Were Calculated Have Passed).”
In January, n+1 Books released Missing Time, the debut essay collection by Senior Editor Ari M. Brostoff, which includes pieces originally published in Jewish Currents, n+1, and elsewhere. The titular essay reads Brostoff’s preteen passion for the supernatural police procedural The X-Files alongside their nascent political consciousness, as they became a young communist (and then ex-communist). Tracing the relationship between the original run and the 2016 and 2018 reboots, the piece considers the gap between two recent historical epochs, when history seemed to stall and then sputter back to life. In the years since the essay’s initial publication and the show’s conclusion, more and more evidence of real-life UFOs has come to light, with the US government admitting last year that it can’t account for these phenomena—or rule out extraterrestrial explanations. To celebrate the release of their book, Brostoff spoke with Editor-in-Chief Arielle Angel and Managing Editor Nathan Goldman—two recently converted X-Files fanatics—about the show’s political potential, the nature of belief, and whether aliens are real. Books, Articles, and TV Episodes Mentioned: https://shop.nplusonemag.com/products/missing-time-by-ari-m-brostoff (Missing Time: Essays) by Ari M. Brostoff “https://www.nplusonemag.com/issue-31/essays/missing-time-2/ (Missing Time)” by Ari M. Brostoff Missing Time: A Documented Study of UFO Abductions by Budd Hopkins “Aubrey,” The X-Files “Excelsis Dei,” The X-Files “The Lost Art of Forehead Sweat,” The X-Files “Jose Chung’s From Outer Space,” The X-Files “https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/16/us/politics/unidentified-flying-object-navy.html?searchResultPosition=4 (2 Navy Airmen and an Object That ‘Accelerated Like Nothing I’ve Ever Seen’)” by Helene Cooper, Leslie Kean, and Ralph Blumenthal “https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/16/us/politics/pentagon-program-ufo-harry-reid.html (Glowing Auras and ‘Black Money’: The Pentagon’s Mysterious U.F.O. Program)” by Helene Cooper, Ralph Blumenthal, and Leslie Kean UFOs: Generals, Pilots, and Government Officials Go on the Record by Leslie Kean “https://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/25/us/politics/pentagon-ufo-report.html (U.S. Has No Explanation for Unidentified Objects and Stops Short of Ruling Out Aliens)” by Julian E. Barnes “https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2021/05/10/how-the-pentagon-started-taking-ufos-seriously (How the Pentagon Started Taking U.F.O.s Seriously)” by Gideon Lewis-Kraus “https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/may/20/ufo-obama-cbs-60-minutes-america-aliens (I’ve seen the saucers: Obama weighs in as US interest in UFOs rises)” by Adam Gabbatt Abduction: Human Encounters with Aliens by John Mack https://mailchi.mp/00d5e56b3fbd/thursday-newsletter-5932619?e=f874fe4ad4 (Arielle’s Shabbat Reading List recommendation of The X-Files) “https://www.chicagotribune.com/travel/ct-xpm-2007-01-01-chi-0701010141jan01-story.html (In the sky! A bird? A plane? A … UFO?)” by Jon Hilkevitch “https://www.chicagotribune.com/travel/chi-ufo-getting-around-story.html (UFO report stirs believers, skeptics)” by Jon Hilkevitch “Berkshires UFO,” Unsolved Mysteries Thanks to Jesse Brenneman for producing and to Nathan Salsburg for the use of his song “VIII (All That Were Calculated Have Passed).”
