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September 28, 2025
Key Developments and What We're Discussing Today:
- Today, September 28, marks 723 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, 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 nearly two years, 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.
- The U.S. must use its leverage to prevent Israel from annexing any parts of the West Bank. Doing so might not be pro-Netanyahu. Doing so would be pro-Israel.
- Democrats in Congress are not breaking with Israel. They are breaking with Netanyahu, whose policies jeopardize Israel's future as a Jewish, democratic state.
- Trump and the Republican Party are putting our safety and our democracy at risk. As we enter 5786, we cannot give in to despair or anticipatory compliance.
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Greetings!
Yom Kippur is Wednesday night and Thursday, which means that Simchat Torah, the second anniversary of the deadly Hamas attack, is not far behind. Ever since Trump took office, we've been told by Trump or Netanyahu that a deal to release the hostages was right around the corner. Yet it never happens. Not one hostage has been released since June. Amir Tibon reminds us of where we are and what needs to be done. Einav Zangauker had some choice words for Netanyahu after his UN speech.
Last week, as we were making our final preparations for Rosh Hashanah, Donald Trump promised Arab leaders that he would not allow Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to annex the West Bank. He later said it publicly.
A good test of hypocrisy is whether you criticize your own party for doing what you criticized the other party for doing. When Democrats are in power, the Republican mantra is no daylight between allies, keep disagreements private, and never oppose the democratically elected leaders of Israel on security matters. When Republicans are in power, the Republican mantra is look the other way, nothing to see here.
In this case, Trump is right. Annexation would harm U.S.and Israeli interests. Ironically, the one time he's right, Republicans aren't giving him credit. Well, at least we know that Republicans will only follow Trump so far. Maybe there is hope yet.
Reps. Brad Schneider (D-IL) and Jamie Raskin (D-MD) led a letter signed by an overwhelming majority of House Democrats explaining their opposition to unilateral annexation of territory in the West Bank: "Such a move would not only violate international law but undermine decades of bipartisan U.S. policy and threaten the progress of the Abraham Accords, which offer Israel and its neighbors the opportunity to build a more secure, cooperative, and prosperous regional future. Unilateral annexation of the West Bank would plunge the region, already reeling from tens of thousands of deaths in the horrific Gaza war, into further chaos and violence."
They added that "longstanding and overwhelmingly bipartisan U.S. policy, as enacted in the bipartisan Israel Relations Normalization Act, supports direct negotiations toward a two-state solution to ensure a future for two peoples living side by side in peace, security, and mutual recognition. We are convinced that unilateral steps by either side, including Israeli annexation of territory in the West Bank or Gaza, would move Israelis and Palestinians further away from negotiations and further away from a just, sustainable peace."
Separately, Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA) led a letter signed by 48 House Democrats urging the United States to officially recognize a Palestinian state. The letter follows the official recognition of a Palestinian state by France, the United Kingdom, Canada, and Australia at the United Nations General Assembly this week.
Democrats in Congress are NOT breaking with Israel. Some Democrats are breaking with Netanyahu and his extreme, right-wing messianic government. That's a huge difference. Pro-Israel and pro-Netanyahu are not the same. If you can understand that supporting the United States is not the same as supporting Donald Trump, this should not be a hard concept to grasp.
Do you really think that Democrats who wholeheartedly and unequivocally supported Israel in the weeks and months after October 7, 2023, in its military efforts to defeat Hamas and free the hostages are raging anti-Israel antisemites in 2025? You might think so if you listen to Republicans and right-leaning Jewish organizations.
The reality is that circumstances have changed in the past two years. As David Schraub explains, what we are seeing is the consequence of choices that the Netanyahu government could have made differently.
The Democrats who oppose annexation and the smaller number of Democrats who support recognition of a Palestinian state and certain restrictions on aid to Israel, with few exceptions, continue to support Israel's safety and security. If you don't think one can be pro-Israel and support conditioning aid to Israel, read this from Rep. Adam Smith (D-WA).
Democrats want to ensure Israel's future as a Jewish, democratic state. That's pro-Israel. That's why they stand with the Israelis trying to end the war in Gaza, bring back all the hostages, and preserve the possibility of a two-state solution. Painting them as antisemitic or anti-Israel might be good for Netanyahu and the GOP. It's not good for Israel, whether one agrees with them or not. This is what it means to be pro-Israel.
Some thoughts on 5786: In the past week, Trump embarrassed himself and the United States on the world stage. The National Archives improperly released private information about Rep. Mikie Sherrill (D-NJ) to an ally of her Republican gubernatorial opponent. Trump pressured the Justice Department to exact political retribution by indicting James Comey and is pursuing similar action against George Soros.
