Opinion

• Opinion

  Why Barack Obama Is No Bill Clinton When It Comes to Israel

  (JTA) — By now it should be obvious how absurd it is to call President Barack Obama Israel’s “best friend” ever, as Thomas Friedman of The New York Times has claimed. A Blame Israel Firster, Obama won’t use his moral authority to try stopping the instigators of this latest spate of violence, the Palestinians. Unfortunately he…

  By Gil Troy

  4 min read
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  Opinion

  How Can I Fight the Fear That’s Eroding My Values?

  The fear is getting to me, gnawing away at who I am and who I want to be. I think of myself as a person with multiple identities and roles. I am a wife, a daughter, a sister, a friend, a professional, an academic, an activist. I try to hold to a clear set of…

  By Eetta Prince-Gibson Oct 27, 2015 | 4 min read
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  Opinion

  How the Middle East Conflict Is Warping Judaism

  Sunday will be the 12th of Cheshvan, a grim anniversary: 20 years since the assassination of Yitzhak Rabin. He was shot on a Saturday night after the world’s synagogues read the Torah portion Lech Lecha, the first night of the week looking toward the next reading, VaYera, the “binding of Isaac.” But in real life,…

  By Jeremy Kalmanofsky Oct 27, 2015 | 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 I have the answer to Jon Stewart’s toughest question about Israel

  

• Nora Berman ‘Eddington’ is full of conspiracy theories but it’s not about Jews. Or is it?

  

• Dan Perry Recognizing a Palestinian state is a great way to doom Palestinians

  

• Emily Tamkin Is starvation in Gaza really Israel’s fault? The facts are clear

  

The Latest

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  Opinion

  I Survived the Terror Attack in Beersheva

  I survived a terror attack. The words roll off my tongue. I. Survived. A terror attack. People are telling me that what happened to me was a miracle. I’m supposed to feel relief for surviving, for coming out of it in one piece, unharmed. I’m flooded with many feelings, but relief isn’t one. I am…

  By Moran Mekamel Oct 26, 2015 | 4 min read
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  Opinion

  Did the Torah Give Rabin’s Assassin License To Kill?

  On November 4, we will commemorate the 20th anniversary of the tragic assassination of Yitzhak Rabin, murdered by Yigal Amir while speaking at a rally in Tel Aviv in favor of peace and reconciliation. Although Amir pulled the trigger, the arsenal he employed included the edict of various rabbis who provided a cloak of halachic…

  By Simeon Kolko Oct 26, 2015 | 3 min read
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  Opinion

  Yitzhak Rabin Has an Urgent Message for Israelis — But They Can’t Hear It Now

  It has been 20 years since the assassination of Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin. The assassination was easily one of the most significant moments in Israel’s brief history, and arguably in Jewish history altogether. Why has there been so little talk of it — and so limited a commemoration — in the Jewish public square?…

  By Yehuda Kurtzer Oct 26, 2015 | 4 min read
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  Opinion

  The Curious Case of Azerbaijan and Its Jew-Loving Muslims

  In April, the Kantor Center in Tel Aviv released a report highlighting that 2014 was one of the worst years for anti-Semitism in the last decade. This coincided with Israel’s war in Gaza against Hamas. Many of the anti-Semitic incidents that took place, and especially some of the more violent ones, took place in Western…

  By Justin Amler Oct 26, 2015 | 3 min read
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  Opinion

  Watching the Violence in Israel From Abroad

  Comic: An Israeli expat watched the violence in Israel from abroad. You can find Lior Zaltzman’s work at , Saturday, November 7.

  By Lior Zaltzman Oct 26, 2015 | < 1 min read
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  Opinion

  Why Is Chabad Helping Christian Extremists?

  As readers of this column know, I have long praised Chabad Lubavitch’s spirituality, its outreach tactics and its mystical roots. But over the past several years, Chabad leaders have begun propping up far-right Christian extremists — not mere cultural conservatives, or right-wing politicians, but the extreme fringe that opposes human rights and, in some cases,…

  By Jay Michaelson Oct 26, 2015 | 4 min read
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  Opinion

  5 Times GOP Bogeyman Sidney Blumenthal Advised Hillary Clinton on Israel

  (JTA) Sidney Blumenthal’s name came up 49 times in a hearing convened Thursday by the special congressional committee investigating the deadly 2012 attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya. Why? Well, the star witness was Hillary Rodham Clinton — the secretary of state at the time of the attack, whom Blumenthal has advised for…

  By Ron Kampeas Oct 26, 2015 | 4 min read
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  Opinion

  Blame Mahmoud Abbas for Violence? But He’s ‘Mr. Irrelevant’

  It seems there are almost as many explanations for the current terror wave plaguing Israel as there are people trying to explain it. We’re told it’s caused by economic despair, rage at the occupation, hatred of Jews, alarm (false or otherwise) over the Temple Mount, and incitement by Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas. Each theory…

  By J.J. Goldberg Oct 25, 2015 | 5 min read