Opinion

• Opinion

  Come to Israel, Not Africa — and Stay Awhile

  In our community’s search for a way to secure Jewish continuity, there’s one type of program that has gotten short changed. In January, Repair the World and The Jewish Agency for Israel released a report about service-learning. Don’t know what this is? You’re probably not alone. But everyone soon will need to know because its…

  By Misha Galperin

  3 min read
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  Opinion

  Tzipi Livni Walks Into a Trap

  It is not at all uncommon for appetite to displace sound judgment. Think about over-eating: Your diet will keep until tomorrow. Or think about the questions you might have asked if you hadn’t been quite so hungry — and flattered — by the job you were just offered. Last week’s case in point: Tzipi Livni,…

  By Leonard Fein Mar 2, 2013 | 3 min read
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  Opinion

  ‘The Jewish Lobby’ Pops Up Again

  Once more, it’s the “Jewish lobby,” that troubling term that has Jewish leaders crying anti-Semitism while politicians from both sides use it to discredit their rivals. For opponents of the administration, remarks by Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel about the “Jewish lobby” that “intimidates” lawmakers in Washington, were seen as a hint — or worse —…

  By Nathan Guttman Mar 1, 2013 | 2 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 A billionaire Gen Z influencer is reinventing philanthropy — with this South African rabbi’s help

  

• Nora Berman Is Netflix’s new show the most Jewish cartoon ever?

  

• Dan Perry Israel is not deliberately killing journalists in Gaza. But it does bear responsibility for their deaths

  

• Emily Tamkin Trump’s attack on George Soros is ludicrous. It also endangers Jews (and everyone else)

  

The Latest

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  Opinion

  Time’s Up for Hezbollah

  For many years now, the terrorist organization Hezbollah has been tolerated, if not accepted, in most of Europe. Many European countries looked the other way as Hezbollah raised huge sums of money on the continent and, perhaps in return, Hezbollah largely refrained from doing any of its nasty violent business on European soil. Two recent…

  Mar 1, 2013 | 2 min read
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  Opinion

  Michelle Obama Is More Than Bangs and Broccoli

  I suppose there’s no end to commenting on the public behavior of the First Lady of the United States, whoever she may be. I’m old enough to remember griping about Nancy Reagan and Hillary Rodham Clinton. In a previous job, I once had to arrange a visit for Laura Bush when her husband was President…

  By Jane Eisner Feb 28, 2013 | 2 min read
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  Opinion

  Meet the Four Jews Shaping the U.S. Economy

  This could sound like yet another bad-taste Oscar night joke, but turns out that the U.S. economy is run by Jews. Well, at least the federal government’s top advisers. On Wednesday, the Senate confirmed the nomination of Jack Lew, an Orthodox Jew, as Treasury Secretary. He will joined by Gene Sperling, director of the National…

  By Nathan Guttman Feb 28, 2013 | < 1 min read
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  Opinion

  Walt and Mearsheimer Are Ready for their Close-Up

  So far this year, the Anti-Defamation League has felt compelled to issue press releases in response to a belligerent talking teddy bear, a mildly funny Saturday Night Live sketch, and a fictional character portrayed by Kevin Spacey. You might think the trigger-happy ADL was responding in these cases to anti-Semitic slights (its bread and butter,…

  By Gal Beckerman Feb 28, 2013 | 4 min read
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  Opinion

  Jon Stewart on the Blackface Purim Debacle

  “Daily Show” host Jon Stewart and Co. rightly roasted Brooklyn Assemblyman Dov Hikind for his Purim faux pas. In case you missed it, Hikind dressed up in blackface and an Afro wig to play the part of an African-American “basketball player” to celebrate the Jewish holiday. “It’s the year 5773 and this is still happening?”…

  By Seth Berkman Feb 27, 2013 | 2 min read
• Opinion

  Labor’s Turn To Play Ball With Bibi?

  The official deadline on Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition building falls this weekend, but with just one faction on board apart from his own — the six-seat Tzipi Livni Party — he is still short of the Knesset majority he needs. Only 37 of the Knesset’s 120 seats are in the bag, meaning that another 24 are…

  By Nathan Jeffay Feb 27, 2013 | 2 min read
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  Opinion

  Benjamin Netanyahu Overplayed Hand in Talks With Yair Lapid and Naftali Bennett

  It could have been easy. January 22 was not a good day for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, but it could have been far worse. The 2013 parliamentary elections meant that for the first time in his long political career, he would be leading the largest party in the Knesset. Though his joint Likud-Beitenu list…

  By Geoffrey Levin Feb 27, 2013 | 4 min read
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  Opinion

  Prisoner X Case Signals Moment of Crisis for Israel and Jewish Diaspora

  Jewish Agency chairman Natan Sharansky probably thought he was stating the obvious when he welcomed his board of governors to Jerusalem on February 17 with a bromide about Israel-Diaspora solidarity. “It is increasingly clear,” said the chairman, still best known for his years in a Soviet prison, “that world Jewry depends on Israel and Israel…

  By J.J. Goldberg Feb 26, 2013 | 4 min read