Opinion

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  Bash-J Street Audience Turns on Dershowitz

  The Philadelphia screening of the anti-J Street film “The J Street Challenge” by the Jewish federation and the regional Hillel council reportedly turned into a rowdy right-wing roast in which the audience turned its fury on Alan Dershowitz. So reports Matthew Berkman, a University of Pennsylvania Ph.D. candidate writing a doctoral thesis on American Jewish…

  By J.J. Goldberg

  < 1 min read
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  Opinion

  Memo to New York Times: Women Are Jews, Too

  Protesters call for the release of Jonathan Pollard / Getty Images So I check the homepage of the New York Times on Thursday afternoon, as I regularly do several times a day, to see a prominent story proclaiming that all the talk of freeing convicted spy Jonathan J. Pollard is dividing American Jews. “More and…

  By Jane Eisner Apr 3, 2014 | 2 min read
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  Opinion

  Watching Porn While Sitting Shiva

  Digital Spy It was my first shiva call, and it shocked me out of my wits. Sarah, one of the residents in the Jewish retirement community where I’d been conducting seminars on world news, had passed away. A cheerful lady in her 90s, she had always brought an international aspect to our weekly discussions. I…

  By Henrik Eger Apr 3, 2014 | 3 min read

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• 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

  

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  Opinion

  Israel’s Missed Energy Opportunity

  The Tamar drilling natural gas production platform near Israel / Getty Images It’s now a week since the scheduled start of one of the most important energy deals in Israeli history. But the signing was called off, hasn’t been rescheduled since, and now, uncertainty hangs over the future of the deal. Australia-based Woodside Petroleum was…

  By Nathan Jeffay Apr 3, 2014 | 2 min read
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  Opinion

  Donor Slams Federation for Divisive ‘Political Attack Ad’ Aimed at J Street

  For more than 30 years, my relationship with Jewish federations, Israel Bonds, the America Israel Public Affairs Committee, J Street and Hillel has been the focus of my life. I have chaired federation and Israel Bonds campaigns, led and helped create Jewish day schools in both Milwaukee and Tucson, Ariz., and donated millions of dollars…

  By Larry Gellman Apr 3, 2014 | 3 min read
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  Opinion

  What Olmert’s Conviction Means for Peace

  Getty Images The Israeli legal system just got its teeth back. Much has been written about the conviction this week of Israel’s Former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert in a bribery trial. The reverberations of the ruling are felt far and wide. In the political sphere, this seems to be the end of the dream which…

  By Nathan Jeffay Apr 2, 2014 | 2 min read
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  Opinion

  Jerusalem Post’s Absurd Visa Waiver Plea

  Getty Images The Jerusalem Post’s latest editorial wades into the Israel-U.S. debate over travel visas — and comes to some absurd conclusions. The government of Israel has been trying for a while to reach an agreement with the American authorities allowing Israeli tourists to visit the U.S. for a short time without a visa. The…

  By Anna Momigliano Apr 2, 2014 | 3 min read
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  Opinion

  5 Myths About Jonathan Pollard Case

  The Jonathan Pollard matter just won’t go away — and for good reason. The most recent flurry of interest surrounding the case was fueled this week by the news that the White House might be moved, at long last, to release Pollard from prison. But the problem with the case — however troubling the case…

  By Jerome Chanes Apr 2, 2014 | 4 min read
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  Opinion

  Don’t Pardon Jonathan Pollard

  It’s not clear whether the idea was leaked by the Obama administration or advanced by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. But the very suggestion that convicted spy Jonathan J. Pollard may be released from his North Carolina prison as part of an effort to resuscitate the flailing Israeli-Palestinian negotiations has accomplished something rare in Middle…

  Apr 2, 2014 | 4 min read
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  Opinion

  Jon Stewart Twits ‘Zionist Billionaire’ Adelson. Ouch

  Jon Stewart took on New Jersey Governor Chris Christie’s self-commissioned and miraculously self-exonerating investigative report into the Bridgegate scandal last night, and led from there into a viciously funny takedown of Christie’s apology to Sheldon Adelson for referring to the territories as “occupied” during a speech to the Republican Jewish Coalition. In Part 2 (after…

  By J.J. Goldberg Apr 1, 2014 | < 1 min read
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  Opinion

  Pollard Chatter Means Peace Talks Are Serious

  Protestors call for Jonathan Pollard to be released from prison. / Getty Images Jonathan Pollard — the man who stole huge amounts of intelligence and gave it to Israel and has been sitting in an American prison for 30 years — has become a chip to be traded in order keep Israeli-Palestinian talks going. Pollard…

  By Brent E. Sasley Apr 1, 2014 | 3 min read