On the Nose

On July 9th, PEN America published an article called “A Silent Moratorium,” which asserts that Jewish and Israeli writers face “blatant hostility, discrimination, and hate” and attempts to chart the “impact on their freedom of expression.” The PEN article affirms a narrative advanced across Jewish media and mainstream press alike that—as the headline of a piece by James Kirchick in The New York Times put it—“a chill has fallen over Jews in publishing” amid the war on Gaza. The article has since been joined by other attempts to quantify the damage to Jewish letters: An article by the writer Meg Keene attempted to provide data to support the claim of a precipitous dropoff in Jewish books since 2023. The ADL recently added another report to the pile.

Last week, we published a report written by Josh Lambert, director of Jewish studies at Wellesley College, and Dan Sinykin, director of graduate studies at Emory University—both researchers of publishing history, with expertise between them in contemporary Jewish literature and quantitative literary studies. The piece took on the claims of the PEN America article, about which they wrote, “Digging into its anecdotal reports of abandonment by agents and missing book deals, online harassment and review-bombing, we found that many of the claims were too vague to qualify as evidence, and that many accounts . . . turn out to be imprecise at best and entirely false at worst.” They also examined Keene’s data and ran some of their own; it turns out the picture of the number of Jewish titles being published looks very different with a more solid methodology.

On this episode of On the Nose, Arielle Angel speaks with Lambert and Sinykin about what these accounts of anti-Jewish sentiment in publishing got wrong, and what it means about the current market for both Zionist and anti-Zionist books.

Thanks to Jesse Brenneman for editing and to Nathan Salsburg for the use of his song “VIII (All That Were Calculated Have Passed).”

Links and Further Reading

“What PEN America Got Wrong About Antisemitism in Publishing,” Josh Lambert and Dan Sinykin, Jewish Currents

“A Silent Moratorium,” PEN America

“I gathered the data on Jewish fiction publishing. The trends are alarming.,” Meg Keene, JTA

ADL report on antisemitism in publishing

Josh Lambert’s Jewish book column, “State of the Genre”

Hunting in America by Tehila Hakimi

“I'm not happy about it, but I wrote about PEN.,” Josh Lambert’s Substack

Chad Post and the 3% rule

“A Bookshop Cancels an Event Over a Rabbi’s Zionism, Prompting Outrage,” Ginia Bellafante, The New York Times

“Examining the ADL’s Antisemitism Audit,” Shane Burley and Naomi Bennet, Jewish Currents

The Rehearsal, Nathan Fielder

Erasure by Percival Everett

“Repetition and Solipsism in the ‘Israel Debate’ Play,” On the Nose, Jewish Currents

“An Open Letter to the Jewish Book Council From a Concerned Group of Jewish Writers,” Literary Hub

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Transcript forthcoming.

Naza, a film by Israeli filmmakers Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor, features interviews with 24 members of elite intelligence units in the Israeli military describing the mechanics of carrying out remote, indiscriminate mass killing in Gaza. Since news spread of a 25-minute standing ovation for the film at the Venice Film Festival, it has provoked intense debate, with some Palestinians expressing criticism of the way that Israelis’ confessions have made the genocide more “real” in the West than Palestinians’ own testimony. Meanwhile, in Israel, the film has elicited disturbing incitement against the filmmakers (who currently remain abroad), and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has threatened to revoke the filmmakers’ citizenship.

What is the unique function of cinema focused on the perpetrators of genocide? How do we understand the concept of “evil” in listening to the voices of the murderers? And can these testimonies provoke a reckoning within global Jewry? To discuss these questions, Arielle Angel speaks with two filmmakers: Rami Younis, Palestinian journalist and co-director of the film Lyd, about the city in historic Palestine, now in the south of Israel; and Joshua Oppenheimer, director of the Oscar-nominated films The Act of Killing and The Look of Silence, about the Indonesian genocide.

Thanks to Jesse Brenneman for editing and to Nathan Salsburg for the use of his song “VIII (All That Were Calculated Have Passed).”

