Opinion

• Opinion

  Druze Soldier’s Body Found After 7 Years

  A few days before the anniversary of Gilad Shalit’s return home from captivity in Gaza, the story of another missing Israeli soldier has come to an altogether more tragic end. Majdy Halabi, an ethnic Druze, disappeared in May 2005 near his home in northern Israel. Today, in a brief statement, the Israeli military said that…

  By Nathan Jeffay

  2 min read
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  Opinion

  Pennsylvania Losing Swing-State Status

  Pennsylvania, it seems, has lost its swing. We’re not talking 1940s big band music or even baseball here, despite the disappointing finish of the Phillies and the Pirates. The losing streak extends to the political realm as well. This once heavily courted state is quickly losing its standing as a toss-up. With President Barack Obama…

  By Lisa Hostein Oct 11, 2012 | 5 min read
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  Opinion

  Talking Faith

  There are seismic shifts occuring in the American religious landscape that could have profound effects on the way that faith intersects with public life, but you’d never know it from the language and behavior of the two presidential candidates. That’s both a great relief and a cause for despair. The shifts were underscored by the…

  Oct 11, 2012 | 3 min read

Columnists View All

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

  

• Jay Michaelson I supported Israel’s actions in Gaza in October 2023 — not anymore

  

• Rob Eshman The staggering hypocrisy behind Trump’s deal to free the last living American hostage

  

• Nora Berman How the Oct. 7 aftermath splintered the New York Dyke March

  

• Dan Perry It looks like Israel totally underestimated Trump

  

• Emily Tamkin This week proved it: Trump’s approach to antisemitism at Columbia is horribly ineffective

  

The Latest

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  Opinion

  Jewish Races Among Nastiest in Nation

  Jewish candidates are involved in some of the meanest, dirtiest races of the 2012 election cycle. There are 435 U.S. House races this fall. Politico picked the ten “nastiest.” Of those, three feature Jewish candidates. Politico doesn’t divulge its criteria for picking the “nastiest” races. But even an unscientific survey by the wonks at the…

  By Josh Nathan-Kazis Oct 10, 2012 | 2 min read
• Opinion

  But Did Their Congregants Stay Awake?

  Pulpit Freedom Sunday was, its organizers proclaimed, a success. At more than 1,500 churches around the country — mostly, it seemed from small communities outside the big cities — preachers defied the Internal Revenue Service this past Sunday and preached politics from the pulpit. Must have been scintillating. As Stephen Colbert said, Pulpit Freedom Sunday…

  By Jane Eisner Oct 9, 2012 | 2 min read
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  Opinion

  Making Pell Grants Work

  The strength of the United States, the late Claiborne Pell once said, “is not the gold at Fort Knox or the weapons of mass destruction that we have, but the sum total of the education and the character of our people.” Pell believed so much in furthering educational opportunity for Americans, and in 36 years…

  Oct 9, 2012 | 3 min read
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  Opinion

  Stop Spying on Muslims

  What would it look like to have your movements and your friendships tracked simply because of your religion or where you prayed? Syed Farhaj Hassan knows. He stopped attending his mosque in New Jersey after discovering that the New York City Police Department had it under surveillance. Hassan, a specialist in the Army Reserve, told…

  By Marjorie Dove Kent and Rachel Kahn-Troster Oct 9, 2012 | 3 min read
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  Opinion

  Albright Gives Romney a C in Foreign Policy

  Republican candidate Mitt Romney came out swinging Monday at President Obama’s foreign policy, promising to end any “daylight” between the United States and Israel and a tough stance toward Iran. Speaking at the Virginia Military Institute, Romney sought to present Obama’s Middle East policy and his response to the Arab Spring as lacking leadership. As…

  By Nathan Guttman Oct 8, 2012 | 2 min read
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  Opinion

  Born in Jerusalem, Israel?

  On the floor of the Democratic National Convention, former Ohio governor Ted Strickland, chair of the party’s platform committee, proposed the tardy insertion of language affirming that Jerusalem is the capital of Israel, with a declaration that “President Obama recognizes Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.” The chair of the Democratic National Committee, Representative Debbie…

  By Nathan Lewin Oct 8, 2012 | 3 min read
• Opinion

  Norman Finkelstein Was the Moderate on Panel

  The New School’s program, “The Jewish-American Relationship with Israel at the Crossroads,” raised my suspicions for two reasons: the one-sided composition of its panel and its scheduling from 4 to 6 PM on a Saturday afternoon. Was this meant as a deliberate slap at pro-Israel and religious Jews, I wondered? The announced panel featured the…

  By Ralph Seliger Oct 7, 2012 | 3 min read
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  Opinion

  Pitting Family Against Politics in Ohio

  I’ll forever remember Gene Wilder in the 1979 movie “The Frisco Kid.” He plays a Polish rabbi newly arrived in America in the days of the Wild West. In the first scene, he sees some Mennonite farmers dressed as he is, in black hats, and, overjoyed and relieved, he mistakenly calls out: “Landsman!” The grown-ups…

  By Austin Ratner Oct 7, 2012 | 5 min read