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Resilient Alliances: A Blueprint for Black-Jewish Collaboration in 2025 and Beyond
American Jewish Congress (AJC) Rabbi Joachim Prinz and Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) leader Martin Luther King Jr. — as well as other civil rights leaders, including a young John Lewis — meeting with US President John F. Kennedy in the Oval Office of the White House following the civil rights march on Washington DC, on Aug. 28, 1963. Photo: Library of Congress via Reuters Connect.
History shows that when two resilient communities join forces, they can achieve transformative change. The Black and Jewish communities have long been examples of this, often standing together in the face of oppression, from the Civil Rights Movement to combating prejudice in all its forms. Today, both communities face distinct yet intersecting challenges: rising antisemitism, systemic racism, and an increasingly polarized society.
In 2025, the potential for a renewed Black-Jewish alliance offers hope not just for these two communities but for a society seeking unity in a fractured world. To move forward, however, requires fresh thinking, bold actions, and a clear commitment to understanding one another.
A Shared History of Resilience
Resilience is central to both communities, shaped by their histories of survival and triumph over injustice. Black Americans have built strength through their rich traditions, creating art, music, and activism that inspire hope and drive change. Jewish Americans, similarly, have drawn resilience from tight-knit communities, education, and the ability to rebuild in the face of persecution.
During the Civil Rights Movement, these shared values fostered a partnership rooted in mutual recognition of injustice. Figures like Martin Luther King, Jr., and Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel embodied this solidarity, showing what was possible when two communities worked together for justice.
Yet the world has changed since those days, and the challenges of 2025 require new strategies that acknowledge history while addressing modern complexities.
The Need for Honest Conversations
Rebuilding this alliance begins with honest conversations about the factors that have caused divisions. Tensions surrounding issues like Israel, antisemitism in public discourse, and racism have sometimes strained relationships between the two communities. These challenges demand empathy, not avoidance.
Leaders from both communities must listen to one another with openness, recognizing that while their experiences differ, their goals for justice often align. Such dialogue should be rooted in respect and a shared commitment to confronting hate in all its forms.
Disagreements are inevitable, but they don’t have to divide. By addressing sensitive topics directly, the partnership can grow stronger, grounded in mutual understanding.
Actionable Paths to Collaboration
To move beyond symbolism, Black and Jewish communities must translate solidarity into action. Here are three innovative ways to collaborate in 2025:
- Education as Empowerment
Both communities have experienced erasure and misrepresentation in education. Collaborative programs can ensure that schools teach accurate histories of both Black and Jewish struggles, emphasizing moments of solidarity. Joint curricula could feature stories from the Civil Rights Movement, Jewish resistance during the Holocaust, and modern examples of allyship.
Beyond classrooms, community workshops and digital archives could preserve and share these stories. For example, an interactive online platform could highlight oral histories from Black and Jewish voices, showcasing resilience and the impact of working together.
- Cultural Collaborations
Art and storytelling have always been powerful tools for change. Black and Jewish creators can collaborate on projects that explore shared themes of justice, resilience, and identity. Films, music festivals, and public art installations could celebrate the unique contributions of both communities while fostering deeper connections.
Imagine a documentary that parallels the Civil Rights Movement with Jewish advocacy for Soviet Jewry or a music festival combining gospel, hip-hop, and Jewish folk traditions. These initiatives can inspire broader audiences while reinforcing the shared humanity of the two groups.
- Advocacy Against Hate
Both communities face rising hate crimes and online harassment. Advocacy coalitions could work together to push for stronger hate crime laws, hold tech companies accountable for combating online hate, and educate the public about the dangers of discrimination.
A joint task force could develop tools to identify and counter hate speech online, providing resources for users to challenge prejudice. By combining their influence, Black and Jewish leaders could drive systemic change, creating safer spaces both online and offline.
A Partnership for the Future
The challenges of 2025 demand a partnership that is proactive, not reactive. This renewed alliance must be built on trust, driven by shared values, and focused on practical outcomes. It must go beyond addressing immediate crises to create a lasting framework for collaboration.
True partnership doesn’t require uniformity; it requires respect. The Black-Jewish alliance of the Civil Rights era was powerful, but its success relied heavily on individual relationships. Today, the opportunity exists to create something more systemic and enduring—an alliance that involves grassroots organizers, educators, artists, and everyday people.
In a world that often feels divided, a renewed Black-Jewish partnership offers hope. By standing together, these communities can challenge hate, amplify their shared resilience, and inspire broader movements for justice and equality.
This is not just a call to action for the Black and Jewish communities but for anyone who believes in the power of unity to drive change. By collaborating in new and meaningful ways, these two resilient groups can lead the way in transforming adversity into progress — not just for themselves, but for society as a whole.
Steven Rosenberg is the Principal of the Team GSD and the author of the book, Make Bold Things Happen: Inspirational Stories From Sports, Business And Life
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Iranian Media Claims Obtaining ‘Sensitive’ Israeli Intelligence Materials
FILE PHOTO: The atomic symbol and the Iranian flag are seen in this illustration, July 21, 2022. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo
i24 News – Iranian and Iran-affiliated media claimed on Saturday that the Islamic Republic had obtained a trove of “strategic and sensitive” Israeli intelligence materials related to Israel’s nuclear facilities and defense plans.
“Iran’s intelligence apparatus has obtained a vast quantity of strategic and sensitive information and documents belonging to the Zionist regime,” Iran’s state broadcaster said, referring to Israel in the manner accepted in those Muslim or Arab states that don’t recognize its legitimacy. The statement was also relayed by the Lebanese site Al-Mayadeen, affiliated with the Iran-backed jihadists of Hezbollah.
The reports did not include any details on the documents or how Iran had obtained them.
The intelligence reportedly included “thousands of documents related to that regime’s nuclear plans and facilities,” it added.
