Opinion

• Opinion

  Stop Calling Pittsburgh ‘The New Anti-Semitism.’ It’s Just The Old One

  “Open you Eyes! It’s the filthy EVIL jews Bringing the Filthy EVIL Muslims into the Country!!” These words were distributed on social media by Robert Bowers, the man who would turn his hatred into reality when he forced his way into the Tree of Life synagogue on Shabbat one year ago and murdered 11 Jews….

  By Alex Zeldin

  3 min read
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  Opinion

  Ilhan Omar Just Came Out Against Sanctions. So Why Does She Back BDS?

  Earlier this week, Minnesota Congresswoman Ilhan Omar wrote a surprising oped in the Washington Post. In it, she broke ranks with the bipartisan coalition seeking to halt Turkey from devastating the people of Syria, and argued — ostensibly opposing but in fact in line with President Trump — that imposing sanctions on Turkey would be…

  By Daniella Greenbaum Davis Oct 24, 2019 | 4 min read
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  Opinion

  BDS Is Waging War Against Liberal Democracy

  Anti-Semitism is a non-sectarian project. Left and Right converge in their embrace of the world’s oldest hatred. It’s something American Jews are keenly aware of, as evidenced by a recently published AJC poll about anti-Semitism. The poll found that 89% of US Jews believe the anti-Semitism of the “extreme political right” represents a threat, while…

  By William Kolbrener Oct 24, 2019 | 4 min read

Columnists View All

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

  

• Jay Michaelson I supported Israel’s actions in Gaza in October 2023 — not anymore

  

• Rob Eshman The staggering hypocrisy behind Trump’s deal to free the last living American hostage

  

• Nora Berman She’s a titan of Israeli architecture. Her story contains troubling lessons for her country

  

• Dan Perry It looks like Israel totally underestimated Trump

  

• Emily Tamkin This week proved it: Trump’s approach to antisemitism at Columbia is horribly ineffective

  

The Latest

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  Opinion

  What The AJC Poll Gets Wrong About American Jews And Zionism

  On Wednesday, the American Jewish Committee released a survey of American Jews’ opinions about anti-Semitism. It’s a case study in how to obfuscate what American Jews actually believe. The AJC, like many establishment American Jewish organizations, tends to depict anti-Semitism in the United States as emanating roughly equally from the left and the right. Thus,…

  By Peter Beinart Oct 24, 2019 | 4 min read
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  Opinion

  Sorry, Gantz: Israel Is Heading To A Third Election. A Conversation With Ehud Olmert

  Benny Gantz has now been given the mandate to form a government, and the clock is ticking. He is pledging to form a liberal unity government and warning that the Israeli public will not forgive anyone who refuses to join and drags the country into third elections in the space of just one year. But…

  By Eylon A. Levy Oct 24, 2019 | 3 min read
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  Opinion

  What Israel’s Past Leaders Can Teach Us About Its Current Problem

  The Netanyahu era is coming to an end in Israel. Once again, Benjamin Netanyahu has been unable to put together a government. Perhaps he will survive for a time in a national unity government, but even that may prove temporary if he is indicted by the Attorney General in early December. But regardless of whether…

  By David Makovsky and Dennis Ross Oct 23, 2019 | 5 min read
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  Opinion

  The Best Way To Fight Anti-Semitism? Jewish Joy

  This piece is part of a series for the one year yahrzeit of the Pittsburgh Tree of Life synagogue massacre. I write in the aftermath of an attempted massacre in Halle, Germany and in anticipation of the Yahrzeit of the Tree of Life tragedy, the worst antisemitic attack to occur on American soil. But for…

  By Deborah E. Lipstadt Oct 23, 2019 | 4 min read
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  Opinion

  What The Bard Panel On Anti-Semitism Taught Me About My Own Jewishness

  In early November of 1989, my mother and I immigrated from the Soviet Union. Three days after we left, the wall collapsed, bringing to an end the official state entity we were escaping. We left because we were Jewish. For seven months, we traveled between two worlds. HIAS monitored our progress, from the place we…

  By Nikita Nelin Oct 22, 2019 | 9 min read
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  Opinion

  The Jewish Prayer That Guided – And Defined – Our Coverage Of The Pittsburgh Massacre

  A writer searches for the right language to mourn those slain in the Pittsburgh synagogue

  By David Shribman Oct 21, 2019 | 5 min read
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  Opinion

  A Year Later, a Catholic Mother of Future Rabbi Reflects on Their Home: Squirrel Hill

  The most solemn day in Judaism, Yom Kippur, was a grim reminder that the 11 Jews gunned down during morning prayer at Pittsburgh’s Tree of Life synagogue had not had their names written in the Book of Life last year. Instead, as Jews everywhere gathered earlier this month in synagogues fortified with security, those 11…

  By Cindy Skrzycki Oct 21, 2019 | 4 min read
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  Opinion

  Letter | Why Is Everyone Lying About Bard? Every Other Account Proves Ungar-Sargon Right.

  Ever since Batya Ungar-Sargon described being protested at Bard College’s recent conference on — irony alert — racism and anti-Semitism, the college and the Hannah Arendt Center which hosted the conference have been in engaged in a full-court PR effort to recast the events and impugn her integrity. In four letters to the Forward, some…

  By Shany Mor Oct 20, 2019 | 7 min read