On the Nose

As right-wing streamers like Tucker Carlson and Candace Owens have become more outspoken against Israel and against Zionist influence in American politics, their content has found new audiences online, even in a Palestine movement traditionally more associated with the left. Though the fracture on the right around Israel is a welcome development, the anti-Israel right’s racist, misogynist, anti-trans, anti-immigrant, and antisemitic views raise questions about how the left should relate to this development, and what it can offer instead.On this episode of On the Nose, Jewish Currents editor-in-chief Arielle Angel speaks with Izz al-Din Mustafa, co-executive director of the Palestinian-led advocacy organization Adalah Justice Project, and Stefanie Fox, executive director at Jewish Voice for Peace, about whether the ubiquity of right-wing anti-Israel voices online was showing up in their face-to-face organizing. They discuss the perils and opportunities created by the growing popularity of conservative anti-Israel voices, the importance of IRL organizing, and how the left might reclaim the conversation. Thanks to Jesse Brenneman for editing and to Nathan Salsburg for the use of his song “VIII (All That Were Calculated Have Passed).”Media Mentioned and Further ReadingAdalah Justice ProjectJewish Voice for Peace“The Bondi Memo’s Quiet Rewriting of Domestic Terrorism Rules,” Thomas E. Brzozowski, Lawfare“Verified pro-Nazi X accounts flourish under Elon Musk,” David Ingram, NBC News“Meta’s Broken Promises: Systemic Censorship of Palestine Content on Instagram and Facebook,” Human Rights Watch“Joe Kent’s Resignation Was Brave. His Analysis Was Faulty,” Peter Beinart, Jewish Currents“American Evangelicals’ Declining Support for Israel,” Jonathan Kuttab, Arab Center Washington DCChristians for a Free Palestine“We need an exodus from Zionism,” Naomi Klein, The Guardian“MAGA Catholics In Revolt,” On the Nose“The Democratic Party debate over Hasan Piker is really a fight over Palestine’s new place in U.S. politics,” Walter Lucken IV, Mondoweiss“Why do elite Democrats fear Hasan Piker?” Bhaskar Sunkara, The GuardianTranscript forthcoming.

The US and Israel began a joint strike on Iran on February 28th, with the US immediately striking a girls’ elementary school, killing more than 180, the vast majority of them children. The Supreme Leader of Iran, Ali Khamenei, was assassinated the very same day, and later replaced by his son Mojtaba; the US and Israel have continued to kill high-ranking figures in Iranian leadership. The human toll of this war is already being felt in Iran. Almost 1,500 Iranians have been killed since the war’s start, and more than three million have been displaced. On March 6th, Israel struck three oil depots around Tehran, destroying crucial infrastructure while sending noxious particulate into the sky that will do long-term damage to the health of the city’s inhabitants. Meanwhile, Iranians on the ground and in the diaspora are fracturing over US and Israeli actions. This war was preceded, in early January, by a grassroots uprising against the regime, which may have killed tens of thousands in crackdowns on the protests. This crackdown has been cited by opponents of the Iranian state as a justification for the war, and many in the diaspora have expressed support instead for the return of the monarchy, led by Reza Pahlavi, who has been living in exile since 1979, when his father, Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, was deposed. This argument between pro- and anti-war segments of the community has become deeply fraught—sometimes relationship-ending—as Iranians across the globe battle over the future of their community. On this episode of On the Nose, Jewish Currents editor-in-chief Arielle Angel speaks with Narges Bajoghli, a professor at Johns Hopkins and the author of How Sanctions Work and Iran Reframed, and Manijeh Moradian, a professor at Barnard College and the author This Flame Within: Iranian Revolutionaries in the United States about the fractures roiling the Iranian diaspora, the nuances of the anti-war position in the face of a repressive regime, and the need to build an anti-imperialism for the 21st century. Thanks to Jesse Brenneman for editing and to Nathan Salsburg for the use of his song “VIII (All That Were Calculated Have Passed).”Media Mentioned and Further Reading“Hard Feelings,” Narges Bajoghli, New York “All Modern Warfare Is Chemical Warfare,” Narges Bajoghli, New York How Sanctions Work by Narges BajoghliIntroduction to “Iran in Crisis: Seven Essays on the Obstacles to Freedom,” Manijeh Moradian and Ida Nikou, JadaliyyaThis Flame Within: Iranian Revolutionaries in the United States by Manijeh MoradianInternational Women’s Day AI slop depicting Israeli fighter pilots “liberating” the women of Iran“Iran Is Not an Existential Threat,” Peter Beinart, Jewish CurrentsTranscript forthcoming.

