Opinion

• Opinion

  No More Excuses

  Last year, when Pennsylvania State University finally acknowledged that it needed to thoroughly probe allegations that one of its top coaches had abused boys in his care, it turned to former FBI chief Louis Freeh to conduct the investigation. Eight months later, after he and his team interviewed 430 witnesses and examined 3.5 million emails…

  3 min read
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  Opinion

  Are We Jews by Choice or Blood?

  Back when he was Israel’s Minister of Justice, the irrepressible and ever-creative Yossi Beilin put forward a proposal for secular conversion to Judaism. As he explained, “It is simply unimaginable that in the 21st century, a time in which most of world Jewry is not religious, we should continue to grant certain religious establishments the…

  By Leonard Fein Jan 14, 2013 | 3 min read
• Opinion

  Welcome Halkin and Horn

  With a new year come new names and fresh ideas to the pages of the Forward. I am pleased to announce the addition of two columnists who join the estimable list of writers contributing monthly to our opinion section. For me, there’s a personal joy in announcing these new colleagues. I’ll explain. I remember reading…

  By Jane Eisner Jan 14, 2013 | 2 min read

Columnists View All

• Jodi Rudoren This is my last column as editor of the Forward

  

• Jay Michaelson Mamdani’s victory is an opportunity for Jews to relearn the art of disagreement

  

• Rob Eshman Want to understand what’s wrong with the ‘pro-Palestine’ movement? This Palestinian can help

  

• Nora Berman Did Netanyahu coerce Trump into attacking Iran? No — but he tried with Obama

  

• Dan Perry Trump wants to control the Israeli judiciary. Uh, good luck

  

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

  

The Latest

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  Opinion

  Chuck vs. Chuck?

  It could come down to a tale of two Chucks. Chuck Hagel’s chances of getting confirmed as Pentagon chief could hinge on whether Sen. Chuck Schumer is satisfied with Hagel’s stance on Iran. Schumer, perhaps the most influential Jewish senator, is not pleased with Obama’s choice of Hagel for Secretary of Defense and has yet…

  By Nathan Guttman Jan 13, 2013 | 2 min read
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  Opinion

  Shimon Peres Talks with NYT About Iran and Bibi

  “There are two things that cannot be made without closing your eyes — love and peace. If you try to make them with open eyes, you won’t get anywhere,” Shimon Peres tells Ronen Bergman in an illuminating interview in this weekend’s New York Times Magazine. While the 89-year-old President of Israel tells the journalist he…

  By Susan Armitage Jan 11, 2013 | 2 min read
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  Opinion

  Enduring Failures of Israel’s ‘Decision Makers’

  One of Israel’s worst-kept military secrets is the simmering tension between the country’s top security professionals and their civilian bosses, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Ehud Barak. The headlines surface regularly and tend to look the same, so it’s easy to miss the big picture. Ex-Mossad chief Meir Dagan created a splash all…

  By J.J. Goldberg Jan 11, 2013 | 4 min read
• Opinion

  You Too Can Sign It Like Jack Lew

  You’ve seen it. President Obama has seen it. Now you get to try it out yourself. We at the Forward are proud to present the Jack Lew signature widget, which allows you to recreate the wonderful, amazing, crazy curlicues of the first Orthodox Jew to be nominated as treasury secretary. Go ahead, test it out…

  By Dave Goldiner Jan 10, 2013 | < 1 min read
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  Opinion

  An Israeli Ballot With No Good Options

  Israel doesn’t need to hold elections. It only needs to ask for whom I’d vote, because I’ve never voted for anyone but winners. I was for Golda in 1974, for Begin in 1977, for Rabin in 1992, for Netanyahu in ’96, for Barak in ’98, for the Sharon of the Likud in 2000 and the…

  By Hillel Halkin Jan 10, 2013 | 3 min read
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  Opinion

  Jack Lew’s Really Bad John Hancock

  Does Jack Lew need to tighten up his penmanship if he’s going to be treasury secretary? The Orthodox Jew whose signature is going to be on every single dollar bill in the land has a pretty weird — actually, an incredibly, startingly weird — signature. And it seems to be the main thing the world…

  By Renee Ghert-Zand Jan 9, 2013 | 2 min read
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  Opinion

  Chuck Hagel Failure May Haunt Hawks

  Hawkish groups that sought to pre-emptively sink Chuck Hagel’s candidacy for secretary of defense may have been trying to teach President Obama and his supporters a lesson — but it seems they’re the ones who may look back at this episode as a cautionary tale. “You don’t want to wound the king,” Joseph Cirincione, president…

  By Laura Rozen Jan 9, 2013 | 3 min read
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  Opinion

  The $1 Trillion Debt Ceiling Solution

  Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-N.Y.) wants the government to mint a platinum coin worth…a cool $1 trillion.. Nadler, a Jewish Upper West Sider, thinks the minting of a ridiculously valuable coin could foil GOP attempts to hold Democrats hostage in debt ceiling negotiations. It would allow the government to pay its debts without going through Congress,…

  By Josh Nathan-Kazis Jan 9, 2013 | 2 min read