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The Leonard Bernstein biopic ‘Maestro’ has been plagued by ‘Jewface’ controversy. Many Jewish fans don’t care.
NEW YORK (JTA) — Like many other fans heading into Monday night’s New York Film Festival screening of “Maestro,” Alexander Gorlin was aware of the “Jewface” controversy that has plagued the film.
But acting is a “cross cultural” exercise, said Gorlin, who is Jewish. His architectural firm has designed several Jewish houses of worship.
“If you’re talented enough to play the role, you should do so,” Gorlin told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency in the lobby outside of Lincoln Center’s David Geffen Hall. “You’re not limited by your birth identity. The greatest actors are the ones who transcend that.”
“Maestro,” a biopic about Leonard Bernstein starring and directed by Bradley Cooper, took heat for months over its non-Jewish star’s use of a prosthetic nose. Online discourse was so intense that Bernstein’s three children issued a statement defending Cooper, saying he included them in “every step” of the production process. The makeup artist who created the prosthetic apologized for hurting people’s feelings. Even the Anti-Defamation League got involved.
But the atmosphere in the David Geffen lobby between the film’s two screenings on Monday night — which marked the film’s North American premiere — was light and celebratory. Granted, many in attendance were avowed fans of Bernstein, Cooper and classical music. Still, most were well read on the details of the nose controversy and decidedly over it.
“I thought it was appropriate and I have no problem. The nose seemed right for the movie,” said Scott Drevnig, who is Jewish and is the deputy director of the historic Glass House in Connecticut. He spent a large chunk of the screening that he attended trying to figure out if Cooper was sitting directly in front of him (he was).
Many ticket holders were more occupied with other aspects of the film and its plot, which focuses heavily on Bernstein’s marriage to actress Felicia Montealegre. Even though the two had an understanding about Bernstein’s love life and a genuine romantic connection, their relationship strains under the weight of Bernstein’s many gay affairs and his scrutiny in the public eye.
“I grew up loving Bernstein, and it felt totally fine,” Greg Outwater, who is not Jewish and works in fundraising for Northwestern University, said about the prosthetic nose. “I thought it was going to be a little bit more about the music and his conducting, that’s the only thing that I wasn’t expecting.”
Sarah Silverman, who a few years ago was one of the voices who helped amplify the “Jewface” criticism of non-Jewish actors playing Jewish characters, co-stars in “Maestro,” as Bernstein’s sister Shirley. Silverman hasn’t been able to publicly comment on the film due to the ongoing actor’s guild strike.
Leonard Bernstein and Felicia Montealegre’s three children, from left, Nina, Alexander and Jamie, at the New York Film Festival screening of “Maestro,” Oct. 2, 2023. (Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images for FLC)
The film makes Bernstein’s Jewish identity clear early and often. At the party where Bernstein first meets Montealegre, who is played by Carey Mulligan, the two bond over having Jewish parents. Montealegre, who was born in Costa Rica and raised in Chile, had a Jewish American father.
As Bernstein’s career picks up speed, a Russian-Jewish composer tells him he will find much more success if he changes his name to the less Jewish-sounding “Burns” (Montealegre convinces him that it’s bad advice). And later in the film, Bernstein is shown wearing a sweater with Hebrew on it. The movie’s closing credits feature Jewish prayers set to classical music melodies.
Its opening credits feature some of Hollywood’s biggest names as producers, notably Steven Spielberg and Martin Scorsese. Spielberg had hand-picked Cooper to helm the project after watching “A Star Is Born.”
The Spielberg-Cooper bid to buy the rights to use Bernstein’s music ultimately defeated a bid by another prominent Jewish actor: Jake Gyllenhaal.
In 2021, not long after using the bid battle, Gyllenhaal commented on the ordeal to Deadline. “That idea of playing one of the most preeminent Jewish artists in America and his struggle with his identity was in my heart for 20 some odd years,” he said.
That storyline was more disturbing than the nose controversy for Melissa Tomczak, a 24-year-old who works at a literary agency.
“I don’t necessarily think that non-Jewish people can’t play Jewish people or make films about Jewish people,” said Tomczak, who is not Jewish. “But it kind of sucks that [Gyllenhaal] is someone who is a stage actor, and he admires Bernstein, and wasn’t able to make the film.”
Bernstein — who is widely considered the first great American orchestral conductor and who composed music in different genres, from classical to the Broadway style of his “West Side Story” — was very engaged with Judaism throughout his life. In 1963, he wrote a symphony titled “Kaddish,” dedicated to the late John F. Kennedy. He and legendary choreographer Jerome Robbins collaborated on a ballet called “Dybbuk,” based on S. Ansky’s early 20th-century Yiddish play “The Dybbuk.” And after Israel’s Six-Day War in 1967, Bernstein conducted a historic concert on Jerusalem’s Mt. Scopus.
