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Good morning. Today: Spain and Canada to resume UNRWA funding; San Francisco arts center rocked by pro-Palestinian protests and allegations of antisemitism; and an Orthodox sex strike.

STATE OF THE UNION

Protesters against the war blocked Biden’s motorcade en route to the Capitol. (Pedro Ugarte/AFP via Getty Images)

One of the strongest ovations Democrats gave President Joe Biden in last night’s State of the Union address came when he declared that Israel “has a fundamental responsibility to protect innocent civilians in Gaza.” He used his harshest language yet about the war, calling the toll of death, destruction and displacement “heartbreaking.”

The speech came two days after a surprisingly strong protest vote over Biden’s support of Israel’s war against Hamas in Super Tuesday primaries. Pro-Palestinian advocates blocked his planned route to the Capitol and projected “Biden’s Legacy is Genocide” onto a building; inside the House chamber, Reps. Summer Lee, Rashida Tlaib and Cori Bush wore kaffiyehs, the signature Palestinian solidarity scarf, and held signs that read, “Stop Sending Bombs” and “Lasting Ceasefire Now.”

Some lawmakers also wore stickers saying “153,” the number of days the hostages, some 130 of them, have been held in captivity by Hamas.

Addressing the war late in his 100-minute speech, Biden said he’d been “working nonstop to establish an immediate ceasefire” and, as announced earlier in the day Tuesday, that the U.S. military would establish a temporary pier off Gaza’s coastline to “enable a massive increase” in aid “every day.”

“Israel must do its part,” he declared. “To the leadership of Israel I say this: Humanitarian assistance cannot be a secondary consideration or a bargaining chip. Protecting and saving innocent lives has to be a priority.”

Biden checked his pro-Israel boxes by calling Hamas a terrorist group, being clear that the Oct. 7 terror attack sparked the war and included sexual violence and was the “deadliest day for the Jewish people since the Holocaust,” and noting that he is the only American president to visit Israel during wartime. He used the phrase “over time” regarding a two-state solution, and said Middle East stability depends on “containing the threat posed by Iran.”

But he also tried to appease the growing number of Democrats displeased by his unbridled backing of the war.

“More than 30,000 Palestinians have been killed, most of whom are not Hamas,” he said, citing figures that many in Israel dispute. “Girls and boys also orphaned. Nearly 2 million more Palestinians under bombardment or displacement. Homes destroyed, neighborhoods in rubble, cities in ruin. Families without food, water, medicine. It’s heartbreaking.”

Read JTA’s story about the speech >

ICYMI: A number of family members of hostages still in Gaza attended the address. Among them were Yael and Adi Alexander, parents of Edan Alexander, 20.

ICYMI, Part 2: A more unexpected guest was former Rep. George Santos, who announced a new run for Congress. In an interview with our senior political reporter Jacob Kornbluh after his expulsion from the House, Santos aired grievances about “everything I have been through.”

ISRAEL AT WAR

The rubble of houses destroyed by Israeli bombardment in Gaza. (AFP/Getty Images)

Opinion | She was 7 years old. She shared my name. In Gaza, she died an unthinkable death. Graphic images of Sidra Hassouna’s death horrified the world. For Sidra DeKoven Ezrahi, the young girl’s death felt personal, their shared name a piercing reminder of how vast the differences are now between life in Israel, where Ezrahi lives, and Gaza, where Hassouna died. “I want to believe that photos like those documenting the horrifying deaths of the Hassouna family will help build compassion for Palestinians, and help Israelis push our government for change,” Ezrahi writes. Read her essay ➤

No, a renowned gender theorist did not say they support Hamas. Judith Butler, a major thought leader on the left, went viral earlier this week for comments in which they described the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks as “an act of armed resistance.” “But their actual statement at the conference was far more moderate than many that have come from the left in recent months,” writes our Mira Fox, and “could even be read as a rebuke to the trend in some activist circles of celebrating the attacks.” Why? Because Butler emphasized the pain experienced by Israeli citizens — even while sharing a belief that the attack wasn’t necessarily antisemitic. Read the story ➤

Demonstrators hold portraits of missing and kidnapped Israeli girls and women outside the South African parliament in Cape Town to mark International Women's Day. (AFP/Getty Images)

Latest from the war…

Some officials in Biden’s administration said Hamas is responsible for delays in achieving a six-week ceasefire, with one saying such a deal could already be in place “if Hamas would agree to release a defined category of vulnerable hostages, including women, the elderly, the sick and the wounded.”

