JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.

WHAT’S DRIVING THE AMERICAN JEWISH CONVERSATION

Good morning. Today: Gov. Tim Walz met with hostage families; Jewish Israeli businessman arrested in assassination plot against Netanyahu; and why Republicans only now seem concerned by a GOP gubernatorial candidate’s antisemitism.

ELECTION 2024

Former President Donald Trump on Thursday. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

Trump says Jews would deserve blame if he loses. “In a speech Thursday billed as former President Donald Trump’s answer to rising antisemitism, he said Jews would bear much of the responsibility if he loses the presidential election,” writes our Jacob Kornbluh — a stunning moment in an election cycle during which Trump has raised eyebrows with increasingly aggressive rhetoric toward Jewish voters. In back-to-back addresses to largely Jewish audiences, Trump also fell back on a new rhetorical habit that has irked some of his pro-Israel supporters: predicting that Israel “will be eradicated” if his opponent, Vice President Kamala Harris, is elected. Read the story ➤

Opinion | This GOP candidate has always been antisemitic — so why are Republicans only panicking about him now? Do Republicans really care if their candidates use antisemitic rhetoric? Their response to the gubernatorial candidacy of Mark Robinson in North Carolina, who yesterday was revealed to have referred to himself as a “black NAZI” in an online forum, suggests not, argues our columnist Emily Tamkin. Yes, Republicans pressured Robinson to exit the race because of the revelations. But Robinson, whom Trump has endorsed, has been openly antisemitic for years; it’s notable, Emily writes, that his party only seemed to grow concerned by that fact when he’s at risk of spectacularly losing an election. Read her essay ➤

Also on the election:

The Uncommitted movement, which formed to protest President Joe Biden’s position on Israel and Gaza during the primaries, announced it would not endorse Harris for president — while also instructing followers to vote in a way that does not help Trump.

Harris’ running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, met on Thursday with the families of American hostages who remain in Gaza. “He will do whatever he can to shine a light on their cause,” the Harris campaign said.

A much-anticipated visit by Trump to a beloved kosher deli in Hasidic Williamsburg was canceled after the Thursday death of its owner, Rabbi Shalom Yosef Gottlieb.

ISRAEL AT WAR

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks in Jerusalem on Sept. 2. (Ohad Zwigenberg / Pool / AFP / Getty Images)

Opinion | Get ready for an extraordinary example of Netanyahu’s wanton corruption. The Israeli prime minister will travel to New York next week to speak at the United Nations General Assembly — his sixth trip in two years to be scheduled such that his meetings end close to Shabbat, necessitating an extra weekend stay. “The trips have included jaunts to London, Berlin and Rome, where he stayed on despite a terrorist attack in Tel Aviv,” writes our columnist Dan Perry. “They are enormously expensive: He and his entourage take over entire floors at luxury hotels.” And they are costly at home, as well: “Israelis have taken to social media with furious criticism of the chutzpah of it all, especially at a time of such a devastating war.” Read his essay ➤

More from the war:

Israel bombarded Lebanon with airstrikes Thursday, following Tuesday and Wednesday attacks targeting Hezbollah members’ pagers and walkie-talkies, with the IDF saying it had hit more than 100 Hezbollah rocket launchers. As strikes continued this morning, the IDF warned Israelis in the country’s north to stay close to bomb shelters in anticipation of retaliation.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and French President Emmanuel Macron urged against further escalations in the Middle East, particularly against Lebanon.

Some U.S. officials no longer see a route forward for a ceasefire deal before the end of Biden’s term, per reporting from The Wall Street Journal.

A 72-year-old Israeli businessman is facing charges after allegedly being recruited by Iran to participate in an assassination plot targeting Netanyahu and other senior Israeli officials.

ALSO IN THE FORWARD

Poet and artist Isaac Rosenberg, who died in WWI at the age of 27. (Wikimedia Commons)

Raised in a tenement, killed in battle at 27 — the all-too-brief life of a great Jewish artist and poet. The England-born Isaac Rosenberg left school at 14 to help support his family; published two volumes of poetry before he was 25; and was killed fighting on the front lines in the final year of WWI. But while his work is a particularly evocative representation of the challenges of war — and gained some renown in the decades after his death — Rosenberg has never found the fame of some of his contemporaries, like Siegfried Sassoon. Even his final resting place is marked by obscurity, writes Allegra Rosenberg, with a gravestone reading merely “I. Rosenberg — Buried near this spot — Artist & Poet.”

A ‘Jewish Mona Lisa’ — and other myths told by objects found in Israel. The artist Ilit Azoulay is a master of finding the untold stories in objects that might be otherwise easy to merely glance at — whether detritus found in houses slated for demolition in south Tel Aviv, or the carefully tended archives of the Israel Museum. With a solo show, her first in the U.S., running at Manhattan’s Jewish Museum through January, Azoulay’s work “asks viewers to see each other’s humanity and reconsider how we perceive each other’s stories,” writes Cathryn J. Prince.

– From our Sponsors: American Friends of the Hebrew University–

WHAT ELSE YOU NEED TO KNOW TODAY

An Israeli volunteer with Rescuers without Borders gazes over floodwaters in Poland. (Courtesy of Michael Schudrich)

🌧️ Jews are helping aid efforts amid devastating floods in southwest Poland, with delegations from Hillel Warsaw and the Israeli-French medical group Rescuers Without Borders joining in the response. (JTA)

⚾ Baseball star Shohei Ohtani broke Jewish slugger Shawn Green’s longstanding record for most home runs recorded in a single season by a Dodger. “From my perspective, Shohei Ohtani is the greatest player who’s ever lived,” Green said. (Forward)

🏫 A New Jersey planning board rejected an application to build a Jewish school complex because of a dispute over labeling a nearby road, delaying plans for four Orthodox schools expected to serve some 2,500 students. (NJ.com)

Shiva call ➤ Mark Podwal, an artist whose work included illustrating books by Elie Wiesel, died at 79.

What else we’re reading ➤ “Why Hezbollah and Israel can’t make a deal” … “Two recent memoirs tell the story of generations of Palestinian grief and struggle” … “Aaron Sorkin thinks life still imitates The West Wing.”

VIDEO OF THE DAY

Sunday marks the first official day of fall — why not celebrate by marking the occasion in Yiddish?

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

Jewish journalism you can trust!

Invest in the future of Jewish journalism. Become a monthly member during our High Holiday Donor Drive to support the Forward all year long!