The Fox Nation film ‘Rebound’ documents the Maccabees’ challenges and successes in the wake of tragedy
Courtesy Fox Nation
The Maccabees
It was Monday, Oct. 9, 2023. Israel was shocked and reeling just two days after Hamas perpetrated the worst terror attack in the Jewish state’s history, the deadliest massacre of Jews in a single day since the Holocaust.
Halfway across the world in New York City, it was the first day of practice for Yeshiva University’s basketball team, the Maccabees, a team that had been on a high from its 50-game winning streak that had ended the year prior.
But now the young athletes’ minds were far from wind sprints and free throw shots. Two teammates and their head coach, Elliot Steinmetz, were still in Israel, where they traveled to for the Sukkot holiday. Top-scoring guard Zevi Samet’s family was stuck in a bomb shelter on that harrowing day. Senior guard Adi Markovich’s friend was killed when Hamas infiltrated the Nova music festival in southern Israel.
The team of Jewish men — who bring a Torah along on weekend trips and before games play “Hatikvah” along with “The Star-Spangled Banner” have long been seen as unique in the NCAA. Consisting of six Israelis and three Americans who served in the IDF as lone soldiers and were called up for reserve duty — the team faced an unimaginable decision: drop out of the season in grief, or play through the crushing sadness, fear and rage and use their platform to exemplify their support for Israel and the Jewish people.
Clad in kippot, the players pushed through to make it to the NCAA Division III Tournament. Ultimately though, the team lost the 2024 Skyline Conference Championship to Farmingdale State College.
But the team’s pride and grit goes beyond the court — including a mid-season, eight-day visit to Israel. A new documentary, “Rebound: A Year of Triumph and Tragedy at Yeshiva University Basketball,” which premiered on Wednesday on Fox Nation, Fox News’ subscription service, tells that story.
“This was a devastating time and sometimes those are the most important times to document,” Pat Dimon, the film’s director, told Jewish Insider. “I told [Yeshiva University] I thought I was the right person for this and asked if me and my team could follow along.”
“This film is about more than basketball,” Yeshiva University President Rabbi Ari Berman told JI. “When you play for Yeshiva University you are not just playing for a school, you are playing for a people. In the wake of Oct. 7, our basketball team made a defining choice: to stand tall as proud Jews, embodying unity, and strength far beyond the court. Wherever we go, on and off the court, we stand as one — honored to represent our community and the enduring spirit of our people.”
Dimon, an Emmy Award-winning director, is known for his work on several sports films including “College Sports, Inc.,” “100 Days to Indy” and “24/7 College Football.”
But embedding himself with the Maccabees to direct “Rebound” was a distinctive experience for the seasoned director, who is not Jewish — one that included his first-ever trip to Israel, to see a scarred nation firsthand.
“That trip is the crux of the film,” Dimon said, recalling that team coach Steinmetz called the January 2024 visit the most “important decision he’s ever made personally and professionally with his team.” It included a meeting with 19-year-old former hostage Ofir Engel, a friend of teammate Tom Beza, and tour of his girlfriend’s home in Kibbutz Be’eri — where Hamas rampaged on Oct. 7, killing 101 residents and taking more than 30 captives including Engel. The team also went to the Nova musical festival grounds, visited with the families of the Israeli players, spent time with IDF soldiers and met wounded survivors of the attacks in the hospital.
Dimon recognized that the “inherent” viewer of the documentary will be Jewish. “I know how passionate they are about YU and the team. But I hope those aren’t the only viewers,” he said — noting that “sport transcends.” He believes the film can be used to engage wider audiences who otherwise aren’t connected to Israel or have not been paying attention to the global rise in antisemitism that followed Israel’s war with Hamas.
In brief remarks in the film, New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft echoed that sentiment, calling Yeshiva University “a special place.”
Sports are “global and reach across all faiths, cultures, races and genders,” according to Dimon. “Sport can be the prism we can all get behind.”
