Uncategorized
For Iranian Jews who have been cheering Trump on, his new deal is hard to stomach
When Iranian Jews woke up on Feb. 28 to news that the United States and Israel had killed Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and were striking regime infrastructure across Iran, many felt something they had not experienced in decades: hope that they might see a free Iran in their lifetime.
Social media was filled with praise for President Donald Trump and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Iranian Americans gathered in Los Angeles, Great Neck, N.Y., and Washington to celebrate what many believed could be the beginning of the end of the Islamic Republic.
Now, four months later, as the U.S. and Iran have signed a memorandum of understanding that appears to leave the Islamic Republic very much intact, Iranian Jews who spoke to the Forward say that sense of excitement has given way to disillusionment.
The new deal between the U.S. and Iran — notably, Israel, which was a major player in the war, has been left out — extends the current ceasefire by 60 days, during which the Strait of Hormuz will be reopened, and the two sides will work to establish a framework for future negotiations over Iran’s nuclear program and U.S. sanctions.
While the full text of the deal has not been released, critics worry the agreement could ultimately provide the regime with economic relief while leaving the Islamic Republic intact.
While many details remain elusive, it’s clear the current deal is at odds with Trump’s rhetoric at the beginning of the conflict, when he spoke of regime change. During the wave of anti-regime demonstrations in Iran in January, Trump encouraged Iranian protestors on social media, stating, “KEEP PROTESTING – TAKE OVER YOUR INSTITUTIONS!!!… HELP IS ON ITS WAY.” After the Supreme Leader was killed, Trump told the Iranian people that the moment to seize back their country was close at hand.
“I couldn’t believe the U.S. actually struck and took out Khamenei like that with Israel. It was surreal,” said Matthew Nuriel, anLos Angeles–based Iranian American Jewish activist, who works as community engagement director at JIMENA, an organization for Sephardic and Mizrahi Jews. “We poured into Westwood, into the federal building area. It was like a street party. There was this real feeling of hope.”
But as time went on, Trump’s rhetoric softened. He suggested that regime change had already taken place — apparently referring to the succession of Khamenei by his son Mojtaba, and said on Sunday that he “never cared about regime change.”
“We saw light at the end of this 50-year tunnel,” said Michelle Ahdoot, an Iranian Jew from Great Neck. “Everyone was saying, ‘Next year in Tehran.’”
“But then slowly it started falling out of reach,” she said. “You would hear at dinner tables, ‘Has this all been for nothing?’”
The new agreement, she said, has been “devastating” for many in the community.
“We’re confused with this, disappointed and incredibly disheartened,” Ahdoot said. “I just don’t see how any deal with a terrorist regime could be good for anybody.”
Many interviewees also expressed concerns that the deal could leave Israel vulnerable to Iranian aggression if the final agreement does not include provisions on Iran’s proxy network and missile arsenal.
Most Iranian Jews fled the country during and after the Islamic Revolution that swept the country in 1979 and changed life fundamentally for minorities. Sharia became the law of the land, and chants of “death to America” and “death to Israel” became fixtures at schools and public events. Once numbering around 100,000, today Iran’s Jewish population is somewhere between 8,000 and 10,000. Many of Iran’s Jews fled to Israel and the United States, where they have wished to one day return to the place they once called home, perhaps not to live, but certainly to visit on their own terms.
While there is little polling on the political views of Iranian Americans or Iranian American Jews, several interviewees said Iranian Jews have generally been among Trump’s strongest supporters because of his policies toward both Israel and the Islamic Republic. Several community members interviewed by the Forward said they viewed him as a break from decades of American policy that they believed had failed to challenge the Iranian regime and its proxy network that has terrorized the Middle East, especially Israel.
“Overwhelmingly, people have been pro-Trump the past couple of years,” Ahdoot said. “People joke that he’s our Moshiach.”
Elizabeth Shirian, a member of the Iranian Jewish community in Great Neck, agreed, stating many remain supportive of Trump even as they question the agreement.
“The Iranian Jewish population is pro-Israel, and so that’s a big reason why they’re supporting him,” she said. “Everyone wants to stay pro-Trump, but obviously they’re very confused by him trying to make a deal with Iran.”
Nuriel said that for many, a Trump presidency felt like a rare opportunity to take down the regime.
“We’ve seen where the Democratic Party lies. It’s all about keeping the status quo, and the Republican Party under Trump definitely felt like a huge break from that,” Nuriel said.
“I think the JD Vance-style isolationist mindset is growing within the Republican Party, so if this doesn’t happen under Trump, it feels kind of like a nail in the coffin,” they added.
