Opinion

• Opinion

  The Old Arab Pecking Order, Turned Upside Down in Iraq

  The Iraqi elections almost certainly created a government dominated by the country’s Shi’ite majority. For the first time in Iraq’s history, and the first time in several hundred years in the Arab world, an Arab state will be ruled by representatives of Shi’ite Islam, the same minority branch of Islam that rules Iran and is…

  By Yossi Alpher

  4 min read
• Opinion

  Silence in the Face of Torture

  Just before Alberto Gonzales’s testimony at his January confirmation hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee, one wag noted, “Mr. Gonzales has directed members of his staff to revise the White House definition of torture to include torture.” Witty, but painful. In his prepared remarks, Gonzales said, “America stands against and will not tolerate torture under…

  By Kathleen Peratis Feb 4, 2005 | 4 min read
• Opinion

  The Limits of Unilateralism

  President Bush and his allies have a right to claim last Sunday’s election in Iraq as a moral victory. The willingness of millions of Iraqis to defy terrorist threats and line up to vote is a testament to the power of the human spirit. After decades of tyranny, Iraqis were given an opportunity to vote…

  Feb 4, 2005 | 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 Americans keep getting killed in the West Bank. Here’s how the US could fight that awful trend

  

• Nora Berman First Camp Auschwitz, now Alligator Alcatraz — why the right is obsessed with commodifying brutality

  

• Dan Perry What exactly is going on between Israel and Syria — and is the prospect of peace dead?

  

• Emily Tamkin Zohran Mamdani’s victory proves it: The ‘gotcha’ mode of fighting antisemitism has to go

  

The Latest

• Letters

  February 4, 2005

  Call Modern Hebrew By Its Name: ‘Israeli’ In the December 24 On Language column, Philologos criticizes my glottonym “Israeli” as a “denigrating word for modern Hebrew” (“Hebrew vs. Israeli”). But I would argue that “Israeli” is not at all derogatory. It simply acknowledges that the marvelously complex language spoken by Israelis is very different from…

  Feb 4, 2005 | 5 min read
• Opinion

  A Haven at Last

  Israel did the right thing this week in deciding to double the pace of immigration from Ethiopia, where an estimated 20,000 members of the so-called Falash Mura community have been waiting for years to join their relatives in the Jewish state. Jerusalem’s foot-dragging on the issue has been a blot on Israel’s humanitarian and Zionist…

  Feb 4, 2005 | 2 min read
• Opinion

  Give Them Liberty or…

  In the peroration of his inaugural speech, President Bush made explicit the scope of his ambition: “When the Declaration of Independence was first read in public and the Liberty Bell was sounded in celebration, a witness said, ‘It rang as if it meant something.’ In our time it means something still. America, in this young…

  By Leonard Fein Jan 28, 2005 | 4 min read
• Opinion

  The Lessons of Auschwitz

  There was something at once moving and unsettling in the worldwide outpouring of tribute that accompanied the 60th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz this week. Watching the ceremonies creep across the globe, from New York on Monday through Paris and Berlin to the Polish killing ground itself on Thursday, like some slow-motion imitation of…

  Jan 28, 2005 | 3 min read
• Opinion

  Bad Speech, More Speech

  The anniversary of the Auschwitz liberation provided a fitting backdrop to one of the most encouraging developments on the world scene in recent months, the sudden re-emergence of calm in Israel and the territories. Thanks to the unexpected determination of the Palestinian Authority’s new chairman, Mahmoud Abbas, and the impressively restrained response of Ariel Sharon’s…

  Jan 28, 2005 | 2 min read
• Opinion

  The Promise of a Republican New Deal

  History suggests that most second-term presidents muddle through their last four years. George W. Bush, however, should not be expected to be such a lame-duck leader. As he himself has told us, “the president has got to set big agenda items and solve big problems.” Indeed, he is pursuing a transformative agenda for the country,…

  By Marshall Breger Jan 28, 2005 | 4 min read
• Opinion

  The Endangered Coalition of Decency

  The conservative victories in the narrowly decided 2004 election might well lead to sweeping domestic policy changes that could unravel some of the most important achievements of 20th-century America. In at least two key areas, it will do so in ways inimical to Jewish values and Jewish interests. America’s Jews did not move from the…

  By David Saperstein Jan 28, 2005 | 4 min read
• Letters

  January 28, 2005

  Ad Against Withdrawal Crosses Communal Line The Forward ran an ad in the January 21 issue about the Gaza withdrawal plan, listing the Zionist Organization of America’s Washington office as its sponsor. We need to inform your readers that the individual who personally wrote and placed this ad did not receive the approval or authorization…

  Jan 28, 2005 | 5 min read