A new Off-Broadway play focuses on President Truman’s decision to recognize Israel’s statehood in 1948

A new Off-Broadway play is taking on a pivotal historical moment: President Harry S. Truman’s 1948 decision to recognize the state of Israel.

Truman vs. Israel, opening on October 16 at the Theatre at St. Clements, imagines the President (played by Willy Falk) being pressed by trailblazing lawyer Bella Abzug (Sasha Eden) to defend his choice, and his reputation, amid accusations of antisemitism.

The 90-minute one-act blends fact with fiction: while Truman did face heavy backlash over his recognition of Israel, the play invents a tense exchange in which Abzug, a real-life Jewish activist and politician, urges him to pursue legal action against a journalist questioning his loyalties.

Written by William Spatz and directed by Randy White, the limited run is scheduled through January 4, 2026. Tickets for the play are available here.

Truman vs. Israel joins a pretty crowded roster of Jewish-focused productions taking over Off-Broadway this season, including Hannah Senesh, a one-woman play about a Jewish paratrooper who fought the Nazis, Marcel on the Train, about Marcel Marceau’s heroic rescue of over 70 Jewish children from an orphanage in Nazi-occupied France during World War II.