(JTA) — Liberal U.S. Jewish leaders are urging Israel’s opposition parties to abandon their campaign promises and join hands with Arab parties in order to oust Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Following Tuesday’s vote, Netanyahu’s bloc was projected to win 53 seats in the Knesset, Israel’s legislature, while the camp of his main rival, Gadi Eisenkot, is projected to win 48 seats. That means both fall short of the 61 votes required to form a new majority governing coalition.

One of the most significant shifts in electoral politics coming out of Tuesday’s results was the success of Israel’s two Arab parties, the Joint List and Ra’am, which nearly doubled their representation to 19 seats.

Those gains would be enough to give the Netanyahu or Eisenkot blocs the necessary seats to form a coalition, but neither has publicly indicated a willingness to include Arab-led parties in their coalitions. The idea is also anathema to much of the Jewish Israeli electorate after the Hamas attacks of Oct. 7, 2023.

Nonetheless, U.S. Jewish voices urged Eisenkot and his allies – collectively known as the “change” bloc – to welcome the Arab-Israeli parties as partners for implementing that change.

Jeremy Ben-Ami, president of the liberal Zionist lobby J Street, hailed the “extraordinarily high voter turnout,” estimated at nearly 78% of eligible voters, and praised “the historic participation of Arab citizens of Israel,” saying that “their voices and votes are a vital part of Israel’s democratic fabric.”

“This is a moment for the Jewish opposition parties to demonstrate genuine leadership by reaching out to the Arab parties and working together to form an alternative government,” Ben-Ami continued. “Israel cannot build a stronger, more inclusive democracy while treating the political representatives of one-fifth of its population as illegitimate governing partners.”

Dan Shapiro, former U.S. ambassador to Israel during the Obama administration, commended the voters for creating an “important opportunity for change.” That change, he added, could occur if Eisenkot’s bloc worked with Arab parties.

Shapiro added in a follow-up post that “in almost no scenario” would far-right ministers Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich “continue to have the influence they currently enjoy.”

“Ensuring that is the case is an important incentive to the opposition bloc to avoid going to new elections, which would extend the damaging tenure of these extremist ministers,” Shapiro said.

Gabriel Epstein, a senior policy associate at the Israel Policy Forum, encouraged Eisenkot and his partners not to shy away from taking the historic step of joining with Ra’am and Joint List, both of whose support they would need to come to power.

Epstein said in a post on X that there were benefits beyond politics: “Greater integration of the Arab community into Israeli society is also key for political and democratic legitimacy.”

Israelis for Peace NYC, a self-described group of “anti-occupation activists,” praised Palestinian citizens of Israel for voting in unprecedented numbers and delivering “a victory to the anti-Netanyahu bloc” by dislodging the current ruling coalition. At the same time, however, the group slammed the change bloc for “refusing to accept this gift, out of no other reason but deep-rooted, unexamined and systemic racism.”

Describing the current choice as “a shared future or no future at all,” Israelis for Peace warned that a fifth of the population is “being completely and shamelessly disregarded,” referring to the approximately 20% of Israel that is Arab.

“But this isn’t over,” the group added. “The liberal majority in Israel can hit the streets in mass demonstrations, like it has done so well against Netanyahu for four years, and pressure Eisenkot and other opposition leaders to sit with the Arab parties.”

But Jacob Stoil, a research professor of Middle East Security Studies at the U.S. Army War College, told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency that “there are some real challenges to putting together a coalition that includes the Arab parties,” given the political positions they take and the campaign promises made by Eisenkot’s partners.

Although one party, the Islamist Ra’am, previously served in a coalition and has expressed willingness to do so again, multiple members of Eisenkot’s bloc have pledged not to sit with an Arab party. Meanwhile, the second party, the Joint List, rejects the definition of Israel as a Jewish state and therefore refuses to serve in a Zionist-led government.

One plausible option could be “a minority government with the Arab parties essentially voting to keep the government in office and protecting it,” according to Stoil, who said his comments did not reflect the views of the U.S. Army or the U.S. government. But he warned that such a minority government could “create a lot of challenges in passing legislation.”

