Opinion

• Opinion

  Qatar’s Growing Role in the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict

  Qatar’s two-faced policy towards Israel was on display this week, as Doha hosted a competition of FINA, the international governing body of swimming and other water sports. Members of Israel’s national team were granted visas to the Gulf monarchy where Israeli passports are normally rejected, and there were no boycotts of competitions against Israelis. But…

  By Yermi Brenner

  2 min read
• Opinion

  ADL’s ‘Top 10 Anti-Israel Groups’: Blacklists Return

  In June 2012, an anti-Israel billboard campaign was promoted in Los Angeles County by an organization with the cumbersome name of the U.S. Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation. The group announced the billboard campaign in a press release that went on to warn that the “Israel lobby” might try to stop the campaign. It…

  By J.J. Goldberg Oct 22, 2013 | 4 min read
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  Opinion

  American Jews Should Own Their Success!

  If you’ve read my previous columns, you know I believe in the centrality of Israel in Jewish civilization, that in the past few decades, Israel has transformed from being a project of world Jewry into becoming its beating heart, and that the future of Jewish creativity, confidence and influence are going to happen primarily in…

  By David Hazony Oct 22, 2013 | 5 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 Americans keep getting killed in the West Bank. Here’s how the US could fight that awful trend

  

• Nora Berman First Camp Auschwitz, now Alligator Alcatraz — why the right is obsessed with commodifying brutality

  

• Dan Perry What exactly is going on between Israel and Syria — and is the prospect of peace dead?

  

• Emily Tamkin Zohran Mamdani’s victory proves it: The ‘gotcha’ mode of fighting antisemitism has to go

  

The Latest

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  Opinion

  News Quiz: Bloomberg’s Prize, Jewish Strippers and More!

  Impressionists, Islamists and Jewish strippers — you KNOW there’s only one place to find them all: your weekly Jewish news quiz. Also making appearances this week: Mayor Bloomberg, disco and Eggnog. Yup. Eggnog.

  By Lenore Skenazy Oct 21, 2013 | < 1 min read
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  Opinion

  What an iPhone Feud Says About the Ancient Fight for Jerusalem

  In the story of Cain and Abel, it says: “And Cain said to Abel his brother…” (Genesis 4:8) But what did Cain say? There is nothing in the text about what he said to his brother. The ancient rabbis imagined an entire conversation between the brothers. And what was the conversation about? One ancient sage…

  By Jeffrey K. Salkin Oct 21, 2013 | 4 min read
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  Opinion

  Reviving Rabin in the Diaspora

  In the years immediately following the assassination of Yitzhak Rabin, the anniversary of his passing became an important event for British Jewry, only to see it weaken as the years passed, the peace process fell apart, and the image of Rabin faded like an old photograph. This year, however, offered some hope for a burnishing…

  By Liam Hoare Oct 21, 2013 | 3 min read
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  Opinion

  There Is Another Way To Get a ‘Get’

  In early October, the FBI arrested 10 men accused of running a torture-for-hire service for more than two decades, having uncovered evidence of more than two dozen victims during multiple raids in New York and New Jersey. But what has turned the story into a national headline is the identity of the alleged ringleaders. According…

  By Michael A. Helfand Oct 21, 2013 | 3 min read
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  Opinion

  Chicago’s Forgotten But Still Beautiful Agudas Achim

  Chicago’s uptown neighborhood is better known for Vietnamese restaurants and crime than the home of one what was once one of the city’s most stunning synagogues. Agudas Achim North Shore Congregation, which sits closed on a residential street opened its doors this weekend as part of Chicago Architecture Foundation’s Open House Chicago festival. Designed by…

  By Menachem Wecker Oct 20, 2013 | 2 min read
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  Opinion

  Dear Pew: I Was Right. Here’s Why.

  Well, I promised myself I wouldn’t do it again, but here I am, caught in another round of mud-wrestling over the minutiae of Jewish population statistics. You’re in for a treat. If you’re just joining our broadcast, here’s a quick recap: Pew Research Center published a demographic “Portrait of Jewish Americans” on October 1 that…

  By J.J. Goldberg Oct 20, 2013 | 9 min read
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  Opinion

  Why Exactly Are We So Exceptional?

  Several weeks ago, in a New York Times op-ed piece, Vladimir Putin wrote, “It is extremely dangerous to encourage people to see themselves as exceptional, whatever the motivation.” It did not take long for President Obama to assert the contrary, in his address to the UN General Assembly: “Some may disagree, but I believe America…

  By Leonard Fein Oct 19, 2013 | 3 min read
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  Opinion

  Behind the 42 Year Old Library Book

  Last week 63-year-old Shimon Pepper returned the book “While Six Million Died,” to the Fall River, Mass. library — a remarkable 42 years late. But for Pepper, his trip to his hometown was about more than an old book. He came to rescue Torah scrolls and pay homage to a dying Jewish community. Three years…

  By Anna Goldenberg Oct 18, 2013 | 2 min read