As tensions continue to flare over the war in Gaza, the Upper East Side is divided
Ntoo long Not long ago, a non-Jewish New Yorker who grew up on the Upper East Side was asked by a friend to host a documentary screening Israelism. She immediately said no. It wasn’t that she necessarily disagreed with the film’s message—it bills itself as a story about “young American Jews struggling with conservatives to redefine Judaism’s relationship with Israel, revealing a deep generational divide over modern Jewish identity.” Instead, the future showrunner feared “being socially ostracized by many of my Jewish friends” and “the potential career consequences. I wanted to be brave,” she told me. “I was disappointed in myself.”
As summer begins and much of the Upper East Side migrates to the East End of Long Island, no one wants to be left out. Not when the guest lists are drawn up for some of the most exclusive parties in the Hamptons, which are often held at the sprawling estates of some of the richest people (including some of the richest Jews) on the planet.
After October 7, much of Manhattan’s wealthy Jewish elite doubled down on what they considered acceptable behavior and speech regarding Jews, anti-Semitism, Israel, and the war in Gaza. There was intense pressure to stay within bounds, for reasons that are understandable historically but less defensible given the right-wing takeover of Israel and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s dubious motives for continuing the war to avoid the possibility of jail time. (Netanyahu has pleaded not guilty to charges of fraud, bribery, and breach of trust.)
As the war dragged on, with the international community calling for a ceasefire and protests roiling college campuses across the country, the scene became an island on an island. Many outspoken voices, along with some quieter voices from the more obscure corners of Sant Ambroeus (a corner on Madison Avenue), were making accusations of anti-Semitism, using the term “bad Jew” to describe those who disagreed with what they believed was pro-Israel sentiment.
To address the sensitive issue. It’s nearly impossible to talk about rich, powerful Jews without invoking the disgusting metaphors and stereotypes that lead people to accuse you (me) of being anti-Semitic. But like many non-Jewish cultures in America, there is an elite, and that’s who I’m looking at. This is the third issue, but it shouldn’t force people to be silent, especially when the stakes are so high.
Before I go any further: I am a part of a world where people pay $43,000 a year for kindergarten. I am also a Jew who attended 12 years of Jewish day school, seven seasons of Jewish summer camp, and attended an Orthodox synagogue. I lived in Israel for three months after high school, part of that time on a kibbutz. I can, on a good day, speak, read, and write Hebrew. I can say that October 7 was horrible; I can also say that the bloodshed and starvation since then have been horrible.
In April, at a hostage rally at Dag Hammarskjöld Square near the United Nations, Rep. Jerry Nadler, the longest-serving Jewish member of the House, was booed after calling for “life-saving humanitarian aid to the Palestinian people” while also acknowledging “the terrible crimes committed by Hamas.” Park Avenue plastic surgeon and Upper East Side resident Ira Savetsky mocked him, asking, “How does it feel to be unwelcome in the Jewish community?” Nadler responded, “I thought I was welcome,” to which Savetsky countered, “They’re mad at you.” (Presumably Savetsky was also mentioned.)
Recently, Savetsky’s wife, Lizzy, a fashion influencer, commented on the Gaza Health Ministry’s death toll data in an Instagram story, telling her more than 350,000 followers that “Israel killed 14,000 Hamas fighters, you have 7,200 Palestinian civilians killed. That would be a pretty good ratio when it comes to war.”
Asked for comment, Ira pointed to what he called “widespread dissatisfaction” with Nadler among many voters and accused the congressman of continuing to “prioritize seeking approval from the most extreme members of his party.” Lizzy also sent a detailed response, stating that she “along with every Jew I know, wants peace.”
“It is shocking that the media and others blindly accept numbers and information coming from a known terrorist organization. My video clearly shows that even the numbers they provide are undercut by the Gaza Ministry of Health,” she wrote, adding links from AP and Newsweek which she said supported her comment, “this remains the lowest known ratio of combatants to civilians in modern infantry warfare.” (Some scholars question how different sources define combatant, with some data including all men between the ages of 18 and 59.)
There is a saying circulating among the Jewish social media elite, the kind whose names adorn the wings of museums: “A keffiyeh on an American college campus is just a hipster swastika.” Another saying circulating among this crowd is the caption on the Instagram account @letourpeoplegonow: “No ceasefire. No compromise. Let our people go.” (I understand that some of these Jews view the ceasefire as a capitulation to Hamas, bringing it back to power.)
If you want to ruin a party among the Park Avenue elite, I warn you not to mention that more than 2 percent of children in Gaza have been injured or killed.
