Opinion

• Opinion

  How Matisyahu Ban Backfired on BDS Backers

  It looked like a big coup for a small-time player when a pro-Palestinian group in Spain’s third-largest city, BDS Pais Valencia, managed to convince an international reggae festival to cancel a closing-night performance by the American ex-Hasidic star Matisyahu. Instead, it blew up in its face. Spanish and international politicians, musicians and newspapers protested what…

  By J.J. Goldberg

  7 min read
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  Opinion

  The Game-Changing Iran Report That Bibi Fears

  Israel’s military intelligence corps has given Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu a surprising report assessing the opportunities and threats that the Iran nuclear deal poses for Israel. What’s startling about the report is not its substance, which is mostly a predictable mix of standard arguments presented for and against the deal: No nukes for 10 years,…

  By J.J. Goldberg Aug 21, 2015 | 4 min read
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  Opinion

  Does ‘Half Chinese, Half Jewish’ Condemn Me To Being Neither?

  When I was four years old, my father introduced me to his colleague, Jing. “Are you Chinese?” I asked, eyeing her shrewdly. “Yes,” she replied. “So am I,” I said. “And shoe-ish, too!” My father likes to tell this story, I think, because it illustrates my self-assurance: Even at that young age, I knew exactly…

  By Rachel E. Gross Aug 21, 2015 | 6 min read

Columnists View All

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

  

• Jay Michaelson Being Jewish in America today feels like walking multiple tightropes at once

  

• Rob Eshman My brother-in-law’s kibbutz weathered Oct. 7. Then came the Iranian missile strikes

  

• Nora Berman Zohran Mamdani is right about what ‘intifada’ means — well, kind of

  

• Dan Perry Might Iran become Trump’s Iraq? Americans are wary — but shouldn’t be

  

• Emily Tamkin Trump’s latest move makes Mahmoud Khalil a Joseph for our times

  

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  Opinion

  Matisyahu Concert Cancelers Did Us a Favor

  The righteous uproar over the Matisyahu fiasco has dissipated as quickly as it started. Disquieting and galling as the Spanish music festival’s initial decision to disinvite the musician was, we really ought to celebrate: It’s one of the few victories we’ve had in a bad streak of stinging defeats. The cherry on top is that…

  By Jared Samilow Aug 20, 2015 | 3 min read
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  Opinion

  Will Fate of Iraqi Jews Soon Befall Other Minorities?

  In 2003, I served as the U.S. Coalition official responsible for “administering” the province of Kirkuk in northern Iraq. At the time, I was struck by how the different communities intermarried, spoke each other’s languages, and loved each other’s cultures. In an attempt to defuse tensions emerging from the struggle for power after the overthrow…

  By Emma Sky Aug 19, 2015 | 4 min read
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  Opinion

  Does Gothamist Have a Hasidic Problem?

  The popular New York City-centric news site Gothamist has been nominated six times for the prestigious Bloggies award, and was dubbed a “Best of the Web” by Business Week and “Blog of the Year” by Wired magazine. The New York Times once that it “reflects everything worth knowing about this city.” You’d think a publication…

  By Eliyahu Federman Aug 18, 2015 | 3 min read
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  Opinion

  How Demonizing Iran Deal Supporters Brings Out Worst in Israel

  Israeli police beefed up security last week for the American ambassador, Dan Shapiro, after he received a series of death threats related to U.S. support for the Iran nuclear deal. At least three explicit death threats were delivered in writing last Wednesday alone, following an undisclosed number in the preceding days to his home and…

  By J.J. Goldberg Aug 18, 2015 | 5 min read
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  Opinion

  The Death of Leo Frank

  This editorial was translated from Yiddish by Chana Pollack Frank is dead. The tragedy ended with blood and murder. The hand that persecuted the unfortunate one for more than two years didn’t rest until it made an end to his young life. A heavy hand! A cruel hand! This is the same hand that held…

  By Ab Cahan Aug 18, 2015 | 2 min read
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  Opinion

  Don’t Buy the Story Iran’s Government Is Selling You

  I have no doubt that the Forward’s Larry Cohler-Esses has . The trouble is, he seems to have seen and learned only a sliver of a vastly more nuanced and tangled reality. As a result, he ends up reinforcing some half-truths, served up by the regime to well-meaning foreign media, which they take up and…

  By Gina Nahai Aug 17, 2015 | 3 min read
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  Opinion

  The Forward Discovers the Real Iran — Not Netanyahu’s Caricature

  Over the course of the past 25 years, the image of Iran presented by the Israeli government has become increasingly simplistic, one-dimensional, void of any nuance — in short, incomplete at best and inaccurate at worst. The Iranian government itself has contributed greatly in reducing the image of Iran to an invariably menacing entity with…

  By Trita Parsi Aug 17, 2015 | 3 min read
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  Opinion

  5 Most Common Misconceptions About Iran

  Americans have a long way to go before they will be able to cast off misconceptions about Iran, which have been nurtured by nearly 40 years of estrangement between the two nations, and which are now fueling opposition to the nuclear deal. has been effective in providing a more balanced perspective on Iranian life than…

  By William Beeman Aug 17, 2015 | 4 min read