Opinion

• Opinion

  Inside the Twisted Anti-Semitic Mind of Oberlin Professor Joy Karega

  Isabel Sherrel, an alumna of Oberlin College, recently did something courageous. She decided to treat her alma mater’s assistant professor of rhetoric and composition, Dr. Joy Karega, like a human being and actually reach out. She wanted to dialogue over the anti-Semitic conspiracy theories that Karega had reportedly been posting about on Facebook. Karega has…

  By Matthew Gindin

  4 min read
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  Opinion

  Men Who Make Women Switch Seats Don’t Understand Torah

  To appease an ultra-Orthodox male, flight attendants on Israel’s national airline El Al asked an 81-year-old female passenger to change her seat on a flight from Newark to Tel Aviv. The man cited “the Torah” as his reason for not wanting to make inadvertent physical contact with a woman. The Israel Religious Action Center, a…

  By Roberta Rosenthal Kwall Mar 3, 2016 | 3 min read
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  Opinion

  After Scalia’s Death, Don’t Let GOP Senators Break Their Sacred Oath

  Dozens of Republican senators, many professing religious piety, have stated that they will not discharge their duty set forth in the Appointments Clause of the U.S. Constitution, which reads, in part, “The president shall nominate, and by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate, shall appoint… Judges of the Supreme Court.” Have they…

  By Jay Michaelson Mar 3, 2016 | 4 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 Americans keep getting killed in the West Bank. Here’s how the US could fight that awful trend

  

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

  

• Dan Perry What exactly is going on between Israel and Syria — and is the prospect of peace dead?

  

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

  

The Latest

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  Opinion

  Why Bernie Sanders Would’ve Been the Perfect One To Beat Trump — But Won’t Get Chance

  Super Tuesday has confirmed the front-runner status of the two most disliked people in presidential politics this year. That’s according to a CNN poll released the morning of March 1. It showed Hillary Clinton with a 42%-to-55% favorable-unfavorable rating, surpassed only by Donald Trump at 37%-to-60%. Even among Democrats, only 36% find Clinton “honest and…

  By J.J. Goldberg Mar 2, 2016 | 4 min read
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  Opinion

  How Republican Jews Utterly Failed To Prevent Rise of ‘Toxic’ Donald Trump

  There is no sugarcoating it — these are the darkest days for Republican Jews like myself. Donald Trump, the most likely Republican candidate for president, has built within our party the nearest thing America has ever seen to a European nativist working class political movement. Such movements, to put it mildly, have never been good…

  By Noam Neusner Mar 2, 2016 | 4 min read
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  Opinion

  ‘Sacrilege’? It’s a Pretty Low Bar in Israel These Days

  Israel’s escalating culture wars turned surreal in late February, when a vitriolic battle of words erupted between right and left over this question: What is the biblical birthplace of the Jewish people? One side picked Jerusalem. The other side picked Egypt. Both sides were wrong. But days later the battle is still raging, from the…

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

  Did Obama Just Make It Kosher To Boycott Settlements?

  Last week, President Obama made the strongest statement to date that settlement boycotts are a legitimate tactic for liberal pro-Israel groups and activists to use. Although he certainly did not phrase it that way, his language suggests that a position considered beyond the pale when Peter Beinart advocated it just a few years ago —…

  By Aaron Steinberg-Madow Feb 29, 2016 | 4 min read
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  Opinion

  Why We Need To Dial Down Our Anti-Trump Rhetoric

  To all those sensible people who are just as outraged as I am about the rise of Donald Trump: please curb your uproar. We all know Trump has gone farther than we would have liked, but our anger only legitimizes his success and gives fuel to his momentum. Criticism is a compliment in itself, garnering…

  By Ido Levy Feb 29, 2016 | 2 min read
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  Opinion

  Donald Trump Is Playing ‘Mr. Neutral’ on Everything From Israel to the Klan — and It’s Working

  There are a few topics in American politics that have unmatched power to excite and divide. The KKK is one. The Israel-Palestinian conflict is another. You might think that given the polarizing nature of both issues, it would be impossible to run for president without clearly delineating your stance on them. And yet Donald Trump,…

  By Bethany Mandel Feb 29, 2016 | 4 min read
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  Opinion

  Dear Ted Cruz, Quit Using ‘Judeo-Christian Values’ To Exploit My Faith

  Dear Senator Cruz, As I follow your presidential campaign, I’ve often heard you speak of how your faith informs your policy positions and how the United States is a nation based on what you call “Judeo-Christian values.” Upon winning the Iowa Caucuses, you declared in your victory speech that “Judeo-Christian values built this nation.” The…

  By Salomon Gruenwald Feb 29, 2016 | 4 min read
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  Opinion

  What To Do When Media Shows Bias Against Israel

  Even though Israel does not have a formal Constitution, like the United States does, freedom of expression is inherent in our Basic Laws. In 2014, Freedom House ranked Israel as having the only free press in the Middle East. Four other countries — Algeria, Kuwait, Lebanon and Tunisia — were ranked “partly free.” Yet a…

  By Tehilla Shwartz Altshuler Feb 28, 2016 | 3 min read