“I think this film is for everybody,” he said. “People of the Jewish faith, sports fans, anyone that wants to see how characters can use a painful situation to rebound.”
Anthony Behar/Sipa USA via AP Images
Senator John Fetterman (D-PA) seen removing his colored hood from Harvard University as a sign of protest against their policies concerning the ongoing Israel-Palestinian war during the commencement ceremony for 2024 Yeshiva University graduating class, at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center's Louse Armstrong Stadium, Flushing Meadow-Corona Park, Queens, NY, May 29, 2024.
Good Thursday morning.
In today’s Daily Kickoff we report on Israel’s move to seize the Philadelphi Corridor, investigate the increasingly hostile environment Jewish therapists are facing after Oct. 7, and cover Sen. John Fetterman’s renunciation of Harvard at the Yeshiva University commencement yesterday. Also in today’s Daily Kickoff: Sen. Gary Peters, Virginia State Sen. John McGuire and new Yale President Maurie McInnis.
The Israeli army has taken full control of the Philadelphi Corridor, the strategic pathway that runs along Gaza’s southern border with Egypt, it announced yesterday evening.
In a press conference, IDF Spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said the route had served as an “oxygen pipeline” for Hamas to smuggle weapons into the Strip. He also said that the Iranian-backed terror group had exploited the corridor’s proximity to Egypt to store its weapons, including rocket launch sites. IDF troops operating in the area in recent weeks discovered dozens of Hamas’ launch sites used as recently as last week to fire projectiles into Israel and at least 20 tunnels, as well as tunnel shafts, located a few feet from the Egyptian border, Hagari explained.
IDF Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi carried out an operational assessment along the corridor on Wednesday, telling troops that the military operation in Rafah, which sits adjacent to the border, was essential to “dismantle the Rafah Brigade.”
Among the tunnel shafts discovered in the area of Rafah in recent days, the army said, was a mile-long tunnel not far from the border crossing into Egypt. The tunnel, which was destroyed by combat and engineering units, contained dozens of anti-tank missiles and a large quantity of weapons.
Kobi Michael, a senior researcher at the Institute for National Security Studies (INSS) and the Misgav Institute for National Security and Zionist Strategy, told Jewish Insider’s Ruth Marks Eglash that controlling the corridor weakened Hamas militarily and economically, both above and below ground.
“The infrastructure that exists beneath the corridor of active smuggling tunnels is used by Hamas for smuggling weapons, munitions, money, people and explosives into Gaza,” Michael said. “By disconnecting them from these tunnels, by dismantling them and destroying them, Hamas will have difficulty restocking.”
The Rafah border crossing also sits along the corridor and was used by Hamas as a source of income, Michael explained. “Hamas received a lot of money from controlling the Rafah crossing, they took customs and taxes and they also used the crossing as another smuggling platform,” he said.
“Disconnecting Hamas from the tunnels and the crossing weakens them dramatically militarily and economically, and also vis-à-vis the population,” he continued. “Hamas leaders are sitting in their tunnels and understand they are close to losing their sovereignty over the Gaza Strip and that might make them more willing to make concessions to reach a deal over releasing the hostages.”
White House national security spokesman John Kirby said during a briefing with reporters on Wednesday that the IDF had briefed the administration on its plans for Rafah, including “moving along that corridor and out of the city proper to put pressure on Hamas in the city. He said that Israel’s control of the 8.6-mile buffer zone along the border was consistent with the “limited” ground operation President Joe Biden’s team had already been briefed on.
“I can’t confirm whether they seized the corridor or not, but I can tell you that their movements along the corridor did not come as a surprise to us and was in keeping with what we understood their plan to be — to go after Hamas in a targeted, limited way, not a concentrated way,” Kirby told reporters.
U.S. Deputy Ambassador to the U.N. Robert Woodtold reporters yesterday that a new U.N. resolution proposed by Algeria to stop Israel’s operation in Rafah “is not going to be helpful.” The draft resolution calls for the opening of all border crossings and demands an immediate cease-fire and the release of all the hostages. Wood said that “another resolution is not necessarily going to change anything on the ground.”
