Opinion

• Opinion

  The Silence in Cairo Can Be Heard in New York

  Last month two Egyptians who normally wouldn’t cross paths — one a leader of the Muslim Brotherhood’s young guard, the other an outspoken liberal expatriate journalist — found a surprising bit of common ground on the Forward’s opinion page. I was proud to have been involved in the affair. After all, it’s not everyday that…

  By Oren Rawls

  3 min read
• Letters

  October 12, 2007

  Unhealthy Criticism Opinion writer Noam Neusner rightly exhorts policymakers to use facts, not anecdotes, to evaluate competing proposals for reauthorizing the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (“Anecdotes Won’t Keep America’s Kids Healthy,” October 5). In that spirit, here are some key facts. Since S-CHIP’s bipartisan enactment in 1997, the percentage of children without health coverage…

  Oct 12, 2007 | 3 min read
• Opinion

  Without Trust, There Will Be No Peace in Darfur

  The recent killing of 10 African Union peacekeepers has made clear, if it wasn’t already, the difficulty in putting an end to the almost incomprehensible suffering and misery in Darfur. Perhaps 2 million people have been driven from their homes over the past three years; some 200,000, or possibly 300,000, have been killed. Some American…

  By Jerry Weaver Oct 10, 2007 | 5 min read

Columnists View All

• Jodi Rudoren This is my last column as editor of the Forward

  

• Jay Michaelson American Jews were played — now what?

  

• Rob Eshman There’s a shocking new report on civilian deaths in Gaza. If only it were accurate.

  

• Nora Berman Is Netflix’s new show the most Jewish cartoon ever?

  

• Dan Perry Israel is not deliberately killing journalists in Gaza. But it does bear responsibility for their deaths

  

• Emily Tamkin Trump’s attack on George Soros is ludicrous. It also endangers Jews (and everyone else)

  

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  Opinion

  Stopping Iran Must Be the Objective in Iraq

  The ongoing discussion in America about ways to reverse the negative course of events in Iraq suffers from the absence of a rigorous analysis of priorities for the desired strategic outcome. Indeed, most of this discussion is still predicated on the need to advance goals that are unattainable and unrealistic. These goals include the stabilization…

  By Yossi Alpher Oct 10, 2007 | 3 min read
• Opinion

  My Forefathers Were Yurt-Dwelling Siberians

  The thorny issue of just who belongs to the Chosen People is, in my opinion, likely to remain unresolved forever, or at least until the Messiah arrives with the answer. And to be honest, that’s just fine with me, since this whole issue doesn’t concern me directly. You see, I happen to boast an unassailable…

  By Uzi Silber Oct 10, 2007 | 3 min read
• Opinion

  Abu Arar’s Homemade Missile

  The question of the week is: Shehade Abu Arar or Omer Gavar? “Who?” you will ask. And I will answer: Abu Arar is an Israeli Arab who has fathered (gulp) 67 children, as confirmed by Israel’s Interior Ministry. He is from the village of Burgata — or, perhaps, he and his eight wives and children…

  By Leonard Fein Oct 10, 2007 | 4 min read
• Opinion

  The Tutu Heave-Ho

  Not much lasting harm will come from the recent nastiness surrounding Archbishop Desmond Tutu and a Minnesota university that canceled his invitation to a human rights conference, for fear of offending the Jewish community. Tutu, the Nobel laureate South African human rights activist, does not lack for platforms from which to speak. The University of…

  Oct 10, 2007 | 3 min read
• Opinion

  Bush and the Children

  Now that President Bush is down to his final months in office, one might expect him to be worrying about what he leaves behind — how history will judge him and, no less important, what sort of record he will leave for his fellow Republicans to run on next year. How odd of him, then,…

  Oct 10, 2007 | 2 min read
• Letters

  October 5, 2007

  Congregants on Beach Don’t Wear Bathing Suits The Pacific Jewish Center, a fine congregation, is hardly “the last remaining vestige of Venice’s erstwhile Jewish community,” as a September 28 article reports (“Prayer Shawls, Flip-Flops Mingle at ‘Shul on the Beach’”). Congregation Mishkon Tephilo, a block from the beach and founded in 1918, is not only…

  Oct 5, 2007 | 3 min read
• Opinion

  Dancing With Scrolls

  This week, the month-long Jewish High Holy Day season comes to a climactic close with the festival of Simchat Torah, the “Rejoicing in the Law,” the celebration of the yearly Jewish cycle of public Bible reading. And the timing could not be better. The past few weeks have seen a dramatic rush of challenges to…

  Oct 5, 2007 | 4 min read
• Opinion

  Anecdotes Won’t Keep America’s Kids Healthy

  In the ongoing debate over expansion of the federal children’s health insurance program — a debate over whether an extra $5 billion or $35 billion is enough to meet the health needs of America’s poor or near-poor kids — the Democrats have a decided advantage: They own the anecdote. In their press conferences, they can…

  By Noam Neusner Oct 3, 2007 | 3 min read