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
Meet The Russian Reality TV Star With Jewish Roots Who’s Taking On Putin
Russia’s presidential election, coming up on Sunday, offers no suspense: there is no doubt that Vladimir Putin will sweep a fake contest with no real challengers. (The only opposition leader with fairly high popularity, anti-corruption blogger Alexei Navalny, has been disqualified from running by a trumped-up fraud conviction.) But the predictable line-up of Potemkin candidates…
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Opinion Why I Admired Stephen Hawking — Despite His Anti-Israel Politics
JERUSALEM (JTA) Stephen Hawking was a rare and inspirational man whose deep insights into the mysteries of the physical universe were matched only by his courage in the face of a cruel, debilitating illness, which he met with good spirit and a unique sense of humor. In the wake of his passing, those who have…
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Opinion Israel Is Racist. Its Deportations Of Africans Should Surprise No One
On Thursday, JTA reported that five prominent pro-Israel Americans, including Abraham Foxman and Alan Dershowitz, wrote a letter to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warning of “incalculable damage” to Israel’s reputation if he insists on implementing a plan to deport 40,000 African refugees, mostly from Sudan and Eritrea. “We, a group of ardent Zionists, who have…
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Opinion Shame On The Jewish Schools That Skipped The Walkout
On Wednesday, thousands of students nationwide walked out in protest of gun violence. I was one of them, along with some of my classmates from the Heschel School. We proudly joined in the national movement, bringing our Jewishness to our activism as so many have before us. But not all Jewish schools joined the walkout….
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Opinion Palestinians May Finally Join Jerusalem Elections. The US and Israel Should Help Them
The key to unlocking the stalled Israeli-Palestinian peace process may be a healthy dose of democracy. To wit, something interesting is brewing in East Jerusalem. Palestinian Jerusalemites are neither Israeli citizens nor Palestinian Authority residents. They have remained separate — in many ways, by choice, since Israel captured East Jerusalem and unified the city in…
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Opinion The Syrian War Started Exactly 7 Years Ago. How Did Israel Get So Involved?
February was one of the bloodiest months since the start of the Syrian civil war, seven years ago this Thursday. All throughout the past month, the Assad regime, along with pro-Iranian militias and Russia, escalated their assault on the rebel-held eastern Ghouta suburb of Damascus. Ghouta, the last pocket of the Syrian insurgency threatening the…
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Opinion Trump Fired Tillerson To Protect Jared Kushner
President Trump yesterday dismissed his secretary of state, Rex Tillerson — via tweet. While Tillerson was never a “Trumpian” in the manner of Steve Bannon and Sebastian Gorka, Republican foreign policy stalwarts Robert Gates and Condoleezza Rice recommended him for his stellar career as a business executive with long-standing ties to President Vladimir Putin of…
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Opinion Gun Control – Mandated by Health, Supported By Jewish sources
This article originally appeared in the Yiddish Forverts. On March 24th, together with my 14 year old daughter and 9 year old son, I will be spending Shabbat differently than we normally do, as participants in the March For Our Lives in Washington, DC. As a doctor, researcher, and a Jew, I believe gun control…
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Opinion What Gaza Really Needs Is For Israel To Recognize The Humanity Of Its Residents
On March 13, Jared Kushner and Jason D. Greenblatt held a White House summit on the humanitarian crisis in Gaza with leaders from Israel, several Arab nations and Western countries — but there were no leaders from either the Palestinian Authority or Gaza in attendance. “We all know that none of this will be easy,”…
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Opinion Detaining Immigrants Indefinitely Is Un-American. Shame On The Supreme Court.
I first met Alexander Lora on a chilly day in December of 2013. A 31-year-old permanent resident born in the Dominican Republic and a New York resident since age seven, he was wearing a bright orange jumpsuit and seated uncomfortably on a hard plastic chair with his hands shackled to a heavy metal chain around…
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Opinion A New Lens On My Jewishness, In The Form Of A Genetic Disease
Welcome back to Jane Looking Forward. If you wish to continue reading this weekly newsletter, please subscribe here. And spread the word! I begin this newsletter on a personal note. I’ve had a series of blood tests recently and learned a surprising thing about myself: I have a rare genetic bleeding disorder known as Factor…
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Fast Forward Unarmed man who tackled Bondi Beach Hanukkah attacker identified as Ahmed al-Ahmed
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Fast Forward After MIT professor’s killing, Jewish influencers spread unverified antisemitism claim
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Opinion I grew up believing Australia was the best place to be Jewish. This Hanukkah shooting forces a reckoning I do not want.
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Opinion When my children decorate for Hanukkah, I don’t just see pride. I see pluralism in action.
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