Israel will participate in Eurovision after rewriting its song submission. Officials with the competition, which has rules against political messaging, previously rejected two options that referenced Oct. 7.

Twenty-seven detainees from Gaza have died in Israeli custody during the war, per a new report. Military police are looking into the circumstances of their deaths; detainees who have returned to Gaza have reported harsh treatment at military facilities, including beatings and abuse.

An independent report concluded that a Reuters reporter’s October death in Lebanon likely happened after an Israeli tank crew fired two shells at a clearly identified group of journalists, then opened machine-gun fire.

Spain will resume its funding to UNRWA, the United Nations agency that serves Palestinians; Canada is reportedly intending to do the same.

Two students filed a lawsuit accusing MIT of allowing campus antisemitism.

The Jewish leader of a San Francisco arts organization resigned, saying she’d been subject to antisemitism in the wake of a pro-Palestinian artist protest.

Israeli soccer player Liel Abada. (Ian MacNicol/Getty Images and Andy Buchanan/AFP via Getty Images)

Israeli soccer player who sat out amid pro-Palestinian fan displays to join North Carolina team. Liel Abada has sat out the last five games at his Scottish club, where fans have, since Oct. 7, taken to waving Palestinian flags by the thousands. Now, Abada is departing the club — which won the Scottish League the past two years — to become the U.S. Major League Soccer’s second active Israeli player. Read the story ➤

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INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S DAY

A protest calling on Volvy Berkowitz to give his wife, Malky, a Jewish divorce. (Courtesy of Adina Sash)

No sex this Shabbat: Orthodox influencer sparks strike to highlight plight of woman seeking divorce. Malky (Gold) Berkowitz, who comes from a Hasidic community, has been trying to divorce her husband for four years — but he has refused to grant her a Jewish divorce. It’s a familiar issue within the Haredi world, where activists have long adopted creative tactics in trying to force men to grant divorces. Now, Adina Sash, who runs the popular Instagram account @FlatbushGirl, is spearheading an especially unusual one to help Berkowitz: a sex strike.

Opinion | It’s International Women’s Day. And it's time to finally believe Israeli women. The reluctance of many to accept that Hamas committed sexual violence as part of the Oct. 7 attacks is a scandal, writes Noa Tishby, author of Israel: A Simple Guide to the Most Misunderstood Country on Earth. “This International Women’s Day, we must insist that all those who have not spoken up for the Israeli women who were raped, taken hostage and murdered must stop believing the lies.”

WHAT ELSE YOU NEED TO KNOW TODAY

Rabbi Charlie Cytron-Walker and Rabbi Angela Buchdahl discuss a forthcoming documentary about the Colleyville synagogue hostage crisis. (Lauren Markoe)

📹 A new documentary will show never-before-seen footage of the Colleyville hostage-taking; a preview of the film was shown at the Anti-Defamation League’s annual conference this week. (Forward)

📖 A Los Angeles bookstore canceled a book signing by Stranger Things star Brett Gelman after receiving antisemitic threats. Gelman has been a vocal supporter of Israel since Oct. 7. (Los Angeles Magazine)

👀 An Oxford University student received financial damages from a lawmaker who falsely accused her of antisemitism. Baroness Jacqueline Foster made the claims after Melika Gorgianeh appeared on the TV show University Challenge. (BBC)

Shiva call ➤ Steve Lawrence, a singer and half of the stage duo Steve & Eydie, died at 88.

What else we’re reading ➤ “This podcast uncovers a famous Iranian Jewish family’s incredible story” … A Jewish writer wonders: “Why did armed men come looking for me in Buenos Aires in 1974?” … “‘Extraordinary’: Islamic and Jewish science merge in 11th-century astrolabe.”

PHOTO OF THE DAY

Displaced Palestinian women and their children sheltered in a tent in Rafah on Thursday. “The thing about these children, when you see photos of them from before the war, is how ordinary they are,” Sidra DeKoven Ezrahi writes in her essay about Sidra Hassouna, “with their colorful sweatshirts, their trusting smiles, their basketballs or jump-ropes.”

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

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