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
It’s Time To Admit The First Intifada Was Nonviolent – And Led By Women
Unlike the imagery we associate with it, the vast majority of the uprising was in fact characterized by incredible, highly effective and sustained grassroots organizing
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Opinion Woody Allen Plays The Anti-Semitism Card To Escape #MeToo Reckoning
Yesterday, Dylan Farrow published a brave and important op-ed in the LA Times, asking why the “#MeToo revolution,” which has exposed the horrific behavior of entertainment industry figures like Harvey Weinstein, has spared her father, Woody Allen, whom she has alleged sexually assaulted her when she was seven. It’s a devastating article which reminds its…
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Opinion Former Ambassador Dan Shapiro: Trump’s Jerusalem Announcement A Missed Opportunity
In a conference call hosted by the Israel Policy Forum, Former US Ambassador to Israel Daniel Shapiro expressed uncertainty over what President Trump’s decision to recognize Jerusalem means. “I will not sign up to the idea this is an unmitigated disaster, but it all depends on the follow up,” said Shapiro. Shapiro, who served as…
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Opinion My Fellow Pro-Israel Jews: You Got What You Wanted, But You Paid Too Much.
Dear Pro- Trump, Pro-Israel supporters, Congratulations. You got what you wanted. Yesterday, the president declared Jerusalem the capital of Israel. He didn’t use the word “undivided”, but he did promise to one day move the embassy to Jerusalem. Jerusalem was my home for three years. Israel was my parent’s home until they moved to the…
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Opinion These BDS-Supporting British Jewish Students Are Changing Their Community
Israel is a controversial issue in Britain and Jewish students are feeling its ramifications. The British Union of Jewish Students, the sole body that exists to represent Jewish Students in the UK, has always run social and religious programming. But its raison d‘etre has long been defending Israel on campus. Since Zionism became hegemonic amongst…
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Opinion Trump’s Jerusalem Move Is A Ploy To Protect Jared Kushner
Yesterday, President Donald Trump did the incomprehensible: He recognized Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. Never have the divisions been more clear-cut. The entire Arab world and the rest of the international community have opposed, condemned or expressed grave concern about Trump’s Jerusalem recognition announcement. So did the American Jewish and Israeli peace camps. All…
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Opinion Thank You Trump For Speaking The Truth. Jerusalem Is Our Beating Heart.
After my third son, Lev, was born, he had complications and I stayed with him at Hadassah Hospital. In the room on my right I could hear an ultra-Orthodox woman singing in Yiddish to her infant. On my left, a Palestinian woman murmured in Arabic to her tiny son. The machinery hooked to him kept…
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Opinion It’s Time To Stop Singing Shlomo Carlebach’s Songs
I can’t walk into any synagogue in America – and barely any synagogue in the world – without hearing songs written by the man who sexually assaulted my mother. That’s because my mom is one of the many of girls and young women whom Shlomo Carlebach sexually harassed, assaulted or abused while he traveled the…
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Opinion Should We Still Be Singing Shlomo Carlebach’s Songs In The #MeToo Era?
Though Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach has been dead for nearly as long as I’ve been alive, his music and ethos still echo throughout American Jewish communal life and liturgy. Carlebach’s music is almost childishly simple, often utilizing only a few easy chords and repeating a few short verses in Hebrew. In the right environment, it can…
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Opinion I Was An IDF Soldier During The First Intifada. It Changed Me Forever
This Saturday marks an important anniversary in Israeli history: 30 years since the First Intifada. For years leading up to the Intifada, which literally means dustup or uprising in Arabic, Israel had maintained Gaza as a pool of cheap labor. Tension had been building since 1985, when Defense Minister Yitzhak Rabin’s “iron fist” policy resulted…
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Opinion Why Trump’s Jerusalem Gambit Will Only Hurt Israel
On its face, Donald Trump’s speech on Wednesday announcing that America would recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital seemed entirely reasonable. “Today,” he declared, “We finally acknowledge the obvious. That Jerusalem is Israel’s capital. This is nothing more or less than a recognition of reality.” Yes, Jerusalem is Israel’s capital. That is obvious. But something else…
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Culture ‘My mayor Muslim, my bagel Jewish’ — the Knicks chant capturing New York’s soul
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Opinion The Iran war ended terribly for the US, and even worse for Israel
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Opinion Cultural boycotts of Israel just reached peak absurdity
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Film & TV In ‘Disclosure Day,’ Steven Spielberg finds himself at odds with Jewish thought about aliens
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Culture Ever the restless spirit, Tel Aviv-born architect and designer Ron Arad is still reinventing himself and his art
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Fast Forward Trump says Syria would do a ‘better job’ of fighting Hezbollah than Israel