Many Jews Say Trump Is Politicizing the Fight Against Antisemitism, The Washington Post
“Some Jewish leaders welcome President Donald Trump’s efforts as the most aggressive fight against anti-Jewish bigotry in American history. But others worry that Trump is politicizing the fight against antisemitism by using it to promote his agenda. […] While Trump and his adversaries fight it out on the national level, a quieter debate is playing out in a half-dozen conservative states where bills against antisemitism have been offered in recent months. This state-level push has been underway for years, but it accelerated after the Oct. 7 attacks and has been turbocharged by Trump’s presidency, said Jeremy Ben-Ami, president of J Street, a liberal pro-Israel group.”
Democrats, Republicans and Double Standards on Israel and Antisemitism, Substack
J Street Senior Vice President and Chief Policy Officer Ilan Goldenberg writes: “How is it that Democrats are constantly being accused of being weak in their support for Israel and not tough enough on antisemitism, when the objective reality is that they have been so much better than Donald Trump on these issues? […] In many ways, appealing to Israelis on cultural issues, while actually harming their national interests is pretty similar to [Trump’s] ability to appeal to working class voters even as he pursues policies that line the pockets of his billionaire cronies.”
Forty Prominent Israelis Express Their ‘Immense Gratitude’ to Deputies Who Signed FT Letter, Jewish News
Nadav Tamir, former Israeli Consul General to New England and J Street Israel Executive Director, was among 40 prominent Israelis, including ex-military commanders, diplomats, and academics, who signed a letter thanking 36 British Jewish leaders facing disciplinary action for criticizing the Israeli government. The signatories praised the deputies for standing with Israelis calling for the return of hostages and an end to what they described as a politically motivated war.
At NY Event That Draws Protests and Disruptions, Ben Gvir Says His Views Have Evolved, The Times of Israel
“Left-wing Jewish groups rallied against Ben Gvir outside the meeting. Participating groups included the Israeli expat activist group UnXeptable, the Union for Reform Judaism, T’ruah, J Street, the Conservative movement’s Rabbinical Assembly, the New York Jewish Agenda and Smol Emuni. The protesters carried Israeli flags and signs that said ‘Rabbis reject Ben Gvir’ and ‘Netanyahu’s government — peril to all Jews.’”
Israel Acknowledges Second Deadly Attack on Aid Workers in Gaza, The New York Times
“The attack in the Deir al Balah area on March 19 killed one U.N. staff member, a Bulgarian, and wounded six others. It prompted Secretary General António Guterres to withdraw a third of the U.N.’s international staff from Gaza out of safety concerns, at a time of dire need for the two million Palestinians living in the enclave. It was the second time in about a week that Israel has admitted that its forces wrongfully opened fire on aid workers in the Gaza Strip, rare acknowledgments in a conflict that the United Nations says has proved deadlier for its workers than any other in its history.”
Trump Poised To Offer Saudi Arabia Over $100 Billion Arms Package, Sources Say, Reuters
“The United States is poised to offer Saudi Arabia an arms package worth well over $100 billion […] The offered package comes after the administration of former president Joe Biden unsuccessfully tried to finalize a defense pact with Riyadh as part of a broad deal that envisioned Saudi Arabia normalizing ties with Israel, which was placed on the backburner due to the kingdom’s insistence that such a plan must include Palestinian statehood, a nonstarter for Jerusalem.”
Israel Said To Fear US Moving Fast Toward ‘Bad Deal’ That Won’t Block Iran From Nukes, The Times of Israel
“Channel 12 news reported that Israel believes the negotiations ordered by President Donald Trump with Iran, led by US special envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff, are ‘very, very advanced,’ and that the US is not sharing enough information with Israel on key specific issues. It said that during their telephone conversation on Tuesday, Netanyahu told Trump that he ‘does not rule out a diplomatic approach’ but only on condition that the resulting deal would ‘leave no trace’ of Iran’s nuclear program. Trump confirmed that this is the American intention, the report said, and that the 60-day deadline he had set for a negotiated resolution remains in force.”
Israeli Strikes Across Gaza Kill at Least 50, Palestinian Officials Say, BBC
“Nine people died in the morning when a missile hit a police station in the market area of Jabalia town, in the north, a hospital said. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said it struck a ‘command-and-control centre’ for Hamas and its ally Palestinian Islamic Jihad in Jabalia that was being used to plan attacks. The Hamas-run Civil Defence agency said 23 more people were killed later when a family home in Jabalia’s Ard Halawa area was bombed. The IDF said it struck ‘a key Hamas terrorist who posed a significant threat’ to its troops, without identifying him.”
