Opinion

• Opinion

  The Real Existential Threat Is Not Iran. It’s Bibi.

  Getty Images / Lior Zaltzman On the eve of his departure to Washington this week, Benjamin Netanyahu told the Israeli press assembled on the airport tarmac that he had a “sacred duty” to do everything in his power to protect Israel and the Jewish people from existential threats. As Netanyahu has said nearly every time…

  By Lisa Goldman

  3 min read
• 
  Opinion

  Bibi Should Speak to Congress — and We Should Listen!

  Getty Images / Lior Zaltzman Despite all the chatter to the contrary, it’s important for Netanyahu to speak before Congress tomorrow — and we should all hear him out. For those of us who don’t yet see why — who focus too much on protocol and politics and L’Affaire Boehner and so may have missed…

  By David Hazony Mar 2, 2015 | 3 min read
• 
  Opinion

  4 Questions for Benjamin Netanyahu

  Getty Images (JTA) — Dear Prime Minister Netanyahu: As American Jewish progressive Zionists, we are deeply worried about the threat that a nuclear-armed Iran would pose to Israel. We know you would like pro-Israel Jews to publicly defend your positions on Iran and your plans to speak to Congress next week. But we need some…

  By Gideon Aronoff and Dan Fleshler Mar 1, 2015 | 3 min read

Columnists View All

• Jay Michaelson What can really be done to prevent antisemitic attacks like Bondi Beach?

  

• Rob Eshman Australia shooting terrifies Jews worldwide — and strengthens the case for Israel

  

• Nora Berman Did crypto-Jews invent the modern tarot deck?

  

• Dan Perry The 3 responses to the Bondi Beach Hanukkah attack that could make Jews safer

  

• Emily Tamkin The fundamental miscalculation behind the GOP’s antisemitism crisis

  

The Latest

• 
  Opinion

  Defending Lord Sinderby

  I write in support of Lord Sinderby. Surely you’ve seen his character on “Downton Abbey”: more dour than Carson the butler, more rigid than Lord Grantham, Sinderby is a self-made Jew who is implacably opposed to his son’s marriage to a non-Jew. On the very morning of the wedding in a registry (no church or…

  By Jane Eisner Mar 1, 2015 | 2 min read
• 
  Opinion

  Thank You, Hillel, for Opening the Door

  More than a year ago, Hillel President Eric Fingerhut declared that “‘anti-Zionists’ will not be permitted to speak using the Hillel name or under the Hillel roof, under any circumstances.” That statement came in response to the decision by Jewish students at Swarthmore College to open their doors to speakers and groups that oppose Israel’s…

  By Ben Winter Feb 27, 2015 | 2 min read
• 
  Opinion

  Benjamin Netanyahu’s Iran Exaggerations Now Clear for All To See

  Say what you will, the latest intelligence leak to hit the world headlines couldn’t have come at a worse time for Benjamin Netanyahu. Just a week before the Israeli prime minister’s congressional address on the Iranian nuclear threat, a document from his own spy agency turns up and shows that his dark warnings about Iran…

  By J.J. Goldberg Feb 27, 2015 | 5 min read
• 
  Opinion

  One More Charity Scandal on Loeb & Troper’s Watch

  Illustration by Forward staff Earlier this week, the Forward ran my story on a small New York accounting firm that audits a ton of Jewish charities — including two that have faced recent scandals. A tipster called today to tell me about a third scandal-wracked Loeb & Troper client: YAI, a tremendous New York charity…

  By Josh Nathan-Kazis Feb 27, 2015 | 2 min read
• 
  Opinion

  What’s Eric Fingerhut Doing at a Jerusalem U Event?

  Eric Fingerhut speaks at Jerusalem U film screening / Dorri Olds Trying to get an unbiased education about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is a never-ending conundrum. It’s like the parable of the blind men and the elephant — one blind man grabs the tail and says, “An elephant is like a rope,” another feels the trunk…

  By Dorri Olds Feb 26, 2015 | 4 min read
• 
  Opinion

  You Want To Give Every European Jew a Gun — Really?

  Getty Images In an article originally titled “Why Every Jewish Man, Woman, and Child in Europe Should Get a Gun,” Liel Leibovitz claims that European Jews need guns because they can’t trust their governments to protect them from anti-Semitic “savages.” Leibovitz chides those trusting in “reasonable measures,” arguing instead that, “European Jews with guns can…

  By Ryan Rodrick Beiler Feb 26, 2015 | 4 min read
• 
  Opinion

  Banksy Goes to Gaza

  Banksy’s street art in Gaza. The elusive English street artist Banksy has produced four new works in the Gaza Strip, taking wry aim at the human toll of last summer’s conflict. Six months to the day after the end of the Gaza war, which killed more than 2,100 Palestinians — including hundreds of children —…

  By Naomi Zeveloff Feb 26, 2015 | 2 min read
• 
  Opinion

  A Verdict on the Palestinians

  When a New York jury found the Palestinian Authority and the Palestinian Liberation Organization liable for knowingly supporting six terrorist attacks in Israel more than a decade ago, the news was greeted with cheers and I-told-you-so’s from Israeli government officials and activists on the right. From the left, there was silence. Examine the February 23…

  Feb 26, 2015 | 3 min read