Opinion

• Opinion

  Three Myths About Gaza Dispelled

  The front-page photos and nightly news reports of the killings at the Gaza/Israel border have faded; the issues that fueled the confrontation have not. That the lives of 119 Gazans have been lost and thousands more unalterably changed is horrific. It will be just as tragic if the history of Gaza and the truth is…

  By Jim Klutznick and Marilyn Katz

  4 min read
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  Opinion

  The Loneliness Of The Liberal Zionist

  To be a “liberal Zionist” in the United States is to lead a lonely existence. It often means having few friends, aside from other liberal Zionists. It means you support the right of the Jewish people to self-determination in their historic homeland while simultaneously supporting progressive causes in your American homeland. It means wanting to…

  By Jarrod Tanny Jun 5, 2018 | 5 min read
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  Opinion

  Linda Sarsour Is Not Our Enemy

  How far are American Jews willing to go to discredit those perceived as adversaries of Israel? Are we ready to condone down and dirty investigations to dredge up compromising material on people sometimes inappropriately labelled as “enemies”? Conversely, might not constructive engagement be a more effective tactic than scorched earth attacks vis-a-vis fellow Americans with…

  By Walter Ruby Jun 5, 2018 | 3 min read

Columnists View All

• Alyssa Katz As editor-in-chief, I’m finding my way Forward (and back)

  

• Rob Eshman The real reason for the US war with Iran may have nothing to do with Israel

  

• Dan Perry Why war with Iran puts the US-Israel alliance at risk

  

• Emily Tamkin Gavin Newsom just confirmed the demise of the Democratic party’s support for Israel

  

• Jay Michaelson We are talking past one another on Zionism

  

The Latest

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  Opinion

  Jewish Feminists Are Struggling With The Left. It’s Not The First Time.

  Welcome back to Jane Looking Forward. If you wish to continue reading this weekly newsletter, please subscribe here. And spread the word! Their hair was mostly gray. Some had trouble walking. Their bodies reflected the passage of many years. Nonetheless, the gathering featuring about a dozen women at the American Jewish Historical Society last week…

  By Jane Eisner Jun 5, 2018 | 4 min read
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  Opinion

  The Lesson For Diaspora Jews In Israel’s Deplorable Conversion Law

  The best that can be said about the proposed State Conversion Bill is that it is destined to be thrown away into the waste bin that Israeli politics has designated for the recommendations of committees appointed mostly to put out political fires. The proposal is not only a slap in the face, disguised with a…

  By Uri Regev Jun 5, 2018 | 4 min read
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  Opinion

  The Supreme Court Was Right To Protect Religious Freedom

  The U.S. Supreme Court ruled on Monday that the Colorado Civil Rights Commission demonstrated hostility to religion in the case of the Colorado baker who declined to bake a special cake for a wedding of two men. It did not, however, address the issue most important to both sides in the case. That would be…

  Jun 4, 2018 | 3 min read
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  Opinion

  Zeev Porath Chronicled Nazi Rapists And Other Atrocities – In His Drawings

  Sometime in 1943, a 35-year-old architect sat at a drafting desk on the third floor of the headquarters building in the infamous Janowska concentration camp in Lviv in what is now Ukraine. Over 80,000 Jews were murdered at this camp and it served as the main deportation center for 160,000 Jews of Lviv (a number…

  By Waitman Wade Beorn Jun 4, 2018 | 5 min read
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  Opinion

  Stop Bringing Up Palestine When We Bring Up Anti-Semitism

  A few important and upsetting events took place in the past few weeks, events which should have nothing to do with one another. On Friday, Israeli snipers shot and killed 21-year-old medic Razan al-Najjar in the Gaza Strip, as she tended a demonstrator who had been injured during the tenth week of the Great March…

  By Joel Swanson Jun 4, 2018 | 4 min read
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  Opinion

  Killing Of Gaza Nurse Shows How Cheap Our Blood Is to Israel

  On June 1, 21-year-old volunteer paramedic Razan al-Najjar was shot dead at the Gaza protests while rescuing injured protestors near the separation fence. Anyone with the smallest modicum of moral decency should be shattered, devastated and overwhelmed by her death, just as they should be devastated by the horrendous improvised projectile that hit a kindergarten…

  By Muhammad Shehada Jun 4, 2018 | 4 min read
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  Opinion

  Why Did Jewish Women Traditionally Have Secular Names, But Not Men?

  A few months ago, one of my acquaintances asked me why, in traditional Jewish communities, women tend to have secular names and men tend to have Hebrew names. This person is deeply knowledgeable about the Jewish culture and languages spoken by Jews, and she assumed it had something to do with the way that women…

  By Alexander Beider Jun 4, 2018 | 4 min read
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  Opinion

  Ashkenazi Jews Used To Look Down On Us. Now They Gaslight Us Instead

  My great, great grandpa, Solomon Calvo and his friend, Jacob Policar, were the first Sephardic Jews in Seattle, immigrating from the island of Marmara in Turkey. But their welcome in the local Jewish community wasn’t exactly as warm as you’d expect of Jews greeting other Jews. Upon arrival, they were told they couldn’t possibly be…

  By Arielle Calvo Jun 4, 2018 | 5 min read