On the Nose

Join Devin Naar, a Professor of Sephardic studies, Ira Temple, a musician focused on language revival, and Yiddish singer Isabel Frey as they dive into the captivating world of language reclamation. They discuss Kneecap's impact in advocating for the Irish language amidst political strife. The conversation highlights the profound role of music in preserving cultural identities, from Ladino to Yiddish. Explore the connections between artistic expression and solidarity in marginalized communities, and how these movements resonate with broader struggles for decolonization and resilience.

Ben Ratskoff, a contributing editor at Jewish Currents and a scholar of antisemitism, joins Mari Cohen and Alex Kane to discuss a tragic shooting of Israeli embassy aides in DC. They delve into the complexities of political violence and the twisted narratives surrounding it. The conversation highlights the intersection of anti-Semitism and government policy, examining how the incident reflects wider societal tensions. The group emphasizes the need for nuanced understanding of the Palestine solidarity movement and the challenges it faces internally amidst rising violence.

Shaul Magid is a Harvard Divinity School scholar focusing on modern Jewish thought, while Hadas Binyamini is a doctoral candidate at NYU studying Jewish politics. Together, they dive into Chabad's unexpected alignment with Israeli extremist Itamar Ben-Gvir, questioning its anti-Zionist past and newfound quasi-Zionism. The guests discuss internal community tensions in Crown Heights, evolving identities among younger Chabad members, and the movement's struggle between outreach and exclusionary practices amid rising radical ideologies.

In September 2024, an Israeli sniper shot and killed Turkish American human rights activist Ayşenur Ezgi Eygi outside of Nablus in the northern West Bank. Her murder was a devastating example of a sharp uptick in military and settler violence against both Palestinian residents and the international and Israeli activists who work with them. For years, solidarity activists such as Eygi have responded to the violent reality in the West Bank by physically accompanying Palestininans in the hopes that their “protective presence” will serve as a buffer to prevent attacks. This strategy has received heightened attention thanks to the Oscar-winning documentary No Other Land, which features Palestinians resisting colonialism in the villages of Masafer Yatta, and Israelis engaging in protective presence with them. For those engaged in solidarity work in the West Bank, this moment of increased violence has amplified ever-present moral questions: What is my responsibility to intervene when someone else is in danger? How much risk must I take upon myself to try and protect my Palestinian comrades? And to what extent must I recruit others to join me in taking that risk? In this chevruta, Rabbi Aryeh Bernstein explores these quandaries with Jewish Currents assistant editor Maya Rosen. As a long-time protective presence activist, Rosen is regularly weighing the danger that she and the activists she recruits will take on in the course of their work: How can she adequately prepare people without scaring them off? And how can she communicate the rewards of the work alongside the risks? Bernstein and Rosen discuss these questions through the lens of three texts—two Talmudic texts, and one Holocaust-era responsum—with the aim of helping those who are attempting to share the burden of serious risk find pathways to greater collective courage.This podcast is part of our chevruta 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 matches leftist thinkers and organizers with a rabbi or Torah scholar. The activists bring an urgent question that arises in their own work; the Torah scholar leads 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 includes a written conversation, podcast, and study guide. You can find the column based on this conversation here, 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“‘It was revenge for our movie’: Oscar winner says soldiers helped settlers attack him in West Bank,” Lorenzo Tondo, The Guardian“Justice for Ayşenur Eygi: Family of U.S. Citizen Killed by Israel Meets with Blinken Demanding Probe,” Democracy Now!“Shocking spike in use of unlawful lethal force by Israeli forces against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank,” Amnesty International“Co-Resistance at a Crossroads,” Maya Rosen, Jewish Currents

Sophia Elena Gurulé is a seasoned deportation defense lawyer from the Bronx Defenders, while Tanvi Misra is an immigration reporter known for her insightful work on migration and justice. They delve into the aggressive immigration policies implemented by the Trump administration, discussing the alarming rise of warrantless detentions and the implications for lawful residents. The conversation highlights the historical ties to past discriminatory laws and the ongoing erosion of rights for marginalized communities, urging listeners to understand and engage with these critical issues.

