Opinion

• Opinion

  Democrats must demand Joe Biden respond to the sexual assault allegation

  On the merits, the substance, Tara Reade had no case. That is until a former neighbor of Reade’s went on record saying Reade told her in 1993 that Joe Biden had sexually assaulted her. That doesn’t mean Biden is lying when he says the allegation is false, just that Reade’s story seems more plausible today…

  By Issac J. Bailey

  4 min read
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  Opinion

  I own a kosher restaurant. The community is rallying around us.

  “How are you guys doing?” It’s a question I get asked a lot lately. It’s not an unusual question during a pandemic. But I’m a small business owner. My wife and I own and operate Holy Chow, Washington, D.C.’s only certified glatt kosher Chinese restaurant. In normal times, we are one of the handful of…

  By Ami Schreiber Apr 28, 2020 | 6 min read
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  Opinion

  Coronavirus flipped the power dynamics between Israel and the Diaspora

  For the first time in Israel’s now 72 years, we are living at a moment in which both the Jewish people and the nation-state are fighting the same global threat. Also for perhaps the first time, Israel’s answer to the challenges of world Jewry cannot be to offer itself as a safe-haven — at least…

  By Tracy Frydberg Apr 28, 2020 | 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 There’s a shocking new report on civilian deaths in Gaza. If only it were accurate.

  

• Nora Berman Is Netflix’s new show the most Jewish cartoon ever?

  

• Dan Perry Israel’s new gift to the far right could help end the Gaza war

  

• Emily Tamkin Entering motherhood — and an obsession with the works of an Italian Jewish literary hero

  

The Latest

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  Opinion

  Can we celebrate Yom Ha’atzmaut with the threat of impending annexation?

  On Tuesday night, Israel’s 72nd Independence Day will commence. These are not the easiest of times for those of us who love Israel and who believe that a love of Israel is a cornerstone of our contemporary American Jewish identity. The past year has been hard to watch. Three elections cycles were waged over the…

  By Ariel Ilan Roth Apr 28, 2020 | 3 min read
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  Opinion

  In an era of social distancing, Yom Ha’atzmaut is an opportunity for connecting across the divide

  Two years ago, standing on a stage in the middle of Times Square, surrounded by a crowd gathered to celebrate Israel’s 70th anniversary, we watched a beautiful display about Israel on the enormous screens. This year, the screen will be slightly smaller; I will be watching the celebrations from my 15-inch laptop. 2020 has not…

  By Almog Elijis Apr 27, 2020 | 4 min read
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  Opinion

  Mort Klein’s attack against HIAS isn’t just offensive. It’s dangerous.

  Any successful refugee journey requires a number of miracles. One significant miracle for tens of thousands of Soviet Jews was the fact that disparate, raucous, often-clashing factions of American Jewry managed to set aside animosity and unite around our freedom. When I was 10 years old, my family was among those tens of thousands welcomed…

  By Lev Golinkin Apr 27, 2020 | 3 min read
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  Opinion

  The Conference of Presidents’ capitulation to ZOA against HIAS is shameful

  Yesterday, the Conference of Presidents of Major Jewish Organizations, the umbrella group that purports to convene mainstream Jewish organizations, decided to delay the ascension of Dianne Lob as chair for one year. The ostensible reason was a complaint by the Zionist Organization of America which, among other things, alleged that Lob was “virtually unknown” and…

  By Abe Silberstein Apr 27, 2020 | 4 min read
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  Opinion

  What Israel’s independence cost my family

  My mother’s grandfather, Mahmoud, was a wealthy landowner in the village of Iraq Suwaydan, which used to be 17 miles north of Gaza. It was destroyed in 1948, during Operation Yoav, and my great-grandfather lost everything. He became one of the hundreds of thousands of refugees that flooded into Gaza as a result of the…

  By Muhammad Shehada Apr 27, 2020 | 4 min read
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  Opinion

  Israelis and Palestinians mourn our losses together on Yom Hazikaron

  Fighting dangerous pathogens that rip through societies is not new to joint Israeli-Palestinian organizations like the Parents Circle-Families Forum and Combatants for Peace. Fear, hatred, and dehumanization, like viruses, are invisible. They are often asymptomatic in many and lead to senseless fatalities in others. COVID-19 and fear, hatred and dehumanization know no borders, religion or…

  By Shiri Ourian Apr 26, 2020 | 3 min read
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  Opinion

  Why are Jewish intellectual sexual predators being honored in a new book?

  Should admitted, unrepentant sexual predators who happen to be Jewish intellectuals be accepted by the Jewish community as if they had committed no offenses? That is the question raised by the disturbing inclusion of three admitted Jewish sex abusers in a soon-to-be-released book, “The New Jewish Canon,” by Yehuda Kurtzer and Claire E. Sufrin. According…

  By Shulamit Magnus and Rafael Medoff Apr 25, 2020 | 4 min read
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  Opinion

  ‘Here we sit. In limbo.’ A day in the life of a small business owner during a pandemic.

  I’m up by 6:00 am, but my husband Daniel has already been up for hours. He gets up between 2:00 and 4:00 am to research financial markets and potential investments. We take that first hour before the kids stir to check in on the day. What has to happen? Who is working in the cidery…

  By Talia Haykin Apr 24, 2020 | 5 min read