On the Nose

On this special episode of On the Nose—recorded live on November 4th at McNally Jackson Books in Manhattan—Jewish Currents senior reporter Alex Kane hosts a discussion about foreign policy and the 2024 presidential election. Historian Stephen Wertheim, Arab American Institute executive director Maya Berry, and national security reporter Spencer Ackerman discuss Donald Trump’s and Kamala Harris’s foreign policy visions, regional war in the Middle East, and the bipartisan consensus on upholding US empire. 

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:

“Some Muslim Americans moving to Jill Stein in potential blow to Kamala Harris,” Andrea Shalal, Reuters

“New Poll Finds Arab American Voters Evenly Divided in the 2024 Presidential Election,” Arab American Institute

Reign of Terror: How the 9/11 Era Destabilized America and Produced Trump by Spencer Ackerman

“How Kamala Harris Should Put America First — for Real,” Stephen Werheim, The New York Times

“America’s Foreign Policy Inertia,” Stephen Wertheim and Christopher S. Chivvis, Foreign Affairs

In 2003, a group of Indian Americans deeply involved in India's Hindu supremacist, or Hindutva, movement established the Hindu American Foundation (HAF), an organization explicitly modeled on the Anti-Defamation League (ADL). Just as the ADL has long insisted that fighting American antisemitism requires bolstering support for Israel, the HAF committed itself to lobbying for Hindutva in the name of protecting Hindu Americans’ civil rights, an approach that helped the group's rightwing politics find a foothold in liberal, anti-racist circles. The HAF is not the only organization that has drawn inspiration from the ADL. In 2021, the Asian American Foundation (TAAF) was formed in direct partnership with the ADL as a way to address growing anti-Asian racism. While lacking connection to a single ethnonationalist movement, TAAF nevertheless drew on the ADL’s and HAF’s approaches in positioning anti-Asian racism as a unique problem requiring carceral solutions instead of solidaristic organizing. As such, TAAF debuted with ADL head Jonathan Greenblatt as the only non-Asian person on its board, and Hindu nationalist Sonal Shah as its founding president. 

The HAF and TAAF’s use of the ADL model has thus far helped them achieve support and legitimacy. However, as the ADL itself faces an unprecedented crisis of legitimacy in the wake of October 7th, affiliation with it now risks becoming a liability. For instance, following members’ criticism over its ties to an increasingly repressive Greenblatt, TAAF removed him from his board this July (while still affirming its “strategic relationship” with the ADL). As dissent continues to grow in Asian and South Asian American communities—with reporters and activists questioning ties of anti-racist groups in the US to injustices abroad—it is not just ties to the ADL but the power of the ADL model of antiracism that stands to come into question. To discuss these developments, Jewish Currents news editor Aparna Gopalan spoke to associate editor Mari Cohen, New Yorker contributing writer E. Tammy Kim, and Savera coalition activist Prachi Patankar about the similarities and differences between the ADL, the HAF, and TAAF; their embrace of a “hate crimes” approach to anti-racism and what it leaves out; their ties to supremacist movements; and their shifting fortunes in the wake of the pressures over the past year.      

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 Reading:

“How the ADL’s Israel Advocacy Undermines Its Civil Rights Work,” Alex Kane and Jacob Hutt, Jewish Currents

“ADL Staffers Dissented After CEO Compared Palestinian Rights Groups to Right-Wing Extremists, Leaked Audio Reveals,” Alex Kane and Mari Cohen, Jewish Currents

“HAF Way to Supremacy: How the Hindu American Foundation Rebrands Bigotry As Minority Rights,” Savera Coalition

“The Hindu Nationalists Using the Pro-Israel Playbook,” Aparna Gopalan, Jewish Currents

“The ADL of Asian America,” E. Tammy Kim, The New Yorker

“The Asian American Foundation’s ADL partnership is a betrayal to Asian American communities,” Sharmin Hossain, Mondoweiss

Ta-Nehisi Coates, one of the most celebrated American political writers of our time, devotes much of his new book, The Message, to a withering and deeply personal critique of Israel’s oppression of Palestinians. On this bonus episode of On the Nose—a recording of an online event for Jewish Currents members, co-sponsored by the Beinart Notebook and the Foundation for Middle East Peace—editor-at-large Peter Beinart speaks with Coates about his time in Israel and the West Bank, the silencing of Palestinians in American media, and what it means when nationalism’s victims become its adherents.

