JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.

WHAT’S DRIVING THE AMERICAN JEWISH CONVERSATION

Former Israeli prime ministers say Netanyahu not working in country’s best interest, Orthodox toddlers stabbed and drowned in New Jersey, fallout in Los Angeles after synagogue melee, Gwyneth Paltrow’s brother makes a Holocaust film, and watch our video of what New Yorkers say about displaying the Ten Commandments in public school.

ISRAEL AT WAR

A Haredi man was detained by police in Bnei Brak last week protesting the proposed draft of yeshiva students into the military. Israel’s Supreme Court ordered the draft Tuesday. (Getty)

Haredi draft…

After Israel’s Supreme Court ruled on Tuesday that Haredi Jews are no longer exempt from serving in the army, two senior rabbis from the community, one 94 and the other 87, made an emergency trip to the U.S. to raise more than $100 million. The funds will be for yeshivas whose publicly funded budgets will be cut if their students don’t serve in the IDF.

Opinion | Israel needs to follow through on drafting the Haredim — for the sake of its economy, not just its military: “An old joke says that Israel is a country where one-third of the population goes to the army, one-third works, and one-third pays taxes. The problem is, the joke goes, it’s the same third,” writes columnist Dany Bahar. “Military service creates a significant opportunity for forging social cohesion between the Haredim and their non-Orthodox peers, and helps young people gain skills needed for the labor force.” Read his essay ➤

A boy walks with a can after filling up from a truck loaded with water cisterns Tuesday in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip. (Getty)

The latest…

➤ A U.N.-backed panel of experts said the Israel-Hamas war has created a catastrophic lack of food for half a million people in Gaza, but stopped short of declaring a famine. In recent weeks, Israel opened additional entry points and increased food delivery (while accusing Hamas of stealing some of it) — but the U.N. experts said it is not enough.

➤ In a newly published essay, former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert accused Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of wanting to “prolong the war” and “destroy Israel.” Separately, former Prime Minister Ehud Barak urged the U.S. Congress to disinvite Netanyahu from a planned joint session speech next month.

➤ Sen. John Fetterman, the Pennsylvania Democrat embraced by the Jewish community for his staunch support of Israel since the war began, made his first trip to the country this week. He met Tuesday in Jerusalem with President Isaac Herzog. “You are a beacon of moral clarity,” Herzog told Fetterman, who was dressed in his usual hoodie and shorts.

A painting by artist Raida Adon, part of a new pop-up exhibit in Israel. (Courtesy)

Leftist group exhibits art on Israeli streets to avoid censorship: The 70 pieces in Innocence Disrupted depicts war as experienced by kids, including Palestinians — a topic organizers say deserves more empathy among Israeli Jews. “It’s our responsibility to remove the blinders that have enabled Jews not to see Palestinians as humans and not to see their suffering,” Stern Levi told our Susan Greene in Tel Aviv. Read the story ➤

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ALSO IN THE FORWARD

LAPD officers clash with demonstrators outside a synagogue Sunday in Los Angeles, (Getty)

Fallout continued in Los Angeles after a violent melee outside a synagogue Sunday between pro-Israel supporters and pro-Palestinian demonstrators. In a new opinion essay, our senior columnist, Rob Eshman, doesn’t chastise the protesters, but rather the cops and city officials who had advance warning that the entrance to a house of worship would be blocked.

In a hotly contested election for a U.S. Senate seat, Jewish Democrats in Pennsylvania are accusing the Republican nominee of profiting from his investment in a website that platforms “Holocaust denial and antisemitism.” Our senior political reporter, Jacob Kornbluh, has the details.

Bintel Brief: A reader asks, “I don’t like my friend’s boyfriend. Do I have to invite him to my wedding?” In the latest installment of our advice column, Mira Fox turns to the Talmud for answers, where the sages warn of wronging others or publicly embarrassing them.

Jacob Paltrow, inset, and a scene from his new film about the death of Adolf Eichmann. (Courtesy)

Eichmann’s judgment — through the eyes of those who burned his body:The new film from Jake Paltrow (Gwyneth’s brother), attacks the familiar story of Adolf Eichmann’s trial and hanging from a new direction, focusing on the building of the oven that cremated his remains. Filmed during the pandemic in Israel, Paltrow managed a set and story that ran in Hebrew, a language he’s not fluent in, and in scenes with Mizrahi characters, Arabic. In an interview with our PJ Grisar, Paltrow noted that the film might complicate people’s idea of the Jewish state. “When you look at the war right now, it seems like the mandate almost is to draw yourself to one side or the other,” he said, a simplicity the film resists.

WHAT ELSE YOU NEED TO KNOW TODAY

George Latimer speaks to supporters Tuesday night after winning his race against incumbent Rep. Jamaal Bowman in New York's Democratic primary. (Getty)

🗳️ George Latimer, a pro-Israel centrist Democrat, defeated Rep. Jamaal Bowman, a progressive member of the “Squad” who criticized Israel during the closely watched New York primary. An AIPAC-linked super PAC spent more than $14 million to unseat Bowman. (JTA)

😞 Police in Lakewood, New Jersey, took into custody a woman who is believed to have drowned and stabbed to death two Orthodox toddlers. Sources told a local news site that she is an “unstable relative” of the girls. (Times of Israel)

🇫🇷 The front desk clerk at a Paris hotel refused to serve an Israeli family and hurled antisemitic comments at them, according to a local news report. Ahead of national elections and the Olympics, France has seen an uptick in antisemitism. On Saturday, three assailants assaulted six Jewish minors outside a movie theater. And last week, authorities indicted two 13-year-old boys on charges they raped a 12-year-old Jewish girl. (Algemeiner)

💻 The charitable foundation that owns Wikipedia says it respects the decision made by its editors to classify the ADL as “generally unreliable” when it comes to information on the Israel-Palestinian conflict. (JTA)

🤝 Sporting a kippah, House Speaker Mike Johnson met this week with Hasidic leaders in New York, where he spoke about combating antisemitism, school choice and his support for Israel. (Jewish Insider)

On campus…

🎒 This spring, the Berkeley Unified School District drew national attention and a federal probe over allegations of antisemitism. Now the Department of Education has opened an investigation into accusations the district also discriminated against Arabs and Muslims. (San Francisco Chronicle)

🏫 The Oklahoma Supreme Court on Tuesday blocked what would have been the nation’s first religious charter school. An appeal is likely, and the case may ultimately end up at the U.S. Supreme Court, where recent decisions have been “more open to public funds going to religious entities.” (AP)

💰 New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft donated $1 million to Yeshiva University to establish a program for students who transfer to YU due to campus antisemitism elsewhere. (X)

Mazel tov ➤ To Jeremy Diamond, who has been reporting on the Israel-Hamas war for months, on being named CNN’s new permanent Jerusalem correspondent.

What else we’re reading ➤ A Manhattan gallery is showcasing art about antisemitism, including a Hitler-Kanye West portrait … Why the swing state faith voters who really matter in 2024 aren’t evangelicals … How a 1933 book about Jews in magic was rescued from oblivion.

VIDEO OF THE DAY

Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry signed a law last week that requires public schools, including public colleges, to display the Ten Commandments in all classrooms. We sent our intern Rebecca Massel to the streets of New York to get people’s reactions.

Thanks to PJ Grisar, Louis Keene and Jake Wasserman 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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Reporting from the ground in Israel and campuses takes resources. Support the news that matters to you with a monthly donation.