On March 12th, 41-year-old Ayman Ghazali rammed his car into the front of Temple Israel, a synagogue in West Bloomfield, Michigan. He engaged in a shootout with synagogue security, injuring one guard before turning the gun on himself. Thankfully, no one else was injured. Earlier in the month, Ghazali’s two brothers, niece, and nephew had been killed in an Israeli airstrike in Mashghara, Lebanon. (The Israeli military claimed that one of the brothers was affiliated with Hezbollah, but offered no proof to The New York Times; Hezbollah denied his affiliation.)After spending years insisting on the absolute intertwinement of Judaism and Zionism, the Anti-Defamation League and other mainstream agents of anti-antisemitism rushed to insist that American Jews must be separated from the actions of the Israeli government. Meanwhile, like many American synagogues, Temple Israel proudly advertised its support for the Jewish state: raising funds, sharing hasbara resources, sponsoring trips, and even featuring an Israeli flag in its logo.This event raises uncomfortable questions about the interrelationship between safety and complicity in the Jewish diaspora: How do we talk about the material relationships between American Jews and the State of Israel in the wake of attacks on Zionist institutions? And how do we on the Jewish left keep pushing for daylight between Judaism and Zionism given the conflation pushed by the anti-antisemitism machine—a conflation that endangers Jews all over the world? On this episode of On the Nose, editor-in-chief Arielle Angel, publisher Daniel May, news director Josh Nathan-Kazis, and advisory board member Simone Zimmerman parse the Michigan attack and the missed opportunity for American Jewish reckoning.Thanks to Jesse Brenneman for editing and to Nathan Salsburg for the use of his song “VIII (All That Were Calculated Have Passed).”Media Mentioned and Further Reading“Suspect in Michigan synagogue attack had lost family in Israeli strike on Lebanon,” William Christou and Richard Luscombe, The Guardian“The Tangled Knot of Anti-Zionist Violence,” Daniel May, Jewish Currents“A Poll Muddles the Picture of What American Jews Think,” Josh Nathan-Kazis, Jewish CurrentsBen Lorber on anti-Zionism as an anti-antisemitism strategyAngela McCahey and Stephen Kent on GBN“America’s Threat to the World,” On the Nose“The Right’s Anti-Israel Insurgents,” Ben Lorber, Jewish Currents“We Need New Jewish Institutions,” Arielle Angel, Jewish Currents

In early February, clips began circulating from Trump’s Religious Liberty Commission hearing, where the former Miss California Carrie Prejean Boller challenged Jewish activists Yitzhak Frankel and Shabbos Kestenbaum about the killing of Palestinian civilians in Gaza and the conflation of anti-Zionism and antisemitism. Notably, Prejean Boller framed her opposition to political Zionism in terms of her Catholicism: “I’m a Catholic and Catholics do not embrace Zionism,” she said. She raised the charge of deicide, reading the New Testament verse about the Jews killing Jesus and questioning a panelist about whether he would have tech platforms censor the Bible on account of antisemitism claims. And she challenged the theology undergirding evangelical support for Zionism, dispensationalism, which understands Jews as God’s chosen people that help fulfill the end times prophecy by settling in the land of Israel.A number of prominent “America First” isolationists are Catholic, including Pat Buchanan, one of the fathers of America First paleoconservatism who famously opposed the Iraq War. Vice President J.D. Vance, Heritage Foundation president Kevin Roberts, far-right strategist Steve Bannon, and columnist Sohrab Ahmari are all America Firsters skeptical of foreign intervention. Catholicism also appears dominant among a cohort of extremist Groyper-style figures infusing their anti-Israel worldview with classically antisemitic language and ideas, including streamers Nick Fuentes and Candace Owens, the Florida gubernatorial candidate James Fishback, and now Prejean Boller, who has aligned herself with Owens in particular.On this episode of On the Nose, Jewish Currents editor-in-chief Arielle Angel speaks with Matthew Cressler, author of the forthcoming Catholics and the Making of MAGA: How an Immigrant Church Became America’s Law and Order Faith, and Julie Schumacher Cohen, co-author with Jordan Denari Duffner of the forthcoming Palestine, Israel, and Catholic Social Teaching: A Guide. They discuss how we should understand this apparent connection between skepticism about American intervention abroad and Catholicism. Cressler and Schumacher Cohen explain what Catholic theology has to say about Judaism, Zionism, and the modern political state of Israel. They explore how some figures on the right are hearkening back to the earlier days of the Church—before the Second Vatican Council’s modernizing changes, which included a condemnation of antisemitism—and they dissect the antisemitic and fascist threads in the Catholic tradition that are being surfaced in Fuentes’s and Owens’s rhetoric.Thanks to Jesse Brenneman for editing and to Nathan Salsburg for the use of his song “VIII (All That Were Calculated Have Passed).”Media Mentioned and Further ReadingFifth Religious Liberty Commission Hearings, Parts 1 and 2“Nostra Aetate” from the Second Vatican CouncilMatthew Cressler discussing MAGA Catholics on the Reign of Error podcast “No Catholic Brand of Christian Zionism, or Tolerance for Antisemitism,” Julie Schumacher Cohen and Jordan Denari Duffner, Contending Modernities“Catholic Guilt and Gaza,” Julie Schumacher Cohen, Commonweal Magazine“I am a Catholic. And a Zionist.,” R.R. Reno, The Washington Post“Maga Catholics are on a collision course with Leo XIV. They have good reason to fear him,” Julian Coman, The Guardian“Portrait of a Campus in Crisis,” Will Alden, Jewish Currents“‘Christ is king’ becomes a loaded phrase in US political debates, especially on the right,” Peter Smith, Associated PresKevin Roberts’s first statement on Nick Fuentes’s appearance on Tucker Carlson’s showTucker Carlson interviews US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee“The Dangerous Exceptionalism of Christian Zionism,” Halah Ahmad and Mimi Kirk, Al-ShabakaTranscript forthcoming.

Last weekend, the United States and Israel started a war with Iran. The Trump administration has offered no real or convincing reason why they have dragged the country into war except “Israel was going to do it anyway,” and the president has no discernible war plan. Many have commented that this war seems to be an expression of pure power, undertaken by Trump largely because he can. Have we entered a new phase in malignant American foreign policy or is this just a striking “mask off” moment? In this episode of On the Nose, Jewish Currents editor-at-large Peter Beinart speaks with Aslı Ü. Bâli, the Howard M. Holtzmann Professor of Law at Yale and a non-resident fellow at the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, about what the war in Iran signals about the kind of global power the US has become, whether it represents rupture or continuity in the history of US imperialism, and what it means for the stability of the Middle East and the world.This episode first appeared on the Beinart Notebook on Substack. Thanks to Daniel Kaufman for editing help and to Nathan Salsburg for the use of his song “VIII (All That Were Calculated Have Passed).”Further Reading“The Path to the Trump Doctrine,” Aslı Ü. Bâli and Aziz Rana, Boston ReviewTranscript forthcoming.