(Leonard Bernstein, behind the piano, plays a recital in the Negev with the Israel Philharmonic, Dec. 6, 1948. (Bettmann/Getty Images)
For Annalise Pelous, a 23-year-old film production coordinator at Monday night’s screenings, the Bernstein family’s embrace of Cooper’s vision went a long way. Bernstein’s elder daughter Jamie helped introduce the film at a podium before both screenings, saying almost breathlessly that the audience was “in for a treat.”
“The family was totally fine with it,” Pelous said about the nose backstory. “I don’t know, it’s like … whatever.”
The film as a whole seemed to split Monday’s audience — some found it to be a masterpiece, others found it trite. Many were awed by the way the film’s soundtrack boomed through a specially designed Dolby sound system.
“It felt a little bit hollow. I feel like a lot of the things that Netflix is helping make kind of all have the same look, and I keep waiting for something to break free from that,” Pelous said of the movie. After the film debuts in theaters on Nov. 22, it heads to Netflix on Dec. 20. “But a lot of the music was incredible,” she added.
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The post The Leonard Bernstein biopic ‘Maestro’ has been plagued by ‘Jewface’ controversy. Many Jewish fans don’t care. appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
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Hamas Says No Interim Hostage Deal Possible Without Work Toward Permanent Ceasefire
Explosions send smoke into the air in Gaza, as seen from the Israeli side of the border, July 17, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Amir Cohen
The spokesperson for Hamas’s armed wing said on Friday that while the Palestinian terrorist group favors reaching an interim truce in the Gaza war, if such an agreement is not reached in current negotiations it could revert to insisting on a full package deal to end the conflict.
Hamas has previously offered to release all the hostages held in Gaza and conclude a permanent ceasefire agreement, and Israel has refused, Abu Ubaida added in a televised speech.
Arab mediators Qatar and Egypt, backed by the United States, have hosted more than 10 days of talks on a US-backed proposal for a 60-day truce in the war.
Israeli officials were not immediately available for comment on the eve of the Jewish Sabbath.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said in a statement on a call he had with Pope Leo on Friday that Israel‘s efforts to secure a hostage release deal and 60-day ceasefire “have so far not been reciprocated by Hamas.”
As part of the potential deal, 10 hostages held in Gaza would be returned along with the bodies of 18 others, spread out over 60 days. In exchange, Israel would release a number of detained Palestinians.
“If the enemy remains obstinate and evades this round as it has done every time before, we cannot guarantee a return to partial deals or the proposal of the 10 captives,” said Abu Ubaida.
Disputes remain over maps of Israeli army withdrawals, aid delivery mechanisms into Gaza, and guarantees that any eventual truce would lead to ending the war, said two Hamas officials who spoke to Reuters on Friday.
The officials said the talks have not reached a breakthrough on the issues under discussion.
Hamas says any agreement must lead to ending the war, while Netanyahu says the war will only end once Hamas is disarmed and its leaders expelled from Gaza.
Almost 1,650 Israelis and foreign nationals have been killed as a result of the conflict, including 1,200 killed in the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack on southern Israel, according to Israeli tallies. Over 250 hostages were kidnapped during Hamas’s Oct. 7 onslaught.
Israel responded with an ongoing military campaign aimed at freeing the hostages and dismantling Hamas’s military and governing capabilities in neighboring Gaza.
The post Hamas Says No Interim Hostage Deal Possible Without Work Toward Permanent Ceasefire first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Iran Marks 31st Anniversary of AMIA Bombing by Slamming Argentina’s ‘Baseless’ Accusations, Blaming Israel
People hold images of the victims of the 1994 bombing attack on the Argentine Israeli Mutual Association (AMIA) community center, marking the 30th anniversary of the attack, in Buenos Aires, Argentina, July 18, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Irina Dambrauskas
Iran on Friday marked the 31st anniversary of the 1994 bombing of the Argentine Israelite Mutual Association (AMIA) Jewish community center in Buenos Aires by slamming Argentina for what it called “baseless” accusations over Tehran’s alleged role in the terrorist attack and accusing Israel of politicizing the atrocity to influence the investigation and judicial process.
The Iranian Foreign Ministry issued a statement on the anniversary of Argentina’s deadliest terrorist attack, which killed 85 people and wounded more than 300.
“While completely rejecting the accusations against Iranian citizens, the Islamic Republic of Iran condemns attempts by certain Argentine factions to pressure the judiciary into issuing baseless charges and politically motivated rulings,” the statement read.
“Reaffirming that the charges against its citizens are unfounded, the Islamic Republic of Iran insists on restoring their reputation and calls for an end to this staged legal proceeding,” it continued.
Last month, a federal judge in Argentina ordered the trial in absentia of 10 Iranian and Lebanese nationals suspected of orchestrating the attack in Buenos Aires.
The ten suspects set to stand trial include former Iranian and Lebanese ministers and diplomats, all of whom are subject to international arrest warrants issued by Argentina for their alleged roles in the terrorist attack.
In its statement on Friday, Iran also accused Israel of influencing the investigation to advance a political campaign against the Islamist regime in Tehran, claiming the case has been used to serve Israeli interests and hinder efforts to uncover the truth.