While the movesteers clear of U.S. red lines, it could exacerbate tensions between Israel and Egypt, which is performing a delicate act as a mediator in the war, and has charged that increasing Israeli troops in the border area would be a breach of the peace treaty between the two countries.
An understanding must be reached between Israel and Egypt to prevent Hamas from regaining control of the area in the future and a sophisticated barrier, similar to that which exists between Israel and Gaza preventing the digging of more tunnels, must be erected, Michael said.
bad therapy
‘Opposite of inclusive’: A look inside the increasingly hostile environment for Jewish therapists
When someone posted in a private Facebook group for Chicago therapists in March, asking whether anyone would be willing to work with a Zionist client, several Jewish therapists quickly responded, saying they would be happy to be connected to this person. What happened next sparked fear and outrage among Jewish therapists in Chicago and across the country, and illuminated the atmosphere of intimidation and harassment faced by many Jews in the mental health world who won’t disavow Zionism. Those who replied soon found themselves added to a list of supposedly Zionist therapists that was shared in another local group as a resource, so that other professionals could avoid working with them. The only trait shared by the 26 therapists on the list is that they are Jewish, Jewish Insider’s Gabby Deutch reports.
No compassion: The anti-Zionist blacklist is the most extreme example of an anti-Israel wave that has swept the mental health field since the Oct. 7 Hamas terror attacks and the resulting war in Gaza, which has seen the deaths of tens of thousands of Palestinian civilians. More than a dozen Jewish therapists from across the country who spoke to JI described a profession ostensibly rooted in compassion, understanding and sensitivity that has too often dropped those values when it comes to Jewish and Israeli providers and clients.
Crisis mode: “We all worried that it could get this bad, but I don’t think any of us were actually expecting it to happen,” said Halina Brooke, a licensed professional counselor in Phoenix. Four years ago, she created an organization called the Jewish Therapist Collective to build community among Jewish professionals and raise the alarm about an undercurrent of antisemitism in the field. “Once Oct. 7 hit, we’ve all been in crisis mode since literally that morning, and the stories that have come in from colleagues and about their clients have been horrifying.”
Read JI’s full investigation into antisemitism in the mental health profession here.
Bonus: The Illinois body that licenses therapists has filed a formal complaint against Heba Ibrahim Joudeh, the author of the Zionist blacklist, alleging that the creation of the list violates state anti-discrimination laws as well as professional codes of ethics and standards of practice, according to a copy of the complaint obtained by JI. The Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation “prays” that Ibrahim Joudeh has her counseling license “revoked, suspended or otherwise disciplined.” A preliminary hearing on the case is scheduled for June 17.
unholy alliance
Sen. Peters slams terror-linked conference Rep. Tlaib addressed: ‘There is no place for violent rhetoric or advocacy of violence’
Sen. Gary Peters (D-MI) distanced himself from Rep. Rashida Tlaib’s (D-MI) appearance at the People’s Conference for Palestine, where pro-terror messages were celebrated and an activist with ties to a group designated by the U.S. as a foreign terrorist organization was welcomed. Peters’ office told Jewish Insider’s Emily Jacobs in a statement on Wednesday that Michigan’s soon-to-be senior senator “understands how personal the issues around the war between Israel and Hamas are for Michiganders and believes that individuals have the right to gather and advocate for their personal beliefs. However, he believes that there is no place for violent rhetoric or advocacy of violence in these discussions.”
Additional concerns: “As Chairman of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, Senator Peters is also concerned that foreign adversaries, like the Chinese and Russian governments, have and will continue to try to exploit divisions within U.S. domestic politics to sow chaos, something our nation’s intelligence officials have warned about. He urges Michiganders to be attentive to such potential interventions by foreign actors and organizations,” the statement concluded.
Avoiding comment: JI reached out to every Democratic member of Michigan’s congressional delegation, including Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-MI) and Rep. Elissa Slotkin (D-MI), for comment on Tlaib’s appearance at the conference. Only Peters and Rep. Haley Stevens (D-MI) responded, and the latter used her statement to praise President Joe Biden’s record on Israel and Jewish issues.
