Opinion

• Opinion

  Why French Jews Should Fear Islamophobia

  French far-right Front National party leader Marine Le Pen / Getty Images Marine Le Pen, the leader of France’s right-wing Front National party, is well known for her Islamophobic statements. This is a woman who has compared the presence of four million Muslims in her country to the Nazi occupation of France during World War…

  By Anna Momigliano

  3 min read
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  Opinion

  The Jewish Case Against Unplugging

  Jews can be pretty proprietary about guilt. We’re almost proud of it. If an outsider, after binge-reading Philip Roth, came to the conclusion that guilt is what fuels our emotional engines, we would experience that particular delight of feeling completely understood. And yet, when it comes to guilt, the thing we might feel most guilty…

  By Elissa Strauss Mar 5, 2014 | 4 min read
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  Opinion

  5 Reasons You Should Talk to BDS Supporters

  Getty Images Writing in Tablet Magazine, Liel Liebovitz — or perhaps Tablet’s headline writer — recently asked the apparently rhetorical question “Why Talk About Israel With People Who Want It To Disappear?” Here are five answers. 1. Because many of them and their supporters are Jews. Hillel, the Jewish Museum, Ramaz and other organizations that…

  By Jay Michaelson Mar 4, 2014 | 3 min read

Columnists View All

• Jay Michaelson What can really be done to prevent antisemitic attacks like Bondi Beach?

  

• Rob Eshman Australia shooting terrifies Jews worldwide — and strengthens the case for Israel

  

• Nora Berman Did crypto-Jews invent the modern tarot deck?

  

• Dan Perry The 3 responses to the Bondi Beach Hanukkah attack that could make Jews safer

  

• Emily Tamkin The fundamental miscalculation behind the GOP’s antisemitism crisis

  

The Latest

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  Opinion

  Who Counts as a Holocaust Survivor?

  At 111, Dr. Alexander Imich may be the oldest living Holocaust survivor. / YouTube As a writer for a Yiddish newspaper and as a Yiddish translator, I spend a lot of time working with Holocaust survivors and their writings. I’ve spent upwards of 1000 hours conducting oral history interviews with Holocaust survivors and translating Holocaust…

  By Jordan Kutzik Mar 4, 2014 | 4 min read
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  Opinion

  Remember Vashti and Esther on International Women’s Day

  (JTA) — On Mar. 8, we celebrate International Women’s Day, a day intended to celebrate the economic and social advances made by women, while at the same time drawing attention to areas that still need action. It is striking that this year the day falls so close to Purim. The proximity is not lost on…

  By Lori Weinstein Mar 4, 2014 | 3 min read
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  Opinion

  At AIPAC Parley, Even Friends Fault Obama

  Getty Images As hard as leaders of AIPAC, the pro-Israel lobby, are trying to maintain a politely bipartisan tone among the 14,000 activists gathered for the lobby’s annual conference, unhappiness with the Obama administration keeps surfacing in small conference rooms and chats in the corridors. Occasionally rancor surfaces in the mass plenary sessions, despite the…

  By J.J. Goldberg Mar 3, 2014 | 3 min read
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  Opinion

  How ‘De-Arabizing’ Christians Serves Israel

  Palestinian Orthodox Christians at the 2013 Palm Sunday procession in Gaza City / Getty Images Last week the Knesset voted to force yet another division onto the Palestinian people. The Palestinians are already divided in a myriad of ways: There are those who live in the Diaspora and are divided there, from America’s well-fed middle…

  By Emily L. Hauser Mar 3, 2014 | 4 min read
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  Opinion

  When It Comes to ‘Ultra’ History Speaks for Itself

  Getty Images In a recent essay in the Forward, I made the case for jettisoning the time-honored (if, to me, less than honorable) term “ultra-Orthodox.” I argued that, like “ultra-conservative” or “ultra-liberal” in domestic politics, the prefix implies extremism, something that isn’t accurate about most Haredim. What best to replace it with is less obvious,…

  Mar 3, 2014 | 4 min read
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  Opinion

  Israel Takes Cue From Apartheid ‘Divide-and-Rule’ Playbook

  Few things get under the skin of supporters of Israel like the use of the term ‘apartheid’ to describe the state or its policies. Less than two weeks ago, a campaign named Rethink2014 was launched by pro-Israel activists to challenge what it calls “the Apartheid smear,” just ahead of the global event known as Israel…

  By Heidi-Jane Esakov Mar 3, 2014 | 3 min read
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  Opinion

  Hobby Lobby Discriminates in the Name of Religion With Help from Orthodox Outliers

  Next month, the Supreme Court will hear the most important abortion case in decades. Like the recent anti-gay law vetoed by Arizona Governor Jan Brewer, it turns on the meaning of the term “religious liberty.” The case — actually a consolidation of two similar cases, Hobby Lobby v. Sebelius and Conestoga Wood v. Sebelius —…

  By Jay Michaelson Mar 3, 2014 | 3 min read
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  Opinion

  Revenge May Drive Haredi Settlement Boycott

  Ultra-Orthodox lawmaker Meir Porush at a Jerusalem polling station in 2008. / Getty Images A boycott of West Bank settlements is a favorite subject for discussion among Palestinian activists and Western liberals alike. Surprisingly, it’s getting some ultra-Orthodox Israelis talking too. In fact, a Haredi lawmaker has revealed that he’s coming under “tremendous pressure” to…

  By Nathan Jeffay Mar 2, 2014 | 2 min read