When the White House East Wing was reduced to rubble this week to make way for a lavish ballroom, a physical piece of World War II history went down with it.

The modern East Wing was constructed in 1942 under Franklin Delano Roosevelt to conceal an underground White House bomb shelter built in the aftermath of Pearl Harbor.

The bunker was designed to withstand a “direct nuclear hit” while a two-story extension to the East Wing on top of the underground shelter helped hide it.

“It was a time of great fear, particularly for the President and for the White House,” Cynthia Koch, former director of the Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum, told the Forward. The bunker was “part of what they were doing during the war to protect the president, in every way they could think.”

The construction expanded upon the original East Wing built by Theodore Roosevelt in 1902, which served as a designated entrance for guests arriving in carriages during large social gatherings.

Like President Trump, FDR faced accusations that the renovation was motivated by self-aggrandizement.

“Congressional Republicans labeled the expenditure as wasteful, with some accusing Roosevelt of using the project to bolster his presidency’s image,” according to the White House Historical Association’s website. “The secretive nature of the construction, tied to military purposes, further fueled suspicions.”

But disapproving voices soon quieted, as even critics recognized the East Wing’s “utility in supporting the modern presidency,” according to the Association.

The East Wing became the operational hub for the Office of the First Lady, with Eleanor Roosevelt — credited with professionalizing the role — using the space for official functions.

Today, the bunker is called the Presidential Emergency Operations Center and has been outfitted with modern communications equipment. A number of White House personnel sheltered there during the September 11 attacks in 2001, and Trump spent a night there in 2020, during the beginning of the George Floyd protests.

The East Wing has also been the site of White House Hanukkah celebrations, including menorah lighting ceremonies.

Halie Soifer, CEO of the Jewish Democratic Council of America, recalled that “during the holiday season, a military band would play on the East Wing Portico; for Hanukkah, they played klezmer and festive Jewish tunes. My favorite memories of entering – or exiting – the White House include spontaneous horah dancing on the East Wing Portico.”

Now, the entire East Wing has been demolished. The underground bunker is also undergoing security enhancements as part of the construction, according to White House officials, though details remain unclear.

In a statement, the Society of Architectural Historians expressed “great concern” over the demolition and said the new White House ballroom will be the first major change to its exterior appearance since the modern East Wing’s construction in 1942.

The American Institute of Architects also expressed worry over the lack of concern for historic preservation, calling for “rigorous oversight in recognition that the White House is not simply another building; it is the People’s House, a living symbol of democracy and national identity.”

Meanwhile, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt defended the demolition, framing it as a necessary upgrade to host larger events and pointing to past presidents’ construction projects as precedent.

“The East Wing is going to be more beautiful and modern than ever before,” Leavitt said.

Koch said while she supports building improved entertainment spaces at the White House, how the Trump administration went about the demolition was “distressing” as a historian.

“It really demanded consultation, discussion and assurances for everybody that it would be done in the most sensitive possible way, respecting the building,” Koch said. “It is sad to see the outright destruction of it, rather than taking a thoughtful approach to replacing it.”

The post The White House East Wing was built to hide a World War II bunker. Now, it’s gone. appeared first on The Forward.

“I promise, I’m only staying for seven minutes, not 70 years,” Israeli comedian Noam Shuster Eliassi said at the 2019 Palestine Comedy Festival in East Jerusalem.

The Palestinian crowd exploded in laughter. Shuster Eliassi doubled down.

“By the way, this is Amer’s joke, I stole it.” She gestured to Amer Zahr, the festival’s founder. “It’s mine now, God promised it to me!”

For a Jewish Israeli (and the first Jewish performer to play the Palestine Comedy Festival) to tell this joke to an audience of Palestinians requires an extraordinary level of chutzpah. Fortunately, for all of us, Shuster Eliassi — subject of the new documentary Coexistence, My Ass, in which this scene appears — has that in spades.

Coexistence, My Ass, which follows Shuster Eliassi, a 38-year-old Israeli Jewish comedian and activist, over five tumultuous years — including the Oct. 7 attacks and ensuing war — opens in select theaters next week. The film, directed by Amber Fares, is ostensibly about the shaping of Shuster Eliassi’s one-woman stand-up show as she works to incorporate more of her politics into her comedy, which she performs in Hebrew, Arabic and English. She began performing standup after pivoting away from a United Nations job, newly skeptical of the peace movement in which she was raised.