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 Reading:

The Message by Ta-Nehisi Coates

“Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break Silence,” Martin Luther King, Jr.

Our American Israel by Amy Kaplan

The Riot Report, directed by Michelle Ferrari

“The Case for Reparations,” Ta-Nehisi Coates, The Atlantic

“One Year of War in the Middle East,” Pod Save the World

The Yellow Wind by David Grossman

“Obama on his criticism of Israeli settlements: ‘I’m basically a liberal Jew,’” Avery Anopol, The Hill

“US media talks a lot about Palestinians—just without Palestinians,” Maha Nassar, +972 Magazine

Ta-Nehisi Coates interview on CBS

Black Panther graphic novels by Ta-Nehisi Coates

Makdisi Street podcast

“Ta-Nehisi Coates: I Was Told Palestine Was Complicated. Visiting Revealed a Simple, Brutal Truth,” Democracy Now!

On this episode of On the Nose—recorded live at Jewish Currents’s daylong event on September 15th—editor-in-chief Arielle Angel speaks with a panel of authors, scholars, and activists about the movement for Palestinian freedom in the wake of Israel’s genocide. Noura Erakat, Fadi Quran, Dana El Kurd, Amjad Iraqi, and Ahmed Moor discuss the challenge of Palestinian unity under Israel’s program of fragmentation, the resurgence of the two-state solution and decline of the coexistence paradigm, American Jews’ role in organizing their communities against Zionism, and the task of imagining a liberated future.

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 Reading:

Polarized and Demobilized: Legacies of Authoritarianism in Palestine by Dana El Kurd

Justice for Some: Law and the Question of Palestine by Noura Erakat

After Zionism: One State for Israel and Palestine, edited by Anthony Loewenstein and Ahmed Moor

Hamas Contained: The Rise and Pacification of Palestinian Resistance by Tareq Baconi

Polling by Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research

“Zionism Killed the Jewish-Muslim World,” Ariella Aïsha Azoulay, Jacobin

Protocol I Additional to the Geneva Conventions

1968 Palestinian National Charter

“How Durham, North Carolina, became the first US city to ban police exchanges with Israel,” Zaina Alsous and Sammy Hanf, Scalawag

For this live taping of the literary podcast Between the Covers—recorded at Jewish Currents’s daylong event on September 15th and presented in partnership with On the Nose—host David Naimon convened a conversation with renowned writers Dionne Brand and Adania Shibli about contesting colonial narratives. Rooted in their long-standing literary practice and in the demands of this moment of genocide, they discuss the vexed meanings of home, how to recover the everydayness of life erased by empire, and what it means to imagine togetherness beyond the nation-state.

This episode was produced by David Naimon, with music by Alicia Jo Rabins. Thanks also to Jesse Brenneman for additional editing and to Nathan Salsburg for the use of his song “VIII (All That Were Calculated Have Passed).

Texts Mentioned and Additional Resources:

Minor Detail by Adania Shibli

A Map to the Door of No Return: Notes to Belonging by Dionne Brand

Civil Service by Claire Schwartz

The Blue Clerk by Dionne Brand

Adania Shibli in conversation with Hisham Matar at the 2024 Hay Festival

Adania Shibli in conversation with Madeleine Thien and Layli Long Soldier at the Barnard Center for Research on Women

“Writing Against Tyranny and Toward Liberation,” Dionne Brand

“Dionne Brand: Nomenclature — New and Collected Poems,” Between the Covers

“Adania Shibli: Minor Detail,” Between the Covers

“prologue for now - Gaza,” Dionne Brand, Jewish Currents

“Duty,” Daniel Mendelsohn, New York Review of Books

“A Lesson in Arabic Grammar by Toni Morrison,” Adania Shibli, Jewish Currents

Inventory by Dionne Brand

Recognizing the Stranger: On Palestine and Narrative by Isabella Hammad

“Isabella Hammad: Recognizing the Stranger: On Palestine and Narrative,” Between the Covers

Freud and the Non-European by Edward Said

“The Horseman and the Lake of Constance,” Gustav Schwab

In this live taping of Jacobin’s podcast The Dig—recorded at Jewish Currents’s recent daylong event and presented in partnership with On the Nose—host Daniel Denvir convened a conversation with scholars Aslı Bâli and Aziz Rana on the past and present of left internationalism. Placing the current eruption of solidarity with Palestine in the context of the rise and fall of Third Worldism, they discuss the history and legacy of that project, the lasting structures of neocolonialism, and the challenge of contesting empire from the heart of empire.

