How ‘Israeli’ Came to Mean ‘Jewish’ in the American Press

By Seth Mandel

Tuesday, August 11, 2026

 

New York Magazine’s new issue gives new meaning to the term “food Nazi.” The latest edition is dedicated to the proposition that Jews can never fully belong, that they are always visitors to society but never at home. The magazine uses food as the specific lens through which to view this blood-and-soil worldview.

 

The line getting the most attention is the magazine’s description of the State of Israel as “the land mass currently called Israel,” a declaration that New York Magazine doesn’t recognize the Jewish state. And that indeed is quite newsy. But the publication’s discussion of Jews in New York itself makes the story package not just geopolitical gobbledygook but a direct attack on Jews anywhere.

 

The conceit behind the story package is the emergence of a restaurant and cultural scene referred to as SWANA, which stands for Southwest Asia and North Africa. Jewish Israelis, while geographically part of SWANA, are not included, “given the political framework” of the term.

 

Much of the writing in this story package tries to dance around that particular point, but every so often it comes through: “Israelis,” in the context of this new progressive dogma, means “Jews.” An Arab who lives in “the land mass currently called Israel” is obviously not being excluded from this club. Indeed, the “political framework” of the category would elevate what the magazine terms a “Palestinian from the pre-1948 borders” as first among equals.

 

There is of course much irony in the fact that, before 1948, “Palestinian from the pre-1948 borders” would have meant Jews, especially during the portion of the Mandate when Arabs in the Holy Land still considered themselves part of a Syrian polity. But I digress.

 

Let’s take another example from the package: “The Israeli chefs Daniel Soskolne and Loren Abramovitch don’t own a restaurant, nor do they want to; they cook independently under the name LEV, hosting regular pop-ups at an event space in Bed-Stuy where they could be described as the chefs in residence.… In 2021, as their profile was rising, they were called out by the Palestinian artist Amanny Ahmad, who posted on Instagram that LEV ‘made a career out of cooking Palestinian food (under any name but that).’”

 

This was a particularly telling accusation, because as Soskolne says, “We never nationalized our food.” That is, they never claimed it was Israeli or Palestinian or Swamalandian or from the moon. Instead, Soskolne said: “We have so much influence from all over the world. Some of it is Jewish, some of it is not.”

 

You can see in this comment that Soskolne understands the problem from a pro-Palestinian perspective. He was born in Israel, and he cooks some food with Jewish influences, so he should not be allowed to make dishes that are popular among anti-Semites who call Israel by a different name.

 

Again, were Soskolne and Abramovitch “Palestinians from the pre-1948 borders” they would not be protested by this Palestinian racist who told them to stop making falafel.

 

There is a farcical quality to some of this. A person modifying Syrian cooking and calling it Palestinian and then telling a Jew he may not also cook the dish is reminiscent of the line from the Princess Bride in which Vizzini accuses the Man in Black of “trying to kidnap what I’ve rightfully stolen.”

 

Abramovitch and Soskolne are an interesting team for progressives to villainize, considering the fact that they have built their careers on coexistence. In the village where Abramovitch grew up, a Jewish Food Society profile from 2021 tells us, Shabbat and holiday meals were occasions for communal dining, giving Abramovitch the Jewish part of the tradition. A few miles away were his Arab friends who he’d watch cook labneh and from whom he learned “a particularly warm approach to hospitality.”

 

It was a combination that became known as “Jewish Palestinian” cuisine. A February 2023 Surface Magazine article about the duo enthuses: “Pairing the culinary traditions of the global Jewish diaspora with Palestinian influences, the duo’s melting-pot cuisine has earned them a devoted following.”

 

The two chefs abide by progressive orthodoxy: They offer ritual denunciations of Israel and accuse it of committing genocide. But is that enough to be SWANA? Probably not, New York informs us: “After October 7, as Israel began its retaliation against Gaza, Abramovitch persuaded Soskolne that they should post about what was going on. On November 9, they wrote on Instagram that they and their friends and family in Israel were ‘suffering from the horrific and brutal acts on Oct 7th’ and ‘suffering from the massive killing in Gaza, the killing of so many innocent people must stop.’”

 

Ah, they recognized the humanity of both Jews and Arabs. And how are the duo trying to make up for this cardinal sin? They are, New York explains, “avoiding cooking falafel.”