In the Forward’s opinion section, you’ll find analysis and essays from diverse corners of the Jewish world.
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Opinion
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Opinion
Yesh Atid’s Ofer Shelah on War, Grief and Promise
It’s been a while since I’ve had the weekly privilege of translating and editing Ofer Shelah. Some years back he was the Forward’s Israeli commentator as well as a military and sports correspondent for Maariv. Now he’s Yesh Atid’s Knesset faction chairman. Today, marking Soldiers’ Memorial Day in Israel, he posted these thoughts on his…
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Opinion Israelis Who Don’t Know Occupation Can’t Preach to Palestinian Stone-Throwers
Last week, veteran Israeli journalist Amira Hass stirred up a controversy in the media here with an op-ed in Haaretz that opens: “Throwing stones is the birthright and duty of anyone subject to foreign rule.” Hass, who has been living and reporting from the occupied Palestinian territories for 20 years, goes on to suggest that…
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Opinion Anti-Semitism and Anonymity on Twitter
“Anonymous” is a pretty apt name for the motley crew of anarchist hackers who like to disable and deface the websites of groups or people “they” don’t like. We can’t interrogate their motives. Only their work offers clues, sometimes quite unambiguous ones. When Anonymous recently tried to take down the website for Yad Vashem —…
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Opinion LA Times: Boston Cops ‘Question Saudi National’
The Los Angeles Times now confirms what the N.Y. Post first reported, that the Boston police are questioning a Saudi national in connection with today’s bombings. The Times attributes its report to federal law enforcement officials. Earlier, I reported on the initial N.Y. Post story and flippantly dismissed it as a presumably false rumor. A…
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Opinion The Forward’s Winning Newsroom
It’s awards season again in the journalist world, and I’m honored to report that Forward staffers have received some worthy recognition for their work. At the annual Ippies Awards ceremony March 28, which highlighted the work of New York City’s ethnic and independent media, the Forward’s Naomi Zeveloff and Nate Lavey won second place for…
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Opinion Taking a Jewish Page From the Book of Mormon on Interfaith Marriage
When it comes to interfaith marriage, is there anything that Jews can learn from Mormons? Most Jewish leaders would not relish this comparison. After all, what does a liberal, cosmopolitan group of immigrant grandchildren have in common with this American-born collection of conservative Christians? Well, more than you might think. For one thing, they make…
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Opinion Shul Axes Pamela Geller, and 2 Others Invite Her
Her April 14 appearance at Great Neck Synagogue was canceled amid liberal protests, but anti-Islam blogger Pamela Geller got the last laugh: The next morning, two other area synagogues invited her to speak the same day as the canceled speech. “Two courageous and magnificent Rabbis have asked me to speak on Sunday,” Geller wrote last…
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Opinion Air-Raid Sirens on Israel Memorial Day Evoke Clarion Call for Jewish People
There are those sounds, that when heard, instantaneously rouse within us trenchant thoughts and emotions frequently relegated to the deepest recesses of our psyche. While sound affects us in many ways, its psychological effects are undeniably the most profound. According to Jean-Luc Nancy, the French philosopher, “Sonority is both time and meaning.” Like no other…
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Opinion Why Pamela Geller’s Hate Speech Should Be Barred — But BDS Allowed
When it comes to Israel, freedom of speech has become its own battleground. We’ve seen plenty of it in New York already in 2013. Progressive groups defended a talk at Brooklyn College by two Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) activists in February, and right-wingers rallied around anti-Muslim blogger Pamela Geller this week. The two episodes…
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Opinion What’s at Stake After Hugo Chavez
On Sunday, April 14, Venezuelans will vote to replace their late president, Hugo Chavez. And while Chavez may have succumbed to cancer last month, his shadow looms large from the grave. The campaign of Nicolas Maduro, Chavez’s handpicked successor, continues riding the intense emotions around the longtime strongman’s death. That has made the campaign an…
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Opinion Margaret Thatcher, Conservative Icon, Was Wiser Than Friend Ronald Reagan
Say what you will about former British prime minister Margaret Thatcher, the “Iron Lady” who passed away April 8 at age 87: If she imposed unnecessary suffering on ordinary Brits through her heartless economic policies, which we call Reaganomics and the rest of the world still calls Thatcherism, she at least had an excuse. Ronald…
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