J. J. Goldberg’s September 18 column, “A Major Jewish Philanthropist Just Published a Plan to Ethnically Cleanse Palestinians,” is an important journalistic contribution to the American Jewish discussion about Israel, but it contains one subtly pernicious misconception. Mr. Goldberg repeats the received wisdom that the term Palestine was “coined” by the Roman rulers of Jewish…
Dear Editor: Like many Forward readers, I agree with many of the criticisms voiced by Samuel Freedman regarding Benjamin Netanyahu’s leadership as Prime Minister. Netanyahu’s positions on matters ranging from egalitarian prayer to outlying settlements have stoked anger from large constituencies in the diaspora as well as within Israel. Still, that does not mean that…
Dear Editor: Yoel Matveev’s “The Jewish Designers of North Korea’s Hydrogen Bomb” is a fascinating read, historically, accurate, but it nevertheless it leaves me queasy — and not, I think, because I am a parochial-minded Jewish historian. If you want to blame Americans (including émigré scientists not just Jews but Enrico Fermi, non-Jewish but with…
It has been almost a week now that Palestinian nonviolent activist Issa Amro has been imprisoned by the Palestinian Authority (PA). Issa’s crime was a Facebook post criticizing the PA for their arrest of journalist Ayman Qawasmi. Before submitting himself for questioning and likely detainment, Issa prepared a statement: “My arrest will not affect my…
We were deeply distressed to read the articles in Arutz Sheva and The Jewish Press as well as in a blog of the Algemeiner calling upon the Center for Jewish History to terminate David Myers as President and CEO of the Center for Jewish History on account of his views concerning the State of Israel….
MK Aryeh Deri derided Modern Orthodoxy as “Borderline Reform” as reported by Israel TV’s Channel 2. This head of the Haredi Sefardic political party, Shas, has served a prison term for criminal corruption, hardly a badge of honor for an Orthodox spokesman we would expect to be committed as a matter of conscience to “doing…
Every day, Hillel brings Israel to the campus – and now, we are taking extra steps to bring the campus to Israel. That is why Hillel International is proud that The David Project and its effective Israel advocacy programs are now under the Hillel umbrella. Hillel International’s The David Project builds connections between Jewish and…
To the Letters Editor, The leftwing J Street’s Director of Communications has written a breathtakingly inaccurate and careless screed against ZOA, falsely claiming we are an “ultra partisan” group advocating for Trump which refuses to criticize him. Yet, your own newspaper’s Nathan Guttman verified this as a phony allegation by writing on May 15 an…
I was travelling in Italy when I received an e-mail on May 7 from Jack Rosenthal. The subject line simply said, “Illness” – enough to make me shudder. And sure enough, the first sentence of his message got right to the point: “I’ve just been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.” Fifteen weeks later, Jack was gone….
Days after the horrific showcase of American far-right extremism in Charlottesville, America’s leading extremist, white supremacist leader Richard Spencer, appeared on an Israeli television newscast and compared his hate-filled ideology to Jewish nationalism, declaring it “white Zionism.” Riding the waves of extremism and hate, Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP) staffer Naomi Dann asserted in The…
We accept criticism when warranted. In the case of Avital Chizik Goldschmidt’s “Why Won’t Orthodox Leaders Condemn Trump’s Ties to White Supremacists?” it is not. In that article Ms. Chizik Goldschmidt writes, “The Rabbinical Council of America mourned “violence and bigotry”, but not our leader’s failure to condemn it.” Even though Ms. Chizik Goldschmidt does…
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