Afleveringen
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In May 2021, Palestinian American poet, physician, translator, and essayist Fady Joudah wrote two poems engaged with the violence of Israeli apartheid. Reflecting on the conundrum of where and how to publish them, he explained: “I’ve long been aware of the crushing weight that reduces Palestine in English to a product with limited features . . . This sickening delimitation mimics physical entrapment. The silken compassion toward Palestinians in mainstream English thinks the language of the oppressed is brilliant mostly when it teaches us about surviving massacres and enduring the degradation of checkpoints.” His sixth collection of poetry, [...]—written in the first three months of the ongoing genocide in Gaza, and published in March—indicts precisely such forms of entrapment. In these lucid yet idiosyncratic poems, Joudah turns his attention to that which exceeds the narrow place of the Western gaze, spurning the market forces that reward the performance of perpetual Palestinian victimhood.
On this episode of On the Nose, culture editor Claire Schwartz speaks with Joudah about publishing [...] in this long moment of anti-Palestinian racism, the dangerous desires of denying our own not-knowing, and the generative capacities of silence.
Thanks to Jesse Brenneman for producing and to Nathan Salsburg for the use of his song “VIII (All That Were Calculated Have Passed).”
Texts Mentioned, and Further Reading and Listening:
“My Palestinian Poem that ‘The New Yorker’ Wouldn’t Publish,” Fady Joudah, Los Angeles Review of Books
“A Palestinian Meditation in a Time of Annihilation,” Fady Joudah, Lit Hub
“Fady Joudah: The poet on how the war in Gaza changed his work,” Aria Aber, The Yale Review
“‘Unspeakable’: Dr. Fady Joudah Grieves 50+ Family Members Killed in Gaza & Slams U.S. Media Coverage,” Democracy Now!
“Aesthetics of Return: Palestinian Poetry with Fady Joudah,” Jadaliyya
“Habibi Yamma,” Fady Joudah, Protean
“Dear [...],” Fady Joudah, Prairie Schooner
“[...],” Fady Joudah, Lit Hub
“[...],” Fady Joudah, Jewish Currents
“Maqam for a Green Silence,” Fady Joudah, Jewish Currents
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Since October 7th, American Jews have been sharply divided over Israel’s war on Gaza—a fracture that has been manifest within all manner of institutions, including synagogues. Many leftist Jews do not participate in synagogue life at all, in part because most congregations are explicitly or tacitly Zionist. But for those who are affiliated with a synagogue community that doesn’t completely align with their politics, this moment has raised or reasserted pressing and difficult questions: Should we do political work within these institutions, and if so, how? What is gained and lost by organizing in these spaces, or by withdrawing from them? What kinds of communities can we ethically be part of? On this episode of On the Nose, managing editor Nathan Goldman, managing director Cynthia Friedman, contributing writer Raphael Magarik, and contributor Devin E. Naar discuss their varying approaches to synagogue life in this moment.
Thanks to Jesse Brenneman for producing and to Nathan Salsburg for the use of his song “VIII (All That Were Calculated Have Passed).”
Texts Mentioned and Further Reading:
“Jewish Americans in 2020,” Pew Research Center
“Statement on Israel/Palestine by Scholars of Jewish Studies and Israel Studies” from 2021
“How a Leading Definition of Antisemitism Has Been Weaponized Against Israel’s Critics,” Jonathan Hafetz and Sahar Aziz, The Nation
Making Mensches
“Ale Brider,” Yiddish folk song
“Hayim Katsman’s Vision of Struggle,” Hayim Katsman, Jewish Currents
Ottoman Brothers: Muslims, Christians, and Jews in Early 20th Century Palestine by Michelle U. Campos
Oriental Neighbors: Middle Eastern Jews and Arabs in Mandatory Palestine by Abigail Jacobson and Moshe Naor
“A Democratic Mizrahi Vision,” the Mizrahi Civic Collective
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Zijn er afleveringen die ontbreken?
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On March 29th, Jewish Currents began publishing a short commentary on the parshah—the portion of the Torah that Jews traditionally read each week—in the Shabbat Reading List newsletter. A note introducing this new feature situated it in the context of mainstream Jewish communal support for Israel’s war on Gaza: “While it might seem strange for a historically secular magazine to embark on such a project . . . we are trying this now because many in our community have expressed an unprecedented alienation from most Jewish institutions, alongside an urgent need for spiritual fortification.” While many readers have written in to express their gratitude and enthusiasm for the series, some people with long histories of close involvement with Jewish Currents have been upset by the inclusion of religious content. The range of reactions highlights an enduring dispute over the place of religion at Jewish Currents. The magazine was founded by a stridently secularist American Jewish left, which was forged in opposition to the reactionary constraints of religion and in alignment with the Communist Party. But this has given way to a movement that’s more interested in religious texts and ritual as generative elements of Jewish identity, and as politically meaningful tools.