Marjan Keypour, an Iranian Jewish human rights activist, said that now, many community members are struggling to reconcile their faith in Trump with a deal they fear could strengthen the Iranian regime.
Keypour said she has been struck by how many community members assume the administration has a broader strategy that has yet to become public.
“Members of the Iranian Jewish community that are generally very supportive of Trump are still hoping that there is a bigger master plan that we don’t know of,” she said.
She worries that this trust has also discouraged some from speaking openly about their concerns.
“The people who raised questions or expressed anxiety were dismissed as liberals, as anti-Trump, as anti-Israel,” she said. “They’re just willing to sit down and just watch what happens, rather than speaking out about their concerns, sharing the vivid experience they have about their regime, and how they can not be trusted.”
Whether the new agreement ultimately weakens the Islamic Republic or helps preserve it remains to be seen. But for many Iranian Jews who celebrated in the streets just weeks ago, the dream of a free Iran suddenly feels much further away.
“I genuinely pray and hope that all of these feelings that I have, and that so many of us have, are wrong,” said Nuriel. “I hope Trump is playing 4D chess. I hope the regime will topple. I would love nothing more than for those people to be right.”
The post For Iranian Jews who have been cheering Trump on, his new deal is hard to stomach appeared first on The Forward.
Uncategorized
AIPAC attacked a Democrat for funding ICE. Now it’s backing one who voted the same way.
AIPAC’s super PAC is spending big to boost Rep. Haley Stevens in Michigan’s Democratic Senate primary — over a record that includes the same ICE funding vote the group used to attack a different Democrat earlier this year.
Stevens is one of three leading candidates in the primary, running against progressive insurgent Abdul El-Sayed, who called the Israeli government “evil” like Hamas, and state Sen. Mallory McMorrow. A new 30-second ad from AIPAC’s super PAC, the United Democracy Project, praises Stevens for confronting Trump’s immigration policies — citing legislation she introduced to create an independent prosecutor for ICE misconduct, and her calls for then-Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem to resign.
The ad is part of a multimillion-dollar campaign to boost Stevens, a longtime AIPAC ally, whom the group helped elect in 2018 and reelect in 2022.
But the message is hard to square with AIPAC’s own record elsewhere. Earlier this year, the group spent more than $2 million attacking former Rep. Tom Malinowski in a New Jersey special election for voting to fund ICE as part of a bipartisan border bill. “We can’t trust Tom Malinowski to stand up to President Donald Trump,” that ad said. Stevens voted for the same funding bill. Last June, she also voted for a House resolution thanking ICE agents “for protecting the homeland.”
An AIPAC spokesperson and a UDP representative did not immediately respond to explain why the vote to fund ICE was presented as a liability in Malinowski’s race but not in Stevens’ case.
AIPAC has spent years cultivating ties to Trump-aligned Republicans, many of whom strongly support aggressive immigration enforcement.
The Israel-boosting organization’s brand has become increasingly controversial among mainstream Democrats in recent years. Congressional candidates, including some Jewish Democrats, have promised not to take contributions from AIPAC. Last month, New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani used the word “monsters” to describe AIPAC at a rally for progressive candidates he backed, all of whom won their primaries.
In the Michigan race, shaping up as one of the starkest tests of the Democratic coalition and how the party navigates policy towards Israel in Congress, United Democracy Project has already spent $10.7 million backing Stevens, making the Michigan contest one of its largest Senate investments this election cycle. AIPAC also raised several million dollars for Stevens by directing its donors to online portals that funnel money directly to the candidate’s campaign, effectively erasing its fingerprints in public data.
McMorrow has the endorsement of J Street, the liberal Zionist advocacy group that supports a two-state solution. The Jewish Democratic Council of America issued a rare dual endorsement of Stevens and McMorrow.
El-Sayed, the progressive frontrunner, is increasingly trying to transform AIPAC’s investment in the race into a centerpiece of his campaign message. Backed by Sen. Bernie Sanders, El-Sayed has released videos accusing AIPAC of attempting to buy Democratic elections and police debate over Israel. In recent months, he has also reached out to Jewish voters while seeking to channel the energy of the 2024 Uncommitted movement, which protested the Biden administration’s support for Israel in the war against Hamas in Gaza. The state is home to the largest concentration of Arab Americans in the United States. Jewish voters make up just 1.4% of the electorate in the state.
Arno Rosenfeld and Hannah Feuer contributed to this article
The post AIPAC attacked a Democrat for funding ICE. Now it’s backing one who voted the same way. appeared first on The Forward.