This episode was produced by Alex Lewis and Jackson Roach, with music by Jeffrey Brodsky. Thanks also to Jesse Brenneman for additional editing and to Nathan Salsburg for the use of his song “VIII (All That Were Calculated Have Passed).

Texts Mentioned and Further Reading:

“Left Internationalism in the Heart of Empire,” Aziz Rana, Dissent

“Reviving the Language of Empire,” Aziz Rana in conversation with Nora Caplan-Bricker, Jewish Currents

“The Disastrous Relationship Among Israel, Palestinians and the U.N.,” Aslı Bâli on The Ezra Klein Show, The New York Times

Neo-Colonialism, the Last Stage of Imperialism by Kwame Nkrumah

“What We Did: How the Jewish Communist Left Failed the Palestinian Cause,” Dorothy M. Zellner, Jewish Currents

Empire As a Way of Life by William Appleman Williams

Discourse on Colonialism by Aimé Césaire

“From Minneapolis to Jerusalem,” Hannah Black, Jewish Currents

“Charging Israel with Genocide,” On the Nose, Jewish Currents

Recently, far-right figures like Candace Owens and Tucker Carlson have hitched their anti-Israel politics to blatant antisemitism, platforming Holocaust denial and using decontextualized passages from religious texts like the Talmud to argue for the fundamental immorality of Judaism; in some cases their rhetoric has migrated beyond the right-wing echo chamber. Meanwhile, following a cheeky tweet by conspiracy-minded Grayzone editor Max Blumenthal that attributed the congressional losses of Jamaal Bowman and Cori Bush to the “Zionist occupied government,” or “ZOG,” debates raged online about the supposed accuracy or usefulness of the term, which has clear origins in the neo-Nazi movement. In this episode of On the Nose, editor-in-chief Arielle Angel interviews Shane Burley and Ben Lorber, authors of the new book Safety Through Solidarity: A Radical Guide to Fighting Antisemitism, about these trends and how we confront them. They examine the real difficulties of talking about antisemitism—and assessing actual risk—in an alarmist environment where antisemitism is frequently weaponized against Palestinians and their allies, and discuss what it means to build principled movements rooted in mutual self-interest and collective liberation.

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 Reading:

Safety Through Solidarity: A Radical Guide to Fighting Antisemitism by Shane Burley and Ben Lorber

“The Right’s Anti-Israel Insurgents,” Ben Lorber, Jewish Currents 

“Examining the ADL’s Antisemitism Audit,” Shane Burley and Jonah ben Avraham, Jewish Currents

The Necessity of Exile: Essays from a Distance by Shaul Magid

Zioness event about campus antisemitism

“Jewish settlers stole my house. It’s not my fault they’re Jewish,” Mohammed El Kurd, Mondoweiss

Rafael Shimunov’s thread about talking about antisemitism on the left

“What Comes Next for the Palestinian Youth Movement,” Mohammed Nabulsi, Hammer & Hope

Doppelganger: A Trip Into the Mirror World by Naomi Klein

Study on the correlation between antisemitism and Israeli violence against Palestinians

"Are neo-Nazi terms really the only way to criticize U.S. support for Israel?," Mira Fox, The Forward

"Efforts to sell 'Anglo neighborhoods in Israel' at LA synagogue erupt in protests," Lois Beckett, The Guardian

“At Hunter’s ‘Israelism’ screening, the rabbi was rude, not the audience,” The Forward

“Brooklyn bookstore parts ways with worker who canceled event over pro-Israel rabbi as moderator,” Beth Harpaz and Louis Keene, The Forward

“Do American Jews Really Know What 'Zionist' Means?,” Mira Sucharov, Haaretz

On July 31st, Ismail Haniyeh, Hamas’s top political leader, was killed in Iran. Haniyeh came to the capital city of Tehran for the presidential inauguration; an explosive device went off in the guest house where he was staying. Just hours before, Haniyeh had met with Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Israel hasn’t taken responsibility for the attack, but they’re widely believed to be responsible—especially given their history of targeted political assassinations. Indeed, Haniyeh’s killing followed Israel assassination of Hezbollah commander Fuad Shukr in Lebanon one day earlier. 

