Opinion

• Opinion

  What Would Israel Do Without Mahmoud Abbas?

  Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has called Israel’s President Shimon Peres to offer him Rosh Hashanah greetings. “Happy holiday and a Happy New Year to you and the entire Israeli nation,” Abbas said.. Well, perhaps he meant all of Israel with one exception. At the same time as the phone call from Ramallah came in at…

  By Nathan Jeffay

  2 min read
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  Opinion

  Obama Should Answer for Middle East Failures

  President Barack Obama predicated his foreign policy on a simple idea: that he would pursue alliances and friendships based on “mutual respect and mutual interests.” Turning away from George W. Bush’s ideologically driven Freedom Agenda was a natural pivot for Obama. Bush’s agenda was ideological. Obama’s was practical. But Obama’s approach to the region was…

  By Noam Neusner Sep 15, 2012 | 4 min read
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  Opinion

  Just File Your Forms, Mort!

  The revelation that the Zionist Organization of America, the group on the stodgy, venerable right-wing flank of American Zionism, has lost its status as a tax exempt organization is astonishing. News that some members of their board haven’t seen the ZOA’s budget in at least four years had my jaw on the floor. The most…

  By David A.M. Wilensky Sep 14, 2012 | 3 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 There’s a shocking new report on civilian deaths in Gaza. If only it were accurate.

  

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

  

• Dan Perry Israel’s new gift to the far right could help end the Gaza war

  

• Emily Tamkin Entering motherhood — and an obsession with the works of an Italian Jewish literary hero

  

The Latest

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  Opinion

  Tunisia Riots and a Mysterious Star of David

  According to reports on Twitter and in Tunisian media, Muslim protestors have scaled barrier walls at the U.S. embassy in Tunis. The police and military response was quick, with men on horseback and armored vehicles arriving to disperse protesters — identified as hardline Islamists — who raised a black flag of the radical Salafi movement…

  By Nate Lavey Sep 14, 2012 | 2 min read
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  Opinion

  Bibi Picks Adelson’s Paper to Deny Meddling

  When Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu denied interfering in U.S. elections today, he chose an odd platform to air his position. He gave the interview to an Israeli newspaper owned by casino mogul Sheldon Adelson, a top Republican donor who has vowed to give tens of millions of dollars to defeat President Barack Obama. Netanyahu’s…

  By Josh Nathan-Kazis Sep 14, 2012 | < 1 min read
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  Opinion

  Jerusalem, Why Did We Forget Thee?

  In a few days we’ll celebrate one of the emotional peaks in the Jewish calendar, the twice-yearly proclamation that ends the Yom Kippur fast and Passover feast: Next year in Jerusalem. We won’t mean it literally. For most it’s a metaphorical prayer for a better world, expressing faith that history has direction and meaning, with…

  By J.J. Goldberg Sep 14, 2012 | 3 min read
• Opinion

  Video Madness

  The video deriding Muslims that allegedly sparked violence in Libya and Egypt probably would get a failing grade in any high school film class. Just watching it for a few minutes is enough — it is crude, mean, amateurish. Why anyone would produce and create such a film, why a Florida pastor would promote it,…

  Sep 14, 2012 | < 1 min read
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  Opinion

  Who Are Your Forward 50?

  Like the advent of cool autumn evenings, like the start of the school year and the wrap up of the baseball season, assembling the Forward 50, the annual list of America’s most influential Jews, is again under way at our office. Staff members have already met twice to discuss the people they believe have had…

  By Jane Eisner Sep 14, 2012 | 2 min read
• Opinion

  Watch: Slain Envoy Saw Al Qaeda Take Root in Libya

  Rachel Maddow opened her MSNBC show this evening with a fascinating piece about a small city just east of Benghazi called Derna, which was reported several years ago by the late Chris Stevens, then a junior U.S. diplomat in Libya to be a hotbed of Islamic radicals and Al Qaeda wannabes. According to a 2008…

  By J.J. Goldberg Sep 14, 2012 | < 1 min read
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  Opinion

  Bibi’s ‘Snub’ Leak Makes Sense to Some

  It’s surely an irony of the current public spat between Israel and the White House: An Israeli government that tut-tuts every time important public figures speak their mind on Iran has no qualms about leaking sensitive information when it suits its own perceived interests. Whatever the truth of the current spat between Jerusalem and Washington…

  By Nathan Jeffay Sep 13, 2012 | 2 min read
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  Opinion

  Iraq War ‘Godfather’ Opposes Iran Strike

  The man once known as the intellectual godfather of the Iraq war opposes a military strike on Iran. Bernard Lewis, 96, the British-born expert on the Middle East who enjoyed exceptionally close ties to the Bush administration, told the Forward at a gala dinner held in his honor last night that he didn’t support military…

  By Josh Nathan-Kazis Sep 13, 2012 | 2 min read