In the Forward’s opinion section, you’ll find analysis and essays from diverse corners of the Jewish world.
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Opinion
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Opinion
The Israeli ‘Olive King’ Who’s Also a Political Expert
“Hag sameach!” Vendors at Mahane Yehuda, Jerusalem’s legendary vegetable market, wished each other happy holiday Wednesday morning when they learned that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party had swept the election. Mahane Yehuda is considered a Likud stronghold, and shop owners were worried in the weeks leading up to the election. “They believed the polls,”…
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Opinion We’re All Letting Bibi Off the Hook for Racism
Benjamin Netanyahu confirmed everyone’s worst fears about him when he launched a last-minute fear campaign on Tuesday, warning that “Arab voters are coming out in droves to the polls” — and proving that he is perfectly happy to win an election using racism. Depressingly, predictably, Bibi’s “the-Arabs-are-coming” bugaboo worked like a dream on the Israeli…
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Opinion Trouble Ahead for Bibi. Plus: Why Herzog Lost
In the end it wasn’t even close. Pre-election polls had Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud trailing the Zionist Union of Yitzhak Herzog and Tzipi Livni by four Knesset seats, nearly 4% of the popular vote. Analysts around the world were falling over each other to write Bibi’s political obituary. Then came election day. Exit polls found he’d…
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Opinion Election Spotlights Israel’s Broken Electoral System
Israeli voters are now officially exhausted by too many elections. Twice in two years, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has failed to pass the state budget, and by calling early votes he threw the country into chaos. We now alternate between one year needed to dissolve the Knesset and government and reconstitute them, and another year…
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Opinion Live-Blogging Israel’s Election Results
Getty Images J.J. Goldberg and Nathan Guttman analyze Israel’s exit polls as they come in, bouncing ideas off one another to figure out what’s next for the government. This post will be updated frequently, so check back soon. Nathan Guttman (7:00 PM) Isaac Herzog put on his best face and told his supporters that it…
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Opinion In Jaffa, Israeli Arabs Get Out the Vote
Silan Dallal, a Jewish activist with the Joint List / Naomi Zeveloff This morning, Wael Mahamid received a mass text message from the Likud party with the warning to its right wing base that Israeli Arabs were going to the polls in record numbers. But Mahamid only laughed at the message, which was sent out…
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Opinion Vote Seen Too Close to Call, Herzog ‘Very Worried’
Ben Caspit at Maariv reports that internal polls of the two main parties show the race too close to call, Herzog camp “deeply worried.” Race might be too close to call for 4 p.m. exit polls to be particularly meaningful. Last minute surge of right-wing voters from Avigdor Lieberman’s Yisrael Beiteinu and Eli Yishai’s Yahad…
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Opinion Turnout Surprisingly Low in Israel. Who’s Hurt?
Forget the pre-election spin from enthusiastic Israeli lefties and despondent righties. Forget the three-day-old polls. Don’t start popping the champagne or sitting shiva (whatever your preference). At the voting booths, it’s still anybody’s game. Overall turnout, which was expected to be high due to the intense emotions surrounding the campaign, has been unexceptional. As of…
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Opinion Left or Right, Election Is Day at Beach
Or Amar, 21, with Martina Bialek, 23 / Naomi Zeveloff In Israel, election day is a holiday. And in Tel Aviv, voters traditionally hit the beach after they go to the polls — whether they vote for left or right wing or anything in between. “The day started with coffee, very early, then we went…
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Opinion Leafy Enclave United in Wanting Bibi Out
In Beit Hakerem a leafy, historically left-leaning neighborhood in West Jerusalem, Israel’s conflict with the Palestinians and its standing with the United States was driving voters to the ballot box. Voter after voter said they had hope that a new government would bring peace and prosperity — and end Netanyahu’s grip on power. “I think…
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Opinion Will Har Homa Come Home to Bibi?
In the West Bank settlement of Har Homa, just outside Jerusalem, many residents said they were voting for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu — some in spite of themselves. Forty-year-old Ilana Ben Moshe echoed remarks of many when she said she was torn between Netanyahu and other right wing candidates, especially Jewish Home Party leader Naftali…
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Yiddish ווידעאָ: היסטאָריקערין וויווי לאַקס באַשרײַבט געשיכטע פֿון לאָנדאָנער ייִדישער פּרעסעVIDEO: Historian Vivi Laks tells history of the London Yiddish Press
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