Opinion

• Opinion

  Israel Outreach Effort Comes to Columbia

  With the Palestinians poised to make their bid for statehood at the United Nations, another diplomatic effort was taking place on Columbia University’s manicured campus five miles uptown. Hillel, the national Jewish student organization, erected an open-air tent on September 21 with the words “Talk Israel: Join the Conversation” on a blue banner on Columbia’s…

  By Naomi Zeveloff

  2 min read
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  Opinion

  Palestinians Wait for Statehood, With Mix of Emotions

  The mood on the streets of Ramallah can best be described as tempered excitement as the Palestinian leadership begins its bid for statehood recognition at the United Nations. Flags attached to car windows proudly feature the words U.N.-Palestine State. Massive billboards advertise the statehood bid with colorful depictions of the Palestinian flag flying at the…

  By Joseph Dana Sep 21, 2011 | 4 min read
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  Opinion

  Rick Perry’s New Best Friend

  Now that Republican presidential wannabe Rick Perry has waded into the sticky-wicket of Middle East politics, it’s only fair to examine the influences on his thinking. After all, while Texas is a big state to govern, and he could probably see Mexico from the border, Perry doesn’t have much foreign policy experience, in the Mideast…

  By Jane Eisner Sep 20, 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 Actually, Trump made things between Israel and Iran way worse

  

• Emily Tamkin Zohran Mamdani’s victory proves it: The ‘gotcha’ mode of fighting antisemitism has to go

  

The Latest

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  Opinion

  Is MK Ahmed Tibi Part of Abbas’s UN Delegation?

  It’s a question that cuts to the heart of Israeli Arab identity. With the Palestinian statehood bid upon us, is it wrong for the elected representatives of Israel’s Arab citizens to work against Israeli officials at the United Nations, or is it only a natural representation of their constituents’ views and their expression of kinship…

  By Nathan Jeffay Sep 20, 2011 | < 1 min read
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  Opinion

  Netanyahu Left Palestinians With No Choice But the U.N.

  With all the tension between Israel and its neighbors, the expected vote in the United Nations on Palestinian statehood will be a dangerous confrontation. There’s no telling how the Palestinians and the rest of the Muslim world will react afterward, or how Israel will react, either. It would be better for all concerned if this…

  By Larry Derfner Sep 20, 2011 | 3 min read
• Opinion

  Our Man at the U.N.

  It’s an eventful week here for those of us following the never ending saga known as the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The spotlight is now, of course, on the United Nations General Assembly, where the Palestinians will make their case for statehood and the Americans and Israelis will tell us why this is a bad idea. Our…

  By Gal Beckerman Sep 20, 2011 | < 1 min read
• Opinion

  AJC: Palestine State Just Hours Away! Send Money!

  The Palestinians’ United Nations statehood ploy has drawn an array of responses around the world, from enthusiasm in Turkey to anxiety to Washington and panic in Jerusalem. And one prominent Israeli center-left politician, Isaac Herzog, proposes a counter-intuitive Israeli gambit of voting for the statehood bid—under certain conditions (as I’ll explain below). Nothing, however, quite…

  By J.J. Goldberg Sep 19, 2011 | 3 min read
• Opinion

  When Tragedy Strikes, Nation Becomes Neighborhood

  Prompted by the 9/11 commemoration, I turned to what I wrote several days after that terrible time. I don’t make a habit of reprinting myself, but these words seem to me particularly apposite. At 8 o’clock on the morning of this last June 3, less than two days after the suicide bombing of the Dolphinairum…

  By Leonard Fein Sep 19, 2011 | 4 min read
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  Opinion

  A Story Whose Effects Continue to Ripple Out

  As editors, we are always looking for stories that will resonate with our readers, tales that will connect with them in some deep and meaningful way. And when we hear that a story we’ve published has had a big impact, it causes us to stop and savor the thought that our work has made a…

  By Lillian Swanson Sep 19, 2011 | 3 min read
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  Opinion

  Jewish School Graduates Focus on Themes of Persecution

  Thousands of graduates of Jewish day schools will head off to college this September. But unlike graduates of public school, they will begin their higher education with credentials in Hebrew, Tanach and Talmud, along with mathematics, English literature and biology. And many of these students will enter secular colleges, bringing their uniquely Jewish worldviews into…

  By Rachel Burstein Sep 19, 2011 | 3 min read
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  Opinion

  For Israel and Turkey, Breaking Up Is Easy To Do

  When Israel and Turkey first forged their now shattered alliance in the late 1990s, there was much to bring together the two countries. The odd men out in the Middle East, both were non-Arab military powers who had either strained or outright hostile relations with their neighbors, a domestic terrorism problem and a strategic vision…

  By Yigal Schleifer Sep 16, 2011 | 4 min read