Opinion

• Opinion

  The real killer of the two-state solution? The Palestinian right of return

  Twenty years ago, in July 2000, we were filled with hope as Ehud Barak, Israel’s Prime Minister and leader of the Labor Party, left for Camp David to negotiate a final peace agreement with the Palestinians. After more than a decade of previously unimaginable historical breakthroughs – the collapse of the Soviet Union, the fall…

  By Adi Schwartz and Einat Wilf

  6 min read
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  Opinion

  Erasing left wing anti-Semitism is the height of privilege

  Wednesday night marks the start of one of the most profound days of mourning on the Jewish calendar: Tisha B’av. This is the day on which both the First and Second Temples were destroyed. It’s also the date of many other Jewish tragedies, including the British expulsion of Jews in 1290, the Spanish expulsion of…

  By Emily Shire Jul 30, 2020 | 6 min read
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  Opinion

  Dear American Jewish boys: Please find another outlet for your Oedipal rage. Signed, Israeli Jews

  Dear American Jewish boys, Please, please, take your Oedipal rage and find another outlet for it. It’s not Israel’s fault you hate your parents. Leave us out of this. I understand, I get it. You were 12, you were at summer camp, and someone gave you a heroic version of Israel’s history, and now that…

  By Shany Mor Jul 29, 2020 | 3 min read

Columnists View All

• Jodi Rudoren This is my last column as editor of the Forward

  

• Jay Michaelson Mamdani’s victory is an opportunity for Jews to relearn the art of disagreement

  

• Rob Eshman Want to understand what’s wrong with the ‘pro-Palestine’ movement? This Palestinian can help

  

• Nora Berman Did Netanyahu coerce Trump into attacking Iran? No — but he tried with Obama

  

• Dan Perry Trump wants to control the Israeli judiciary. Uh, good luck

  

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

  

The Latest

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  Opinion

  Wake up, Jewish establishment: Seth Rogen speaks for a lot of us young Jews

  Few millennial Jews have the ability to capture the Jewish cultural conversation the way Seth Rogen does. And this week, he used that influence to show the Jewish establishment why it can’t keep pretending that young Jews who reject Zionism and the state of Israel are relegated to a tiny, insignificant fringe of the community….

  By Joel Swanson Jul 29, 2020 | 5 min read
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  Letters

  Letter | To the Jewish AOCs: Why don’t Jewish institutions support you?

  To the Editor: In response to “We are the Jewish AOCs,” I would like to say that I fully agree and add that I am here, too, and for decades have been speaking and writing on our behalf. The problem is not only for “the Jewish organizational world to see us [my emphasis] as leaders…

  By Susannah Heschel Jul 29, 2020 | < 1 min read
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  Opinion

  Anti-Semitism thrives on rumor. Trump is a rumor machine.

  American Jews (Republican and Democrat alike) have made a habit in the last four years of trying to work out the relationship between Trump and anti-Semitism. We normally do this by carefully reading the tea leaves left out in the news. What does it mean when the White House—but not the president—gives press credentials to…

  By Adam Jortner Jul 29, 2020 | 3 min read
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  Letters

  Letter | We are the Jewish AOCs

  “Where are the Jewish leaders who speak for women?” Dr. Susannah Heschel asks this critical question in her July 27th opinion piece in these pages. She celebrates Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s recent speech on the House floor condemning Rep. Ted Yoho’s demeaning and insulting language and behavior which, unfortunately, is not unusual for women – especially…

  By Jamie Allen Black, and Naomi Eisenberger, and Nicole Nevarez Jul 29, 2020 | 5 min read
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  Opinion

  Make 2,000 years of mourning count: Use it to fight racism.

  There is a story first documented at the end of the 1800s and almost certainly false: Napoleon was taking a walk in Paris one August evening when he heard a loud wailing from a nearby synagogue. His servants investigated and found people sitting on the ground, barefoot, weeping into prayer books. They informed Napoleon that…

  By Shira Telushkin Jul 29, 2020 | 4 min read
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  Opinion

  It’s time for a revolution in halakhic rulings.

  The realities of quarantine and sheltering-in-place during these last few months have created challenges for the halakhically-observant community. Halakhic decisors have issued their rulings, responding appropriately and sympathetically to these unprecedented realities. What has largely been absent, however, is a serious engagement with the person asking the question; sympathetic psak is not the same as…

  By Dov Linzer Jul 28, 2020 | 4 min read
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  Opinion

  Letter | Of course Judaism believes in cancel culture

  This article is part of a new series called “On Persuasion.” We asked thought leaders to consider what persuasion means to them. What works in terms of persuading people? Is it moot in 2020? What is the Jewish value of persuasion? Should we be opening our minds to other points of view, or closing them…

  By Benjamin Kreuter Jul 27, 2020 | 2 min read
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  Opinion

  Where is the Jewish AOC?

  The Jewish president of a major American university came to speak many years ago at Dartmouth College, where I am a professor, and denounced affirmative action as a serious threat to Jews. I pointed out to him that affirmative action had been tremendously beneficial to my own career as a woman who is also a…

  By Susannah Heschel Jul 27, 2020 | 3 min read