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What to watch on Christmas? Your Jewish guide to this winter’s biggest movies
(JTA) — The Jewish tradition of Chinese food and a movie on Christmas is so thoroughly established that it has taken on an aura of ritual. And this year, several of the season’s biggest movies have Jewish themes or backstories of note.
Here’s your Jewish guide to the new theatrical and streaming options available this Christmas.
“Wonka”
There’s nothing Jewish about the story in this new musical film about the central character in “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory,” the beloved novel by Roald Dahl. And Dahl himself was so avowedly antisemitic that his own family has apologized for “the lasting and understandable hurt” he caused. But the movie is a(nother) breakout role for Timothee Chalamet, a megastar who is Jewish — he has said he got the acting bug from his mother, the Jewish actress-turned-New York City real estate agent Nicole Flender. Chalamet is reviving a role first played by the Jewish actor Gene Wilder in 1971.
“The Color Purple”
Again, there’s nothing Jewish to the movie itself — except that it’s based on the classic novel by Alice Walker, who was once married to a Jewish man and more lately has become known for her virulently anti-Israel and antisemitic views. The story of a young Black woman’s self-empowerment and discovery of her own sexuality amid the horrific, abusive conditions of her life in the early-1900s rural South first appeared as a book in 1982, then was made into a movie by Jewish director Steven Spielberg in 1985. Spielberg is involved as a producer with the musical remake, which adapts a stage version of the story, but hasn’t has made any public comments about Walker or the new “Color Purple” this year.
“Zone of Interest”
Filmed in Auschwitz, where the Nazis murdered more than 1 million Jews, this movie adapts the 2014 novel by Martin Amis that dissects the mentality of Nazi officers and their families as they attempt to construct compartmentalized personal lives while committing atrocities against Jews. In the movie version, directed by the acclaimed British Jewish filmmaker Jonathan Glazer, the protagonist is explicitly Auschwitz death camp commandant Rudolph Hoess. Glazer has said that he hopes the film adaptation would “talk to the capacity within each of us for violence, wherever you’re from.” It was important, he said, to depict Nazis not as “monsters,” but rather to show that “the great crime and tragedy is that human beings did this to other human beings.”
“Maestro”
You can see this Leonard Bernstein biopic in some theaters, but you can also watch it from the comfort of your own home on Netflix. The movie drew significant interest before its release because of controversy over the prosthetic nose worn by the non-Jewish star and producer Bradley Cooper to play Bernstein, which some said smacked of antisemitic stereotypes. But since its release, the film is drawing mostly plaudits from Jewish viewers — some of whom have been tickled to see Bernstein wearing a sweater with the word “Harvard” in Hebrew.
“Iron Claw”
This new movie tells the tragic story of the Von Erichs, the first family of professional wrestling in Texas — who were massively popular in Israel at their height in the 1980s. In fact, the Von Erichs’ promotion, World Class Championship Wrestling, was reported to be one of the most popular English-language programs in Israel for a time, and it was an injury sustained on a trip there that spelled the beginning of the end for the family’s preeminence in the sport.
“Freud’s Last Session”
This film imagines an improbable encounter between the Jewish psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud and the Christian novelist C.S. Lewis in September 1939, just as Hitler has invaded Poland and launched World War II. In their extended dialogue, the two men argue about the nature of God — Freud is an avowed atheist — and viewers see snapshots of Freud’s life in his native Austria before fleeing the Nazis for London. Beware: The movie isn’t getting very good reviews. It also shows Freud in remarkable health for someone who died of cancer the month the movie is set.
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The post What to watch on Christmas? Your Jewish guide to this winter’s biggest movies appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
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Israel to Send Delegation to Qatar for Gaza Ceasefire Talks
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks during a news conference in Jerusalem, Sept. 2, 2024. Photo: Ohad Zwigenberg/Pool via REUTERS
Israel has decided to send a delegation to Qatar for talks on a possible Gaza hostage and ceasefire deal, an Israeli official said, reviving hopes of a breakthrough in negotiations to end the almost 21-month war.
Palestinian group Hamas said on Friday it had responded to a US-backed Gaza ceasefire proposal in a “positive spirit,” a few days after US President Donald Trump said Israel had agreed “to the necessary conditions to finalize” a 60-day truce.
The Israeli negotiation delegation will fly to Qatar on Sunday, the Israeli official, who declined to be named due to the sensitivity of the matter, told Reuters.
