Opinion

• Opinion

  Better The Enemy You Know — Gaza’s Other Terror Groups

  Getty Images (JTA) — After four weeks of a punishing Israel air and ground campaign that left nearly 2,000 dead and much of Gaza in ruins, Hamas has lived to see another day. For Israel, that might not be the worst thing. That’s because for all of Hamas’ violent extremism, it also governs a territory, maintains…

  By Ben Sales

  3 min read
• 
  Opinion

  A Fight Worth Fighting

  When President Barack Obama announced his reasons for allowing limited air strikes against the militant group, Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, his decision came along with a number of justifications. There did seem to be a possible impending genocide, yes. Yazidis, a religious minority group closely allied with the Kurds, were then huddling on…

  Aug 15, 2014 | 3 min read
• 
  Opinion

  8 Things You Didn’t Know About The U.N. War Crimes Commission

  1) The head of the inquiry commission comes from a Jewish family William Schabas, chosen to chair the inquiry committee, a move compared by Israel to “inviting ISIS to organize religious tolerance week,” has strong Jewish roots. His paternal grandparents were Jewish immigrants from Eastern Galicia in Central Europe who moved to New York at…

  By Nathan Guttman Aug 15, 2014 | 5 min read

Columnists View All

• Alyssa Katz What I learned at a Holocaust survivors’ Purim party

  

• Rob Eshman Gavin Newsom isn’t waffling on Israel — he’s voicing sensible ideas in an era of outrage

  

• Dan Perry The moral degradation of Israel’s far-right is even worse than you think

  

• Emily Tamkin We must rewrite the rulebook for fighting antisemitism — or conspiracists like Joe Kent will win the narrative wars

  

• Jay Michaelson Antisemitism is exploding on the right but the Jewish establishment is focused on the left

  

The Latest

• 
  Opinion

  Exchange in the Air

  Eli valley envisions a conversation on Zionism and the course of Jewish history during a military mission over Gaza. Eli Valley is finishing his first novel. His website is www.evcomics.com, and he tweets @elivalley SCROLL DOWN TO ENLARGE

  By Eli Valley Aug 14, 2014 | < 1 min read
• 
  Opinion

  France’s Acceptable Anti-Semitism

  Getty Images (JTA) — My friend Alain Azria gave me a puzzled look when I told him, with some indignation and disbelief in my voice, that I had just heard talk of killing Jews at an unauthorized anti-Israel demonstration in Paris. I had heard one young black man with a Parisian accent telling a dozen…

  By Cnaan Liphshiz Aug 13, 2014 | 4 min read
• 
  Opinion

  Getting Serious About the Mystery

  Robert Frost once wrote, “We dance round in a ring and suppose. But the Secret sits in the middle and knows.” I’d like this to be a Jewish credo. We have the first part right anyway: Jews do a lot of dancing round in rings, on holidays, at weddings. We also do a lot of…

  By Jay Michaelson Aug 13, 2014 | 3 min read
• 
  Opinion

  Stereotypes and Similarities at Muslim Jewish Conference

  Participants of the Muslim Jewish Conference visit the main synagogue in Vienna, Austria. / All photos copyright Daniel Shaked As a grassroots youth organization, the Muslim Jewish Conference has worked for five years to provide a framework for real interaction and dialogue between young Muslims and Jews from all over the world. The six-day meeting…

  By Aziz Sohail Aug 12, 2014 | 3 min read
• 
  Opinion

  News Quiz: A Wig by Any Other Name

  Lox and socks. No, it’s not a newly discovered Dr. Seuss book – it’s this week’s quiz, including a visit to Starbucks , nursery school and Yankee Stadium. Jump in!

  By Lenore Skenazy Aug 12, 2014 | < 1 min read
• 
  Opinion

  What ‘Dead Poets Society’ Taught Me About Living Deliberately

  Robin Williams was not John Keating, the teacher he portrayed in the 1989 film Dead Poets Society. Keating was a character, made richer by Williams’ own improvisatory genius, but a character nonetheless. Williams, as we now all know, was all too human. Yet their fates, for me, are intertwined. Keating is a preacher of sensitivity….

  By Jay Michaelson Aug 12, 2014 | 4 min read
• 
  Opinion

  How To Talk to a 10-Year-Old About Gaza

  I was recently sitting at a hotel when my 10-year-old daughter Lila called my attention to the television. As part of the coverage of Israel’s incursion into Gaza, the news showed a child covered in bandages, limbs missing. It was one of the boys who had been caught in bombings on the beach. “He’s just…

  By Leigh Shulman Aug 12, 2014 | 3 min read
• 
  Opinion

  Israel, Hamas Near Long-Term Deal on These Terms

  Israel and the Palestinians are said to be near agreement on the terms for a long-term cease-fire for Gaza, following a day of talks in Cairo under Egyptian mediation. The Israeli team was reported by Yediot Ahronot’s Ynet news site to be heading back to Israel this evening to present the tentative agreements to Israel’s…

  By J.J. Goldberg Aug 12, 2014 | 3 min read