Haniyeh was killed in the middle of ceasefire negotiations between Hamas and Israel. With the death toll in Gaza nearing 40,000, and the family members of Israeli hostages desperately calling for a prisoner exchange, the pressure to come to an agreement has been mounting. But Haniyeh was a chief negotiator in those talks, and now, the chances of arriving at a deal seem further than ever.

Meanwhile, Iran has vowed to retaliate against Israel for the attack on their soil. As of Thursday, August 8th, that hasn’t happened yet, but many now fear that tensions could lead to a wider regional war. 

In this collaboration between Unsettled Podcast and On the Nose, Unsettled producer Ilana Levinson interviews Tareq Baconi, author of Hamas Contained: The Rise and Pacification of Palestinian Resistance, to make sense of these developments and what Haniyeh’s assassination means for the future of the region.

This episode was produced by Ilana Levinson with Emily Bell. Music in this episode from Blue Dot Sessions. Thanks to Nathan Salsburg for the use of his song “VIII (All That Were Calculated Have Passed).”

Further Reading:

“Hamas Contained: The Rise and Pacification of Palestinian Resistance,” Tareq Baconi

“Hamas: Gaza (Ep 3),” Unsettled Podcast

“Tareq Baconi: ‘There’s no going back,’” Unsettled Podcast

“Regional War: An Explainer,” Alex Kane and Jonathan Shamir, Jewish Currents

Since October 7th, a low-grade regional war has played out across the Middle East, pitting Israel and its Western allies against various Iran-backed forces. The Yemeni Houthi faction has targeted ships in the Red Sea in response to Israel’s war on Gaza, prompting a wave of US and British airstrikes on Yemen. Meanwhile, Iraqi militias have repeatedly fired rockets at US forces in their country. Hezbollah and Israel have also traded deadly fire on the Lebanon–Israel border, leading to mass displacement on both sides.

Now, with Israel’s recent assassinations of a senior Hezbollah commander in a Beirut suburb, and of Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh in Iran, these relatively-limited conflicts threaten to turn into a far-bloodier conflagration. On this episode of On the Nose, senior reporter Alex Kane interviews regional expert Trita Parsi and scholar Karim Makdisi about these assassinations, the strategies and interests of Iran and Hezbollah, and the Biden administration’s response to the prospect of a full-scale regional war.

Thanks to guest producer Will Smith and to Nathan Salsburg for the use of his song “VIII (All That Were Calculated Have Passed).”

ARTICLES MENTIONED AND FURTHER READING

“Regional War: An Explainer,” Alex Kane and Jonathan Shamir, Jewish Currents

“The Middle East Is Inching Toward Another War,” Trita Parsi, TIME

“Biden Warns Netanyahu Against Escalation As Risk Of Regional War Grows,” Barak Ravid, Axios

“Bomb Smuggled Into Tehran Guesthouse Months Ago Killed Hamas Leader,” Ronen Bergman, Mark Mazzetti, and Farnaz Fassihi, The New York Times

Should leftists vote for the Democratic nominee in the 2024 presidential election? Many have balked at supporting an administration that has funded and armed Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza: Some are refusing to vote outright, while others are conditioning their vote on a dramatic shift in policy. Although President Joe Biden has now dropped out of the race, and will almost certainly be replaced by his vice president, Kamala Harris, this question remains live for many. 

American leftists have long debated our relationship to electoral politics, and to the Democratic Party in particular. Do we choose the lesser of two evils, hold our nose, and “vote blue no matter who” in order to avert the catastrophes that would result from a Republican presidency? Or are there acts that are too morally outrageous to permit such a utilitarian calculus? And regardless of what we choose, are there ways to think about the meaning of voting that go beyond the pieties of mainstream liberal discourse?

In this episode, Jewish Currents contributing writer Raphael Magarik explores these questions with Rania Batrice, a first-generation Palestinian American and political strategist who has devoted her career to electoral work, including as Bernie Sanders’s 2016 deputy campaign manager. The conversation—recorded while Biden was still running—examines a legal responsum by Rabbi Menashe Klein, the spiritual leader of the Ungvar Hasidic community in Brooklyn, about whether one is responsible for the actions of a candidate one votes for. Through engagement with Klein’s responsum, Magarik and Batrice turn over their own ambivalences, grappling with competing ways of thinking about voting.

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 and a study guide here. 

Thanks to Ilana Levinson for producing and to Nathan Salsburg for the use of his song “VIII (All That Were Calculated Have Passed).”