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
Natalie Portman Isn’t The Problem. The Genesis Prize Is.
Citing recent “extremely distressing” events in Israel, Natalie Portman announced yesterday “she does not feel comfortable participating in any public events in Israel.” The granting of the Genesis Prize, which she was due to receive in June, has been cancelled. Portman “joins those who see the story of the wondrous success of the rebirth of…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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Opinion Israel’s Democracy Needs Defending. It’s Worth Fighting For.
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. Israel’s 70th birthday is an opportunity to celebrate what could be Zionism’s greatest achievement: that the state of the Jewish people is, over time, becoming a “normal” country….
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Opinion The American Jewish Destiny Is To Join The Palestinian Struggle
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. As a Palestinian woman, a feminist, and a citizen of the Israeli state, I would like to tell the Jewish community that I see and respect your commitment…
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Opinion The real reason for the US war with Iran may have nothing to do with Israel
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