On this episode of On the Nose, editor-in-chief Arielle Angel, managing editor Nathan Goldman, JC councilmember Judee Rosenbaum, and contributing writer Mitch Abidor argue about the parshah commentaries, the meaning of secularism at Jewish Currents, and the evolving role of religion on the Jewish left.
Thanks to Jesse Brenneman for producing and to Nathan Salsburg for the use of his song “VIII (All That Were Calculated Have Passed).”
Articles Mentioned and Further Reading:
“Complex Inheritances,” Joy Ladin, Jewish Currents
“Yiddish Anarchists’ Break Over Palestine,” introduced and translated by Eyshe Beirich, Jewish Currents
“Camp Kinderland at 100,” On the Nose, Jewish Currents
“Zhitlovsky: Philosopher of Jewish Secularism,” Max Rosenfeld, Cultural and Secular Jewish Organization (previously in Jewish Currents)
“Secularism,” Daniel May, Sources
Letter to the editor on religious coverage at Jewish Currents, with editors’ response
“Secular Jewish Education, A Critique,” Bennett Muraskin, Jewish Currents
“Why I’m Not a Jewish Secularist,” Mitch Abidor, Jewish Currents
“Why I’m Not a Jewish Secularist: A Response to the Responses,”
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On April 7th, Larry David’s sitcom Curb Your Enthusiasm—which debuted in 2000 and ran on and off for 24 years—concluded its twelfth and final season. For many critics, the finale marked not only the completion of a beloved show that sometimes seemed like it would run forever, but also the end of an era of American Jewish comedy, embodied by David and other comics of his generation. Curb follows the everyday antics of a fictionalized version of David, living a posh life in Los Angeles following the success of the iconic ’90s sitcom Seinfeld, which he co-created with Jerry Seinfeld. David’s avatar is an over-the-top archetype of a Brooklyn Jew raised in the mid-century, and the show is animated by the character’s dry affect and hyperbolic intransigence, which often put him at odds with reigning social mores, fueling absurd interactions with strangers, friends, and foes. Over the course of Curb’s long run, it’s had a profound impact on the shape of modern American comedy, while the caricature at its core has emerged as one of the defining representations of American Jewishness.
On this episode of On the Nose, managing editor Nathan Goldman, executive editor Nora Caplan-Bricker, contributing editor Ari M. Brostoff, and contributing writer Rebecca Pierce discuss Curb’s depictions of Jewishness, Blackness—and, in one famous episode, Palestinianness—and share their thoughts on the show’s final season and David’s comedic legacy.
Thanks to Jesse Brenneman for producing and to Nathan Salsburg for the use of his song “VIII (All That Were Calculated Have Passed).”
Articles, Episodes, and Films Mentioned:
“The Ski Lift,” Curb Your Enthusiasm
“The End,” Curb Your Enthusiasm
“American Jewish Comedy Sings a Swan Song,” P.E. Moskowitz, Vulture
“Meet the Blacks,” Curb Your Enthusiasm
A Serious Man, directed by Joel and Ethan Coen
“Atlanta,” Curb Your Enthusiasm
“The Lawn Jockey,” Curb Your Enthusiasm
“The N Word,” Curb Your Enthusiasm
“Palestinian Chicken,” Curb Your Enthusiasm
“No Lessons Learned,” Curb Your Enthusiasm
“The Finale,” Seinfeld
“Jerry Seinfeld Admits He ‘Sometimes’ Regrets the Seinfeld Finale,” Corinna Burford, Vulture
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The recent wave of anti-Zionist Gaza solidarity protest encampments on college campuses has reignited a longstanding public debate over how to define “Zionist.” On May 8th, a week after the Columbia University encampment was dismantled by the NYPD, more than 500 Jewish students at the school who identify as Zionists published an open letter in which they laid out their perspective. “A large and vocal population of the Columbia community does not understand the meaning of Zionism, and consequently does not understand the essence of the Jewish People,” they argued, positing that Zionism and Judaism are fundamentally intertwined. The claims echoed a common mainstream Jewish talking point, that the student movement’s stance against Zionism and its adherents is a de facto rejection of Jews—a discourse that plays out against the backdrop of a yearslong Israel advocacy effort to redefine Zionism not as a political ideology but as a protected ethnic identity under US civil rights law. Yet anti-Zionists, Jewish and otherwise, maintain that their position is simply a rejection of the political structure of Jewish supremacy that undergirds the State of Israel.
