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WHAT’S DRIVING THE AMERICAN JEWISH CONVERSATION

Welcome back: Two Israelis injured in New Orleans terror attack • Netanyahu plans to attend Trump inauguration • North Carolina swears in its first Jewish governor • Holocaust survivor-turned-Olympic champion dies at 103.

LOOKING AHEAD

President-elect Donald Trump and his wife, Melania, arrive for a New Year's Eve party at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida. (Getty)

5 stories we’re watching in 2025

1) President Trump, again

Donald Trump’s return to power opens the door to a whole host of questions:

• How will Jewish advocacy groups like HIAS and leaders of synagogues that have declared themselves sanctuaries for immigrants respond to mass deportation efforts?

  
  

• Will the conservative policy blueprint Project 2025 give further prominence to Christian nationalism and erode the historic separation of church and state?

  
  

• How will former Gov. Mike Huckabee, a Baptist minister and the first non-Jew named as U.S. ambassador to Israel since 2011, shape the job?

  
  

• Who will Trump tap to replace Ambassador Deborah Lipstadt as his antisemitism envoy? (Here’s a guide to his Jewish advisers and pro-Israel appointees so far.)

2) The hostages

Today marks the 454th day in captivity for the 101 people kidnapped on Oct. 7 and still in captivity (at least a third are believed dead).

• Talk of a hostage release coinciding with Hanukkah came and went (barring a late-holiday miracle today). Now all eyes are on Jan. 2o, Inauguration Day.

  
  

• Trump has threatened Hamas that there will be “all hell to pay” if the captives aren’t released before he takes office. Were it to happen, such a deal would give a political victory to both Biden and Trump.

3) Antisemitism and the war

U.S. Jews continue to be divided over Israel’s prosecution of the war in Gaza now in its second year and having expanded regionally, and on how to fight antisemitism reverberating around the world.

• The new Trump administration has signaled its plans to crack down on pro-Palestinian demonstrators on college campuses, though there have been far fewer this fall than last spring.

  
  

• Scores of universities are facing lawsuits or Department of Education complaints alleging discrimination and a climate of hostility for Jewish students.

4) New York City mayoral race

The city, home to the largest concentration of Jews outside Israel, is overwhelmingly Democratic, so the main contest is the June primary. Seven politicians have already announced challenges to Mayor Eric Adams and more are expected to jump in.

• Adams won in 2021 with the strong backing of Orthodox leaders, and he has been outspoken about a rise in antisemitism in the city.

  
  

• But Adams faces an April trial on corruption charges, and mayoral wannabes including Comptroller Brad Lander and former Comptroller Scott Stringer, who are both Jewish, will also court Jewish voters.

5) The Oscars

Two Holocaust films — The Brutalist and A Real Pain — are contenders for Academy Awards.

• A Holocaust film has not won the top prize since Schindler’s List, which was 1994’s Best Picture, and Life is Beautiful, which claimed Best Foreign Language Film and Best Actor for Roberto Benigni in 1997.

  
  

• The Golden Globes, a reliable precursor to Oscar nominations, are this Sunday. The Brutalist is up for best drama and A Real Pain for best comedy.

  
  

• Related: My colleague PJ Grisar offers 25 “fairly feasible” pop culture predictions for 2025.

ISRAEL AT WAR

People at a New York City rally to mark the first anniversary of the Oct. 7 attacks on Israel. (Getty)

Opinion | Why ‘Israel’ was the 2024 word of the year: “Views on Israel have changed how many Jews feel about college campuses, book publishing, the news media, most politicians, and many celebrities,” writes Aviya Kushner, our language columnist. “Opinions on how Israel is conducting its war against Hamas have destroyed friendships, challenged congregations, and split families.” Read her essay ►

The latest…

• Hundreds of pro-Palestinian demonstrators shouting “Zionism is cancer” and other slogans marched in Times Square on Wednesday. (Times of Israel)

  
  

