Opinion

• Opinion

  News Quiz: Britain’s Royal, Baseball’s Scandal

  A royal baby and Bar Refaeli — they’re both in the quiz this week and for the exact same reason, just showing up not wearing much. The Brewers’ Ryan Braun is here, too, along with Allan Sherman. That’s not a pairing you are going to find anywhere else, so take the quiz already!

  By Lenore Skenazy

  < 1 min read
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  Opinion

  May the Lord Bless the Royal Baby

  When the rabbi is asked, in “Fiddler on the Roof,” whether there’s a prayer for the Czar, he says, “May God bless and keep the Czar… far away from us.” But this week British and American Jewish communities have clasped one royal family close to its virtual bosom. Websites, facebook pages, twitter feeds have been…

  Jul 24, 2013 | 2 min read
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  Opinion

  How Israel Sold EU on Banning Half of Hezbollah

  The European Union’s decision to slap the terrorist label on Hezbollah’s military wing, but not on its political wing, has been getting decidedly mixed reviews from Israel and the Jewish community. The American Jewish Committee said it “welcomes” the move as a “significant step forward in recognizing the true nature of Hezbollah,” even though AJC…

  By J.J. Goldberg Jul 24, 2013 | 4 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 There’s a shocking new report on civilian deaths in Gaza. If only it were accurate.

  

• 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

  

The Latest

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  Opinion

  Ryan Braun’s Jewish Disgrace

  The best of times has turned into the worst of times for Jewish baseball fans now that Major League Baseball has suspended slugger Ryan “Hebrew Hammer” Braun in baseball’s latest performance-enhancing drugs scandal. The Milwaukee Brewers slugger and former National League Most Valuable Player, who is the son of an Israeli-born Jewish father and a…

  By Peter Ephross Jul 23, 2013 | 2 min read
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  Opinion

  Robert Mugabe’s Israeli Connection

  Zimbabwe’s strongman Robert Mugabe has succeeded in staying in office for 33 years with a potent mix of populism and violence — and he may have an Israeli company to thank if he extends his rule one more time. The 89-year-old leader faces his sternest test yet next week when he squares off in a…

  By Dave Goldiner Jul 23, 2013 | 3 min read
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  Opinion

  Europe’s Anti-Settlement Plan Reveals Broken Moral Compass

  The European Union recently sent out a directive barring its 28 members from cooperating with Israeli entities in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. The boycott includes “all funding, cooperation, and the granting of scholarships, research grants and prizes” to Israeli entities in East Jerusalem and the West Bank. If this is how the E.U….

  By Noah Beck Jul 23, 2013 | 4 min read
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  Opinion

  Barack Obama Adds Punctuation Point to Race Conversation

  The complicated saga of race in this country has dozens of punctuation points. Birmingham and Selma, the summer of the freedom riders, King’s life and oratory and his awful death, Lyndon Johnson’s uttering “We shall overcome” to a joint session of Congress, rallies, marches, the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act…

  By Leonard Fein Jul 22, 2013 | 3 min read
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  Opinion

  In Baby Frenzy, British Royals Show ‘Jewish’ Restraint

  (JTA) — When the news broke Monday that Kate Middleton, the Duchess of Cambridge and wife of Prince William, had gone into labor, it seemed that London could not have been more prepared. For weeks, reporters and photographers had been camped out in front of the maternity ward at St. Mary’s Hospital. The choreography of…

  By Jillian Scheinfeld Jul 22, 2013 | 4 min read
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  Opinion

  John Kerry Is Wasting His Time — and Ours

  To what can John Kerry’s efforts to restart the Israeli-Palestinian “peace process” be likened? Perhaps to those of a mechanic doggedly working on the engine of an old jalopy whose body is eaten by rust: Even if he gets the damned thing running, it won’t go anywhere. When something has gone nowhere for 20 years…

  By Hillel Halkin Jul 22, 2013 | 3 min read
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  Opinion

  Fasting for Immigrant Rights

  I sat in a tent in the desert and waited for travelers to arrive. They came on government buses, dehydrated, exhausted, covered in blisters and bug bites. We welcomed them into our large, white tent and offered bandages, water and clumsily wrapped burritos. Abraham welcomed three strangers into his desert tent. Each day, I welcomed…

  By Nicole Kligerman Jul 22, 2013 | 3 min read
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  Opinion

  Blood Libel Trial of Century at 100

  This year marks the one hundredth anniversary of one of the most sensational trials of the 20th century. In September 1913, Mendel Beilis, the clerk of a brick factory, stood accused in a Kiev courtroom of murdering a 13-year-old boy to use his blood to make matzo. Over the course of a four-week trial, the…

  By Paul Berger Jul 21, 2013 | 2 min read