On this episode, Jewish Currents staff members discuss how they describe their politics in relation to the term “Zionist” and why. They reflect on the comparative advantages and limits of using the labels “anti-Zionist,” “non-Zionist,” and “cultural Zionist” to articulate opposition to a state project of Jewish supremacy and support of Palestinian liberation and right of return, and consider how those identifications impact relationships within the Jewish community and with the broader solidarity movement.
Thanks to Jesse Brenneman for producing and to Nathan Salsburg for the use of his song “VIII (All That Were Calculated Have Passed).”
BOOKS AND ARTICLES MENTIONED AND FURTHER READING:
Excerpt from “Zionism from the Standpoint of Its Victims,” Edward Said
2021 Study of Jewish LA
“How ‘Zionist’ became a slur on the US left,” Jonathan Guyer, The Guardian
“A plan to save Israel — by getting rid of Zionism,” Emily Tamkin, The Forward, on Shaul Magid’s new book exploring a “counter-Zionist” future
Haifa Republic: A Democratic Future for Israel, Omri Boehm
Address by Max Nordau at the First Zionist Congress, 1897
“The Suppressed Lineage of American Jewish Dissent on Zionism,” Emma Saltzberg, Jewish Currents, on the historical evolution of the meaning of the term “Zionism”
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Last fall, the Contemporary Jewish Museum in San Francisco put out an open call for artists to apply for the California Jewish Open. Some of the artists that were accepted into the show identified themselves openly in the application as anti-Zionist, and submitted work that contained content that straightforwardly advocated for Palestinian liberation.
But in April, seven of the artists withdrew from the show. A statement released by a group calling themselves California Artists for Palestine cited an “inability to meet artists’ demands, including transparency around funding and a commitment to BDS [Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions].” The artists demanded to be able to have final say on wall text about the works, and to be able to pull or alter their works at any time. They were also concerned about potential “curatorial both-sidesism,” referring to an email they received on March 22nd which asked artists to sign off on the fact that their work would be “presented in proximity to artwork(s) by other Jewish artists which may convey views and beliefs that conflict with [their] own.” The museum has decided to leave blank the wall space designated for this work, “to honor the perspective that would have been shared through these works, and to authentically reflect the struggle for dialogue that is illustrated by the artists’ decisions to withdraw.”
This week, Jewish Currents editor-in-chief Arielle Angel speaks to two anti-Zionist multidisciplinary artists who made divergent decisions about whether to stay in the group show: Amy Trachtenberg, who opted to remain, and Liat Berdugo, who has pulled out. The trio discuss the perils and possibility of Jewish institutional life—in the art world and beyond—at this moment, the applicability of BDS in this case, and the uses and limitations of “dialogue.”
Thanks to Jesse Brenneman for producing and to Nathan Salsburg for the use of his song “VIII (All That Were Calculated Have Passed).”
ARTICLES MENTIONED AND FURTHER READING:
“Jewish Anti-Zionist Artists Withdraw From Contemporary Jewish Museum Show,” Matt Stromberg, Hyperallergic
“Anti-Zionist Jewish artists pull out of CJM exhibit when demands are not met,” Andrew Esensten, J Weekly
“CJM visitors wonder: Does the Palestinian flag belong on the museum’s walls?,” Andrew Esensten, J Weekly
Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI) guidelines
“Campus Politics Takes the Stage in The Ally,” On the Nose, Jewish Currents
Jewish Voice for Peace/IfNotNow Passover Campaign
“Biting the Hand,” The Editors, e-flux
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Chevruta is a column named for the traditional method of Jewish study, in which a pair of students analyzes a religious text together. In each installment, Jewish Currents will match leftist thinkers and organizers with a rabbi or Torah scholar. The activists will bring an urgent question that arises in their own work; the Torah scholar will lead them in exploring their question through Jewish text. By routing contemporary political questions through traditional religious sources, we aim to address the most urgent ethical and spiritual problems confronting the left. Each column will include a column, podcast, and study guide.
On February 25th, Aaron Bushnell, an active-duty member of the US Air Force, self-immolated outside the Israeli embassy in Washington, DC. “I will no longer be complicit in genocide,” Bushnell said in a livestreamed video, broadcasting what he declared an “an extreme act of protest”—though, he added, “compared to what people have been experiencing in Palestine at the hands of their colonizers, it’s not extreme at all.” Bushnell, who was dressed in his army uniform, then doused himself in gasoline and set himself on fire, shouting “Free Palestine” until he collapsed. He died later that day. While some were quick to dismiss Bushnell’s action as a manifestation of mental illness, many on the left expressed admiration for his sacrifice—which, as intended, drew global attention to US complicity in Israel’s brutal, ongoing assault on Gaza.