Conference content: The conference was organized by The People’s Forum, a far-left advocacy group funded largely by Neville Roy Singham, a businessman with ties to the Chinese Communist Party and a long history of donating to Marxist and socialist causes. Wisam Rafeedie, an activist with ties to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, which is designated in the U.S. as a terrorist organization, was a guest at the event. Sana’ Daqqah, the widow of Walid Daqqah, the PFLP terrorist who was lionized in the Palestinian community for dying in an Israeli prison, was the keynote speaker. Attendees took part in chants of “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free,”, and “We want justice, you say how? End the siege on Gaza now,” in between speeches and discussions on “Confronting Zionism in Higher Education” and “Zionism and U.S. Imperialism.”
Read the full story here.
feting fetterman
Fetterman renounces Harvard in Yeshiva University commencement address
Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) renounced his association with Harvard University over its “inability to stand up for the Jewish community” during his Yeshiva University commencement address on Wednesday, removing the crimson hood representing his alma mater while onstage. Fetterman made the gesture early in his address, which culminated in him receiving the Presidential Medallion, the private Orthodox university’s highest honor, for his advocacy on behalf of Israel and the Jewish people. He joked that he didn’t deserve to be in the same company as previous recipients of the award, describing himself as “just a senator with a big mouth that happens to be committed to standing with Israel,”Jewish Insider’s Emily Jacobs reports.
Symbolic gesture: The Pennsylvania senator, who has emerged since Oct. 7 as one of Israel’s strongest allies in his party, said he had been “reflecting” on his “last graduation, and that was literally a quarter century ago. I was graduating from Harvard University. Today, I have been profoundly disappointed with Harvard’s inability to stand up for the Jewish community after Oct. 7. Personally, I do not fundamentally believe that it is right for me to wear this today,” Fetterman said while pointing to his hood, which he then removed from around his neck. The move sparked audible gasps and subsequent cheers from the crowd.
Staunch support: Fetterman, who graduated from the Harvard Kennedy School in 1999 with a master’s degree in public policy, vowed to remain a staunch supporter of Israel and fight for the release of the hostages, pointing to a memento given to him by a hostage family member. “Of course, we cannot ignore the somber context of today. In fact, on my wrist I’m wearing the wristband from the Nova music festival. It was given to me by a family member of someone that was taken hostage. If you look at it, it reads Oct. 7, 2023. It’s a constant reminder of the horrors of that day,” Fetterman said. “The Jewish community everywhere deserves our support and I promise you will always have mine. And I will not stop speaking out until every last hostage is brought back home.”
Read the full story here.
old dominion race
Rep. Bob Good faces primary threat from Trump-backed challenger John McGuire
Rep. Bob Good (R-VA), the House Freedom Caucus chair who has frequently voted against U.S. funding for Israel since Oct. 7 and backed a series of candidates opposing foreign aid across the country, is fighting for his political life in Virginia’s June 18 primary election, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports. Good was already facing a tough primary campaign against state Sen. John McGuire, but his odds of winning the nomination tumbled further after former President Donald Trump endorsed McGuire on Tuesday.
In the race: McGuire, a former Navy SEAL, told JI that Good’s backing of DeSantis was a major factor in his candidacy. He said he picked up widespread anti-Good sentiment in his state Senate district during his 2023 campaign. McGuire framed Good as a “divisive” drain on Republicans’ unity and effectiveness in Virginia and nationally, both through his support for unseating McCarthy and his involvement in primaries nationwide. Allies of McCarthy and other outside groups have spent over $4 million on TV ads tagging Good a “backstabber” and “MAGA traitor.”
Speaker troubles: McGuire highlighted that the weekslong speakership vacancy coincided with the Oct. 7 attack on Israel and the beginning of the war in Gaza. “In our time of need for our greatest ally, we couldn’t help [them] because we didn’t have a speaker,” McGuire said. “That right there is enough for me to run against him.”
