Opinion

• Opinion

  ‘Amnesty’ Joins Rabbis To Save a Jew from Execution Next Tuesday in Florida

  The heads of seven major Orthodox organizations wrote a joint letter to Florida Governor Charlie Crist on February 9, asking for clemency for a Jewish man, Martin Grossman, 45, who is scheduled to die by lethal injection next Tuesday, February 16, at 6:00 p.m. Separately, some 200 Jewish and non-Jewish organizations appealed to Crist on…

  By J.J. Goldberg

  4 min read
• Opinion

  Defending Bronner

  Too close to home. That was the reason given by the public editor of The New York Times for his assertion that the Times bureau chief in Jerusalem should be reassigned because his son decided to join the Israel Defense Forces. This is close to home for us, too. After all, this dispute pokes at…

  Feb 10, 2010 | 2 min read
• Opinion

  Democracy in the Balance

  The New Israel Fund is only the latest target in a series of outrageous assaults on Israel’s democratic foundations. The apparently coordinated attempt this past year to intimidate, de-fund and possibly shut down Israel’s human rights community, culminating in this latest direct attack on NIF — and on me personally, as its president — is…

  By Naomi Chazan Feb 10, 2010 | 4 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 There’s a shocking new report on civilian deaths in Gaza. If only it were accurate.

  

• Nora Berman Is Netflix’s new show the most Jewish cartoon ever?

  

• Dan Perry Israel’s new gift to the far right could help end the Gaza war

  

• Emily Tamkin Entering motherhood — and an obsession with the works of an Italian Jewish literary hero

  

The Latest

• Opinion

  Foxman Fever Doesn’t Discriminate

  With the Academy Awards almost upon us, Oscar Fever is running high. And, in a rare confluence of circumstances, it’s colliding with a more exotic virus, one that might be called Foxman Fever. Some observers have been struck by the fact that three of the 10 Best Picture nominees this year have an intensely Jewish…

  By J.J. Goldberg Feb 10, 2010 | 4 min read
• Opinion

  Netanyahu Picks the Right Topic

  Avigdor Kahalani, one of Israel’s legendary heroes in war and peace, used to take large groups of Israeli youths on tours of the Galilee’s historic sites. At the end of the tour, he would gather them in a huge natural amphitheatre and unfold Israel’ s flag. “This is your identity!” he would tell them. “This…

  By Michael Bar-Zohar Feb 10, 2010 | 4 min read
• Opinion

  The New Israel Fund’s Israeli Problem

  It’s not surprising that a vicious and aggressive attack would prompt an equally hysterical response. Such is the case with the recent campaign against the New Israel Fund (over its unintended contributions to the Goldstone Report) and the counter-campaign launched by NIF and its allies. In recent weeks, Israel has been described as a country…

  By Shmuel Rosner Feb 10, 2010 | 3 min read
• Opinion

  Labor Pains

  The nomination of Craig Becker to the National Labor Relations Board appears to be history. In a 52-33 vote on February 9, Senate Democrats failed to muster the 60 votes needed to bring this long-awaited name to the floor for approval. A union lawyer who worked on President Obama’s transition team, Becker was opposed even…

  Feb 10, 2010 | 2 min read
• Letters

  February 19, 2009

  Goldstone’s Ad Hominem Argument Regarding your February 12 article “Dershowitz Explains Critical Goldstone Remark: ‘Moser’? I Meant ‘Monster!’” I would like to note that Richard Goldstone has repeatedly declined to debate me on the merits of his report. Nor has he responded to my 49-page substantive critique, which is available online at www.alandershowitz.com/goldstone.pdf. Instead, Goldstone…

  Feb 10, 2010 | 2 min read
• Opinion

  Dispatch from a Lost Tribe: Quebec Mohawks Expel Intermarrieds

  The Montreal Gazette reports in this February 3 article that the Kahnawake Reserve (Canadian for reservation) of the Mohawk nation, just outside Montreal, has issued expulsion orders to about 25 whites living illegally on the reserve. It sounds a lot like a miniature version Israel’s struggles over refugees and foreign workers. About 25 non-natives —…

  By J.J. Goldberg Feb 10, 2010 | 2 min read
• Opinion

  Im Tirtzu in Goldstone’s Footsteps

  By and large, I resist conspiratorial explanation of events. Most often, coincidence governs; things that seem related have arrived together from different sources, and their togetherness is curious rather than significant. Now, however, I admit to alarm. We are witness to an escalating series of events that begin to feel cumulative, moving faster and faster…

  By Leonard Fein Feb 10, 2010 | 4 min read
• 
  Opinion

  Knesset Slimers Retreat After Foxman Slams Defamation of New Israel Fund (update)

  The threatened Knesset investigation of the New Israel Fund by the Israeli right has been halted, for now, following several angry phone calls to Knesset speaker Reuven Rivlin from irate American Jewish communal leaders, warning that an Israeli investigation could backfire on other Jewish organizations involved in Israel. Abe Foxman of ADL is quoted telling…

  By J.J. Goldberg Feb 5, 2010 | 2 min read