In this chevruta, Rabbi Lexi Botzum and Jewish Currents editor-in-chief Arielle Angel engage with Jewish texts that examine the concepts of martyrdom, sacrifice, and public spectacle, considering how our tradition might help us to engage with Aaron Bushnell’s act, and the question of how much we must sacrifice for justice.
You can find the column based on this conversation and a study guide here.
Thanks to Jesse Brenneman for producing and to Nathan Salsburg for the use of his song “VIII (All That Were Calculated Have Passed).”
Articles Mentioned:
All Jewish sources are cited in the study guide, linked above
“Aaron Bushnell’s Act of Political Despair,” Masha Gessen, The New Yorker
“The Work of the Witness,” Sarah Aziza, Jewish Currents
“The Nature of Mass Demonstrations,” John Berger, International Socialism
“Burnt Offerings,” Erik Baker, n+1
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Last week, the NYPD—called in by Columbia University president Minouche Shafik—arrested 108 Columbia and Barnard students, who had set up a Gaza solidarity encampment on a lawn in the center of campus. The group of students was subsequently suspended, and those at Barnard were evicted from campus housing. Over the following days, others reestablished the encampment—continuing the call for the university to disclose their investments and divest from Israeli companies, to boycott Israeli academic institutions, and to keep cops off campus, among other demands.
In the week since the encampment was established—as the tactic spreads to campuses around the country—the movement has been maligned as a threat to Jewish students, and lawmakers like Sens. Tom Cotton and Josh Hawley as well as Jewish communal leaders like Anti-Defamation League CEO Jonathan Greenblatt have called for bringing in the National Guard. Jewish Currents editor-in-chief Arielle Angel spoke to three Jewish student organizers arrested at the original encampments—Izzy Lapidus, Sarah Borus, and Lea Salim—about their experiences over the past week and what Palestine solidarity organizing has looked like on their campuses since October 7th.
Thanks to Jesse Brenneman for producing and to Nathan Salsburg for the use of his song “VIII (All That Were Calculated Have Passed).”
Further Reading:
"Evidence of torture as nearly 400 bodies found in Gaza mass graves," Al Jazeera
“Statement on Columbia’s Gaza Solidarity Protest Community Values,” Columbia University Apartheid Divest (CUAD)
“Republican Senators Demand Biden Use National Guard to Suppress Columbia Protests,” Nikki McCann Ramirez, Rolling Stone
Jonathan Greenblatt of the ADL calling for NYPD and the National Guard to be brought onto campus on X
Passover seder at the Columbia encampment
"NYPD Investigating 'Skunk' Chemical Attack at Columbia U," Johanna Alonso, Inside Higher Ed
“Republicans Wanted a Crackdown on Israel’s Critics. Columbia Obliged,” Michelle Goldberg, The New York Times
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In recent months, a buzzy new pair of articles on the specter of rising “Israel-related” antisemitism have arrived in The Atlantic. One, by Franklin Foer, heralds the end of the “golden age of American Jews,” while another, by Theo Baker, details the current climate on Stanford’s campus. Though similar stories have circulated in Jewish communal outlets for years, these two longform pieces demonstrate how the subject has also taken center-stage in liberal media since October 7th, against a backdrop of increased scrutiny on college campuses. The media handwringing has been accompanied by political and legal crackdowns: The ADL and the Brandeis Center have filed a lawsuit against Ohio State, the House Committee on Education has launched an investigation into Columbia, and Harvard President Claudine Gay and University of Pennsylvania President Liz Magill have both been pushed out of their positions due to their handling of tensions around campus antisemitism. But is this really all about antisemitism? What do these narratives leave out of frame?
In this episode, Jewish Currents editor-in-chief Arielle Angel, editor-at-large Peter Beinart, associate editor Mari Cohen, and publisher Daniel May dissect the common features of these campus antisemitism narratives—and consider what ends they serve. They discuss the difference between antisemitism and political ostracism, the need for more accurate reporting on campus dynamics, the confluence between the anti-antisemitism and the anti-DEI crusade, and the ways that the campus antisemitism panic can result in crackdowns on—rather than protection of—liberal freedoms.
Thanks to Jesse Brenneman for producing and to Nathan Salsburg for the use of his song “VIII (All That Were Calculated Have Passed).”
