Opinion

• Opinion

  These Days, We Jews Have To Call Each Other Out – Because No One Else Will

  Nearly forty-one years ago, a letter sorter for the U.S. Postal Service was arrested. He’d shot and killed six people, and wounded nine others in New York City. Among those upset by the arrest in 1977 were Jews, because the perpetrator was one of their own. His name was David Berkowitz, or as he signed…

  By Elon Green

  5 min read
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  Opinion

  The Racism Of Blaming Palestinians For Their Own Deaths

  On May 14, Israeli soldiers shot and killed 60 Palestinians and wounded over 2,500 while they were demonstrating inside Gaza. That fact is not in dispute. But according to Matti Friedman, a Canadian-Israeli author who lives in Jerusalem, neither the snipers who chose their targets and pulled the triggers nor the officers who ordered them…

  By Lisa Goldman May 17, 2018 | 5 min read
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  Opinion

  Why We Still Need Intersectionality

  Intersectionality is fundamentally broken. It has failed Jews — not by accident, by design — and should be abandoned as a model for achieving equality. So argues Batya Ungar-Sargon in her recent opinion piece, “Intersectionality Has Abandoned Jews. Should Jews Abandon Intersectionality?” in The Forward. The latter point, I will concede. Those using intersectionality as…

  By Ben Ratskoff May 17, 2018 | 5 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

  Memo To The World: Israel And Hamas Are Both To Blame For Carnage In Gaza

  Last Monday, Israel’s security forces faced off against 40,000 angry Gazans. Some were armed. All were incited by Hamas to tear down the fence separating Gaza from Israel and implement en masse the sacred principle of “return.” And though the majority kept their distance, time and again groups of young men would approach the fence,…

  By Yossi Alpher May 17, 2018 | 4 min read
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  Opinion

  Why On Earth Is Ivanka Being Blamed For Bloodshed In Gaza?

  The day after the dedication of the embassy in Jerusalem, the cover of the New York Daily News featured a front page photo of Ivanka Trump with the caption “Daddy’s Little Ghoul: 55 slaughtered in Gaza, but Ivanka all smiles at embassy unveil.” The headline implied two things: first, that she was responsible for the…

  By Bethany Mandel May 16, 2018 | 3 min read
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  Opinion

  Guess What? Israel Doesn’t Care What American Jews Think.

  This past week, the Trump administration inaugurated one of its signature foreign policy accomplishments: the official relocation of the American Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. It was a striking moment, with the celebration coinciding with the killing of scores of protestors in Gaza. The embassy move and the withdrawal from the Iran Deal were…

  By David Schraub May 16, 2018 | 5 min read
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  Opinion

  Trump Has Freed Progressive Democratic Senators To Finally Criticize Israel

  The Forward has learned that on Friday night, thirteen Democratic Senators—including Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren—sent a letter to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo urging the Trump administration “to do more to alleviate the ongoing humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip.” That may not sound particularly audacious. But according to J Street’s Vice President of…

  By Peter Beinart May 15, 2018 | 5 min read
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  Opinion

  The Gaza Protest Is About Ending Israel

  In the past few days, we have come closer than we have in some time to touching the core issues that drive the conflict between Israelis, Palestinians, and the wider Arab and Islamic world. After decades of discussing “territories,” “borders,” “settlements,” “two states” and “occupation,” and lamenting the lack of trust between the sides and…

  By Einat Wilf May 15, 2018 | 3 min read
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  Opinion

  Intersectionality Has Abandoned Jews. Should We Abandon Intersectionality?

  We have a race problem here in the U.S. Almost daily, we hear of cops being called on African Americans for taking a nap, waiting in a store, grilling in the park, buying shampoo, or playing golf too slowly. But the problem goes much deeper than unchecked racial bias. We tolerate a system that robs…

  By Batya Ungar-Sargon May 15, 2018 | 13 min read
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  Opinion

  Israel’s Choice To Shoot Palestinians Should Horrify — But Not Surprise Us

  The other day, a thoughtful acquaintance, who is to my right politically, asked me a question. He asked what I’d advise Israel to do when faced with thousands of Palestinians, some likely bent on violence, who are trying to storm the fence that separates the Gaza Strip from the rest of Israel. (I say “rest…

  By Peter Beinart May 15, 2018 | 3 min read
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  Opinion

  All We In Gaza Want Is That Israel Recognize Our Humanity

  Today was a heartbreaking day for Gaza. While American and Israeli leaders celebrated a new American embassy in Jerusalem, protests along the Israel/Gaza border resulted in 55 Palestinian deaths. A number of them were children. Throughout the day, the numbers skyrocketed, from 16 to 40 in just one hour. Of those who survived, 2,000 were…

  By Muhammad Shehada May 14, 2018 | 4 min read