Opinion

• Opinion

  Ferguson Shows an Unjust System Cannot Produce Justice

  “Set yourself judges and officers in all your gates,” says Deuteronomy 16:18, two verses before the Torah’s famous injunction, “justice, justice, shall you pursue.” Biblical commentators have observed that the two commandments are related: Because the judges are appointed by the Israelites themselves, they are responsible to the community, and can dispense justice fairly. The…

  By Jay Michaelson

  3 min read
• 
  Opinion

  I Admit It — I’m Binational-Curious

  For at least a generation, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict was the oddest in the world. No one knew how to solve it, yet everyone knew what the solution was: two states, the 1967 lines with land swaps, a creative solution on Jerusalem. Within a couple of years, this consensus has begun to collapse. In short, the…

  By Jay Michaelson Nov 25, 2014 | 4 min read
• 
  Opinion

  Is Bibi Stalling Pick of IDF Chief to Promote Rightist?

  More mystery and intrigue in the senior ranks of the Israel Defense Forces: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is reported (Maariv, Haaretz) to be stalling the nomination of Israel’s next military chief of staff. His reasons are a topic of hot speculation, though the facts seem to speak for themselves. By law the nomination of a…

  By J.J. Goldberg Nov 25, 2014 | 4 min read

Columnists View All

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

  

• Jay Michaelson American Jews were played — now what?

  

• Rob Eshman Americans keep getting killed in the West Bank. Here’s how the US could fight that awful trend

  

• Nora Berman First Camp Auschwitz, now Alligator Alcatraz — why the right is obsessed with commodifying brutality

  

• Dan Perry What exactly is going on between Israel and Syria — and is the prospect of peace dead?

  

• Emily Tamkin Zohran Mamdani’s victory proves it: The ‘gotcha’ mode of fighting antisemitism has to go

  

The Latest

• 
  Opinion

  VIDEO: ‘Fascist’ Name-Calling Drama in Knesset

  A Palestinian Knesset member, Jamal Zahalka (Balad), was forcibly removed from the podium and dragged out of the Knesset plenary today after he called Moshe Feiglin (Likud) a fascist. Some parliament members have protested against the move. They stood up, yelling at Feiglin, who served as the Speaker of the Knesset for the day and…

  By Yael Even Or Nov 24, 2014 | < 1 min read
• 
  Opinion

  The Conflict, the Coverage — and the Tribalism

  Getty Images One of the most dynamic aspects of modern print journalism is the presence of a “public editor,” a designated staff member who engages with readers around issues of the newspaper’s integrity. In her latest revealing column, New York Times public editor Margaret Sullivan responds to readers’ critiques of the recent reporting on the…

  By Mira Sucharov Nov 24, 2014 | 3 min read
• 
  Opinion

  4 Problems With Israel’s ‘Jewish Nation-State’ Law

  Getty Images Members of the Israeli government have renewed a push to create a Basic Law enshrining Israel as “the nation-state of the Jewish people.” This time, the effort is being spearheaded by Prime Minister Netanyahu. Although his is meant to be a “softer” version of previous similar bills, it’s still highly problematic for a…

  By Brent Sasley Nov 24, 2014 | 4 min read
• 
  Opinion

  At Twersky Shiva, Glimmer of Hope for Jerusalem

  Ibrahaim Wassim pays respects to Jewish victims’ families in Jerusalem / Yossi Zamir, Tag Meir Forum Mirrors covered with drapes, pictures stripped from the walls, and the out-of-style black-and-white modernism of North American Orthodox homes — the shiva (mourning) house of Rabbi Moshe Twersky of Har Nof was overcrowded and warm. On the men’s side,…

  By Elisheva Goldberg Nov 24, 2014 | 5 min read
• 
  Opinion

  When I Drifted Off the Path

  A cottage industry of memoirs detailing their writers’ journeys from restrictive “ultra-Orthodox” upbringings into the embrace of resplendent enlightenment and freedom has sprung up in recent years. Reading samples of the genre always reminds me of my own abandonment of the Jewish religious tradition in which I had been raised. I was 12. My apostasy…

  Nov 24, 2014 | 6 min read
• 
  Opinion

  3 Ex-Security Chiefs Slam Bibi for Caving to Right

  Three of Israel’s most senior ex-defense officials came out last week, almost simultaneously, with blistering attacks on the security policies of the Netanyahu coalition. Appearing in separate forums, the three — former Mossad director Shabtai Shavit, former Shin Bet director Yuval Diskin and former IDF chief of staff Gabi Ashkenazi — each charged that the…

  By J.J. Goldberg Nov 24, 2014 | 4 min read
• 
  Opinion

  The Terror Rocking Jerusalem Is Not About God

  Israeli emergency services cleans the sidewalk at the scene of the Jerusalem attack / Getty Images Four ultra-Orthodox Jews at prayer and one Druze policeman, murdered by two Palestinian young men armed with knives, axes and a gun. The heart grieves for the families of the victims and the suffering of the injured. This past…

  By Lara Friedman Nov 23, 2014 | 3 min read
• 
  Opinion

  Don’t Let the Billionaires Decide

  In mid-November, two billionaires with a shared interest in Israel but radically different domestic politics shared a stage, airing their views on critical challenges facing Israel and the United States, from Iran to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Because Sheldon Adelson and Haim Saban can — and do — spend tens and even hundreds of millions of…

  By Jeremy Ben-Ami Nov 23, 2014 | 3 min read