JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT. |
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WHAT’S DRIVING THE AMERICAN JEWISH CONVERSATION |
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Today: Football player’s pro-Palestinian shoes cause uproar • Kevin Spacey visits Gaza border • University settles federal antisemitism investigation • Rabbinic advice for a Jewish rapper • and a sneak peek of Hallmark’s two new Hanukkah movies. |
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Orna and Ronen Neutra, the parents Omer Neutra, at Kibbutz Nirim in January. (Getty) |
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‘The grief is heavy’
A memorial service for Omer Neutra, who deferred attendance at Binghamton University to spend a gap year in Israel and then joined its military, is set for 10:30 a.m. today on Long Island. His body is more than 6,000 miles away in Gaza. Neutra, 21, was the grandson of Holocaust survivors and a lifelong fan of the New York Knicks. He was believed kidnapped by Hamas on Oct. 7, 2023, and held hostage for the more than 420 days since, but on Monday, the Israeli Defense Forces announced it had discovered proof that Neutra was actually killed during the initial attack and his body dragged into Gaza.
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul ordered flags on state buildings be flown at half-mast today in memory of Neutra. (NY Jewish Week)
“The grief is heavy,” the Neutra family said in a statement, calling the ordeal “an unimaginable nightmare.” |
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In related news… President-elect Donald Trump issued an ultimatum on Monday to Hamas: Release the remaining hostages before he takes office on Jan. 20 or there will be “hell to pay.”
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu convened a security meeting to discuss hostage and ceasefire negotiations with Hamas, as Israel and Hezbollah traded fire despite agreeing to a truce last week. (Times of Israel, NY Times)
Hamas and its political rival, the Palestinian Authority’s Fatah, agreed Tuesday to jointly run a postwar Gaza, after negotiations brokered by Egypt. It is unclear if Israel would agree to such terms, given its stated opposition to Hamas having any role in governing Gaza. (Times of Israel)
Plus… The United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) halted aid deliveries into Gaza after armed groups looted convoys twice in the past month. The agency blamed Israel for lax security around the convoys. (JTA)
People who escaped the Nova music festival massacre say that more than 50 deaths by suicide by their fellow survivors have gone unreported by the authorities and media. (JTA)
Actor Kevin Spacey, who has been attempting a comeback after denying sexual misconduct allegations, and Douglas Murray, a popular pro-Israel British commentator, toured Israeli communities along the Gaza border devastated by the Oct. 7 Hamas attack. (Hollywood Reporter) |
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Scott Stringer and his sons at the 2019 Celebrate Israel parade in New York. (Courtesy Stringer family) |
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Running again
Scott Stringer’s 2021 bid for New York City mayor was derailed by allegations of sexual misconduct by a campaign volunteer. He denied the abuse and is suing his accuser. He’s now one of seven Democrats who have declared plans to challenge the indicted Mayor Eric Adams in a June primary. But up first? Prepping for his son’s bar mitzvah next week. His wife says their son’s Torah portion, Vayishlach, which is about rivalry and reconciliation, is an apt metaphor for a political comeback. |
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Plus… Our Mira Fox compares President Joe Biden’s pardoning of his son Hunter to the biblical story of Abraham and the binding of Isaac.
Pete Hegseth, Trump’s nominee for Secretary of Defense, drunkenly yelled “Kill all Muslims” while at an Ohio bar in 2015, according to a previously undisclosed whistle-blower report by employees at his nonprofit. (New Yorker)
Trump said he would be go to Paris for Saturday’s reopening of the Notre Dame Cathedral, which suffered severe fire damage in 2019. It will be his first trip abroad as president-elect. (Politico)
Quotable ► “I don’t know what the next administration’s policies will be. Nobody does, and I certainly can’t speak to that. But I have no doubt that they will take this issue very seriously. All the signs point to that.” Ambassador Deborah Lipstadt, the special envoy to monitor and combat antisemitism. (Jewish Insider) |
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Azeez Al-Shaair points to the Jacksonville Jaguars bench after a fight following his hit on their quarterback Sunday. (Getty) |
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Foul play?
Football fans are still fuming about the late hit on Jacksonville Jaguars quarterback Trevor Lawrence during a Sunday game. The tackle — which knocked Lawrence out of the game with a concussion — prompted calls for the suspension of the tackler, the Houston Texans’ Azeez Al-Shaair. Online, pro-Israel activists piled on, outraged by Al-Shaair’s pro-Palestinian footwear. Yes, you read that right. Go deeper ►
Plus: Our PJ Grisar offers rabbinic advice to Drake, the Jewish rapper, who is suing his own music label.
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Sunday, Dec. 8, at 2:45 p.m.: Adam Langer, the Forward’s executive editor and creator of our Playing Anne Frank podcast, will be in discussion with Lauren Bairnsfeather, CEO of the Anne Frank Center USA, to explore the legacy of Anne’s diary. More info ► |
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WHAT ELSE YOU NEED TO KNOW TODAY |
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Pro-Palestinian demonstrators from Temple University and other Philadelphia schools erected an encampment on the University of Pennsylvania campus in April. (Getty) |
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🎒 Temple University settled a federal investigation into antisemitism and anti-Zionism on campus by agreeing to provide anti-discrimination training to students and staff. The agreement follows reports of more than 50 incidents during the past two school years, including two incidents of vandalism in May at the Jewish fraternity AEPi and an August pro-Palestinian march outside the campus Hillel. (Philadelphia Inquirer, NBC 10)
📈 The Anti-Defamation League reported a sharp increase in Islamist terror incidents targeting the U.S. — seven so far in 2024, up from a total of six over the prior three years. (Jewish Insider)
🏆 No Other Land, a film made by Israelis and Palestinians about the Israeli military’s destruction of Palestinian villages in the occupied West Bank, won best documentary Monday at the Gotham Awards. (Hollywood Reporter)
🏥 Harvey Weinstein, the disgraced Hollywood mogul serving prison time over sex crimes, was rushed to the hospital again on Monday, the third time since July. Weinstein’s spokespeople said he has leukemia and other illnesses and has not gotten adequate medical care while in custody. (Deadline)
Mazel tov ► To Broadway actress Julie Benko and musician Jason Yeager on the birth of a baby girl, Sophie Eloise Yaeger-Benko.
Shiva call ► Gladys Siegel, whose son Keith Siegel is being held hostage by Hamas, died at 97.
What else we’re reading ► Misogyny and antisemitism are a toxic brew, according to two Jewish female professors (NY Times) … Why does the U.S. Border Patrol need chaplains? (AP) How a newspaper columnist brought a Jewish wartime refugee’s lost fairytale back to life (Guardian). |
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It’s a holiday miracle! The Hallmark Channel is debuting not one, but two Hanukkah movies this year. Leah’s Perfect Gift, about a Jewish woman who goes to her boyfriend’s house for Christmas, debuts Sunday. Watch the trailer above.
The second film, Hanukkah on the Rocks, follows an unemployed attorney-turned-bartender as she embarks on a quest across Chicago to find the last box of special Hanukkah candles. That debuts on Dec. 13.
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Thanks to Louis Keene, Julie Moos and Talya Zax 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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