A number of recent incidents—from a fracas over Whoopi Goldberg’s comments about the role of race in the Holocaust to a smear campaign launched against Tema Smith, the Anti-Defamation League’s new Director of Jewish Outreach—have highlighted the continued prevalence of anti-Black racism in the American Jewish community and its ongoing exclusion of Black Jews. In this episode, Contributing Writer Rebecca Pierce brought together Black Jewish artists and activists—Yiddish-language performer Anthony Russell, visual artist and organizer Reuben Telushkin, and kohenet and social worker Shoshana Brown—to discuss the policing of Jewish communal space, racism and labor in Jewish organizations, and alternative visions for Black Jewish politics and worlds. PROJECTS MENTIONED: https://yiddishkayt.org/my-own-personal-robeson/ (My Own Personal Robeson/The House We Live In), Anthony Russell
Stephen Spielberg and Tony Kushner’s recent remake of West Side Story sought to bring the musical into the 21st century by updating its flat, stereotypical depictions of Puerto Ricans. In response, Puerto Rican critics have revived a long-running discussion about the musical’s enduring shadow, which some argue has harmed the community as a primary site of "Puerto Rican" representation, written and directed by white men. This time, however, filmmaker, writer, and scholar Frances Negrón-Muntaner, who has been at the forefront of this conversation for decades, found herself accused of antisemitism for daring to criticize the classic musical. What was going on? As the theater historian Brian E. Herrera has observed, West Side Story has two “parallel histories”: as “masterpiece musical and racializing performance.” That parallel also emerges in the different relationships that Jews and Latinx people bring to the work: West Side Story was the work of four gay Jews—Leonard Bernstein, Jerome Robbins, Arthur Laurents, and Stephen Sondheim—and has been held up intracommunally as a paragon of Jewish cultural achievement. Editor-in-chief Arielle Angel spoke with Negrón-Muntaner, Herrera, and writer and scholar Daniel Pollack-Pelzner about the parallel resonances of West Side Story in Jewish and Latinx communities, and the tensions that emerge over questions of power and control. Books and Articles Mentioned: "https://read.dukeupress.edu/social-text/article/18/2%20(63)/83/33436/Feeling-PrettyWEST-SIDE-STORY-AND-PUERTO-RICAN (Feeling Pretty: West Side Story and Puerto Rican Identity Discourses)" by Frances Negrón-Muntaner "https://muse.jhu.edu/article/477303 (Compiling West Side Story’s Parahistories, 1949–2009)" by Brian Eugenio Herrera "https://www.theatlantic.com/culture/archive/2020/03/ivo-van-hoves-west-side-story-steeped-stereotypes/607210/ (Why West Side Story Abandoned Its Queer Narrative)" by Daniel Pollack-Pelzner Disidentifications: Queers of Color and the Performance of Politics by José Esteban Muñoz "https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/24/opinion/west-side-story-broadway.html (Let ‘West Side Story’ and Its Stereotypes Die)" by Carina del Valle Schorske "https://www.thecut.com/2021/12/west-side-story-is-not-for-puerto-ricans-like-me.html (West Side Story Can’t Be Saved)" by Andrea González-Ramírez "https://www.nytimes.com/2021/12/01/theater/west-side-story-steven-spielberg-movie.html (The Great 'West Side Story' Debate)," The New York Times Thanks to Jesse Brenneman for producing and to Nathan Salsburg for the use of his song “VIII (All That Were Calculated Have Passed).”
On Saturday, January 15th, a British national named Malik Faisal Akram entered Congregation Beth Israel, a Reform synagogue in Colleyville, Texas, and held Rabbi Charlie Cytron-Walker and three congregants hostage at gunpoint. Akram demanded the release of Aafia Siddiqui, who is serving an 86-year prison sentence for allegedly shooting at US FBI agents and army personnel. Akram released one hostage after six hours, and the nearly 12-hour crisis finally ended when the remaining hostages escaped and FBI agents and police entered the synagogue and killed Akram. This disturbing incident activated many American Jews’ feelings of vulnerability—especially heightened since the 2018 attack at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh—while also provoking Islamophobic responses and reigniting an ongoing debate about synagogue security. In this episode, recorded