Opinion

• Opinion

  Why They Aren’t at the ‘Damn Table’

  The past 18 years of failed attempts to guide Israelis and Palestinians to a two-state solution have produced memorable clichés and even curses on the part of frustrated third-party officials. One of my favorites is, “The outlines of an agreement are known to all,” which I usually attribute to Tony Blair, though there are other…

  By Yossi Alpher

  3 min read
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  Opinion

  Adelson Ponies Up for Pro-Gingrich Effort: Reports

  Casino mogul Sheldon Adelson has donated $5 million to a super political action committee that supports Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich, the Washington Post reported. The donation to the Super PAC Winning Our Future could be part of a conservative effort to level the playing field as the GOP campaign moves to South Carolina and…

  By Josh Nathan-Kazis Jan 8, 2012 | 2 min read
• Opinion

  Prisoners of Both Memory and Hope

  All the pastries and the fine wines cannot erase our tortured wisdom; though affluent, we are not comfortable. We are imprisoned both by our memories and by the world’s disorder. Our only remedy is to remain prisoners of hope as well, to remember not only yesterday but also tomorrow, the promised tomorrow. The notion that…

  By Leonard Fein Jan 8, 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 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

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  Opinion

  ‘Fred Who’ Takes Shot at GOP Race

  Never heard of Fred Karger? He doesn’t mind. Most people haven’t — so few, in fact, that the slogan of his unlikely Republican presidential campaign, and the title of his campaign biography, is, “Fred Who?” As a GOP presidential candidate, Karger is an anomaly. Not only does he have zero name recognition, Karger is Jewish….

  By Josh Nathan-Kazis Jan 7, 2012 | 2 min read
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  Opinion

  Marwan Barghouti Speaks, Through Wife

  He is the Palestinians’ most famous prisoner and most popular politician. Now Marwan Barghouti is speaking to the American public, through the voice of his wife. Every 15 days, Fadwa Barghouti is allowed to visit her husband in an Israeli prison, where he has served 10 years of five consecutive life sentences for helping to…

  By Jane Eisner Jan 6, 2012 | 2 min read
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  Opinion

  Attack of the Super PACs

  Now that the election year has officially begun, we can take stock of something different about the landscape this time around. The momentous Supreme Court decision two years ago on campaign finance, Citizens United v. Federal Election Committee, has given rise to a new and potentially destructive player in this and future election cycles: the…

  Jan 6, 2012 | 3 min read
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  Opinion

  When ‘Anti-Semitism’ Is Abused

  We were raised to be vigilant. We were taught to fight oppression, admonished to be New Jews — strong, muscular, defiant. We were told to look for the signs, the slogans and the double-speak. We learned at the knee of those with tattooed forearms; knelt at the feet of those who lost brothers and sisters,…

  By Sarah Wildman Jan 5, 2012 | 3 min read
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  Opinion

  The GOP’s Albatross

  The first votes in the 2012 elections have now been cast by the good people of Iowa, the beneficiaries of this quadrennial honor. And though the caucuses are often not the best indicator of what will happen as the primary contest proceeds — let’s not forget the triumphs there of Mike Huckabee and Pat Robertson…

  By Gal Beckerman Jan 5, 2012 | 3 min read
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  Opinion

  Eight Votes Between Them

  So where are we now that the decidedly low-tech process known as the Iowa caucuses is completed, all the little slips of paper have been counted and Mitt Romney was ahead by just eight votes? I can think of three basic takeaways and they coincide with the three candidates who have emerged last night as…

  By Gal Beckerman Jan 4, 2012 | 2 min read
• Opinion

  The Losers in Russia’s Adoption Ban

  I used to see them fairly often in airports, nicer hotels or restaurants. Living in Eastern Europe, first as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Ukraine and later working for a non-profit in Russia, I’d become adept at spotting other Americans in public. I sized them up, taking into account the color and style of their…

  By Susan Armitage Jan 4, 2012 | 2 min read
• Opinion

  Cantor on Why Jews Vote Dem: To Repair the World

  Eric Cantor on “60 Minutes” Sunday night, grilled by Leslie Stahl on why most Jews are Democrats, unthinkingly digs himself into a hole and then tries pathetically to get out of it. He starts by saying it’s been “the bane of my existence for a long time,” being a serious, devoted member of a community…

  By J.J. Goldberg Jan 4, 2012 | < 1 min read