News from March 30 to April 5
Jewish Shows and Movies, Israeli election update, and the British Labour Party
Hey everyone. As always, feel free to reach out to me with questions, comments, or concerns at newsofthejews@gmail.com. I also wanted to give a special thanks to Peri Shechtman for helping me write this week! Stay safe!
The News of the Jews guide to currently-streaming Jewish/Israeli shows and movies:
Keep in mind that this is only a partial list. Enjoy!
Netflix:
Unorthodox: The story about a girl who left the ultra-orthodox Jewish community in Brooklyn
The Pianist: Roman Polanski-directed Holocaust story about a Polish radio station pianist in the Warsaw Ghetto
Red Sea Diving Resort: The story of Israel’s audacious rescue of Ethiopian Jews using undercover agents who operated a diving resort in Sudan
Inside the Mossad: A four-part documentary about the inner-workings of Israel’s famous intelligence agency
The Angel: The story of Ashraf Marwan, former Egyptian President’s son-in-law and suspected Israeli agent
Mossad 101: An Israeli action series about Mossad training
Fauda: An extremely popular action show about Israeli counterterrorism forces pursuing a Hamas terrorist
The Boy in the Striped Pajamas: A drama film about a Jewish boy in a concentration camp, beginning a forbidden friendship with a German boy
Inglorious Basterds: A Quentin Tarantino-directed alternate-history movie about American soldiers hunting Nazis during World War 2
Defiance: An action movie about Jews who rose up against Nazis in the woods of Ukraine
One of us: A documentary about three Jews who left the Hasidic community in Brooklyn
The Devil Next Door: A documentary about a suspected Nazi prison guard living in the United States
The Eichman Show: A film about television producers who filmed and broadcasted the Adolf Eichmann Trial
Prosecuting Evil: The story of one of the Nuremberg trial prosecutors
Shtisel: A drama series about an ultra-orthodox family living in Jerusalem
Menashe: A film about a man in the ultra-orthodox community who struggles after his wife passes away
The Awakening of Motti Wolkenbruch: The story of a man who is pressured to marry a Jewish girl but falls for a non-Jewish woman
Playing for Time: The story of a Jewish musician who has to comfort Jews in their last moments before death during the Holocaust
The Accountant of Auschwitz: The story of a Nazi officer tried decades after the end of World War 2
Amazon Prime:
Marvelous Mrs. Maisel: The story of a 1950s Jewish housewife who tries her hand at comedy
Hunters: An action series about hunting Nazis in 1970s New York with Al Pacino
The Jewish Enquirer: A British comedy described as “Seinfeld in North London”
Srugim: A show about religious bachelors in Jerusalem
Operation Finale: A film about the capture of Adolf Eichmann in Argentina
Hulu:
Cruise: A romance movie about a blue-collar Italian-American man who falls for a Jewish girl
HBO:
Into the Arms of Strangers: Stories of the Kindertransport: A documentary about the smuggling of children out of Nazi Germany
The Plot Against America: An alternate history story about a Jewish family experiencing the rise of Charles Lindbergh
Israeli election update:
Does Israel have a government yet? Nearly!
What’s the latest? Despite Gantz’s sudden pivot towards a unity government with Netanyahu, Israel still doesn’t have a government. There are still significant issues to be worked out before Gantz will sign a deal with Netanyahu. Notably, Gantz and Netanyahu seem to disagree about how to handle President Trump’s Middle East peace plan. To overcome these issues, Gantz asked President Rivlin for more time to form a government. President Rivlin will likely grant Gantz another two weeks.
Didn’t Gantz and Netanyahu both say they supported President Trump’s plan? Yes, during their campaigns, both pledged to annex parts of the West Bank, including the Jordan River Valley. Now, Gantz is somewhat backtracking and saying that he opposes unilateral annexation of parts of the West Bank. Reports indicated that Gantz may be returning to the oft-mentioned “settlement bloc” concept of only annexing the major settlements that make up around 70% of the settlers in the West Bank. The idea of the settlement bloc strategy–which was critical to Bush and Obama’s peace initiatives–is that the majority of the settlers could be incorporated into Israel without extensively disrupting the territorial contiguity of the West Bank. While it used to be a popular idea, it has since fallen out of favor with the Trump Administration, which prefers the approach I wrote about here.
Can Gantz block annexation? Here’s where it gets a little bit more complicated. Since the unity coalition will include three additional right-wing MKs who had initially sided with the center-left (two from Telem, one from Gesher), Netanyahu can technically proceed without Gantz. However, Gantz still has some leverage because he can pull out of unity talks. Remember, Gantz will serve as Prime Minister after Netanyahu, so he will have to handle the consequences of any annexations or policy changes. Thus, Netanyahu and Gantz are trying to work out a compromise that will likely involve some form of limited annexation.
Further reading: https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/elections/.premium-gantz-to-ask-president-rivlin-for-extension-in-forming-unity-government-1.8742025 (Haaretz)
The United Kingdom’s Labour Party chooses a new leader:
What happened? As you may recall, the previous leader of the Labour party, Jeremy Corbyn, repeatedly faced accusations of antisemitism and was denounced by the Chief Rabbi of the United Kingdom. After suffering a resounding defeat in the last election, Corbyn stepped down as the leader. This week, the Labour party elected Keir Starmer to be Corbyn’s successor. A self-described zionist with a Jewish wife, one of Starmer’s first actions as the leader of the Labour party was to express his condolences to the Jewish community for its losses from the Coronavirus pandemic. Israeli politicians quickly welcomed Starmer’s election with messages of support.
Further reading: https://www.jta.org/2020/04/05/global/keir-starmer-who-has-vowed-to-fight-anti-semitism-replaces-jeremy-corbyn-as-leader-of-britains-labour-party (JTA)
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