Uncategorized
Adam Sandler officiates Taylor Swift-Travis Kelce wedding, fueling theories about singer’s Israel stance
(JTA) — A Jewish comedian who played one of cinema’s most notable Israeli characters took center stage — literally — at Taylor Swift’s wedding at Madison Square Garden on Friday.
Adam Sandler officiated the ceremony between Swift and Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce, a spokesperson for Swift confirmed to media after the wedding.
The event included a wide range of Jewish attendees, including the Haim sisters, who recently attended a Knicks game with Swift; the writer and actor Lena Dunham; Joshua Kushner, the businessman whose brother Jared is a top Middle East advisor to President Donald Trump; and Kelce’s former teammate Mitchell Schwartz.
Sandler’s presence in particular fueled criticism from anti-Israel voices, who argued it was significant that someone who has described himself as “very pro-Israel” officiated the wedding. Sandler has discussed his friendship with Swift and Kelce publicly, saying that it developed through his daughters, who are Swift fans.
Swift has largely avoided wading into polarizing political issues, and her outlook on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has been a source of confusion for many fans, who have struggled to interpret her silence on the topic at a time when many celebrities have publicly voiced support for Gaza. Her decision not to publicly criticize Israel is seen as having bolstered her popularity among Israelis. At the same time, some pro-Palestinian fans have decried her silence and protested at her concerts, while others have speculated that she is privately pro-Palestinian but has avoided speaking out for fear of alienating fans.
“For all the Swifties defending Taylor Swift regarding her silence on Palestine she had Adam Sandler … a well-known Zionist, officiate her wedding so I think we know where she stands now,” tweeted an account called Land Palestine that had nearly 2 million followers on Instagram before being suspended last year.
“They’re all Zionists, clearly, and no doubt about it,” tweeted the Oxford University student Kate Crawford, a prominent pro-Palestinian voice on X who identifies as partly Jewish.
Some pro-Israel voices joined in the speculation. “I wonder if she is publicly aligning herself with certain people for a soft launch of her views. If she were to say some pro-Israel or pro-Jewish things, I think it could go a long way amongst the younger generation,” wrote one user on Reddit’s “Jewish” forum, in a post that was deleted but yielded nearly 200 comments parsing Swift’s possible Israel attitudes. (Among the evidence offered for possible pro-Israel leanings: She and Kelce recently dined at a buzzy Israeli restaurant. But other commenters noted that Gigi Hadid, a Palestinian-American celebrity who has spread anti-Israel rhetoric, was also at the wedding.)
The chatter about the wedding and Israel swelled so much that the parody account Buzz Crave riffed off of it with a viral post proclaiming: “Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce have left the U.S. for Israel to start their honeymoon.”
Like Swift, Sandler is not among the celebrities to engage in activism on Israel or Gaza. In fact, Sandler — whose early hits included “The Hanukkah Song” — is not known to have visited Israel, after disclosing in a 2022 interview that he had never traveled to the country of one of his signature characters. He played Zohan Dvir, an Israeli soldier who prefers partying to war, in the 2008 comedy “You Don’t Mess With the Zohan.”
Sandler made the “very pro-Israel” comment in 2015 while criticizing artists who boycott Israel during an appearance on Howard Stern’s radio show. He has said little publicly about Israel since the immediate aftermath of Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack that began the war in Gaza, when he said his “heart is shattered” and signed onto an entertainment industry letter calling on then-President Joe Biden to help return the Israeli hostages taken by Hamas.
For some, the reaction to Sandler’s officiation added to a growing sense that no Jewish figure can escape being targeted by anti-Zionist activism. “You can stay silent. You can avoid politics. You can try not to get involved,” the pro-Israel influencer Ran Alkalay posted on Instagram. “For antisemites, none of that matters.”
For other Jewish voices commenting on the wedding, the guest list was immaterial. On Facebook, Rabbi David Glickman of Kansas City noted that Swift and Kelce had doled out $26 million in charitable gifts ahead of their nuptials.
“Jewish tradition says that a bride and groom have the ear of God on their wedding day — so the couple will say silent prayers for folks in need. I’m grateful your prayers weren’t only silent,” Glickman wrote. “You gave an example for all of us that personal celebration is made greater through tzedakah and generosity. Your charitable gifts are more impressive than a wedding at MSG — I hope it will get the same publicity.”
This article originally appeared on JTA.org.
The post Adam Sandler officiates Taylor Swift-Travis Kelce wedding, fueling theories about singer’s Israel stance appeared first on The Forward.
