In the Forward’s opinion section, you’ll find analysis and essays from diverse corners of the Jewish world.
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Opinion
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Opinion
Israel Can’t Ignore the World’s Opinion
A friend wrote in last week to dispute my critique of Israeli judge Edmond Levy’s settlements report. Levy claimed the West Bank isn’t “occupied” under international law, and therefore settlements aren’t illegal. I wrote that while his interpretation squares with the language of the relevant treaties, not one nation in the world accepts it, so…
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Opinion Don’t Be Fooled by Egypt Happy Talk
The situation in Egypt and throughout the Middle East is confusing, with many different but simultaneous developments from country to country. Each conflict comes along with a set of unknown variables regarding the real strength and aspirations of governments, militaries, institutions, leaders, political parties, political movements, insurgent factions, groups, tribes, etc. And on top of…
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Opinion Sheldon Tries To Change the Subject
A day after a investigative report raised questions about payments allegedly approved by casino mogul Sheldon Adelson to a Chinese official, it looks like someone is trying to change the subject. Both the Jerusalem Post and the Jewish Telegraphic Agency are running prominent stories on their front pages today about the Jewish billionaire. But neither…
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Opinion Why Is Jonathan Pollard Still in Jail?
Why are efforts to obtain clemency for Jonathan Pollard stuck? The man convicted in 1987 for spying for Israel and given a life sentence remains in jail despite a growing chorus calling for his release. I had the opportunity to ask a number of American Jewish leaders attending a meeting of the Conference of Presidents…
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Opinion The Wrong Symbol
It’s troubling enough when the more strident voices against abortion employ the language of the Holocaust in their rhetoric, but at least one can discern a tenuous link. The argument goes something like this: The Nazis considered Jews mere numbers, denied of personhood and murdered anonymously — as are, these activists contend, the millions of…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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….
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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…
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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…
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Holy Ground A Jewish farmer broke ground on a synagogue in an Illinois cornfield. His neighbors showed up to help.
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Opinion I discovered anti-Zionism at the University of Michigan. I’m glad it lives on there
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Opinion An alarming new battleground in campus fights over Israel
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Culture An Israeli genocide scholar looks to Israel’s history to understand ‘what went wrong’
In Case You Missed It
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Opinion When it comes to Israel/Palestine, everyone is sure that everyone else is a bigot
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Fast Forward Elected PA Jewish judge leaves Democratic party, citing ‘disturbingly common’ antisemitism
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Fast Forward At Abraham Foxman’s funeral, an elegy for the last generation with direct ties to the Holocaust
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Fast Forward Israeli report on ‘systematic’ Oct. 7 sexual violence seeks to shift debate from denial to accountability