Because Shuster Eliassi is a product of Wahat al Salaam/Neve Shalom — a name that means “Oasis of Peace,” and belongs to the only intentionally integrated Israeli-Palestinian community in the Middle East. World leaders and celebrities like Hillary Clinton and Jane Fonda have visited her village to witness the admittedly beautiful example of coexistence between Israelis and Palestinians it provides.

But as grateful as Shuster Eliassi is for her home, she’s furious at what she sees as the lack of political co-resistance from liberal Israeli Jews. “I’m mad and not in the mood for dialogue, and I don’t think there are two equal sides,” Ranin, Shuster Eliassi’s Palestinian best friend and fellow resident of Wahat al Salaam, vents at one point. “There’s one strong side that’s fucking over the other side.”

Coexistence, My Ass makes unbearably clear that merely coexisting is not enough. Yet I fear that instead of provoking a deeper self-reflection, the documentary will become a talking point for liberal Zionist Jews seeking to prove that Israel is worth loving and that true coexistence is possible. That takeaway is not inaccurate, but it is incomplete.

As Shuster Eliassi, the daughter of an Iranian Jewish mother and Ashkenazi father, describes it, Wahat al Salaam/Neve Shalom was an idyllic, if immensely unusual, place to grow up. Her parents are devout left-wingers; some of her earliest memories are of being home alone with her mother while her father was in prison for refusing to serve in the military in the occupied West Bank. Early in the film, she recalls him explaining to her as a child that they would not be barbequing on Israeli Independence Day out of respect for their Palestinian neighbors.

Shuster Eliassi’s bilingual education and her deep relationships with Palestinians in her hometown are an enviable sight for many who desire peace in the Holy Land. Wahat al Salaam/Neve Shalom is not perfect, but the documentary shows that there is a very real sense of idyllic optimism in its way of life. Shuster Eliassi’s humor is infectious, and it charms and connects her to people who are very different.

Yet the town — which as of 2023 had a population of 313 — and the children it produces are an extreme minority in Israel.

Despite the fact that 20% of Israel’s citizens are Palestinian — including one quarter of Israel’s doctors, and a whopping 49% of the pharmacists — most Israelis are not raised in a society that teaches them to be mindful that Israeli Independence Day is also Nakba Day. The documentary suggests that even among self-described liberal Israelis—the kinds of citizens who poured into the streets to protest against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s judicial reform bill, and later, for the return of the hostages — that the concerns of the Palestinians are an afterthought. People like Shuster Eliassi, who continue to consider the occupation as the root cause of Israel’s suffering, are deluded radicals.

Over and over in the film, she is told by fellow Israelis that she is a traitor to her people. Even those who do not outright denounce her tend to feel that her focus on Palestinian rights and self-determination is misguided.

“I agree with you about the occupation,” one woman tells her at a Tel Aviv protest against the judicial reform, “and still, first and foremost, we need to protect our home.” At another judicial reform protest, an older man is enraged by Shuster Eliassi’s speech telling demonstrators that “there’s no such thing as democracy with occupation.” “You’re an enemy of the state!” he screams.

One of the most telling moments of the film is when Shuster Eliassi’s friend Elad, a fellow comedian, tells a story about his childhood growing up in Pisgat Ze’ev, a settlement within East Jerusalem. He describes how on Yom Kippur, still clad in white from services, he and his friends would go stand on the highway overpass and drop stones onto Palestinian cars.

“That was our ‘hang,’” he says dryly.

Shuster Eliassi asks why he thinks they did that. “Because someone instructs them to,” he says. “A fifth grader doesn’t just wake up one morning and decide to go throw stones.”

The point of documentary filmmaking is to get a slice of reality on the record. Shuster Eliassi’s slice is captivating, and I sincerely hope that her story inspires people and gives them a deeper understanding of both the Israeli psyche, and what co-resisting with Palestinians looks like.

