Opinion

• Opinion

  Engaging Iran

  President Bush was right to demand this week that Iran allow clear-cut, third-party verification of its claims that it has suspended its enrichment of weapons-grade uranium before the rest of the world begins to breathe easy. There’s been a lot of slippery talk and outright falsehood about nuclear weaponry in the Middle East of late,…

  3 min read
• Opinion

  Old Europe, New Jihad

  We Americans have tended to be of two minds as we have watched events unfold in the Netherlands in the three weeks since the murder of filmmaker and anti-immigrant provocateur Theo Van Gogh. Half of us look at the mounting tensions surrounding Europe’s growing Muslim minority, the incidents of jihadist and anti-Jewish violence, and the…

  Nov 26, 2004 | 2 min read
• Opinion

  The Land of the Free, for Better and for Worse

  Ten years ago, as a recent Australian immigrant, I was initiated into the American rite of Thanksgiving. How outraged I was! Here we were, comfortable Modern Orthodox-ish Jews, sitting down to a turkey repast in a kind of latter-day American Christmas. My hosts were defensive, and confused at my reaction. This wasn’t a Christian holiday,…

  By Viva Hammer Nov 26, 2004 | 3 min read

Columnists View All

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

  

• Rob Eshman American Jews can’t agree about anything — except Iran

  

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

  

• Dan Perry Trump’s new Gaza plan marks a radical break from Israeli policy — can it succeed?

  

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

  

The Latest

• Opinion

  Learning To Become Fluent in ‘Faith-Speak’

  For American Jews, most of whom fall in the Democratic column; the re-election of President Bush — aided as it was by the religious right — has heightened the concern that we are fast becoming guests in an increasingly Christian nation. That might indeed be the case, but I nevertheless remain optimistic about our communal…

  By Shoshana Cardin Nov 26, 2004 | 3 min read
• Opinion

  Fight for Cure In ‘Laboratories Of Democracy’

  The need to clear the path for scientists to conduct lifesaving biomedical discoveries through stem-cell research has re-emerged as a national issue, especially since the passing of actor Christopher Reeve. Such discoveries could lead to treatments and cures for diseases that plague more than 100 million Americans, such as diabetes, Parkinson’s, cancer, Alzheimer’s and a…

  By June Walker Nov 26, 2004 | 3 min read
• Opinion

  Arafat Died an Uncontrite Terrorist

  Terrorism certainly didn’t begin with Yasser Arafat. It has its roots deep in history, from the Jewish Zealots-Sicarii during the Roman occupation, to the Hindu Thugees who strangled their enemies over the centuries, to the medieval Islamic Hashishins who prepared for assassinating political opponents by smoking hashish. But Arafat changed the nature of terrorism forever,…

  By Alan M. Dershowitz Nov 19, 2004 | 4 min read
• Opinion

  The Palestinian Moment

  More abruptly than anyone could have predicted, the death of Yasser Arafat has cleared the path for a new beginning in Israeli-Palestinian diplomacy, if the key players know how to read the signs and seize the opportunities. On the Palestinian side, Mahmoud Abbas, the longtime Arafat lieutenant known as Abu Mazen, has moved with unexpected…

  Nov 19, 2004 | 2 min read
• Opinion

  The New Face of Palestinian Diplomacy

  In the wake of Yasser Arafat’s death, the world’s attention has justifiably been focused on who will fill the outsized shoes of the father of Palestinian nationalism. Clearly, any potential for peace hinges on whether the society he left behind will be ruled by the Palestinian Authority or by anarchy. But as the Palestinian power…

  By Roger Zakheim Nov 19, 2004 | 3 min read
• Opinion

  What It Takes To Be a State

  ‘Look, Ma, I’m a State!” is not the way it works. You may wake up one morning a-tingle with statehood, bursting with national fervor, impatient for a prize too-long deferred, even with your flag ready to be raised and your anthem to be sung, but all that doesn’t mean you’re ready — not, at any…

  By Leonard Fein Nov 19, 2004 | 4 min read
• Opinion

  Rice’s Mission

  If there were any doubts about President Bush’s inclination to learn from the foreign-policy mistakes of his first term, he seemed to lay them to rest this week with his nomination of Condoleezza Rice as secretary of state. True to form, the president is not looking back but steaming forward, and critics be damned. Coming…

  Nov 19, 2004 | 3 min read
• Letters

  November 19, 2004

  Ginsburg’s Roots Just As Just as Bush Picks As a Jewish Republican, I often hear from my Democratic friends that they are concerned President Bush will nominate religious conservatives to the Supreme Court. They tell me they are afraid Bush will ignore the law and instead follow his own religious beliefs. Yet the Forward saw…

  Nov 19, 2004 | 5 min read