Pro-Israel backing: McGuire called Good “not reliable with regard to Israel.” Good has said he voted against Israel aid over concerns about federal spending and the national debt, as well as provisions in the legislation that provided humanitarian aid for Palestinians. Good has maintained that he’s supportive of Israel. The Republican Jewish Coalition endorsed McGuire and hosted him at a recent leadership meeting in Washington, D.C. The state senator said he would have voted for supplemental Israel aid.
campus beat
New Yale President Maurie McInnis received high marks for handling of protests at Stony Brook
As Maurie McInnis prepares to take the helm at Yale University, Jewish leaders on Long Island and at Stony Brook University, where the art historian has been president since 2020, praised her for avidly defending free speech while also protecting Jewish students amid the anti-Israel campus protests that have roiled the New York school. At Yale, after a spring semester gripped by protests and encampments, the executive director of the school’s Slifka Center for Jewish Life, Uriel Cohen, expressed hope that when McInnis takes over the New Haven campus in July, replacing outgoing President Peter Salovey, the “campus climate [will return] to one in which mutual responsibility and respect are once again hallmarks of the Yale community,” he told eJewish Philanthropy’s Haley Cohen, reporting for Jewish Insider.
Encampment approach: During her tenure at Stony Brook, a SUNY public university in Suffolk County, McInnis “handled the encampments very well,” Mindy Perlmutter, executive director of the Jewish Community Relations Council Long Island, told JI. When encampments sprung up in the spring — and included antisemitic activity such as inhibiting the ability of Hillel to host its annual Jewish American Heritage Month celebration — McInnis said that anti-Israel demonstrations that comply with school policy will be permitted to continue. Ultimately, she shut down the encampments on May 2 after 22 Stony Brook students, two faculty members and five others were arrested for violating various laws.
Balancing act: Stony Brook Hillel’s executive director, Jessica Lemons, said that McInnis, who earned master’s and doctoral degrees from Yale in the 1990s and will be the university’s 24th president — and first woman in the post — “will leave behind big shoes.” Lemons added, “Since October, our campus has seen dozens of protests, anti-Israel events and tables, incidents of doxxing, harassment and intimidation of Jewish students, and much of what other campuses around the country are seeing. It has never been our expectation that our university president would be able to eradicate antisemitism, but rather that she and her administration would do their best to support students on campus, abide by rules set forth by both the first amendment and Title VI, and create an excellent institution of higher learning. By our measure, I believe President McInnis has done that.”
Read the full story here.
Elsewhere: More than 300 people, including 60 faculty members and several major donors have signed a letter calling on the University of California, Berkeley to cancel the deal outgoing Chancellor Carol Christ made with anti-Israel protesters.
community concerns
VA-10 candidates voice varying views on Gaza war, U.S. support in Jewish community events
Speaking at a pair of forums with Jewish community groups on Wednesday, candidates running in Virginia’s 10th Congressional District expressed a range of views on the U.S.-Israel relationship and domestic antisemitism, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports.
Disagreements between allies: Del. Dan Helmer, speaking at an online forum hosted by the Jewish Democratic Council of America, said, “I believe in most cases that the Biden administration has done well by supporting the U.S.-Israel relationship. Where I have disagreements, it’s where we have allowed disagreements between allies to potentially become openings for enemies.” He said he “believe[s] strongly in continued aid, and that the best way to ensure the release of hostages is “to continue maximum pressure on Hamas to ensure that they understand that until they let the hostages go, Israel will continue its fight.”
Supporting Biden: Former House of Delegates Speaker Eileen Filler-Corn said she’s been “really pleased with how President Biden has been so incredibly supportive of Israel, its right to self-determination, its right to defend itself in light of the atrocities” committed by Hamas. Filler-Corn laid out several goals going forward: continuing to support Israel, ensuring humanitarian aid, ending the war with a return of the hostages and beginning to consider who will control Gaza after Hamas is defeated.
