Opinion

• Opinion

  Why Don’t Jews Realize How Dangerous Anti-BDS Laws Are?

  The movement to boycott, divest from and sanction Israel, known as BDS, is in the news this week, thanks to a harrowing tale reported in The Intercept about a Muslim speech therapist in Austin, Texas named Bahia Amawi. Amawi was told she could no longer work in the Texas public school system unless she signed…

  By Batya Ungar-Sargon

  5 min read
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  Opinion

  Is This How We Defend Israel — By Firing Teachers, Lawyers and Repair Men?

  The Intercept today published an account of what happened to Bahia Amawi, a speech pathologist who has worked for the last nine years with developmentally disabled, autistic and speech-impaired elementary school students. Every year since 2009, Amawi has signed a contract with a school district that includes Austin, Texas to provide assessment and support for…

  By Jane Eisner Dec 18, 2018 | 4 min read
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  Opinion

  Did Jared Kushner Learn To Fail Up From Trump?

  Last week, we learned that in 2016, Jared Kushner was appointed to be the new Michael Cohen. That’s when Trump made his son-in-law “the main conduit between Trump and his friend David Pecker, the National Enquirer publisher and chief executive of AMI, who prosecutors said on Wednesday admitted to making a $150,000 hush-money payment ‘in…

  By Molly Jong-Fast Dec 17, 2018 | 3 min read

Columnists View All

• Jay Michaelson What can really be done to prevent antisemitic attacks like Bondi Beach?

  

• Rob Eshman Australia shooting terrifies Jews worldwide — and strengthens the case for Israel

  

• Nora Berman Did crypto-Jews invent the modern tarot deck?

  

• Dan Perry The 3 responses to the Bondi Beach Hanukkah attack that could make Jews safer

  

• Emily Tamkin The fundamental miscalculation behind the GOP’s antisemitism crisis

  

The Latest

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  Opinion

  Why Louis Farrakhan Can No Longer Be Excused

  Louis Farrakhan, leader of the Nation of Islam, is an unrepentant bigot. His hatred of, and disdain for, Jews, gay men and lesbians, trans people and white people in general is consistent and unwavering. It forms the basis of his prophecy and his politics, which he will shamelessly preach to anyone who will listen. Farrakhan…

  By Jane Eisner Dec 17, 2018 | 5 min read
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  Opinion

  It’s Not Just Jews. Let’s Remember The Other People Europeans Love To Hate

  Some years ago, I was discussing the history of Jews in Poland with a Polish academic. He pointed out to me that while anti-Semitism has certain unique characteristics, in pre-war Poland it was part of a web of inter-ethnic conflicts that also included Ukrainians, Lithuanians, and Germans, to name a few. Timothy Snyder makes a…

  By Gordon Haber Dec 13, 2018 | 3 min read
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  Opinion

  American Jews And Israelis No Longer Agree On What Anti-Semitism Is

  Last week, Prime Minister of Israel Benjamin Netanyahu shocked Jews worldwide when his office revealed it would be working with Hungary on a museum dedicated to Holocaust revisionism. As if that wasn’t bad enough, the museum will be curated by a woman whose magazine targeted the Hungarian Jewish community’s president, András Heisler, in an anti-Semitic…

  By Batya Ungar-Sargon Dec 12, 2018 | 7 min read
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  Opinion

  How Did Ashkenazi Jews End Up With Famous Non-Jewish Last Names?

  It’s a fact: Ashkenazi Jews often bear surnames also used by Christians. What, if anything, does that tell us? Surnames used by a population often contain clues about the historical, linguistic and cultural past of the group. Certain names reveal migration patterns, others provide clues about the occupations of the ancestors and some names provide…

  By Alexander Beider Dec 12, 2018 | 5 min read
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  Opinion

  TIME’s Honor Of Brave Journalists Shows What Happens When Our Leaders Embrace Despots

  As a journalist, especially as a Jewish journalist, I was gratified that TIME magazine chose to honor the members of our profession who have displayed extraordinary courage, even at the cost of their own lives, simply to do their jobs. “The Guardians” is how editor Ed Felsenthal described the group of journalists, alive and dead,…

  By Jane Eisner Dec 11, 2018 | 3 min read
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  Opinion

  Can The Occupation’s Cheerleader Win Over American Jews? Q&A With Naftali Bennett

  It’s no secret that American Jews and their Israeli counterparts have less in common with every passing day. But where you locate the source of that chasm depends on which side of the Atlantic you’re standing on. For American Jews, Israel’s dispossession of Palestinian civil rights, the monopoly of the ultra-Orthodox over religious matters, and…

  By Batya Ungar-Sargon Dec 11, 2018 | 14 min read
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  Opinion

  Like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, My Latinx And Jewish Histories Intersect

  At a Hanukkah party on Sunday night, Congresswoman-elect Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez shared that “generations and generations ago, my family consisted of Sephardic Jews.” In doing so, she publicly joined a vast community of people, including my family, in embracing the space where Jewish and Latinx identities intersect. It is a story that, sadly, has long sat…

  By Jeremy Burton Dec 11, 2018 | 3 min read
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  Opinion

  Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Is The Donald Trump Of The Left

  It’s the age of identity on the left. But the lines of what that entails change daily. On one hand, your identity at birth is paramount. Intersectionality could not exist without it. Your sex, your race, your religion, your sexuality, it all plays a part in what claim to victimhood you can stake. On the…

  By Karol Markowicz Dec 11, 2018 | 3 min read