Opinion

• Opinion

  Is Fayyad On His Way Out?

  Is Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad on his way out? Jonathan Tobin certainly seems to think so. In a blog post for Commentary, where he is the editor, he posits that Fayyad’s approach to governance and to foreign affairs places him outside the Palestinian mainstream. Citing Fayyad’s comments in an interview with the Jewish Chronicle…

  By Jane Eisner

  < 1 min read
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  Opinion

  King’s Last Crusade

  Had he lived, Martin Luther King Jr. would have turned 83 on January 15. Where would his career have led had he not been murdered in Memphis in April 1968? We can never know. He was just 39 when he died. That was 44 years ago. We know this, however: He had already succeeded in…

  Jan 13, 2012 | 2 min read
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  Opinion

  Watch What You Wish For, GOP

  Now that the New Hampshire GOP primary results are in, pro-Israel Republicans might want to sit back, take a deep breath and do some long, hard thinking. As much as they’d like to see President Obama booted from the White House next fall, they’d be wise to be careful what they wish for. Especially if…

  By J.J. Goldberg Jan 12, 2012 | 4 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 Recognizing a Palestinian state is a great way to doom Palestinians

  

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

  

The Latest

• Letters

  Biology Shouldn’t Matter

  Steve Greenberg’s plea for gay rights (“A Place for Gays and Lesbians in Orthodoxy,” January 13) includes a quote from “a beloved leader of Modern Orthodoxy” who wrote, “How can we deny a human being the expression of his physical and psychic being? Is it not cruel to condemn an individual for doing that which…

  Jan 12, 2012 | < 1 min read
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  Opinion

  ‘Fred Who’ Wins 346 Votes

  Fred Karger, the gay Jewish Republican presidential candidate the Forward profiled last week, had a bit of a rough time in the New Hampshire primaries last night. Karger, whose slogan is “Fred Who?”, garnered 346 votes, good for about .1% of the GOP vote. He did have a dogfight with former candidate Michele Bachmann, whose…

  By Josh Nathan-Kazis Jan 11, 2012 | < 1 min read
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  Opinion

  A Place for Gays in Orthodoxy

  Not a month goes by without a young person just out of the closet — or sometimes that person’s shocked parents — contacting me in search of Orthodox leaders to respond credibly to their questions. It was this reality that was on my mind as I confronted the backlash to a same-sex commitment ceremony I…

  By Steve Greenberg Jan 11, 2012 | 6 min read
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  Opinion

  When Women Can’t Even Say Thank You

  Not long ago, on my way down three flights of stairs from the improvised nursery school where I used to take my youngest son every morning, I saw a woman struggling with several shopping bags filled with groceries. I asked her if she needed help, and when she nodded — though somewhat reluctantly — I…

  By William Kolbrener Jan 11, 2012 | 4 min read
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  Opinion

  Looks Like It’s Mitt

  So if there was one overwhelming message out of New Hampshire tonight — after watching the 2nd and 3rd and 4th and 5th runners up pathetically grasping to put a positive spin on their losses (Huntsman: “Third place is a ticket to ride!”) — it was that Mitt Romney is looking pretty inevitable. You’ll hear…

  By Gal Beckerman Jan 11, 2012 | < 1 min read
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  Opinion

  TV Host Shakes Up Israeli Politics

  Prior to his announcement that he was leaving Israel’s Channel 2 to run for the Knesset, Yair Lapid, a popular Israeli media personality and son of the late Yosef (Tommy) Lapid, must have been encouraged by a Geocartography poll that placed an unnamed, hypothetical party led by him second, with 20 seats, behind only a…

  By Liam Hoare Jan 10, 2012 | 4 min read
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  Opinion

  No Contest for Tiny New Hampshire Jewish Vote

  Republicans talked tough on Iran in the lead-up to today’s New Hampshire primary, but it wasn’t Jewish voters they were hoping to impress. At the January 7 Republican presidential debate, Rick Santorum called Iran “the most pressing issue we deal with today.” Frontrunner Mitt Romney accused President Obama of failing to demonstrate to the Iranians…

  By Josh Nathan-Kazis Jan 9, 2012 | 2 min read
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  Opinion

  Two Mideast Democracies, Side by Side

  Advocates of democracy in the Middle East have been deeply alarmed since December 29, when Egyptian security forces staged lightning raids on the offices of three American nonprofits that work to promote democracy and fair elections overseas. Egyptian officials say they seized the organizations’ books and computers because they suspect them of fomenting the unrest…

  By J.J. Goldberg Jan 9, 2012 | 4 min read