“There is a realistic pathway,” Stoil said, noting, however, that this pathway toward partnership with Arab parties can only be determined once the full results of the election are tallied.

At this point, he explained, there are still many things that can change. For example, Israel’s Central Elections Committee has yet to tally ballots cast by soldiers, prisoners and diplomats stationed abroad, which will reportedly add another 430,000-480,000 votes to the mix.

The Jewish Federations of North America, meanwhile, released a neutral statement after the election, applauding “the shared values that bind Israelis and North American Jews, including a deep commitment to democratic principles and civic participation.” The organization said it would continue working “with leaders across the political spectrum.”

The American Israel Public Affairs Committee, the pro-Israel lobbying group whose influence has played a sizable role in November’s U.S. midterm elections, offered similar accolades to Israelis for showing “their commitment to democracy through free and fair elections.”

The massive voter turnout among multiple religious groups “underscores Israel’s diversity and steadfast commitment to the democratic process – a value shared and cherished in America,” an AIPAC statement added.

This article originally appeared on JTA.org.

The post Progressive US Jews call for Israel’s opposition bloc to welcome Arab parties appeared first on The Forward.

(JTA) — BOCA RATON, Fla. – Over a bagel with cream cheese and lox, Ron, a Jewish South Florida attorney, admitted that he hasn’t quite figured out his ballot.

Seated at Flakowitz Bagel Inn, a New York-style Jewish deli nestled in a Boca Raton parking lot, Ron — who declined to share his last name to protect his privacy — said he tends to go with moderate Democrats.

And that’s making the U.S. Senate race a real puzzler.

“I’m really torn,” said Ron, a Boynton Beach resident.

He has no intention of voting for Ashley Moody, the Donald Trump-backed Republican who was appointed by Gov. Ron DeSantis to replace Marco Rubio last year when Rubio became secretary of state. But he also is unsettled by some of the stances taken by Angie Nixon, the left-wing challenger who hopes to be Florida’s first Democratic U.S. senator in eight years.

“For example, Israel is important for me, and I suspect that she’s not in that direction. So that’s a problem for me,” Ron said between bites. He added that he is considering not voting in the race at all, but conceded that “not voting is as much as giving a vote.”

Nixon, who was first elected to the Florida House in 2020, accuses Israel of committing a genocide in Gaza and has said that she opposes sending U.S. military aid or selling weapons to Israel “at this moment.” In November 2023, she introduced a statewide bill advocating for “de-escalation and cease-fire in the state of Israel and occupied Palestine,” which was defeated 104-2 in the Florida House.

In August she soundly won the Democratic nomination with a progressive platform focused on universal healthcare and free childcare.

Next week, Nixon — who is trailing between 4 and 6 percentage points in the latest polls — finds out whether her Israel stance affects her performance among the state’s substantial Jewish minority. (A 2021 study found that there are approximately 665,000 Jewish adults in Florida, the third-largest Jewish electorate nationally.)

Some attendees at a recent Boca Raton congressional candidates’ forum, which featured Democratic Rep. Jared Moskowitz and GOP challenger Scott Singer, expressed reservations about Nixon, who was not endorsed by the Democratic Socialists of America but became a member of the left-wing political organization earlier this year.

In the Senate race, “I’m going to vote Republican,” said Peter Davidson, a sales rep and a member of Congregation B’nai Israel, the Reform temple in Boca Raton that hosted the forum. He said that he is an independent who sometimes votes for Democrats, such as the staunchly pro-Israel Moskowitz. But he added, “Right now, the Democrats are not friends of the Jewish people in general. Jared Moskowitz is an exception.”

Marsha SanFilippo said she plans to vote for Nixon because she is “not comfortable with Ashley Moody.” She added, however, that Nixon “would not necessarily have been my choice of candidate because I don’t know if she is going to be able to win” in a Florida general election.

Leaders in the Florida Democratic Party’s Jewish Caucus, which had endorsed Nixon’s opponent in the primary, Alex Vindman, have started to come around on Nixon. Vindman, who is Jewish and pro-Israel, has endorsed Nixon.