In October 2024, Zohran Mamdani launched his New York City mayoral campaign in relative obscurity. Half a year later, excitement about the state assemblymember from Queens is palpable. Mamdani, whose campaign is focused on housing justice and transit affordability, is the first in the race to hit its fundraising cap, raising $8 million dollars from more than 17,000 donors. A member of the Democratic Socialist of America, he boasts over 15,000 volunteer canvassers. Mamadani is now polling in second place, behind Andrew Cuomo, former New York governor who resigned in disgrace following sexual harassment allegations. Meanwhile, Cuomo, who began a lackluster second act in Israel advocacy following his resignation from office, is attempting to make Israel and antisemitism central issues in the campaign. In a speech earlier this month at a Modern Orthodox synagogue on Manhattan’s Upper West Side, he blasted Mamdani, as well as fellow competitors Brad Lander and Adrienne Adams, for being insufficiently supportive of Israel, while asserting that anti-Zionism is unequivocally antisemitism. He also zeroed in on Mamdani’s “Not On Our Dime” legislation, which targets charities funding Israeli settlements in the West Bank. Mamdani has continued to stress an adherence to international law, and a commitment to the principle of the equality of all human life. As the mayoral race enters its final months, Jewish Currents editor-at-large Peter Beinart interviewed Mamdani in a conversation that first appeared in the Beinart Notebook on Substack. They discussed how Israel/Palestine is making its way into New York politics, how Mamdani would stand up to President Trump, and his detailed plan for public safety. Jewish Currents is a non-profit organization and does not endorse candidates for office. We hope that our listeners in New York City will vote in the primary on June 24th.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: “Cuomo’s ‘most important issue,’” Jeff Coltin, Nick Reisman, and Emily Ngo, Politico“Cuomo and Mamdani gain ground as Democratic primary turns into two-person race,” Adam Daly, amNY“Socialist Assemblymember Zohran Mamdani Wants to End Columbia and NYU’s Tax-Exempt Status,” Sarah Wexler, Jacobin“Feds seized $80 million in FEMA funds given to NYC to house migrants, city comptroller says,” Jennifer Bisram, CBS News“Migrant family swept up by ICE allowed to return home,” Brian Mann, NPRZohran Mamdani’s public safety plan

In a recent article in Jewish Currents, Jon Danforth-Appell proposes that the Jewish left is operating under a paradigm of what he calls “Zionist realism.” This idea draws on theorist Mark Fisher’s notion of “capitalist realism,” which describes the way capitalism makes it impossible to imagine alternative world structures; Zionist realism, in Danforth-Appell’s conception, similarly makes it difficult for Jews to separate from a received sense of Jewish collectivity, and imagine alternative futures. Danforth-Appell writes that particularist Jewish organizing, typified by the slogan “Not in Our Name,” reinforces a picture of Jews as a monolith, while contributing to an overemphasis on Jewish culpability for Israel’s actions. This approach may underemphasize “material processes of capital and geopolitics,” like the weapons industry’s bottom line and American interests in the Middle East. “What ultimately matters is not an abstract notion of Zionism as a totalizing spiritual contaminant upon the Jewish people,” he writes, “but the ways in which American Jews, alongside all other Americans, hold multiple kinds of material relationships to Israel.”In the episode, Jewish Currents editor-in-chief Arielle Angel and associate editor Mari Cohen talk with Danforth-Appell about his article and the questions it raises. Even given the diversity among Jews, can we abandon collective complicity while so many Jews materially support Zionism? Why aren’t we seeing more mass anti-war organizing, where people can show up as Americans? And what are the limits of a Jewish politics of collective complicity? 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 Resources:“Against Zionist Realism,” Jon Danforth-Appell, Jewish CurrentsCapitalist Realism: Is There No Alternative? by Mark Fisher“Canary Mission’s Newest Funders,” Alex Kane, Jewish CurrentsThe Cultural Politics of Emotion by Sarah Ahmed“Can Genocide Studies Survive a Genocide in Gaza?,” Mari Cohen, Jewish Currents

Nadia Abu El-Haj, a Columbia professor and co-director of the Center for Palestine Studies, dives into the troubling changes at her university following political pressure. She discusses the implications of creating a new campus police force and the adoption of the IHRA definition of antisemitism, which could stifle academic freedom. With rising tensions, Abu El-Haj highlights the struggles faced by Palestinian students and advocates for change, calling attention to the urgent need for support and awareness in the academic community.

