Opinion

• Opinion

  Israeli Protests Give Masses a Reason to Speak Out

  If you’ve ever been to Tel Aviv’s Kikar Hamedina, the circular public plaza in the north of the city, you’ll know just how utterly large it is. It’s a massive, usually empty expanse ringed by posh stores like Louis Vuitton and Gucci — the epicenter of Israeli capitalism, if you will. And so it was…

  By Gal Beckerman

  4 min read
• Opinion

  For Jews, Holiday Season Offers Chance To Set Aside Pride

  Well, here we are in the month of Elul, approaching the sacred Jewish season of repentance and forgiveness. This is the month set aside in tradition for practicing our shofar blowing and apologizing to our neighbors. So what’s the big message out of the Jewish state? “No apologies, no way.” And a happy new year…

  By J.J. Goldberg Sep 8, 2011 | 4 min read
• Opinion

  J Street Opposes Palestinian Statehood Bid

  As we get closer to September 20 and the opening of the UN’s General Assembly, all the various voices of the American Jewish universe are beginning to state their opinion about whether the Palestinian push for UN recognition is a wise or foolish step. We’ve actually got an editorial, stating our own position, which will…

  By Gal Beckerman Sep 7, 2011 | 2 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 Israelis have no idea where the Iran war is going. But they know it’s part of Netanyahu’s campaign

  

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

  

• Jay Michaelson Epstein and Iran are an antisemitism mega-crisis. Here’s what Jewish organizations should do about it. 

  

The Latest

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  Opinion

  Israel’s Social Justice Protest, By the Numbers

  In 1983, when news of the massacres at the Sabra and Shatila refugee camps became known, about 300,000 Israelis jammed the streets of Tel Aviv to protest their government’s involvement. It was a very big deal, thought to be one of the largest demonstrations of its kind in Israel’s history. The protests for social justice…

  By Jane Eisner Sep 6, 2011 | 1 min read
• Opinion

  Is Derfner the Problem, or Are the Israeli People?

  There is still much discussion about the firing early last week of Larry Derfner, the lefty Jerusalem Post columnist. Derfner wrote in our pages that he regretted making it seem like he was legitimizing Palestinian terror against Israelis. He intended only to shock his readers into thinking about what some of the reasons behind the…

  By Gal Beckerman Sep 6, 2011 | < 1 min read
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  Opinion

  A Decade Later, Children of 9/11 Look Back

  These essays were written by writers for New Voices Magazine, the national Jewish student magazine. For more essays on this theme, go to the New Voices website. Joshua Walfish What started as a beautiful, sunny day in Rockville, Md. ended with images of darkness that will be etched in my mind for the rest of…

  Sep 6, 2011 | 6 min read
• Opinion

  All the News That Fits: Israel, Having a Bad Day

  Some days it’s just not worth getting out of bed. Here are some top headlines from today’s Haaretz.com. After the jump, some top headlines from Ynet-Yediot. Report: Turkey navy to escort aid ships to Palestinians in Gaza Turkish officials tell Hurriyet Daily News that Turkish navy will strengthen presence in eastern Mediterranean Sea to stop…

  By J.J. Goldberg Sep 5, 2011 | 3 min read
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  Opinion

  Fresh Headlines From the Crypt: ‘Bomb Auschwitz,’ Says Golda; FDR: No Way

  The David S. Wyman Institute for Holocaust Studies in Philadelphia offers an annual list of The Ten Most Absurd Statements About Allies’ Responses to the Holocaust. The list is a high point in the institute’s unceasing mission to keep the heat on President Franklin D. Roosevelt for having done nothing to stop the Nazi genocide…

  By J.J. Goldberg Sep 5, 2011 | 8 min read
• Opinion

  Forward Editor Reveals Herself!

  Okay, I will come clean. In Daniel Gordis’s latest column for the Jerusalem Post, he writes about meeting “one of America’s leading Jewish journalists” whom he describes as “extraordinarily smart” and who cares a lot about Israel. Imagine my surprise to read about myself. Not that I mind his characterization (thank you, Daniel!), but I…

  By Jane Eisner Sep 2, 2011 | 2 min read
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  Opinion

  Million Israeli Protest Goes Ahead Despite Terror

  On September 3, if all goes according to plan, more than a million Israeli protesters in 50 towns and cities will take to the streets to back up their call for social and economic justice. Not even continued violence on the border with the Gaza Strip is likely to throttle the protests or get the…

  By Riad Kabha and Yaniv Sagee Sep 2, 2011 | 3 min read
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  Opinion

  The Vision Thing

  Add our name to the growing list of voices calling upon President Obama to propose a big, bold, far-reaching plan to kickstart the economy and spur job creation. We need the audacity of hope, not the soft prejudice of low expectations, to borrow from a few well-worn campaign cliches. Because make no mistake, this is…

  Sep 2, 2011 | 2 min read