This is the Forward’s coverage of Hamas, a Palestinian Islamic political party that includes a military wing. It is the de facto governing authority of the Gaza Strip, and is considered a terrorist organization by the U.S. and
Hamas
The Latest
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Opinion When It Comes to Shalit, Let’s Be Quiet
It is a favorite barb against the Zionist left that from the comfort of their homes in New York or Cleveland, they presume to tell Israel what to do, how to behave. Never mind that no one (not even the president or the secretary of state, much less dovish Jews) can “tell” Israel what to…
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News Israel Hopes to Lower Future Swap Cost
As Gilad Shalit settles back into life in Israel, the country resounds with an uncomfortable question: What happens next time? Israel started paying high prices for its captured soldiers in the 1980s, and since then, the prisoner-swap exchange rate has been subject to hyperinflation. In the Shalit deal it was 1,027 Palestinian prisoners to one…
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Opinion Israeli Reality Versus Our Projections
I just returned from a few weeks in Israel, and was there during the dramatic denouement of the Gilad Shalit story. The trip reminded me why it’s important for those of us who observe and comment and tear our hair out over Israel to actually experience the country as a place — as opposed to…
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Israel News Shalit Deal Shows Culture of Two Nations
It was an uncharacteristic moment of uncertainty — and a rare divergence from Israeli policy — when the usually emphatic Republican presidential candidates were asked how they would have handled Hamas’s demands for the release of Master Sgt. Gilad Shalit, the soldier for whom Israel traded 1,027 Palestinian prisoners, including some terrorists. “You can’t negotiate…
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Opinion Israel, Egypt and the Chill in the Arab Spring Air
With political and social upheaval sweeping the Middle East, Israel is threatened by a tsunami of hand-wringing, angst-ridden warnings of impending doom. New York Times Jerusalem bureau chief Ethan Bronner summed up the situation in this news analysis over the weekend. Here is Reuters’ Crispian Balmer on the issues a week earlier, and here’s Haaretz’s…
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Opinion How the Flotilla Helps Hamas
Chrisopher Hitchens, in a July 4 piece on Slate linked to on Tuesday by J.J. Goldberg, almost got it almost right. “It seems safe and fair to say that the flotilla and its leadership work in reasonably close harmony with Hamas, which constitutes the Palestinian wing of the Muslim Brotherhood,” he wrote. It’s unclear if…
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Opinion Hitchens Has a Few Questions for the Flotilla
Christopher Hitchens, writing in Slate, has a few questions about the Free Gaza flotilla that he wishes the journalists on the scene would find time to ask. Most of the speculation so far has been to do with methods and intentions, allowing for many avowals about peaceful tactics and so forth, but this is soft-centered…
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The Schmooze Friday Film: Five Years Later, Gilad Shalit Is Still Captive
Getty Images On June 23, the International Red Cross asked Hamas to provide proof that Gilad Shalit, the Israeli soldier captured in June 2006, is still alive. Hamas — to no one’s surprise — refused. The timing is not coincidental. June 25 will mark five years that Shalit has been held prisoner by Hamas, without…
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Fast Forward Why some Satmar Hasidic leaders endorsed Zohran Mamdani as mayor, stunning many Jewish voters
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Culture Mamdani’s first statement on antisemitism as mayor-elect got some weird pushback
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News How Mamdani became New York’s next mayor, with Jews divided between fierce opposition and fiery support
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Culture Mamdani quoted Eugene Debs in his victory speech — there’s a long Jewish history there
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Holy Ground This Jewish farmer is harvesting corn — and planting a synagogue — in the Illinois prairie
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News Scott Wiener, Jewish Democrat and critic of Israel’s war in Gaza, vies for Nancy Pelosi’s seat
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Opinion Why a concert hall should be the last place for a protest — particularly an antisemitic one like this
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Looking Forward What Hailey Bieber smoothies and instant matzo ball soup reveal about American Jewish taste
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