It has become axiomatic that a widening schism exists in relations between Israel and Diaspora Jewry. Relations with American Jews (who constitute over 70% of Diaspora Jewry) are increasingly fraught. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu seems unperturbed. After all, who needs American Jews when (in his view) evangelical Christians are better friends to Israel? Against that…
It had been 50 years since I last traveled to Israel. Much has changed in the start-up nation, including real toilets, delicious and plentiful food, new archaeological excavations and high-tech innovation. There have also been changes for Israeli women — though not all for the better. I recently joined a group of 60 Jewish women…
Both of us have spent decades in public service in several U.S. administrations working to enhance the ties between the United States and Israel. Separately, in our private careers we have sought to promote the well-being of the Jewish people. We believe a strong, democratic Israel in the troubled Middle East is in the national…
Back in the late 1990s, it seemed appropriate to describe relations between Israel, the United States and the American Jewish community as a strategic triangle. Each of the three sides to the triangle interacted with and nourished the other two. This was not an equilateral triangle: Israel seemed to be replacing U.S. Jewry as the…
As a young-ish British Jewish anti-occupation activist, I’m sadly all too familiar with straw-man attacks. I and others like me are so viciously attacked online following any meagre expression of opinion that if you were to believe even just half of the things written about us on the internet, you may be excused for thinking…
Last month on the pages of The Forward I claimed the right to be a liberal Zionist in America, one who feels a deep connection with Israel, one who continues to envision a democratic Jewish state that exists alongside a free and independent Palestine — but also one who recognizes that a half-century after the…
What is the Nation-State Bill? The Nation-State Bill is a proposed Basic Law that would anchor Israel’s status as the national homeland of the Jewish people. The bill clauses contain, for example, the “Law of Return,” state symbols, Jewish festivals and the Hebrew language. It is Israel’s first attempt to constitutionally anchor its identity in…
A bill passing through Israel’s Knesset taking aim at the country’s Arab minority just became law. The bill’s full name is “Basic Law: Israel as the Nation-State of the Jewish People” though it’s more commonly referred to as the “Nation-State bill.” And it sets out to consolidate the Jewishness of the country at the expense…
רחל האָלצער, וואָס איז פֿריִער געווען אין דער ווילנער טרופּע, שפּילט דאָ אַ ראָלע וואָס איז דעמאָלט געווען אַ פֿאַרבאָטענע טעמע
100% of profits support our journalism
