Opinion

• Opinion

  For Peace To Win, Hamas Must Lose

  Heading into the third week of its campaign against Hamas in Gaza, Israel finds itself tripping over an unexpected impediment: its overwhelming military superiority. The problem is that Israeli forces can do pretty much whatever they want in the densely populated district except figure out how to get out. And the longer they stay, the…

  By J.J. Goldberg

  4 min read
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  Opinion

  Why Israeli Left Should Stop Backing Gaza Wars

  Palestinians carry a boy following an Israeli military strike on the Gaza beach / Getty Images In the current outburst of violence, perhaps the only pliable and docile actor is Israel’s center-left. Politically speaking, opposition leader Isaac Herzog might as well be cowering in a shelter. He toes Prime Minister Netanyahu’s line, supporting both the…

  By Raphael Magarik Jul 25, 2014 | 4 min read
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  Opinion

  No, Birthright Didn’t Kill Max Steinberg

  L.A. native Max Steinberg, killed in combat during fighting with Gaza / Courtesy of Steinberg Family I’ve gone on the record about my ambivalence about Birthright, having argued that it actually discouraged a connection to Israel for Jews like me due to the clear bias of its agenda. Should I have been offered a more…

  By Elissa Strauss Jul 24, 2014 | 3 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

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  Opinion

  Don’t Reward Hamas for Israeli Soldier’s Body

  Palestinians celebrate after Hamas’ armed wing said it had captured an Israeli soldier / Getty Images Immediately after a Hamas military spokesperson announced the capture of an Israeli soldier this Sunday, the streets of Gaza, Hebron, Ramallah and Bethlehem erupted in fireworks and celebration. Israel confirmed this week that the body of, Oron Shaul, a…

  By Eliyahu Federman Jul 24, 2014 | 2 min read
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  Opinion

  Israel Has a New Worst Enemy — Twitter

  Shortly after Israel began its ground invasion of Gaza, Anne Barnard, a New York Times reporter who has covered wars for over a decade, stood in the emergency room of the Al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City and watched a 9-year-old girl die. The girl was alone, without family, nameless. And when the doctor finally pronounced…

  By Gal Beckerman Jul 24, 2014 | 4 min read
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  Opinion

  ADL Needs To Drop Thane Rosenbaum Right Now

  Thane Rosenbaum / Getty Images So. Can we talk about Thane Rosenbaum? You probably already know that Thane Rosenbaum — who likes to talk about being a human rights professor — wrote an op-ed for the Wall Street Journal arguing that the Gazan noncombatants are fair game in this war, because “they” voted for Hamas…

  By Emily L. Hauser Jul 23, 2014 | 3 min read
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  Opinion

  Gaza War Proves My Pro-Israel Dad Was Right

  It pains and shocks me to say this, but here goes: My father was right all along. He always told me, as I spouted liberal talking points at the Shabbos table and challenged his hawkish views on Israel and the Palestinians to his unending chagrin, that I would one day change my tune. I guess…

  By Tova Stulman Jul 23, 2014 | 4 min read
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  Opinion

  I’m Done Apologizing

  A Palestinian gestures as flames rise from the site of an Israeli air strike in Gaza / Getty Images I’m done apologizing for Israel. It’s tiring to apologize over and over. Instead, I’ve decided to come clean: I am a progressive American rabbi who leans left pretty hard. I’ve been engaged, as a US faith…

  By Rabbi Menachem Creditor Jul 23, 2014 | 3 min read
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  Opinion

  Staring Into the Void, for Both Israelis and Palestinians

  I visited Israel at the end of June, after the three yeshiva students were kidnapped but before their bodies were found, before the Palestinian teen was murdered in a revenge attack, before the air strikes and the ground war and the horrific death toll in Gaza. Before it all fell apart. It seems like a…

  By Jane Eisner Jul 23, 2014 | 5 min read
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  Opinion

  News Quiz: What Did John Kerry Say This Week?

  Getty Images John Kerry, Henry Kissinger and Natlie Portman? It must be this week’s Jewish News Quiz! Or perhaps it’s the hummus talking.

  By Lenore Skenazy Jul 22, 2014 | < 1 min read
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  Opinion

  Don’t Turn Them Away

  When thousands of children appear on your doorstep after a long and desperate journey from a hostile environment, do you turn them away? Great Britain didn’t. From 1938 to 1940, the British accepted thousands of Jewish children who were rescued by the Kindertransport from Nazi Germany in the middle of a war. But when thousands…

  Jul 22, 2014 | < 1 min read