Opinion

• Opinion

  Twelve Days That Should Rend Our Souls Asunder

  This week and next, we would do well to pause and reflect on the solemn and universal backdrop against which this period of time unfolds every year. It is a period that reminds us of those historical encounters between governors and governed, when every act of the authorities exasperates the people and every refusal to…

  By Beryl Wajsman

  4 min read
• Opinion

  If It’s ‘Apartheid,’ Then Who’s the Palestinian Mandela?

  Of all humanistic disciplines, history is the easiest to exploit for the advancement of one’s political worldviews. Former president Jimmy Carter’s recent book, “Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid,” is an interesting case in point. Carter compares Israel’s policies toward the Palestinians to the notorious system of racial segregation that was imposed on blacks in South Africa….

  By Nir Eisikovits Jan 19, 2007 | 3 min read
• Opinion

  The Limitations of Liberal Pluralism

  I had an opportunity last weekend to take a mental snapshot of the Jewish liberal species at Limmud New York, a learning conference held at the Friar Tuck Convention Center in Catskill, N.Y. Of some 900 people present for the beautifully organized smorgasbord of presentations on religious, political and other topics, I was probably one…

  By David Klinghoffer Jan 19, 2007 | 3 min read

Columnists View All

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

  

• Rob Eshman A year after the LA fires, the lesson is clear: Our greatest disasters are often self-inflicted

  

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

  

• Dan Perry A quiet diplomatic shift in the Middle East, with monumental consequences for Israel

  

• Emily Tamkin Is Mamdani bad or good for Jews? Here’s how to tell

  

The Latest

• Opinion

  There Is No Place To Hide Iraq’s Slain

  This war in Iraq, which began as a lie, now continues as an illusion. The bloody deception is long since revealed, the pathetic perjuries by now grown stale. Some of the experts and analysts say that with an increase of 100,000 troops, others perhaps 250,000 more, the country could be pacified. Interesting numbers, those: Take…

  By Leonard Fein Jan 19, 2007 | 3 min read
• Letters

  January 19, 2007

  Itche Goldberg’s Dream For Journal Came True The passing of Itche Goldberg should not pass without the following note (“Journal Editor, 102, Devoted to Yiddish,” January 5). The obituary for him in The New York Times contained this quote from the paper’s 2004 article on his 100th birthday: “I only have two dreams. One dream…

  Jan 19, 2007 | 2 min read
• Opinion

  King’s Last Message

  The birthday of Martin Luther King Jr. that Americans observed this week was the 39th since he died in Memphis, Tenn., in 1968 at age 39. He has now been dead for as many years as he lived. In a profound sense, he now belongs to history. Over the years, our nation has made it…

  Jan 19, 2007 | 4 min read
• Opinion

  The Case for Carter

  Looking at the controversy that has erupted over former President Jimmy Carter’s book, “Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid,” I have to say I am a little envious — envious of a national culture in which a book, or just a book title, can stir such a debate. I cannot recall when the publication of a book…

  By Yossi Beilin Jan 16, 2007 | 4 min read
• Opinion

  Sharon Warned Bush

  Israel and the United States have a close and vital strategic relationship that constitutes a pillar of Israel’s security. Israeli leaders are aware that any major new regional policy departure not closely coordinated with Washington is liable to be a nonstarter and to cloud American-Israeli relations. Any smart Israeli aspirant to a political leadership post…

  By Yossi Alpher Jan 12, 2007 | 5 min read
• Opinion

  Balkan Tolerance Worth Its Weight in Euros

  The first time I visited Bulgaria was in the winter of 1985. As the overnight train from Istanbul lumbered through the country, the only thing I saw in abundance were statues to “Our Soviet Liberators.” In Sofia, I walked past a flatbed truck unloading cabbage before a grocery store that had not yet opened. A…

  By Edward Serotta Jan 12, 2007 | 4 min read
• Opinion

  Save Darfur, Sure, but Also Worry About Iran

  In the past month I have been to more than a dozen Jewish communities, and everywhere I go I see signs and wristbands that say “Save Darfur.” Time and again I am touched that our people understand that tikkun olam includes taking care of others. But to be frank, if I go to yet another…

  By Jennifer Laszlo Mizrahi Jan 12, 2007 | 4 min read
• Opinion

  The Minimum-wage Trap

  The Democratic Party faces a dilemma. It’s with the pending legislation on minimum wage, one of the six items the party promised to enact in its first 100 days in power. For 10 years now, the minimum wage has been unchanged and is steadily losing purchasing power. This is because of the Republican control of…

  By Gus Tyler Jan 12, 2007 | 2 min read