Opinion

• 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

  2 min read
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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

Columnists View All

• Jay Michaelson What can really be done to prevent antisemitic attacks like Bondi Beach?

  

• Rob Eshman Australia shooting terrifies Jews worldwide — and strengthens the case for Israel

  

• Nora Berman Did crypto-Jews invent the modern tarot deck?

  

• Dan Perry The 3 responses to the Bondi Beach Hanukkah attack that could make Jews safer

  

• Emily Tamkin The fundamental miscalculation behind the GOP’s antisemitism crisis

  

The Latest

• 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
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  Opinion

  Everyone’s Constitution

  At the end of the most recent debate among the seven Republicans vying for their party’s nomination to be President, moderator Wolf Blitzer of CNN asked each of them what they would bring to the White House should they become president. More bedrooms for his seven children, answered Rick Santorum. A bust of Winston Churchill,…

  Sep 16, 2011 | 2 min read
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  Opinion

  In a Palestinian State, Which Settlements Move? Here Are the Maps

  Every week seems to bring some new manufactured scandal that’s supposed to prove that the Palestinians aren’t really ready for peace. The latest is the phony blow-up over the statement by the Washington representative of the Palestine Liberation Organization, Maen Areikat, in which he’s supposed to have called for a “Jew-free” Palestinian state. Josh Rogin…

  By J.J. Goldberg Sep 16, 2011 | 2 min read