Articles Mentioned and Further Reading:
“The Golden Age of American Jews Is Ending,” Franklin Foer, The Atlantic
“The War at Stanford,” Theo Baker, The Atlantic
“The New Antisemitism,” Noah Feldman, Time Magazine
“‘Pro-Israel’ Pundits Don’t Talk About Israel,” Peter Beinart, Jewish Currents
“Toward a Sober Assessment of Campus Antisemitism,” Ben Lorber, Jewish Currents
“Homeland Violence and Diaspora Insecurity: An Analysis of Israel and American Jewry,” Ayal Feinberg, Politics and Religion (and similar studies from Belgium and
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In The Ally—a new play at the Public Theater by Itamar Moses—an Israeli American adjunct professor is forced to confront the limits of his solidarity when his decision to support a Black student seeking justice for the police murder of a cousin becomes entangled with questions of Israel and Palestine. Though set before October 7th, the play is undoubtedly “ripped from the headlines,” taking up questions of campus antisemitism and liberal Jewish discomfort with left politics, and giving every “side” in the argument—hardline Zionists, Palestinians, young Jewish leftists, Black activists, and Jewish liberals—a chance to state its case. But does the play actually push liberal audiences beyond their preconceived biases, or does it allow them to remain in a state of comfortable ambivalence? In this episode, Jewish Currents editor-in-chief Arielle Angel, contributing writer Alisa Solomon, and artist-in-residence Fargo Nissim Tbakhi discuss what The Ally reveals about liberal America’s view of the left, and the opportunities and limitations of theater in spurring action.
Thanks to Jesse Brenneman for producing and to Nathan Salsburg for the use of his song “VIII (All That Were Calculated Have Passed).”
Plays Mentioned and Further Reading:
The Ally by Itamar Moses at The Public Theater
Disgraced by Ayad Akhtar
“Who Is Tom Stoppard’s “Jewish Play” For?,” On the Nose, Jewish Currents
“Jewish Groups Condemn Black Lives Matter Platform for Accusing ‘Apartheid’ Israel of ‘Genocide,’” Sam Kestenbaum, Haaretz
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In the public sphere, the discursive battle over Israel and Palestine often comes down to language, with one’s willingness to use individual words and phrases like “apartheid” and “settler colonialism,” or “the right to exist” and “human shields,” usually offering a pretty reliable indication of their worldview. Since October 7th, mainstream and independent media alike have been faced with endless choices about how to represent the unfolding events: Which words are used to describe the Hamas attacks and which ones are used to describe those of the Israeli military, for example, and what does it say about the perceived humanity of each group of victims? What should reporters do with words like “genocide” or “war crimes,” which will take some time to adjudicate legally, but which also serve a function in naming unfolding events? This isn’t just a question about words, but also grammar and syntax: In a pattern reminiscent of reporting on police attacks on Black Americans, headlines often employ the passive voice when dealing with Israeli military action, obscuring the culpability of those responsible for attacks on Palestinians.
In this episode, Jewish Currents editor-in-chief Arielle Angel talks to Intercept senior editor Ali Gharib, independent journalist Dalia Hatuqa, and former New York Times Magazine writer Jazmine Hughes about the decisions that newsrooms are making regarding the language they use to discuss Israel/Palestine, and what these decisions mean about the state of journalism today.
Thanks to Jesse Brenneman for producing and to Nathan Salsburg for the use of his song “VIII (All That Were Calculated Have Passed).”
Articles Mentioned and Further Reading:
“Coverage of Gaza War in the New York Times and Other Major Newspapers Heavily Favored Israel, Analysis Shows,” Adam Johnson and Othman Ali, The Intercept
“CNN Runs Gaza Coverage Past Jerusalem Team Operating Under Shadow of IDF Censor,” Daniel Boguslaw, The Intercept
“Between the Hammer and the Anvil: The Story Behind the New York Times October 7 Exposé,” Jeremy Scahill, Ryan Grim, and Daniel Boguslaw, The Intercept
“In Internal Meeting, Christiane Amanpour Confronts CNN Brass About ‘Double Standards’ on Israel Coverage,” Daniel Boguslaw and Prem Thakker, The Intercept
“This War Did Not Start a Month Ago,” Dalia Hatuqa, The New York Times
Jazmine Hughes on Democracy Now
“‘There Has Never Been Less Tolerance for This’: Inside a New York Times Magazine Writer’s Exit Over Gaza Letter,” Charlotte Klein, Vanity Fair
Words About War guide
“A Poetry of Proximity,” Solmaz...