Defeating Hamas: State Sen. Suhas Subramanyam reiterated views that he’s laid out in other recent events, supporting an “enduring defeat of Hamas,” humanitarian assistance and a two-state solution, emphasizing “Hamas can’t be one of the states.” He said he supports humanitarian assistance for Gaza as well as, broadly, funding for Israel, without offering specifics. Subramanyam added that he was particularly affected by the attack on Kibbutz Kfar Aza, which he visited in 2022, and with whose residents he had stayed in contact.
Worthy Reads
Jewish Pride at Columbia: Natan Sharansky writes in Tablet about the importance of the letter from 500 Columbia University Jewish students expressing pride in Israel and their Jewish faith: “The next year will likely be as tough for Jews on campus as this one. Of course, in democratic America there are many tools that can be used to fight antisemitism: going to court, encouraging hearings in Congress, using the press to unmask the dangerous actors who finance the new antisemitic waves, and so forth. But in order to defend your rights, you have to first define and claim them. Until America’s Jewish students publicly claim their right to their Jewish and Zionist identity, they will continue to fight at a disadvantage.” [Tablet]
Illiberal State of Mind: Rabbi Ammiel Hirsch of the Stephen Wise Free Synagogue argues in an address at the Re-CHARGING Reform Judaism conference on Wednesday that the West is jettisoning liberal values. “The West is increasingly hostile to Jewish identity. It is not only Israel. Judaism, itself, is under withering ideological assault, and hence the Jewish state is the focus and the target of this hostility. It was inevitable that the rise and spread of identity politics would place the Jew on the wrong side of virtue. Some of us have been warning for years that the abandonment of Western liberal values is always bad for Jews. When we forsake Martin Luther King’s understanding of liberalism, to judge people not by the color of their skin but by the content of their character; when we elevate feelings over facts, bias over evidence, group entitlement over individual merit, cancelation over debate: When we dismiss liberal values as rooted in white privilege, oppression, colonialism and racism, we have betrayed liberalism, and undermined the very foundations that made the West dominant and Western Jews secure. The passions unleashed by an illiberal state of mind threaten both the West and Western Jews. History teaches that once Jew-hatred becomes normative it portends social decay” [SWFS]
Around the Web
A Letter from the Ayatollah: Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei wrote an open letter to American college students, which he also tweeted out, in which he praised them for having “formed a branch of the Resistance Front” and advised them to study the Quran.
Notable Quotable: House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) responded to the Khamenei Twitter storm, saying: “When you’ve won the Ayatollah, you’ve lost America.”
Malley Update: Republican lawmakers uncovered evidence that Robert Malley, the Biden administration’s former Iran envoy, “downloaded sensitive and classified documents and may have shared them with individuals outside the US government to advance his diplomatic efforts,” according to Semafor.
City of Brotherly Love: At a Philadelphia campaign stop designed to win support from Black voters, President Joe Biden attacked former President Donald Trump for invoking “neo-Nazi, Third Reich terms.”
Calming Nerves: Democratic Majority For Israel (DMFI) is trying to reassure Democrats who are concerned that their continued support for Israel will be damaging at the polls, Axios reports.
Role for Musk?: Former President Donald Trump and Elon Musk have considered an advisory role for the X owner should Trump take back the White House in November, according to a Wall Street Journal report.
No-Show: The U.S. will boycott the U.N.’s ceremony on Thursday to commemorate the death of Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, according to Reuters.
ICC Fallout: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told former Trump State Department spokesperson Morgan Ortagus on her radio show that he’s “surprised and disappointed” that the Biden administration said it would reject the congressional effort to rebuke the International Criminal Court.
Backing Starmer: U.S. Ambassador to the U.K. Jane Hartley lauded the U.K Labour party leader, and likely the next prime minister, Keir Starmer, for his approach to the Gaza war and his consistency with the Biden administration’s position.
Next on the Hot Seat: The presidents of Yale University and the University of Michigan were given notice by the House Committee on Education and the Workforce for upcoming probes into the handling of antisemitism at their universities.
