Opinion

• Opinion

  What Sarah Silverman Would Do for Obama

  Sarah Silverman has an “indecent proposal” for Jewish billionaire Sheldon Adelson. If Adelson will switch his allegiance to Barack Obama from Mitt Romney, Silverman will… well, we don’t want to give away the punch line. Why don’t you just watch the video? Unless you’re at work, that is, or there are kids around. The video…

  By Josh Nathan-Kazis

  2 min read
• 
  Opinion

  The Olympic Moment

  Even though there is just about no chance the International Olympic Committee is going to change its mind before the XXX Summer Games begin July 27, Ankie Spitzer is not giving up. And neither should we. The widow of Andrei Spitzer — the fencing coach for the 1972 Israeli Olympic team — has been doggedly…

  Jul 16, 2012 | < 1 min read
• 
  Opinion

  Obama’s Promise Kept to Israel

  ‘I can assure you, if somebody was sending rockets into my house where my two daughters sleep at night, I’m going to do everything in my power to stop that. And I would expect Israelis to do the same thing.” This was the vow made by then-senator Barack Obama in Sderot in 2008, after the…

  By Mel Levine Jul 15, 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 I have the answer to Jon Stewart’s toughest question about Israel

  

• Nora Berman ‘Eddington’ is full of conspiracy theories but it’s not about Jews. Or is it?

  

• Dan Perry A US official just made history in the West Bank — did he imperil prospects for peace?

  

• Emily Tamkin Is starvation in Gaza really Israel’s fault? The facts are clear

  

The Latest

• 
  Opinion

  Think Before Joining Anti-Israel Boycott

  True or false: Boycotts are bad. True. And false. Here, for example, is a good boycott, one that in fact explains the origin of the word: In 1880, an Irish landowner, in the wake of a poor harvest, offered his tenant farmers a 10% reduction in their rents. The workers, however, demanded a 25% reduction….

  By Leonard Fein Jul 15, 2012 | 3 min read
• 
  Opinion

  The Borscht Belt is Dead/Long Live the Borscht Belt!

  When it comes to Catskills tourism, it seems that everything old is news again. The mountainous region of upstate New York is trying to unbuckle itself from its “borscht belt” pigeonhole as a destination for Jewish city families by girding itself with new amenities to attract a hip and with-it tourist of today. The story’s…

  By Blair Thornburgh Jul 13, 2012 | 2 min read
• 
  Opinion

  Report Seeks To Erase Occupation

  Benjamin Netanyahu has a bad habit of pretending he’s Houdini — sticking his head in a noose, scaring everyone half to death, then wiggling free at the last minute. The difference is that Houdini’s viewers got to watch from their seats, while Netanyahu’s audience is stuck inside the noose with him. And the noose gets…

  By J.J. Goldberg Jul 13, 2012 | 4 min read
• 
  Opinion

  Going Green With Jill Stein

  The Green Party is set to choose a Jewish doctor as its presidential candidate. Jill Stein, 52, will officially receive the third party nomination at a convention this weekend. The Lexington, Mass., resident has no chance of beating Republican Mitt Romney or Democrat Barack Obama at the polls this November. But that doesn’t mean she…

  By Josh Nathan-Kazis Jul 13, 2012 | 2 min read
• 
  Opinion

  Will Olmert Be Back?

  Will he, or won’t he? Now that former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has been exonerated on the key corruption charges that forced him out of office four years ago, everyone is asking whether he’ll try to make a political comeback. After all, it has emerged since he left office that he was involved in…

  By Nathan Jeffay Jul 12, 2012 | 2 min read
• 
  Opinion

  Sheldon Wins One Round

  A Jewish Democratic attack on billionaire Sheldon Adelson has been scuttled amidst heavy pressure from establishment Jewish groups. The National Jewish Democratic Council announced July 11 that they would pull their petition calling on Mitt Romney to stop accepting funds donated to his election effort by Adelson, the Jewish casino mogul. The move came following…

  By Josh Nathan-Kazis Jul 12, 2012 | 2 min read
• 
  Opinion

  Who Shall Serve?

  The issue of a citizen’s responsibility to serve his or her nation, in a military or communal capacity, for how long and under what circumstances, is fraught with both practical concerns and gigantic questions of meaning. As of this writing, Israelis are in full-throated debate over this issue. Americans ought to be. The Israeli debate…

  Jul 12, 2012 | 2 min read
• 
  Opinion

  Woody Allen Talks Israel, With … (Surprise!) Love

  L.A. Jewish Journal publisher Rob Eshman’s campaign to raise funds for Woody Allen to film in Israel has touched off a mini-media flurry over Allen’s merits as an artist and a Jew. Rob notes that Allen “has done much to define the image of ‘Jew’ in our time,” but has never been to Israel “as…

  By J.J. Goldberg Jul 11, 2012 | 3 min read