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David Strathairn plays historic Holocaust witness Jan Karski in PBS’s ‘Remember This’
(JTA) — As a Roman Catholic in Warsaw during World War II, Jan Karski could easily have ignored the horrors unfolding behind the walls of the Jewish ghetto. Instead, as a member of the Polish Resistance, he donned a yellow Star of David and infiltrated the Warsaw Ghetto to report on what was happening to the Jews there.
Karski’s reconnaissance in the ghetto and elsewhere provided the West with some of the first eyewitness accounts of the Holocaust. He even met with U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1943 to share what he saw — though the information he provided did not cause Roosevelt to intervene more strongly.
Karski died in 2000 at 86 and posthumously received the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the United States’ top honor. But he is hardly a household name in the country he adopted as a home, despite his singular role in history.
The producers of a one-man show about Karski hope that will change starting Monday night, when a staging of “Remember This: The Lesson of Jan Karski” airs on PBS as part of the broadcaster’s “Great Performances” series. Karski is played by David Straitharn, an award-winning actor who specializes in portraying historical figures.
“Remember This: The Lesson of Jan Karski,” by Clark Young and Derek Goldman, first premiered in 2019 at Georgetown University, where Karski was a professor until he retired in 1984. During the height of the pandemic in 2020, the play was turned into a black-and-white film, directed by Goldman and Jeff Hutchens, shot over six days on a soundstage in Brooklyn.
The PBS pickup will give the play its biggest audience yet, and its premiere on Monday night is followed by a companion documentary, “Remembering Jan Karski.” The documentary is produced by WNET Group’s “Exploring Hate,” a multi-platform reporting initiative about the roots and rise of hate in America and around the world.
“We have the artists’ hope that with more visibility and more impact, that at least some kind of awareness can happen, but it’s daunting and the dangers of just preaching to the converted are real,” Goldman told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency. “That’s why I’m hoping that PBS and this ‘Exploring Hate’ series can widen the awareness of Karski.”
Strathairn has portrayed Karski since the play’s first staged reading in 2014 as part of Karski’s centennial celebration.
Straithairn is known for his portrayals of historical figures, including of Edward R. Murrow, the American newsman who broadcast from Europe during World War II, in 2005’s “Good Night, and Good Luck” and as the voice of Roosevelt in 2017’s “Darkest Hour,” about England’s handling of the lead-up to the war.
“The reception far exceeded our expectation, in terms of many people who knew and were close to Karski, feeling that David had tapped something very profound and very deep about Karski,” Goldman told JTA. “People said it was like he had risen from the grave.”
Goldman, who teaches at Georgetown, never met Karski. But the play was informed by hundreds of former colleagues and students, in addition to Karski’s own memoir and interviews.
“Part of why I think the Karski story has been such a gift to explore is that it’s a story about allyship. It’s about bearing witness across difference. It’s about individual responsibility for the world. It’s about our human tendency to deny,” said Goldman.
That relevance is why Goldman considers “Remember This” a current events piece, even though most of it took place 80 years ago. This April is the 80th anniversary of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, the longest sustained battle of resistance against the Nazis that took place in the same location Karski had infiltrated just months earlier.
Even all these years after Karski first sounded the alarm, people still deny the Holocaust happened. Goldman knows those people aren’t likely to tune into Great Performances, but he’s determined to try and reach those who need to hear Karski’s message.
“My interest is always in the immediacy and the present,” Goldman said. “I think one of the things theater does well, and has for thousands of years, is bring us into a communal space to notice and bear witness to things that are happening in the world, but that we might be complacent about or just in denial about, which of course is a major theme of this work.”
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As Mamdani’s victory reverberates beyond NYC, Jews must choose solidarity over shock
The ascendance of Zohran Mamdani stunned many Jewish New Yorkers, and now that he has been elected, many Jews in New York and across the country feel fear and foreboding. The city that long stood as the beating heart of American Jewish life, creative, intellectual, and spiritual, has elected a man who denies the Jewish right to national self-determination, traffics in rhetoric that isolates our community, and aligns with movements hostile to Jewish safety and dignity.
