Opinion

• Opinion

  How Much Immigration Is Too Much?

  Arizona’s law requiring police officers to check the residency status of those they suspect of being illegal immigrants has drawn swift condemnation from a motley group, ranging from The Wall Street Journal to unions. National Jewish groups have also weighed in with statements blasting the law. But critics of the state’s law should think twice…

  By Noam Neusner

  3 min read
• Opinion

  Look Who’s Speaking for America’s Jews

  The easing of the current Washington-Jerusalem face-off — may it come speedily — could lead to numerous possible combinations of winners and losers. President Obama could squeeze Prime Minister Netanyahu until his government falls. Netanyahu could drag his feet until 2012 and hope Obama isn’t reelected. They might even agree on a peace formula that…

  By J.J. Goldberg Apr 28, 2010 | 4 min read
• Opinion

  A Lesson From Brandeis

  Grumbling about a commencement speaker is almost a rite of passage on many a college campus, the choice so inevitably drawing complaints from one aggrieved group or another that it is best not to make too much of it. But the criticism directed at Brandeis University for selecting Michael Oren, the Israeli ambassador to the…

  Apr 28, 2010 | 2 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 An Israeli media mainstay is crumbling. Will liberal democracy go with it?

  

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

  

The Latest

• Opinion

  An Outrage in Arizona

  It is rare, indeed, to find ourselves nodding in agreement with a pronouncement from a politician named Bush. But when Jeb Bush, former governor of Florida, became the first prominent national Republican to speak out against Arizona’s new, draconian immigration law, he reminded us that there was a time not long ago when some of…

  Apr 28, 2010 | < 1 min read
• Opinion

  For Men Only

  We are told that the carefully worded, hard-to-decipher resolution on the role of women in Orthodox Judaism was approved by the Rabbinical Council of America on April 27 without a single murmur of opposition. That’s what we are told, anyhow. You have to take it on faith, because the RCA decided to bar the public,…

  Apr 28, 2010 | < 1 min read
• Opinion

  Zogby Poll: 70% of Americans Oppose ‘South Park’ Censorship

  Pollster John Zogby of Zogby International reports on a new survey showing that 70% of Americans disagree with the Comedy Central Network decision to censor out references to Muhammad on “South Park.” Unlike many other issues, opposition to Comedy Central’s decision is a bipartisan one. Clear majorities of those affiliated with both parties as well…

  By J.J. Goldberg Apr 28, 2010 | < 1 min read
• Opinion

  Why Obama Disappoints His Allies: Too Little Time, Too Many Fires To Put Out

  Washington Post editorial page editor Fred Hiatt offers a striking theory on how President Obama chose his agenda for his first two years, and why so many of his allies are so disappointed in the results. Basically, there was just too much basic repair work to be done, given the mess he inherited from the…

  By J.J. Goldberg Apr 27, 2010 | 2 min read
• Opinion

  Media Watch: A Rashomon Tale of E. Jerusalem Violence and Israel’s Police

  If you want to find out the facts behind the violence on Sunday in Silwan village in East Jerusalem during a march by far-right Israeli activists, you have to do a lot of Web surfing. Everybody offers bits of the story, but only the bits they want to share. Everybody’s got an angle. The short…

  By J.J. Goldberg Apr 26, 2010 | 3 min read
• Opinion

  Media Watch II: Looking at Jewish Women as the World Looks at Them

  Surfing the Web for various takes on the violence in Silwan on Sunday, I looked at the coverage by the Chinese news service Xinhua, which is usually a good place for odd angles. There was nothing new about Jerusalem, but an interesting link appeared alongside the article, directing me to what it called the world’s…

  By J.J. Goldberg Apr 26, 2010 | 2 min read
• Opinion

  Alarm Bells on the Ascendancy of the Israeli Far Right

  The N.Y. Times-owned International Herald Tribune has a very disturbing, must-read op-ed piece today by Yossi Alpher, “Who Rules Israel?”. If you’ve been feeling out of sorts lately about what feels like a mounting assault on beleaguered Israeli peace and human rights advocates by an ever-more influential far right, Alpher makes the case, in a…

  By J.J. Goldberg Apr 22, 2010 | 3 min read
• Opinion

  Maariv Report: Rabbi Yosef of Shas Endorses Jerusalem Construction Freeze

  Maariv’s ace reporter Ben Kaspit reports in an article (Hebrew only) posted on the paper’s Web site Thursday morning that Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, the spiritual mentor of the Shas party, has endorsed a freeze on new Israeli construction in East Jerusalem in order to maintain good relations with the United States. According to Kaspit, Yosef…

  By J.J. Goldberg Apr 22, 2010 | < 1 min read