Links and Further Reading

Naza, directed by Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor

The Act of Killing and The Look of Silence, directed by Joshua Oppenheimer and Anonymous

Lyd, directed by Rami Younis and Sarah Ema Friedland

“Gaza before and after: New Google Maps imagery shows destruction of the Strip,” José A. Álvarez and Anna Navarro, El País

Mosab Abu Toha’s post on X

“‘NAZA’ is forcing Israelis to reflect. But we Palestinians are not your mirror,” Ayat Abou Shmeiss, +972 Magazine

“The moment a human life becomes ‘collateral damage,’” Mahmoud Mushtaha, +972 Magazine

Mairav Zonszein post on X

“Palestinian Suffering Must Pass Through an Israeli Voice to Be Heard,” Hanin Majadli, Haaretz

Rami Younis’s interview with Hany Abu Assad at Palestine Cinema

“Watching 'NAZA' Shocked Me. So Did What Its Creators Left Out,” Raviv Drucker, Haaretz

Raviv Drucker interviewing Yuval Abraham

“'It hurts me' - Guardiola vows to speak up on conflicts,” Shamoon Hafez, BBC

“‘Violent and baseless raid’: Human rights group demands probe of police over Umm el-Fahm wedding,” Yoav Etiel, The Jerusalem Post

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Transcript forthcoming.

Slam Frank—the satirical play about a Latina “Anita Franco” stuck in the attic with a colorblind cast (à la Hamilton) of daft identitarians—reopened last week Off-Broadway at the Orpheum Theatre in Manhattan. While some audience members have reportedly been shocked by its irreverent take on a child hero of the Holocaust, some viewers on both the left and the right are convinced that the play reflects their sensibilities and political leanings. The play’s author, Andrew Fox, has declined to say anything about his personal politics, but touchstone books of Jewish reactionary grievance like David Baddiel’s Jews Don’t Count and Dara Horn’s People Love Dead Jews are part of the show’s dramaturgy.

On this episode of On the Nose, Arielle Angel talks to theater critic Alisa Solomon and New York Times columnist M. Gessen about their differing interpretations of the play. The three argue about what the play actually intends to say about the contemporary left, whether the playwright’s own political leanings matter to the read of the play itself, and whether the proliferation of interpretations is a feat or a liability.

Thanks to Jesse Brenneman for editing and to Nathan Salsburg for the use of his song “VIII (All That Were Calculated Have Passed).”

Links and Further Reading

“‘Slam Frank,’ a Daring Satire, and ‘Crooked Cross’ Demand Our Attention,” Laura Collins-Hughes, The New York Times

“The Composer Making a Hip-Hop Musical About Anne Frank,” Kelefa Sanneh, The New Yorker

Information on Gazi Kodzo, the author of the original “Anne Frank/white privilege” tweet

Jews Don’t Count by David Baddiel, People Love Dead Jews by Dara Horn, and a Jewish Currents review of both books by Linda Kinstler

“Actress Dasha Nekrasova Fired By Gersh, Dropped From Movie Amid Backlash Over Podcast Interview With Far-Right Political Commentator Nick Fuentes,” Matt Grobar, Deadline

Andrew Fox on i24

Slam Frank reviews in the Times of Israel and the Jewish Journal

“Springtime for Hitler,” The Producers

Slam Frank’s Bondi post and Andrew Fox’s apology

“Campus Politics Takes the Stage in ‘The Ally,’” On the Nose, Jewish Currents

“Anne Frank, the Exhibition” at the Center for Jewish History

“Nosegate,” On the Nose, Jewish Currents

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As we make our way through the Days of Awe, On the Nose is turning over our feed to an episode of Ways of Awe, an exploration of the high holiday liturgy written by artist and educator Maia Brown and writer and organizer Shelby Handler, and based on translations originally shared with the Kadima Reconstructionist Community in Seattle, WA. This episode explores the “Kol Nidre” prayer recited on Erev Yom Kippur, in which all vows from the year before are nullified. In this episode, the hosts spoke with Rabbi Jessica Rosenberg and Rabbi Xava De Cordova.

