Opinion

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  What Does Schumer Hope To Gain by Opposing Iran Deal?

  What does Charles Schumer want from his — but hopefully soon-to-be-reconsidered — vote against the Iran deal? We used “distrust but verify” on all arms control deals with the Soviet Union — that is, with an untrustworthy “evil empire” that covered one sixth of the land surface of the entire earth — over decades, and…

  By James Adler

  < 1 min read
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  Opinion

  Longing for the Day When My Wife Can Return to Iran

  Larry Cohler-Esses has written that sheds light on a country we often hear about through hyperbole or romanticism. Modern Iran should be subject to neither of those things; it is simply another country among all the nation-states on Earth. But it means much more than that to me. My wife was born and raised in…

  By Jonathan Greenblatt Aug 16, 2015 | 2 min read
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  Opinion

  How Anti-Obama Zealots Went Off Rails on Iran Deal

  The campaign against President Obama’s Iran nuclear deal tends toward the apocalyptic even when it’s in repose. Right now it’s virtually jumping the rails, plunging into a swamp of anti-Obama conspiracy theory, with a gaggle of conservative pundits openly accusing the president of anti-Semitism. The charge has been a staple of the extreme far right…

  By J.J. Goldberg Aug 15, 2015 | 5 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

  

The Latest

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  Opinion

  Iran Deal Opponents Change Subject — After Losing Argument

  (JTA) — Debaters know that when they are losing an argument, a good tactic is to change the subject. So it goes with the current accusations, completely untethered from reality, that President Obama is resorting to anti-Jewish “dog whistles” in his defense of the nuclear deal with Iran. Let’s begin with the facts. The president…

  By Alan Solow Aug 14, 2015 | 3 min read
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  Opinion

  Look Inside Iran Is Invaluable Journalism — With Limits

  What a fascinating report by Larry Cohler-Esses! I commend him for his persistence, against the odds, in seeking the chance to return to Iran as a reporter for the Forward, more than 35 years after his last encounter with the country. And I applaud the Forward for supporting his successful effort to gain entry —…

  By David Harris Aug 13, 2015 | 2 min read
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  Opinion

  What Iranians Really Think About Israel

  The Forward’s Larry Cohler-Esses is the first journalist from a Jewish publication to get to talk to ordinary Iranians in decades. Watch for yourself what they told him about Israel.

  Aug 13, 2015 | < 1 min read
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  Opinion

  Dump Stereotypes When Debating Iran Deal

  (JTA) — Congress and the American people are focused on what everyone agrees is a historic, serious and consequential foreign policy decision — the fate of the nuclear deal with Iran. While we all hope for a debate based on substance and conducted with civility, the truth is that political debates today are often characterized more…

  By Jonathan Greenblatt Aug 12, 2015 | 3 min read
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  Opinion

  Why We Sent a Reporter to Iran

  In September 2013, the Forward’s Larry Cohler-Esses attended an 80-minute press conference called by the new president of Iran. Listening to Hassan Rouhani among a large gaggle of reporters just near the United Nations is not how Larry usually spends his work hours. As the assistant managing editor for news, Larry assigns and edits stories,…

  By Jane Eisner Aug 12, 2015 | 4 min read
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  Opinion

  What It’s Like To Be a Black, Gay, Professional Jew

  I feel like I’m about as square as can be. And yet, I understand that the gestalt of Jewish, gay, black, community-leader-me is simply unmetabolizable to some Jews. The package in which I exist defies the physics of some mainstream Jewish community assumptions — even among those who share the history of oppression. But what…

  By Ilana Kaufman Aug 11, 2015 | 3 min read
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  Opinion

  Is ‘Pinkwashing’ Possible After Gay Pride Stabbings?

  Can a country that has seen such visible and brutal attacks on its LGBTQ population truly market itself as a “safe” and “exciting” destination for queer co-ethnics and tourists alike? This question is rolling around in my mind after recent events in Israel. Like many, I reacted with a mix of horror, terror, and sadness…

  By Jonathan Paul Katz Aug 10, 2015 | 3 min read
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  Opinion

  7 Prescriptions for American Jewish Anxiety

  After Gal Beckerman diagnosed in his final column as opinion editor, we invited Forward readers to prescribe solutions. Here are seven of your responses, edited for style and length. 1) Kill the Idea of “Authenticity” On Beckerman’s reading, we have [American Jewish] humiliation on the one hand and [Israeli] narcissism on the other. Is it…

  Aug 10, 2015 | 4 min read