the Tuesday after the Colleyville attack, Editor-in-Chief Arielle Angel, Managing Editor Nathan Goldman, Senior Reporter Alex Kane, and Assistant Editor Mari Cohen discuss their immediate reactions to the event and the questions it raises. Note: This discussion cites a https://www.facebook.com/gelbman.itamar/posts/7011321378910489 (statement) from someone claiming to be a former Beth Israel congregant who said he left the synagogue because he wasn’t allowed to bring guns into services. After the episode was recorded, Rabbi Cytron-Walker https://www.jta.org/2022/01/19/united-states/the-texas-rabbi-who-escaped-a-hostage-situation-wants-to-correct-the-record (told) JTA that Beth Israel permits concealed carry and said that he wished one of the congregants had been carrying during the attack. Books, Articles, Tweets, and Podcasts Mentioned: “https://jewishcurrents.org/fears-of-government-surveillance-complicate-muslim-groups-access-to-federal-security-funding/ (Fears of Government Surveillance Complicate Muslim Groups’ Access to Federal Security Funding)” by Mari Cohen “https://forward.com/news/480922/texas-synagogue-attack-antisemitism-envoy-terrorism-deborah-lipstadt/ (Texas synagogue attack invites debate over delay in confirmation of special envoy on antisemitism)” by Jacob Kornbluh “https://jmb807.medium.com/on-antisemitism-fought-3def3bf9d6c4 (On Antisemitism Fought)” by Judah Bernstein On the Nose episode: “https://jewishcurrents.org/rallies-surveys-and-ice-cream (Rallies, Surveys, and Ice Cream)” “https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium-renowned-jewish-historian-stop-using-the-term-antisemitism-1.9193263 (Renowned Jewish Historian: ‘Stop Using the Term ‘Antisemitism’’)” by Ofer Aderet “https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctv13qftt7?turn_away=true (Away from a Definition of Antisemitism: An Essay in the Semantics of Historical Description)” by David Engel (from Rethinking European Jewish History) “https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/18/opinion/texas-colleyville-antisemitism.html (For Jews, Going to Services Is an Act of Courage)” by Deborah E. Lipstadt https://twitter.com/MaNishtana/status/1483084796947542019 (Twitter thread) by Ma Nishtana “https://twitter.com/MaNishtana/status/1483084796947542019 (Hidden in Plain Sight: Racism, White Supremacy, and Far-Right Militancy in Law Enforcement)” by Michael German Thanks to Jesse Brenneman for producing and to Nathan Salsburg for the use of his song “VIII (All That Were Calculated Have Passed).”
On December 2nd, the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA)’s National Political Committee declined to expel New York Congressman Jamaal Bowman from the socialist organization. This decision capped a weeks-long debate within DSA over how to respond to Bowman’s “yes” vote on funding Israel’s anti-rocket Iron Dome system and his participation in a recent J Street trip to Israel/Palestine. Beyond the specific issue of how DSA should respond to Bowman’s divergence from the group’s line on Israel/Palestine, the controversy highlighted broader ideological and strategic questions: What’s the relationship between electoralism and the struggle for Palestinian rights? How should the left should relate to liberal Zionist groups like J Street? In this episode, Senior Reporter Alex Kane, Editor-in-Chief Arielle Angel, Assistant Editor Mari Cohen, and Fellow Dylan Saba discuss the Bowman debate and the questions it raises for the left. Articles Mentioned: “https://jewishcurrents.org/jamaal-bowmans-trip-to-israel-sparks-debate-in-dsa-over-electoral-strategy (Jamaal Bowman’s Trip to Israel Sparks Debate in DSA Over Electoral Strategy)” by Alex Kane “https://jewishcurrents.org/the-resilient-fiction-of-the-two-state-solution (The Resilient Fiction of the Two-State Solution)” by Joshua Leifer “https://jewishcurrents.org/can-minneapolis-reimagine-policing (Can Minneapolis Reimagine Policing?)” by Nathan Goldman “https://stevesalaita.com/the-taming-of-anti-zionism-in-the-united-states/ (The Taming of Anti-Zionism in the United States)” by Steve Salaita “https://stevesalaita.com/the-taming-of-anti-zionism-in-the-united-states/ (No, DSA Shouldn’t Expel Rep. Bowman)” by Hadas Thier Thanks to Jesse Brenneman for producing and to Nathan Salsburg for the use of his song “VIII (All That Were Calculated Have Passed).”