Recently, the Jewish Federation of North America released a poll they conducted last year that shows that while 88% of respondents said they “believe Israel has the right to exist as a Jewish, democratic state,” only 37% identified as “Zionist.” A small number identified as “anti-Zionist” and “non-Zionist,” 7% and 8% respectively, with a plurality answering “not sure” (18%) or “none of these” (30%). These numbers are confusing; they seem to indicate that while Zionist identification is waning—perhaps due to the stink of the term amid the genocide—the underlying commitment to a Jewish state, albeit one paradoxically imagined as “democratic,” is not.At the recent Conference on the Jewish Left at Boston University, nearly every presentation discussed or confronted questions about the terms “Zionist” and “anti-Zionist,” and whether they had enough of an agreed-upon meaning within the community to be useful terms to organize around. On this episode of On the Nose, editor-in-chief Arielle Angel speaks with Ari Lev Fornari, senior rabbi at Kol Tzedek in Philadelphia; Dove Kent, interim executive director of Diaspora Alliance and former executive director of Jews For Racial and Economic Justice; and Fadi Quran, the senior director at Avaaz and a Ramallah-based strategist and organizer. They try to make sense of the recent polling numbers and discuss different strategic considerations about using the Z-word in organizing contexts, including how to welcome newcomers to the Palestine liberation movement without coddling them.Thanks to Jesse Brenneman for producing and to Nathan Salsburg for the use of his song “VIII (All That Were Calculated Have Passed).”Media Mentioned and Further ReadingJFNA Survey of Jewish Life since October 7 – Zionism Findings“The ‘Zionism’ gap: What JFNA data really shows about Jews, Israel and Zionism today,” Mimi Kravetz, JTACombined Jewish Philanthropies’ 2025 Greater Boston Jewish Community Study“Do American Jews Really Know What ‘Zionism’ Means?,” Mira Sucharov, HaaretzJewish Electorate Institute July 2021 National Survey of Jewish VotersSynagogues Rising2026 Conference on the Jewish Left sessions on YouTubeTranscript forthcoming.

Recently, the Department of Justice released millions of files from disgraced financier and pedophile Jeffrey Epstein. Since their release, part of the discussion has revolved around the way Jewishness appears in the files. Epstein and his friends make clannish jokes about Jews and “goyim,” many of them simultaneously self-deprecating and chauvinistic. Epstein himself is extremely interested in genetics, sending out a number of DNA Kits to Jews and non-Jews alike, and referencing a natural Ashkenazi intelligence. The files also show close—and sometimes criminal—relationships to a number of prominent Jewish men. These details, along with information about Epstein’s role as fixer for former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak, have fueled conspiracy theories about Jewish power. But what do we do with a story whose real-life details are so fitted to antisemitic conspiracy? In this episode of On the Nose, editor-in-chief Arielle Angel speaks with author, thinker, and activist Naomi Klein about how to make sense of the capitalist conspiracy outlined in the files, and the grave importance of holding our depraved elites accountable.Thanks to Jesse Brenneman for producing and to Nathan Salsburg for the use of his song “VIII (All That Were Calculated Have Passed).”Media Mentioned and Further ReadingDoppelganger: A Trip Into the Mirror World by Naomi KleinHarsha Walia on Epstein and sexual violenceA collection of Epstein’s comments on “Jews” and “goyim” from Tikkun Olam“Eugenics Isn’t Dead—It’s Thriving in Tech,” Julia Métraux, Mother Jones“Jeffrey Epstein’s assistant ordered so many 23andMe kits, the company asked why,” Ariana Bindman, SFGate“The Myth of the Chosen Nation: The Colonial Period,” Richard T. Hughes“The crisis in modern masculinity,” Pankaj Mishra, The GuardianEpstein in China“Epstein tells ex-Israeli PM Ehud Barak to speak with Palantir founder Peter Thiel in released audio,” Middle East Eye“Epstein celebrated Brexit and ‘return to tribalism’, newly released emails suggest,” Millie Cooke, Independent“Jewish Moneylending,” Norman Roth, My Jewish LearningHere Where We Live Is Our Country by Molly Crabapple“Latest Epstein files release unleashes wave of antisemitic conspiracy theories on social media,” Grace Gilson, JTA“Epstein trained as an Israeli spy, FBI document says,” Peter McNamara, Middle East Eye“How the men in the Epstein files defeated #MeToo,” Elizabeth Lopatto, The Verge“The Right Kind of Continuity,” Ari Brostoff and Noah Kulwin, Jewish CurrentsOrigins of Totalitarianism by Hannah Arendt“DOJ Files Contain Alleged Epstein-Gates Discussion on 'Getting Rid of Poor People,'” National Today“Peter Thiel and the Antichrist,” Ross Douthat, The New York Times“What Barak-Epstein audio says about Israeli controlling demographics,” Al Jazeera“U.N. Says It’s in Danger of Financial Collapse Because of Unpaid Dues,” Farnaz Fassihi, The New York Times“Why would Elon Musk pivot from Mars to the Moon all of a sudden?” Eric Berger, Ars Technica“New data reveals how Jewish neighborhoods split between Cuomo and Mamdani,” Jacob Kornbluh, The Forward

