Opinion

• Opinion

  New Poll: Israel Is Not the Deciding Factor

  It is polling season in the Jewish world and after Gallup’s poll and the controversial Dick Morris and the just as controversial McLaughlin and Caddell surveys it is now J Street’s turn to weigh in. The group released yesterday its own national survey of American Jews which reinforces the main findings of the Gallup poll…

  By Nathan Guttman

  2 min read
• Opinion

  A Conditional Sanctuary

  We’re talking about a tiny number of immigrants here, a few thousand at most, all of them very, very poor, who fled persecution and affliction and were welcomed to America as refugees and assylees. Many are quite old, or else severely disabled — like Mr. B., a 41-year-old Jewish man, who came to the United…

  Jul 22, 2011 | 2 min read
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  Opinion

  Looking for My Birthright in All the Wrong Places

  Birthright was not going to get me. I had heard about the brainwashing propaganda party that takes place on these 10-day free trips to Israel. I was well aware of Birthright’s intent, and pretty darn sure that it couldn’t possibly work on me. I was there to see the land, learn about the culture and…

  By Molly Tolsky Jul 22, 2011 | 4 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

  How Israel Harms Itself When It Legitimizes The Delegitimizers

  One of the people I follow these days on Twitter is Danny Ayalon. He’s the deputy foreign minister of Israel but it’s hard to tell from his Twitter feed that he does anything besides man the virtual barricades of the state. Hardly an hour goes by when Ayalon doesn’t end up engaging in tweet-to-tweet combat…

  By Gal Beckerman Jul 22, 2011 | 4 min read
• Opinion

  Demography as Destiny: Israel’s Growing Right Shapes Law, Military

  The increasingly progressive Atlantic Monthly correspondent and former Forward staffer Jeffrey Goldberg (for the last time, no, we’re not the same person) posted a link on his blog Tuesday to an online essay — which he called “hard to disagree with” — by senior research fellow Hussein Ibish of the American Task Force on Palestine….

  By J.J. Goldberg Jul 21, 2011 | 4 min read
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  Opinion

  Liberate the Letter, Pt 2

  On October 26, 1960, just days before Election Day, the two candidates for president issued statements commemorating the 170th anniversary of George Washington’s letter on religious pluralism to the Jews of Newport, R.I. The Republican, Vice President Richard Nixon, delivered his remarks in person, quoting from the letter’s definition of “toleration” and noting with pride…

  By Jane Eisner Jul 21, 2011 | 3 min read
• Opinion

  Senate Dems to Jews: How About a Little Help?

  Things got a little testier than usual on Capitol Hill July 13 when the Senate Democrats held their annual midsummer get-together with Jewish organizational leaders to discuss next year’s legislative priorities. The Jewish leaders were expecting their traditional hug. What they got was more of a spanking. Most years, the hour-long powwow features senators nodding…

  By J.J. Goldberg Jul 20, 2011 | 4 min read
• Opinion

  A World Where Jews Have No Safe Houses

  Not so long ago, Jews everywhere understood the bottom-line benefit of being Jewish. They may have put it differently, but in the end it was this: To be Jewish means you have safe houses all over the world. Heaven forbid you have to run and hide, you can turn to another Jew — even one…

  By Leonard Fein Jul 20, 2011 | 3 min read
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  Opinion

  A Note to Parents Worried Their Child Will Be Next

  Here’s a little exercise I’d like to suggest for all the parents now traumatized by the brutal murder of Leiby Kletzky and wondering when — if ever — they will let their children walk outside, given the “crazy world we live in” and the notion that “times have changed,” and the belief that “you never…

  By Lenore Skenazy Jul 20, 2011 | 3 min read
• Opinion

  Is Murdoch’s Mess Bad for the Jews?

  It was only a matter of time before someone would ask whether the international scandal engulfing Rupert Murdoch’s empire was good for the Jews. And if you feel compelled to ask, the answer is almost always “no.” JTA’s Ron Kampeas essentially posed the question in a story contending that some supporters of Israel are worried…

  By Jane Eisner Jul 19, 2011 | 2 min read
• Opinion

  Why Is Israel’s Boycott Law Different From America’s?

  Given the widespread protests over Israel’s newly enacted anti-boycott laws, a great many friends of Israel are wondering aloud why the fuss — specifically, why is this law treyf while the anti-boycott measures passed by the United States Congress and signed into law by President Jimmy Carter in 1977 have not aroused all these protests?…

  By J.J. Goldberg Jul 19, 2011 | 3 min read