In May, writer and activist Sarah Schulman published Let the Record Show: A Political History of ACT UP New York, 1987-1993, to widespread acclaim. In a https://jewishcurrents.org/what-the-record-doesnt-show (review) for the Fall issue of Jewish Currents, Vicky Osterweil argued that the book, despite offering invaluable insight into the history of AIDS activism, is marred by structural elisions—especially of trans people—and is ultimately hagiographic rather than appropriately critical of the movement it chronicles. While Schulman’s https://www.gawker.com/media/sarah-schulman-conflict-is-sometimes-abuse-actually (response) to the review provoked a controversy, Osterweil’s critique also ignited a discussion about the book itself, sometimes tied to broader disagreements about the theory and practice of both queer history and movement strategy. In a https://jewishcurrents.org/letters/on-what-the-record-doesnt-show (letter to the editor), writer and organizer Kay Gabriel contested Osterweil’s assessment of the book, arguing that it stands as a sober account of what took place. In this episode, Culture Editor Ari M. Brostoff convenes a discussion between Osterweil and Gabriel about Let the Record Show, the dangers of nostalgia, and the challenges of reckoning with our political forebears. Books, Articles, Talks, and Projects Mentioned: Let the Record Show: A Political History of ACT UP New York, 1987-1993 by Sarah Schulman “https://jewishcurrents.org/what-the-record-doesnt-show (What the Record Doesn’t Show)” by Vicky Osterweil https://jewishcurrents.org/letters/on-what-the-record-doesnt-show (Letter on “What the Record Doesn’t Show”) by Kay Gabriel https://actuporalhistory.org/ (ACT UP Oral History Project) “https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mINM1fB8bm4 (Being Street: The Trans Woman of Color as Evidence)” by Jules Gill-Peterson “https://www.nat.org.uk/blog/trans-awareness-week-celebrating-role-trans-people-fight-against-hiv (Celebrating the Role of Trans People in the Fight Against HIV)” by Michelle Ross https://partybottom.tumblr.com/post/133388562948/so-ive-been-diagnosed-with-hiv-around-2-3-years (Untitled blog post) by Bryn Kelly “https://brynkelly-blog.tumblr.com/post/20162901452/diving-into-the-wreck (Diving into the Wreck)” by Bryn Kelly Thanks to Jesse Brenneman for producing and to Nathan Salsburg for the use of his song “VIII (All That Were Calculated Have Passed).”
In October, Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz declared six Palestinian human rights organizations to be “terrorist” groups. The targeted groups form the backbone of Palestinian civil society. Collectively, the organizations document Israeli human rights abuses and offer direct aid to Palestinians crushed by the Israeli occupation, whether it’s farmers facing Israeli settler land theft or children detained in Israel’s military court system. Gantz’s declaration placed the organizations at severe risk, making their employees potentially subject to arrest for working in a banned organization. To learn more about what’s behind Israel’s moves and what it means for the future of Palestinian civil society, Senior Reporter Alex Kane interviews Palestinian American analyst Yousef Munayyer and Sarit Michaeli, International Advocacy Officer for B’Tselem, the leading Israeli human rights organization. Articles Mentioned: “https://theintercept.com/2021/11/04/secret-israel-dossier-palestinian-rights-terrorist/ (Secret Israeli Document Offers No Proof to Justify Terror Label for Palestinian Groups),” by Yuval Abraham, Oren Ziv, Meron Rapoport “https://foreignpolicy.com/2021/11/05/the-long-arm-of-israeli-repression/ (The Long Arm of Israeli Repression),” by Yousef Munayyer “https://apnews.com/article/technology-business-israel-jamal-khashoggi-hacking-6bfc5bc992de7f33f5c8e969e69ce15c (Report: NSO Spyware Found on 6 Palestinian Activists’ Phones),” by Frank Bajak and Joseph Krauss “https://www.nytimes.com/2021/11/11/world/middleeast/israel-palestinian-nso-hacking.html (Palestinian Diplomats Targeted by Israeli Spyware, Official Says),” by Patrick Kingsley and Rawan Sheikh Ahmad “https://www.washingtonpost.com/investigations/interactive/2021/nso-spyware-pegasus-cellphones/?itid=lk_inline_manual_1 (Private Israeli Spyware Used to Hack Cellphones),” by Dana Priest, Craig Timberg, and Souad Mekhennet Thanks to Jesse Brenneman for producing and to Nathan Salsburg for the use of his song “VIII (All That Were Calculated Have Passed).”
