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
How Jewish Academia Created A #MeToo Disaster
On Thursday, an exposé in the Jewish Week chronicled eight women’s stories in which they accused Steven M. Cohen of exploitative conduct. The personal and institutional dimensions of these serious allegations will ripple far into the future in ways we cannot know. However, as historians of American Jews, we do know that these allegations reflect…
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Opinion For Palestinians, Israel’s Nation State Bill Only Tells Us What We Already Know
Late Thursday night, the Israeli Knesset passed a controversial law that defines Israel as the nation-state of the Jewish people. As a Basic Law, it enshrines much of the ongoing discrimination against Palestinian citizens of Israel. Critics have slammed the new law as “the official beginning of fascism and apartheid” and “a poison pill for…
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Opinion Why Do People Care More About Adelson’s Money Than The Lives Of Palestinians?
Over the past three weeks, 13 Birthright participants decided to walk off their Birthright trips, causing quite a stir. The walk-offs happened on three different trips, but all for the same reason. After repeatedly asking questions about the material they were being presented and then receiving whitewashed answers about Israel’s military rule over Palestinians, or…
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Opinion Mark Zuckerberg Falls For Nazi B.S.
Mark Zuckerberg announced this week that he would not remove Holocaust deniers from Facebook, because he did not think they were deliberately lying. In an interview with Recode, Zuckerberg, who is Jewish, raised the issue of Holocaust denial himself as an example of speech Facebook would allow on its platform. “I find [Holocaust denial] deeply…
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Opinion I’m A Settler Who Defends The Birthright Walkouts
Twice this summer, a number of students have filmed themselves walking off their Birthright trips. The much debated walkouts are part of a campaign called “Not Just A Free Trip” organized by the American Jewish activist group IfNotNow. But while many believe that IfNotNow’s left-wing walkouts of Birthright trips may be nothing more than a…
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Opinion The Real Reason People Are Upset About Birthright Walkouts
The Jewish world is in an uproar over what are being called “Birthright walkouts”. Twice this summer, a number of students have publicly announced that they would be leaving their Birthright trips midway to learn more about the plight of the Palestinians. Filming themselves, they then abandoned the trip. Both times, the resulting brouhaha dominated…
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Opinion Why These Orthodox Jews Are Fighting For Muslim Rights
An intriguing alliance, ad hoc but no less notable for the fact, took place in Israel’s Knesset recently. Two Haredi parties, United Torah Judaism and Shas, came to the defense of the Joint List of Arab parties to block a bill that would ban religious institutions from using loudspeakers. The legislation was clearly aimed at…
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Opinion Zionism Is Not Racist. Israel’s Nation-State Bill Shouldn’t Be Either.
The nation-state bill that the Knesset has been debating for the past week became law this week. Since its inception, it’s left a non-stop controversy in its wake. From the noxious clause that would have enshrined state-sanctioned discrimination in one of Israel’s Basic Laws – thankfully dropped after a wave of protest both in Israel…
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Opinion Playing Politics With Birthright? That’s Like Stealing A Free Trip To Israel.
Are Jewish 20-somethings entitled to a free trip to Israel? For decades, the donors behind Birthright Israel have gifted thousands of young Jews from around the world with 10-day immersive experiences in the Holy Land. The heritage and culture trips sometimes center around a particular theme, like Israeli food, Russian culture, or Israel’s LGBTQ commuity….
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Opinion Walking Out On Birthright Was The Right Thing To Do
Last week, five participants of Birthright walked out on the program and straight onto a tour of the segregated city of Hebron with IDF veterans from Breaking the Silence, where they saw what Birthright desperately tried to hide. They saw the checkpoints, the streets Palestinians aren’t allowed to walk on and the caged windows that…
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Opinion Israel’s ‘Nation State’ Bill Isn’t Just Racist. It’s A Slap In The Face To Diaspora Jews.
A bill passing through Israel’s Knesset taking aim at the country’s Arab minority just became law. The bill’s full name is “Basic Law: Israel as the Nation-State of the Jewish People” though it’s more commonly referred to as the “Nation-State bill.” And it sets out to consolidate the Jewishness of the country at the expense…
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Culture 70 years ago, this Jewish choreographer predicted our epidemic of loneliness and isolation
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Opinion Trump is backed into a corner on Iran. Get ready for him to start blaming Jews
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Books A new book explores the vibrancy of pre-war Warsaw
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Opinion Mahmoud Khalil’s anti-Zionist case to Jews shows the case for skepticism
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Opinion Mahmoud Khalil’s reassurances are bad for Jews but even worse for Palestinians
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Film & TV Jonah Hill’s cancel culture dramedy makes an antisemitism exception — all about Kanye
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