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On January 22nd, India’s far-right prime minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the Ram Mandir, a gargantuan new temple dedicated to the Hindu god Ram, in an event that marked the most consequential victory for the Hindu nationalist movement in its 100-year history. The temple has been erected in the exact spot where a centuries-old mosque, the Babri Masjid, stood until Hindutva supporters violently destroyed it in 1992. The attack on the Masjid catalyzed anti-Muslim mass violence across the country, and in the years since, Hindu nationalist, or Hindutva, groups like the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS)—a Nazi-inspired paramilitary of which Modi is a member—have used the campaign to construct a new temple on the site of the demolished mosque as a rallying cry in their efforts to transform India from a secular democracy to a Hindu supremacist nation. That ambition appeared to have been fulfilled at the Ram Mandir opening ceremony, with Modi declaring that “this temple is not just a temple to a god. This is a temple of India’s vision . . . Ram is the faith of India.”
The temple’s inauguration comes months before national elections in which Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) appears certain to emerge victorious. Over the course of its two terms in office, the BJP has already entrenched India’s annexation of the Muslim-majority of Kashmir, presided over anti-minority riots across India, and ratcheted up state-sponsored Islamophobia to such a pitch that experts warn that India’s 200 million Muslims are at risk of facing a genocide. With the completion of the Ram Mandir, this anti-minority fervor seems set only to intensify further. On this episode of On the Nose, news editor Aparna Gopalan speaks to writer Siddhartha Deb, scholar Angana Chatterji, and activist Safa Ahmed about the Hindutva movement’s epochal win, how it was achieved, and what comes next for India’s minorities.
Thanks to Jesse Brenneman for producing and to Nathan Salsburg for the use of his song “VIII (All That Were Calculated Have Passed).”
Articles Mentioned and Further Reading:
“The Idol and the Mosque,” Siddhartha Deb, Tablet
“Ayodhya: Once There Was A Mosque,” The Wire
“Recasting Ram,” Sagar, The Caravan
“Bulldozer Injustice in India,” Amnesty International
“How the Hindu Right Triumphed in India,” Isaac Chotiner and Mukul Kesavan, The New Yorker
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In recent years, religious Jewish communities around the world have turned increasingly toward the right. In Israel, the overwhelmingly right-wing ideology of Religious Zionism is on the rise, and it’s often seen as unusual to be both religious and left-wing. But there's also a growing movement of observant Jews offering an alternative vision for religious life that centers Jewish values of justice, compassion, and freedom.
In this episode of On the Nose, Israel/Palestine fellow Maya Rosen speaks with Mikhael Manekin, Nechumi Yaffe, and Dvir Warshavsky, three activists with the new Israeli religious left-wing group Smol HaEmuni (the Faithful Left), about the experience of the religious left in Israel after October 7th, their work in the West Bank city of Hebron, and the movement's future.
Thanks to Jesse Brenneman for producing and to Nathan Salsburg for the use of his song “VIII (All That Were Calculated Have Passed).”
Texts Mentioned and Further Reading:
End of Days: Ethics, Tradition, and Power in Israel by Mikhael Manekin
“Can religious Zionism overcome its addiction to state power?,” Shaul Magid, +972 Magazine
“The far right is ‘taking over’ the Israeli army—with leftists in its crosshairs,” Oren Ziv, +972 Magazine
“‘Not Our Judaism’: Israel’s Religious Left Takes a Stand Against Netanyahu Government,” Judy Maltz, Haaretz
“There Are No Lights in War: We Need a Different Religious Language,” Ariel Schwartz, The Lehrhaus
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On January 26th, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) issued an interim ruling on South Africa’s charge that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza. The ICJ found South Africa’s argument to be “plausible”—meaning it will allow the case to go forward and will fully examine the merits of South Africa’s case. While the court’s final ruling may take years, it ordered a series of immediate provisional measures, including that Israel must prevent violations of the Genocide Convention and punish incitement to genocide, though it stopped short of ordering a ceasefire.
On this episode of On the Nose, associate editor Mari Cohen speaks to human rights attorney and scholar Noura Erakat, legal scholar Darryl Li, and journalist Tony Karon about the meaning of the ICJ’s ruling.
Thanks to Jesse Brenneman for producing and to Nathan Salsburg for the use of his song “VIII (All That Were Calculated Have Passed).”
Further Reading and Resources:
“The Charge of Genocide,” Darryl Li, Dissent
“South Africa’s ICJ Case Against Israel Is a Call to Break Free From the Imperial West,” Tony Karon, The Nation
“South Africa’s Genocide Case Is a Devastating Indictment of Israel’s War on Gaza,” Noura Erakat and John Reynolds, Jacobin
“Quick thoughts on ICJ decision,” Noura Erakat, Instagram
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The US labor movement has had an exciting few years. Labor unions are gaining popularity among the general public as workers organize at new shops from Amazon to Starbucks to Harvard. Perhaps most critically, legacy unions are experiencing a democratic upsurge, with both the Teamsters and the United Auto Workers (UAW) recently electing militant leaders. This revival has also been expanding labor’s purview, with unions increasingly taking on demands that exceed “bread-and-butter” concerns about wages and benefits.