Two weeks ago, Sunrise DC—a chapter of the climate action group Sunrise Movement—announced it would not participate in a voting rights rally because of the involvement of Zionist organizations, specifically naming three Jewish groups: the Jewish Council on Public Affairs, the National Council of Jewish Women, and the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism. This decision prompted immediate backlash and provoked a heated discussion: Some critics accused Sunrise of antisemitism for singling out Jewish groups without remarking on the Israel politics of non-Jewish groups associated with the rally, while others argued that the move was not antisemitic but simply unstrategic. Five days later, Sunrise DC put out a new statement apologizing for having “fueled antisemitism,” while also reaffirming a commitment to anti-Zionism and Palestine solidarity. In this episode, editor-in-chief Arielle Angel, culture editor Ari M. Brostoff, assistant editor Mari Cohen, and Jewish Currents fellow Dylan Saba discuss the questions this incident raises about the politics of anti-normalization, the Jewish left’s role in Palestine solidarity, and movement strategy more broadly. Articles, Statements, and Publications Mentioned: https://twitter.com/SunriseMvmtDC/status/1450569542833422348 (Sunrise DC’s initial statement on October 19th) https://twitter.com/SunriseMvmtDC/status/1452457074261209089?s=20 (Sunrise’s DC’s follow-up apology statement on October 24th) https://84f2d87c-60f4-4478-87d0-6980c5e46521.filesusr.com/ugd/4dc342_10d68441b6c44ee0a12909a242074ca6.pdf (The Past Didn’t Go Anywhere) by April Rosenblum “https://jewishcurrents.org/where-did-the-past-go (Where Did the Past Go?)” by Ben Lorber https://jewishcurrents.org/i-campaigned-on-right-not-on-fear (Alex Kane’s conversation with Omari Hardy about his views on BDS) https://twitter.com/maricohen95/status/1447907515795128325?s=20 (Sally Rooney’s statement about boycotting an Israeli publisher) “https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/zahrahirji/sunrise-movement-climate-change-black-activists (Inside ‘the Very Secret History’ of the Sunrise Movement)” by Zahra Hirji and Ryan Brooks “https://jewishcurrents.org/the-politics-of-jewface (The Politics of ‘Jewface’)” by Rebecca Pierce Thanks to Santiago Helou Quintero for producing and to Nathan Salsburg for the use of his song “VIII (All That Were Calculated Have Passed).”
The past months have been tumultuous in the occupied West Bank. In April, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas cancelled parliamentary and presidential elections; in May, during protests following Israel’s assault on Gaza, Israeli soldiers killed dozens of Palestinians; in June, Palestinian Authority security forces killed Nizar Banat, a vocal critic of Abbas, setting off protests against the PA leader. To explore some of the recent developments in the region as well as their broader political context, Senior Reporter Alex Kane speaks with Jewish Currents contributor Dalia Hatuqa and activist and analyst Fadi Quran. Articles Mentioned: “https://jewishcurrents.org/a-prison-break-liberates-the-palestinian-political-imagination (A Prison Break Liberates the Palestinian Political Imagination)” by Dalia Hatuqa “https://apnews.com/article/middle-east-jerusalem-israel-mahmoud-abbas-hamas-5a716da863a603ab5f117548ea85379d (Poll finds nearly 80% of Palestinians want Abbas to resign)” by Joseph Krauss Thanks to Santiago Helou Quintero for producing and to Nathan Salsburg for the use of his song “VIII (All That Were Calculated Have Passed).”
We recently published two pieces—”https://jewishcurrents.org/on-loving-jews (On Loving Jews)” by editor-in-chief Arielle Angel and “https://jewishcurrents.org/reclaiming-the-covenant-of-fate (Reclaiming the Covenant of Fate)” by editor-at-large Peter Beinart—investigating what, if anything, Jews owe one another, especially across fundamental political divides such as disputes over Zionism and Palestinian freedom. This episode features two conversations digging deeper into the question of Jewish solidarity. In the first, Angel and Beinart explore the places their pieces overlap and diverge; in the second, Angel speaks with contributing writer Rebecca Pierce about how she thinks about “Jewish peoplehood,” communal obligations, and organizing as a Jew of color. Articles, Threads, and Films Mentioned: “https://jewishcurrents.org/on-loving-jews (On Loving Jews)” by Arielle Angel “https://jewishcurrents.org/reclaiming-the-covenant-of-fate (Reclaiming the Covenant of Fate)” by Peter Beinart “https://www.sefaria.org/Kol_Dodi_Dofek (Listen, My Beloved Knocks)” by Rabbi Joseph Soloveitchik https://jewishcurrents.org/letters/on-on-loving-jews (Raphael Magarik’s letter about “On Loving Jews”) https://twitter.com/YairWallach/status/1437801026812354567?s=20 (Yair Wallach’s thread on “Jewish peoplehood”) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I0uSQA1TMbw (No Man’s Land) by Rebecca Pierce Books Mentioned: Leviticus: The Book of Holiness by Rabbi Jonathan Sacks Thanks to Santiago Helou Quintero for producing and to Nathan Salsburg for the use of his song “VIII (All That Were Calculated Have Passed).”