Uncategorized
In the pickles and babka of Williamsburg and the Lower East Side, a glimpse of a lost New York
It was an early Sunday morning when my grandmother and I arrived at Sander’s Bakery in South Williamsburg for a “Pickles and Babka” food and culture walk through Williamsburg and the Lower East Side.
Since 2024, Sammy, our leader, has been showing off his favorite kosher food spots on @kosher.hopping, an Instagram account, which now boasts more than 17,000 followers and features a variety of mouthwatering dishes — including kosher sushi, kosher smashburgers and historic businesses like the ones we would be visiting.
It was Sammy’s last stop in Williamsburg of the season: Business owners were already closing up shop for the summer and heading upstate.
As our group gathered — city natives along with visitors from Westchester and Long Island — Sammy described South Williamsburg as a glimpse of what the Lower East Side used to be. Unlike the Lower East Side, which has experienced gentrification in recent decades, this neighborhood has retained its distinctly Jewish identity since immigrants first crossed over the Williamsburg Bridge.
When my grandmother and I entered Sander’s, opened by a Holocaust survivor in 1959, the smell of yeast and chocolate was so tantalizing that we couldn’t help but purchase a Danish and cherry turnover before the tour even began. We then tried slices of chocolate and cinnamon babkas, which were rich and nutty.
As our group walked towards Flaum’s, an appetizing store reminiscent of Russ & Daughters, but kosher — buses lined the streets, each bound for a different yeshiva. There was a grocery store at each corner, shops with beautiful silverware and strings hung up to designate the eruv. At the shop, we sampled small cheese danishes and sugar cookies with custard. The cookies were my favorite “bite” of the tour; they were sweet with great texture, and the custard provided a necessary moistness.
When we walked to the subway to head to the Lower East Side, the neighborhood took a decidedly different turn. All at once, the local businesses and Yiddish signs were gone and replaced with fast food chains. As we climbed up the steps and the train pulled into the station, we returned to the city’s usual chaos, leaving Williamsburg behind.
Upon exiting the subway, we made a pit stop at Essex Street Market. Its origins stem from Jewish open air markets that were once crowded with pushcarts. Under Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia, these sellers were forced to move inside. The original indoor market, located across the street from its present-day location, retained its Jewish character, but the market doesn’t currently house any kosher vendors.
As we continued on to our remaining stops, I felt aware of what was lost. Entering The Pickle Guys, located on the corner of Grand Street and Essex Street, a deliciously briny smell filled the air from the dozens of barrels at the center of the shop. We tried pickled corn and carrots and — my favorite — mango, which had a delightfully spicy aftertaste.
We could feel the presence of what was formerly “Pickle Alley”: the neighboring road that featured more than 80 vendors. Now, The Pickle Guys is the last pickle shop left in the Lower East Side. Even the pickles, made with plastic barrels, are not what they once were; Sammy told us that the New York Department of Health banned wooden barrels in the 1970s, and even now vendors swear that they don’t taste the same.
We ended our walk at Moishe’s Bakery, the last kosher bakery on the Lower East Side. Many Jews still live near the bakery; the community mikveh is in the building across the street. Until it closed this year, East Side Glatt, the neighborhood’s last kosher butcher, was located right next door to Moishe’s.
Though The Pickle Guys had been packed, Moishe’s felt intimate and at the center of a community, like the shops we visited in Williamsburg. We tried chocolate and poppy seed versions of Kokosh cake, loaves similar to babka that stem from Hungarian origins. We also picked up some of my dad’s favorite rainbow cookies to bring home with us.
After the tour, I made my way to Eldridge Street Synagogue’s “Egg Rolls, Egg Creams, and Empanadas” festival. On the way, I walked past the old Forward Building, which once bustled with whirring printing presses and Yiddish-speaking reporters. A large graffiti “JET” had been painted on the side of the building.
When I first came back to the city this year, my best friend texted me to ask whether I thought New York was changing. She felt that it had been modernizing; sometimes, she said, she looked around and couldn’t find the “old New York.” As I toured South Williamsburg and the Lower East Side, I felt as though I was looking into a bygone era, seeing remnants of what had mostly been lost. I would have given anything to return to the Lower East Side crowded with pushcarts and Yiddish music to be heard.
Still, as I listened to the singing trio of the Mamales crooning “Yidel Mitn Fiedel,” while the smell of empanadas filled the air and festivalgoers played Mah Jongg, the culture of the Lower East Side felt bustling and alive. The Lower East Side isn’t the neighborhood it had once been, but its legacy remains — in the people making babka and those who choose to share their story.
The post In the pickles and babka of Williamsburg and the Lower East Side, a glimpse of a lost New York appeared first on The Forward.
