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How on-the-rise Jewish indie rocker Blondshell takes inspiration from Larry David and Sarah Silverman
(JTA) — When she sits down to write song lyrics, Sabrina Teitelbaum, who records music under the moniker Blondshell, doesn’t plan to reference her Jewishness. It just spills out in subtle turns of phrase.
In her song “Sepsis,” for instance, the quickly-rising 25-year-old rocker sings: “I think I believe in getting saved/Not by Jesus validation/In some dude’s gaze.”
In “Salad,” her latest track, which she debuted on Jimmy Fallon’s late-night show Tuesday night, she flirts with the idea of poisoning a friend’s abuser. She sings: “Look what you did/You’ll make a killer of a Jewish girl.”
“I was bat mitzvahed and the whole thing, but I don’t know — I think, culturally, my Judaism finds its way into my music, even in ways that I haven’t really been aware of until somebody brought it up,” she said on Zoom last week from her home in Los Angeles.
Jewish-tinged dark humor is rarely seen in indie rock, especially in the woman-dominated subsets of the genre that Blondshell is being associated with, alongside the likes of Snail Mail, Soccer Mommy and Mitski. And she’s not afraid of putting it out there — the press release for “Salad” notes the song’s “nod” to her Jewishness and the fact that it came out on the first night of Passover.
Teitelbaum’s self-titled album, which is getting rave reviews in advance of its release on Friday, is full of the coming-of-age stories and feelings found in shows like “Girls” and “Broad City.” On “Kiss City,” she sings, “I think my kink is when you tell me that you think I’m pretty.” On “Joiner”: “You’ve been running around LA with trash/Sleeping in bars with a gun in your bag/Asking can I be somebody else.”
The constant undertone is one of personal trauma — from unhealthy relationships, bad sex and other dark things in her personal life that she didn’t want to elaborate on.
“There are just ways of talking about trauma that I think are kind of distinctly Jewish,” she said, “and that comes up in my music for sure.”
It’s all accompanied by earworm pop melodies and the thick guitar sounds found in some of her biggest influences from the ’90s, like Hole (Courtney Love’s main outfit) and PJ Harvey.
Teitelbaum was born in New York to a Jewish dad and a mom who converted to Judaism. She spent a lot of time watching “Curb Your Enthusiasm” and clips of Sarah Silverman standup on YouTube with her sister. The family attended a Reform synagogue and celebrated the major holidays.
She spent two years in USC’s music writing program before dropping out to fast-track her career. Before the COVID-19 pandemic, she wrote electronic pop under the name BAUM. But during lockdown, she dug deep back into ’90s rock and set out at first with just a goal of improving her guitar skills.
“I was like, ‘OK, I’m going to get better. And I’m going to sit down and practice for an hour a day,’ or whatever it was. And I would procrastinate by writing,” she said. “Because I was like, I don’t want to do scales and get better at chord structure, those things. So yeah, it was me trying to get better at guitar that led to everything.”
Teitelbaum performs on “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon,” April 5, 2023. (Todd Owyoung/NBC)
After finishing a batch of songs as Blondshell, she signed to the buzzy Partisan Records — home to a slew of acclaimed rock groups, such as Fontaines, D.C., Idles and The Black Angels — and began releasing songs last summer. She was quickly grouped together with the vanguard of other female alt-rockers, who have been relentlessly talked about in music journalism for about a decade. The comparisons bring up mixed feelings.
“It can be flattening. People are like, ‘You’re the wave of songwriters, Phoebe Bridgers and Soccer Mommy,’” she said. “My music doesn’t sound anything like Phoebe Bridgers.”
But she added that she is prone to do some categorizing, too.
“There are a lot of women in rock. And so I also get it and I myself have done it when I’m talking about who had been influenced by — I’m like, you know, women in rock in the 90s, PJ Harvey and Courtney Love. I’m also grouping them together.”
