Opinion

• Opinion

  The Stalled March of Palestinian Moderation

  It was in 1974, exactly 30 years ago, that Palestinians made the monumental decision that was considered the largest turning point in their modern history. During the Palestine Liberation Organization’s 12th National Council, held in Cairo, delegates accepted — for the first time — the establishment of a national authority on any Palestinian land that…

  By Tawfiq Abu Baker

  4 min read
• Opinion

  Time To Rethink Shoah Education

  Today, more people than ever are aware that the Nazis murdered some 6 million Jews in the Holocaust. Years of development and implementation of educational programs, often backed by governments and NGOs around the world, have been augmented by official days of remembrance, museum exhibits, major motion pictures and almost ubiquitous media references to stimulate…

  By Robert Rozett Aug 6, 2004 | 4 min read
• Opinion

  Sharon, France and the Jews

  As if they had nothing better to do, the good people of France managed to work themselves into a lather this week over an insult to French honor by Israel’s Prime Minister Sharon, who had the temerity to suggest that French Jews should run for their lives. Sharon must have thought he was offering harmless…

  Jul 23, 2004 | 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 A new humanitarian outrage is unfolding in the Middle East. It’s not in Gaza

  

• Nora Berman The left is turning on AOC over Israel — and imperiling its own agenda

  

• Dan Perry Actually, Trump made things between Israel and Iran way worse

  

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

  

The Latest

• Opinion

  Fast Times

  The fast day of Tisha B’Av, which falls next Tuesday, is not a central day on anyone’s version of the Jewish ritual calendar, but it probably should be. Sad to say, it captures more closely than any other holiday the dominant theme of Jewish communal culture in our age: grief and outrage over the cruelties…

  Jul 23, 2004 | 2 min read
• Opinion

  The Devaluation of Values

  The current theme of John Kerry’s campaign can be summarized by a single word: “values.” In his speeches, he deploys it compulsively, nonstop, ad infinitum. We’re supposed to be reassured by this. In fact, his use of the term opens a window to a worrisome modern way of thinking about the things that matter most….

  By David Klinghoffer Jul 23, 2004 | 3 min read
• Letters

  July 23, 2004

  Shoah Funds Played Major Role for Israel Although Israel did not have a formal voice in the Claims Conference’s negotiations for compensation for Holocaust survivors, Israel conducted simultaneous and coordinated negotiations with West Germany (“Netanyahu Seen Angling to Control Shoah Funds,” July 16). Under the 1952 Luxembourg Agreements, Israel received 3 billion Deutschmarks in goods…

  Jul 23, 2004 | 3 min read
• Opinion

  An Investment in Mideast Peace

  There are many reasons why most Palestinians never got an economic peace dividend from the Oslo process in the 1990s, and why the current unemployment rate in the territories is above 50%. Israeli policies certainly contributed. But a big, underreported reason is that attracting private capital and fostering free enterprise never has been a high…

  By Gary Heiman Jul 23, 2004 | 3 min read
• Opinion

  Bush’s Silence on Saudi Antisemitism

  The Bush administration’s current policy toward Saudi Arabia is both unprincipled and cowardly. Speaking at the recent NATO summit in Istanbul, President Bush reiterated one of the central themes of his foreign policy agenda: the dual imperative of promoting democratic reform in the Middle East and ending Western support for regional dictators. Bush should be…

  By Gordon Goldstein Jul 23, 2004 | 3 min read
• Opinion

  Teaching Courage

  Colman Genn died last week at the age of 68. The New York Times carried a long obituary, which he earned the hard way, but it missed some of the really big stuff. Cole was best known because back in the late 1980s, when he was superintendent of Community School Board 27 in Queens, N.Y.,…

  By Leonard Fein Jul 23, 2004 | 4 min read
• Letters

  July 16, 2004

  A Politician by Intent, A Jew by Accident Forgive me for asking, but just what kind of a Jew is Ken Mehlman (“Bush Campaign Manager Sees Virtue in Taking No Prisoners,” July 9)? If the Forward were making an issue of the Jewishness of some ballplayer, that’s one thing. But when it’s someone in a…

  Jul 16, 2004 | 6 min read
• Opinion

  Death Be Not Loud

  Rest easy, help is on the way. It comes to us via a dazzling invention by Robert Barrows, of Burlingame, Calif., as reported the other day by Reuters. While others engage, or fail to engage, in leaps of faith, Barrows is concerned with bridging the gap of death. Accordingly, he proposes a talking tombstone, wherein…

  By Leonard Fein Jul 16, 2004 | 3 min read