In December, ICE agents began arriving in Minneapolis under the Trump administration’s “Operation Metro Surge.” As of late January, 3,000 agents are on the ground in the city, outnumbering local police officers three-to-one, pursuing a campaign defined by its cruelty: ICE has abducted children as young as two, and agents have used those children as bait to draw out and arrest their families. To counter these efforts, locals have organized vast mutual aid and rapid response operations, with block-by-block networks mobilizing to deliver supplies and run errands for undocumented people who can’t leave their homes without fear of detention. These locals have been met with violence. On January 7th, Renee Good, a mother and poet, was shot in the face by an ICE agent while she attempted to turn her car around. On Saturday—one day after a general strike brought tens of thousands to the streets in subzero temperatures—Alex Pretti, an ICU nurse, was murdered while observing ICE, with agents firing at least ten shots at close range.On this episode of On the Nose, Jewish Currents editor-in-chief Arielle Angel speaks with three organizers on the ground in Minneapolis: Lily Cooper from UNIDOS’s rapid response team, which has conducted legal observer trainings for almost 30,000 people across Minnesota; Kandace Montgomery, a local organizer, trainer, and movement strategist who co-founded Black Visions in 2017; and Jesse Meisenhelter, an organizer with Minneapolis Families for Public Schools, whose current campaign aims to build sanctuary school teams across the state. They discuss the legacies of local organizing since George Floyd’s murder in 2020, the opportunities for the left-liberal coalition in this moment, and navigating the steep risks involved in this resistance work.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“Organizing for Abolition in the Spotlight,” Kandance Montgomery and Hahrie Hahn, Hammer & Hope“Ten years ago, killing of Jamar Clark prompted wave of Twin Cities activism,” Danny Spewak, Kare11The St. Paul PrinciplesMinneapolis Families for Public SchoolsICE OUT OF MN Toolkit UNIDOS MN and Monarca“ICE Is a Virtual Secret Police,” Jamelle Bouie, The New York Times“Minnesota National Guard mobilizes around Minneapolis following fatal shooting,” Jonathan Limehouse, USA Today“Minneapolis City Council votes unanimously to strengthen separation ordinance,” MPRnews“Minneapolis schools cancel classes after Border Patrol clash disrupts dismissal at Roosevelt,” Elizabeth Shockman, MPRnews“How Should Activists Relate to Risk?” Aryeh Bernstein and Maya Rosen, Jewish Currents“‘I heard screaming, I heard crying:’ Inside ICE detainment at the Whipple Building,” Katelyn Vue, Sahan Journal“ICE Making List of Anyone Who Films Them,” Ken Klippenstein, Substack“‘Trumped-Up Charges’: Out of Jail, Nekima Levy Armstrong Faces Prosecution for Anti-ICE Church Protest,” Democracy Now!“Whose Concentration Camps?” Noah Kulwin, Jewish CurrentsUS Holocaust Museum tweet about Minneapolis“Trump ousts Biden-appointed Holocaust Museum board members, including Doug Emhoff,” Ed O’Keefe and Kathryn Watson, CBS News“Walz Invokes Holocaust, Calls ICE Agents ‘Modern-Day Gestapo,’” Lonny Goldsmith, TC JewfolkAn Open Letter from Catholic, Evangelical, and Jewish Community Leaders to Minnesota’s Federal, State, and Local Elected OfficialsTranscript forthcoming.

On Christmas, director Josh Safdie released his new film, Marty Supreme, starring Timothée Chalamet as a young table-tennis player bent on global recognition. Like Safdie’s previous film—Uncut Gems, co-directed with his brother Benny Safdie—Marty Supreme focuses on an American Jewish antihero and unfolds in a deeply Jewish milieu. But while Uncut Gems takes place in present-day New York, Marty Supreme transports us back to the Lower East Side of 1952, examining American Jewish ambition in the immediate aftermath of the Holocaust and amid assimilation into whiteness. This mid-century setting is complicated by various anachronistic elements, including a soundtrack rooted in the ’80s and, perhaps most notably, Chalamet’s conspicuous lack of a period-accurate accent. On this episode of On the Nose, Jewish Currents editor-in-chief Arielle Angel, senior editor Nathan Goldman, contributing editor David Klion, and contributing writer Mitch Abidor discuss what, if anything, the film has to say about American Jewishness then and now.Thanks to Jesse Brenneman for producing and to Nathan Salsburg for the use of his song “VIII (All That Were Calculated Have Passed).”Media Mentioned and Further ReadingUncut Gems, dir. Josh and Benny Safdie“An Unserious Man,” Jewish Currents“Marty Supreme’s Megawatt Personality,” Richard Brody, The New YorkerWhat Makes Sammy Run? by Budd SchulbergErik Baker’s Letterboxd reviewMarie Antoinette, dir. Sofia CoppolaAnti-Semite and Jew by Jean-Paul Sartre“Marty Supreme Is the Moment, With Josh Safdie!,” The Big PictureTough Jews by Rich CohenMari Cohen on Sally Rooney’s Beautiful World, Where Are You, Jewish Currents Shabbat Reading List“Demon Doubt,” Vivian Gornick, interview by Rebecca Tuhus-Dubrow, Boston Review“Is This Anything?,” Mitchell Abidor, Jewish Currents

