|
August 31, 2025
Key Developments and What We're Discussing Today:
- Today, August 31, marks 695 days since October 7, 2023. The Hamas-led attack on Simchat Torah resulted in 1,182 fatalities (including 44 Americans) and over 4,000 wounded. 251 hostages (210 alive, 41 dead bodies) were taken during a day of brutal savagery and sexual violence. It was the largest single massacre of Jews since the Holocaust, with more than one in every 10,000 Israelis killed, and the third overall deadliest terrorist attack in the world to date.
- The 48 remaining hostages (Israel recovered the remains of two hostages last week), 25 known to be dead, 20 thought to be alive, and three of unknown status, include the bodies of two Americans: Omer Neutra and Itay Chen. It is beyond outrageous that after all this time, they are still enduring torture and starvation in tunnels with no outside contact. It is beyond outrageous that no hostages have been released since June. Releasing the hostages is clearly not a priority for Trump and Netanyahu, but it's a top priority for us.
- Israel is on a path toward becoming a pariah state. We cannot let that happen. The answer is not to distance ourselves from Israel. The answer is to recommit ourselves to Israel by speaking out and advocating for policies in Israel and the U.S. that will ensure--not eliminate--its future as a Jewish, democratic state.
- Fighting antisemitism does not mean exaggerating antisemitism.
- Politics with Dana and Steve is co-hosting an event on September 18 in Chicago with Evanston Mayor Daniel Biss, the leading (and my favorite) candidate in the Illinois 9th congressional district Democratic primary. See below for details.
You're welcome to read for free, but if you get something out of this newsletter, you can give something back by credit card or PayPal, by Venmo @Steven-Sheffey, or by check. Thank you.
Greetings!
Many of us are trying to reconcile our Zionism and our love and support for Israel with the reality that Benjamin Netanyahu's government is inflicting indefensible pain and suffering on Palestinians in Gaza, turning a blind eye to settler terrorism, and proceeding with plans to annex the West Bank, which would mean the end of Israel as a Jewish, democratic state.
Israel has faced existential threats for its entire existence. None of us thought that the greatest threat would come from within. We in America know the feeling.
We can resolve this dilemma by recognizing, as Giorgio Gomel writes (citing Amos Oz), that "the war between Israel and the Palestinians actually conceals two wars being fought simultaneously: one, 'unjust,' waged by Hamas’s fundamentalist terrorism against Israel in order to create an Islamic state across all of Palestine; the other, 'just,' waged by the Palestinian people aspiring to a state worthy of the name. Similarly, Israel too is fighting two wars: one, 'just,' to defend its right to exist as a people and a state; the other, 'unjust,' to perpetuate the occupation of the territories and the Jewish settlements established there."
We need to ensure Israel and the Palestinians win their "just" wars and lose their "unjust" wars. Viewed from this perspective, it becomes clear that ensuring Israel's safety and security and pressuring Netanyahu to stop the war in Gaza and abandon his dream of a Greater Israel is pro-Israel. It means that supporting Netanyahu whether he is right or wrong is not pro-Israel. It is a self-defeating strategy that will weaken Israel and carries with it the potential to damage Israel irreparably.
This approach requires nuance, not knee-jerk reactions or falling back on what worked before but won't work today. If you're not sure how to do it or if it can be done, read this press release from Rep. Adam Smith (D-WA), the Ranking Member of the House Armed Services Committee.
Smith and like-minded Democrats are not changing their minds about whether to remain pro-Israel. They are adapting their positions to remain pro-Israel in light of the new reality that Netanyahu's government is trying to create.
Yotam Vilk writes, "Everyone who cares about Israel’s future must understand that what is at stake is not only lives but also the very idea of Israel itself. If we continue on this path and take permanent control over Gaza, nothing will remain of the fragile vision of a liberal democracy that once defined this state."
Israel is on a path toward becoming a pariah state. We cannot let that happen. The answer is not to distance ourselves from Israel. The answer is to recommit ourselves to Israel by speaking out and advocating for policies in Israel and the U.S. that will ensure--not eliminate--its future as a Jewish, democratic state.
Let's end this section on a note of hope.
Fighting antisemitism does not mean exaggerating antisemitism. The temptation is great. Antisemitism is a problem. So why not exaggerate its extent to get more resources to fight it and to draw more attention to the problem?
By exaggerating it, we lose credibility, we weaken potential alliances, and we risk misdefining it. On August 12, Jewish students, Jewish teachers, and parents of Jewish students currently enrolled in or recently graduated from Baltimore City public schools objected to an ADL complaint against the Baltimore City Public School System. They disagreed with what they viewed as the ADL's overly broad characterizations of antisemitism in the school system.
