Opinion

• Opinion

  Where’s the Platform, Bibi?

  With less than three weeks until elections in Israel, the nation’s leading party still has no platform. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s hybrid political faction formed from the recent merger between the ruling Likud party and right-wing Yisrael Beiteinu, has yet to publish its platform, in which it lays out its stands on major issues. It’s…

  By Nathan Guttman

  2 min read
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  Opinion

  Pass Common Sense Gun Control Measures

  The president’s undisguised grief expressed that of the nation as we mourned the innocent lives lost in Newtown in yet another mass shooting. Maybe we aren’t so inured to gun violence after all, even though many of us no longer notice the news reports of children and others gunned down every day in our communities….

  By Sammie Moshenberg Jan 6, 2013 | 2 min read
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  Opinion

  Chuck Hagel’s Jewish Scorecard

  The debate over the possible nomination of former Senator Chuck Hagel for defense secretary is not dying down. The White House has yet to formally announce whether Hagel will be its pick for the top Pentagon post, although President Obama has signalled to insiders that he is the likely choice. And the president did come…

  By Nathan Guttman Jan 5, 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 Charlie Kirk and Alan Berg: 2 murders, 41 years apart, show the painful perils of polarization

  

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

  

• Dan Perry Israel’s strike in Qatar: An audacious bid for victory, or just another foolhardy provocation?

  

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

  

The Latest

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  Opinion

  U.S. Must Be Climate Change Leader

  Every day this week, the Forward is publishing pieces from opinion leaders in different fields about their prescription for policy in President Obama’s second term. A sense of urgency over climate change has gripped the world’s scientists, as once-in-a-century superstorms, droughts, floods and shortages of food and water have become commonplace. Lately the alarm has…

  By J.J. Goldberg Jan 5, 2013 | 2 min read
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  Opinion

  Stamp Out Slavery for Good

  Every day this week, the Forward is publishing pieces from opinion leaders in different fields about their prescription for policy in President Obama’s second term. One hundred and fifty years after the Emancipation Proclamation, slavery still exists in America. It takes place in just about every industry — agriculture, manufacturing, restaurants, domestic work and the…

  By Jill Jacobs Jan 5, 2013 | 2 min read
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  Opinion

  Watching as Israel’s Election Approaches

  Having finally come to the end of a grueling election season in the United States, American Jews — certainly this one included — could be forgiven for wanting to take a long break from electoral politics. Yet those of us invested in the Israeli future, with friends and family living in cities recently targeted by…

  By Jay Michaelson Jan 4, 2013 | 5 min read
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  Opinion

  Requiem for the American Jewish Novel?

  I may be one of the few writers who was not surprised this past November to read about Philip Roth’s retirement, nor was I inspired to sit shiva for the American Jewish novel. When our media announced the news (a month after being scooped by the French magazine Les Inrocks), a spate of commentary appeared…

  By Sharon Pomerantz Jan 4, 2013 | 4 min read
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  Opinion

  When Mommies Lay Down Their Spears

  If you want to generate a spike in traffic to your website, to sell more copies of your paper or magazine, or to get more ”likes” on Facebook, you should write a screed taking down the way particular people parent their children. “Mommy wars” trigger media feeding frenzies whenever one of them rears its soft-spotted…

  By Jordana Horn Jan 4, 2013 | 3 min read
• Opinion

  ‘Zero Dark Thirty’ Brings Torture to Big Screen

  I recently sat in the dark of a movie theater and watched a human being being tortured. This happened at the beginning of Kathryn Bigelow’s new film “Zero Dark Thirty.” The film’s torture scenes begin the narrative arc toward the May 2011 killing of Osama bin Laden, and so “Zero Dark Thirty” has reopened the…

  By Rachel Kahn-Troster Jan 4, 2013 | 3 min read
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  Opinion

  Wrestling With Details of Noah Pozner’s Killing

  This post originally appeared on the web site of the Dart Society, an independent association of journalists who cover violence and tragedy. Nine days after Veronique Pozner’s son, Noah, was killed in the Newtown schools shootings, I interviewed her and other members of the family about their grieving process. The family had just finished observing…

  By Naomi Zeveloff Jan 3, 2013 | 5 min read
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  Opinion

  Hidden Victims of Russia’s Adoption Ban

  I used to see them fairly often in airports, nicer hotels or restaurants. Living in Eastern Europe, first as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Ukraine and later working for a non-profit in Russia, I’d become adept at spotting other Americans in public. I sized them up, taking into account the color and style of their…

  By Susan Armitage Jan 3, 2013 | 2 min read