This episode was edited by Maia Brown, with audio engineering by Daniel Guenther. Thank you to Ross Kirshenbaum of Levoneh for composing our show music and to Peter Lippman and Jimmy Austin for playing on the track, and to Jenny Asarnow for their field recordings. Thank you to the Jack Straw Cultural Center Artist Support Program, the Seattle Office of Arts & Culture Smart Ventures Program, and Signal Fire Coop. Thank you to Hannah Epstein for design.

Thank you to all those who lent their prayer-voices to the Kol Nidre episode including: Noraa Kaplan, Sharone Sayegh, Moyshe Oysher. Thank you to Jeannie Wells-Yablonsky from the Seattle Symphony for her rendition of Kol Nidre. An excerpt from “Kol Nidre,” performed by Sharone Sayegh in the Iraqi Sephardic tradition, was produced by Reboot in partnership with Hillel International for Higher Holidays 2020 and is reproduced here with permission.

Links and Further Reading

“Jewish Emptiness: Kavannot for Kol Nidrei,” Rabbi Xava De Cordova, RitualWell

“The Case Against Kol Nidre,” Adam Soclof, JTA

“Kol Nidre: Past, Present, and Future,” Richard-Steiner, Jewish Studies, an Internet Journal

Kol Nidre entry in the 1906 Jewish Encyclopedia

“A Brief History of the Kol Nidrei Prayer,” Cantor Deborrah Cannizzaro

“Exploring Kol Nidre,” David Schwartz, Sefaria

“The Geonim,” Eli Barnavi, My Jewish Learning

This Is Real and You Are Completely Unprepared by Rabbi Alan Lew

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Transcript can be found here.

On September 8th, the UK announced sanctions against Israeli settlements in the West Bank, including an import trade ban, sanctions on companies and individuals, bans on advertising the sale of stolen land, and restrictions on arms export licensing. They were joined in the adoption of these policies by France and Canada, and nine other European countries released a statement announcing intentions to support the effort. This unprecedented raft of policies was largely framed as an attempt to salvage the two-state solution and to counter planned settlement expansion into the E-1 Corridor, which would split the West Bank in two.

On this episode of On the Nose, Arielle Angel speaks with Ryvka Barnard, deputy director of the UK-based Palestine Solidarity Campaign; Emily Hilton, international policy director at Diaspora Alliance; and Maya Rosen, associate editor of Jewish Currents, about these latest developments. They discuss the issues with limiting sanctions to the settlements in one-state reality, potential loopholes in implementation, and the reactions from the UK Jewish establishment and the Israeli settlement movement.

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

Joint Foreign Ministers’ Statement on the Two-State Solution

“UK, France among 12 states backing sanctions on illegal Israeli settlements,” Al Jazeera

“Trump didn't oppose UK sanctions on Israeli settlements,” Barak Ravid, Axios

“The Wrong Way to Fight Antisemitism in Britain,” On the Nose, Jewish Currents

“Polling reveals Palestine a major factor in progressive voters ditching Labour,” Palestine Solidarity Campaign

“The Making of a Coal Boycott,” Andreas Malm and Maxy Guedes, Jewish Currents

“Burnham confirms top level government meeting to bolster security for Jewish community over High Holy Days,” Lee Harpin, Jewish News

“America Should Follow UK and Sanction West Bank Settlements,” New Jewish Narrative statement

“J Street Welcomes UK, France and Canada’s Decision to Ban Imports From West Bank Settlements,” J Street statement

“What is the Police and Crime Bill and how will it change protests?,” BBC

“The Settler Community Responds to UK Sanctions,” C14

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Transcript forthcoming.