Documents Ask: The House Oversight Committee requested documents from National Students for Justice in Palestine relating to its funding, communications about responses to the Oct. 7 attack, provision of support to terrorism and all documents and communications created or sent between Oct. 6 and Oct. 8.
Road Rage: A driver tried to run over students and a rabbi outside a Jewish school in Brooklyn yesterday as he allegedly yelled “I’m gonna kill all the Jews.”
Bad Look: The deputy political director for Rep. Elissa Slotkin (D-MI), a Senate candidate, attended a 2017 convention celebrating Louis Farrakhan and the Nation of Islam.
Big Bucks Against Bowman: A national group arguing Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-NY) is too radical to represent mainstream Black voters has joined the crush of critics spending big to keep the progressive from a third term, Politico‘s Playbook has learned. The National Black Empowerment Action Fund, founded by AIPAC veteran Darius Jones, plans to sink an initial half-million dollars into a NY-16 offensive that includes directly interacting with Black voters and mobilizing local officials. More spending is anticipated.
Calling Out Haley: Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-NY) called former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley “disgusting” for writing “finish them” on an Israeli artillery shell to be shot at Hezbollah targets.
Weighing Words: Responding to comments from Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), Rep. Brad Schneider (D-IL) told Jewish Insider it’s “ignorant and abhorrent” to suggest that the Abraham Accords “either caused or justified Hamas’s barbaric attack on October 7.” He added, “my colleagues should all recognize this simple truth and measure their words and statements accordingly.”
Intercepted: The IDF said it intercepted a cruise missile “that approached Israel from the east,” this morning, reportedly from Iraq.
Car Ramming: Two Israeli soldiers were killed in a car-ramming attack perpetrated last night near the city of Nablus in the West Bank.
Lula’s Move: Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva withdrew his ambassador to Israel following months of hostility between the two countries over the Israel-Hamas war.
Meta Move: Meta removed from Facebook and Instagram hundreds of fake accounts linked to an Israeli tech firm that is suspected of having used AI-generated comments for pro-Israel messaging.
New PM: Former chief of the Netherlands’ intelligence and security service, Dick Schoof, has been named as the country’s next prime minister.
Pic of the Day
New York City Mayor Eric Adams and Shoshan Haran, who was kidnapped to Gaza along with her daughter, son-in-law and their two children, and was released after 50 days, pose during a reception celebrating Jewish Heritage Month yesterday at Gracie Mansion in New York. Haran’s son, Tal Shoham, is still in captivity in Gaza.
Birthdays
Literary critic, essayist and novelist, Daphne Miriam Merkin turns 70…
Santa Monica, Calif.-based historian of Sephardic and Crypto-Jewish studies, Dolores Sloan turns 94… Real estate developer and former chair of UJA-Federation of NY, Larry A. Silverstein turns 93… Partner in the NYC law firm of Mintz & Gold, Ira Lee “Ike” Sorkin turns 81… Board member of the Collier County chapter of the Florida ACLU and the Naples Florida Council on World Affairs, Maureen McCully “Mo” Winograd… Cape Town native, she is the owner and chef at Los Angeles-based Catering by Brenda, Brenda Walt turns 73… Former professional tennis player, he competed in 9 Wimbledons and 13 US Opens, now the varsity tennis coach at Gilman School in Baltimore, Steve “Lightning” Krulevitz turns 73… Former chief rabbi of France, Gilles Uriel Bernheim turns 72… Medical director of the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee’s Ethiopia spine and heart project, Dr. Richard Michael Hodes turns 71… Encino, Calif.