Opinion

• Opinion

  What Readers Think About the Election

  With so much attention on the Jewish vote in this presidential election, the Forward this week asked readers to register their thoughts in three successive polls. We don’t pretend that this web-based exercise is as valid as whatever Gallup or CNN does in the field, nor is our analysis up to Nate Silver’s standards. But…

  By Jane Eisner

  2 min read
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  Opinion

  Bibi-Liberman End Run vs. 2 States: The Odds

  Israel’s political map is about to upended when Netanyahu and Liberman go on television at 2 p.m. Eastern time to announce a joint Knesset run. They’re apparently not merging their parties but forming a joint list. The aim is to ensure that Bibi ends up with the largest Knesset bloc after the January 22 elections,…

  By J.J. Goldberg Oct 25, 2012 | 3 min read
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  Opinion

  Anti-African Crackdown Ruled Illegal

  Fear spread across Israel’s illegal immigrants from Sudan last summer. As the Forward reported, it has seemed in recent days like the Interior Ministry’s deadline was looming and they would soon be imprisoned. In August he announced plans to jail all Sudanese illegals without trial starting on October 15 and was expected to get underway…

  By Nathan Jeffay Oct 25, 2012 | < 1 min read

Columnists View All

• Alyssa Katz Class assignment: Get to know your murdered Jewish neighbors

  

• Rob Eshman ‘Remember the Liberty’ has become code for ‘Israel Is Evil’ 

  

• Dan Perry A new proposal to radically destabilize Israel

  

• Emily Tamkin Outrage over Nicholas Kristof’s op-ed on sexual assault of Palestinians is missing the point

  

• Jay Michaelson When it comes to Israel/Palestine, everyone is sure that everyone else is a bigot

  

The Latest

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  Opinion

  Inequality Hurts Us All

  Biblical Judaism knew what to do about income inequality: observe the sh’mitah, the sabbatical year. Every seven years, according to the laws of Leviticus, debts are to be forgiven and all agricultural activities — plowing, planting, pruning and harvesting — are to be suspended. The gap between rich and poor, those who have and those…

  Oct 25, 2012 | 4 min read
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  Opinion

  Jack Lew’s Shabbat Helper

  When Jack Lew was appointed chief of staff to President Obama in January, many in the Jewish community wondered how he could observe Shabbat in such a demanding position. Luckily, Lew has the most powerful man in the world to keep track of time as the sun starts to dip low in the sky on…

  By Nathan Guttman Oct 25, 2012 | 2 min read
• Opinion

  The Forward’s Election Poll: Jewish Issues

  What do you think about the presidential election? We want to hear your opinions on a number of topics, so answer today’s question. We’ll have a new question waiting for you each night this week and a final roundup blog post on Friday. In our second question, we asked readers which issues matter most to…

  By Forward Staff Oct 24, 2012 | < 1 min read
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  Opinion

  Dan Senor Is No Neocon

  After Monday’s debate, many took note of the way in which Mitt Romney shifted his foreign policy towards what constitutes the center on Syria, Afghanistan, and Iran. It was as if the previous ten months or so had never happened, with The New York Times editorial page suggesting that Romney now “does not actually have…

  By Liam Hoare Oct 24, 2012 | 2 min read
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  Opinion

  Jewish Romney Voters Are Fig Leaf for Christian Right

  As William F. Buckley once reminded us, classical conservatives tended to be anti-Semitic. They looked down on Jews, blacks and immigrants, and had chauvinist ideas about women. It’s part of what being a conservative meant. That began to change 50 years ago, when neoconservatism — that is, Jewish conservatism — began to take hold. Neoconservatism…

  By Jay Michaelson Oct 24, 2012 | 5 min read
• Opinion

  The Forward’s Election Poll: The Big Issues

  What do you think about the presidential election? We want to hear your opinions on a number of topics, so answer today’s question and then check back Wednesday evening for the results. We’ll have a new question waiting for you each night this week and a final roundup blog post on Friday. Last night we…

  By Forward Staff Oct 23, 2012 | < 1 min read
• Opinion

  Chabad Post Jumped to Conclusions

  When I heard that the rabbi of a Chabad house on a university campus was in trouble for providing alcohol to students, I assumed that I didn’t need to hear any further details to understand what the story was. That led me to write this post. I approached the subject with prejudice and without a…

  By David A.M. Wilensky Oct 23, 2012 | 2 min read
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  Opinion

  Bibi’s Brazen Defiance

  With brazen defiance, just a day before he is due to meet with the European Union’s high representative for foreign affairs Catherine Ashton, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu went over the Green Line and defended building there. “United Jerusalem is Israel’s eternal capital, we have a full right to build in it,” he declared today…

  By Nathan Jeffay Oct 23, 2012 | 2 min read