Opinion

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  A Shameful History: FDR Made It Harder For Jews To Immigrate During The Holocaust

  Dear Editor: In Jane Eisner’s piece “We Failed To Save Refugees From The Holocaust. We’re Failing Again Today,” she writes: “President Franklin Delano Roosevelt was repeatedly presented with the opportunity to take in Jewish refugees but, more often than not, acceded to political expediency and public pressure by doing nothing.” Actually, FDR did worse than…

  By Rafael Medoff

  2 min read
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  Opinion

  How Young American Jews Made Palestinian Rights All About Themselves

  There’s a lot of talk about how young American Jews are abandoning Israel. It’s spoken of as an existential threat for the American Jewish community, whose identity is so tightly bound up with Israel education and advocacy. But this account is wrong on two fronts. Young Jews aren’t abandoning Israel so much as vocally opposing…

  By Etan Nechin Jul 8, 2019 | 4 min read
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  Opinion

  My Fellow Israelis: Black Lives Matter Is Your Fight, Too

  I grew up in Kiryat Malachi, Israel. Scratch that. I grew up black in Kiryat Malachi, Israel. My family came to Israel from Ethiopia when I was somewhere between five and six years old. I was number eight of ten children, part of a veritable private tribe. Generations of my family dreamed of making aliya….

  By Avi Yalou Jul 3, 2019 | 3 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 How the Oct. 7 aftermath splintered the New York Dyke March

  

• 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

  When Our School Integrated, We Jewish Kids Were The Only White Ones Who Didn’t Boycott

  In 1972, I was six years old and attending first grade at an elementary school in Augusta, Georgia. My two older brothers and I were, as far as I knew, the only Jews in the school. But on March 15 of that year, we would also be the only white students in attendance. The previous…

  By Howard Lovy Jul 3, 2019 | 3 min read
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  Opinion

  I Was One of 36 Jews Arrested Protesting ICE. Never Again Is Now.

  “But Daddy, why didn’t anyone do anything? Didn’t they know? Didn’t they care?” The first conversation I had with my father about the Holocaust is seared into my memory. I was maybe seven or eight when he explained to me that millions of people had been murdered because of their religion, where they came from,…

  By Tae Phoenix Jul 2, 2019 | 2 min read
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  Opinion

  It’s Time To Admit That The US Is Signing The Checks For Greater Israel

  As part of their alleged plan for the Middle East, the Trump administration held what they called an economic “workshop” in Manama. It was an utter failure. The plan presented was nothing more than a real-estate brochure, and its revelation in Bahrain a poorly attended affair. What Trump’s team, led by his son-in-law Jared Kushner,…

  By Saeb Erekat Jul 1, 2019 | 4 min read
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  Opinion

  A Protest to Leaders Of the Ashkenazi Community in Mexico

  This article originally appeared in the Yiddish Forverts. I had the pleasure of working and visiting Mexico — specifically Jewish Mexico — several years ago. I am familiar with its Yiddish teachers and some of these teachers and members of the community were my students in courses I gave there at that time. Several weeks…

  By Sheva Zucker Jul 1, 2019 | 3 min read
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  Opinion

  Race – But Not Justice – Were The Winners At The Democratic Debates

  On Thursday, the Supreme Court stuck a country club steak knife deep into the gut of democracy when it barred challenges to gerrymandering. But somehow, voting rights — preserving the integrity of the American political process — did not come up as a topic. NBC moderators didn’t even bother to ask about it on what…

  By Charles D. Ellison Jun 28, 2019 | 3 min read
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  Opinion

  A New Prayer For The United States, In A Time Of Trial

  Since the time of the first exile, when the Jews found themselves in a foreign land and subjects of a foreign government, it has been the Jewish custom to pray for the welfare of the state in which we found ourselves. The source for this custom is found in the prophet Jeremiah, who wrote, “Seek…

  By Joe Schwartz Jun 28, 2019 | 6 min read
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  Opinion

  Foreign Policy Is The President’s Only Real Job. Why Was It Erased?

  This week’s Democratic debates made for good television – as sparks flew between candidates in tussles few expected. From former Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julian Castro arguing with former Texas Rep. Beto O’Rourke about decriminalizing border crossings to California Senator Kamala Harris taking former Vice President Joe Biden to task over his long-held opposition…

  By Zaid Jilani Jun 28, 2019 | 3 min read
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  Opinion

  The Left’s Fight For The Democratic Party Is Not Yet Won

  On Wednesday, hours before the first Democratic presidential primary debate aired, the Bloomberg columnist Jonathan Bernstein predicted that Democrats would evince a major party image never before seen in American politics. He was mainly speaking of the unprecedented racial and gender diversity among the Democratic hopefuls, but he could have just as easily been referencing…

  By Abe Silberstein Jun 28, 2019 | 3 min read