Nathan Guttman, staff writer, was the Forward’s Washington bureau chief. He joined the staff in 2006 after serving for five years as Washington correspondent for the Israeli dailies Haaretz and The Jerusalem Post. In Israel, he was the features editor for Ha’aretz and chief editor of Channel 1 TV evening news. He was born in Canada and grew up in Israel. He is a graduate of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
The annual meeting of Jewish federations kicked off exactly one year to the day before the 2012 general elections. But politics seemed to be an unwelcome guest at the event. The 3,000-strong audience gave a tepid response to a call from top Democrat Debbie Wasserman Schultz for the Jewish community to speak out on behalf…
At the age of 23, Oscar, a college student in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, was looking forward to a professional soccer career. Then came the January 2010 earthquake that changed his life. The campus building he was in collapsed — most of his friends were buried under the rubble — and Oscar, who asked to be identified…
In what could be seen as closing the barn doors after the horses have bolted, two major Jewish organizations are calling on Democrats and Republicans to dial down partisan attacks on each other over Israel in the upcoming election cycle. So far, the American Jewish Committee and the Anti-Defamation League’s call for a pledge to…
It was an uncharacteristic moment of uncertainty — and a rare divergence from Israeli policy — when the usually emphatic Republican presidential candidates were asked how they would have handled Hamas’s demands for the release of Master Sgt. Gilad Shalit, the soldier for whom Israel traded 1,027 Palestinian prisoners, including some terrorists. “You can’t negotiate…
Once known for their work together on civil rights, African Americans and Jews have experienced decades of contention over a range of issues since the 1960s. But now, some in the pro-Israel community see an opportunity to reconstitute a black-Jewish alliance centered on Israel. With the coming of age of a new generation of black…
Last month, a fundraiser for GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney made manifest what insiders have long known to be true: Romney, currently seen as the Republican frontrunner, is the hands down favorite of the Republican Jewish establishment. The September 26 fundraiser, held in the New York law office of longtime Republican activist Philip Rosen, was…
For the past three months, a group of President Obama’s Jewish supporters has been getting together for a weekly conference call to discuss strategy. The group, includes, among others, former White House adviser David Axelrod, Democratic National Committee Chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz, former Congress members Robert Wexler and Mel Levine, Chicago Jewish activist and attorney…
It could have been an awkward moment even for a seasoned politician like Texas Governor Rick Perry. Surrounded by a group of Orthodox rabbis in black hats and black suits during a Hanukkah ceremony at the Texas State Capitol, Perry, now a leading contender for the Republican presidential nomination, was swept into a hora dance,…
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