Hayyim Nahman Bialik, Israel’s first national poet, defined Zionism’s aspiration to make the Jews a normal people via statehood: “We will be a normal state only when we have the first Jewish prostitute, the first Hebrew thief, and the first Hebrew policeman.” But in the 21st century, it’s not enough to be a local thief;…
A long and sometimes ugly legal battle between the American Israel Public Affairs Committee and its former employee Steve Rosen has ended with a victory for AIPAC. A Washington, D.C., Superior Court judge effectively threw out Rosen’s $20 million lawsuit against the pro-Israel lobby in which the former staffer alleged AIPAC had defamed him by…
In a cold and windswept Staten Island cemetery, four dozen people huddled together to recite Kaddish, the mourner’s prayer, and to mark the 100th yahrzeit of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire’s victims. Twenty-two of the victims were laid to rest in 1911 at the Mount Richmond Cemetery, which is owned by the Hebrew Free Burial…
For many weeks, thousands of people have massed in public squares across the Arab world, protesting for democracy. Many of the largest gatherings have occurred on Friday, Islam’s day of public prayer, sometimes stretching past sunset and continuing the following day. The protests have drawn young and old, religious and secular, men and women. But…
Like all other mornings, on March 25, 1911, Rose Bernstein had planned to arrive at 245 Greene Street, in Manhattan’s Greenwich Village, and begin working. Instead, a sibling fell ill, so she stayed home — thus avoiding the tragic fate of other colleagues who died or were injured in the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire later…
Another day, another Jewish conspiracy. And another smear campaign against Julian Assange? Here’s what happened. According to the New York Times, Julian Assange called Ian Hislop, the editor of British magazine Private Eye on Feb. 16 and rambled on and on about a Jewish conspiracy spearheaded by the UK’s Guardian newspaper. The Times reports: He…
It is a tradition of Washington advocacy conferences: After hearing from experts, debating with activists and getting pumped up — it’s time for participants to take their message to Capitol Hill. This morning, J Street conference participants mounted the buses and left for more than 200 advocacy meetings in congressional offices. Some will get to…
The Middle East’s current upheavals make it clear that moving forward on peace between Israel and the Palestinians is more, not less urgent than ever before, President Obama’s point man on the Middle East told conferees attending J Street’s annual Washington conference. But Dennis Ross, the president’s closest advisor on issues related to Israel, declined…
Although relations between J Street and the Israeli government had thawed in the past year, the group’s recent refusal to denounce a U.N. resolution condemning Israel’s settlement policy has soured relations once again. J Street’s second annual conference is, therefore, taking place without any official representatives of the Israeli government in attendance. For the second…
The three-day J Street conference that opened in Washington on Saturday night was the group’s largest gathering so far and underscored the dovish, pro-Israel lobby’s fast growth since its inception less than three years ago. But it also provided a glimpse into J Street’s ongoing struggle to define itself. This message was delivered forcefully in…
The Forward’s managing editor Lillian Swanson speaks with host Josh Nathan-Kazis about the100th anniversary of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire, and how the Forward will be commemorating the tragedy’s centennial. Then, Forward Fellow Joy Resmovits talks about what she learned during the day she spent as an observer at Haifa’s Rambam hospital. The podcast also…
דאָס בוך איז גרונטיק געפֿאָרשט, לעבעדיק אָנגעשריבן — אָבער אידעאָלאָגיש באַפֿאַרבט
