In the Forward’s opinion section, you’ll find analysis and essays from diverse corners of the Jewish world.
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Opinion
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Opinion
Blaming ‘Both Sides’ For Political Rage Is Ignorant – And Immoral
I logged onto Twitter on Saturday night to find a message from Alan Dershowitz. “The both sides argument is always proper,” he tweeted. “Blaming only one side— the “other” side— is too easy. The shoe on the other foot test requires that you condemn your side’s bigots along with their side’s.” “Shootings at places of…
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Opinion Opinion | Senator Kristen Gillibrand: America Must Be Safe For Jews
Just over a week ago, an avowed anti-Semite walked into a synagogue here in the United States, armed with a weapon designed for soldiers at war, and murdered 11 Jews while they were praying on the Sabbath. The extraordinary violence was as shocking as it was heartbreaking, but the anger that fueled the violence –…
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Opinion Trump’s Angry Pittsburgh Response Killed GOP Chance Of Midterms Victory
In the aftermath of the terrible synagogue massacre in Pittsburgh, President Trump has been forced to figure out how to respond sensitively while also campaigning for the looming midterm elections. In a world in which 71% of Jews vote for Democrats, many of whom have decided to leverage this tragedy into a political call to…
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Opinion The Pittsburgh Killer And Kroger’s Gunman Didn’t Just Kill. They Stole Our Memory.
As the names and ages of those lost in last week’s horrific massacre during Shabbat morning services at Pittsburgh’s Tree of Life Synagogue were released, one heartbreaking fact stood out: The victims were 11 worshippers, all between the ages of 54 and 97. The US Black community also lost two elders last week in a…
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Opinion Why Calling Anti-Semites ‘White Nationalists’ Actually Gives Them Cover
The mass murder of Jews at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh came as a shock. However, for anyone paying attention, it did not come as a surprise. And therein lies the problem. All too few have been paying attention to anti-Semitism. Among those who have failed to pay heed are the media, universities,…
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Opinion It’s Time To Call B.S. On Hate Speech As Free Speech
‘I’m a strong supporter of people’s First Amendment rights to speak, whether it is speech I agree with or disagree with,” said Pennsylvania attorney general Josh Shapiro in the aftermath of the antisemitic massacre in Pittsburgh. He continued, “What is not tolerable in this country and what is not constitutional in this country is when…
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Opinion ‘Money Grubbing’ Campaign Ads Aren’t Anti-Semitic — They’re Politics As Usual
In the wake of the bloodiest anti-Semitic attack in modern American history, many are rightfully emotional and fearful, myself included. But passions have run amok a week before Election Day. Some of this emotion is getting the better of us, and public discourse has descended into the absurd. Even in the face of tragedy, proportion…
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Opinion The Ugly Reason Naftali Bennett Is Minimizing Anti-Semitism
Among the many inversions of the Trump presidency, perhaps none is weirder than the spectacle of Naftali Bennett, the ultranationalist Israeli Diaspora Affairs Minister, downplaying anti-Semitism. Up until now, Bennett seemed to see anti-Semitism rising everywhere around him: in Poland, to which he cancelled a trip in February; in the BDS movement, which he called…
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Opinion Muslims Must Do More Than Grand Gestures To Eradicate Anti-Semitism
I spent Saturday morning glued to the news, watching as the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh was devastated by a single white supremacist, fueled by both anti-Semitism and Islamophobia. As an American Muslim interfaith activist, I’ve spent years forming relationships with the Jewish communities locally and across the country, so my heart swelled to…
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Opinion Will The Pittsburgh Shooting Affect The Midterms? It Shouldn’t.
Lots of people are asking how the Pittsburgh shooting will influence the midterms. Here’s a thought: They shouldn’t. I believe that’s how Hannah Arendt would respond. As a German Jew in the 1920’s and 30’s, she saw first-hand what happens when politics and emotion mix. And she spent the rest of her life looking for…
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Opinion Memo To Israelis: America Is Sitting Shiva. Your Job Is To Listen.
I had many great honors in the years I served as U.S. Ambassador to Israel. But the single hardest part of the job? The many funerals and shivas I attended. Often I was visiting after a horrific terrorist attack took innocent lives. Sometimes it was to mourn Israeli soldiers who fell in battle. Less painful,…
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Fast Forward Chabad on high alert after false Tucker Carlson and Candace Owens war claims
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Fast Forward Jewish groups ask Pentagon to stop Messianic chaplains from wearing Jewish insignia
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Fast Forward Lev Parnas, Jewish Trump ally turned critic, running for Congress as a Democrat
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