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How the NYT Tokenizes Jews — and Mandy Patinkin Helped Them Do It

Actor Mandy Patinkin arrives for the world premiere of Life Itself at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) in Toronto, Canada, September 8, 2018. Photo: REUTERS/Mark Blinch.
It’s the final scene of The Princess Bride and Inigo Montoya, master fencer and revenge-seeker, is at the window of the castle with Westley and turns to him. “You know, it’s very strange. I have been in the revenge business so long. Now that it’s over, I do not know what to do with the rest of my life,” he says.
Unfortunately, you aren’t hearing these lines within the context of the movie itself, but from the Jewish actor who played Montoya in 1987. Mandy Patinkin is using that line to describe Israel’s war in Gaza during an exclusive feature interview with The New York Times Magazine.
The interview covered a wide variety of topics relating to the Patinkin-Grody family’s lives and careers, including their most recent resurgence to popularity through their TikTok videos. Nevertheless, The New York Times decided to clip the portion about their opinions of Israel and antisemitism for social media, making it all about Gaza and fueling a gross representation of the Jewish community.
The NYT magazine knew this portion about Gaza and antisemitism would go viral. With approximately 111,000 likes and counting and about 40,500 shares, the tokenization of Jews is a guaranteed win. That’s why clips of any other part of the interview are absent.
Would the magazine have featured it if it had featured pro-Israel sentiments?
The print version, appearing much more neutral, masks Patinkin’s visceral emotional response. But not only that. The interview on the magazine’s website was presented not in terms of the Patinkin family’s view of Israel or their Judaism, but their own interpersonal relationship, illustrated by Patinkin and his wife, Kathryn Grody, happily dancing together for the camera.
Patinkin Melts Down Over Netanyahu But Not Hamas?
The full version of the interview on YouTube included content about Israel that wasn’t used on the Instagram reel. It included a bizarre story about Patinkin and his infant son in the early 1980s, sharing the stage at a Soviet Jewry rally with Benjamin Netanyahu during his tenure as Israeli Ambassador to the UN, claiming he didn’t know who he was at the time but felt bad “vibes.”
I didn’t know who he was, but he had a distasteful vibe, and I took my son and I moved him from my left — between the stranger and me — to my right arm so my baby would be between Mario Cuomo and me, not between this man. This man got up to speak, and I remember that he was introduced as the Ambassador from Israel to the United Nations. I’d often hear my parents say this phrase on the South Side of Chicago, in the Jewish community: “That’s good for the Jews” or “That’s bad for the Jews,” and in my mind, I heard, “That’s the definition of what’s bad for the Jews” — and I didn’t know this man. I just knew he was a threat to my child. Later I learned that that man was named Benjamin Netanyahu.
Patinkin and his equally famous wife, Kathryn Grody, placed blame solely on Netanyahu for the war in Gaza and none of the responsibility on Hamas. Grody also ignores very real antisemitism running rampant in the US and around the world.
What a stark situation it’s become, that a future prime minister of a democratic country (regardless of political leaning) gives you “distasteful” vibes, but Hamas, a terror organization that governs a civilian population and embeds itself among them as it commits atrocities and lies about it, doesn’t even register. Why isn’t Patinkin mad at the world for wiping accountability from Hamas for a war that it instigated? Why doesn’t the NYT follow up with a question about it?
Instead, the onus of the responsibility is placed on Israel.
If That’s Not Antisemitism, Then What Is It?
Grody claims that the term “antisemitism” is being used in bad faith.
I hate the way some people are using antisemitism as a claim for anybody that is critical about a certain policy. As far as I am concerned, compassion for every person in Gaza is very Jewish, and the fact that I abhor the policies of the leader of that country does not mean I’m a self-hating Jew or I’m antisemitic.
She is right that there’s nothing wrong with criticizing Israel’s government and certain policies. Innocent Gazans do deserve compassion. Israel’s actions do affect Jews across the globe.
But this is how she gets it wrong: Israel had not even struck back when pro-Palestinian protesters in New York City were chanting for an intifada and saying that any form of resistance is justified. There was no Israeli policy or decision to criticize then. No other question to ask other than how the most horrifying massacre of Jewish people since the Holocaust was able to take place.
Grody unforgivably blames the actions of antisemites on Israel. Why must Jews be held responsible for the actions of Israel and its government?
The politics of what he’s [Netanyahu] doing is the worst thing for Jewish people. It’s like lighting a candle for anybody that has any antisemitic feelings. It’s creating a generation of wounded and hurt kids who will understandably be very angry. I feel deeply troubled and horrified by what is happening in my name. So I am very proud of every Jewish person that stands up for the humanity of people in the Middle East.
Antisemitism is the responsibility of antisemites. For anyone who claims otherwise, it’s worth looking at the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) working definition of antisemitism.
War is horrifying, unfair, and certainly devastating. There is no doubt that innocents are suffering in Gaza, along with the Israeli hostages. But it’s important to remember how it started.
However, it’s crucial to note that Patinkin and Grody have flipped the issue. The problem did not start with Israel’s government, but with leaders who decided to weaponize their people against Jews, recruit them, and educate them to hate and to get revenge for lies they perpetrated — with the goal of globalizing the intifada.
It seems as though they have lost the plot. Accountability is on Hamas, on Islamic extremism, on their refusal to peacefully co-exist with Jews in the Middle East, and their lie that created decades of bloodshed between Arabs and Jews. The blame should not be placed solely on Israel’s government. There have been both left and right-wing governments and many in between that have had to fight wars and attempt to negotiate peace.
So this isn’t about Israel’s policies or Benjamin Netanyahu. It never was. It’s about seeing a crack in Israel’s armor and twisting the knife in. It is about antisemitism. And the NYT is capitalizing on token Jews who deny it.
The author is a contributor to HonestReporting, a Jerusalem-based media watchdog with a focus on antisemitism and anti-Israel bias — where a version of this article first appeared.
The post How the NYT Tokenizes Jews — and Mandy Patinkin Helped Them Do It first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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After False Dawns, Gazans Hope Trump Will Force End to Two-Year-Old War