On Saturday, January 3rd, President Trump announced that a military raid on Caracas had captured Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro, and brought him back to the US to face drug charges. The operation followed months of deadly US strikes against boats purportedly ferrying drugs from Venezuela and a military buildup off its coast. But even after Maduro was seized, the administration still could not, or would not, clearly explain its intense interest in Venezuela any more than it could explain its plans for the country. And beyond the practicalities of “running” Venezuela, as Trump said the US would be doing, are even more disturbing questions about what comes next under the “Donroe doctrine”—the administration’s update of the 202-year-old Monroe Doctrine, which was used to justify generations of US interventions throughout the Western Hemisphere. This episode of On the Nose turns to a foremost expert on US interference in Latin America, Greg Grandin, to help us understand the historical context of Trump’s surge—and what it may suggest about his military adventures going forward. A Pulitzer Prize-winning history professor at Yale, Grandin has written several books on the tangled history of the US and Latin America, including his sweeping 2025 chronicle, America, América: A New History of the New World. Jewish Currents editor-at-large Peter Beinart asks Grandin to break down the political situation in Venezuela and the history of its nationalized oil reserves—and to explain what Trump’s new doctrine of pure power may hold in store for the US and the Americas. This episode originally appeared on The Beinart Notebook on Substack. Thanks to Daniel Kaufman for editing help and to Nathan Salsburg for the use of his song “VIII (All That Were Calculated Have Passed).” Books Mentioned and Further ReadingAmerica, América: A New History of the New World by Greg Grandin Empire’s Workshop: Latin America, the United States, and the Making of an Imperial Republic by Greg Grandin The End of the Myth: From the Frontier to the Border Wall in the Mind of America by Greg Grandin “What the ‘Donroe Doctrine’ is and where Trump could use it next,” Rebecca Falconer and Julianna Bragg, Axios “After Venezuela, Trump Offers Hints About What Could Be Next,” David E. Sanger, The New York Times “The Trump Doctrine,” Patrick Iber, DissentTranscript forthcoming.

On December 14th, two gunmen opened fire on a celebration marking the first night of Hanukkah at Bondi Beach in Sydney, Australia, killing 15 and injuring more than 40. The gunmen, a father and son, have since been linked to the Islamic State. Immediately, as observers near and far were just beginning to process and mourn, bad actors rushed in to claim the narrative. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu offered a rebuke of Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, linking the antisemitic attack to Albanese’s call for a Palestinian state. Australian antisemitism envoy Jillian Segal similarly linked the attack to a peaceful August 3rd Palestine solidarity march over Harbour Bridge attended by 300,000. She used the opportunity to promote her controversial 20-point plan to combat antisemitism, which would necessitate the broad adoption of the flawed IHRA definition of antisemitism, mandate Trumpian funding cuts to universities, and crown herself arbiter of acceptable speech related to Israel/Palestine in the media. American politicians quickly weighed in to express solidarity with the state of Israel and link the violence to the nonviolent Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movement. Some prominent American Jewish figures like New York Times columnist Bret Stephens and former US antisemitism envoy Deborah Lipstadt claimed—without evidence and before anything was known about the shooters—that the attack was downstream from use of the phrase “globalize the intifada,” a dig at New York City mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani who chose not to condemn the phrase.On this episode of On the Nose, Jewish Currents editor-in-chief Arielle Angel and senior editor Mari Cohen spoke with Sarah Schwartz, the Melbourne-based executive officer of the new progressive, independent Jewish organization the Jewish Council of Australia. They parsed the various responses, from Australia to the US to Israel; explored the folly of conflating the ideology of the Islamic State with Palestinian national or solidarity politics; and reflected on the role and responsibility of the Jewish left amid antisemitic violence.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“Jews, antisemitism and power in Australia,” Max Kaiser, Meanjin“Bondi Beach Is What ‘Globalize the Intifada’ Looks Like,” Bret Stephens, The New York TimesBenjamin Netanyahu’s statement on Bondi BeachTweets from Rep. Claudia Tenney, Rep. Cory Mills, and Deborah Lipstadt“'Not a blame game': Antisemitism envoy responds to Bondi attack, following Netanyahu snipe,” Ewa Staszewska, Anna Henderson, SBS News“Labor is fast-tracking its response to the antisemitism envoy’s report after the Bondi attack. What are the recommendations?,” Sarah Basford Canales, The Guardian“I was at Bondi Beach last week. Our concerns were ignored,” Marina Rosenberg, eJewishPhilanthropy“A Canadian Antisemitism Statistic Went Viral—But It Has No Source,” Blake Lambert, Jewish CurrentsIsraeli figures talking about antisemitism as an opportunity to trigger immigration to Israel“Sydney Gunmen Were Motivated by ISIS, Australia’s Leader Says,” The New York Times“Understanding ISIS’s Palestine Propaganda,” Samar Batrawi, Al-Shabaka“Islamic State's Response to October 7,” Ilana Winter, Washington Institute for Near East Policy“The importance of understanding the differences between Hamas, IS and al-Qaeda,” Dino Krause, Danish Institute for International Studies“The Centrality of Anti-Semitism in the Islamic State’s Ideology and Its Connection to Anti-Shiism,” Daniel Rickenbacher“Criminal complaint reveals new details in alleged ISIS-inspired plot to attack Jewish people in NYC,” Aaron Katersky, ABC NewsTweet by Deputy Permanent Observer of the State of Palestine to the UN Majed Bamya“Australian state proposes ban on protests at places of worship to fight rising antisemitism,” Rod McGuirk, AP“The Tangled Knot of Anti-Zionist Violence,” Daniel May, Jewish Currents, and the accompanying letters“Chabad’s Extremist Turn,” On the Nose, Jewish CurrentsRabbi Eli Schlanger’s Zionist activismTranscript forthcoming. 

This year saw the release of two memoirs concerned with the Palestinian diasporic experience. Tareq Baconi’s Fire in Every Direction is a story of queer adolescent unrequited love, braided together with a family history of displacement from Haifa to Beirut to Amman. Sarah Aziza’s The Hollow Half is a story of surviving anorexia and the ways that the body holds the intergenerational grief of the ongoing Nakba. In this episode of On the Nose, Jewish Currents editor-in-chief Arielle Angel speaks with Baconi and Aziza about what it means to claim Palestinianness as a political identity, not just a familial one, and the radical necessity of turning silence—around queerness, Gaza, the Nakba—into speech.Thanks to Jesse Brenneman for producing and to Nathan Salsburg for the use of his song “VIII (All That Were Calculated Have Passed).”Books Mentioned and Further ReadingThe Hollow Half by Sarah AzizaFire in Every Direction by Tareq BaconiHamas Contained: The Rise and Pacification of Palestinian Resistance by Tareq Baconi“Al-Atlal, Now: On Language and Silence in Gaza’s Wake,” Sarah Aziza, Literary Hub“The Work of the Witness,” Sarah Aziza, Jewish Currents“The Trap of Palestinian Participation,” Tareq Baconi, Jewish CurrentsBlack Atlantic by Paul Gilroy“Selling the Holocaust,” Arielle Angel, Menachem Kaiser, and Maia Ipp, Jewish Currents