They added, "We are concerned that your complaint and the remedies that you have demanded will chill classroom discussion, narrow the space for open inquiry and debate on campus, and restrict the rights of our students and their classmates to express themselves."
This reminds me of the controversy about antisemitism on college campuses after October 7. There has been true antisemitism on campus. Any antisemitism is unacceptable. But the protests we heard about, most of which were not antisemitic, were concentrated at elite universities.
At those universities, some Jewish students thought certain incidents were antisemitic while others did not. The ones who did not experience or perceive antisemitism did not complain, so we heard mainly from those who experienced speech they disagreed with or found offensive as antisemitism. None of that is to excuse real antisemitism. But the problem appears to have been exaggerated, including by organizations that had an incentive to exaggerate it.
A May 2025 survey of Jewish voters found that concern about antisemitism on college campuses drops as age drops. Less than 40% of young Jewish voters are "very concerned" about antisemitism on college campuses compared to 70% of Jewish voters 65 and older.
In other words, those who most recently lived on college campuses are the least concerned. Those who are furthest away in time from college are the most concerned.
Why? Perhaps because younger Jews can see for themselves what is happening on campus, whereas older Jews rely on anecdotal accounts and organizations and media that have a financial incentive to exaggerate the extent of antisemitism on campus. When was the last time you received a fundraising email that began, "It's not as bad as you think"?
As Chemi Shalev wrote, "One of the main reasons for the growing disillusionment of American Jews, especially the younger generation, is the unbearable discrepancy between the idyllic Israel they were sold and their realization of reality on the ground."
The kids on campus who complain the most and the loudest about antisemitism tend to be the kids who were sold this fantasy and lack the tools to respond to criticism of Israel that is new to them only because their pre-college education about Israel consisted mainly of right-wing indoctrination.
That's an explanation for why Jewish students experience the same events differently, not an excuse for real antisemitism on some college campuses, which does exist--albeit not to the extent that some students (and especially parents) think it exists.
Another possibility is that many younger Jews define "antisemitism" differently. For example, older Jews might see kids on campus chanting "Palestine will be free from the river to the sea" and think that's antisemitic. Younger Jews might know some of those protesters or at least understand that the slogan is not necessarily antisemitic. In many ways, it's more of a Rorschach test. Same with "globalize the intifada."
We have enough on our hands fighting the antisemitism that exists. Let's not invent antisemitism that doesn't exist.
Upcoming Event. Alan & Andrea Solow, Jon Carson, Politics with Dana & Steve, and Mark & Margie Zivin are hosting Evanston Mayor Daniel Biss, the leading candidate in the 9th Illinois congressional district Democratic primary (Rep. Jan Schakowsky is retiring), on Thursday, September 18, from 5:30 pm to 7:00 pm CT, in person in Chicago. RSVP and contribute here.
In Case You Missed It:
- Israel recovered the bodies of Israeli hostage Ilan Weiss of Kibbutz Be’eri and Idan Shtivi, slain at the Nova festival, last week.
-
Ilan Goldenberg explains why, "two years into this war, Israel continues to weigh the marginal value of killing a Hamas operative against the enormous moral, legal, and strategic costs of striking civilian facilities—and keeps choosing to strike."
- Dan Meridor has served as Israel's Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Finance, Minister of Justice, and Minister of Intelligence and Atomic Energy. He has some good advice. The article says more than the headline might suggest.
Social Posts of the Week. Jo Carducci, Yair Lapid, and Fred Guttenberg.
Thread of the Week. Daniel Bral.
Video Clip of the Week. This is News.
Vintage Music Clip of the Week. More hippie music.
For those new to this newsletter. This is the newsletter even Republicans have to read and the original home of the viral and beloved Top Ten Signs You're At a Republican Seder (yes, I wrote it). If someone forwarded this newsletter to you, why not subscribe and get it in your inbox every Sunday? Just click here--it's free.
I periodically update my posts on the IHRA definition of antisemitism and on why Democrats are better than Republicans on Israel and antisemitism. My definition of "pro-Israel" is here (it's a work in progress, as am I).
I hope you enjoyed today's newsletter. It takes time to write and costs money to send. If you'd like to support my work, click here and fill in the amount of your choice. You don't need a PayPal account. If you see something that says "Save your info and create a PayPal account," click the button to the right and it will go away. Or you can Venmo @Steven-Sheffey. Or you can send a check.
| 