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
Netanyahu’s Speech Proves What We Knew All Along — And That Changes Everything
Make no mistake: the Iranian archives that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu recently presented to the world are very important. Maybe the information we have seen so far is not new, although there is a multitude of documents that we might still hear about. But it comes straight from the horse’s mouth. These are Iranian…
-
Opinion What ADL Should Learn From The Starbucks Debacle
Last month, two black men waiting in a Starbucks in Philadelphia were arrested for the new crime of Waiting While Black. Shortly thereafter, Starbucks announced that it would undertake anti-bias training to ensure this did not happen again — which was good. The plan is to close all 8,000+ of their locations on May 29th…
-
Opinion Pulling Out Of The Iran Deal Will Hurt Israel
Prime Minister Netanyahu’s presentation Monday afternoon offered little new information on Iran’s illicit nuclear activities. But it did shift debate over the Iranian nuclear deal into high gear ahead of a May 12 deadline to extend sanctions relief tied to the deal. Throughout this debate Israel has been a key player. But a US withdrawal…
Columnists View All
The Latest
-
Opinion I’m A Puerto Rican Jew Being Targeted By Canary Mission. This Has To Stop.
I received a call a week ago from my dad, early in the morning. It took me a second to realize what he was saying, between the exhaustion and horrible connection that comes with any call from my home in Puerto Rico. But then the words “What is Canary Mission?” came out of his mouth….
-
Opinion Actually, Netanyahu’s Speech Was A Warning — And Not For Trump
Israeli PM Netanyahu’s cartoonish presentation to the world on Monday of Iran’s stolen nuclear archive predictably aroused a broad spectrum of reaction. Much of the scorn heaped on the presentation is technically correct. There was nothing really new here. There was no smoking gun of Iranian violation of the JCPOA nuclear deal. And this was…
-
Opinion How American Jews Enable Bibi’s Never-Ending Cycle Of Abuse
There once was a feeling among American Jews that Benjamin Netanyahu was one of theirs. For decades, Israel had been represented on the international stage by a parade of grey, rumpled bureaucrats, brash generals and uncouth political hacks. When Bibi arrived on the scene, immaculately dressed and without a trace of accent, it was as…
-
Letters Hard truths from the Gaza border
The mainstream media has been ablaze with coverage of the Great Return March, a series of weekend protests of Gazans at several sites along the separation fence with Israel. Many have taken to the pages of publications like this one to criticize Israel’s mistreatment of the protesters, like Peter Beinart in his recent piece “American…
-
Opinion (Almost) Everything You Knew About The Polls And Israel Is Wrong
Why do Gallup and Pew polls find such different levels of U.S. support for Israel?
-
Opinion I’m A Gay Jew Of Color Who Supports Israel. The Left Hates Me
I’m a gay Mizrahi Jew who supports Israel. And the left hates me. It’s ironic. I am the embodiment of intersectionality. I’m the son of an Iraqi mother and North African Berber-Amazigh father. I grew up in an underprivileged community, a gay boy in the closet who then became an openly gay man. I identify…
-
Opinion I’ve Been Racially Profiled. The ADL Can’t Teach Racism To Starbucks
“Excuse me sir,” my mother would say in her precise and native Hebrew to the first security agent she would spot at the Israeli airport. “I am an Arab.” This was the strategy my mom had adopted to deal with racial profiling when traveling back to the US from Israel with her two children. We…
-
Opinion Growing Up Orthodox, I Was Taught To Fear Black People
Raised in the Ultra-Orthodox Jewish community of Monsey, New York, I was trained to distrust anyone who wasn’t “chosen.” Even though I was a good boy, who studied lots of Torah and kept the Sabbath, I was frightened of anyone who didn’t have the same skin color, didn’t dress like me or didn’t believe in…
Explore
Most Popular
- 1
News Israeli President Isaac Herzog’s selection as JTS commencement speaker roils graduating class
- 2
Film & TV A new documentary challenges stereotypes about Orthodox Jewish women — and their wigs
- 3
News Analysis: As Democrats unite behind Platner, Schumer’s future as leader faces tests
- 4
Sports NBA coach Steve Kerr: ‘Israel sought revenge for Oct. 7 and now 72,000 Palestinians have been killed’
In Case You Missed It
-
Fast Forward Brussels cathedral installs plaques apologizing for medieval antisemitic persecution depicted in stained glass
-
Fast Forward Georgetown Law graduation speaker backs out after students protest his ‘controversial, Zionist and harmful opinions’
-
Fast Forward Maryland school district urged to adopt ‘zero-tolerance policy’ on antisemitism amid wave of incidents
-
Antisemitism Decoded The great antisemitism rug pull