-based business attorney, Andrew W. Hyman… Israeli physicist and philosopher, Avshalom Cyrus Elitzur turns 67… Former member of Congress for 16 years, since leaving Congress he has opened a bookstore and written two novels, Steve Israel turns 66… Former science editor for BBC News and author of six books, David Shukman turns 66… Founder of Krav Maga Global with 1,500 instructors in 60 countries, Eyal Yanilov turns 65… Editorial writer at The New York Times, Michelle Cottle… Film, stage and television actress, she sang the national anthem at Super Bowl XLIX in 2015, Idina Menzel turns 53… Writer, filmmaker, playwright and DJ, known by his pen name Ithamar Ben-Canaan, Itamar Handelman Smith turns 48… Member of Knesset who served as Israel’s minister of agriculture in the prior government, Oded Forer turns 47… Director of engagement and program at NYC’s Congregation Rodeph Sholom, Scott Hertz… Deputy assistant to President Biden until 2023, now chief of staff for Senator Brian Schatz, Reema Dodin… Tel Avivian Alina T. Katz… Israeli author, her debut novel has been published in more than 20 languages around the world, Shani Boianjiu turns 37… Rapper, singer, songwriter and record producer, known professionally as Hebro, Raphael Ohr Chaim Fulcher turns 37… Counsel at Gilead Sciences, Ashley Bender Spirn… Deputy chief of staff for U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-GA), Miryam Esther Lipper… Senior writer for CNN, Eric Levenson… Challah baker, social entrepreneur, professor and manager of Howard Properties, Jason Friend…
‘I’m just a senator with a big mouth that happens to be committed to standing with Israel,’ Fetterman said
Anthony Behar/Sipa USA via AP Images
Senator John Fetterman (D-PA) seen removing his colored hood from Harvard University as a sign of protest against their policies concerning the ongoing Israel-Palestinian war during the commencement ceremony for 2024 Yeshiva University graduating class, at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center's Louse Armstrong Stadium, Flushing Meadow-Corona Park, Queens, NY, May 29, 2024.
Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) renounced his association with Harvard University over its “inability to stand up for the Jewish community” during his Yeshiva University commencement address on Wednesday, removing the crimson hood representing his alma mater while on stage.
Fetterman made the gesture early in his address, which culminated in him receiving the Presidential Medallion, the private Orthodox university’s highest honor, for his advocacy on behalf of Israel and the Jewish people. He joked that he didn’t deserve to be in the same company as previous recipients of the award, describing himself as “just a senator with a big mouth that happens to be committed to standing with Israel.”
The Pennsylvania senator, who has emerged since Oct. 7 as one of Israel’s strongest allies in his party, said he had been “reflecting” on his “last graduation, and that was literally a quarter century ago. I was graduating from Harvard University.”
“Today, I have been profoundly disappointed with Harvard’s inability to stand up for the Jewish community after Oct. 7. Personally, I do not fundamentally believe that it is right for me to wear this today,” Fetterman said while pointing to his hood, which he then removed from around his neck.
The move sparked audible gasps and subsequent cheers from the crowd.
Fetterman, who graduated from the Harvard Kennedy School in 1999 with a master’s in public policy, vowed to remain a staunch supporter of Israel and fight for the release of the hostages, pointing to a memento given to him by a family member.
“Of course, we cannot ignore the somber context of today. In fact, on my wrist I’m wearing the wristband from the Nova music festival. It was given to me by a family member of someone that was taken hostage. If you look at it, it reads Oct. 7, 2023. It’s a constant reminder of the horrors of that day,” Fetterman said. “The Jewish community everywhere deserves our support and I promise you will always have mine. And I will not stop speaking out until every last hostage is brought back home.”
The Democratic senator has bucked his party’s shift away from Israel in recent months, refusing to waver in his support for continued offensive military aid despite the objections of some far left colleagues. He has also led on legislation combating antisemitism on college campuses alongside Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA).
He told the graduating class that one of his “most proud moments as a United States senator was voting for billions in aid for Israel with no conditions to allow Israel to push back at that singular evil force.”
Fetterman also urged students to take some time to celebrate their accomplishments and embrace the joy they felt on this day despite the tragedy that has unfolded in Israel and Gaza on and since Oct. 7.
“Joy can coexist with tragedy,” Fetterman said. “And today, never forget that today is a day of celebration for all of you and all of these families here.”