Heading out to tour last year across the heart of the country in a van was a startling experience. It was the first time in a while — possible ever — where, as a Jew, she felt like a minority.
“I’m always surrounded by other Jews — like everybody I work with is Jewish,” she said, referencing her manager (Shira Knishkowy), her producer (Yves Rothman) and others she has met in the industry. She mentioned other Jewish rockers she has looked up to, too, including Jeff Tweedy of Wilco and the sisters of Haim.
“[Now] this thing keeps happening where I’m like the only Jew on a tour… It’s a new experience that I’m having,” she said. “It kind of gives a different context to my upbringing, and to who ends up feeling familiar to me.”
In a recent conversation with her Jewish grandmother, Teitelbaum was asked a familiar question.
“She was like, ‘What’s your manager’s name?’ I said ‘Shira.’ She said, ‘Oh, a nice Jewish girl. Does she know her name means song?’ And I was like, ‘she knows,’” Teitelbaum said with a laugh.
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Israel-Lebanon Ceasefire Extended by Three Weeks, Trump Says
Smoke rises after an Israeli strike, amid escalating hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah, as the US-Israeli conflict with Iran continues, in southern Lebanon, March 24, 2026. Photo: REUTERS/Stringer
U.S. President Donald Trump on Thursday said in a post on Truth Social the ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon will be extended by three weeks.
Trump posted on social media that he and several top officials in his administration met with Israeli and Lebanese representatives in the Oval Office.
“The Meeting went very well! The United States is going to work with Lebanon in order to help it protect itself from Hezbollah,” Trump said, referring to the Iran-backed Lebanese terrorist group which Israel was fighting before a temporary truce was reached earlier this month.
“The Ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon will be extended by THREE WEEKS,” the president added. “I look forward in the near future to hosting the Prime Minister of Israel, [Benjamin] Netanyahu, and the President of Lebanon, Joseph Aoun. It was a Great Honor to be a participant at this very Historic Meeting!”
The US-mediated ceasefire, which was set to expire on Sunday, has yielded a significant reduction in violence, but attacks have continued in southern Lebanon, where Israeli troops have seized a self-declared buffer zone.
Hezbollah says it has “the right to resist” occupying forces.
Wednesday marked Lebanon‘s deadliest day since the ceasefire took effect on April 16.
Hostilities between Hezbollah and Israel reignited on March 2, when the terrorist group opened fire in support of Tehran in the regional war. The ceasefire in Lebanon emerged separately from Washington’s efforts to resolve its conflict with Tehran, though Iran had called for Lebanon to be included in any broader truce.
Hezbollah said it carried out four operations in south Lebanon on Wednesday, saying they were a response to Israeli strikes.
Nearly 2,500 people have been killed in Lebanon since Israel went on the offensive in response to Hezbollah’s March 2 attack, according to Lebanese authorities. Israeli officials say the vast majority of those killed have been Hezbollah terrorists.
Israel is occupying a belt of the south that extends 5 to 10 km (3 to 6 miles) into Lebanon, saying it aims to shield northern Israel from attacks by Hezbollah, which has fired hundreds of rockets during the war.
The Lebanese government has opened direct contacts with Israel despite strong objections from Hezbollah, which was established by Iran’s Revolutionary Guards in 1982.
Lebanese President Joseph Aoun had said Beirut’s envoy to Thursday’s talks in Washington, Lebanese ambassador to the US Nada Moawad, would seek a ceasefire extension and a halt to demolitions being carried out by Israel in villages in the south.
A Lebanese official said Beirut wants a ceasefire extension as a prerequisite for talks to expand beyond the ambassadorial level to the next phase, in which Lebanon would push for an Israeli withdrawal, the return of Lebanese detained in Israel, and a delineation of the land border.
Israel says its objectives in the talks with Lebanon include securing the dismantlement of Hezbollah and creating conditions for a peace deal. Israel has sought to make common cause with the Lebanese government over Hezbollah, which Beirut has been seeking to disarm peacefully for the past year.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio attend Thursday’s meeting along with Vice President JD Vance and the US ambassadors to Israel and Lebanon. Israel was represented by its ambassador to Washington, Yechiel Leiter.