This moment strikes a community already reeling from the Hamas attacks of Oct. 7, 2023, and the wave of antisemitism that followed. Mamdani was the encampment candidate, lifted by the same forces that turned American campuses into arenas of cruelty and open hatred of Jews. For many, the outcome feels like the city we built, enriched and defended turning its back on us.
But panic provides no preparation, and despair offers no strategy. The Jewish people endured darker nights than this one. We never surrendered. We stood together, protected one another, and built stronger than before.
Clarity must guide us now. We reject the divisive and bigoted politics that carried Mamdani to Gracie Mansion. In his brief career he has championed efforts to delegitimize and demonize Israel, entertained defunding New York institutions that support Israelis, leveled baseless accusations of grave abuses, rejected the IHRA definition of antisemitism, opposed ceremonial resolutions honoring the State of Israel, failed to join resolutions commemorating the Holocaust, and — perhaps most galling to many — refused to condemn the call to “globalize the intifada,” a slogan that glorifies violence against Jews.
These actions reveal conviction, and we harbor no illusions about engagement. A few softened remarks before victory cannot erase years of radical rhetoric and targeted hostility. Tactical moderation rarely if ever equals moral transformation.
Events in New York echo beyond the city. When the largest Jewish community in the Diaspora faces rhetorical and political assault, extremists everywhere take notice. The effects reach synagogues, schools, students, and families across the United States. This moment concerns more than one election; it defines the boundaries of decency in public life.
Criticism of Israeli policy belongs in democratic discourse. Demonization of Israel and excuses for violence against Jews do not. That inversion, condemning Israel while minimizing Hamas atrocities, reflects not a pursuit of justice but an obsession with Jews. The Jewish people know this story from centuries of repetition, and we recognize it instantly because we survived it before.
But we also know what needs to come next.
We will fortify our institutions. We will organize for communal safety. We will advocate relentlessly at the municipal, state and federal levels. We will strengthen alliances with leaders who refuse to equivocate about Jewish life. And we will secure resources, philanthropic and governmental, to protect our people and our future in this still-great city.
We proceed without illusions. Leadership demands moral seriousness. When the mayor’s office abandons that duty, others will step forward. Jewish safety, dignity and continuity depend on our resolve, not on the goodwill of any administration.
New York stands as a city of Jewish strength, energy and resilience. That truth will not change. In this difficult hour, we choose solidarity over shock, courage over resignation, and resolve over naïveté. We lift one another up, safeguard our community, and affirm that our story never belonged to those who stand against us.
Let us not mourn, but organize.
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China and Qatar Move to Broaden Strategic, Economic Ties in Region
The Chinese national flag is seen in Beijing, China April 29, 2020. REUTERS/Thomas Peter/File Photo
China and Qatar are broadening ties and joint initiatives as both countries work to deepen their partnership amid shifting Middle East dynamics and China’s efforts to expand its regional influence, according to recent statements from politicians of both countries.
On Monday, Chinese Vice President Han Zheng held talks with Qatari Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani in Doha on the sidelines of the Second World Summit for Social Development, focusing on regional developments and expanding bilateral cooperation.
The expanding Beijing-Doha relationship comes as Qatar seeks to position itself as a key player in the Middle East — pursuing a role in post-war Gaza and broadening its regional influence — while China aims to counter Western influence, navigate US sanctions, and expand its presence across the region.
During their meeting, the Chinese top diplomat pledged to deepen ties with Qatar across multiple sectors and elevate their strategic relationship to new levels.
He also stressed Qatar’s unique and influential role in the Middle East amid rising regional tensions and shifting power dynamics, reaffirming Beijing’s support and calling Doha a key ally.
“Deep political mutual trust forms the foundation of China-Qatar relations,” Zheng said during a joint press conference.
“We are committed to working with Qatar to implement the key agreements reached by our two heads of state and to maintain high-level exchanges,” he continued, referring to the recently signed agreements between the two countries, set to broaden the scope of their joint projects.
“We will continue to support each other on issues concerning our core interests and deepen cooperation in energy, artificial intelligence, and the digital economy, aiming to elevate our bilateral relationship to new heights,” he said.
The Chinese top diplomat vowed to deepen ties with Qatar, emphasizing China’s enduring commitment to their growing partnership and its aim to foster initiatives that benefit both nations.