In spring 2023, journalist and filmmaker Antony Loewenstein published The Palestine Laboratory, a book tracing the way that Israeli military technology and weaponry, battle-tested on Palestinians, is exported around the world. Lowenstein argues that as Israel’s surveillance and combat technologies are sold far and wide, we can expect to see the forms of violence carried out in Gaza, for example, appear elsewhere in the world. Last month, Jewish Currents published an article by Rhys Machold called “The Myth of Israeli Innovation,” which takes a critical look at what Machold has termed “the laboratory thesis” and examines how it obscures Israel’s dependence on powerful allies, while doing PR for the overhyped Israeli tech sector.On this episode of On the Nose, Jewish Currents editor-in-chief Arielle Angel hosts Loewenstein and Machold for a comradely debate about the “laboratory thesis” and whether it serves a narrative of Zionist exceptionalism. The guests discuss how advanced Israeli weapons really are; how “Israeli” they are, given the role of Western governments and corporations in their development; and how much of Israel’s “innovation” should be considered technological as opposed to political. They also explore whether or not Israel is on the verge of collapse, and how to characterize the balance of power between Israel and the US.Thanks to Jesse Brenneman for producing and to Nathan Salsburg for the use of his song “VIII (All That Were Calculated Have Passed).”Articles and Media Mentioned and Further ReadingThe Palestine Laboratory by Antony LoewensteinThe Palestine Laboratory, documentary series by Antony Loewenstein on Al Jazeera“The Myth of Israeli Innovation,” Rhys Machold, Jewish Currents“Reconsidering the laboratory thesis: Palestine/Israel and the geopolitics of representation,” Rhys Machold, Political Geography“How Palantir, Google & Amazon armed Israel's genocide in Gaza,” interview with Antony Loewenstein on The Big Picture, Middle East Eye “‘Lavender’: The AI machine directing Israel’s bombing spree in Gaza,” Yuval Abraham, +972 Magazine“Profiting from Terror in Cold War Latin America: Bishara Bahbah’s Israel and Latin America: The Military Connection,” Alexander Aviña, Liberated Texts“From Domination to Extermination,” Shir Hever, Phenomenal World“Global Spyware Scandal: Exposing Pegasus,” Frontline, PBS“Zionism is an anachronism,” Makdisi Street“The rot is very, very deep,” Makdisi StreetIsrael on the Brink by Ilan Pappé“How Israel’s War Economy Defied Economic Predictions,” Assaf Bondy and Adam Raz, JacobinThe Israeli Connection: Who Arms Israel and Why by Benjamin Beit-HallahmiDrop Site reporting on “Epstein and Israel” by Ryan Grim and Murtaza Hussein“On Jeffrey Epstein,” On the Nose“Survey: Young, diverse generation of evangelicals shows growing ambivalence toward Israel,” Jack Jenkins, Religion News Service

“Real life conspiracies pose a certain challenge for political analysis,” wrote Jewish Currents contributors Noah Kulwin and Ari Brostoff in their 2019 piece on Jeffrey Epstein, the child sex trafficker, financier, and international rainmaker. As recently reported in a series of articles at Drop Site News, Epstein had close ties to the Israeli intelligence community, and frequently brokered meetings for former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak, including meetings that resulted in the establishment of security ties with Mongolia and the sale of mass surveillance infrastructure to Cote d’Ivoire’s authoritarian government. What do these revelations tell us about the flows of power and money across the billionaire class? And what do we do with the extent to which Epstein’s story reads like an antisemitic conspiracy come to life? To explore these questions, Jewish Currents editor-in-chief Arielle Angel spoke with Kulwin, a co-host of Blowback, a podcast about US empire and interventionism, and Ryan Grim, co-founder of Drop Site News and the co-author of multiple recent reports about Epstein.Thanks to Jesse Brenneman for producing and to Nathan Salsburg for the use of his song “VIII (All That Were Calculated Have Passed).”Articles and Media Mentioned and Further ReadingDrop Site reporting on “Epstein and Israel” by Ryan Grim and Murtaza Hussein“The Right Kind of Continuity,” Ari Brostoff and Noah Kulwin, Jewish Currents“The worst thing about Davos? The Masters of the Universe think they are do-gooders,” Hamilton Nolan, The GuardianSpyfail: Foreign Spies, Moles, Saboteurs, and the Collapse of America’s Counterintelligence by James BamfordThe Power Elite by C. Wright MillsDoppleganger by Naomi KleinThe art of Marc Lombardi“Jeffrey Epstein Claimed to Have Meddled in Israel’s Elections,” Branko Marcetic, Jacobin“JPMorgan Alerted U.S. to Epstein Transfers Involving Wall St. Figures,” Matthew Goldstein, David Enrich, Jessica Silver-Greenberg, and Steve Eder, The New York Times“The Book of Epstein,” Chapo Trap HouseSupermob: How Sidney Korshak and His Criminal Associates Became America's Hidden Power Brokers by Gus Russo

