Opinion

• Opinion

  All Grief Isn’t Equal

  It shouldn’t make any difference, but it does, that one of last week’s suicide bombings was at a cafe on Emek Refaim Street, where I do most of my hanging out and arrange most of my meetings when I am in Jerusalem. It shouldn’t make any difference, but it does, that among the victims were…

  By Leonard Fein

  4 min read
• Opinion

  Terrorism and Oslo

  The 10th anniversary last Sunday of the famous White House handshake between Yitzhak Rabin and Yasser Arafat was able to do something that the handshake itself was never able to achieve, namely to get everybody on the same page. The relentless violence plaguing Israel and the territories has spread a universal sense of gloom across…

  Sep 19, 2003 | 4 min read
• Opinion

  A Shattered Childhood

  As I write this, my son and daughter are attending a double funeral. David and Nava Applebaum, the father and sister of their friend, were among those murdered last week in a Jerusalem café. Within minutes of the attack, my son was out hunting with his distraught friend for the missing father and sister in…

  By Frimet Roth Sep 19, 2003 | 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 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

  Release Russian Jewry From Jackson-Vanik

  Nearly three decades ago, Congress made American trade relations with the Soviet Union contingent upon respect for the human rights of Soviet Jews. Since then, more than 1 million Soviet Jews have emigrated, the Soviet Union has fallen, globalization has reshaped the world economy and relations between the Cold War powers have warmed into a…

  By Tankred Golenpolsky Sep 19, 2003 | 3 min read
• Opinion

  Throw an Open Party for U.S. Jewry’s 350th

  As communal leaders gear up to bring next year’s celebration of American Jewry’s 350th anniversary to a community or organization near you in 2004, it seems appropriate to consider the sensitivities of this big prospective birthday party. On September 9, more than 100 Jewish professionals, lay leaders and academics gathered at New York’s Center for…

  By Karla Goldman Sep 19, 2003 | 3 min read
• Opinion

  A Muslim Defense Of Jews on Trial

  I thought the class-action obesity lawsuit against McDonalds was the silliest thing to hit a courtroom until I read about an Egyptian scholar’s plans to take the Jewish people to court for an alleged crime committed several millennia ago (“Egyptian Scholar Planning Lawsuit Over Exodus Gold,” August 29). According to the Middle East Media Research…

  By Hesham Hassaballa Sep 12, 2003 | 3 min read
• Letters

  September 12, 2003

  Burg: Voice of Reason, Or Defeatist Leader? Opinion writer Avraham Burg’s words are a sign that there remains in Israel a voice of reason and justice (“A Failed Israeli Society Collapses While Its Leaders Remain Silent,” August 29). As a Greek citizen, I could never envision Izmir (Smyrna) and Istanbul (Konstantinoupoli) ever belonging to any…

  Sep 12, 2003 | 6 min read
• Opinion

  Remembrance

  Anniversaries, especially somber ones, are customarily times for introspection. We remember the painful past, take stock of the present and reflect on the future. Honoring the past helps keep us human. Considering the future is meant to help keep us alive. By extraordinary coincidence, this week marks the anniversaries of two pivotal events in what…

  Sep 12, 2003 | 2 min read
• Opinion

  Memorial for German Expulsion ‘Victims’ Makes Mockery of Shoah

  Many people suffered during World War II, Germans among them. But let there be no mistake: To label as victims the millions of ethnic Germans who were expelled from their homes in Eastern Europe after the defeat of the Nazis is to make a mockery of the Holocaust. Since 2000, an association representing some 2.5…

  By Marek Edelman Sep 12, 2003 | 3 min read
• Opinion

  In Keeping Terrorists Out, Security Fences Israelis In

  The declared aim of the security fence being constructed between Israel and the Palestinian territories in the West Bank is military: to provide better security for Israel’s Jewish population, under continuous attack in the bloody and seemingly endless intifada. But there is no question that its overriding purpose is psychological: to give the Israeli population…

  By Shmuel Erlich Sep 12, 2003 | 4 min read
• Opinion

  Vote SpongeBob SquarePants for California Governor

  Democrats need not panic over the runaway train that is Arnold Schwarzenegger’s candidacy for the California governorship. They need only to borrow a page from Hollywood and field their own media-friendly candidate. So here, forthwith, a list of nominees for the Democratic nod: • Ronald McDonald. Name recognition, Q ratings and positive feedback off the…

  By Bruce Stockler Sep 12, 2003 | 3 min read