Opinion

• Opinion

  Why Israel Must Bury Hatchet With U.S. Over Iran — Now

  The congressional debate on the Iran nuclear deal is over. President Obama has prevailed. The United States will implement the P5+1 agreement with Iran. Israel will have to live with it. In sharp contrast with Washington, no real public discussion of the deal’s details was ever conducted in Israel. Most of the opposition patriotically sided…

  By Efraim Halevy

  4 min read
• 
  Letters

  Four Anguished Questions on the Refugee Crisis

  Dear Editor: Lipstadt’s on the moral and political issues concerning policy on the Syrian refugee crisis raises four issues that trouble the author. One of the questions the author asks, is the “extent to which these new immigrants will commit to democratic principles.” This argument was raised several times at a Rosh Hashanah dinner I…

  Sep 16, 2015 | < 1 min read
• 
  Opinion

  Let’s Make Israeli Culture a Uniting Force for Jews Everywhere

  Rosh Hashanah is a time for taking stock. We size up that which we have and that which we are lacking, and we try to make out the course corrections we need to close the gap. As I see it, one of the greatest things we have going for us as a people is the…

  By Ido Aharoni Sep 16, 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

• 
  Opinion

  What Shouldn’t We Compare to the Holocaust? A Refugee Crisis, for Starters.

  Even if we can’t agree on anything else, there’s one cardinal fact that I think we can all get behind: This has been a summer of intense drama where the Middle East is concerned. Also a summer filled with evocations of the Holocaust. And they’re not unrelated. One reason for the intensity of the drama…

  By J.J. Goldberg Sep 14, 2015 | 4 min read
• 
  Opinion

  Ring In the New Year: Top Tunes to Atone To

  This Rosh Hashanah concert began five years ago as a sort of mood piece. I decided last year to expand it and include riffs off of some core elements in the Rosh Hashanah service itself. Some folks have been asking me to repost it, so here it is. You’ll notice that when you click on…

  By J.J. Goldberg Sep 14, 2015 | 14 min read
• 
  Opinion

  Why Refugees’ Plight Is Personal for Me — and All Jews

  They come by the thousands now. Day after day, night after night. By sea and overland. They have been coming for far longer than just this summer, but suddenly, in the past few weeks, in their tremendous numbers and their family units, their presence is finally seen. They are body to body in Keleti station…

  By Sarah Wildman Sep 13, 2015 | 4 min read
• 
  Opinion

  Why There Are Still Only Two Choices in Syria — Bad and Worse

  The mysterious visit to Moscow in late July by Iran’s international troublemaker-in-chief, the shadowy head of the feared Quds Force, may just have found an explanation. It’s either terrifying or vaguely reassuring, depending on how you read the Middle East. Specifically, how you feel about the Moscow visit will depend on whom you’d rather see…

  By J.J. Goldberg Sep 11, 2015 | 4 min read
• 
  Opinion

  Did New York Times Flub ‘Jewish’ Iran Vote Chart?

  (JTA) — In a chart of lawmakers who are against the Iran deal, The New York Times singled out Jewishness as an implicit cause of opposition to the nuclear agreement. The chart, posted Thursday, originally included a column with the heading “Jewish?” “Yeses” were highlighted in yellow (yellow!), while “noes” were not. Another column showed…

  By Ron Kampeas Sep 11, 2015 | 2 min read
• 
  Opinion

  How My Catholic Husband Became a Great ‘Jewish’ Father

  Worried bubbes everywhere, take heart: Just because your daughter (or son) is marrying out of the faith, all hope is not lost. Your daughter’s Catholic husband can still be a great Jewish father. How do I know? Because mine is. While maintaining his Catholic identity, my husband has been a true partner in keeping a…

  By Jessica Levy Sep 11, 2015 | 3 min read
• 
  Opinion

  Why Are You So Confused by J Street’s Muslim Zionist?

  I’ve been watching out for articles about Amna Farooqi, the new Muslim-American President of J Street U, since she was elected last month. There’s more than a little bit of kvelling in that for me, since I taught the first two Israel Studies courses she took at the University of Maryland when she was a…

  By Paul Scham Sep 11, 2015 | 3 min read
• 
  Letters

  The Answer Lies in the Refugee Convention of 1951

  Dear Editor: In , Deborah Lipstadt raises some provocative questions which she says are “unanswered.” There is one basic answer to all of them, however. The answer arose out of the ashes of the Holocaust, haunted by the memory of those who were trapped by “paper walls” inside of a genocide. That answer is the…

  Sep 10, 2015 | < 1 min read