In the Forward’s opinion section, you’ll find analysis and essays from diverse corners of the Jewish world.
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Opinion
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Opinion
Why I Cannot Forgive Germany
“I cannot and I do not want to forgive the killers of children; I ask God not to forgive.” — Elie Wiesel It was more than 15 years ago, but I still remember the day clearly. My husband and I hosted a dinner at our home for emerging young German leaders. They were participating in…
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Opinion The Sieges of Gaza
Siege 1: Israeli sources are in perfect accord: The flotilla was a provocation, intended less to bring humanitarian aid to the people of Gaza, more to break Israel’s siege. The people on board the vessels made no effort to disguise their intentions. Accordingly, Israel knew in advance that it would be faced with a more…
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Opinion No Thanks, Helen Thomas
Let’s shed no tears for Helen Thomas. She exemplified the adage that reminds us to quit while we’re ahead. In her case, how much neater it would have been if she had simply stepped away from her front-row seat to the nation’s business before the ravages of age further loosened her tongue to utter some…
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Opinion Diving Into the Gene Pool: New Research on the Origins of the Tribe
The genetics blog at DiscoverMagazine.com, Gene Expression, has an eye-opening post peeling away some of the more intriguing layers in the big new study of Jewish genetic patterns that was published June 3 in the American Journal of Human Genetics and reported the next day in the Forward’s own Shmooze blog. The Journal study confirms…
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Opinion Who’s a Pirate? Jewish Naval Battles, from Gaza Coast to La. Oil Smear
The news this week is chock-full of outrage over the Israeli naval action that Turkey and others are calling an act of naked piracy on the high seas. And in the week’s other top story, by incredible coincidence, the oil slick oozing across the Gulf of Mexico made its first major landfall Thursday at, of…
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Opinion The Flotilla, the Israeli Moral Imagination and the Failure of U.S. Jewish Leadership
Haaretz reporter Anshel Pfeffer has a very important piece in the Friday paper that looks at the Gaza Flotilla incident and the yawning gap between Israeli and international perceptions of the affair — and then connects it to Peter Beinart’s “breathtaking” New York Review of Books essay, “The failure of the American Jewish establishment.” In…
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Opinion Israel: U.S. Asset or Burden? Asset, Say ADL, AIPAC, 334 Congressmen. Burden, Says Mossad
One of the debates simmering just below the surface this week is the question of whether Israel is a strategic asset or burden to the United States. Pro-Israel advocates have maintained for decades that it is an asset, and a darned valuable one. This view has been emphatically restated in the past few days by,…
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Opinion Chosenness and Its Discontents
The first line is familiar. I’ve added the rest: How odd of God to choose the Jews. But how on earth could we refuse? Was the choice reciprocal? Fact eternal or just cyclical? Was it mystical, statistical, poetical, umbilical? The consequence let us confess Is no small measure of distress. We stand accused, we are…
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Opinion Erdogan’s Turkey Is Not a Friend
Speaking in the aftermath of Israel’s botched raid on the Gaza flotilla, veteran American diplomat Aaron David Miller commented: “Overnight, the Israelis have boosted Hamas’s stock; accelerated the international community’s efforts to pressure and isolate Israel; undermined [Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud] Abbas, prompted a crisis with the Turks.” Miller may be right on the first…
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Opinion Why Israel’s Ship of State Is Adrift
Israelis’ hearts went out to the young soldiers who were shown rappelling down to the deck of the Mavi Marmara only to be attacked by a mob armed with sticks and knifes (though the video clips released by the Israel Defense Forces don’t show what happened after the soldiers opened fire). But amid feelings of…
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Letters June 11, 2010
Specter’s Legacy Sits In Judgment The end of Arlen Specter’s career as a U.S. senator should be hailed by Jews as well as by all Americans (“End of Specter Era Brings New Race for Jewish Vote,” May 28). Why? Because of his key role in driving the confirmation of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas. Specter’s…
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Fast Forward Vance says ‘religious liberty is a Christian concept.’ Where does that leave Jews?
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