Former state legislator Rick Stark, president of the Jewish caucus, told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency that he will “probably close my eyes and vote for her.”

“I can’t do the alternative unfortunately,” he said, saying he is counting on Democrats to flip Congress and the U.S. Senate.

Mitchell Mallett, president of the Sarasota-Manatee Democratic Party Jewish Caucus, wrote in the Times of Israel last week that Nixon “will be a friend to both the Jewish community and the State of Israel,” and noted that she has “largely stopped making Israel an issue in her campaign” since the primary. He also referred to a meeting between Nixon and about 70 people at a private home, during which she spoke about the historical relationship between Black and Jewish Americans, and said he felt they had “found common ground in the shared experiences of our ancestors.” Nixon would be Florida’s first ever Black U.S. Senator, if elected.

The race between Nixon and Moody is a special election, meaning another election will be held in 2028 for a full, six-year term.

“If Angie Nixon turns on Israel, we can do what the DSA does: we can primary Angie,” Mallett wrote.

Meanwhile, a number of progressive Jewish Floridians have pointed to Nixon’s Israel stance as one of their reasons for supporting her.

Donna Nevel, a member leader of the anti-Zionist group Jewish Voice for Peace’s South Florida chapter, told JTA that Nixon “cares deeply” about the Jewish and Muslim communities and combating all forms of hate.

“What I love is that it’s not just rhetoric for her, it’s like — that’s who she is,” Nevel said, adding that Nixon speaks to Jewish constituents “from so many different perspectives” and is able to connect with voters despite disagreements they may have over Israel. Nevel said she witnessed at least one voter tell Nixon that she won her over, despite differences on Israel, following a private event at a Coral Gables home that also featured Vermont Rep. Becca Balint, who is Jewish.

According to Stark, the former state legislator, Nixon’s outreach to the Jewish community has been “very good” since the primary. His assessment came two months after Vindman’s election night event in August, where Stark said that Nixon’s “outreach to the Jewish community has not been good.”

Stark told JTA that he and a handful of others in the Florida Democratic Party Jewish Caucus met with her privately in September, which he described as a positive interaction. He said that they were “upfront” with Nixon about her Israel stance and wanted to “see what we can do to moderate” some of her positions to win more of the Jewish vote.

“If she had moved over just a little bit of an iota and was stronger on Israel’s right to exist, and refrained from the rhetoric about genocide, apartheid, I think she would do a lot better,” he said.

Nixon’s coalition of supporters now includes former President Barack Obama and a number of high-profile progressives in Congress. Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders traveled to Florida for a series of campaign rallies with her in October.

James Fishback, the far-right politician who lost the Republican gubernatorial primary, made headlines when he said he would be attending one of those rallies and was photographed with Nixon supporters there. Nixon said that Fishback was welcome to attend but “just can’t be bigoted.” Afterwards, Fishback wrote that he disagrees with much of Nixon’s platform, but that “her opposition to data centers, private equity buying homes, and taxpayer money to Israel is popular and sound.”

At Flakowitz, however, Nixon’s stance on Israel seemed to be a sticking point for lunchgoers, who mostly shared their thoughts anonymously.

“It’s terrible,” said one woman about the state of politics writ large, adding that she feels the only politician she can trust is Moskowitz.

Boca resident Don DePaola, who is of Italian descent and not Jewish, said that he loves Israel and the city’s Jewish community. As for how he’s voting: “Republican, down the line.”

For Ron, the decision was not so easy.

“I just don’t know what I’m going to do about that race yet,” he said.

This article originally appeared on JTA.org.

The post Jewish Floridians chew over the pros and cons of Democratic Senate nominee Angie Nixon appeared first on The Forward.

Could an effort to defend ducks and curb the cruelty that some believe creates foie gras accidentally outlaw a favorite staple in Jewish delis? One Jewish resident of Washington D.C. fears that could be the case.

A measure on the ballot in Washington next Tuesday would bar the sale or distribution of “any fattened bird liver product within the District of Columbia.”

