Opinion

WALTHAM, Mass. (JTA) — The relationship between American and Israeli Jews is changing. For most of Israel’s history, the American Jewish community was larger, wealthier and more powerful than its “poor cousin” in the Middle East, but now the differences between the two communities have greatly narrowed. More Jews… Read more »

The topic of the day-long conference was torture, and Palestinians were describing the horrific methods the Shin Bet used in prison to get information out of them. Photos and illustrations of these practices were shown on a screen. Human rights activists, Palestinian and Israeli, spoke at length and in… Read more »

Israel is staring at a fork in the road, with potential disaster along either path. On the path to the left lies a major Israeli peace initiative that deals with all the core issues under dispute with the Palestinians. On the path to the right lies more waiting, possibly… Read more »

WEST CALDWELL, N.J. (JTA) — Conservative Judaism is dying, I hear — or at least according to the media. Not so. Please don’t tell me that because North America’s United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism has had its problems, that means Conservative/Masorti Judaism is declining around the Jewish world. Yes,… Read more »

Some of the 146 victims of the Triangle Shirtwaist Company fire lay on the streets of New york's Lower East Side, March 25, 1911. (International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union)

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (JTA) — Late on the afternoon of Saturday, March 25, 1911, a fire erupted at the Triangle Shirtwaist Company on the top floors of a modern, fire-proof building at the corner of Manhattan’s Washington Place and Greene Street, near Washington Square Park. In the bedlam precipitated by… Read more »

Although the 10-month moratorium on building in Jewish settlements in the West Bank was lifted last September, settler leaders complain that no construction is being allowed in the large urban areas and warn that a de facto freeze on all Jewish building in the West Bank is looming. The… Read more »

The favorite word of Navi Pillay, the U.N. high commissioner for human rights, appears to be “accountability.” Yet with her own agency tainted by its longtime disregard of Libyan human rights violations — and by apologists for Libyan strongman Muammar Gadhafi occupying key U.N. positions — it’s high time… Read more »

Demonstrator with an anti-Gadhafi sign outside the Libya Embassy in Cairo shows his solidarity for Libyans protesting their leader, Feb. 22, 2011. (Sierragoddess via Creative Commons)

WASHINGTON (JTA) — They were the devils they knew. Though Israel lives in a dangerous neighborhood, surrounded by countries whose leaders or people wish its destruction, over the years it had adjusted to the status quo, more or less figuring out how to get by while keeping an eye… Read more »

The rapid changes in the Middle East are leading many in the American Jewish community to suffer from “analysis paralysis.” We have become so mesmerized by events in Cairo that we have stopped doing vitally important work to advance American interests and stability in the Middle East, as well… Read more »

NEW HAVEN, Conn. (JTA) — The day after Egypt’s President Hosni Mubarak was ousted by a widespread public uprising, I found myself presenting a lecture about Solidarity, the mass trade union movement that convulsed Poland 30 years ago and paved the way for the collapse of the Iron Curtain… Read more »

This is an extraordinary time for the Middle East, an unprecedented one, a glorious one – and it’s passing Israel by. Since Mubarak’s fall, we’re trying to be good sports, good losers, trying to grin and bear it, saying mabruk, congratulations, and all that. This week we’re rooting for… Read more »

WASHINGTON (JTA) – One guy we know, and we’re pretty sure he’s not in charge. The other guy we don’t know so well, and it looks like he might be in charge. The other three guys — who knows? The five figures comprising Egypt’s Supreme Military Council are commanding… Read more »

\NEW YORK (JTA) — Hosni Mubarak’s resignation Feb. 11 from Egypt’s presidency following three weeks of intense street demonstrations raises a host of questions not just for the future of Egypt and its peace treaty with Israel, but for the entire Middle East. The most remarkable feature of the… Read more »

Avital Sharansky addresses the Prime Minister's Council at general Assembly of the Jewish Federations of North America in New Orleans on her struggle to achieve the release of her husband, Natan Sharansky, right, from the Soviet gulag, Nov. 7, 2010. (The Jewish Agency for Israel)

NEW YORK (JTA) — Feb. 11 marks 25 years since Natan Sharansky crossed the Glienicke Bridge from East to West Germany and became a free man. Countless stories have been told about Sharansky’s defiance of the Soviets and his courageous actions during his more than nine years of imprisonment.… Read more »

JERUSALEM (JTA) — For Israel, the popular uprising against the Mubarak regime raises the specter of its worst strategic nightmare: collapse of the peace treaty with Egypt, the cornerstone of its regional policy for the past three decades. That is not the inevitable outcome of the unrest; a modified… Read more »

LOS ANGELES (JTA) — On Super Sunday, the alefs and bets in Green Bay and Pittsburgh will be thinking about X’s and O’s. They’ll even be up for a little friendly wager. On the morning of Feb. 6, many hours before the NFC champion Green Bay Packers battle the… Read more »

Was it an act of political self-preservation, a feat of political destruction or a bid to stabilize Is­rael’s government ahead of some dramatic move? And for Israel’s Labor Party, was it another sign of the once-leading party’s demise, or a precursor to a revival and the ideals for which… Read more »

President Obama delivers the State of the Union address, Jan. 25, 2011. (The White House)

WASHINGTON (JTA) – Civility? Check. Clean energy? Check. Health care?  Check. Immigration? Check. Education? You bet. Isolating Iran? That’s in there. Poverty, guns, reproductive rights? Israel? Ummm … President Obama’s State of the Union speech Tuesday night was as notable for what it excluded as what made it in.… Read more »

WEST BLOOMFIELD, Mich. (JTA) — As a Conservative rabbi and a member of the movement’s Rabbinical Assembly, I cannot officially consider Jewish descent to be determined patrilineally — from the father. In fact, in its Code of Professional Conduct, the section detailing the responsibilities for membership in the Rabbinical… Read more »

William Daroff

WASHINGTON (JTA) — In the days President Obama was preparing to deliver his State of the Union address, everyone knew the economy would play a major role. What remains unknown is what will result for millions of vulnerable Americans once the applause dies down and the political maneuvering picks… Read more »