Opinion

• Opinion

  Taking From the Poor and Giving to the Rich

  If you’re like me, you’ve been watching the news about the federal debt negotiations for weeks, thinking something smelled fishy but unsure what it was. On one hand, everyone agrees the national debt is too high. It makes sense, then, that spending must be cut sharply. That’s life. If you’ve spent yourself into a hole,…

  By J.J. Goldberg

  4 min read
• Opinion

  Must-See TV: Jon Stewart on Fox Fears of Anti-Christian Bias

  If you haven’t seen Jon Stewart’s hilarious Wednesday night report on the aftermath of the Norway massacre, you’re only hurting yourself. He brilliantly skewers the protests of Fox News and the right over the bigotry of the media’s identifying the accused shooter as a “Christian extremist.” There are numerous layers of hypocrisy to peel away,…

  By J.J. Goldberg Jul 29, 2011 | < 1 min read
• Opinion

  ‘Why Isn’t Mommy Jewish?’: When Christian Moms Raise Jewish Kids

  JTA has a fascinating story by their intrepid Sue Fishkoff about non-Jewish spouses (read wives) in interfaith marriages who are raising their kids as Jewish The story doesn’t get into the interdenominational and Israel-Diaspora politics of the issue, for a change. It’s about the part that the politicians and scholars too often overlook: real, live…

  By J.J. Goldberg Jul 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 Americans keep getting killed in the West Bank. Here’s how the US could fight that awful trend

  

• Nora Berman First Camp Auschwitz, now Alligator Alcatraz — why the right is obsessed with commodifying brutality

  

• Dan Perry What exactly is going on between Israel and Syria — and is the prospect of peace dead?

  

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

  

The Latest

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  Opinion

  Lesson of Norway: Mutual Respect

  An act of depravity like the mass murder on Norway’s Utoya Island can evoke many emotions, from anger to pity to mourning for those lost, sympathy for the bereft or simply despair over what our fellow humans are capable of. One response it should not evoke, though, is satisfaction, however mixed. No end can remotely…

  Jul 28, 2011 | 3 min read
• Letters

  Turning Jewish Life Green

  A quarter of the world’s population still lacks access to electricity, yet as we seek to right that wrong, we cannot continue to replace it with another harmful injustice. For it is much of that same, impoverished population that has already started to suffer on the frontlines of climate change impact. Many Jewish organizations throughout…

  Jul 28, 2011 | < 1 min read
• Letters

  Falk’s True Face

  In its astonishingly sympathetic July 29 article on Richard Falk, “U.N. Official Answers Questions About Fierce Criticism of Israel,” the Forward cites a recent blog post in which he portrays himself as being in the tradition of biblical prophecy. Regrettably, there is no reference to other parts of the post, which are far more revealing…

  Jul 27, 2011 | 2 min read
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  Opinion

  Israel’s Foreign Ministry Borrows From the Settlers for Its Propaganda

  Israel’s deputy foreign minister and Twitter warrior, Danny Ayalon, recently released a video over YouTube that is doing quite well — posted on July 11, it now has nearly 180,000 hits. In it, Ayalon tries to explain why he thinks the West Bank should not be referred to as “occupied” and that settlements are not…

  By Gal Beckerman Jul 27, 2011 | 2 min read
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  Opinion

  The Death of Peoplehood

  Recently I had an upsetting e-mail exchange with an old friend. A prominent, politically active Jewish conservative, he told me that he had long ago given up trying to convince American Jews on the left to support Israel. “I don’t really see them as family anymore,” he wrote. “I’ve found a new family, the American…

  By David Hazony Jul 27, 2011 | 3 min read
• Opinion

  Instead of Israeli vs. Palestinian, Think Modern vs. Medieval

  I give Hussien Ibish — a contributor to our pages — a lot of credit for even agreeing to get into the ring with someone like David Ha’ivri, an “extremist settler” (Ibish’s words, with which I concur) that he recently debated. Ibish recounts the encounter here. In many ways, this type of interaction can only…

  By Gal Beckerman Jul 26, 2011 | 2 min read
• Opinion

  Cops Eye Breivik’s Int’l Links; Glenn Beck Likens Victims to ‘Hitler Youth’

  While Norwegian police look into island shooter Anders Breivik’s claims that he has links to two additional “cells,” Interpol is investigating his claim that he is part of an international network dedicated to fighting an Islamic takeover of Europe. He claims he attended an organizing meeting in London. Interpol is taking the claim seriously enough…

  By J.J. Goldberg Jul 26, 2011 | < 1 min read
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  Opinion

  Norway Massacre Shouldn’t Be Used To Score Political Points

  Imagine, as many did at first, that the perpetrator of the horrendous terrorist attacks in Norway had been a Muslim associated with Al Qaeda. Imagine that right-wing bloggers and commentators had seized on this fact for political capital and had accused Muslim ideologues and politicized clerics of bearing indirect responsibility for the crime. The left…

  By Alex Stein Jul 26, 2011 | 4 min read