Op-eds
Is There Any Defense for Ilhan Omar?
Ever since she burst onto the national political scene by winning election to the House of Representatives in November, Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) has presented a challenge to her party. Like her fellow freshman Rep. Rashida Tlaib of Michigan, Omar is a supporter of the BDS movement and a fervent opponent of Israel. But Omar has not
Is Israel Policy on the Line for 2020?
Sen. Bernie Sanders’ decision to enter the 2020 Democratic presidential race last week set off some alarm bells for the pro-Israel community.
The Vermont socialist is probably the most critical toward Israel of all the possible major contenders for the nomination. Indeed, the only issue on
Booker’s Bigotry
Last month, the Jewish Coalition for Religious Liberty penned an op-ed in the Los Angeles Times defending a judicial nominee from attacks rooted in anti-Christian bigotry. The piece warned that if such intolerance was not immediately denounced and repudiated, it would soon target Jews and other religious minorities. As the leaders of this
How Progressives Are Destroying the Jewish ‘Big Tent’
What the Jewish world needs most these days is inclusion. Yet the only sensible course of action open to Jewish community relations councils and other outreach groups is to set firm limits on who can or cannot enter the proverbial big Jewish tent.
That sounds like a contradiction in terms, and
When Faith Goes Out of Fashion
On New Year’s Day, a law banning Jewish religious slaughter went into effect in the Flanders region of Belgium. But as far as the legislators who passed the legislation and the voters who support them, this abridgement of the religious freedom of the Jews of Antwerp is a small price to pay in exchange for a measure that they
Lost Votes Could Sink the Israeli Right
(JNS) The departure of Naftali Bennett and Ayelet Shaked from Habayit Hayehudi has left the religious Zionist party confused and reeling, but it’s not the only one. Polls published on Sunday, a day after the split was announced, seemed no less bewildered, showing Bennett and Shaked’s new party—the New Right—receiving
New York Times Ends the Year With an Epic Israel Smear
A 4,700-word story with multiple images and online videos cannot even
manage to report the nature of violence in which a Palestinian woman was entangled, nor of the murderous and implacable hatred of Israel fueling it.
The New York Times’ 4,700-word story on the
A Distinct Lack of Jewish Outrage
In recent weeks, Israel has faced rocket attacks, terror tunnels and deadly shootings. Why aren’t American Jews more upset about it?
American Jews have often been bashed for being too Israel-centric. But while there was a great deal to be said for arguments that the organized
Aliyah Assumptions: Perception or Reality?
Israelis make less money. School is free in Israel. Israeli health care is free. Real estate in Israel is expensive.
These are the assumptions often made by many who are considering aliyah. Which of these assumptions are based in reality and which are perceptions?
Responding to NY Times Criticism of the Kushners
While I usually try to stay above the fray of partisan criticism, I was personally dismayed and appalled at the New York Times piece (published November 17, titled “Are Jared and Ivanka Good for the Jews?”) that used partisan Jews to criticize Ivanka and Jared Kushner as being bad for the Jewish community because of their
When Both Sides Lost: Mahwah’s Election Results
To borrow from Shakespeare’s Mercutio: “A plague on both your houses.” That is my read on how voters in the Township of Mahwah viewed two of the candidates, incumbents Mayor William “Bill” Laforet and Council President Rob Hermansen, in last Tuesday’s election, in which both individuals lost their respective
When Both Sides Lost: Mahwah’s Election Results
To borrow from Shakespeare’s Mercutio: “A plague on both your houses.” That is my read on how voters in the Township of Mahwah viewed two of the candidates, incumbents Mayor William “Bill” Laforet and Council President Rob Hermansen, in last Tuesday’s election, in which both individuals lost their respective seats.
These two elections had nothing to