“From the outset, elements and entities linked to the Zionist regime [Israel] exploited this suspicious explosion, pushing the investigation down a false and misleading path, among whose consequences was to disrupt the long‑standing relations between the people of Iran and Argentina,” the Iranian Foreign Ministry said.
“Clear, undeniable evidence now shows the Zionist regime and its affiliates exerting influence on the Argentine judiciary to frame Iranian nationals,” the statement continued.
In April, lead prosecutor Sebastián Basso — who took over the case after the 2015 murder of his predecessor, Alberto Nisman — requested that federal Judge Daniel Rafecas issue national and international arrest warrants for Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei over his alleged involvement in the attack.
Since 2006, Argentine authorities have sought the arrest of eight Iranians — including former president Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, who died in 2017 — yet more than three decades after the deadly bombing, all suspects remain still at large.
In a post on X, the Delegation of Argentine Israelite Associations (DAIA), the country’s Jewish umbrella organization, released a statement commemorating the 31st anniversary of the bombing.
“It was a brutal attack on Argentina, its democracy, and its rule of law,” the group said. “At DAIA, we continue to demand truth and justice — because impunity is painful, and memory is a commitment to both the present and the future.”
31 años del atentado a la AMIA – DAIA. 31 años sin justicia.
El 18 de julio de 1994, un atentado terrorista dejó 85 personas muertas y más de 300 heridas. Fue un ataque brutal contra la Argentina, su democracia y su Estado de derecho.
Desde la DAIA, seguimos exigiendo verdad y… pic.twitter.com/kV2ReGNTIk
— DAIA (@DAIAArgentina) July 18, 2025
Despite Argentina’s longstanding belief that Lebanon’s Shiite Hezbollah terrorist group carried out the devastating attack at Iran’s request, the 1994 bombing has never been claimed or officially solved.
Meanwhile, Tehran has consistently denied any involvement and refused to arrest or extradite any suspects.
To this day, the decades-long investigation into the terrorist attack has been plagued by allegations of witness tampering, evidence manipulation, cover-ups, and annulled trials.
In 2006, former prosecutor Nisman formally charged Iran for orchestrating the attack and Hezbollah for carrying it out.
Nine years later, he accused former Argentine President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner — currently under house arrest on corruption charges — of attempting to cover up the crime and block efforts to extradite the suspects behind the AMIA atrocity in return for Iranian oil.
Nisman was killed later that year, and to this day, both his case and murder remain unresolved and under ongoing investigation.
The alleged cover-up was reportedly formalized through the memorandum of understanding signed in 2013 between Kirchner’s government and Iranian authorities, with the stated goal of cooperating to investigate the AMIA bombing.
The post Iran Marks 31st Anniversary of AMIA Bombing by Slamming Argentina’s ‘Baseless’ Accusations, Blaming Israel first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Jordan Reveals Muslim Brotherhood Operating Vast Illegal Funding Network Tied to Gaza Donations, Political Campaigns
Murad Adailah, the head of Jordan’s Muslim Brotherhood, attends an interview with Reuters in Amman, Jordan, Sept. 7, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Jehad Shelbak
The Muslim Brotherhood, one of the Arab world’s oldest and most influential Islamist movements, has been implicated in a wide-ranging network of illegal financial activities in Jordan and abroad, according to a new investigative report.
Investigations conducted by Jordanian authorities — along with evidence gathered from seized materials — revealed that the Muslim Brotherhood raised tens of millions of Jordanian dinars through various illegal activities, the Jordan news agency (Petra) reported this week.
With operations intensifying over the past eight years, the report showed that the group’s complex financial network was funded through various sources, including illegal donations, profits from investments in Jordan and abroad, and monthly fees paid by members inside and outside the country.
The report also indicated that the Muslim Brotherhood has taken advantage of the war in Gaza to raise donations illegally.
Out of all donations meant for Gaza, the group provided no information on where the funds came from, how much was collected, or how they were distributed, and failed to work with any international or relief organizations to manage the transfers properly.
Rather, the investigations revealed that the Islamist network used illicit financial mechanisms to transfer funds abroad.
According to Jordanian authorities, the group gathered more than JD 30 million (around $42 million) over recent years.
With funds transferred to several Arab, regional, and foreign countries, part of the money was allegedly used to finance domestic political campaigns in 2024, as well as illegal activities and cells.
In April, Jordan outlawed the Muslim Brotherhood, the country’s most vocal opposition group, and confiscated its assets after members of the Islamist movement were found to be linked to a sabotage plot.
The movement’s political arm in Jordan, the Islamic Action Front, became the largest political grouping in parliament after elections last September, although most seats are still held by supporters of the government.
Opponents of the group, which is banned in most Arab countries, label it a terrorist organization. However, the movement claims it renounced violence decades ago and now promotes its Islamist agenda through peaceful means.
The post Jordan Reveals Muslim Brotherhood Operating Vast Illegal Funding Network Tied to Gaza Donations, Political Campaigns first appeared on Algemeiner.com.