But the renaissance in labor is now being tested, as rank-and-file workers begin to demand that their unions break long-standing ties with Israel and materially support Palestinian liberation. This challenge is particularly stark in unions like the UAW, which represent workers producing the weapons being used to kill Palestinians. On this episode of On The Nose, news editor Aparna Gopalan speaks to historian Jeff Schuhrke, organizer Zaina Alsous, and journalist Alex Press about the labor movement’s deep imbrication in Zionism and militarism, the rank-and-file efforts that have challenged this status quo over the decades, and what’s at stake in labor embracing an anti-imperialist politics.
Thanks to Jesse Brenneman for producing and to Nathan Salsburg for the use of his song “VIII (All That Were Calculated Have Passed).”
Articles Mentioned and Further Reading
“The Problem of the Unionized War Machine,” Jeff Schuhrke, Jewish Currents
“US Labor Has Long Been a Stalwart Backer of Israel. That’s Starting to Change,” Jeff Schuhrke, Jacobin
“The UAW Has Had a Big Year. They’re Preparing for an Even Bigger One,” Alex Press, Jacobin
“A Night at the Movies With Brandon Mancilla,” Alex Press, The Nation
“A Working-Class Foreign Policy Is Coming,” Spencer Ackerman, The Nation
“Thousands of Palestinian Workers Have Gone Missing in Israel,” Taj Ali, Jacobin
“This Union Is Famous for Opposing South African Apartheid. Now It’s Standing With Gaza,” Sarah Lazare, The Nation
“Respecting the BDS Picket Line,” Labor for Palestine
“Stop Arming Israel. End All Complicity,” Workers in Palestine
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Many months ago, we solicited questions from you, our listeners, for our first-ever mailbag episode. The result was a wide-ranging conversation that wandered from the serious (Torah study) to the relatively frivolous (HBO’s Girls). We planned to release the episode in early October, but shelved it in the wake of Hamas’s attack on Israel and amid Israel’s ongoing assault on Gaza. We’re sharing it now as a piece of bonus holiday content because many of your questions still feel relevant—even if we might have answered them differently from within this moment. In this episode, editor-in-chief Arielle Angel, executive editor Nora Caplan-Bricker, managing editor Nathan Goldman, and associate editor Mari Cohen discuss, among other things, how to deal with right-wing family members and what we say when people ask us why we care about Jewishness.
Thanks to Jesse Brenneman for producing and to Nathan Salsburg for the use of his song “VIII (All That Were Calculated Have Passed).” And many thanks to everyone who sent us such thoughtful questions.
Articles Mentioned and Further Reading:
JewBus
Daf Yomi
“A ufologist claims to show 2 alien corpses to Mexico's Congress,” Eyder Peralta, NPR
“In the sky! A bird? A plane? A ... UFO?,” Jon Hilkevitch, Chicago Tribune
“Former Israeli space security chief says aliens exist, humanity not ready,” Aaron Reich, The Jerusalem Post
HBO’s Girls
“Old Loves (feat. Rebecca Alter),” Girls Room
“On Loving Jews,” Arielle Angel, Jewish Currents
Hora Haslama!, Habiluim
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In this episode, Jewish Currents editor-at-large Peter Beinart speaks with two political analysts from Gaza living abroad, Khalil Sayegh and Muhammad Shehada. Sayegh and Shehada discuss what it was like growing up under Hamas rule, how Hamas governs, the motivations behind the October 7th attack, and what’s next for Hamas in Palestinian politics.
Thanks to Jesse Brenneman for producing and to Nathan Salsburg for the use of his song “VIII (All That Were Calculated Have Passed).”
Links and Further Reading:
Khalil Sayegh and Muhammad Shehada on X
The Palestinian Center for Policy Survey and Research poll
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In late October, we received a letter: “In almost every conversation I have with young Jews on the left, I find that we are all currently struggling with the same question: What do we do with our families? How do we relate to our parents and grandparents or relatives who are supportive of and complicit in pogroms and genocide? These conversations are feeling fruitless. I’m going home this weekend to visit my family and don’t know what I’ll do.”
Around Thanksgiving, we asked listeners to call in and tell us about how they’re navigating conversations with their families, friends, and communities in this moment. What has worked in getting through to loved ones who are attached to a destructive Zionist politics, and what hasn’t? We wanted to know how people are managing these relationships or coping with their feelings about them.
