This article is part of our morning briefing. Click here to get it delivered to your inbox each weekday. At General Assembly in Tel Aviv, the protests are inside and out
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu canceled his speech to the largest annual conference of American Jewish leaders on Sunday amid threats of mass disruption. But the protests against Netanyahu’s proposed judicial overhaul at the conference in Tel Aviv went on. This morning, security guards hauled half a dozen people who disrupted an appearance by the Knesset architect of the judicial plan out of the convention hall and stripped them of their conference badges. Hundreds of protesters waved pro-democracy banners outside, forcing the event’s 3,000 attendees to run a gauntlet of pounding drums and screeching whistles to get in. Inside, you could not hear the chants, but the message got through. As she opened the event on Sunday night, Julie Platt, chair of the Jewish Federations of North America, earned her loudest applause when she nodded to the protesters from the podium, saying: “We see you, we hear you, and we are inspired by your love of Israel.” Our Arno Rosenfeld is on the ground in Tel Aviv. And follow Arno on Twitter for live updates. |
Related: - Three Israeli ministers backed out of Memorial Day ceremonies this week at military cemeteries after bereaved families spoke out against their planned appearances.
- A Palestinian American writes in a new OpEd that he supports Israelis protesting their own government, “but my sense tells me that they are protesting to protect their rights only.”
- For American Jews, planning Israel’s 75th birthday party has gotten complicated.
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Jury selection begins today in USA v. Robert Bowers, the long-delayed trial of the gunman who is accused of killing 11 people at Pittsburgh’s Tree of Life synagogue in 2018, the deadliest antisemitic attack in United States history. The trial is expected to last three months. A matter of life or death: Experts say that the sole goal of the alleged shooter’s lead attorney, who has previously defended high-profile attackers like the Unabomber and the Boston Marathon bomber, is to avoid the death penalty for her client. Seven of the nine victim families support the death penalty in this case. Diane Rosenthal, who lost her two brothers in the massacre, said it’s needed “to offer some measure of deterrence from horrific hate crimes happening again and again.” Hopes and fears: “Some hope for the trial to shed light on the threat of white supremacy, even as renewed attention on the attack could inspire other violent extremists,” writes Ben Sales of JTA. “And some hope the trial will help them move past the tragedy, even as they know it will be difficult to hear the details of the shooting laid out in court.” |
More on the massacre: - On the massacre’s first anniversary, David Shribman, former editor of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, explained why he printed a banner headline in Hebrew, from the words of the mourner’s kaddish.
- The Jewish community of Squirrel Hill has been forced to move forward, while recognizing its place in history. “We didn’t choose this,” said Barry Werber, who hid in a coat closet as blasts of bullets killed his fellow worshippers. “But now we have to speak out.”
- Mark Oppenheimer, whose family hails from Pittsburgh, wrote a book about how people came together after the shooting. “It’s actually an incredibly hopeful story,” he said. “It was really about people helping each other, caring for each other, nurturing each other, helping each other heal and thrive.”
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This program is presented with the generous support of David Berg Foundation. The symposium, which is organized in partnership with the National Library of Israel, is the first installment in a larger series of public symposia sponsored by the Center for Jewish History’s brand new Jewish Public History Forum. |
WHAT ELSE YOU NEED TO KNOW TODAY |
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis at the Western Wall in 2019. (Courtesy Florida governor’s office) |
✈️ Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is traveling to Israel this week to give the keynote address Thursday to a conference that includes 120 Jewish philanthropists. DeSantis, a likely Republican candidate for president, is expected to meet with Netanyahu. (Haaretz) ? Two of Israel’s music legends – Ofra Haza and Zohar Agrov – have a new duet in honor of the country’s 75th birthday. There’s a catch: Haza died in 2000 and Agrov in 1987; the song was created using artificial intelligence. Agrov was also a convicted rapist, so a lot of people are unhappy about this. (JTA) ? Tova Friedman survived Auschwitz. Now she’s teaching Gen-Z about it – on TikTok. She has 500,000 followers, thanks to her grandson. “I don’t have survivor’s guilt, but I have survivor’s obligation, so that I speak to remember.” (Washington Post) ✍️ The author of the popular children’s books A Series Of Unfortunate Events is writing an upcoming horror film based on the legend of the Golem of Prague. (JTA) ? Comedian Richard Lewis, 75, posted a video to social media Sunday announcing he has Parkinson’s disease. Lewis said he is done with standup, but will continue writing and acting. He recently finished filming Season 12 of Curb Your Enthusiasm with Larry David. (Twitter) Shiva calls ➤ Documentarian Marian Marzynski, who survived the Holocaust and was sometimes called the Polish Dan Rather, died at 86 … Len Goodman, the longtime Dancing with the Stars judge who retired last year, died at 78.
What else we’re reading ➤ ‘Godfather’ meets ‘Shtisel’: New Netflix thriller delves into Haredi diamond dealers … A rabbi’s synagogue was attacked, but that’s not what scares him most … Why are there so many Jewish sports halls of fame? |
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Franya Winter was a star of Vilna’s Yiddish theater community. (Courtesy) |
Thursday at 7 p.m. ET: As a child, Meryl Frank learned of her family’s roots in Vilna, including the story of her cousin, Franya Winter, who was a star in the Yiddish theater. Franya cast off the restrictions of her Hasidic family and community to play roles as prostitutes and bellhops, lovers and nuns. Yet there was one thing her family would never tell Meryl: how Franya died. Our Laura E. Adkins will interview Frank about her new book, which uncovers the family secret. Register to attend in-person in NYC or virtually ➤ On this day in history (1933): Activist Benny Rothman led the Mass Trespass of Kinder Scout to call for the right to roam on the English countryside. Rothman led an estimated 400 people in the protest, including Ewan MacColl, a poet and folk singer, who wrote a song about it. The protest is credited as the beginning of a movement to establish today’s national parks in the United Kingdom, which millions of travelers visit annually.
It’s National Pigs in a Blanket Day, not generally celebrated by those who keep kosher. |
Netflix’s new reality series, Jewish Matchmaking, is set to debut on May 3. Watch the trailer above. And stay tuned: We’ll be hosting a video interview next week with the show’s matchmaker, Aleeza Ben Shalom. — Thanks to PJ Grisar, Sarah Nachimson, Arno Rosenfeld, Jodi Rudoren and Talya Zax for contributing to today’s newsletter. You can reach the “Forwarding” team at editorial@forward.com. |
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