Palestinians walk past a residential building destroyed in previous Israeli strikes, after Hamas agreed to release hostages and accept some other terms in a US plan to end the war, in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa
Exhausted Palestinians in Gaza clung to hopes on Saturday that US President Donald Trump would keep up pressure on Israel to end a two-year-old war that has killed tens of thousands and displaced the entire population of more than two million.
Hamas’ declaration that it was ready to hand over hostages and accept some terms of Trump’s plan to end the conflict while calling for more talks on several key issues was greeted with relief in the enclave, where most homes are now in ruins.
“It’s happy news, it saves those who are still alive,” said 32-year-old Saoud Qarneyta, reacting to Hamas’ response and Trump’s intervention. “This is enough. Houses have been damaged, everything has been damaged, what is left? Nothing.”
GAZAN RESIDENT HOPES ‘WE WILL BE DONE WITH WARS’
Ismail Zayda, 40, a father of three, displaced from a suburb in northern Gaza City where Israel launched a full-scale ground operation last month, said: “We want President Trump to keep pushing for an end to the war, if this chance is lost, it means that Gaza City will be destroyed by Israel and we might not survive.
“Enough, two years of bombardment, death and starvation. Enough,” he told Reuters on a social media chat.
“God willing this will be the last war. We will hopefully be done with the wars,” said 59-year-old Ali Ahmad, speaking in one of the tented camps where most Palestinians now live.
“We urge all sides not to backtrack. Every day of delay costs lives in Gaza, it is not just time wasted, lives get wasted too,” said Tamer Al-Burai, a Gaza City businessman displaced with members of his family in central Gaza Strip.
After two previous ceasefires — one near the start of the war and another earlier this year — lasted only a few weeks, he said; “I am very optimistic this time, maybe Trump’s seeking to be remembered as a man of peace, will bring us real peace this time.”
RESIDENT WORRIES THAT NETANYAHU WILL ‘SABOTAGE’ DEAL
Some voiced hopes of returning to their homes, but the Israeli military issued a fresh warning to Gazans on Saturday to stay out of Gaza City, describing it as a “dangerous combat zone.”
Gazans have faced previous false dawns during the past two years, when Trump and others declared at several points during on-off negotiations between Hamas, Israel and Arab and US mediators that a deal was close, only for war to rage on.
“Will it happen? Can we trust Trump? Maybe we trust Trump, but will Netanyahu abide this time? He has always sabotaged everything and continued the war. I hope he ends it now,” said Aya, 31, who was displaced with her family to Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip.
She added: “Maybe there is a chance the war ends at October 7, two years after it began.”
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Mass Rally in Rome on Fourth Day of Italy’s Pro-Palestinian Protests

A Pro-Palestinian demonstrator waves a Palestinian flag during a national protest for Gaza in Rome, Italy, October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Claudia Greco
Large crowds assembled in central Rome on Saturday for the fourth straight day of protests in Italy since Israel intercepted an international flotilla trying to deliver aid to Gaza, and detained its activists.
People holding banners and Palestinian flags, chanting “Free Palestine” and other slogans, filed past the Colosseum, taking part in a march that organizers hoped would attract at least 1 million people.
“I’m here with a lot of other friends because I think it is important for us all to mobilize individually,” Francesco Galtieri, a 65-year-old musician from Rome, said. “If we don’t all mobilize, then nothing will change.”
Since Israel started blocking the flotilla late on Wednesday, protests have sprung up across Europe and in other parts of the world, but in Italy they have been a daily occurrence, in multiple cities.
On Friday, unions called a general strike in support of the flotilla, with demonstrations across the country that attracted more than 2 million, according to organizers. The interior ministry estimated attendance at around 400,000.
Italy’s right-wing government has been critical of the protests, with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni suggesting that people would skip work for Gaza just as an excuse for a longer weekend break.
On Saturday, Meloni blamed protesters for insulting graffiti that appeared on a statue of the late Pope John Paul II outside Rome’s main train station, where Pro-Palestinian groups have been holding a protest picket.
“They say they are taking to the streets for peace, but then they insult the memory of a man who was a true defender and builder of peace. A shameful act committed by people blinded by ideology,” she said in a statement.
Israel launched its Gaza offensive after Hamas terrorists staged a cross border attack on October 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 people hostage.
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Hamas Says It Agrees to Release All Israeli Hostages Under Trump Gaza Plan

Smoke rises during an Israeli military operation in Gaza City, as seen from the central Gaza Strip, October 2, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas
Hamas said on Friday it had agreed to release all Israeli hostages, alive or dead, under the terms of US President Donald Trump’s Gaza proposal, and signaled readiness to immediately enter mediated negotiations to discuss the details.