But in a sign of the potential challenges still facing the two sides, a Palestinian official from a militant group allied with Hamas said concerns remained over humanitarian aid, passage through the Rafah crossing in southern Israel to Egypt and clarity over a timetable for Israeli troop withdrawals.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is due to meet Trump in Washington on Monday, has yet to comment on Trump’s announcement, and in their public statements Hamas and Israel remain far apart.
Netanyahu has repeatedly said Hamas must be disarmed, a position the terrorist group, which is thought to be holding 20 living hostages, has so far refused to discuss.
Israeli media said on Friday that Israel had received and was reviewing Hamas’ response to the ceasefire proposal.
The post Israel to Send Delegation to Qatar for Gaza Ceasefire Talks first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Tucker Carlson Says to Air Interview with President of Iran
Tucker Carlson speaks on July 18, 2024 during the final day of the Republican National Convention at the Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Photo: Jasper Colt-USA TODAY via Reuters Connect
US conservative talk show host Tucker Carlson said in an online post on Saturday that he had conducted an interview with Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, which would air in the next day or two.
Carlson said the interview was conducted remotely through a translator, and would be published as soon as it was edited, which “should be in a day or two.”
Carlson said he had stuck to simple questions in the interview, such as, “What is your goal? Do you seek war with the United States? Do you seek war with Israel?”
“There are all kinds of questions that I didn’t ask the president of Iran, particularly questions to which I knew I could get an not get an honest answer, such as, ‘was your nuclear program totally disabled by the bombing campaign by the US government a week and a half ago?’” he said.
Carlson also said he had made a third request in the past several months to interview Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who will be visiting Washington next week for talks with US President Donald Trump.
Trump said on Friday he would discuss Iran with Netanyahu at the White House on Monday.
Trump said he believed Tehran’s nuclear program had been set back permanently by recent US strikes that followed Israel’s attacks on the country last month, although Iran could restart it at a different location.
Trump also said Iran had not agreed to inspections of its nuclear program or to give up enriching uranium. He said he would not allow Tehran to resume its nuclear program, adding that Iran did want to meet with him.
Pezeshkian said last month Iran does not intend to develop nuclear weapons but will pursue its right to nuclear energy and research.
The post Tucker Carlson Says to Air Interview with President of Iran first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Hostage Families Reject Partial Gaza Seal, Demand Release of All Hostages
Demonstrators hold signs and pictures of hostages, as relatives and supporters of Israeli hostages kidnapped during the Oct. 7, 2023 attack by Hamas protest demanding the release of all hostages in Tel Aviv, Israel, Feb. 13, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Itai Ron
i24 News – As Israeli leaders weigh the contours of a possible partial ceasefire deal with Hamas, the families of the 50 hostages still held in Gaza issued an impassioned public statement this weekend, condemning any agreement that would return only some of the abductees.
In a powerful message released Saturday, the Families Forum for the Return of Hostages denounced what they call the “beating system” and “cruel selection process,” which, they say, has left families trapped in unbearable uncertainty for 638 days—not knowing whether to hope for reunion or prepare for mourning.
The group warned that a phased or selective deal—rumored to be under discussion—would deepen their suffering and perpetuate injustice. Among the 50 hostages, 22 are believed to be alive, and 28 are presumed dead.
“Every family deserves answers and closure,” the Forum said. “Whether it is a return to embrace or a grave to mourn over—each is sacred.”
They accused the Israeli government of allowing political considerations to prevent a full agreement that could have brought all hostages—living and fallen—home long ago. “It is forbidden to conform to the dictates of Schindler-style lists,” the statement read, invoking a painful historical parallel.
“All of the abductees could have returned for rehabilitation or burial months ago, had the government chosen to act with courage.”
The call for a comprehensive deal comes just as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu prepares for high-stakes talks in Washington and as indirect negotiations between Israel and Hamas are expected to resume in Doha within the next 24 hours, according to regional media reports.
Hamas, for its part, issued a statement Friday confirming its readiness to begin immediate negotiations on the implementation of a ceasefire and hostage release framework.
The Forum emphasized that every day in captivity poses a mortal risk to the living hostages, and for the deceased, a danger of being lost forever. “The horror of selection does not spare any of us,” the statement said. “Enough with the separation and categories that deepen the pain of the families.”
In a planned public address near Begin Gate in Tel Aviv, families are gathering Saturday evening to demand that the Israeli government accept a full-release deal—what they describe as the only “moral and Zionist” path forward.
“We will return. We will avenge,” the Forum concluded. “This is the time to complete the mission.”
As of now, the Israeli government has not formally responded to Hamas’s latest statement.
The post Hostage Families Reject Partial Gaza Seal, Demand Release of All Hostages first appeared on Algemeiner.com.