On this episode—a collaboration between On the Nose and Unsettled—editor-in-chief Arielle Angel, associate editor Mari Cohen, and Unsettled producer Ilana Levinson listen to clips from callers describing the ruptures in their families, their attempts to repair relationships while sticking to their values, and their strategies for getting through to stubborn loved ones. We explore questions of when it is our obligation to keep arguing, and when it’s better to take a break—or give up completely. And we zoom out to think about what this moment says about the future of Jewish American institutional life.
Thanks to Max Freedman, Ilana Levinson, and Jesse Brenneman for producing and to Nathan Salsburg for the use of his song “VIII (All That Were Calculated Have Passed).”
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In her new book, Doppelganger: A Trip Into the Mirror World, leftist public intellectual Naomi Klein argues that the phenomenon of “doubling”—of the self or a collective, whether adopted or imposed—shapes the politics of our time. Klein’s frequent confusion with the feminist-writer-turned-Covid-conspiracy-theorist Naomi Wolf provides the jumping-off point for a journey through internet culture, vaccine conspiracism, the wellness world, eugenics, and contemporary dynamics around settler colonial denialism, as she explores the way that “doubling” structures what we see and don’t want to see, what we project and what we hide. The book culminates in an extended discussion of Israel/Palestine, which Klein reveals to be a potent site of such “doppelganger politics,” as the scholar Caroline Rooney has put it, in which Israel has created its own “double” of the European nationalism that has oppressed so many Jews, and which allows it to project everything it cannot bear to see about itself onto the Palestinian Other.
In this episode of On the Nose, editor-in-chief Arielle Angel speaks with Klein about her book and its relation to the present crisis: How can the figure of the doppelganger help us understand the long history that is erupting in the present—both the Holocaust and the Nakba—in ways that can move us toward justice and solidarity? And how can the left adequately respond to this moment—on campus, on the page, and in the streets?
Thanks to Jesse Brenneman for producing and to Nathan Salsburg for the use of his song “VIII (All That Were Calculated Have Passed).”
To leave a voicemail for our upcoming episode about talking to your families in this moment, please call 347-878-1359.
Books, Films, and Articles Mentioned and Further Reading:
Doppelganger: A Trip Into the Mirror World by Naomi Klein
Discourse on Colonialism by Aimé Césaire
They Do Not Exist, 1974 film by Mustafa Abu Ali
Repression of Students for Justice in Palestine at Brandeis and Columbia and in the state of Florida
“Light Among the Nations,” Suzanne Schneider, Jewish Currents
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Since October 7th, when Hamas attacked Israel and Israel began its ongoing bombardment of Gaza, almost every member of Congress has denounced the killings of Israelis and proclaimed support for Israel’s “right to defend itself.” Far fewer have expressed sorrow for the more than 10,500 Palestinians killed in the bombing, and only 23 have called for a ceasefire and an end to the collective punishment of civilians in Gaza. Among the few dissenting voices in Washington is Cori Bush, the representative for Missouri’s 1st congressional district, which spans the cities of St. Louis and Ferguson and some of their suburbs. Bush responded to the events of October 7th by mourning the Israeli and Palestinian lives lost that day and calling for an immediate ceasefire. She also urged the US government to “do our part to stop this violence and trauma” by ending US support for Israeli apartheid. Nine days later, Bush—alongside Reps. Rashida Tlaib, André Carson, Summer Lee, and Delia C. Ramirez—introduced a “Ceasefire Now” resolution, which demands that the Biden administration call for an end to hostilities in Israel/Palestine and send humanitarian aid to Gaza.
In this episode of On the Nose, senior reporter Alex Kane interviews Rep. Bush about her call for a ceasefire, the role of race and racism in shaping reaction to Israel’s bombing campaign, and the political consequences of anti-war dissent.
Thanks to Jesse Brenneman for producing and to Nathan Salsburg for the use of his song “VIII (All That Were Calculated Have Passed).”
Articled Mentioned and Further Reading:
“Anti-Defamation League calls Congresswoman Bush's comments on Israel 'tone deaf,'” Stuart McMillian, KMOX News
“Calls for a Ceasefire Get Little Traction in Congress,” Alex Kane, Jewish Currents
“House censures Rep. Rashida Tlaib over Israel remarks,” Scott Wong, Kyle Stewart and Zoë Richards, NBC News
“St. Louis Jewish community says Cori Bush made ‘incendiary’ Israel comments, she says that’s ‘unfair and simply untrue,’” Sam Clancy and Justina Coronel, KSDK
“Democrat drops out of Missouri Senate race, challenges Cori Bush for House seat,” Olafimihan Oshin, The Hill
“How ‘Pro-Israel’ Orthodoxy Keeps US Foreign Policymaking White,” Peter Beinart, Jewish Currents
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