Rubio hosted the first meeting between Leiter and Moawad on April 14 – the highest-level contact between Lebanon and Israel in decades.
Washington has denied any link between its Lebanon mediation and diplomacy over the Iran war.
Hezbollah says the Lebanon ceasefire was the result of Iranian pressure rather than US mediation.
Aoun has cited goals including halting Israeli attacks on Lebanon and securing the withdrawal of Israeli troops.
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Germany’s Hesse Moves to Criminalize Denial of Israel’s Right to Exist Amid Rising Antisemitism
Anti-Israel protesters march in Germany, March 26, 2025. Photo: Sebastian Willnow/dpa via Reuters Connect
The German state of Hesse is preparing to introduce legislation that would criminalize denying Israel’s right to exist, as authorities move to confront a surge in anti-Israel demonstrations and a growing tide of antisemitic rhetoric and attacks that have intensified pressure on Jewish communities across the country.
On Thursday, Hesse Minister-President Boris Rhein and Justice Minister Christian Heinz of the center-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU) announced the new initiative in the western German state, saying they plan to bring the draft law before the Bundesrat, the legislative chamber known as the Federal Council where Germany’s 16 state governments are represented, next month.
The proposed legislation would close what officials describe as a legal loophole by explicitly criminalizing the denial of Israel’s right to exist, with penalties of up to five years in prison or a fine, aligning it with existing provisions that punish Holocaust denial.
“This legislation sends a very clear signal to Jewish people in Germany that we stand firmly by their side, that their protection is our responsibility, and that we are serious about it,” Rhein said at a press conference.
Under current German law, denying Israel’s right to exist is not explicitly a criminal offense, though it can in some cases be prosecuted as incitement to hatred, meaning the legal framework does not directly outlaw calls for Israel’s elimination.
Benjamin Graumann, chairman of the board of the Jewish community in Frankfurt, welcomed the initiative, saying it marks an important step toward stronger protection for Jewish life in Germany.
“Since Oct. 7, 2023, we have experienced outbreaks of antisemitism that have surpassed our worst nightmares. And we hope that this law will help to better protect Jewish life,” Graumann said, referring to the Hamas-led invasion of and massacre across southern Israel more than two years ago.
Like most countries across Europe and the broader Western world, Germany has seen a shocking rise in antisemitic incidents over the last two years, in the wake of the Oct. 7 atrocities.
According to recently released figures, the number of antisemitic offenses in the country reached a record high in 2025, totaling 2,267 incidents, including violence, incitement, property damage, and propaganda offenses.
By comparison, officially recorded antisemitic crimes were significantly lower at 1,825 in 2024, 900 in 2023, and fewer than 500 in 2022, prior to the Oct. 7 atrocities.
Officials warn that the real number of antisemitic crimes is likely much higher, as many incidents go unreported.
In another attempt to address rising antisemitism, authorities in the eastern German state of Brandenburg last year introduced a new requirement that applicants for citizenship must affirm Israel’s right to exist, a policy that took effect on June 1 for those seeking naturalization and a German passport.
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Israel Taps Christian Envoy After Jailing Soldiers for Smashing Jesus Statue
Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar, left, and Geroge Deek, Israel’s newly appointed special envoy to the Christian world. Photo: Screenshot
Israel’s foreign minister said Thursday he had appointed former ambassador George Deek as a special envoy to the Christian world, amid a series of recent incidents involving Christian sites and leaders that have left ties strained.
Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar said the new role would focus on deepening Israel’s ties with Christian communities worldwide. Deek, who served as Israel’s ambassador to Azerbaijan and was the country’s first Christian ambassador, brings nearly two decades of diplomatic experience to the post. The appointment comes following fragile ceasefires with both Iran and its Lebanese terror proxy Hezbollah.
