WHAT’S DRIVING THE AMERICAN JEWISH CONVERSATION

Senate passes aid package for Israel’s war on Hamas, Congress to investigate antisemitism at Columbia University, why McDonald’s is changing its meat in Israel, Jon Stewart returns to The Daily Show, and Netflix documentary highlights cult that believes in aliens — and parts of the Torah.

ISRAEL AT WAR: DAY 130

Hostage update: An Israeli delegation is heading to Cairo today to meet with senior officials from the U.S., Egypt and Qatar to continue negotiations for a truce-for-hostage deal.

Sarah Mann sees the war as the latest reason to leave Israel, at least temporarily. (Susan Greene)

‘The war is the last straw’ | Secular Israelis fed up with politics and prices think about leaving: A company that helps people relocate out of Israel cites safety concerns, cost of living and political disillusionment as factors in the decisions. “There’s no shame in it,” said Sarah Mann, a 55-year-old editor in Tel Aviv weighing whether to take a few months’ break from the country or leave altogether. “Are you kidding?” she asked rhetorically. “This is a matter of survival.” Mann is far from alone, as our Susan Greene reports from Tel Aviv. Read the story ➤

Opinion | The IDF freed two hostages — recovering the rest must be their top priority:“Israel is fighting a war with two stated objectives: freeing the hostages and toppling Hamas,” writes our former opinion editor, Laura E. Adkins, who spent the weeks after the Hamas attack reporting from Israel. “Yet those goals are often at odds, not least because the goal of defeating Hamas is not just ambitious — it’s unclear if it is even possible.” Monday’s “success underlines the fact that freeing the hostages must become Israel’s primary strategic objective — for the sake of Israelis and Gazans alike.” Read her essay ➤

Plus: Netanyahu’s plan for an endless war must force a reckoning for American Jews, argues our senior columnist, Rob Eshman, in a new opinion essay.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer takes a break between a series of votes Monday night concerning an aid package for Israel, Taiwan and Ukraine. (Getty

The latest…

Early Tuesday morning, a bipartisan group of U.S. senators passed a $95 billion foreign aid bill for Israel, Taiwan and Ukraine. It’s unclear what the fate of the bill will be when it moves to the House of Representatives.

Hundreds of protesters fanned out across Manhattan Monday to shut down city roadways, bridges and tunnels to protest Israel’s invasion of Rafah, and briefly succeeded in taking over the train tunnel to Grand Central Station in one of the most disruptive public demonstrations since the Israel-Hamas war began.

Ryanair, the discount Irish airline, abruptly canceled all Israel flights for March and April. The airline did not give a reason. Tensions between the two countries made headlines recently when an Irish women’s basketball team refused to shake hands with the Israeli team they were playing.

An Al Jazeera journalist appears to be a senior operative for Hamas, according to the IDF.

A kosher McDonald's restaurant in Tel Aviv. (Getty)

In Israel, McDonald’s and other hamburger chains are switching to a stricter version of kosher meat so that the food can be distributed to all soldiers no matter their level of observance.

Those who study social media trends discovered that TikTok was boosting pro-Palestinian content. Now TikTok is removing the tool researchers used to detect that pattern.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu selected Ofir Akunis, a minister in his Likud party, as the next consul general in New York.

ALSO IN THE FORWARD

A video of MIT students protesting plays during a Congressional hearing on campus antisemitism. (Getty)

Young Jews experience more antisemitism, but worry about it less:Though they experience more antisemitism than any other age group, younger American Jews are less likely to worry about discrimination, according to a new poll released Tuesday by the American Jewish Committee. Holly Huffnagle, director of combating antisemitism for the AJC, speculated that younger Jews may be less likely to view antisemitism as a problem because they are more used to it. “This might be what they know,” Huffnagle said. “They don’t know what it was like 20 years ago.”

In this oddball Netflix documentary about a Jew-ish cult, Israel will welcome space aliens and Jesus was a clone: The Raëlian religious movement believes in aliens, which, by itself, isn’t that strange; there have been reports of UFO sightings for decades. But the cult-like group has a lot of Jewish echoes. Their alien overlords are called the Elohim, one of the Hebrew terms for God, and the group draws from biblical prophecies about Israel to guess when the UFO will touch down again — in Jerusalem. Our culture writer Mira Fox investigates why this alien group is so, well, Jewish.

Plus…

The FBI is investigating violent threats emailed to leaders of a Hillel that serves Brown University and the Rhode Island School of Design in Providence.

A winter storm in New York today could help tip the special election to succeed expelled former Rep. George Santos. But to whom? Two pro-Israel candidates — Democrat Tom Suozzi and Republican nominee Mazi Pilip — face off in the too-close-to-predict race.

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WHAT ELSE YOU NEED TO KNOW TODAY

Protesters participate in a rally at Columbia University on Oct. 12. (Getty)

🏫 The House Committee on Education on Monday added Columbia University to the growing list of schools it is investigating over antisemitism on college campuses. (Jewish Insider)

🖼️ The Museum of Modern Art quietly returned a Chagall painting to the heirs of a German Jewish family, who later turned around and sold it for $24 million. The heirs are now fighting in court. (New York Times)

✍️ The Florida Holocaust Museum is embarking on a massive project to digitize the archives of Elie Wiesel. The museum will also recreate Wiesel’s office for an exhibit. (Axios)

🎧 El Al flights are adding a new item to their in-flight entertainment screens: Torah classes courtesy of Yeshiva University. The content will be relevant to the time of year and upcoming Jewish holidays. (Jewish Link)

🎭 Inspired by historic events, a new play about the trial of Adolf Eichmann will debut off-Broadway this spring at the Center for Jewish History, and is now casting. (Backstage)

Shiva call ➤ Peter Silberman, a former high-ranking editor at the Washington Post, died at 93.

What else we’re reading ➤ Is a rabbi shortage impacting American Jewish life? … A Jerusalem swim team with Israeli and Palestinian members inspired a new musical in New York City … Navigating Israel’s war when one spouse is Jewish, and one is not.

VIDEO OF THE DAY

Jon Stewart returned to his perch hosting The Daily Show Monday night, more than eight years after he left. “Now, where was I?” he joked at the start. Watch the first 20 minutes of the episode in the video above.

Thanks to Jacob Kornbluh, Lauren Markoe and Talya Zax 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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