Organizing is hard, not just for the ways we are knocked down by our opponents, but also for the ways we often turn on our comrades in anger and despair. In the recently published book For Louder Days, Yotam Marom—a veteran of Occupy Wall Street, co-founder of IfNotNow, and movement facilitator who has worked with Sunrise, Dream Defenders, Uncommitted, and more—diagnoses how the left’s ambivalence about power leads to a number of bad habits. We tear down our leaders or pretend there are no leaders at all; we avoid conflict and hard choices, which leads to bad strategy; we draw the boundaries of belonging too narrowly. On this episode of On the Nose, Marom talks to Arielle Angel about all the ways we turn on each other instead of playing to win—and how we might shift our orientation away from the “politics of powerlessness.”

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

For Louder Days by Yotam Marom

Jewish Diaspora Movement Skill-Building Boot Camp Registration

“Who Speaks for Black Voters?,” On the Nose, Jewish Currents

Hate by Seyda Kurt

“Why Israelis are leaving in record numbers,” Hila Amit, +972 Magazine

Transcript forthcoming.

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A recent article in Haaretz announced that a left-wing youth group called Hamahanot Haolim, part of the socialist Zionist movement, is planning a kibbutz-style settlement in the Jordan Valley, in the occupied West Bank. According to the article, organization director Ilan Gazit said that “he is aware of the damage West Bank settlements do to Palestinian rights, but argued that since new settlements will be built in the Jordan Valley in any case, it’s preferable to have as many of them as possible populated by leftists.” Gazit elaborated: “We aren’t ashamed of this and we aren’t hiding it. This is in line with our worldview: A strong security border is needed in the east that will be defensible and create a necessary condition for peace. We are leftists who believe in equality between people and are guided by a humanistic, socialist, democratic worldview.”

On this premium episode of On the Nose, Israeli American social worker and co-founder of the Unsettled podcast Asaf Calderon talks to Arielle Angel about the fallacy of the “good guy at the checkpoint,” and what this announcement says about the shifting relationship between Israel’s so-called left and the settlement enterprise.

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

“Israeli Left-wing Youth Group Plans Kibbutz-style Settlement in West Bank,” Yair Foldes, Haaretz

“What the Soldiers Did in Gaza,” On the Nose, Jewish Currents

“The Anti-Politics of Disengagement,” Elisheva Goldberg, Jewish Currents

“Revising the Dream,” Mari Cohen, Jewish Currents

Transcript forthcoming.

After a few years of seeing Jewish plays “debating” Israel/Palestine, Jewish Currents editor-at-large Arielle Angel and theater critic Alisa Solomon explored the phenomenon through an exchange of letters, which were published this week. On this episode of On the Nose, they discuss the plays that fall into this category: most recently, the critically acclaimed Birthright by Jonathan Spector, but also including The Zionists by S. Asher Gelman, Giant by Mark Rosenblatt, The Ally by Itamar Moses, and Prayer for the French Republic by Joshua Harmon. They detail the compulsive repetition of these plays and they explore why Jewish hand-wringing is being consistently elevated during a moment of genocide, and why it appears so popular with critics and liberal audiences alike.

Thanks to Jules Natt for editing and to Nathan Salsburg for the use of his song “VIII (All That Were Calculated Have Passed).”

Media Mentioned and Further Reading

“Birthright Stages a Tired Debate,” Arielle Angel and Alisa Solomon, Jewish Currents

Birthright by Jonathan Spector

Giant by Mark Rosenblatt

The Zionists by S. Asher Gelman

The Ally by Itamar Moses

Prayer for the French Republic by Joshua Harmon

“Campus Politics Takes the Stage in The Ally,” On the Nose, Jewish Currents

“Who Is Tom Stoppard’s ‘Jewish Play’ For?” On the Nose, Jewish Currents

“Giant Gave the People What They Want,” Jessica Goldschmidt, Jewish Currents

“‘Birthright’ and ‘Giant’ Tackle Jewish Identity,” Emily Nussbaum, The New Yorker

“‘Birthright’ Stages a Thrillingly Complex Conversation on Conversation Itself,” Helen Shaw, The New York Times

“Taking the Long View, Brilliantly: Birthright and Camping,” Sarah Holdren, Vulture