On March 8th, federal immigration agents arrested Mahmoud Khalil, a former Palestinian student activist at Columbia University, in his New York home and moved him to a detention facility in Louisiana. Khalil, a recent graduate from Columbia’s public affairs masters program and a prominent leader in the school’s movement to pressure the university to divest from companies complicit in Israel’s genocide, is a legal permanent resident, and is not accused of any crime. The Trump administration has pointed to his political activism as the reason for why he should be deported, invoking a rarely-used Cold War-era law to argue that Khalil’s presence in the US is contrary to US foreign policy interests. Jewish American organizations are split over the administration’s reactions: The Anti-Defamation League has praised it, other mainstream groups have remained silent, and liberal Zionist and anti-Zionist Jewish organizations have sharply condemned it.On this episode of On the Nose, editor-in-chief Arielle Angel, associate editor Mari Cohen, and senior reporter Alex Kane discuss the Jewish political reaction to the arrest and detention of Khalil. They talk about how the mainstream Jewish establishment paved the way for this authoritarian act, whether liberal Jewish opposition to the arrest could portend new political alignments, and the rise of new reactionary Jewish groups such as Betar and Mothers Against College Antisemitism. Note: When this podcast was recorded, the American Jewish Committee had not yet made a statement on Khalil. On March 12th, the AJC released a statement condemning Khalil’s political speech but calling for “due process” in deportation proceedings against him. Articles Mentioned and Further Reading“A growing number of Jewish groups are condemning Mahmoud Khalil’s arrest,” Ben Sales, Jewish Telegraphic Agency “The Push to ‘Deactivate’ Students for Justice in Palestine,” Alex Kane, Jewish Currents“Why the ADL is encouraging Jews to invest in Tesla,” Arno Rosenfeld, The Forward“Elon Musk, the Jews, and the ADL,” Know Your Enemy podcast“Campus protest crackdowns claim to be about antisemitism – but they’re part of a rightwing plan,” Arielle Angel, The Guardian“The Boomerang Comes Back,” Noura Erakat, Boston Review“In leaked messages, members of ‘Columbia Alumni for Israel’ group chat work to identify, punish pro-Palestinian protesters,” Sarah Huddleston, Columbia Spectator“The Astroturf “Civil Rights” Groups Fueling Trump’s Deportation Attacks,” Emmaia Gelman, Academe“Trump Administration Seeks to Expel a Green-Card Holder Over Student Protests,” Edward Wong, Charlie Savage, Hamed Aleaziz, and Luis Ferré-Sadurní, The New York Times

On February 4th, President Donald Trump said that all Palestinians in Gaza should leave the coastal enclave and go to other Arab countries such as Egypt or Jordan—a move that, if actualized, would mark a drastic chapter in the Palestinians’ history of being ethnically cleansed. Israel immediately embraced the idea, with the country’s war minister ordering the military to draft plans to facilitate a mass exodus of Palestinians from Gaza. Palestinian groups as well as Egypt, Jordan, and many other countries have roundly rejected the idea, but Trump and his foreign policy team continue to insist that they will carry out the plan which would end in a US takeover of Gaza.On this episode of On the Nose, Jewish Currents senior reporter Alex Kane spoke to Mouin Rabbani, a co-editor of Jadaliyya, and Tariq Kenney-Shawa, US policy fellow at Al-Shabaka, about situating this moment in the long history of Palestinians displacement, whether and how a Trump ethnic cleansing plan is likely to unfold, and how it will impact the ceasefire in Gaza.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“With No Buy-in From Egypt or Jordan, Trump Appears to Back Away From His Gaza Plan,” Michael Shear, The New York Times“‘Trump Gaza is finally here!’: US president promotes Gaza plan in AI video,” Mick Krever and Mostafa Salem, CNN“Palestinians in Paraguay,” Hadeel Assali, London Review of Books“Trump Revives Biden's Failed Proposal To Remove Palestinians From Gaza,” Matthew Petti, Reason“Netanyahu’s Goal for Gaza: ‘Thin’ Population ‘to a Minimum,’” Ryan Grim, The Intercept“WikiLeaks: Israel Intentionally Kept Gaza on Brink of Economic Collapse,” Joshua Norman, CBS News“​​Exclusive: Egypt's alternative to Trump's 'Gaza Riviera' aims to sideline Hamas,” Andrew Mills, Reuters“Trump wants Palestinians out of Gaza. Here are Egypt's plans to keep them there,” Aya Batrawy, NPR “Israel has cut off all supplies to Gaza. Here’s what that means,” Cara Anna, Associated Press