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March 8, 2026
Key Developments and What We're Discussing Today:
- Trump launched an illegal, undeclared war against Iran. Trump's objectives and timelines change by the hour. How can anyone support a war whose goals (other than perhaps distracting from the Epstein Files) are unknown to those waging that war?
- Israel's involvement in this war, combined with statements from Rubio and Johnson suggesting that Israel dragged the U.S. into this war, can lead to antisemitic rhetoric. The Nexus Project developed a good explainer on how to distinguish legitimate criticism of this war, including Israel's role, from antisemitism.
- California Governor Gavin Newsom did not call Israel an apartheid state, nor did he call for cutting military aid to Israel. This manufactured controversy is amazing because the short video exchange is there for anyone to see.
- J Street better represents the views of mainstream American Jewry than AIPAC.
- AIPAC has spent more than $5 million against Evanston Mayor Daniel Biss in the March 17 IL-09 Democratic congressional primary in an effort to prop up its candidate, Laura Fine. The winner of this primary will win the general election and succeed retiring Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-IL). Schakowsky has endorsed Biss, who remains the frontrunner despite almost non-stop TV ads reportedly financed by AIPAC's shell PACs. Biss's handling of the Northwestern encampments is a reason to vote for him, not against him--at least for those who know the facts.
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After the Trump administration advanced and then discarded several rationales for its undeclared war with Iran, including "a feeling," Secretary of State Marco Rubio absurdly claimed that Iran posed an imminent threat because “we knew that there was going to be an Israeli action. We knew that that would precipitate an attack against American forces, and we knew that if we didn’t pre-emptively go after them before they launched those attacks, we would suffer higher casualties.” House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) echoed that argument.
In other words, we thought Israel was going to bomb Iran, and instead of telling Israel not to bomb Iran, we bombed Iran. Previously, Trump has not hesitated to tell Israel not to bomb.
In Rubio's words, "we went proactively in a defensive way to prevent them from inflicting higher damage.” Got that? If not, let Eliav Lieblich walk you through it. The next day, Rubio tried to walk it back and then blew up the whole imminent threat rationale.
It is vital to understand the difference between preemptive attacks (okay) and preventive attacks (not okay). Trump's war against Iran falls into the latter category.
Another rationale is that this is part of God's plan, as if God doesn't have enough to do listening to athletes praying for God to secure victory for them. Jonathan Larsen has more details. Rep. Jared Huffman (D-CA) posted a short video explaining the dangers of rationalizing war with Iran as part of a Biblical plan.
As of this writing, the goal of the war is unconditional surrender. Seems realistic. The last time any country unconditionally surrendered to the U.S. was Japan in 1945. All it took was two atomic bombs. Naturally, Karoline Leavitt attempted to walk it back.
Laura Rozen notes that the estimated length of this war "has gone from days to weeks to four weeks to four to five weeks to eight weeks in 100 hours."
Compounding the incompetence, Trump appears to have made no plans to evacuate Americans in harm's way.
Do Americans need to worry about retaliatory strikes? Trump's response: "I guess." Feel safer?
Anyone who says that they support this war has to explain how they can support this war, or any war, whose objectives are unknown to those waging the war. Imputing rational objectives to irrational actors who themselves don't know their objectives is wishful thinking at its finest.
When does talking about Israel's role in the war cross the line into antisemitism? The U.S. and Israel are fighting Iran together. Rubio and Johnson have, at times, suggested that Israel forced America's hand. The opportunities this presents for antisemitic rhetoric are obvious.
The Nexus Project has a great explainer on what isn't antisemitic when talking about the war, what is clearly antisemitic when talking about the war, and what isn't explicitly antisemitic but feeds antisemitic tropes.
California Governor Gavin Newsom did not call Israel an apartheid state, nor did he call for cutting military aid to Israel. This manufactured controversy is amazing because the short video exchange is there for anyone to see.
This is exactly what Newsom said: Netanyahu "is trying to stay out of jail. He’s got an election coming up. He’s potentially on the ropes. He’s got folks, the hard line, that want to annex the West Bank. [Journalist Tom] Friedman and others are talking about it appropriately as sort of an apartheid state.”
The word "it" refers to Israel after annexation. This is clearer when you watch the video. How can anyone deny that Israel will become an apartheid state if it annexes the West Bank without giving Palestinians in the West Bank the same right to vote in Knesset elections that Jews in the West Bank have?
When asked about military aid to Israel, Newsom said, “It breaks my heart, because the current leadership is walking us down that path where I don’t think you have a choice about that consideration.”
Is that not obvious? If Israel becomes an apartheid state, which is where some in the current government want to take it and where those of us who love Israel don't want it to go, how can the U.S. not at least reconsider military aid?
The problem is Israel's government and its policies, not Newsom's legitimate concerns about where that government is going.
