Media recommendations, vol. 47
Edan Alexander returns home, famine in Gaza & Jews in the U.S. and Canada
Let’s start with the good news. Another Israeli hostage in Gaza has returned home. If you believe in the mitzvah (commandment) of pidyon shvuyim (redemption of captives), then that’s a positive.
Hamas’ release of Edan Alexander received extensive coverage in the news. France 24 English’s story captures the emotion of his return.
The New York Times also reported on the release of Alexander. Two paragraphs stand out in its story.
Hamas released Edan Alexander, the last living American hostage it held in Gaza, on Monday evening, after mediators brokered a deal between the group and the United States that largely circumvented the Israeli government…
Unlike most other hostages, Mr. Alexander was released without a formally announced cease-fire between Israel and Hamas, highlighting the failure of efforts to secure a broader truce between the two sides. Hamas still holds at least 20 living hostages — along with some 40 dead bodies, including those of several Americans — but it is reluctant to release more of them unless Israel agrees to hold negotiations to end the war. Israel wants the right to continue the war after any future truce, leading to an impasse in the talks.1
The Trump administration’s “exclusion” of Israel has led to hyperventilating commentary in the Israeli media. David Horovitz in the Times of Israel is but one example.
But the US president, as he is proving almost minute by minute in his current fast-paced Middle East trip, is an insistent deal-maker. And whether he’s still broadly empathetic to Netanyahu’s concerns or not particularly bothered by some of them, he’s moving ahead on a whole range of vital regional issues without including Israel on his regional itinerary, without arranging for an Israeli presence at his critical meetings, and without heeding Israeli concerns in an expanding number of his agreements.
Before setting out on his trip, Trump signed a truce with the Houthis two days after they launched a missile that struck Ben Gurion Airport, prompting foreign airlines to flee.2
In Gaza, a report by the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification says that the population is at critical risk of famine and faces food insecurity as Israel’s blockade on humanitarian aid continues. This Associated Press story covers the details.
Food supplies are emptying out dramatically. Communal kitchens handing out cooked meals are virtually the only remaining source of food for most people in Gaza now, but they too are rapidly shutting down for lack of stocks.
Thousands of Palestinians crowd daily outside the public kitchens, pushing and jostling with their pots to receive lentils or pasta.
“We end up waiting in line for four, five hours, in the sun. It is exhausting,” said Riham Sheikh el-Eid, waiting at a kitchen in the southern city of Khan Younis on Sunday. “At the end, we walk away with nothing. It is not enough for everybody.”
The lack of a famine declaration doesn’t mean people aren’t already starving, and a declaration shouldn’t be a precondition for ending the suffering, said Chris Newton, an analyst for the International Crisis Group focusing on starvation as a weapon of war.
“The Israeli government is starving Gaza as part of its attempt to destroy Hamas and transform the strip,” he said.3
Meanwhile, the United Nations’ top humanitarian official blamed Israel for deliberately imposing inhumane conditions on Palestinians in Gaza. The Associated Press covered the story.
Tom Fletcher, head of the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, briefed the Security Council, describing this work as a “grim undertaking” since Israel began blocking all humanitarian aid from entering Gaza more than 10 weeks ago.
He went as far as saying that the council must “act now” to “prevent genocide,” a claim that Israel vehemently denied.
“I ask you to reflect — for a moment — on what action we will tell future generations we each took to stop the 21st century atrocity to which we bear daily witness in Gaza,” said Fletcher, a longtime British diplomat who took up the U.N. post in November. “It is a question we will hear, sometimes incredulous, sometimes furious — but always there — for the rest of our lives.”4
Eric Alterman has an excellent article in The New Republic about the coming Jewish civil war over U.S. President Donald Trump. In this passage, he outlines the war and why it matters.
In essence, Trump and the forces arrayed behind him—the legacy organizations, a new and well-financed right-wing Jewish media, and the Christian evangelical world that blindly supports Israel and Benjamin Netanyahu—have offered American Jews a kind of devil’s bargain: throw in with us against the antisemitic universities and campus rabble-rousers, but pay no attention as we dismantle the traditions and institutions that Jews value and that have provided the foundation for all they have been able to accomplish as Americans.5
In his article, Alterman did not mention the hysterical (and not in a funny way) StopAntisemitism. NBC News’ story about Ms. Rachel, a YouTube educator for children, is horrifying.
Last month, the pro-Israel group StopAntisemitism requested that Attorney General Pam Bondi investigate whether [Rachel] Accurso is “being funded by a foreign party to push anti-Israel propaganda to skew public opinion.” They accuse her of being “an amplifier of Hamas propaganda,” claiming some statistics and images she has shared about children in Gaza are false.
