Opinion

Israel is not the problem in the Middle East but breathtakingly President Barack Obama has come to the conclusion that the best path to peace in the region would be to do something that no U.S. president has done since The Six Day War and that is force Israel… Read more »

That Israel problem President Obama had with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu? Old news. That Israel problem Obama has with Congress? And with his party? That’s just beginning. In two successive speeches — one to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee on May 23 and another to a joint… Read more »

Response to Abbas editorial in The NY Times, May 17, 2011 May 18, 2011 | Eli E. Hertz   “Repeat a lie often enough and people will begin to believe it.” Nazi propaganda master Joseph Goebbels   ABBAS: In November 1947, the General Assembly made its recommendation and answered… Read more »

WASHINGTON (JTA) — Nearly 35 years ago, on July 4, 1976, the streets of America were aglow. The nation was celebrating the bicentennial — the 200th anniversary of its independence. In Israel, too, the streets were radiant. Israel Defense Forces commandos had rescued some 100 hostages held captive by… Read more »

SAG HARBOR, N.Y. (JTA) — Change is afoot in American Reform Judaism. A new president of the Union for Reform Judaism has been selected. The movement has launched a series of nationwide public forums to discuss its future. Hundreds of Reform rabbis have endorsed a plan toward achieving greater… Read more »

WEST BLOOMFIELD, Mich. (JTA) — On a recent trip to Berlin with a dozen other Conservative rabbis, we made certain to stop at the apartment building that Regina Jonas once called home. I had never heard of Jonas, but to the four female rabbis in our group she was… Read more »

(JTA) — We appreciate Rabbi Shafran’s embrace of the importance of the work of Magen Tzedek when he states in his JTA Op-Ed, “to be sure Jewish ethical values in food production are no less important (than) halachic concerns, and are indeed embodied in independent halachic mandates. But they… Read more »

(JTA) — There is something ironic, to put it politely, about an effort championing ethics that speaks from both sides of its mouth. That would be the new certification seal for kosher food products, created by a Conservative rabbi and actively being promoted by his movement, that aims to… Read more »

Thank you for your recent column entitled “Michael Lerner Looks Back as Tikkun Turns 25” (April 21, 2011). I, for one, was heartened to learn that Tikkun’s circulation is dwindling and that a full 40% of its remaining readership is non-Jewish. It cogently confirms that Lerner’s “unapologetically utopian” vision… Read more »

Thousands of Palestinians in the West Bank cityof Ramallah hold a rally advocating Fatah-Hamas reconciliation, March 15, 2011. A reconciliation deal was announced in late April (Ruben Salvador/Flash 90/JTA)

Skeptics and optimists in Israel are squaring off following the surprise reconciliation between the two rival Palestinian factions. The skeptics argue that by mending fences with Hamas, a terrorist organization that denies Israel’s right to exist, the secular Fatah party led by Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas has shown… Read more »

I am seeking Holocaust survivors and 2ndG people to interview who either were or are artists.  The information being gathered is for a college undergraduate level course being taken this summer at Prescott College, Tucson Center. Please respond to pcbresume@yahoo.com. —Patricia C. Bischof… Read more »

We read and thoroughly enjoyed Joel Chasnoff’s book (“‘Crybaby Brigade’ author to perform at men’s event,” AJP 4/8/2011). Mr. Chasnoff told his readers that he learned in boot camp that the IDF has a phrase for anything that goes astray or does not work out as planned: “A fukim.”… Read more »

We were so pleased to read about the Golan Heights Winery award in Italy and particularly about Victor Schoenfeld (News Briefs — AJP, 4/22/11). We have been friends with the Schoenfeld family for many years as we all belonged to Congregation Ner Tamid in Rancho Palos Verdes, Calif. The… Read more »

Nazi defendants listen to testimony at the post-World War II Nuremberg trials, which set a precendent for prosecuting crimes agains humanity. (United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, courtesy of John W. Mosenthal)

WASHINGTON (JTA) — Sixty-five years ago at the International Military Tribunal in Nuremberg, Germany, 22 defendants stood in the dock. They represented a cross-section of Nazi diplomatic, economic, political and military leadership, and became the first people in history to be indicted for crimes against humanity. A tribunal of… Read more »

Turkey’s Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu grandiloquently proclaimed recently that, “If the world is on fire, Turkey is the firefighter. Turkey is assuming the leading role for stability in the Middle East.” Such ambition is new for Ankara. In the 1990s, it contentedly fulfilled its NATO obligations and followed Washington’s… Read more »

Unless Israel acts fast, when the Arab Spring comes to full bloom, the Jewish state will be left out in the cold. That was the essence of the dire warnings issued earlier this month by the high-profile backers of a new Israeli peace push who say they seek to… Read more »

Philadelphia’s Olney High School will hold its 60th anniversary reunion on Sunday, June 5, 2001 at Bala Country Club. For information, call 215-663-1743. —Irv Segal… Read more »

I suppose there may be ways to harmonize Larry Gellman’s two statements at the conclusion of Sheila Wilensky’s March 24 article reporting on Hadar Susskind’s recent visit to Tucson (“On visit to Tucson, J Street policy director explains group’s mission”). Mr. Gellman “find Jewish Voice for Peace despicable” while… Read more »

I was very pleased to see the article on J Street Policy Director Hadar Susskind’s visit to the Tucson Jewish Community Center. Acknowledgment of different voices within the Jewish community in regards to our relationship with Israel and Israel’s current policies is a breath of fresh air. Moreover, the… Read more »

With the turmoil rocking the Middle East now threatening the regime in Syria, Israel faces potentially grave dangers and huge opportunities. The dangers are clear: The emergence of a more radical regime in Syria could mean a stronger Iran-Syria-Hezbollah axis. Iran could get direct access to its allies in… Read more »