Briefs

ISRAEL AND LEBANON SIGN US-BROKERED MARITIME DEAL

After years of negotiation and military posturing, Israel and Lebanon signed a U.S.-brokered agreement that establishes maritime boundaries between the countries, allowing each to explore for fossil fuels unthreatened by the prospect of an attack.

Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid, heading into an election and under fire from his rival, former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who says the deal concedes too much, cast the deal as a historic breakthrough.

“This is a diplomatic achievement,” Lapid said at the start of the Cabinet meeting, which approved the deal. “It is not every day that an enemy country recognizes the State of Israel, in a written agreement, in view of the international community.”

Lebanon has been among Israel’s most implacable enemies for decades, influenced to a large degree by the Hezbollah terrorist militia which holds sway in much of the country. Lebanon’s president, Michel Aoun, sought to downplay any diplomatic significance to the deal.

“Demarcating the southern maritime border is technical work that has no political implications or effects contradicting Lebanon’s foreign policy,” Anadolu news agency quoted him as saying.

Hezbollah backs the deal, but casts it simply as a means to accelerate development in gas fields that are now under Lebanese sovereignty. Lebanon is currently deep in an economic crisis.

The sensitive nature of the agreement was evident in how it was finalized. Officials from both sides met in the Lebanese border town of Naqoura to finalize it, but media was barred. Amos Hochstein, the Biden administration official brokering the deal, then traveled to Beirut and Jerusalem to obtain the signed documents from the countries’ leaders.

Lapid thanked Hochstein and President Joe Biden, who has been criticized by Republicans for pressuring Israel into the deal. Lapid has said there was no pressure and that the deal is in Israel’s interests.

“Amos, I want to thank you and your crew for all the great work—nothing less than great work in making the deal between us and Lebanon happen,” Lapid said at their meeting. “It wouldn’t have been possible without you and without the support of President Biden who was there for us all the way. His commitment to Israel is deeply appreciated and your commitment to the whole process is deeply appreciated.”

Israel is ready to start mining at the Karish gas field south of the boundary, and Lebanon is planning to soon set up mining at its Qana field. (JTA)

JIMMY KIMMEL SKETCH POKES FUN AT KANYE WEST AND ANTISEMITISM

With a sketch video aimed at Kanye West, late-night host Jimmy Kimmel joked about a “cure” for antisemitism: “Yentanyl.”

Kimmel debuted the term, a mashup of the word “yenta” (Yiddish for gossiping socialite) and the narcotic fentanyl, in a video for Jimmy Kimmel Live! viewers on Wednesday, Oct. 26. Or, as the generic name says on the bottle: “Meshuggenehonum” (a play on the word “meshuggeneh,” Yiddish for crazy).

“Does anyone else feel like we’re about to find out that for the past 20 years Kanye has been a Sacha Baron Cohen character?” Kimmel asked the audience in a segment addressing the multiple antisemitic remarks the rapper has made over the last few weeks.

The sketch leans heavily into American Ashkenazi humor, referencing bagels, Seinfeld, and side effects that include a “deep appreciation for Mel Brooks.” Patients are cautioned to call their doctors “if your guilt trip lasts more than four hours.”

Comments on the show’s social media pages have been mixed.

“I’m Jewish and this is funny—however—would this same video be allowed right now if it were about any other minority, race, or group of people?” one commenter wrote on Instagram. “I truly don’t think so and I find that interesting.”

Another person wrote, “Love your show. I was disappointed to see this being joked about. Antisemitism isn’t ever to be made light of.”

Jewish lifestyle blogger Shoshana Batya Greenwald, who frequently posts about bigotry centered around a Jewish perspective, shared the video on her Instagram story with the caption: “In the light of things like ‘teaching both sides,’ here’s something for the antisemites out there. You’re welcome.” (JTA)

AS ITALY’S MELONI DOWNPLAYS FASCIST TIES, THOUSANDS MARCH IN PRAISE OF BENITO MUSSOLINI

Thousands marched to the grave of the fascist dictator Benito Mussolini in Predappio on Sunday, Oct. 30, to commemorate the 100-year anniversary of his coming to power in Rome, days after the new Italian prime minister, whose party has fascist roots, decried the Italian race laws of the 1930s that targeted Jews.

The crowd of up to 4,000 wore all black and chanted praise for Mussolini, a key Hitler ally.

Far-right Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has worried Italian Jews through her past connections to the Italian Social Movement, known as MSI, a neo-fascist party founded in 1946 by people who had worked with Hitler and Mussolini. Meloni’s current party, Brothers of Italy, is closely tied to the group, even housing its office in the same building where MSI operated and using an identical logo, a tricolor flame.

At age 19, Meloni told French television that, “Mussolini was a good politician, in that everything he did, he did for Italy.”

But on Wednesday, Oct. 26, Meloni appeared to distance herself from past statements. Italy never went through a denazification process, and members of the MSI served in the country’s first postwar parliament.

“I have never felt sympathy or closeness to undemocratic regimes, fascism included, as I have always considered the racial laws of 1938 the lowest point in Italian history, a shame that will mark our people forever,” she told Italy’s lower house of parliament.

By the end of 1938, those race laws prohibited Jews from Italian schools and academia, politics, finances, the professional world, and other sectors of public and private life. The laws later expanded, making it illegal for Jews to marry nonJews or hire non-Jewish employees. Thousands of Italian Jews were killed during the Holocaust.

The day after Meloni spoke, Italian police removed posters promoting the march in Predappio, the AP reported.

“This is a disturbing signal,” Gianfranco Pagliarulo, head of the National Association of Italian Partisans, which preserves the memory of World War II-era anti-fascist groups, told the AP. “It is evident that the victory of the nationalist right will lead to a resurgence of neo-fascist provocative attitudes.” (JTA)

SNYDER LOOKS INTO SELLING WASHINGTON COMMANDERS

Dan Snyder, the Jewish owner of the Washington Commanders who is ensnared in a scandal involving sexual harassment in the team’s workplace, announced that he and his wife and co-owner Tanya Snyder are exploring a possible sale of the NFL franchise.

“The Snyders remain committed to the team, all of its employees and its countless fans to putting the best product on the field and continuing the work to set the gold standard for workplaces in the NFL,” the team said in the statement.

Snyder has been under intense scrutiny since July 2020, when a Washington Post investigation revealed a series of allegations of sexual harassment and toxic workplace culture by former team employees, including the use of “Jewish slurs” by a high-ranking team executive.

The organization, and Snyder in particular, are under investigation by multiple entities, including Congress and the NFL. An initial NFL investigation into the team’s alleged toxic culture resulted in a $10 million fine in July 2021. Snyder stepped back from his dayto-day responsibilities as a result.

This past summer, Snyder asked to postpone a scheduled deposition in front of the House Committee on Oversight and Reform because of a trip to Israel to observe the anniversary of his mother’s death.

Snyder, who is a member of the Greater Washington Jewish Sports Hall of Fame, purchased the team in 1999 for $800 million. According to a Forbes estimate, the franchise is now worth $5.6 billion. (JTA)