As climate change-induced flooding and wildfires wreak havoc across the globe, and the Delta variant brings us into another perilous phase of the pandemic, the Jewish Currents staff is thinking about political depression—and how to cope with it. What does it mean to bring political feelings into therapy? Editor-in-chief Arielle Angel, publisher Jacob Plitman, culture editor Ari M. Brostoff, and contributing editor Joshua Leifer discuss the relationship between melancholia and the left, the difficulties of reconciling the therapeutic subject with the social collective of movement politics, and how therapy might be radicalized. Listen to On the Nose and subscribe on https://open.spotify.com/show/49OsNg8P8HgIRyaMfAgdEY?si=odVeqN8PQ22bPUxlqHAJBw&dl_branch=1 (Spotify), https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/on-the-nose/id1573983987 (Apple Podcasts), https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5jYXB0aXZhdGUuZm0vb24tdGhlLW5vc2Uv (Google Podcasts), and wherever you get your podcasts. Articles and Podcasts Mentioned: “https://www.commonwealmagazine.org/beautiful-losers (Beautiful Losers)” by Sam Adler-Bell “https://know-your-enemy-1682b684.simplecast.com/episodes/depression-9pI7DYw_ (How to Be Depressed)” from Know Your Enemy “https://www.jstor.org/stable/42981415 (Feel Tank)” by Lauren Berlant “https://nplusonemag.com/issue-37/reviews/the-family-romance-of-american-communism/ (The Family Romance of American Communism)” by Ari M. Brostoff “https://thebaffler.com/latest/i-feel-better-now-bittle (I Feel Better Now)” by Jake Bittle “https://thebaffler.com/salvos/the-anti-antidepressant-syndicate-mcallen (The Anti-Antidepressant Syndicate)” by Jess McAllen “https://pioneerworks.org/broadcast/scientology-psychiatry (Scientology’s Lonely Turf War)” by Danielle Carr Books Mentioned: Half-Truths and One-and-a-Half Truths by Karl Kraus Studies on Hysteria by Sigmund Freud and Josef Breuer Eros and Civilization: A Philosophical Inquiry into Freud by Herbert Marcuse The Romance of American Communism by Vivian Gornick The Republic by Plato
Thanks to Santiago Helou Quintero for producing and to Nathan Salsburg for the use of his song “VIII (All That Were Calculated Have Passed).”
It’s been a rough few weeks for the “pro-Israel” establishment, from a pitiful showing at the “No Fear” rally against antisemitism (whose “big tent” excluded non-Zionists), to the release of a Jewish Electorate Institute survey of American Jewish voters showing surprisingly prevelant left-wing attitudes about Israel, to last week’s announcement that Ben & Jerry’s will stop selling ice cream in the occupied Palestinian territories. Editor-in-chief Arielle Angel, culture editor Ari M. Brostoff, assistant editor Mari Cohen, and contributing editor Joshua Leifer discuss these developments, what they suggest about evolving public opinion among American Jews, and what questions they raise about Jewish institutional engagement and political education. Articles Mentioned: Jewish Electorate Institute’s “https://www.jewishelectorateinstitute.org/july-2021-national-survey-of-jewish-voters/ (July 2021 National Survey of Jewish Voters)” “https://www.jta.org/2021/07/19/opinion/i-helped-organize-the-washington-rally-against-antisemitism-it-wasnt-perfect-but-it-was-necessary (I helped organize the Washington rally against antisemitism. It wasn’t perfect, but it was necessary)” by Elisha Wiesel “https://forward.com/news/472664/capitol-rally-antisemitism-wiesel/ (How Zionism complicated a Capitol rally against antisemitism)” by Arno Rosenfeld “https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/news/articles/antisemitism-rally-jeff-ballabon-bruce-abramson (No More Slogans)” by Bruce Abramson and Jeff Ballabon “https://jewishcurrents.org/are-95-of-jews-really-zionists/ (Are 95% of Jews Really Zionists?)” by Caroline Morganti “https://ccrjustice.org/sites/default/files/attach/2016/08/Background%20on%20the%20term%20genocide%20in%20Israel%20Palestine%20Context.pdf (The Genocide of the Palestinian People: An International and Human Rights Perspective)” https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/14623528.2010.529698 (“The question of genocide in Palestine, 1948: an exchange between Martin Shaw and Omer Bartov”) “https://jewishcurrents.org/what-happened-to-ifnotnow/ (What Happened to IfNotNow?)” by Aaron Freedman “https://jewishcurrents.org/avodah-considers-stepping-out-on-israel-palestine/ (Avodah Considers Stepping Out on Israel/Palestine)” by Mari Cohen “https://jewishcurrents.org/ben-jerrys-tests-anti-bds-laws/ (Ben & Jerry’s Tests Anti-BDS Laws)” by Mari Cohen Books Mentioned: Politicide: The Real Legacy of Ariel Sharon by Baruch Kimmerling Thanks to Santiago Helou Quintero for producing and to Nathan Salsburg for the use of his song “VIII (All That Were Calculated Have Passed).”