Minister of Foreign Affairs @gidonsaar Appointed @GeorgeDeek as Special Envoy to the Christian World
Minister of Foreign Affairs Gideon Sa’ar has appointed George Deek as Special Envoy to the Christian World. The appointment is intended to deepen Israel’s ties with Christian… pic.twitter.com/GvCQPucywO
— Israel Foreign Ministry (@IsraelMFA) April 23, 2026
It follows tensions in Jerusalem last month, when authorities initially prevented the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, from entering the Church of the Holy Sepulchre to conduct Palm Sunday prayers, citing wartime restrictions and security concerns. The episode, which came days after an Iranian missile attack struck near the church, triggered anger in Italy and among Catholic leaders, eventually prompting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to issue a reversal allowing the Latin Patriarch to hold services “as he wishes.”
Deek’s appointment also comes days after an Israeli soldier was filmed smashing a statue of Jesus in a village in southern Lebanon, footage that circulated widely and drew condemnation. The soldier and the individual who filmed the act were both sentenced to 30 days in prison and removed from combat duty, according to the military. The incident prompted a rare, swift response from across Israel’s political and military leadership, underscoring concerns about the potential diplomatic fallout.
Following the completion of an initial examination regarding a photograph published earlier today of an IDF soldier harming a Christian symbol, it was determined that the photograph depicts an IDF soldier operating in southern Lebanon.
The IDF views the incident with great… https://t.co/U6P3x8KWBb
— Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) April 19, 2026
The military said it deeply regretted the incident, stressing that its operations in Lebanon are directed at Hezbollah and other militant groups, not civilians. It moved quickly to install a replacement statue in the southern Lebanese village, called Debel, though that was later swapped out for a replica of the original, arranged by the Italian UNIFIL contingent after residents of Debel reportedly objected to receiving one from the IDF.
In this instance too, Netanyahu intervened, saying he was “stunned and saddened” to learn of the incident.
“I condemn the act in the strongest terms,” he wrote on X on Monday. “Military authorities are conducting a criminal probe of the matter and will take appropriately harsh disciplinary action against the offender.”
Christian activist Maj. (res.) Shadi Khalloul, a one-time Knesset candidate who founded the Israeli Christian Aramaic Association, called the act “reprehensible,” but emphasized that the response from Israeli authorities had been decisive.
“These soldiers represent themselves. They do not represent the spirit of the IDF or the spirit of the state,” he said.
Khalloul contrasted the response with what he described as a lack of accountability in parts of the Middle East where violence against churches and Christian communities is met with silence or denial.
“The steps taken were very good,” he said. “The state didn’t evade responsibility, as most countries do, but made a strong and unequivocal statement, one that not only educates but also shows the beautiful spirit of Israel.”
More than 150 Jewish leaders from across the Orthodox, Conservative, and Reform movements condemned the IDF soldier’s act, calling it a “desecration of God’s name” and “an affront” to Christian communities and to Jewish-Christian relations at a particularly sensitive time.
Khalloul described Deek’s appointment as “worthy and respectable,” calling the envoy “capable and successful.”
The timing of the envoy appointment suggests a recognition within Israel’s leadership that incidents involving Christian institutions, even when isolated, can quickly take on international significance, he added, but cautioned that its impact would depend on how the role is defined and executed.
As a member of Israel’s Arab Christian minority from the mixed Jewish and Arab city of Jaffa, Deek has often spoken about his identity and the role of Christians in Israeli society, framing it as a bridge between different communities. His tenure in Azerbaijan, a Muslim-majority country with ties to Israel, was seen as a test case for such outreach.
Khalloul said he hoped Deek could help strengthen ties between Israel and Christian communities abroad while accurately reflecting the perspective of Israel’s Christian citizens, including their support for “preserving Israel as a strong Jewish and democratic state.”
“In the end, this is about the strength and security of the state for all of us,” he said.