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What protests? Israels tourists are focused on holy sites and nightlife

While hundreds of thousands of Israelis have been flooding the streets of Tel Aviv and Jerusalem in protest of the governments passage of a law limiting the Supreme Courts power, summer tourists are mainly shrugging off the political strife around them.

Our Mira Fox just returned from 10 days in the holy land, where she talked to travelers about the best places to eat, the best sites to see and polyamory. Very few spoke of the protests roiling the nation.

Choosing to ignore: I think I saw something on Instagram and decided not to dive in because it was four days before my trip and I didnt want to freak myself out, said Rebecca Rhodes, a track and field coach at the University of Utah who was in Jerusalem to recruit athletes.

Tourists walk past shops in the Old City of Jerusalem. (Getty)

Not interested: Birthright pilgrims are still flooding markets, archaeological sites and bars across the country. As important as it is, its not what people came for at all, Michael Even-Esh, a tour guide, said of the protests. And truthfully except for a basic overview it interests them very little.

Geopolitical naivete: A shopkeeper in the tourist-clogged alleys of Jerusalems Old City told Mira that he gets more worried calls from friends overseas about bombings in Syria, and then has to explain that it is an entirely different country. Americans are sorry not so intelligent, he said. They never know whats going on outside.

At left, Bradley Cooper as Leonard Bernstein. At right, the real maestro. (Getty)

Opinion | Can we please stop talking about Bradley Coopers nose? Many Jews online are upset about the prosthetic nose that Cooper wears in the just-released trailer for Netflixs Leonard Bernstein biopic a proxy for their broader feelings over a non-Jewish actor being cast to play a Jewish cultural icon. Not our Laura E. Adkins. There are very real problems facing the Jewish people, she writes.Israels democracy is on the verge of collapse. Hate speech is out of control on social media. And were talking about a nose? But Lauras deputy, Nora Berman, begs to differ. Read their conversation

Opinion | Will Donald Trump finally face his personal Yom Kippur? Elul, the Jewish month of penitence and reflection, began last night. Trumps latest indictment, enumerating 191 criminal acts of conspiracy, reads to our contributing columnist Rabbi Jay Michaelson like the confessional Al Chet prayer, including its own repetitive refrain. False claims of voter fraud. This was an overt act in furtherance of the conspiracy, the indictment says. False accusations against election workers. This was an overt act in furtherance of the conspiracy. Cue Michaelson: Now the Book of Judgment is open, with Trumps alleged misdeeds written out in excruciating detail. Read the essay

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WHAT ELSE YOU NEED TO KNOW TODAY

Palestinians check the damage on a house in the occupied West Bank on Thursday, following an Israeli raid. (Getty)

Israeli forces entered Jenin this morning to arrest two terror suspects, and killed a Palestinian man with a gun during the process. (Times of Israel)

Roughly 80% of new Israeli startups are choosing to incorporate in the United States, according to a new survey. Thats quadruple the 20% of new companies that did so last year. (Reuters)

A light rail through Tel Aviv has been in the works for decades. It officially opens on Friday. (Haaretz)

The leading vote-getter in Argentinas national primary elections this week, Javier Milei, could become the countrys first Jewish president. First hed have to win in October and complete a conversion hes working on. Milei, a far-right economist, was raised Catholic but studies with a rabbi regularly. (JTA)

Vandals in Berlin destroyed windows at the offices of a foundation that manages Holocaust memorial sites. This comes after a telephone booth-sized library of free Holocaust books in the city was destroyed in a fire last week. (JTA)

A new artificial intelligence app lets users instant-message with biblical figures like Job, Lot and Ruth. Some of the characters, including the prophet Isaiah and King Solomon, require a $2.99 monthly subscription. (Religion News Service)

Shiva calls Rabbi Chai Yitzchak Twerski, known as the Rachmastrivka Rebbe, died at 92 Jerry Moss, co-founder of A&M Records and member of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, died at 88 Marc Becker, former chairman of the board at the Park Avenue Synagogue in New York, died at 51.

A picture of Leo Frank in the memoir of Ab Cahan, the founding editor of the Forward. (Courtesy of YIVO)

On this day in history (1915): Leo Frank, a Jewish factory superintendent, was lynched by a mob in Marietta, Georgia. Frank had been convicted for the murder of 13-year-old Mary Phagan a conviction most historians view as wrongful in a case that launched both the birth of the Anti-Defamation League and the resurgence of the Ku Klux Klan. When the Forwards PJ Grisar met Ben Platt, who played Leo Frank in the Broadway musical Parade, to read Franks letters, Platt was struck by Franks sense of hope in the face of injustice.

In honor of Robert DeNiros birthday, check out our secret Jewish history of the acclaimed actor.

Our senior political reporter, Jacob Kornbluh, talked with me and Laura yesterday about how President Biden is walking a tightrope in his approach to Israel as the presidential election ramps up. Biden hasnt taken any tactical moves to hold the Netanyahu government accountable, Jacob said. It has to do a lot with Bidens genuine love for Israel. Hes famous for saying you dont have to be a Jew to be a Zionist. Watch the episode above, or subscribe to That Jewish News Show wherever you get podcasts.

Thanks to Rebecca Salzhauer and Talya Zax for contributing to todays newsletter.

You can reach the Forwarding team at [emailprotected].

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Israels summer tourists shrug off protests in favor of holy sites and nightlife - Forward