Opinion

• Opinion

  When Religion Had Its Place

  Israel is being torn apart by ideological forces. Ultra-Orthodox zealots are determined to shove women to the back of our common civic bus, while Haredi army recruits defy not only the military code of conduct, but also the very vision of Israel’s founding fathers and mothers who dreamed of a humanistic and pluralistic country. It…

  By Shulamit Binah

  4 min read
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  Opinion

  No Esther, No Purim

  One of the latest skirmishes in Israel’s gender battles is over an advertisement from a popular store in Beit Shemesh in which the faces of girls modeling Purim costumes were blurred. Turns out that a Haredi newspaper blotted out the faces without the store’s knowledge, “out of respect to our readers,” was the official line….

  Mar 5, 2012 | < 1 min read
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  Opinion

  ECI Should Distinguish Friend From Foe

  When I opened up The New York Times on March 1, I was shocked to see my name on an advertisement that I do not support. The ad was placed by a group called the Emergency Committee for Israel and it included quotations from various individuals and organizations condemning two liberal think tanks, Media Matters…

  By Alan Dershowitz Mar 5, 2012 | 4 min read

Columnists View All

• Alyssa Katz What I learned at a Holocaust survivors’ Purim party

  

• Rob Eshman Trump is backed into a corner on Iran. Get ready for him to start blaming Jews

  

• Dan Perry Viktor Orbán may fall. Netanyahu should be next

  

• Emily Tamkin Hungary is poised to topple an authoritarian leader. American Jews have something to learn

  

• Jay Michaelson Passover’s 4 cups of meaning

  

The Latest

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  Opinion

  Obama to AIPAC: A Matter of Trust

  President Barack Obama was more than half way through his address Sunday before the American Israel Public Affairs Committee before he mentioned the issue of the hour: Iran. That may well be because public officials tend to leave the thorniest subjects to later in their speeches. But it struck me as an apt metaphor for…

  By Jane Eisner Mar 4, 2012 | 3 min read
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  Opinion

  Despite Bile, Newt Insists He’s ‘Cheerful’

  I’m stuck. The world is wobbling from crisis to crisis — think Iran, think Greece, think Syria, think a dozen and more other centers of misery, red meat for carnivorous columnists, but I am stuck. I cannot get beyond one word. It is the word that Newt Gingrich used the other night, in the last…

  By Leonard Fein Mar 4, 2012 | 3 min read
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  Opinion

  Don’t Worry About Egyptian Bigotry

  The Arab Spring presents a conundrum for many liberal Jews. As liberals they feel compelled to advocate self-determination over tyranny and democracy over dictatorship. But as Jews they worry that the Arab dictators, particularly Egypt’s Hosni Mubarak, held down the lid on a seething Pandora’s Box of popular anti-Semitism. On the contrary, though, I would…

  By Lisa Goldman Mar 2, 2012 | 4 min read
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  Opinion

  Being ‘Pro-Israel’ Isn’t Enough

  The David Project recently issued an important “white paper” that identifies the campus as the “primary path by which anti-Israelism enters the American public debate.” The report does a good job of describing the institutional and intellectual factors that are contributing to demonization of Israel on campus and that result — at some universities —…

  By Charles Jacobs and Avi Goldwasser Mar 2, 2012 | 3 min read
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  Opinion

  What War on Religion?

  The “war on religion” is back, making its quadrennial appearance on the American political stage. The actors are different this time — or, in the case of Mitt Romney, same man, new script. Rick Santorum’s rhetoric may be more strident than is customary, and Newt Gingrich has lifted the level of disconnect between word and…

  Mar 2, 2012 | 4 min read
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  Opinion

  The Dishonesty of Park Slope Coop’s BDS Debate

  While I am not a member of the Park Slope Food Coop, I can’t help but be pulled into the controversy surrounding a prized neighborhood institution as it debates whether or not to take a position on boycotting Israeli food products. The coop will vote on March 27th on whether or not to hold a…

  By Jo-Ann Mort Mar 1, 2012 | 5 min read
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  Opinion

  Dershowitz Raps ECI Ad — For Good Reason

  I opened my New York Times this morning over breakfast to read one of those most virulent anti-Jewish advertisements I’ve ever seen. And it came from other Jews. Paid for by the Emergency Committee for Israel, the ad goes after two liberal organizations with the verbal equivalent of a firing squad. The Center for American…

  By Jane Eisner Mar 1, 2012 | 2 min read
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  Opinion

  Rick Santorum and the Jewish Vote

  Pennsylvania, it’s sometimes said, can best be understood as Philadelphia and Pittsburgh separated by Alabama. Geographically speaking it’s a big state in the heart of the liberal Northeast, home to great universities, Ben Franklin and the Liberty Bell, anchored by a great Eastern metropolis at one end and a once-booming Midwestern steel town at the…

  By J.J. Goldberg Mar 1, 2012 | 4 min read