This is the Forward’s coverage of Israel, the Jewish state in the Middle East founded in 1948.
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Culture Why Israel’s National Library Is Such A Treasure Trove For The Jewish People
Did you know that Stefan Zweig’s suicide note is housed in the National Library of Israel? So are Gershom Scholem’s love letters to his first wife, which mention the time he saw the poet Chaim Nachman Bialik at lunch, along with the philosopher Ahad Ha’am. In a recent visit, I held my breath as I…
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Life If You Want To Understand Israel, Read Its Literature
If you want to understand a people, read the stories it tells. In the work of Israel’s fiction writers, we meet the real Israeli, the one behind the headlines, stripped of hasbara. We get to know Israeli soldiers and Palestinian suicide bombers, Jewish settlers, Arab university students, Holocaust survivors. Here, they collide, just as they…
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Opinion Actually, Natalie Portman, You ARE Practicing BDS
Dear Natalie (If I may), In recent days, I have followed closely your decision not to appear at a prize ceremony in Israel and your statement about it. Your decision was important to me not only because I am Palestinian, but because I realized we have some things in common, you and I. I was…
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Opinion Hamas, Not Israel, Is Responsible For Deaths In Gaza
It’s now been a month. An entire month of Palestinian organized, initiated and funded violence at the border with Gaza. What began with a promise of non-violence has cost some 35 Palestinian lives and hundreds of reported casualties. But the leaders of Hamas keep promising us that the worst is still ahead. Indeed, we are…
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Fast Forward Natalie Portman Breaks Silence On Prize Snub — And BDS
Natalie Portman says she refused to visit Israel to receive a $2 million prize as a protest against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and because of Israeli “atrocities” — but insisted she doesn’t back the boycott of the Jewish state. The Hollywood superstar said she didn’t want to seem to be endorsing the escalating violence against…
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Fast Forward Mossad Eyed In Assassination Of Hamas Engineer In Malaysia
Two unidentified men shot dead a Palestinian man in Kuala Lumpur on Saturday, Malaysian and Palestinian authorities reported, and Malaysia’s Deputy Prime Minister said the suspects were believed to be linked to a foreign intelligence service. Kuala Lumpur police chief Mazlan Lazim said two men on a motorcycle fired 10 shots at the 35-year-old victim,…
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Culture Why The Idea Of An Egalitarian Kibbutz Was Always A Myth
The Mystery of the Kibbutz: Egalitarian Principles in a Capitalist World By Ran Abramitzky Princeton, $29.95, 360 pages It’s funny to think of kibbutzim as an experiment in radical social equality, since they excluded nonskilled and non-Ashkenazi Israeli Jews. That paradox is not totally lost on Stanford University economist Ran Abramitzky, who writes, in the…
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News Natalie Portman Says ‘Jewish Values’ Caused Her To Scrap Israel Visit For Genesis Prize
Oscar-winning actress Natalie Portman has refused to travel for Israel to accept a $2 million award, citing her “Jewish values” as an imperative to stand up for justice amid an increasingly deadly conflict with the Palestinians. The Hollywood superstar said she did not want to be seen as endorsing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, whom she…
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Culture ‘My mayor Muslim, my bagel Jewish’ — the Knicks chant capturing New York’s soul
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Opinion Cultural boycotts of Israel just reached peak absurdity
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Sports Memes, mashiach and ‘Torah-cyclopedias’ put a Jewish twist on the Knicks’ title chase
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Opinion It’s time for Jews who love Israel to give up on Zionism
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Fast Forward Trump says he plans to talk to Hezbollah amid Iran peace efforts
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Fast Forward American Jewish leaders across the political spectrum express alarm at Trump’s Iran deal
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News Can a liberal Zionist win with the pro-Palestinian movement? Brad Lander is trying.
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News For Iranian Jews who have been cheering Trump on, his new deal is hard to stomach