Opinion

• Opinion

  So Close But Yet So Far: Neighbors Remember The Battle Of Jerusalem

  From 1948 until 1967, Jerusalem was a divided city, sliced through its heart by an armistice line separating West and East, Jew and Arab, Israel and Jordan. Fifty years ago, in June 1967, Israeli troops shattered the barrier and handily defeated the Jordanian army to gain control of the entire city. But united Jerusalem —…

  By Jane Eisner

  5 min read
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  Opinion

  Dear President Macron: Reinforce France’s Ties With Israel

  PARIS (JTA) — In the French presidential campaign just concluded, discussion of foreign policy was largely forgotten. Nonetheless, Emmanuel Macron, France’s new president, faces several critical global issues, among them the Israeli-Palestinian peace process. If France would like to play a role, she must rebuild the credibility that was diminished in January when the Paris…

  By Simone Rodan-Benzaquen and Julie Decroix May 18, 2017 | 3 min read
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  Opinion

  Six Times The U.S. And Israel Were At Loggerheads Over Intel

  The revelation that Israel was the source of secret intelligence President Trump leaked to the Russians has potentially placed another strain on U.S.-Israeli relations as Trump prepares for his first foreign trip including a visit to Israel. However, this is only the latest in a litany of intelligence snafus between the U.S. and Israel over…

  By Steven Davidson May 17, 2017 | 3 min read

Columnists View All

• Jodi Rudoren This is my last column as editor of the Forward

  

• Jay Michaelson Being Jewish in America today feels like walking multiple tightropes at once

  

• Rob Eshman A doctor in the midst of the Boulder attack: ‘This did not come out of vacuum’

  

• Nora Berman For new parents, the aid crisis in Gaza is hitting hard

  

• Dan Perry Don’t be grateful two hostages’ bodies were recovered. Be furious.

  

• Emily Tamkin The two things I fear most after the horrifying attack on Jews in Boulder

  

The Latest

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  Opinion

  President Trump: Leaker-In-Chief

  Reuters The first tweets came at 7:03 a.m. Tuesday: Sure, he’d shared secrets with the Russians, the president wrote. Then another: “I have been asking Director Comey & others, from the beginning of my administration, to find the LEAKERS in the intelligence community…..” All he had to do was to look in the mirror. In…

  By Tim Weiner May 17, 2017 | 4 min read
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  Opinion

  The Real Lessons Of The Six-Day War Defy Conventional Wisdom

  Reflecting on the Six Day War, many focus on the repercussions of that historical event, namely, the occupation or liberation (depends on where you stand) of territories which, on one hand, are part of the biblical Land of Israel, and on the other are populated with many Palestinians. On its fiftieth anniversary, then, the spoils…

  By Uri Dromi May 17, 2017 | 4 min read
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  Opinion

  All The President’s Men: The Sequel

  What’s a poor television network to do on a Saturday night when much of the nation will be tuned to NBC to watch “Saturday Night Live” recap the most bizarre week in America’s most bizarre presidency? What could possibly compete? How can you match SNL’s merciless send-up of the Trump-Russia scandal, with its lies, firings…

  By J.J. Goldberg May 17, 2017 | 5 min read
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  Opinion

  Memo To Jewish Trump Voters: Had Enough After Israel Intelligence Betrayal?

  This is addressed to those American Jews who continue to support President Trump, even after the latest revelation that he likely compromised Israeli intelligence by sharing it with the Russians. When will you start holding him accountable? When will the slights, fumbles, broken promises and extremely serious blunders, like the intelligence leak, add up in…

  By Jane Eisner May 17, 2017 | 3 min read
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  Opinion

  Why Trump’s Loose Lips May Be ‘Extraordinarily Dangerous’ — To Israel And Us

  The care and handling of intelligence information is as much art as anything else. It has been estimated that 70% or more of “finished intelligence” — that is, the reports and analyses that go forward to policymakers — derives from open sources and diplomatic reporting, meaning that much of what a policymaker reads can also…

  By Daniel C. Kurtzer May 16, 2017 | 3 min read
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  Opinion

  Like Nixon, Trump Carries Baggage To The Middle East

  In this season of final exams, let’s take a brief test on American political history. It consists of a scenario, a question, and four possible answers. If you feel a wave of déjà vu as you proceed, don’t panic. It’s perfectly appropriate. Here we go. You are the president of the United States. You or…

  By Samuel G. Freedman May 16, 2017 | 5 min read
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  Opinion

  SLIDESHOW: An Illustrated Diary Of Israel After The Six Day War

  While fighting raged during the Six Day War, I felt compelled to apply to volunteer in Israel — to do work that soldiers would have been doing. The war ended in a miraculous six days, but the Jewish Agency decided to bring us to Israel anyway. I spent a year in three different parts of…

  By Katherine Janus Kahn May 16, 2017 | < 1 min read
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  Books

  Israel’s City of the Future: Portrait of a Smug Society

  Excerpted from the book “No Country for Jewish Liberals.” This is a political and personal story about Israel, about how over the years it went one way and I went the other. I’m going to start where I live, literally—in the city (actually the sprawling suburban bedroom community) of Modi’in, which is truly a showcase…

  By Larry Derfner May 16, 2017 | 14 min read