Opinion

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  Bibi Blames Brussels Terror on Rage at Israel

  Benjamin Netanyahu may have said more than he meant to on Saturday night when he reacted to the triple-murder that afternoon (which later became a quadruple murder) at the Jewish Museum in Brussels. “This act of murder is the result of constant incitement against Jews and their state,” Netanyahu said in a statement released by…

  By J.J. Goldberg

  3 min read
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  Opinion

  Pope Francis’s Rabbi No. 2

  (JTA) — Pope Francis is bringing along not one but two Argentinean rabbis on his trip to the Holy Land. The pope’s close friendship with Rabbi Abraham Skorka is well known. Skorka even wrote a book with the then archbishop of Buenos Aires. Skorka told JTA that he would be with the pope “all the…

  By Diego Melamed May 25, 2014 | 2 min read
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  Opinion

  Why Brussels Attack Looks Like ‘Toulouse’ Terror

  (Haaretz) — It is too early to jump to conclusions over the identity of the shooter in Satruday’s terror attack at the Jewish Museum in Brussels. And still, it’s hard to avoid the initial impression that the pattern fits other anti-Jewish attacks, locally organized and without the backing of a terror group. Most likely carried…

  By Anshel Pfeffer May 25, 2014 | 2 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 There’s a shocking new report on civilian deaths in Gaza. If only it were accurate.

  

• Nora Berman Is Netflix’s new show the most Jewish cartoon ever?

  

• Dan Perry Israel’s new gift to the far right could help end the Gaza war

  

• Emily Tamkin Entering motherhood — and an obsession with the works of an Italian Jewish literary hero

  

The Latest

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  Opinion

  Should the Bible Have a Trigger Warning?

  You know what could use a trigger warning? The bible. If any book merits a note of caution it is the one that is colloquially referred to as good. In the recent debate over whether colleges should warn students of material that deals with potentially post-traumatic stress syndrome inducing topics like war, sexual violence, racism,…

  By Elissa Strauss May 25, 2014 | 3 min read
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  Opinion

  Wolves of the World Trade Center

  Planning a black tie event can be time consuming. I mean, what wine does one serve with pulverized human remains? I really feel for Mike Bloomberg and his staff. First off, it took 12 years to clean up the crime scene. And now that the space was somewhat presentable, a group of September 11 family…

  By Meg Bloom Glasser May 23, 2014 | 2 min read
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  Opinion

  On Bob Dylan’s Birthday, 4 Israeli Artists Reminisce

  In honor of Bob Dylan’s 73rd birthday on Saturday (May 24), Maariv asked four Israeli singer-songwriters — Eran Tzur, Sun Tailor, Dan Toren and Uzi Ramirez — to write about the “defining moment” in Dylan’s influence on them personally “as musicians, artists and listeners.” Each brief contribution is accompanied by a musical clip that the…

  By J.J. Goldberg May 23, 2014 | 4 min read
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  Opinion

  What Nazi Shootings Tell Me About West Bank Killings

  Watching horrifying tapes of Nazi executions can tell us a lot about the authenticity of a video depicting the killings of two Palestinian teens in the West Bank While studying Yiddish in Lithuania during the summer of 2008 my fellow students and I visited Ponar, the site where 100,000 people, including nearly an entire branch…

  By Jordan Kutzik May 23, 2014 | 4 min read
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  Opinion

  Shelly Silver’s Evil ‘Twin’

  (JTA) — Evil twins make frequent appearances in the cheesier sorts of movies and television shows, yet tend to be less common in state politics. But not according New York State Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver. Silver has never lacked for chutzpah, but he appears to have taken it to Olympian heights with his most recent…

  By Anthony Weiss May 23, 2014 | 2 min read
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  Opinion

  Pomp and Controversy on Campus

  I’ve given three commencement speeches in my life: at a state university so large there were two ceremonies on the same day to accommodate all the students; at a community college where the sense of triumph by first-generation graduates was inspiring and at one of the storied “Seven Sisters,” where I felt humbled to walk…

  By Jane Eisner May 23, 2014 | 2 min read
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  Opinion

  Diaspora Uneasy With Israeli ‘Jewish Democracy’

  The Jerusalem think tank set up by the Jewish Agency in 2002, the Jewish People Policy Institute, appears to have dropped a bombshell into the middle of Israel’s political hothouse with a new report (PDF) it released May 21 on Diaspora attitudes toward Israeli democracy. The report, titled “Jewish and Democratic: Perspectives from World Jewry,”…

  By J.J. Goldberg May 23, 2014 | 3 min read
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  Opinion

  5 Dudes Who Claim To Be America’s Rabbi

  Judaism — it’s a big religion; America — it’s an even bigger place. But one man — one brave, self-sacrificing man — has taken upon himself the weight and burden of serving both constituencies, of being just the Jew that this country needs, of being: America’s Rabbi. I’m sorry, did I say “one man”? I…

  By Emily L. Hauser May 22, 2014 | 4 min read