On November 11th, Israeli soldiers who had admitted to raping a Palestinian detainee at the now infamous detention camp Sde Teiman were met with applause and a standing ovation as they entered an Israeli courtroom. The scene ricocheted around the world, the latest portrait of the depravity that has gripped Israeli society. Accounts of the torture taking place at Sde Teiman were among the first things to emerge from testimonies collected from soldiers by the Israeli group Breaking the Silence in the aftermath of October 7th. The 21-year-old group has long encouraged soldiers to speak candidly about what they have perpetrated during their service; for this, they have been vilified and discredited within Israeli society, which largely prefers to celebrate the soldiers as heroes—a narrative that can only be maintained through their silence.On this episode of On the Nose, Jewish Currents editor-in-chief Arielle Angel speaks with Breaking the Silence executive director Nadav Weiman about the testimonies they have collected over the last two years of the Israeli army’s annihilatory campaign in Gaza. Breaking the Silence’s testimonies have uncovered clear evidence that contrary to official reports, many of the war crimes we have seen are not the result of rogue soldiers, but protocols that come straight from command. In this episode, Weiman details the dehumanizingly named “mosquito protocol,” in which soldiers used Palestinians as human shields in Gaza—a chilling echo of the Israeli government’s oft-repeated accusation about Hamas. Weiman paints a picture of the mindset of the average Israeli soldier, ensconced in a “bubble” of support. He also fields questions about what accountability might look like for those who have perpetrated the genocide in Gaza—not just for top brass but for foot soldiers—and what the deradicalization of Israeli society could entail.Thanks to Jesse Brenneman for producing and to Nathan Salsburg for the use of his song “VIII (All That Were Calculated Have Passed).”Articles and Media Mentioned and Further Reading“Abuse in Israeli jails caused deaths of more than 90 Palestinians,” Simon Speakman Cordall, Al Jazeera“Strapped down, blindfolded, held in diapers: Israeli whistleblowers detail abuse of Palestinians in shadowy detention center,” CNN“Mosquito Protocol: Ex-Israeli Soldier on Army’s Systematic Use of Palestinians as Human Shields,” Democracy Now!“Some Israeli soldiers traveling abroad face action for alleged war crimes in Gaza,” Molly Quell, PBSTranscript forthcoming. 

Last week, the Holocaust-denying, white nationalist influencer Nick Fuentes sat down with former Fox News host turned podcaster Tucker Carlson on The Tucker Carlson Show, where the two discussed Fuentes’s trajectory, the evolution of his “America First” ideology, and the ways his rejection of the neoconservative common sense on Israel put him at odds with parts of the right-wing establishment. For many, Carlson’s seeming embrace of Fuentes on his popular show signaled a shift, a recognition that what was once taboo on the right has arrived in the mainstream. Cementing the sense of a sea change, Kevin Roberts, president of the Heritage Foundation, the right-wing think tank that has crafted many of Donald Trump’s most destructive policies, refused to disavow or scold Carlson, saying in a video that criticism of Israel is not antisemitism. He asserted that Americans should support Israel as long as Israel’s action are in American interests—and that there is no obligation to support Israel if they are not. (Since this taping, he has had to walk back this statement, particularly the use of the phrase “venomous coalition” to describe those trying to “cancel” Carlson over the interview with Fuentes.) That same week, far-right talk show host Candace Owens, dismissed from her Daily Wire post over antisemitism, sat down with left-wing former academic and Palestine advocate Norman Finkelstein. In a conversation laced with Owens’s many antisemitic conspiracy theories, they attempted to find common ground. In this episode of On the Nose, Jewish Currents editor-in-chief Arielle Angel and publisher Daniel May are joined by Ben Lorber, researcher of antisemitism and white nationalism, and Andrew Marantz, a New Yorker writer who profiled Carlson last year. They discussed the uncomfortable resonances between right and left anti-Zionism in this moment, and the even more disturbing antisemitic, white and Christian nationalist divergences. Thanks to Jesse Brenneman for producing and to Nathan Salsburg for the use of his song “VIII (All That Were Calculated Have Passed).”Articles and Media Mentioned and Further ReadingJD Vance is asked about American support for Israel at a Turning Point USA event“The Tucker Carlson Road Show,” Andrew Marantz, The New Yorker“Nick Fuentes Has Officially Breached the MAGA Gates,” Ben Lorber, The NationTranscript forthcoming.

Last week, a group calling itself The Jewish Majority published a “Rabbinic Call to Action” aimed at New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani in the last weeks of the campaign. “We cannot remain silent in the face of rising anti-Zionism and its political normalization throughout our nation,” the letter reads. Signed by over 1,100 rabbis, the letter quotes New York rabbis Ammiel Hirsch and Elliot Cosgrove, who had each issued their own anti-Zohran sermons and videos, insisting that Mamdani poses a danger to the safety of the city’s Jews and that Zionism is an inextricable part of Jewish identity.On this episode of On the Nose, Jewish Currents editor-in-chief Arielle Angel, editor-at-large Peter Beinart, senior reporter Alex Kane, and advisory board member Simone Zimmerman discuss this rabbinic campaign, what it means for the sizable Jewish minority who supports Mamdani, and what it says about the priorities of institutional Judaism at a moment of profound political instability.Thanks to Jesse Brenneman for producing and to Nathan Salsburg for the use of his song “VIII (All That Were Calculated Have Passed).”Articles and Media Mentioned and Further ReadingRabbi Cosgrove’s sermon on MamdaniRabbi Ammiel Hirsch on Mamdani“Why Mamdani Frightens Jews Like Me,” Bret Stephens, The New York TimesThe Jewish Majority, “A Rabbinic Call to Action”“Brad Lander’s Campaign of Solidarity,” On the Nose“Tax the Rich” post on X by Maria DanziloHalachic Left High Holidays reader“Zohran Mamdani is not antisemitic, Satmar’s Brooklyn leadership says,” Jerusalem Post“Jewish New York’s reckoning with Zohran Mamdani,” Noa Yachot, The Guardian“Many American Jews sharply critical on Gaza, Post poll finds,” Naftali Bendavid, Scott Clement, and Emily Guskin, The Washington Post“‘The Issue is Not the Issue’ – The Free Speech Movement 1964 - The Anti-Mamdani Craze,” Shaul Magid on SubstackMamdani’s video “My Message to Muslim New Yorkers—and Everyone Who Calls This City Home”“The racism and Islamophobia behind many of the attacks on Zohran Mamdani,” Richard Luscombe, The Guardian“Religion, Secularism, and the Jewish Left,” On the Nose“The Anti-Soros Strategy at the Heart of Trump’s War on Progressive Nonprofits,” Alex Kane, Jewish Currents“Trump’s war on the left: Inside the plan to investigate liberal groups,” Nandita Bose, Jana Winter, Jeff Mason, Tim Reid, and Ted Hesson, ReutersBeyond Israelism with Simone Zimmerman on ZeteoTranscript forthcoming. 

