Why Anne Frank's diary is not a good 'Maus' replacement, man arrested for painting swastikas at Union Station, and Hollywood museum (finally) embraces its Jewish roots.

THE WEEK IN POLITICS

An Israeli soldier confronts a Palestinian protester in the occupied West Bank in 2019. (Getty Images)

Each Monday, Jacob Kornbluh, our senior political reporter, shares what’s in his notebook about New York, Washington, Jerusalem and beyond.

Exclusive | Amnesty International describes Israel as an apartheid state in new report: The widely respected human rights group is set to release its 211-page report on Tuesday. A copy obtained early by the Forward shows Amnesty goes beyond a similar report by Human Rights Watch in April, arguing that Israel’s treatment of Palestinians both inside its 1948 borders and beyond amounts to a crime against humanity.

Amnesty’s view: “Since its establishment in 1948, Israel has pursued an explicit policy of establishing and maintaining a Jewish demographic hegemony,” the report says, “and maximizing its control over land to benefit Jewish Israelis while minimizing the number of Palestinians and restricting their rights and obstructing their ability to challenge this dispossession.”

Israel’s response: Trying to get a jump on the report’s official release on Tuesday, a spokesperson for Israel’s foreign ministry called it “pure antisemitism” that “legitimizes attacks against Jews,” and accused Amnesty of seeking “to eliminate the State of Israel as a nation-state of the Jewish people.” Read the story ➤

Safety first: The U.S. Attorney General’s office sent a letter to all states last week encouraging them to direct funds from a federal grant program to bolster security at places of worship and other nonprofit organizations that may be at risk. After the hostage-taking at a Texas synagogue earlier this month, the Department of Justice also shared with us a fact sheet that showcases their efforts to combat hate crimes through federal law enforcement action and enhanced training.

End of saga: The Jewish Agency’s 10-member selection committee is set to finally vote on Tuesday to pick a new head after months of delays and controversy. But it is unclear who will get the prestigious post. Unlike in the past, the Israeli government has not coalesced around a candidate; one leading minister supports Ruth Calderon, a Knesset member, and others back the Belgian businessman Roby Spiegel or former cabinet minister Omer Yankelevich.

In New York, state lawmakers are slated to vote later this week on a bill that establishes new district lines. Here are three storylines we’re following…

Max Rose’s game plan: Rose, the moderate Democrat who represented Staten Island for a single term in Congress, stands to benefit from the proposed lines as he seeks to reclaim the seat. Republican Nicole Malliotakis defeated Rose in 2020 thanks in part to Orthodox voters in the Brooklyn part of the district. But while the new lines would give Democrats a strong advantage in general elections – one estimate suggests at least 10 percentage points – Assemblyman Robert Carroll of Brooklyn is considering challenging Rose in the June primary.

Musical chairs in the Bronx: U.S. Rep. Jamaal Bowman, who beat Eliot Engel in a heated primary in 2020, would no longer represent the Riverdale neighborhood, which has a large Jewish population – it would move to the neighboring district, now held by U.S. Rep. Ritchie Torres. But Bowman might end up getting parts of Westchester County, whose politics might keep him walking a tightrope on Israel.

By the numbers: Rep. Jerry Nadler, the 15-term Democrat who represents the Upper West Side in Manhattan and Borough Park in Brooklyn, would continue having the district with the largest percentage of Jewish residents in the country – 38% according to one estimate.

ALSO FROM THE FORWARD

A 1962 mugshot of Charles McDew taken at his jailing in Baton Rouge, La.

Who was the most influential Jew during the civil rights movement? Most of us think first of Rabbi Abraham Heschel or the martyrs Andrew Goodman and Michael Schwerner. But Robin Washington, our editor-at-large, wants to introduce you to Charles McDew, a Black Jew who helmed the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, leading protests and voter registration drives. He was guided by a principle from Hillel, the Talmudic sage: If not me, who? If not now, when? Read an excerpt from McDew’s memoir ➤

Join Robin Tuesday at 7 p.m. ET for a virtual discussion of McDew, the first of four events hosted by the 92Y in honor of Black History Month. Buy tickets now ➤

When a Tennessee school board banned “Maus,” many suggested that Anne Frank’s diary would be a good replacement. But our culture reporter, Mira Fox, thinks not. “Maus,” the Pulitzer Prize-winning graphic novel, “takes on the Holocaust directly, highlighting the violence and horrors of concentration camps and the Nazi regime,” she writes, while the diary “stops before the Frank family is discovered and deported to concentration camps to die.” In other words, it’s a more sanitized version of events. Read the story ➤

Also: A Tennessee bookstore is giving away free copies of ‘Maus’ to counter bans

But wait, there’s more…

A man has been arrested and charged for spray-painting more than 50 swastikas across Union Station in Washington, D.C., Amtrak’s second-busiest hub.
As we reported in October, the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures initially underplayed Hollywood’s Jewish founders, with no distinct exhibit focused on their contributions. After an outcry from the public – and one particular donor – the museum is now making a course-correction.
A kosher restaurant in Los Angeles is closing, citing a lack of business due to the pandemic. But you’ll still be able to buy its beloved pretzel challah.

