Opinion

• Opinion

  Why Israel’s Mossad and Shin Bet Leaders Are Morphing Into ‘Leftists’

  How bad have the tensions gotten between Israel’s security establishment and its political leadership? Pretty bad, and getting worse. Two public events in late June, three days apart, illustrate the depth of the growing animosity. One was a gathering near Tel Aviv of retired senior military and intelligence officers, sponsored by the Council for Peace…

  By J.J. Goldberg

  4 min read
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  Opinion

  The ‘Alt-Right’ Explained in 7 Must-Know Terms

  This presidential election has seen the rise of a new group in American conservatism: the blandly-termed — and fiercely pro-Trump — “alt-right.” The blogs, forums, and Twitter accounts that make up the media landscape of the alt-right actively promote fascism, albeit one updated for the 21st century. Though the movement ties together white supremacy, neo-Nazism…

  By Ari Feldman Jul 6, 2016 | 3 min read
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  Opinion

  Russia Revoked Our Citizenship, It Won’t Even Give Us Visas

  I was overwhelmed by the number of responses to my article “Russia Quietly Strips Emigres of Dual Citizenship” that was published in the Forward in June. The article reported on Russia’s new citizenship rules, according to which anyone who was not residing in Russia on February 6, 1992, is no longer considered a Russian citizen….

  By Julie Masis Jul 5, 2016 | 5 min read

Columnists View All

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

  

• Jay Michaelson American Jews were played — now what?

  

• Rob Eshman A new humanitarian outrage is unfolding in the Middle East. It’s not in Gaza

  

• Nora Berman The left is turning on AOC over Israel — and imperiling its own agenda

  

• Dan Perry Actually, Trump made things between Israel and Iran way worse

  

• Emily Tamkin Zohran Mamdani’s victory proves it: The ‘gotcha’ mode of fighting antisemitism has to go

  

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  Opinion

  Reclaiming a Star-Spangled Progressive Patriotism in the Age of Donald Trump

  It’s July 4 weekend, and we’re all watching the fireworks together: my partner and I, and a few hundred strangers. And it occurs to me: What I love about America is not what the loudest America-lovers love. In fact, I have a sense that it’s the opposite. I love the threads of American multiculturalism, the…

  By Jay Michaelson Jul 4, 2016 | 4 min read
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  Opinion

  The Torah of Max Ticktin Will Not Be Forgotten

  Forty years ago, I was still living in Washington DC and was still a member of Fabrangen — one of the earliest havurah-style minyanim –– when I noticed something odd that one of our members was doing when the Torah scroll was joyfully carried around the community on Shabbat morning. The member was Rabbi Max…

  By Arthur Waskow Jul 4, 2016 | 4 min read
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  Opinion

  Donald Trump Hires the ‘Best’ People — for Following the Anti-Semitic Twitterverse

  Prior to this weekend, Donald Trump had a degree of plausible deniability regarding anti-Semitism, both personally and from his campaign. While many of Trump’s legions of online supporters are explicitly (and viciously) anti-Semitic, Trump himself had little to do with them beyond his Twitter account retweeting things from accounts with #WhiteGenocide in their profiles. On…

  By Bethany Mandel Jul 4, 2016 | 3 min read
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  Opinion

  What Elie Wiesel Meant to the Soviet Jewry Movement

  On my bookshelves there are two rows of volumes on the Soviet Jewry movement. Squeezed in among the tomes is a small, well-worn paperback with pages no longer attached to the spine, “The Jews of Silence” by Elie Wiesel. This slim volume is, however, a bridge. It crossed him and his readers over from his…

  By Glenn Richter Jul 4, 2016 | 3 min read
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  Opinion

  My Last Meeting With Elie Wiesel

  I just heard the news that my teacher Elie Wiesel has left the world. For several years, I have said Havdalah at the close of the Sabbath and immediately checked the news, wondering if I would learn that this has happened. This has become a ritual of anxious anticipation, and then – every week before…

  By Ariel Burger Jul 3, 2016 | 3 min read
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  Opinion

  Remembering Ice Cream With Elie Wiesel, a Modern Day Prophet

  The first time I ever met Elie Wiesel, we went out for ice cream. It was an incongruous experience – eating a frivolous dessert in a Friendly’s just off campus with the man who, at that time nearly four decades ago, was a towering figure in my mind, a modern-day prophet, the very epitome of…

  By Jane Eisner Jul 3, 2016 | 2 min read
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  Opinion

  Can Liberals in Israel and America Overcome Alienation — From Each Other?

  Alienated liberal Jews in Israel need to reach out to create bonds with alienated liberal Jews in America, of the sort that currently connect empowered Jewish conservatives in the two countries. That was the basic consensus that emerged from what’s believed to be Israel’s first-ever conference on combating alienation from Israel among American Jewish liberals….

  By J.J. Goldberg Jul 1, 2016 | 4 min read
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  Opinion

  A British Jew Mourns, Fears Brexit

  Prime Minister David Cameron stands down…Conservative Party leadership battle hots up… “Labour Party imploding” – shadow cabinet coup against Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn…Nicola Sturgeon Scotland’s First Minister says: “Scotland may veto Brexit.” It’s been one upheaval after the next since the United Kingdom voted to leave the European Union in the Brexit referendum late last…

  By Rebecca Schischa Jun 29, 2016 | 4 min read