In the Forward’s opinion section, you’ll find analysis and essays from diverse corners of the Jewish world.
To pitch an opinion piece, email our Opinion Editor, Talya Zax.
Opinion
-
Opinion
What Julia Salazar’s Jewish Identity Taught Me About My Own
When I first learned about the personal biography of Julia Salazar, a candidate for New York State Senate, I felt a glimmer of recognition — and that was after reading an article in Tablet Magazine calling into question her Jewish parentage. Her family narrative sounded completely plausible to me. Like the story Salazar tells of…
-
Letters We Are Julia Salazar’s Former Classmates. We Had To Speak Out.
Less than two weeks ago, an article published in Tablet Magazine suggested that Julia Salazar, a candidate for the New York State Senate, lied about her Jewish and political past. Since then, other reports have also called into question her immigrant experience and class background. As friends and colleagues of Julia’s during her time at…
-
Opinion There Are No Winners In Steve Bannon’s Booting From New Yorker Festival
The latest controversy over the question of public platforms for odious speakers revolves around Steven Bannon, Donald Trump’s former chief strategist and ex-publisher of Breitbart News, the Pravda of the Trumpian right. On Monday, the news that Bannon would “headline” the upcoming New Yorker Festival in early October, appearing in an interview with New Yorker…
Columnists View All
The Latest
-
Opinion How Can We, As Parents, Trust That Our Children Are Safe From Abuse?
Welcome back to this special, post-Labor Day edition of Jane Looking Forward. If you wish to continue reading this weekly newsletter, please subscribe here. And spread the word! I spent much of last week shepherding into publication Ari Feldman’s superb reporting on how a child molester was able to pray on young Jews for decades,…
-
Opinion Louis Farrakhan Had Every Right To Be At Aretha Franklin’s Funeral
One of the most incredible Black cultural icons, the voice of a generation and the Civil Rights Movement, passed away several weeks ago after a period of ill health. Aretha Franklin was mourned in a widely publicized service whose guest list was a cross section of Black America and leaders relevant to it. Dozens of…
-
Opinion The Missing Information That Exonerates Jeremy Corbyn
As an anti-Zionist and pro-Palestinian politician and activist for decades, British Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has inevitably attracted at least some genuine anti-Semites to his party’s ranks. (Veteran pro-Zionist, anti-Palestinian politicians inevitably attract at least some genuine Islamophobes.) In an article last month in The Guardian titled “I will root anti-Semites out of Labour –…
-
Opinion Explainer: Is Israel A Democracy?
Should we be concerned about the state of Israeli democracy? Recent worrying events have included the passage of a Nation-State, as well as prime ministerial efforts to corral the press and ongoing campaigns to limit judicial independence. But are these signs that democracy and civil liberties in the Jewish proposed? What Is a Democracy? To…
-
Opinion The Real Reason People Compare Israel To The Nazis | Excerpt
The following is an excerpt from Yoram Hazony’s new book, “The Virtue of Nationalism.” I have always been troubled by the prospect that a nation such as Britain, which has so often been a light to others in politics, philosophy, and science, should some day soon step down from the stage of world history forever….
-
Opinion So-Called ‘Jews Of No Religion’ Are The Impetus For A Jewish Revolution
It wasn’t just the growth of intermarriage, you know. Or the dramatically shrinking Conservative movement. Or the fact that non-Orthodox Jews were having fewer and fewer children. The real dismaying headline of the Pew Research Center’s Portrait of Jewish Americans,, which this October will have been released five years ago, was the finding that young…
-
Opinion I Got Conned By An Alt-Right Troll
My super-secret CIA contact had been working me for a year, feeding me supposedly “inside information,” before I began to suspect that he might not be totally on the level. I first “met” the magical “Mister Smith” in July of 2017. I was relatively new to the extremely online lifestyle which I have now (for…
-
Opinion Julia Salazar’s Defenders Reveal The Limits Of Identity Politics
I have gotten used to having people ask me where I am from. It’s a natural if micro-aggressive reaction to my accent, my olive-brown skin, and the surprising spelling of my first name. If moved to respond, I explain that I am a Latina immigrant (I was born in Latin America) and Sephardi (confirmed by…
Explore
Most Popular
- 1
Fast Forward Chabad on high alert after false Tucker Carlson and Candace Owens war claims
- 2
Opinion Marco Rubio invoked a medieval antisemitic trope in justifying war with Iran
- 3
Culture How an Amish Mennonite school in Arkansas went viral with a song by an Orthodox Jew
- 4
News Reza Pahlavi, Iran’s exiled crown prince, has a plan for his people’s future — if they’ll have him
In Case You Missed It
-
Opinion War with Iran puts the US-Israel alliance at grave risk
-
News Confronting a Khamenei vigil in NYC, Iranian protesters declare solidarity with Jews
-
Opinion During WWII, a heroic Jewish lawyer warned against the dangers of a dual state — is it coming true in Trump’s America?
-
News Ronnie Eldridge was one of NYC’s toughest political minds
-
Shop the Forward Store
100% of profits support our journalism
