Hailing Howard: About 400 Democratic activists came out Sunday to hear former Vermont Governor Howard Dean in Manhattan at SEIU 1199’s union hall. Dean, who appeared to have sewed up the race to head the Democratic National Committee as the Forward went to press, seemed to have changed nothing from the standard red-meat stump speech…
Representatives of about 600 Holocaust survivors are asking the U.S. Supreme Court to hear their complaint accusing France’s national railroad company of aiding and abetting the commission of war crimes and crimes against humanity by knowingly deporting tens of thousands of Jews. The five-year-old case, Abrams v. Societe Nationale des Chemins de Fer Francais, is…
As political satirists go, Al Franken is in a league of his own. Five Emmy Awards reveal his sublime impact on “Saturday Night Live” as one of its original writers and later as a producer and performer. His books, including “Rush Limbaugh Is a Big Fat Idiot” and “Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell…
WASHINGTON — Sometimes, it seems, even good news is bad news when it comes to organized Jewish life. As Israel’s government prepares to pull out of Gaza and parts of the West Bank and resume talks with the Palestinians, American Jewish communal leaders are striving to protect their community from polarizing and to create a…
In a week rife with speculation about America’s plans to attack Iran, Vice President Richard Cheney stepped up the pressure on Tehran by declaring that Israel might strike Iran’s nuclear facilities if ongoing diplomatic efforts fail. In response to a question by radio talk-show host Don Imus about the possibility of Israeli action, Cheney said,…
Campus tensions regarding the Middle East spilled over into the political realm at Columbia University this week when Israel’s ambassador to the United States called off an appearance at the university. Ambassador Daniel Ayalon had been scheduled to appear at an all-day conference, sponsored by Columbia’s Center for International Conflict Resolution on the crisis in…
ELEI SINAI, Gaza — If Israeli soldiers come to remove the Farhan family from their home here in northern Gaza, it will not be the first time the Farhans experience dislocation at the hands of their own government. The Farhans are among the 5,000 Jewish settlers who were made to leave their homes in the…
MONTREAL — In a humiliating reversal for Montreal’s 90,000-member Jewish community, Quebec’s provincial government has retreated from plans to subsidize the province’s Jewish day schools fully, following accusations that the ruling Liberal Party was simply trying to reward the Jewish community for its financial contributions. Quebec already provides the most generous benefits in Canada for…
PARIS — On Tuesday, French President Jacques Chirac inaugurated France’s official Holocaust Memorial and “renew[ed] our country’s promise never to forget what it proved unable to avoid.” The memorial’s patrons — the French government, a supporting foundation and the Jewish community, among others — intend the museum as “Europe’s institution of reference for the Holocaust,”…
It’s been a bad week for a language columnist. First, an overworked and apparently groggy editor at the Forward decided — as many of you have noted, to your shock and/or amusement — to relocate the city of Brussels, mentioned in last week’s column, to Germany. I desperately beg you all to believe that although…
As Josie ages, her relationship with media and culture changes. Everything seems to be a source of both joy and anxiety for her. Case in point: As part of our nightly bedtime ritual, I always sing Josie a couple of show tunes. (Yes, I am a gay man.) She’s always loved this special time, and…
