Opinion

• Opinion

  Israeli Brass Astir Amid Pressure for Iran Strike

  “Have the prime minister and defense minister sealed a deal between them, one on one, to attack the nuclear reactors in Iran?” So asks Nahum Barnea, commonly described as Israel’s senior and most respected political journalist, in an article leading the top of the front page of today’s Yediot Ahronot. He writes that growing rumors…

  By J.J. Goldberg

  3 min read
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  Opinion

  Pernicious Attempt To Brand Protest as Anti-Semitic

  Is the Jewish congressional representative from heavily Jewish Long Island, Steve Israel, “standing with those calling for the killing of Jews”? Does the Jewish representative from heavily Jewish Florida, Debbie Wasserman Schultz, “agree with various calls for Jews to be ‘run out of the country’ and to oppose and ‘destroy’ the State of Israel”? Sean…

  By Eric Alterman Oct 28, 2011 | 4 min read
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  Opinion

  A Woman’s Place

  Not on the buses in Jerusalem or Brooklyn, not on the streets on Sukkot, and now not on the billboards, a contributor complained to the Forward’s blog, The Sisterhood. “Where,” she asked, “is it okay to be a woman?’ Before trying to answer the question, we’ll explain the references. In recent weeks, we’ve learned that…

  Oct 28, 2011 | 2 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 A new humanitarian outrage is unfolding in the Middle East. It’s not in Gaza

  

• Nora Berman The left is turning on AOC over Israel — and imperiling its own agenda

  

• 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

  The Political Dividends of the Shalit Deal

  Looking at the results of a poll conducted by Israel’s Channel 2 and the Sarid Institute for Research Services, it’s clear that the Israeli public is smiling on Benjamin Netanyahu, now fresh from negotiating the release of Gilad Shalit. The poll shows that Likud would win 37 seats in the next Knesset, up 10 from…

  By Gal Beckerman Oct 27, 2011 | < 1 min read
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  Opinion

  Conservatives Reject Call To Leave Israel Out of Campaign

  Here’s how crazy things have gotten: An emergency call went out recently from the heart of the Jewish Establishment — from the very epicenter of macherdom, the twin citadels of Jewish defense, the Anti-Defamation League and American Jewish Committee themselves, in a rare moment of joint action — for American Jews to unite around Israel…

  By J.J. Goldberg Oct 27, 2011 | 4 min read
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  Opinion

  $31.50 a Week

  The last time that Steve Gutow, president of the Jewish Council for Public Affairs, tried to live on an average budget of food stamps for a week, it was 2007, and the allotment was $21. He ate a great deal of lentils, rice, onions, eggs — not such a hardship, since he’s a vegetarian —…

  Oct 27, 2011 | < 1 min read
• Opinion

  No Bibi, No Women?

  The Jewish Federations of North America earlier this week had a somewhat awkward task: To explain to its many members that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu wasn’t going to attend the 2011 conference next month in Denver after all. “As in any conference, program changes arise,” read the October 24 memo, which went on to…

  By Jane Eisner Oct 27, 2011 | < 1 min read
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  Opinion

  Israeli Reality Versus Our Projections

  I just returned from a few weeks in Israel, and was there during the dramatic denouement of the Gilad Shalit story. The trip reminded me why it’s important for those of us who observe and comment and tear our hair out over Israel to actually experience the country as a place — as opposed to…

  By Gal Beckerman Oct 26, 2011 | 2 min read
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  Opinion

  Ilan Grapel’s Imprisonment Marks Trouble

  The office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced on October 24 that Ilan Grapel, a dual American-Israeli citizen, will soon be released from an Egyptian prison, after four months of detention on what are believed to be trumped-up charges. American and Israeli policymakers, however — and citizens abroad — should be concerned that the…

  By Zack Gold Oct 26, 2011 | 4 min read
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  Opinion

  Obama’s Charity-Tax Plan Sounds Good to Some

  President Obama is getting precious little credit for his policy heroism these days. But here is one conservative ready to applaud the president for an idea whose time has come. Let’s tax charity. Absolutely. The president, in his plan to bring down the deficit, said that he wanted to bring down the deduction for charitable…

  By Noam Neusner Oct 25, 2011 | 3 min read
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  Opinion

  Learning From J14

  Is Occupy Wall Street an outgrowth of the J14 protests, the social justice movement begun in Tel Aviv on July 14 that drew nearly half a million Israelis to the streets? The tents, the youthful organizers, the anarchic hodgepodge of themes and complaints certainly make it easy to draw the analogy. In fact, we wish…

  Oct 24, 2011 | 3 min read