The recent Jewish Currents https://jewishcurrents.org/what-we-talk-about-when-we-talk-about-intermarriage/ (staff roundtable) on “intermarriage,” “Jewish continuity,” and the fraught institutional discourse on these topics occasioned a wide variety of responses, including the question: How might the conversation look different if it included non-Jewish partners of Jews? So we decided to find out! In the second episode of our new podcast, On the Nose, editor-in-chief Arielle Angel and her husband Michael M., managing editor Nathan Goldman and his wife Bridget Bergin, web editor Nora Caplan-Bricker and her husband Tom Stackpole, and culture editor Ari M. Brostoff and their roommate Daniel Drake reflect on the intermarriage roundtable and the questions it raised for them about what Jewishness means. Articles and TV Episodes Mentioned: “https://jewishcurrents.org/what-we-talk-about-when-we-talk-about-intermarriage/ (What We Talk About When We Talk About ‘Intermarriage’)” by Jewish Currents editors “https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u8QMIYv-y98 (The Yada Yada),” Seinfeld Books Mentioned: The Myth of the Shiksa and Other Essays by Edwin H. Friedman Thanks to Santiago Helou Quintero for producing and to Nathan Salsburg for the use of his song “VIII (All That Were Calculated Have Passed).”
Welcome to the first official episode of the Jewish Currents podcast, On the Nose. After a brief conversation about the show’s title, editor-in-chief Arielle Angel, publisher Jacob Plitman, managing editor Nathan Goldman, and assistant editor Mari Cohen discuss the Anti-Defamation League’s https://www.adl.org/blog/survey-of-american-jews-since-recent-violence-in-israel (recent survey) of American Jews about their perceptions and understanding of antisemitism, in the wake of a https://www.adl.org/news/press-releases/preliminary-adl-data-reveals-uptick-in-antisemitic-incidents-linked-to-recent (reported) “uptick in antisemitic incidents.” We discuss what it means that the survey suggests American Jews widely conflate anti-Zionism and certain criticisms of Israel with antisemitism. What’s the relationship between claims of antisemitism and feelings of discomfort? How does this misunderstanding relate to the left’s thinking about the authority of subjective experience and the politics of feelings? What can Jewish identity politics teach us about the power and limits of identity politics writ large? Articles and Podcasts Mentioned: “https://www.adl.org/blog/survey-of-american-jews-since-recent-violence-in-israel (Survey of American Jews since Recent Violence in Israel)” by the Anti-Defamation League “https://www.adl.org/news/press-releases/preliminary-adl-data-reveals-uptick-in-antisemitic-incidents-linked-to-recent (Preliminary ADL Data Reveals Uptick in Antisemitic Incidents Linked to Recent Mideast Violence)” by the Anti-Defamation League “https://jewishcurrents.org/a-closer-look-at-the-uptick-in-antisemitism/ (A Closer Look at the ‘Uptick’ in Antisemitism)” by Mari Cohen “https://www.pewforum.org/2021/05/11/jewish-americans-in-2020/ (Jewish Americans in 2020)” (Pew study) “https://jewishcurrents.org/the-collective-work-of-abolition/ (The Collective Work of Abolition)” by Claire Schwartz “https://jewishcurrents.org/how-not-to-fight-antisemitism/ (How Not to Fight Antisemitism)” by Jewish Currents editors “https://goodbye.substack.com/p/how-not-to-think-like-a-cop-with (How not to think like a cop, with Naomi Murakawa)” from Time To Say Goodbye “https://jewishcurrents.org/fears-of-government-surveillance-complicate-muslim-groups-access-to-federal-security-funding/ (Fears of Government Surveillance Complicate Muslim Groups’ Access to Federal Security Funding)” by Mari Cohen Books Mentioned: We Do This 'Til We Free Us: Abolitionist Organizing and Transforming Justice by Mariame Kaba Meir Kahane: The Public Life and Political Thought of an American Jewish Radical by Shaul Magid Black Power, Jewish Politics by Marc Dollinger Sexual Justice by Alexandra Brodsky Policing the Crisis by Stuart Hall, Chas Critcher, Tony Jefferson, John Clarke, and Brian Roberts Thanks to Santiago Helou Quintero for producing and to Nathan Salsburg for the use of his song “VIII (All That Were Calculated Have Passed).”
