Opinion

• Opinion

  Bolting for Bush

  I am a lifelong Democrat. I was elected to New York’s City Council, Congress and three terms as mayor of New York City on the Democratic Party line. I believe in the values of the Democratic Party as articulated by Presidents Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Harry Truman, John F. Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson and by Senators…

  By Edward I. Koch

  4 min read
• Letters

  January 2, 2004

  Don’t Count GOP Votes Before They’re Hatched In your interview with Senator Norm Coleman, he expresses the view that “in the Arab world people understand strength” and that the policies of the Bush administration, including the current war in Iraq, will redound to the benefit of Israel and help persuade Jewish voters to side with…

  Jan 2, 2004 | 5 min read
• Opinion

  Pouring Fuel on Israel’s Fire

  Quite naturally, our attention when we think of Israel is principally focused on issues of war and peace: the intifada, the persistent terrorism, the halting peace efforts both governmental and private, the occupation and so forth. But there is, of course, another Israel — not the Israel of the deadly headlines, but the Israel where…

  By Leonard Fein Jan 2, 2004 | 4 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 I have the answer to Jon Stewart’s toughest question about Israel

  

• Nora Berman ‘Eddington’ is full of conspiracy theories but it’s not about Jews. Or is it?

  

• Dan Perry Recognizing a Palestinian state is a great way to doom Palestinians

  

• Emily Tamkin Is starvation in Gaza really Israel’s fault? The facts are clear

  

The Latest

• Opinion

  Iran’s Victims

  Our minds balk in the face of biblical-scale catastrophes of the sort visited last week on the Iranian city of Bam. As the earthquake’s victim count rises into meaningless strings of digits — 20,000 dead, then 25,000, then 30,000 and still climbing — we become numb. What, precisely, is the meaning of “limitless”? How can…

  Jan 2, 2004 | 2 min read
• Opinion

  The Generals’ Discontent

  Of all the conflicts underway in the strife-torn Middle East, none is more riveting, to those who can follow it, than the quietly growing demurral of Israel’s senior military commanders from the direction in which their political leaders are taking their country. One after another a parade of current and former Israeli defense and intelligence…

  Jan 2, 2004 | 3 min read
• Opinion

  Who, Who?

  Armed with press releases and draped in full-body owl costumes, a handful of feathered feminists staged a demonstration last week in front of the headquarters of the United Jewish Communities. The walking birds were members of Jewish Women Watching, a women’s rights group whose members famously refuse to identify themselves while launching campaigns aimed at…

  By Ami Eden Dec 26, 2003 | 2 min read
• Opinion

  A Study in Jewish Growth

  One of the most noteworthy trends in American Jewish life is the growing proportion of Jewish adults who have taken Jewish studies courses in college. From the most recent National Jewish Population Survey, we learn that among students enrolled in college and or graduate school in 2000-2001, 41% have taken such a course, representing a…

  By Bethamie Horowitz Dec 26, 2003 | 2 min read
• Opinion

  Pro-Israel Activism Makes Comeback on Campus

  When the anti-Iraq war movement first burst on the scene, Israel’s core detractors recognized an opportunity to leverage a unique confluence of political dynamics. Thirty million echo-boomers entered the political arena for the first time, anti-war sentiment burgeoned on campus and a radical anti-Israel orientation continued to pervade much of the national leadership of the…

  By Jonathan Kessler Dec 26, 2003 | 3 min read
• Opinion

  The Welfare of Children

  In 1996, President Bill Clinton, seeking to fulfill a campaign promise “to end welfare as we know it,” signed a welfare reform law that turned the cash assistance entitlement program into a block grant to states, set lifetime time limits on use of federal funds for welfare, and adopted a work-first philosophy for welfare recipients….

  By Jennifer Mezey Dec 26, 2003 | 4 min read
• Opinion

  Shopping for Justice in California

  Just up the street from my home in Pasadena, Calif., there is a Vons supermarket. For the past 10 weeks, I have not shopped there. Instead, I drive by, honk my horn at the workers standing outside with their picket signs and make my way across town to shop at other unionized grocery stores. It…

  By Joshua Levine-Grater Dec 26, 2003 | 3 min read
• Letters

  December 26, 2003

  Anti-Gentile Book Aims For Moral High Ground I was somewhat surprised by the December 19 article on Rabbi Saadya Grama’s book, which alleges racist views on the part of the author (“Charedi Rabbis Rush To Disavow Anti-Gentile Book”). I have yet not had an opportunity to review the entire book. However, I can state with…

  Dec 26, 2003 | 5 min read