Because the whole point of Shuster Eliassi’s comedy and activism is that coexistence is a goal that can’t be achieved without action. Instead of wondering why there is only one Neve Shalom/Wahat as Salaam in all of Israel — “The State of Israel doesn’t support our project,” community spokeswoman Samah Salaime says at one point — I worry that most American Jewish viewers will walk from the film complacent that it exists at all.

After two utterly miserable years, the Jewish community is desperate for stories of hope, which Coexistence, My Ass provides. Yet especially in the aftermath of a fragile ceasefire, when Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank are confronting utter devastation and violence, the story of a dynamic comedian speaking truth to power is an opportunity to examine our own capacity for solidarity.

The emphasis on co-resistance, not simply coexistence, is laid bare late in the documentary, as Shuster Eliassi and her parents watch the news of violent riots in May 2021 in mixed Jewish and Arab cities. In Bat Yam, an Arab driver is pulled from his car and nearly beaten to death in front of a television camera crew.

“Aba,” Shuster Eliassi says to her father, “in this moment of truth, the Jews are nowhere to be found. They’re not in the struggle.”

Even the village WhatsApp feed, she remarks, during a moment of existential struggle for its Palestinian residents, is full of “love and light” activism from the Jews, versus an expression of true solidarity.

“They want to get back to the coexistence template,” she says, “and that’s not what’s needed now.”

The post Can an idyllic dream of Israel ever be reality? She says: ‘Coexistence, My Ass’ appeared first on The Forward.

US Rep. Seth Moulton (D-MA) speaking at a press conference at the US Capitol. Photo: Michael Brochstein/Sipa USA via Reuters Connect

US Rep. Seth Moulton (D-MA) has refused to answer whether he would forgo funding from Qatar days after he announced he would no longer accept financial assistance from the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC). 

Moulton announced last week that he would no longer work with AIPAC, the preeminent pro-Israel lobbying firm in the US, accusing the group of harboring close ties with Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s conservative government. Moulton, who has recently entered the Democratic primary for Senator, added that he would return all funds to AIPAC. However, the representative stressed that he continues to support Israel’s right to self defense and existence. 

The representative, however, has accepted financial assistance from the government of Qatar, according to reporting by the Washington Free Beacon. Moulton accepted a lavish trip to the gulf state paid for by the Qatari government and accepted campaign donations from a Qatari-linked lobbying firm, according to documents reviewed by the Free Beacon. During Moulton’s 2020 four day excursion to Qatar, in which the government covered food and housing, he visited the Qatar Foundation. Moulton praised Qatar, predicting that the terror-aligned state has “great potential,” and that he foresees “the friendship between the two countries to grow in the future.” Moulton also accepted roughly $11,500 from Nelson Mullins, a lobbying firm with operatives connected to Qatar, according to documents reviewed by the outlet. 

Moulton’s announcement comes on the heels of his newly-launched Senate campaign. According to various polls, Israel has plummeted in popularity with Democratic voters, with a majority believing that the Jewish state has committed a so-called “genocide” in Gaza. Some speculate whether Moulton’s refusal to accept AIPAC funding is part of a calculated effort to distance himself with the Jewish state and neutralize potential confrontations with party activists.

Although Moulton has vowed to return funds donated by AIPAC, he has yet to declare that he would no longer accept funds from those connected to the Qatari government. Moulton’s office did not return requests for comment from The Algemeiner on whether the representative would stop taking funds from Qatar. 

Qatar, a small Gulf nation in the Middle East, has extensive and well-documented connections to the Hamas terrorist group. The Gulf nation hosts several Hamas political leaders in Doha and has provided hundreds of millions of dollars in aid to Gaza, which critics say has indirectly bolstered the militant group’s control. Israel, along with several Western states, have accused Qatar of serving as a lifeline for the terrorist group. 

Moreover, many skeptics argue that Qatar has a growing influence in the United States, pointing to the gulf nation’s expanding footprint in government, higher education, media, and entertainment.

The gulf nation has spent roughly $72 million on US lobbying firms since 2016 with the goal of improving the country’s image, according to a report by the Middle East Forum.

Through multimillion-dollar donations to leading universities, high-profile lobbying efforts in Washington, and partnerships with major media and sports organizations, the Gulf nation has positioned itself as a key player shaping narratives and policy debates.