For the second year in a row, Rabbis for Ceasefire held a Yizkor service on the streets of Brooklyn, using the traditional Yom Kippur memorial service as a means to mourn the dead in Gaza, to atone for American and Jewish communal participation in the genocide, and to refuse further complicity. After the Yizkor service—attended by 1,500 people and watched online by ten times that number—rabbis and others blocked the Brooklyn Bridge while performing the Ne’ilah service that closes the holy day; dozens were arrested. In this episode, Jewish Currents editor-in-chief Arielle Angel speaks with Rabbis for Ceasefire organizers Alissa Wise and Elliot Kukla about their experience planning and carrying out this ritual action, and what it revealed about the nature of the tradition itself. They also discuss the power of collective grief, and the difference and interrelation between Palestine solidarity work and the work of building a Judaism beyond Zionism. This episode is dedicated to the memory of Rabbi Arthur Waskow. 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 ReadingRabbis for Ceasefire Yizkor service on Instagram“Jewish activist and leader Rabbi Arthur Waskow dies at 92,” Deena Prichep, NPR“‘Chronic traumatic stress disorder’: the Palestinian psychiatrist challenging western definitions of trauma,” Bethan McKernan, The Guardian“Can the Palestinian Mourn?,” Abdeljawad Omar, Rusted Radishes“‘They Destroyed What Was Inside Us’: Children with Disabilities Amid Israel’s Attacks on Gaza,” Human Rights Watch Report“The Right to Grieve,” Erik Baker, Jewish Currents“Synagogue Struggles,” On the Nose“We Need New Jewish institutions,” Arielle Angel, Jewish CurrentsTranscript forthcoming. 

Last week, President Donald Trump announced that Israel and Hamas had reached a ceasefire deal. A series of momentous events followed the announcement: First, Israel halted its military assault on Gaza—widely considered by international legal experts to be a genocide. Then, 20 Israeli captives who had been held by Hamas for two years were returned to Israel, while Israeli authorities released around 2,000 Palestinians from prison, 1,700 of whom had been detained without charge or trial. The events led Trump to declare that the “war is over.”  But Israeli troops are still stationed deep in Gaza, controlling over half of the enclave, and many questions remain about the future of Gaza.In this episode, senior reporter Alex Kane talks to Middle East experts Khaled Elgindy and Daniel Levy about the ceasefire. They discuss why Trump forced Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to agree to the ceasefire, why former President Biden failed to stop Israel’s bombardment, whether Hamas will disarm, and how the deal impacts efforts to hold Israeli officials accountable for genocide.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“How Fury Over Israel’s Qatar Attack Pushed Netanyahu on Gaza,”  Mark Mazzetti, Adam Rasgon, Katie Rogers and Luke Broadwater, The New York Times“Read Trump’s 20-point proposal to end the war in Gaza,” Associated Press“Why Hamas Agreed to Release the Hostages,” Isaac Chotiner, The New Yorker“Arab Mediators Believe Hamas Could Be Open to Partially Disarming,” Adam Rasgon and Ronen Bergman, The New York Times

As media figures reacted to the assassination of right-wing commentator Charlie Kirk last month, a movement to purge those critical of President Trump and his MAGA movement found success. The most prominent censorship case came when ABC, bowing to pressure from the head of the Federal Communications Commission, pulled late-night host Jimmy Kimmel off the air for his anti-MAGA remarks during his opening monologue. This clampdown on speech critical of Trump comes amid a broader attempt to reshape mainstream media in the right’s image. In this episode, senior reporter Alex Kane discusses the media’s right-wing turn with Karen Attiah—a journalist fired by the Washington Post for her comments following Kirk’s assassination—and Mehdi Hasan, a former MSNBC host and founder of independent news outlet Zeteo. They spoke about whether Kimmel’s removal signifies full-blown autocracy, the takeover of TikTok by pro-Trump and pro-Netanyahu billionaires, and the role of independent media in this moment. Articles Mentioned and Further Reading“The Washington Post Fired Me — But My Voice Will Not Be Silenced,” Karen Attiah, The Golden Hour Substack“Matthew Dowd’s firing begins flood of people facing consequences for their comments on Kirk’s death,” David Bauder and Ali Swenson, The Associated Press“Disney reportedly lost 1.7 million subscribers during Kimmel's suspension,” Amanda Yeo, Mashable“The Billionaire Trump Supporter Who Will Soon Own the News,” William Cohan, The New York Times“CBS Taps Conservative Policy Veteran for New Ombudsman Role,” Benjamin Mullin and Michael Grynbaum, The New York Times“Israel wins TikTok,” Kelley Beaucar Vlahos, Responsible StatecraftNet Delusion: The Dark Side of Internet Freedom, Evgeny Morozov“Jared Kushner’s firm and the Saudis are taking video game maker EA private in a massive deal,” Jordan Valinsky, CNN