Opinion

• Opinion

  There Were No Taliban in Bosnia

  The little most Americans know about Bosnia is that it was the scene of murderous orgies and ethnic cleansing during the 1990s. There is far more to the land where I was born, of course, but at least this simplistic view is accurate — which is more than can be said for the revisionist history…

  By Muhamed Sacirbey

  3 min read
• Opinion

  A Day in the Life of Sderot

  On Friday evening, before it got dark, Jimmy Kdoshim, a 48-year-old man, was killed by a Qassam rocket at his home in Kibbutz Kfar Aza, while working in his garden. Looking at the pictures of his house that was broadcast on the evening news, I could see that except for the myriad of holes left…

  By Julia Chaitin May 22, 2008 | 3 min read
• Opinion

  The Harbinger of an Inspiring Generation

  If I were in a grade-giving mode, I’d give them collectively, an “S”, for spectacular (followed by an asterisk). The “them” are the 44 applicants for the New Israel Fund Social Justice Fellowship whose applications I have just finished reading. (The selection of the five winners has already been completed. Though I am not on…

  By Leonard Fein May 22, 2008 | 4 min read

Columnists View All

• Jay Michaelson What can really be done to prevent antisemitic attacks like Bondi Beach?

  

• Rob Eshman Australia shooting terrifies Jews worldwide — and strengthens the case for Israel

  

• Nora Berman Did crypto-Jews invent the modern tarot deck?

  

• Dan Perry It’s a classic trick of liars and crooks — and it’s shaping Israel’s response to war and disaster

  

• Emily Tamkin The Holocaust survivor writer who can help us through this ominous era

  

The Latest

• Opinion

  For Once, It’s the Thoughts That Count

  Citizens of Jerusalem were hopping mad in the days leading up to Shimon Peres’s lavish Israeli Presidential Conference, a gala international talkfest held this past week to celebrate Israel’s 60th anniversary. With 3,500 guests coming from 50 countries, including foreign leaders, titans of business and Nobel laureates, streets had been blocked off and security checkpoints…

  By J.J. Goldberg May 15, 2008 | 5 min read
• Opinion

  When Survival of the Jewish People Is at Stake, There’s No Place for Morals

  There is little disagreement that every Jewish leader, organization, community and individual has a duty to help ensure the continuity of the Jewish people. But in a world where the long-term existence of the Jewish state is far from certain, the imperative to exist inevitably gives rise to difficult questions, foremost among them this: When…

  By Yehezkel Dror May 15, 2008 | 5 min read
• 
  Opinion

  Making Iran Into a Jewish Issue Is Fueling an Unhealthy Debate

  When shareholders of the Austrian oil and gas company OMV met in Vienna May 14 for their annual meeting, they were met by a small group of noisy protesters from Stop the Bomb, a mostly Jewish alliance opposed to OMV’s business dealings with Iran. Just 10 days earlier, the alliance held a conference in the…

  By Eric Frey May 15, 2008 | 4 min read
• Opinion

  Please, Our Dear American Cousins, Stay Out of Israel’s Business

  The involvement of American businessman Morris Talansky in the latest scandal surrounding Ehud Olmert ought to raise questions that go far beyond what the prime minister did or did not do, and whether he ought to pay the price. Some serious soul-searching is in order about the relationship between American Jewry and Israel. Granted, Talansky…

  By Gideon Levy May 15, 2008 | 3 min read
• Opinion

  The Energizing Power of a Dreamt Tomorrow

  Here’s a true story I made up more than 30 years ago. (Remember, stories do not have to have happened in order to be true.) Later, I will explain why I offer it here, now. It was 1860, or maybe 1861, in Minsk, or possibly in Pinsk. Wherever, whenever, there were a dozen Jews who…

  By Leonard Fein May 15, 2008 | 4 min read
• Letters

  May 22, 2008

  The Survivor Who Made Schindler Film Happen An April 25 article neglected to mention the person who was the catalyst for getting author Thomas Keneally interested in the story of Oskar Schindler: the late Leopold Pfefferberg, later known as Leopold Page (“Schindler’s 100th Birthday Is Private Affair for Survivors”). A Schindler Jew, Leo urged my…

  May 15, 2008 | 2 min read
• 
  Opinion

  Let Them Change Light Bulbs

  We are told that the earth is overheating and that the burning of fossil fuels and the release of carbons is to blame. We are told that every dollar we spend to import oil props up terrorism-sponsoring and unsavory regimes. We are told that the era of cheap oil is over. We are told that…

  By Noam Neusner May 8, 2008 | 4 min read
• Opinion

  Help Others in Israel Follow the Path of the Druze

  It began shortly after I first landed in Atlanta to take my position as consul general. Members of the local Jewish community took an interest in my background and started to visit Israel’s Druze towns. Many traveled to my northern Israeli home town of Isfiya, on Mount Carmel. People wanted to know: What was this…

  By Reda Mansour May 8, 2008 | 3 min read