• Yoav Gallant, who was fired by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as defense minister in November, resigned from the Knesset Wednesday, vowing that “his journey is not yet complete.” (Times of Israel)

  
  

• The Palestinian Authority temporarily banned Al Jazeera’s broadcasts in the occupied West Bank, accusing the network of incitement and misinformation. (New York Times)

  
  

• PA security forces have meanwhile been battling members of Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad in the West Bank, which some analysts say is part of a bid to impress Trump (AFP)

  
  

• Two days after having his prostate removed, Netanyahu, 75, briefly left a Jerusalem hospital to cast a Knesset vote on the budget. (Times of Israel)

  
  

• Netanyahu plans to attend Trump’s inauguration, a rarity for foreign leaders. (Times of Israel)

  
  

• Art Spiegelman, whose graphic novel Maus about the Holocaust won the Pulitzer Prize, now plans to write one about the war in Gaza. (Forward)

WHAT ELSE YOU NEED TO KNOW TODAY

Police on Wednesday cordoned off an intersection in New Orleans, where at least 15 people were killed in a terror attack when a driver rammed his car into a crowd. (Getty)

😞  Two Israelis were among the dozens injured in the New Year’s attack in New Orleans, where a driver rammed into a crowd, killing at least 15 people. (Haaretz, Times of Israel)

👍  Josh Stein was sworn in Wednesday as the 76th Governor of North Carolina, the first Jew to hold that position. (AP, Forward)

👮 Police in Florida arrested an armed man they suspect of planning an attack on a local AIPAC office. (Times of Israel)

🇸🇾  Following the overthrow of President Bashar al-Assad, Syria’s nine remaining Jews can once again visit the synagogue in Damascus, which was partially destroyed during the 13-year civil war. (AP)

🏠  A German court ruled that an 85-year-old woman and her son must vacate their home near Berlin, which was sold under duress by its Jewish owners in 1939. It will be transferred to the Conference of Jewish Material Claims Against Germany. (JTA)

🧑‍🦽 Katz’s Deli in New York, the setting for that infamous scene in When Harry Met Sally, has settled a lawsuit filed in 2011 by agreeing to make the restaurant wheelchair accessible and pay a $20,000 fine. (New York Times)

Transitions ► Hadassah tapped Ellen Finkelstein, formerly of Yeshiva University, as its new CEO.

Shiva calls ► Agnes Keleti, a Holocaust survivor who went on to win 10 Olympic medals in gymnastics, died at 103. (Watch a video about her) … Dick Capri, a comedian on the Borscht Belt circuit, died at 93 … Linda Lavin, star of TV and Broadway, died at 87 … Rabbi Solomon Isaacson, known as the Grand Rebbe of Philadelphia, died at 81 ... Aaron Brown, former CNN anchor who guided viewers through the Sept. 11 attacks, died at 76.

What else we’re reading ► How Jimmy Carter’s evangelical faith informed his politics (AP) … It pays to have long hair and a beard in Utah — Jesus models are in demand (WSJ) … Reporter Ron Kampeas looks back at a decades-long career in Jewish journalism (JTA).

VIDEO OF THE DAY

Noa Tishby, the Israeli activist and author, has been lighting Hanukkah candles with celebrities each night: Mayim Bialik, Cindy Crawford, Tiffany Haddish, Van Jones, Mila Kunis, Gwyneth Paltrow, Iliza Shlesinger and, last night, Gal Gadot.

Related: Gadot recently revealed that she had emergency surgery in 2024, during her fourth pregnancy, after doctors found a “massive blood clot” in her brain. She said she shared the story to pull “back the curtain on the fragile reality behind the curated moments we share on social media” and to “raise awareness and support others” who have cerebral venous thrombosis, also known as CVT. (Good Morning America)

Thanks to Jacob Kornbluh for contributing to today’s newsletter, and to Jodi Rudoren for editing it. You can reach the “Forwarding” team at editorial@forward.com.

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