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
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Opinion
Why Is Israel’s Top Diplomat Attacking American Jews?
Israel was thrown into an uproar on Thursday, complete with screaming headlines and threats of a cabinet shakeup, over a crisis in the Jewish state’s relationship with the American Jewish community. Ironically, most American Jews didn’t hear they had a crisis. It was Thanksgiving, Jewish agencies were shut down and it wasn’t on the local…
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Opinion Many ‘Sephardic’ Jews Aren’t Actually Sephardic
During my childhood in the 1960s and 70s in the USSR, the only books published about Jews were ideological works that criticized Zionism, Israel and what the Soviets considered the “national Jewish mentality.” As you might imagine, thanks to these books, many of us had a totally distorted picture of our true origins as Jews….
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Opinion Why Jews Especially Should Love Thanksgiving
We tend to forget that the pilgrims who landed on Plymouth Rock were immigrants. And since then America has been a land of arrivals, where peoples of different origins joined together to build a republic. My ancestors became part of this story in the early 1900s when Jews from Europe found their way to the…
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Letters Actually, The Intifadas Were Nonviolent Uprisings, Too
Dear Editor, In your interesting article on P is for Palestine, you described the First and Second Intifadas as violent uprisings. They were also nonviolent. Indeed, Palestinians have long engaged in the nonviolent protest of Zionism, from petitioning the King Crane Commission to engaging in BDS. In the First Intifada, experts in nonviolent, non-cooperation such…
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Letters Why Opposing BDS Is Not Un-American
Dear Editor, In his op-ed on legislation that counters the BDS movement, JStreet’s Jeremy Ben-Ami gets it right when he describes the odious BDS movement, but wrong when he describes legislation that responds to it. Ben-Ami is correct to note the “one-sided and unbalanced politics” that inform the BDS movement and its failure to acknowledge…
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Opinion Why Are Leftists In Israel Supporting A Man Who Beat A Palestinian Up?
For the past few days, Israeli media and social networks have been abuzz with a bizarre story that is laying waste to stereotypes. In a strange twist, the brouhaha has the far left defending a soldier who allegedly beat a Palestinian to a bloody pulp, while the center and right appear to support the State…
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Opinion Actually, Steve Bannon Is Not An Anti-Semite. He’s Something Worse.
Last week in The New York Times, columnist Bret Stephens did something brave: He called the Zionist Organization of America’s decision to host Steve Bannon at its gala “a disgrace.” Stephens’s condemnation was brave because ZOA enjoys considerable support in the hawkish Zionist circles in which he travels. Its gala featured, in addition to Bannon,…
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Opinion We Asked Readers If They Thought Franken Should Resign. Here’s What They Said.
As Democratic leaders grapple with what to do with Senator Al Franken following accusations of sexual misconduct, Forward readers are polarized on the question of whether he should resign or not. In a poll conducted on the Forward’s Twitter account, 51% of Forward’s followers said Franken should resign immediately. 23% believed Franken shouldn’t, with another…
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Opinion Was Charles Manson The Forefather Of The Alt Right?
Charles Manson, the cult leader who convinced his followers to murder nine people in 1969, died this week in prison. The shocking brutality of the Manson Family murders seemed to signal an end of an era, destroying the illusion of 1960s counter cultural idealism and highlighting its darker side. The murders have been a subject…
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Opinion I Hid From Neo-Nazis In Poland. But They Found Me Online
On November 11th, 60,000 protesters assembled in Warsaw to commemorate Polish Independence Day. The march was organized in part by two self-described “radical nationalist” youth movements, both of which draw their names from anti-Semitic leagues of the 1920’s and 30’s. The protest featured torches, chants of “Sieg Heil” and “Ku Klux Klan,” and banners reading…
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Opinion A Trans Woman Was Just Kicked Out Of A Jewish Facebook Group For Women
Yesterday was Transgender Day of Remembrance. It’s a day to mark the violence against the Transgender community. Unfortunately, in one Jewish Facebook group, it was marked by cruelty instead. Facebook groups have evolved over the last few years from groups of a few dozen people from your high school class to thousands of people with…
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Fast Forward Unarmed man who tackled Bondi Beach Hanukkah attacker identified as Ahmed al-Ahmed
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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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Fast Forward After MIT professor’s killing, Jewish influencers spread unverified antisemitism claim
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Fast Forward Hanukkah shooting leaves at least 15 dead at Australia’s most popular beach
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