U.S. Federal Gov’t Texted Barnard Staff to Ask if They’re Jewish or Israeli, Faced Antisemitism, Haaretz
“Faculty at Barnard College were blindsided this week by text messages from the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), asking whether they were Jewish or Israeli and whether they had experienced antisemitic discrimination at work. Barnard’s handling of the matter struck many as a breach of trust. ‘The federal government reaching out to our personal cell phones to identify who is Jewish is incredibly sinister,’ said Debbie Becher, a Jewish sociology professor at Barnard, in comments to The Intercept.”
ICC Judges Ordered To Review Israel’s Challenge of Jurisdiction, Reuters
“Appeals judges at the International Criminal Court on Thursday ordered a lower panel to reconsider Israel’s objections to the court’s jurisdiction over arrest warrants issued against Israeli leaders last year. The appeals chamber said the court had not properly weighed challenges by Israel to its jurisdiction and the legality of arrest warrant requests against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defence Minister Yoav Gallant for their conduct of the Gaza war. […] The office of the ICC Prosecutor said it was studying the new ruling, without offering further comment.”
Protesters Near Yale Hurl Water Bottles at Far-Right Israeli Official, The New York Times
“Hundreds of demonstrators in New Haven, Conn., gathered late on Wednesday to denounce a visit by Israel’s far-right national security minister, who had been invited to speak at an event near Yale University’s campus. The protests were reminiscent of the demonstrations against the war in Gaza that rocked Yale and other universities across the nation last spring, and suggested that campus administrators could contend with unrest in the coming weeks, even as large-scale, disruptive student protests have been far less common this semester compared with a year earlier.”
At Center of Diplomatic Intrigue, Israeli Envoy Pursues Saudi Prize, The Washington Post
“For Saudi Arabia to normalize relations with Israel, the kingdom needs to be assured of American protection against Iran, said the official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak with the press. Efforts at normalizing relations with the kingdom could be ‘undermined if the U.S. takes an accommodationist posture toward Iran,’ the official said.”
Israel’s A.I. Experiments in Gaza War Raise Ethical Concerns, The New York Times
“Even as Israel raced to develop the A.I. arsenal, deployment of the technologies sometimes led to mistaken identifications and arrests, as well as civilian deaths, the Israeli and American officials said. Some officials have struggled with the ethical implications of the A.I. tools, which could result in increased surveillance and other civilian killings. ‘No other nation has been as active as Israel in experimenting with A.I. tools in real-time battles,’ European and American defense officials said, giving a preview of how such technologies may be used in future wars — and how they might also go awry.”
My Oscar for ‘No Other Land’ Didn’t Protect Me From Violence, The New York Times
Director of Oscar Winning Documentary “No Other Land” Hamdan Ballal writes: “The attack on me and my community was brutal. It received large amounts of press coverage, but it is not unique in any way. […] There is no law to turn to here and no government that will protect us, no international law and no international bodies that are pushing to stop this violence. And yet, in spite of all this and in spite of what I’ve been through and my community has experienced, there are still some bits of hope that remain from what I saw and felt at the Oscars and over the past year presenting our movie around the world.”
On Holocaust Remembrance Day, I’m Pondering How Israelis Can Build a Different Future, Haaretz
MK Ayman Odeh writes: “The Holocaust is not just a historical memory – it’s a warning sign. It forces every humane society to ask itself again and again: Do we see the person before us as a human being? Are we capable of doubt? Are we truly preserving what is worthy of preservation? […] It is not enough to see – we must also learn and act accordingly. We must also ask ourselves how we’re building a different future, taking the past into consideration. Not a future based on revenge or repression, but rather one that’s based on morality, equality, justice and the possibility of change.”
Trump’s Heedless Approach to an Iran Deal Could Be a Big Problem for Israel, The Forward
Alex Lederman writes: “The truth is that rushing into either a deal or a war with Iran is likely to be a mistake. But with Trump having already established the two-month timeline to give talks a chance, reneging on his threat if talks fail stands to erode U.S. and Israeli deterrence. The Iranian nuclear issue is a challenge for which there are no quick fixes.”