Opinion

• Opinion

  Jewish Family Feud Rocks Las Vegas

  Some feuding families bury the hatchet around the High Holidays, discarding grudges and grievances in the spirit of renewal. But that’s not happening for the Greenspun siblings of Las Vegas. Scions of a storied newspaper clan, the Greenspuns have been torn apart by a dispute over the future of the Las Vegas Sun, founded by…

  By Michael Kaminer

  3 min read
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  Opinion

  When Munich Became a Synonym for Appeasement

  “A quarrel in a far away country between people of whom we know nothing.” When he pronounced these words, British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain was referring, of course, to Czechoslovakia. That “quarrel” eventually led to the Munich Agreement: an event which opened the path to WWII and whose 75th anniversary we are now marking. Rarely…

  By Robert Zaretsky Sep 17, 2013 | 4 min read
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  Opinion

  News Quiz: Ari Emanuel’s Big Buy

  So is “The Real Rebbetzins” real? How about exploding rugelach and a new holiday involving casseroles? And is it true what they say about Ari Emanuel? Take this week’s quiz and find out!

  By Lenore Skenazy Sep 16, 2013 | < 1 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 I have the answer to Jon Stewart’s toughest question about Israel

  

• Nora Berman ‘Eddington’ is full of conspiracy theories but it’s not about Jews. Or is it?

  

• Dan Perry Recognizing a Palestinian state is a great way to doom Palestinians

  

• Emily Tamkin Is starvation in Gaza really Israel’s fault? The facts are clear

  

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  Opinion

  Syria Chemical Attack Underlines Need for Israel Shift on Non-Conventional Weapons

  The list includes North Korea, Syria, Angola — and Israel. Needless to say, a democracy like Israel would rather not be grouped together with a rogue’s gallery of outlaw states and authoritarian regimes. Yet that is exactly where Israel finds itself alongside the handful of nations that have not ratified the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC)….

  By Aaron Magid Sep 16, 2013 | 3 min read
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  Opinion

  Michael Bloomberg Popular With Jews — But His Policies? Not So Much.

  The Jews of New York like Mayor Michael Bloomberg. As Josh Nathan-Kazis notes in the Forward, 64% of New York City Jewish voters think that the outgoing Bloomberg is doing an “excellent” or “good” job, compared with just 45% of registered voters overall. But their enthusiasm for the mayor did not carry over to votes…

  By Eric Yoffie Sep 16, 2013 | 4 min read
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  Opinion

  Victory for African Immigrants in Israel?

  Will the doors of Israel’s detention centers really open, allowing illegal immigrants to walk free? According to today’s High Court ruling, this is exactly what should happen over the coming weeks. Israel’s High Court has just struck down a controversial law that allows the state to detain illegal immigrants for up to three years. Judges…

  By Nathan Jeffay Sep 16, 2013 | < 1 min read
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  Opinion

  The Yom Kippur When I Lost My Faith

  It is a bit strange to write this, but the Six Day War was, for me, an extension of high school. At school we learned about the War of Independence and its many battles. Each Memorial Day, I was the one who read to the students the sad poems about the fallen soldiers. I was…

  By Yossi Beilin Sep 16, 2013 | 4 min read
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  Opinion

  ‘Half of Syrian Rebels’ Are Radical Islamists

  Nearly half the rebels fighting in Syria are jihadists linked to Al Qaeda or hardline Islamists fighting for a strict Islamic state, according to a study that’s about to be published by IHS Jane’s, the respected British defense consultancy. Advance word of the study appears in Monday’s edition of Britain’s Daily Telegraph. The Jane’s study…

  By J.J. Goldberg Sep 16, 2013 | 2 min read
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  Opinion

  In the Trenches, Panic and Disillusionment

  The officers arriving at Gen. Albert Mendler’s headquarters in the Refidim base in the Sinai had come for a farewell party, but instead found themselves at a war briefing. It was Friday, October 5, 1973, the day before Yom Kippur. Mendler, commander of the only armored division in the Sinai, was supposed to leave on…

  By Abraham Rabinovich Sep 15, 2013 | 4 min read
• Opinion

  Marshall Berman, Marxist Mentsch, Dies at 72

  You’d notice Marshall Berman, if you saw him. Back when I commuted to the City College of New York from my parents’ apartment in the late 1960s, my father certainly did. He rushed into our apartment to excitedly report that “a hippie” was entering our next-door neighbor’s place, a colleague of Berman’s at CCNY. Berman…

  By Ralph Seliger Sep 13, 2013 | 3 min read
• Opinion

  Fasting in Israel’s Heatwave

  Israel is getting ready for the hottest and longest Yom Kippur for decades. Well, not actually longer than normal, but it will feel longer. Israel has long adjusted the clock to wintertime ahead of the fast, so that it finishes some time between six and seven pm, rather than between seven and eight. But following…

  By Nathan Jeffay Sep 13, 2013 | 2 min read