WHAT ELSE YOU NEED TO KNOW TODAY

Esther Pollard at a news conference in 2015. (Getty Images)

🙏 Esther Pollard, the wife of Israeli spy Jonathan Pollard, died Monday morning from COVID-related complications after being rushed to a Jerusalem hospital over the weekend. She was 68. Jonathan Pollard was released from prison in 2015 and the couple was allowed to move to Israel in December 2020, when his five-year parole had ended. Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said Esther was “a woman whose devotion to, and love for, Jonathan Pollard became a symbol of strength, determination and faith.” (Times of Israel)

🗣️ Around 20 people attended a neo-Nazi rally in Orlando, Florida, on Saturday. Participants waved Nazi flags and chanted anti-Black and antisemitic slogans including “The Jew is the devil” and “Jews rape children and drink their blood.” A similar demonstration occurred Sunday between downtown Orlando and Walt Disney World. The sheriff’s office is investigating both incidents. (Newsweek)

⚡ A Jewish actor appeared to threaten members of the Ku Klux Klan in a cryptic Instagram post. Ezra Miller, who portrays the Flash superhero in the DC comics universe, told members of a KKK chapter in North Carolina group to kill themselves with their own guns, adding: “We’ll do it for you if that’s what you want.” (Variety)

📺 David E. Kelley, the man behind the hit TV series “The Practice” and “Ally McBeal,” is developing a new show based on a bestselling Israeli novel. The story revolves around a Jewish NYPD detective whose beliefs get challenged when an investigation turns upside-down. (Deadline)

Shiva calls ➤ Two notable Holocaust survivors – Liviu Beris, who became an internationally recognized geneticist, and Max Moszkowicz, a celebrity lawyer in the Netherlands – have died in recent days.

Another shiva call ➤ Back in December, we reported on a hilarious obituary written by the son of ‘plus-sized Jewish lady redneck.’ Well, here’s another: Over the weekend, Dressler’s Jewish Funeral Care in Atlanta marked the death of Sally Rosenberg, 90, described as a member of the “Hadassah Mafia, where her numbers running was nearly as legendary as her kugel.” Rosenberg left behind two sons, the funeral home noted, “whom she claimed to love equally though clearly favoring Alan.” In heaven, she is reunited with family, friends and “several pets she never liked.” Read the full obituary here ➤

What else we’re reading ➤ The head of Ben & Jerry’s in Israel says the company’s decision to stop selling ice cream in the occupied West Bank is ruining his business and is asking the prime minister to retaliate against Unilever … Ahead of a month honoring Jews with disabilities, advocates say the pandemic has brought both hardships and benefits … Amazon is still selling a lot of Nazi books, despite a ban on hate speech.

ON THE CALENDAR

On this day in history: Isidore Itzkowitz, aka Eddie Cantor, was born on Jan. 31, 1892. A Vaudeville actor across stage and screen, Cantor was beloved by audiences as the “Apostle of Pep” because of his innate ability to make people smile. However, one group was decidedly not fans: Nazi supporters. Cantor told the Forward in 1938 that they were sending threatening messages to his home and to the managers at the radio station where he worked. In 1939, after he denounced the Rev. Charles Coughlin, the antisemitic radio personality, Cantor’s show was dropped by its sponsor. He was eventually brought back on the air.

Last year on this day, we reported on the death of Rabbi Abraham J. Twerski, a noted Torah scholar, author and psychiatrist.

One week from tonight: Jonathan Greenblatt, CEO of the Anti-Defamation League, will discuss his new book – “It Could Happen Here” – with our editor-in-chief, Jodi Rudoren. The event is virtual, free, and hosted by Washington’s historic Sixth & I Synagogue. Register now ➤

PHOTO OF THE DAY

I was scrolling through the day’s science news and stumbled across this: Physicists discover “secret sauce” behind exotic properties of a new quantum material. I understand about half the words in that headline, but the photo accompanying the article caught my eye, as it looks very familiar. Indeed, the scientists note in a news release that the material they are studying is “composed of layers of atoms arranged in repeating units similar to a Star of David or sheriff’s badge.” The pattern is also common in Japanese culture as a basket-weaving motif.

–––

Thanks to Jacob Kornbluh and Robin Washington for contributing to today’s newsletter.

You can reach the “Forwarding” team at editorial@forward.com.

Support Independent Jewish Journalism

The Forward is a non-profit 501(c)3 so our journalism depends on support from readers like you. You can support our work today by donating or subscribing. All donations are tax-deductible to the full extent of US law.

Make a donation ➤

Subscribe to Forward.com ➤

"America’s most prominent Jewish newspaper" — The New York Times, 2021