President Joe Biden arrived in Israel Wednesday morning in a show of solidarity, and with the hopes of de-escalating the expanding crisis in the region after hundreds of people were killed in an explosion at a hospital in Gaza Tuesday night. The casualties sparked outrage across the Arab world.

Forwarding the News

Thoughtful, balanced reporting from the Forward and around the web, bringing you updated news and analysis of the crisis in the Middle East each day.

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The latest…

• Israel strongly denied it had anything to do with the attack, and blamed the explosion on an errant rocket fired by a Palestinian militant group. This morning, the IDF released audio recordings of conversations it says are between Hamas members in which they implicate Islamic Jihad in the explosion.
  
  
• A Berlin synagogue was firebombed early Wednesday. Antisemitic incidents in the German capital have been rising since the war began. German chancellor Olaf Scholz visited Israel on Tuesday, and called Hamas “the new Nazis.”
  
  
• Canadian Prime Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said he’s seeing a “scary rise” in antisemitism in his country.
  
  
• An Israeli airstrike in the Gaza Strip on Tuesday afternoon killed the head of Hamas’ Central Gaza Brigade, a senior commander in the terror organization.
  
  
• Top congressional leaders told Jewish officials from around the country they were committed to backing Israel’s war with Hamas until the terrorist organization is wiped out.

The Rhapsody, a Royal Caribbean cruise ship. (Getty)

On board a massive cruise ship, Americans escape Israel — en route to Cyprus and parts unknown: “The passengers were greeted with sparkling wine and mimosas,” writes our contributor Lauri Donahue, who reported from aboard the ship. “A rabbi was on hand to assure them there’d be kosher options alongside the lavish buffet. Each was allowed to bring a 50-pound suitcase and a carry-on, but no pets. And they had to sign promissory notes committing to reimburse the United States government for the cost of their passage, estimated at $300 to $500. This was not your usual wartime evacuation.” Read the story ➤

To support Israel, they’re saying nothing at all: Many American Jews have complimented their vocal and financial support for Israel with a variety of religious practices, including Friday night candle-lighting, daily wrapping of tefillin and a community fast last week. More than 1,000 have signed a pledge to not talk idly in the pews during prayer services — until next year. Read the story ➤

Married actors Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds donated $1 million to the International Committee of the Red Cross “to help children in Israel and Gaza.” (Getty)

Plus…

• Disney, Fox, Goldman Sachs and Mastercard are among the corporations donating millions of dollars to support Israel in the wake of the Hamas attack.
  
  
• On a normal Shabbat, Orthodox Israelis turn off radios, silence cell phones and — if they have one — lay down their gun. Now there is no such thing as a normal Shabbat, and Israeli rabbis are having to improvise.
  
  
• A 6-year-old Palestinian boy was stabbed to death in Illinois in what police are calling a hate crime amid the war with Hamas. On Tuesday, four Chicago rabbis attended his funeral.
  
  
• Israel says it’s in talks with Elon Musk’s SpaceX on setting up Starlink satellite internet services to bolster its wartime communications.
  
  
• Graffiti calling for violence against Israelis and praising the Hamas terrorist operation hit San Francisco and Berkeley in recent days.
  
  
• The men’s soccer team at Yeshiva University was having a strong season, maybe its best ever. Then came the news from Israel.
  
  
• The Frankfurt Book fair canceled an event with a Palestinian writer. Over 600 writers, academics, and publishing professionals signed a letter protesting the decision.

A woman in Tel Aviv this morning looks at posters showing Israeli hostages held by Hamas. (Getty)

Opinions…

Opinion | Sermons and speeches calling for ‘ceasefire’ distort Jewish values: “It is precisely the commitment to compassion that helps us understand the villainy that Hamas is committing against both Israel and against the Palestinian people — and that strengthens our resolve to defeat it,” writes Yehuda Kurtzer of the Shalom Hartman Institute. “Our commitment to compassion should not become an obstacle to seeing that eradicating Hamas is essential to the world we want to help create: a world in which the safety and security of both Jews and Palestinians between the river and the sea is intertwined and guaranteed for both.” Read the story ➤

More opinions…

• Can Biden transform a human tragedy into a diplomatic opportunity?
  
  
• Our pain over Hamas’ massacre does not justify a genocide in Gaza

Stay informed: You can follow our partners at Haaretz for live updates throughout the day. And we’ve taken down our paywall for coverage of Israel’s war with Gaza. Read all of our stories here.

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Visit this exhibition about the Danish Rescue, a civics lesson on courage, moral decision-making, and community. For ages 9+.

WHAT ELSE YOU NEED TO KNOW TODAY

New York City Mayor Eric Adams with a Yiddish-speaking reporter last year. (Ed Reed/Mayor’s Office)

☎️  New York City Mayor Eric Adams is using artificial intelligence technology to make robocalls in different languages – including in Yiddish. (Forward)

?  Employees at the U.S. Government Publishing Office, responsible for printing materials for the federal government, filed a lawsuit claiming the office created a hostile work environment — including ignoring complaints after a worker allegedly brought pro-Nazi literature to work and praised Hitler. (Washington Post)

?  There were 1,305 offenses committed against Jews in 2022, the FBI reported in its new tally of national crime statistics, far outnumbering the second-largest category, anti-Muslim crimes, of which there were 205. (JTA)

??  Portugal’s parliament advanced a bill that would end the country’s citizenship law for descendants of Sephardic Jews who were expelled during the Spanish Inquisition. (JTA)

?  A popular German author apologized for saying that Judaism bars Orthodox Jews from working, “except for a few things like diamond trading and a few financial transactions.” (JTA)

Shiva call ➤  Joanna Merlin, the original Tzeitel in Broadway’s Fiddler on the Roof, died at 92.

ON THE CALENDAR

VIDEO OF THE DAY

Our Yiddish editor, Rukhl Schaechter, shares how to say different phrases related to war in Yiddish.

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Thanks to Talya Zax for contributing to today’s newsletter, and to Beth Harpaz for editing it. You can reach the “Forwarding” team at [email protected].