For its part, the Qatari diplomat praised China’s long-standing role as Qatar’s largest trading partner, noting that the relationship holds vital importance for the country.
Al-Thani also expressed appreciation to China for its support in safeguarding Qatar’s territorial sovereignty and national security.
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Mamdani Victory Sends Chills Though NYC Jewish Community
Democratic candidate for New York City mayor, Zohran Mamdani, delivers remarks while campaigning at the Hanson Place Seventh-Day Adventist Church in the Brooklyn borough of New York City, US, Nov. 1, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Ryan Murphys
The 2025 mayoral triumph of Zohran Mamdani is sending shockwaves through New York City’s Jewish community, with many Jews publicly questioning whether the Democratic Socialist’s ascendance into Gracie Mansion may put their safety at risk or signal a new, and more dangerous time to be publicly Jewish.
Mamdani, a 34-year-old progressive Democrat and the city’s first South Asian and Muslim mayor, secured victory on Tuesday night, soundly defeating Independent Andrew Cuomo and Republican Curtis Sliwa. In the months leading up to election day, many Jewish New Yorkers raised alarms over Mamdani’s history of participation in anti-Israel activism, his reluctance to condemn the Oct. 7 terrorist attacks in Israel, and his repeated assertions that Israel has committed a so-called “genocide” in Gaza.
The Jewish community largely rallied behind Cuomo, who earned around 60 percent of Jewish votes, according to exit polls. Mamdani ultimately won 33 percent of Jewish votes, the same polls said.
Some observers have speculated that Mamdani’s win over an older, high-profile Democrat signifies growing frustration with the party’s status quo and represents a generational change.
Avital Chizhik-Goldschmidt, who along with her husband Rabbi Benjamin Goldschmidt co-founded the Altneu, an Orthodox synagogue on Manhattan’s Upper East Side, analyzed Mamdani’s victory as the downstream effects of political correctness.
“In NYC today, we are seeing real-time effects of a culture that shuts down meaningful criticism by calling it racist. Point out a candidate’s recorded quotes? Racist. Note total inexperience? Racist. This is a cynical power play, not moral outrage. Don’t fall for it.” Chizhik-Goldschmidt wrote on social media.
Former New York State Assemblyman Dov Hikind, who later founded the organization Americans Against Antisemitism, encouraged Jewish New Yorkers to not blame each other for the election outcome and look ahead.
“We tried. We lost. My hope is we learn,” Hikind said.” What the lesson is will demand reflective introspection. One thing that doesn’t work is trying to win the blame game. That never leads to growth or progress. Where do we go from here? Don’t have the answer to this. I do know though, it’ll require faith. Reflection, introspection and faith.”
Rabbi Marc Schneier, founder of the Hampton Synagogue, warned that Mamdani could represent an “existential threat” to NYC’s Jewish community, suggesting that Jews would flee the city en masse.
“Zohran Mamdani’s election is the greatest existential threat to New York’s Jewish community in modern history,” Schneier said. “I was the first to sound the alarm that Mamdani’s antisemitic rhetoric would drive a Jewish exodus from New York City, and that day has come. His victory represents not progress, but the normalization of hate in American politics.”
Schneier also wrote on social media that he is opening a Jewish school in the Hamptons, anticipating higher demand from families seeking to escape Mamdani’s tenure.
“With the news of @ZohranKMamdani mayoral victory, I am announcing plans for the building of the first Jewish day school in the Hamptons. This is in anticipation of the thousands of Jewish families that will flock to the Hamptons and greater Suffolk County to escape the antisemitic climate of Mamdani’s New York City,” he wrote on X/Twitter.
A little-known politician before this year’s primary campaign, Mamdani is an outspoken supporter of the boycott, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) movement, which seeks to isolate Israel from the international community as a step toward its eventual elimination.
Mamdani has also repeatedly refused to recognize Israel’s right to exist as a Jewish state, falsely suggesting the country does not offer “equal rights” for all its citizens, and promised to arrest Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu if he visits New York.
Mamdani also defended the phrase “globalize the intifada”— which references previous periods of sustained Palestinian terrorism against Jews and Israels and has been widely interpreted as a call to expand political violence — by invoking the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising during World War II.