Is it worthwhile to focus our organizing on moving Jewish American public opinion on Israel/Palestine? How effective is it really in shifting the dynamics on the ground? Jewish Currents staff members discuss these questions. Then, starting at 33:58, we discuss one of the main questions we’ve received in the last week: How do I talk to my family about what’s happening? We recount personal victories and failures, and explore how people actually change their mind. Reading & Resources Mentioned in "In This Moment & Tough Conversations" https://www.google.com/url?q=https://jewishcurrents.org/are-95-of-jews-really-zionists/&sa=D&source=editors&ust=1624659503339000&usg=AOvVaw1tVPXBwTUOjTvI4RtHNb_5 (Are 95% of Jews Really Zionists?) by Caroline Morganti https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.pewforum.org/2021/05/11/jewish-americans-in-2020/&sa=D&source=editors&ust=1624659503339000&usg=AOvVaw0Icz1KiDiXTo7CqOm_mZmG (Jewish Americans in 2020 (Pew Study)) https://www.google.com/url?q=https://jewishcurrents.org/teshuvah-a-jewish-case-for-palestinian-refugee-return/&sa=D&source=editors&ust=1624659503340000&usg=AOvVaw3l2aZxHfeJUvPxIhIgWdyw (Teshuvah: A Jewish Case for Palestinian Refugee Return) by Peter Beinart https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.972mag.com/us-media-palestinians/&sa=D&source=editors&ust=1624659503340000&usg=AOvVaw1AmacRMQOBwnMfuXmAwmTt (US media talks a lot about Palestinians — just without Palestinians) by Maha Nassar https://www.google.com/url?q=https://jewishcurrents.org/how-not-to-fight-antisemitism/&sa=D&source=editors&ust=1624659503341000&usg=AOvVaw3wkHpodAHR-hNF_txRJHrq (Responsa - How Not to Fight Antisemitism) by Jewish Currents editors https://www.google.com/url?q=https://jewishcurrents.org/a-guide-to-the-current-crisis-in-israel-palestine/&sa=D&source=editors&ust=1624659503341000&usg=AOvVaw3vFDginQe7477fyWuHgV2E (A Guide to the Current Crisis in Israel/Palestine) by Mari Cohen, Joshua Leifer, Alex Kane https://www.google.com/url?q=https://jewishcurrents.org/the-palestinian-cause-at-a-moment-of-transition/&sa=D&source=editors&ust=1624659503342000&usg=AOvVaw23geVYahAdcdTcoZphnW2D (The Palestinian Cause at a Moment of Transition), a conversation between Inès Abdel Razek, Salem Barahmeh, Dana El Kurd, and Fadi Quran Books Mentioned in "In This Moment & Tough Conversations" https://www.google.com/url?q=https://bookshop.org/a/1530/9780201327984&sa=D&source=editors&ust=1624659503343000&usg=AOvVaw1sM041zxthymwyIk49aCWM (Jewish Power) by JJ Goldberg https://www.google.com/url?q=https://bookshop.org/a/1530/9781541453500&sa=D&source=editors&ust=1624659503343000&usg=AOvVaw2-YjVmIelJTfW5qiGbqnUj (Where the Jews Aren't) by Masha Gessen
Thanks to Santiago Helou Quintero for producing and to Nathan Salsburg for the use of his song "VIII (All That Were Calculated Have Passed)." Transcript will be available soon.
The cover of the Spring 2021 issue of Jewish Currents features a photograph that has proven controversial, eliciting a wide array of reactions, from disgust to accusations of antisemitism to schnoz pride. Editor-in-Chief Arielle Angel, Publisher Jacob Plitman, and Managing Editor Nathan Goldman sat down with Rachel Stern, the artist behind the photograph, to discuss the image, the response, and what it all might mean. Thanks to Santiago Helou Quintero for producing and to Nathan Salsburg for the use of his song "VIII (All That Were Calculated Have Passed)."