“Most US kids of intermarriage raised Jewish; parents want institutions to notice,” Ben Sales, The Times of Israel

“Shari Redstone’s Next Act: Mogul Named Chair of ‘We Will Dance Again’ and ‘Bad Boy’ Studio Sipur,” Alex Weprin, The Hollywood Reporter

Miami New Drama’s announcement of the Y6K Project

“‘A Silent Moratorium,’” Lisa Tolin, Geraldine Baum, Malka Margolies, PEN America

“Feeling excluded in the literary world, Jews are launching their own publishing houses,” Philissa Cramer, JTA

“Birthright Israel and #MeToo,” Sarah M. Seltzer, Jewish Currents

“Michael Steinhardt, a Leader in Jewish Philanthropy, Is Accused of a Pattern of Sexual Harassment,” Sharon Otterman and Hannah Dreyfus, The New York Times

“Nadav Lapid Faces ‘No,’” On the Nose, Jewish Currents

“Kaddish for an Unborn Avant-Garde” by Maia Ipp

Sarah Hurwitz on how phones are making it hard to speak to Jewish young people about Gaza

“Van Jones and the moral vacancy of American commentary on Gaza,” Ziyad Motala, Al Jazeera

Theater Workers for a Ceasefire Birthright Boycott

Transcript forthcoming.

Progressive outsider candidate Abdul El-Sayed narrowly prevailed over establishment pick Haley Stevens to win the Democratic nomination for Michigan’s open Senate seat, though AIPAC spent tens of millions of dollars to defeat him. The narrative that has emerged before and after the primary is one that stresses El-Sayed’s weakness with Black and Jewish voters.

As Jewish Currents senior reporter Alex Kane wrote earlier this month, Black and Jewish centrists are teaming up in key races to defeat progressive candidates, whom they portray as fixated on Palestine at the expense of their Black constituents. As Darius Jones—senior adviser to a Black centrist group called the National Black Empowerment Action Fund and longtime AIPAC operative—told Jewish Currents, “Focusing on a “foreign conflict” won’t “lower health care or housing costs for a Black senior in Detroit, or ensure that a path to home ownership easier for a Black constituent in St Louis or Ferguson.” These Black politicos have endeavored to link moderate Democratic policies and Black interests; reflecting on El-Sayed’s attacks on the Democratic establishment, for example, party strategist Jamal Simmons told The Hill that such “attacks on the Democratic establishment in places like Detroit are attacks on Black leaders.” Meanwhile, moderates and conservatives across the country appear intent on pushing the narrative that democratic socialism is the province of privileged white people, pointing to the demographics of the group’s membership and the class backgrounds of Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s staffers and advisers.

To discuss the ways that the figure of the “Black voter” is being used in the fight over the direction of the Democratic Party, host Arielle Angel and Alex Kane welcome Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor—professor of African American studies at Princeton University, author of From #BlackLivesMatter to Black Liberation, and a co-founder of the digital magazine Hammer & Hope—to On the Nose. They discuss the role of Israel/Palestine in Black politics, the fallacy that Black voters are more moderate on the issues, and what to do with DSA’s demographic problem.

Thanks to Jules Natt for editing and to Nathan Salsburg for the use of his song “VIII (All That Were Calculated Have Passed).”

Media Mentioned and Further Reading

“The End of Black Politics,” Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor, The New York Times

“Donald Trump’s Victory, the Elitism of Democrats, and the Need to Build a Hospitable Left,” Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor and Daniel Denvir, Hammer & Hope

“With Jewish Establishment’s Help, a Black Political Group Battles the Left,” Alex Kane, Jewish Currents

“An Anti-AIPAC Insurgent Tests Her Message in a Working-Class Stronghold,” Alex Kane, Jewish Currents

“The Congressional Black Caucus’s Silent Partnership With AIPAC,” Anthony Conwright, The Nation

“Can Abdul El-Sayed unite Dems? He has work to do with Black, Jewish voters,” Simon D. Schuster, Bridge Michigan