This is nothing like the indictments of Trump and his allies during the Biden administration. You won't find a smoking gun like this in any post-Nixon administration--until now, nor will you find this level of open corruption in any administration in history.
Republicans have dismantled our system of checks and balances. The GOP's attacks on voting rights and its refusal to hold Trump accountable for abusing his power and violating the law and the Constitution are unprecedented. Under Republican control, Congress is subservient to the White House, not a co-equal branch of government.
The GOP Supreme Court has become worse and worse: awarding the presidency to George W. Bush over Al Gore, gutting the Voting Rights Act, gutting campaign finance reform, misinterpreting the Second Amendment, and abusing the shadow docket, recently issuing an appalling ruling allowing the government to treat people differently based on their color and their accent. The only precedent this Court respects is the one they themselves are setting: The Trump administration always wins.
The GOP foreign policy, to the extent one can call its lack of strategy a "policy," has turned the United States into a laughing stock on the world stage.
The GOP is embracing an anti-vax and anti-science agenda that will sicken and kill Americans in every state.
We cannot count on Republican leaders to recognize the threat to our country and rise to the occasion as they did in 1974 when Richard Nixon was president. Today's GOP is not the party of principled conservatism. It is the party of cowardice, ignorance, and what's in it for me, not thee.
It's up to us, and we cannot give in to despair.
Rabbi Shai Held posted this on September 20, 2017. He could have written it yesterday:
"This has been a good year for disappointment and even despair. It is no doubt tempting for many of us to give up hope. But it is also forbidden to do so.
"As many of you have heard me say countless times, to take the Torah seriously is to live with an almost unbearable tension. On the one hand, one of Judaism's most fundamental claims about the world is that each and every human being is created in the image of God and is therefore infinitely valuable. Yet on the other hand, we live in a world in which human dignity is trodden and trampled upon in a myriad of ways every moment of every day. If we want to take both Torah and the world seriously, we have no choice but to live with the gap-- the yawning chasm, really-- between what we profess religiously and what we see before our eyes each day. Maybe we can put this differently: we are asked to live inside the chasm and to try to close it in ways both big and small-- to live in such a way that the infinite worth of every human being is the guiding light of our lives. It is hard, painful, and sometimes downright dispiriting work. But it is also our responsibility as Jews and as human beings.
"As Americans, too, we are forced to bear, and live inside of, a vast chasm. On the one hand, there is the promise of America, a land committed to equality and human rights and democracy and goodness and decency. On the other hand, there is the America we find ourselves in, with bigotry renewed and intensified, with hopelessness and despair and division afoot throughout the land. We are forced to live in the chasm between what America could be and what America is, and we are called to struggle to close that gap. It is hard, painful, and sometimes downright dispiriting work. But it is also our responsibility as Americans.
"At a time when hope is hard to muster, it is important to be reminded that today is pregnant with possibility, and that a different world, and a different country, are indeed possible. As human beings, we cannot perfect the world, but we can and must improve it.
"Be in touch with your despair, but don't allow it the final word.
"Wishing all of us a year filled with sweetness and blessing."
In Case You Missed It:
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Jon Finer and Phil Gordon argue for responsible conditions on aid to Israel as a means of bringing the war in Gaza to an end--and potentially exposing Hamas as the only barrier to peace.
Republican Antisemitism of the Week. This is a new feature. Republican antisemitism is so common that we don't consider it news anymore. That has to stop. This week's loser is Donald Trump, for nominating Jeremy Carl to be assistant secretary of state for international organizations. We learned last week that among many reprehensible statements, Carl advanced the Great Replacement Theory.
HIAS explains that this is a "white nationalist conspiracy theory that dangerously and falsely asserts that Jews and others are orchestrating the deliberate replacement of white Americans with non-white immigrants and people of color."
Runner-up: JD Vance.
To make this manageable, this feature focuses on Republicans who hold federal or statewide office and who have said or done something antisemitic in the past week. I'd do the same for Democrats, but I'd have too many long stretches of nothing.
Social Posts of the Week. Donald Trump, Tom Nichols (and Harry Hamlin's reply), and Ishaan Tharoor. Plus this for Yom Kippur.
Thread of the Week. Dov Waxman.
Video Clip of the Week. Jimmy Kimmel's second night monologue (in response to the first social post of the week above).
Vintage Music Clip of the Week. Dolenz, Jones, Boyce and Hart - Last Train to Clarksville (Live).
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).
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