Activists say the legislation aims to ban the sale of any product resulting from force-feeding a bird, including foie gras. But the D.C. ordinance defines “fattened bird liver product” as “any food product or by-product made from the livers of birds fattened through any method or practice … regardless of marketing terminology.” It includes foie gras, pâtés, spreads, and processed meat products derived from the livers of “ducks, geese, chickens, turkeys, guineas, or squabs.”

“I am a fan of all things liver,” said Jordan Weissmann, an editor at the Progressive Policy Institute, who calls himself a libertarian when it comes to gastronomic matters. “I grew up eating chopped liver. I’m a fan of schmaltz and all pâtés, but there are much bigger issues facing Washington D.C. right now. So I was not going to get too fired up about this.”

Then a friend suggested he look at the language of the ordinance. Its lack of specificity, leaving enforcement up to interpretation, ruffled his feathers.

“My eyes popped out of my head,” he told the Forward. “It sounds like a sweeping ban. I immediately fired off a tweet.” That post and the conversation it generated has since gone viral, garnering thousands of views and hundreds of comments.

Pro-Animal DC, the campaign that drafted the ban, insists that’s not the intention. The law simply seeks to end the torture of farm-raised fowl.

“When laws are enforced this would not affect Jewish delis or chopped chicken liver,” said Natalie Fulton, media and content lead for Pro-Animal DC. She said when regulators enforce laws, they look at their entirety. They don’t look at “a sentence taken out of context.”

In addition to ending the sale of poultry products, the proposed ordinance also makes force-feeding birds illegal within the District. It doesn’t regulate possession of force-fed products or affect what Bubbe puts in the blender.

Fulton acknowledges that the definition of poultry, including chickens, is quite broad.

“We basically put that in there to make sure foie gras producers wouldn’t just shift to chickens. I’m not even sure it’s possible biologically. It safeguards if someone tries to get around the law that way.” If the initiative passes, she said, the City Council can clarify the language to prevent any confusion.

French for “fatty liver,” foie gras is the liver of a duck or goose that has been deliberately fattened by force-feeding, a process the industry calls gavage.

Workers insert a tube down the bird’s esophagus to pump in grain and fat, causing the liver to swell with fat until it is many times its normal size. The organ is then harvested, deveined, and seasoned in a variety of ways before it is baked in a terrine or pan-seared.

Mark Caro, author of The Foie Gras Wars, a book about a local war between Chicago chefs that escalated into a nationwide and international debate and a citywide ban of foie gras that lasted two years before it was repealed, writes that chopped liver is in fact a direct descendant of foie gras, which was once central to Jewish cuisine.

“The most-repeated theory is that foie gras survived thanks to Jews who had learned of force-feeding practices while under Roman rule and carried the tradition around Europe as they kept getting kicked out of countries,” Caro wrote. It even became the topic of a Talmudic commentary on animal cruelty by 11th Century French rabbi Rashi, as Judaic law prohibits tza’ar ba’alei chayim, or the suffering of animals.

But there were practical reasons to force feed geese at the time, Caro wrote. In the Mediterranean, Jews could cook with olive oil. In Babylonia, they could use sesame oil. But as Jews migrated north and west across Europe, they needed something besides pork fat, beef fat and butter to conduct heat in their skillets. The chosen alternative was poultry fat, or schmaltz, extracted from fattened goose livers.

In his book, Caro also includes the story of Holocaust survivor and third-generation Hungarian goose farmer Moshe Friedman, who in 1948 began producing fat goose livers on a kibbutz in the new Jewish state, and made it one of Israel’s first exports.

Israel is now one of 20 countries that bans foie gras produced by force feeding. California, New York City, Pittsburgh, Portland, Ore., and Brookline, Mass. all prohibit stores and restaurants from selling products from force-fed ducks and geese. A similar measure is on the ballot this fall in Denver.

Weissmann just hopes the Denver ordinance is more precise.

“You’d have to be an overzealous vegan to throw all the pâté out of Whole Foods,” he said. “You never know.”

The post Could a foie gras ban remove chopped liver from the deli menu?  appeared first on The Forward.