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
Barnard’s BDS Vote Is What Happens When You Don’t Let Us Question Israel
This week, Barnard University’s students voted to divest from Israel. The news was shocking, not least because Barnard has the highest population percentage of Jews of any secular college in America. With a Jewish population of 33%, Jews could have voted down the motion had they all shown up and supported Israel. Where were those…
-
Letters Letter to the Editor: ‘Diaspora’ Is Hardly A Pejorative
To the Editor: Jane Eisner’s April 19 essay “It’s Time For Israel To Recognize That Diaspora Jews Are Already Home” correctly underscores the necessity to alter the framework for dialogue between Israel and world Jewry to an internal family discourse about the meaning of Jewish peoplehood. I disagree about dropping the term “Diaspora,” which is…
-
Opinion How Israel Won Over The Syrian People
In a popular Syrian news group on Facebook, a Syrian activist recently shared a video of Ahed Tamimi, the Palestinian teenager in jail for slapping an Israeli soldier. Across the world, Tamimi has become a cause celebré, a symbol of the Palestinian resistance to Israel’s occupation. But when the activist posted the Amnesty International video…
Columnists View All
The Latest
-
Opinion It’s Time For Israel To Recognize That Diaspora Jews Are Already Home
The State of Israel is 70 years old, well past its early growing pains; it is strong, confident and distinctive. North American Jewry is still here — strong, confident and distinctive in its own fashion. But the relationship between the world’s two largest Jewish communities is growing more and more strained, and, on this milestone…
-
Opinion Seriously, Women’s March – Farrakhan Is OK But The ADL Is Treyf?
After two African-Americans were recently arrested at a Starbucks café for failing to make an order while they were waiting for a friend, the company tried to make amends by announcing that it will provide anti-bias training to all its employees. But that was not quite good enough for Women’s March co-chair Tamika Mallory, who…
-
Letters Dear Mr. Dershowitz: I Didn’t Invent Anti-Semitism
Hi Alan! It’s not every day I get to wake up and find that a world-famous lawyer fifty-one years my senior has called me a Nazi propagandist-cum-McCarthyist-and-cringing-Jew. Most people would struggle embracing so many contradictory ideologies, but me? I’m a striver. I appreciate the scrutiny, to be honest; it’s flattering. I mentioned your name once…
-
Opinion Dear Womens March: Either Denounce All Hate Or Stop Denouncing Jews
After the horrific and disgusting removal and arrest of two black men at a Starbucks that sparked national outrage, Starbucks decided to close down all its stores on May 29th to conduct racial bias training. In so doing, Starbucks reached out to the leaders of a number of organizations (including the NAACP and the Equal…
-
Opinion Can J Street Bring Down The Trump-Netanyahu Axis?
For many months now, progressive American Jews and their Israeli counterparts have been watching as our two countries careen down parallel tracks of illiberal democracy at break-neck speed. The political situations play out like competing versions of the television series Homeland and Hatufim, one in English, the other in Hebrew, but in real life and…
-
Opinion 70 Years Represents A Lifetime
This piece is one of a series of pieces commissioned from leaders to speak to their feelings about Israel at 70. You will find the others here. Seventy years, in Jewish tradition, represents a lifetime. As the psalmist wrote, “The span of our life is 70 years.” At 70, one reaches seivah, meaning old age,…
-
Opinion Coexistence Was Once Possible. It Can Be Possible Again
This piece is one of a series of pieces commissioned from leaders to speak to their feelings about Israel at 70. You will find the others here. My mother-in-law recently turned eighty. Born in Jerusalem to a Jewish family with deep roots in the city, she remembers her childhood in the pre-state days. Her father…
-
Opinion Israel At 70: A Plethora Of Voices
As Israel turns 70, we wanted to bring you a plethora of voices from leaders we felt had something important to contribute. These voices reflect the diversity of points of view that we at the Forward try to bring you on every topic, but especially about Israel. In these pieces, you will find a former…
Explore
Most Popular
- 1
Fast Forward Unarmed man who tackled Bondi Beach Hanukkah attacker identified as Ahmed al-Ahmed
- 2
Opinion I grew up believing Australia was the best place to be Jewish. This Hanukkah shooting forces a reckoning I do not want.
- 3
Fast Forward Hanukkah shooting leaves at least 15 dead at Australia’s most popular beach
- 4
Fast Forward Father and son suspects in Bondi Beach Hanukkah attack identified as Sajid and Naveed Akram by law enforcement
In Case You Missed It
-
Fast Forward After MIT professor’s killing, Jewish influencers spread unverified antisemitism claim
-
Film & TV Decades after her ancestor was blacklisted from Hollywood, this teenager is bringing her family’s history to light
-
Antisemitism Decoded Some people are learning the wrong lessons from Ahmed al Ahmed
-
Fast Forward At White House Hanukkah party, Trump says Congress ‘is becoming antisemitic’
-
Shop the Forward Store
100% of profits support our journalism
