In the Forward’s opinion section, you’ll find analysis and essays from diverse corners of the Jewish world.
To pitch an opinion piece, email our Opinion Editor, Talya Zax.
Opinion
-
Opinion
Echoes of McCarthyism in Smear Campaign Against New Israel Fund Backers
Senator Joseph McCarthy of Wisconsin is a name that is infamous in American history. The senator hurled scurrilous innuendos and attacked the character of those he opposed. He routinely labelled them as “Communists” in an attempt to squelch all political views at odds with his own. In the spring of 1954, when his power was…
-
Opinion Meet the Long-Lost Jews of Jedwabne
Courtesy of Marcel Lozinski On July 10, 1941, the Polish villagers of Jedwabne engaged in a mad orgy of torture and murder, aimed at their Jewish neighbors. Anna Bikont, a Polish journalist and columnist, tells this horrifying story in her new book, “The Crime and the Silence.” Part history, part memoir, the book will be…
-
Opinion Israel’s Debates Creep (Back) Into Our Bloodstream
Regardless of how Israelis vote on March 17, it will take weeks of coalition negotiations before we learn what the next government in Jerusalem will look like. Still, it’s not too early to start surveying what we’ve already learned from Israel’s political drama — what it’s taught us about our lives here as American Jews,…
Columnists View All
The Latest
-
Opinion 5 Questions for Tim Kaine on Israel
Sen. Tim Kaine is a moderate Democrat who boycotted Benjamin Netanyahu’s speech to Congress. Nathan Guttman, the Forward’s Washington bureau chief, asks him about Iran and whether Democrats are drifting away from Israel. Nathan Guttman: Did you face any political cost for deciding not to attend Netanyahu’s speech? Senator Tim Kaine: I’m not dumb, I…
-
Opinion Tzipi and Buji Go to the Market
With only a few days to go until the election, Israeli co-leaders of the Zionist Union — Tzipi Livni and Isaac Herzog (aka Buji) — wanted to do a little last-minute politicking. So they visited Tel Aviv’s outdoor Carmel Market. They were really excited about it. REALLY excited. See, we eat pears! We’re personable! Could this…
-
Opinion Israel’s Arab Party Is Handing Bibi the Election
Knesset Members from Israeli Arab parties announce a joint list in Israel’s election / Getty Images “Bibi, Buji, Zehava and Issawi: All of the Jews are the same,” noted leaders of the Arab Balad party at a recent executive meeting. Balad Party activists are willing to lump together Netanyahu with Meretz Chairwoman Zehava Gal-On, who…
-
Opinion What If Bibi Loses? Imagining Life Without Netanyahu
Rotating campaign billboard shows Netanyahu and Labor Party leader Isaac Herzog / Getty Images No one even dared speculate about it before. Only now, less than a week before they go to the polls on March 17, Israelis are finally allowing themselves to seriously consider the possibility that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu might actually lose…
-
Opinion A Teachable Moment at UCLA
There is no way to characterize the recent incident at UCLA in which a Jewish student’s judgment was challenged simply because of her religion, as anything other than pure bigotry. And therefore, pure anti-Semitism. No other explanation or excuse can suffice. The student government deserves disapprobation for even raising the question of a student’s loyalties,…
-
Opinion Jeb Bush’s Lurch to the Right
Two developments this week bode ominously for Jewish Republicans. First, Republican primary voters can’t stand Jeb Bush and Chris Christie. In a new poll by the Wall Street Journal, Bush had roughly equivalent negatives to Hillary Clinton. 42% of Republican voters said they couldn’t see themselves supporting him. 57% said the same of Christie. The…
-
Opinion Why Is Hillel Chief Eric Fingerhut Shunning J Street — and 1,000 Pro-Israel Students?
On Monday, I learned that the chance to speak to over 1,000 student pro-Israel activists is not enough to get Eric Fingerhut, President and CEO of Hillel International, in a room. I have two questions: why not, and if that’s not enough, what is? Let’s start with the first: why did Fingerhut withdraw from the…
-
Opinion Europe’s Undercover Yarmulke Journalists
Getty Images (JTA) – Sending a yarmulke-wearing man out with a hidden video camera to document anti-Semitism on the streets of Europe, particularly in Muslim neighborhoods, is quickly becoming a journalistic trope. First, in January, a reporter wearing a kippah walked around the heavily Muslim neighborhood of Malmo, Sweden, where he was assaulted and cursed…
Explore
Most Popular
- 1
Fast Forward First Puka Nacua, now Mookie Betts: Why do sports stars keep getting antisemitic around a Jewish streamer?
- 2
Fast Forward After MIT professor’s killing, Jewish influencers spread unverified antisemitism claim
- 3
Fast Forward Father and son suspects in Bondi Beach Hanukkah attack identified as Sajid and Naveed Akram by law enforcement
- 4
News Christians are displaying menorahs in their windows post-Bondi Beach attack. Why some Jews object
In Case You Missed It
-
Opinion The Gaza hostage crisis could forever change how American Jews relate to Israel — but it’s not too late to fix that
-
Yiddish ווידעאָ: היסטאָריקערין וויווי לאַקס באַשרײַבט געשיכטע פֿון לאָנדאָנער ייִדישער פּרעסעVIDEO: Historian Vivi Laks tells history of the London Yiddish Press
שבֿע צוקער פֿירט דעם שמועס מיט וויווי לאַקס און ביידע לייענען פֿאָר עטלעכע פֿעליעטאָנען פֿון יענע צײַטן.
-
Yiddish World Puppet Monty Pickle is guest on the Forward’s ‘Yiddish Word of the Day’
-
News Who is Bruce Blakeman, the ‘Almost Orthodox’ Jew running for New York governor?
-
Shop the Forward Store
100% of profits support our journalism
