Opinion

• Opinion

  Drawing Red Lines

  Even as college students enjoy their winter break, a nasty feud has erupted over Israel activism on campus. As the Jewish Telegraphic Agency reports on Page 6, the right-wing Zionist Organization of America is pushing for the left-wing Union of Progressive Zionists to be booted from the main umbrella body for pro-Israel groups on campus….

  2 min read
• Letters

  December 29, 2006

  Judith Regan Is No Antisemite Judith Regan an antisemite (“An Editor of Many Sins, But… ‘Antisemite’?” December 22)? She’s got a brilliant mouth and a Sicilian temper, but I’ve been her friend for 22 years and she doesn’t have a Jew-hating bone in her body. You can ask my daughters, whose bat mitzvahs she attended….

  Dec 29, 2006 | 4 min read
• Opinion

  The Tide Is Turning

  An Indian island in the Bay of Bengal was reported by researchers last week to be the first inhabited island on earth swept away by rising seas as a result of global warming. The island, Lohachara, near the mouth of the Ganges, had a population of 10,000. The residents have fled to a larger neighbor,…

  Dec 29, 2006 | 3 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’s new gift to the far right could help end the Gaza war

  

• Emily Tamkin Entering motherhood — and an obsession with the works of an Italian Jewish literary hero

  

The Latest

• Opinion

  Annan Made the Nations a Little Less United Against Israel

  On January 1, Ban Ki Moon officially begins his term as secretary general of the United Nations. Regrettably, the world body he inherits has not lived up to the noble principles enshrined in its charter. Instead, we have witnessed sustained efforts by certain member states acting within U.N. bodies to de-legitimize the State of Israel…

  By Eve Epstein Dec 23, 2006 | 10 min read
• Opinion

  Respect Venezuelans, for They Are of a Similar Constitution

  Throughout Caracas, sidewalk vendors sell a very small and attractive edition of the new Venezuelan Constitution. Costing about $5, it’s been a best-seller since its adoption a few years ago. And Venezuelans take their constitution seriously; indeed, some take it everywhere. So I should not have been surprised when, as the polls closed on the…

  By Charles Schudson Dec 23, 2006 | 4 min read
• Opinion

  In a Land Where Women Are Invisible

  I write this from Saudi Arabia on the last day of a 9-day visit. My small band of fellow travelers has been here under the sponsorship of an official Saudi governmental body. We would have preferred to come without “sponsorship,” but that is not how things work here. Apart from the 1.5 million or more…

  By Kathleen Peratis Dec 23, 2006 | 4 min read
• Opinion

  Let the Light in From the Periphery

  Much like the events that led up to Hanukkah more than 2,000 years ago, a new empire has arisen in our time, stamping the known world with its particular brand of world-encompassing universal philosophy. Unlike the Greeks and the Hellenistic age, America’s brand of humanist universalism is truly a global phenomenon — spreading through nongovernmental…

  By Ariel Beery Dec 23, 2006 | 3 min read
• Opinion

  My Fellow Rabbis, Raise Up Your Voices

  In 2003, I received my Green Card and became a permanent resident of the United States. Last week, a little more than three years after America became my home, a number of fellow Phoenix rabbis and I sat down in very comfortable chairs at the Ritz Carlton Hotel and debated former president Jimmy Carter about…

  By Darren Kleinberg Dec 23, 2006 | 2 min read
• Opinion

  There Is Virtue, President Carter, in Self-doubt

  By now, many people have surely grown weary of the controversy over Jimmy Carter’s new book, “Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid.” And why not? At age 82, Carter remains a remarkably indefatigable salesman; his book tour included 101 news media events and the signing of more than 100,000 copies of his book. And as it winds…

  By Leonard Fein Dec 23, 2006 | 4 min read
• Letters

  December 22, 2006

  Calling Prager a ‘Bigot’ Is Simply Irresponsible Whether one agrees or disagrees with Dennis Prager, he is not taking issue with Keith Ellison’s religion or the Quran (“Koch: Kick Pundit off Shoah Board,” December 15). He only takes issue with the fact that Ellison has declared that he will leave the Bible out of his…

  Dec 22, 2006 | 3 min read
• Opinion

  Israel, Syria and Bush’s Veto

  Israel’s worst-kept diplomatic secret became public knowledge this week when its prime minister, Ehud Olmert, told his Cabinet that he was against taking up a dramatic new Syrian offer for peace talks — because doing so would undermine President Bush. Well, at least the cat is out of the bag. Olmert has been under intense…

  Dec 22, 2006 | 3 min read