“Who Is Abdul El-Sayed? His Harsh Trump Takedown Is a Clue,” Daily Blast with Greg Sargent, The New Republic

“El-Sayed faces ‘risky bet’ with Michigan’s Black voters,” Amie Parnes and Caroline Vakil, The Hill

“NYC-DSA is 60% white, internal survey says,” Peter Sterne, City & State

“How ‘Pro-Israel’ Orthodoxy Keeps US Foreign Policymaking White,” Peter Beinart, Jewish Currents

“Valerie Foushee ‘Will Not Accept’ AIPAC Money in 2026 Election,” Chase Pelligrini de Paur, Indy

“The Revolutionary Imperative,” Neil Smith, Antipode

Siena University poll of DSA favorability

“Most Americans Say Policing Needs 'Major Changes,’” Steve Crabtree, Gallup

“AOC and Mamdani wanted to defund the police. Their backtracking puts organizers at risk,” Derecka Purnell, The Guardian

“Movement for Black Lives opposes George Floyd Justice in Policing Act,” AP

“Eliot Engel, Jamaal Bowman, and the CBC,” Alexander Sammon, The American Prospect

Communists in Harlem During the Depression by Marc Naison

The New Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander

Transcript forthcoming.

In early June 2024, the Holocaust historian Raz Segal was offered a job directing the Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies at the University of Minnesota after roundly impressing an academic search committee. But as soon as the offer was extended, donors, politicians, and Jewish advocacy groups mobilized against his hire due to his public advocacy against Israel’s genocide in Gaza, which included his Jewish Currents article “A Textbook Case of Genocide” from October 13th, 2023. Within a week, the university’s interim president intervened to rescind Segal’s offer. Now, two years later, Segal, an associate professor of Holocaust and genocide studies and the endowed professor in the study of modern genocide at Stockton University, has reached a $250,000 settlement with the University of Minnesota.

On this episode of On the Nose, senior editor Mari Cohen guest hosts to interview Segal about the lessons from his struggle at Minnesota and recent developments in the field of genocide studies, which Cohen reported on extensively in a 2024 Jewish Currents feature. In their conversation, Segal traces the history of genocide studies and the political contexts that have made it difficult for scholars in the field to adequately address Israeli violence, and reflects on “A Textbook Case of Genocide” nearly three years after its publication. Is genocide studies finally evolving to meet the moment? And what should we make of the fact that many liberal commentators are only now willing to accept the argument Segal made six days after October 7th?

Thanks to Jesse Brennemen for editing and to Nathan Salsburg for the use of his song “VIII (All That Were Calculated Have Passed).”

Media Mentioned and Further Reading

“A Textbook Case of Genocide,” Raz Segal, Jewish Currents

“Can Genocide Studies Survive a Genocide in Gaza?,” Mari Cohen, Jewish Currents

“An Israeli professor lost a prestigious US job offer after speaking out on Gaza. Now the university is paying him $250,000,” Alice Speri, The Guardian

“A Holocaust Scholar Called Israel’s Actions in Gaza ‘Genocide.’ It Cost Him a Job Offer,” Maggie Hicks, Chronicle of Higher Education

“Many American Jews sharply critical of Israel on Gaza, Post poll finds,” The Washington Post

“Bad Memory,” Jewish Currents

“Israel Must Stop Weaponizing the Holocaust,” Raz Segal, The Guardian

“Tenured California Professor Fired Over Gaza Protest Wins Job Back,” Alice Speri, The Guardian

The Problems of Genocide by Dirk Moses

IAGS Resolution on the Situation in Gaza

Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide

“Museum Statement on the Attack on Israel,” US Holocaust Memorial Museum

“No, Israel is Not Committing Genocide in Gaza,” Bret Stephens, The New York Times

“US Universities Are Seeing an Influx of ‘Antisemitism Centers.’ Some Jewish Scholars Are Worried,” Alice Speri, The Guardian

“Disputed Gaza Language No Longer on Stockton Holocaust Studies Page,” Buzz Keough, The Press of Atlantic City

Transcript forthcoming.