Those of us who care about Israel's safety and security and the strength of the U.S.-Israel relationship should consume our news responsibly. What Newsom actually said represents genuine care for Israel, not genuflection to AIPAC. We cannot effectively advocate for Israel if we deny reality or condemn messengers who deliver truths we need to hear.
This happened 780,000 years ago: The north and south poles switched places. You may have missed that. We have fewer excuses for not noticing that AIPAC and J Street have switched places.
AIPAC was once the adult in the room. I was a member for about 25 years. J Street was once an upstart. But AIPAC's opposition to the Iran Deal, its support for Republicans who attempted to overturn the 2020 election, and its attempts to intimidate Democrats in the primaries, combined with J Street's rational approach to today's geopolitical realities and support for democracy, have made J Street the adult in the room, at least far more often than some may realize.
Today, J Street more often speaks for the mainstream Jewish American community than AIPAC. As a spokesperson for Illinois Governor JB Pritzker recently observed, AIPAC has become a pro-Trump organization. Pritzker “walked away” from AIPAC around 2015, when it began to veer to the right (that's when I left AIPAC too). Pritzker said, “I still believe it is significantly MAGA-influenced."
I attended parts of J Street's convention last week. If you were troubled by clips of Sen. Chris Van Hollen's (D-MD) speech, watch all of it. Decide for yourself if he is Israel's arch-enemy, as some have inaccurately painted him--or if he is a friend of Israel and an opponent of Netanyahu and Trump.
I asked J Street Founder and President Jeremy Ben-Ami about J Street's role in the midterm elections. He said that J Street does not and will not support candidates who want to cut all military aid to Israel or support an arms embargo against Israel. Remember that the next time someone says otherwise about a J Street-endorsed candidate.
News from the Ninth. AIPAC has spent over $5 million to defeat Evanston Mayor Daniel Biss in the March 17 9th congressional district Democratic primary. Retiring Rep. Jan Schakowsky has endorsed front-runner Biss to succeed her.
AIPAC has been cheerleading Trump's war against Iran and highlighting Israel's role since it began, never mind Trump's shifting rationales or its illegality.
Biss has come out firmly against war with Iran.
AIPAC's candidate, Laura Fine, has been careful to seek the lowest common denominator among congressional Democrats. Compare her short statement, which does not even mention the War Powers Resolution, let alone whether she would be for or against the Iran war if Trump asked for a declaration of war, to Biss's statement.
Her pusillanimity is reminiscent of her silence regarding those impacted by sexual harassment and violence.
The New York Times reported that "in Chicago, [AIPAC] has focused much of its ire on Mr. Biss, a grandson of Holocaust survivors who spent many of his childhood summers in Israel, where his mother was born, and whose nuanced views on the Middle East reflect those of many liberal Jews, said Jeremy Ben-Ami, the executive director of J Street, which is backing Mr. Biss with $100,000."
'“This is a guy who can’t possibly be considered anti-Israel — he is the quintessential American Jew,” Mr. Ben-Ami said. “He is at the 50-yard line of Jewish Americans, and AIPAC doesn’t want them anywhere near policy.”'
This is J Street's ad.
I've known Biss for nearly 20 years. He is brilliant (he was a professor of mathematics at the University of Chicago before running for office). He has the courage of his convictions. He has compiled a proven record of success as a state representative, a state senator, and as mayor.
He is the only candidate in this crowded race who works hard and gets things done and has risked his physical safety and understands the importance of public resistance and giving people hope in the moment. Some candidates have done one or the other to some extent, but none have done either as well or as often as Biss has.
Republicans are again recycling debunked claims about Biss's handling of the Northwestern encampments. If you want the truth, take another look at my February 1 newsletter. The encampments were up for five days. They were in Laura Fine's State Senate district. True to form, she said nothing about the encampments and nothing about how Biss and Northwestern handled them.
No candidate in this race has anywhere near the background and understanding of Israel that Biss has. Maybe that's why AIPAC is afraid of him.
In Case You Missed It:
- Charlie Savage explains that presidents have sidestepped Congress to launch limited military strikes for decades, but "even so, the prospect of attacking Iran, absent a literally imminent threat of attack by the country, had stood apart as a textbook example of what would seemingly still require congressional authorization."
Tweets of the Week. Rep. Sean Casten (D-IL), Edward Feser, Malcolm Harris, Danny Miller, and Matthew Yglesias.
Video Clip of the Week. Rep. Yassamin Ansari (D-AZ).
Vintage Music Clip of the Week. Hey Jude. We all need this.
The Fine Print. I read every reply to this newsletter. I reply as often as I can. All I ask is that you read the fine print before you reply or send me anything.
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).
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Be sure to read my posts on distinguishing anti-Zionism from antisemitism, how to heal the generational rift on Israel and antisemitism, and the IHRA definition of antisemitism.
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