Accurso did not address the probe request in her interview with [Mehdi] Hasan. But she rejected claims that she is antisemitic because she advocates for the lives of children in Gaza. As an educator, she said, her empathy extends to all children around the world.
“I’ve been blessed to get this platform. And kids feel that I care about them all deeply, and that’s why I have the platform. Because they feel it through the screen, because it’s genuine,” Accurso said. “And kids know when things aren’t genuine. And that care doesn’t end with the kids that are watching, or any kids.”
Accurso, a mother to two young children, said her background in early childhood education made her aware that many of the youngest children in Gaza are being malnourished and traumatized in ways that harm their brain development during the crucial first three years of life. But mainly, she said, her concern is simply fueled by empathy.6
The Canadian Jewish News, which treats mainstream Jewish communal announcements with excessive deference, paid attention to some of the diversity on Israel-Palestine in a recent episode of its daily podcast. This passage (the typographical errors in which we have not corrected) is both intellectually honest and problematic for ignoring alternative viewpoints.
Although we’ve certainly interviewed progressive Jewish leaders for this show before Oct. 7 mainly during 2023 and those massive pro-democracy street protests against Israel’s proposed government judicial reforms, AFTER Oct. 7, at least in Canada, there’s been much less space for the views of these same progressive Jewish voices. They’re not so welcome at pro-Israel rallies, or at other spaces, and indeed some have been barred from attending official Jewish Federation events particularly in London, Ontario and in Hamilton.
But the motto of The CJN Daily is what Jewish Canada sounds like, which is why when I learned about this conference, and was personally invited,I felt it was important to attend, even though it was being held on Yom Ha-shoah, because after 18 months of the ongoing conflict, I wanted to see what lessons can be learned and i felt a repsonsibility to hear from Jews and Palestinians who were NOT shouting at each other from opposite street corners or wearing masks at encampments on university grounds, or fighting with each other in social media posts, but rather were trying to work together to end the war in the way that feels right for them.7
Our final story comes from The Maple, a progressive Canadian publication. It takes a detailed look at how Jewish schools indoctrinate young people on Israel. The article interviews multiple anti-Zionist Jews, and its portrayal of the Jewish schools is very far from flattering.
A significant part of the “brainwashing” at the schools, former students said, was being told that Israel was their real home. Amir Fleischmann told me: “‘You’re only safe because the state exists, and the only place you’re really safe is there.’ That’s something they would say explicitly.”
Anna Lippman, 34, meanwhile, recounted a question that was often posed to her and other students in California: “We were always asked by our teachers, ‘Do you consider yourself an American Jew or a Jewish American?’” The correct answer according to the teachers, she said, was “American Jew”: “‘You’re Jewish first and foremost, and you just happen to live in America.’”
Part of the reason the United States and Canada weren’t portrayed as real homes for Jews, the former students said, was that their non-Jewish inhabitants could supposedly turn on them any day, potentially leading to another Holocaust, which, [Jeremy] Appel said, led to a “sense of unease and anxiety.” Olivia Dooley, 35, told me, “We were taught to stay together as Jewish Canadians. We were taught to be insular with each other. We were taught to fear others.”8
Thanks, as always, for reading.
NYTimes, Hamas Frees Eden Alexander…: https://www.nytimes.com/2025/05/12/world/middleeast/edan-alexander-israel-hamas-hostage-released.html?unlocked_article_code=1.Gk8.hunV.JrE9fSIVxolP&smid=url-share
Times of Israel, David Horovitz, Hailing Syria…: https://www.timesofisrael.com/hailing-saudis-and-syria-dealing-with-iran-and-houthis-trump-relegates-israeli-concerns/
AP, Food security experts…: https://apnews.com/article/gaza-famine-war-israel-1360c6d16902c163234b0eb1e96e694b
AP, UN humanitarian chief blasts…: https://apnews.com/article/gaza-humanitarian-aid-palestinians-trump-foundation-a9b061a588cc3d3be6fda0426a0c9a97
The New Republic, Eric Alterman, The Coming Jewish…: https://newrepublic.com/article/194674/trump-antisemitism-universities-jewish-civil-war?eType=EmailBlastContent&eId=124662f6-7852-4f96-bf89-3364b4512743
NBC News, Ms. Rachel doubles down…: https://www.nbcnews.com/pop-culture/pop-culture-news/ms-rachel-echoes-support-palestinian-children-rcna206368
CJN Daily, Progressive Jews…: https://thecjn.ca/news/pro-palestinian-jews-are-finding-common-ground-but-not-in-the-mainstream/
The Maple, You’re literally brainwashed…: https://www.readthemaple.com/youre-literally-brainwashed-jewish-school-students-speak-out/