Opinion

• Opinion

  A Humbled AIPAC Is Paying a Price for Growth

  “Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold …” As jarring as it was to see the adulation Donald Trump received from the crowd at the American Israel Public Affairs Committee policy conference, that wasn’t the most startling moment in the lobby’s encounter with the billionaire Republican front-runner. No, the real shockeroo came the next morning,…

  By J.J. Goldberg

  4 min read
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  Opinion

  Trump Is Not Hitler and He’s Not Haman — He’s Ahasuerus

  With Purim around the corner, it occurs to me that many people see Donald Trump as Haman, the genocidal villain of the Purim story. That’s not quite right: He’s Ahasuerus, a different kind of danger, and one that’s worth contemplating today. In case you need a refresher, Ahasuerus, in the Book of Esther, is the…

  By Jay Michaelson Mar 22, 2016 | 4 min read
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  Opinion

  AIPAC’s Applause for Donald Trump Sends a Shameful Message

  (UPDATED) So, what kind of American Jewish community do we want to be? I ask myself that question after the drama over Donald Trump’s speech at the American Israel Public Affairs Committee’s annual conference. How it is answered may come to define us during this tense and trying election season. We could be the community…

  By Jane Eisner Mar 22, 2016 | 4 min read

Columnists View All

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

  

• Jay Michaelson Have we become the ‘ordinary Germans’ now?

  

• Rob Eshman Oh, great, Elon Musk’s antisemitic AI is about to ride shotgun in my Tesla

  

• Nora Berman First Camp Auschwitz, now Alligator Alcatraz — why the right is obsessed with commodifying brutality

  

• Dan Perry The scourge of Netanyahu’s self-interest has brought Zionism to its breaking point

  

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

  

The Latest

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  Opinion

  Is Ultra-Orthodox Support for Donald Trump a Contradiction?

  Ultra-Orthodox Jews who support Donald Trump are caught in a contradiction between the values of their communities and the behavior of their chosen candidate. They purport to value modesty, yet they back a man who jokes about penis size during a Republican debate. They claim to value upright speech, but they prefer the candidate who…

  By Shula Rosen Mar 21, 2016 | 4 min read
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  Opinion

  Vassar Through the Eyes of a Non-Jewish Zionist Professor

  The atmosphere at Vassar College, where I’ve been teaching Russian history since 1999, is troubled. I am not Jewish, but even I have experienced an increase in hostility and strained silences among students and colleagues. I have been called a “f—king fascist,” “Zionist” and “idiot” for speaking out against Vassar’s BDS resolution and speaking up…

  By Michaela Pohl Mar 21, 2016 | 2 min read
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  Opinion

  Opposing Trump at AIPAC Is No Partisan Stance — It’s Jewish and All-American Patriotism

  This evening, at the American Israel Public Affairs Committee policy conference, Donald Trump will take the stage, bringing with him messages of hate, intolerance and violence. I will not sit idly by. I refuse to sit, and in that refusal I am united with my fellow rabbis against the politics of hate and its implications….

  By Rabbi Menachem Creditor Mar 21, 2016 | 3 min read
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  Opinion

  My Trump Tweets Earned Me So Many Anti-Semitic Haters That I Bought a Gun

  As any high-profile Twitter user with a Jewish-sounding last name can tell you, the surest way to see anti-Semitism flood your mentions column is to tweet something negative about Donald Trump. My anti-Trump tweets have been met with such terrifying and profound anti-Semitism that I bought a gun earlier this month. Over the coming weeks,…

  By Bethany Mandel Mar 21, 2016 | 4 min read
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  Opinion

  Trump’s AIPAC Speech Is Totally Predictable. What About Our Response?

  While Jews ardently dispute whether AIPAC should have invited Donald Trump to speak to their Washington conference, that particular die has been cast. The invitation went out. So Trump — the loudest, most poisonous, nativist, mob-arousing, bigoted public person that America has yet produced in this century — is going to stand at the rostrum of a…

  By Todd Gitlin Mar 20, 2016 | 2 min read
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  Opinion

  How Meir Dagan, Israel’s Legendary Spymaster, Became Bibi’s Worst Nightmare

  Israel lost a living legend this week with the death March 17 of former spymaster Meir Dagan. He was 71. A career soldier, he retired in 1995 at age 50 with the rank of major general, then began a second career as the country’s top counter-terrorism strategist, serving under four prime ministers as counter-terrorism adviser,…

  By J.J. Goldberg Mar 18, 2016 | 6 min read
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  Opinion

  Donald Trump Is Actually the Perfect Person To Speak at AIPAC

  Many AIPAC supporters are shocked that the policy conference has invited Republican front-runner Donald Trump to be a speaker this year. I’m not. In fact, I think Trump and AIPAC are a great shidduch. Far from being a deviation from AIPAC’s norm, this invitation is perfectly emblematic of their strategy. Anyone who’s been watching AIPAC…

  By Simone Zimmerman Mar 18, 2016 | 4 min read
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  Letters

  How Elitist Jews Push People Like Me To Donald Trump

  Noam Neusner’s recent opinion piece, perfectly encapsulates why establishment elites are losing Jews like me to Trump. It was my vote — along with the votes of thousands of Florida Jews — that delivered our 99 delegates to Trump. “Donald Trump, the most likely Republican candidate for president, has built within our party the nearest…

  By Anonymous Mar 17, 2016 | 2 min read