According to the reports, “the data haul was extracted during a covert operation and included a vast volume of materials including documents, images, and videos.”
The report comes amid high tensions over Iran’s nuclear program, over which it is in talks with the US administration of President Donald Trump.
Iranian-Israeli tensions reached an all-time high since the October 7 massacre and the subsequent Gaza war, including Iranian rocket fire on Israel and Israeli aerial raids in Iran that devastated much of the regime’s air defenses.
Israel, which regards the prospect of the antisemitic mullah regime obtaining a nuclear weapon as an existential threat, has indicated it could resort to a military strike against Iran’s installations should talks fail to curb uranium enrichment.
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Israel Retrieves Body of Thai Hostage from Gaza
Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz looks on, amid the ongoing conflict in Gaza between Israel and Hamas, in Jerusalem, Nov. 7, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun
The Israeli military has retrieved the body of a Thai hostage who had been held in Gaza since Hamas’ October 7, 2023 attack, Defense Minister Israel Katz said on Saturday.
Nattapong Pinta’s body was held by a Palestinian terrorist group called the Mujahedeen Brigades, and was recovered from the area of Rafah in southern Gaza, Katz said. His family in Thailand has been notified.
Pinta, an agricultural worker, was abducted from Kibbutz Nir Oz, a small Israeli community near the Gaza border where a quarter of the population was killed or taken hostage during the Hamas attack that triggered the devastating war in Gaza.
Israel’s military said Pinta had been abducted alive and killed by his captors, who had also killed and taken to Gaza the bodies of two more Israeli-American hostages that were retrieved earlier this week.
There was no immediate comment from the Mujahedeen Brigades, who have previously denied killing their captives, or from Hamas. The Israeli military said the Brigades were still holding the body of another foreign national. Only 20 of the 55 remaining hostages are believed to still be alive.
The Mujahedeen Brigades also held and killed Israeli hostage Shiri Bibas and her two young sons, according to Israeli authorities. Their bodies were returned during a two-month ceasefire, which collapsed in March after the two sides could not agree on terms for extending it to a second phase.
Israel has since expanded its offensive across the Gaza Strip as US, Qatari and Egyptian-led efforts to secure another ceasefire have faltered.
US-BACKED AID GROUP HALTS DISTRIBUTIONS
The United Nations has warned that most of Gaza’s 2.3 million population is at risk of famine after an 11-week Israeli blockade of the enclave, with the rate of young children suffering from acute malnutrition nearly tripling.
Aid distribution was halted on Friday after the US-and Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation said overcrowding had made it unsafe to continue operations. It was unclear whether aid had resumed on Saturday.
The GHF began distributing food packages in Gaza at the end of May, overseeing a new model of aid distribution which the United Nations says is neither impartial nor neutral. It says it has provided around 9 million meals so far.
The Israeli military said on Saturday that 350 trucks of humanitarian aid belonging to U.N. and other international relief groups were transferred this week via the Kerem Shalom crossing into Gaza.
The war erupted after Hamas-led terrorists took 251 hostages and killed 1,200 people, most of them civilians, in the October 7, 2023 attack, Israel’s single deadliest day.
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US Mulls Giving Millions to Controversial Gaza Aid Foundation, Sources Say
Palestinians carry aid supplies which they received from the US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, in the central Gaza Strip, May 29, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Ramadan Abed/File Photo
The State Department is weighing giving $500 million to the new foundation providing aid to war-shattered Gaza, according to two knowledgeable sources and two former US officials, a move that would involve the US more deeply in a controversial aid effort that has been beset by violence and chaos.
The sources and former US officials, all of whom requested anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter, said that money for Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) would come from the US Agency for International Development (USAID), which is being folded into the US State Department.
The plan has met resistance from some US officials concerned with the deadly shootings of Palestinians near aid distribution sites and the competence of the GHF, the two sources said.
The GHF, which has been fiercely criticized by humanitarian organizations, including the United Nations, for an alleged lack of neutrality, began distributing aid last week amid warnings that most of Gaza’s 2.3 million population is at risk of famine after an 11-week Israeli aid blockade, which was lifted on May 19 when limited deliveries were allowed to resume.
The foundation has seen senior personnel quit and had to pause handouts twice this week after crowds overwhelmed its distribution hubs.
The State Department and GHF did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Reuters has been unable to establish who is currently funding the GHF operations, which began in Gaza last week. The GHF uses private US security and logistics companies to transport aid into Gaza for distribution at so-called secure distribution sites.
On Thursday, Reuters reported that a Chicago-based private equity firm, McNally Capital, has an “economic interest” in the for-profit US contractor overseeing the logistics and security of GHF’s aid distribution hubs in the enclave.
While US President Donald Trump’s administration and Israel say they don’t finance the GHF operation, both have been pressing the United Nations and international aid groups to work with it.
The US and Israel argue that aid distributed by a long-established U.N. aid network was diverted to Hamas. Hamas has denied that.
USAID has been all but dismantled. Some 80 percent of its programs have been canceled and its staff face termination as part of President Donald Trump’s drive to align US foreign policy with his “America First” agenda.
One source with knowledge of the matter and one former senior official said the proposal to give the $500 million to GHF has been championed by acting deputy USAID Administrator Ken Jackson, who has helped oversee the agency’s dismemberment.
The source said that Israel requested the funds to underwrite GHF’s operations for 180 days.
The Israeli government did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The two sources said that some US officials have concerns with the plan because of the overcrowding that has affected the aid distribution hubs run by GHF’s contractor, and violence nearby.
Those officials also want well-established non-governmental organizations experienced in running aid operations in Gaza and elsewhere to be involved in the operation if the State Department approves the funds for GHF, a position that Israel likely will oppose, the sources said.
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