Opinion

Tens of thousands of haredi Orthodox Israelis take to the streets in Jerusalem to protest a court order requiring haredi parents to send their daughters to an Emanuel school , June 17, 2010. (Abir Sultan / Flash90 / JTA)

JERUSALEM (JTA) — The showdown between the Supreme Court and the parents of students at a haredi Orthodox school found guilty of discriminatory practices against Sephardic girls has brought already strained secular-religious relations in Israel to a fever pitch. A remark by Supreme Court Justice Edmond Levy that the… Read more »

WASHINGTON (JTA) — A recent report by Physicians for Human Rights has found that in the period after Sept. 11, 2001, the U.S. government engaged military and civilian health professionals in “human research and experimentation on prisoners in U.S. custody.” Appalled by these findings, a number of religious leaders… Read more »

David E.H. Gershon

What should I buy for the children of the Hamas terrorist who tried to kill my wife? I’m sorry, some context is needed. Let me explain. In the summer of 2002 Hamas, targeting both Israelis and Americans, struck a cafeteria at Hebrew University in Jerusalem. The blast, triggered by… Read more »

Hadar Susskind

Watching the video of the Israeli Navy Commandos rappelling onto the Marmara was for me — as for many people — full of anxiety and sadness. Sadness that Israeli soldiers, in the same uniforms I once proudly wore, were put in such a terrible situation and subject to violent… Read more »

NEW YORK (Sh’ma) — There is nothing that makes me feel as alive as walking the streets of a new city — with a notebook, a map, and a camera — waiting for a portrait to take shape out of color and sound, clamor and empty space, concrete and… Read more »

Michael B. Oren

Israel’s interception of the flotilla attempting to break the Gaza blockade has been the focus of massive international attention — and condemnation. In the melee of interviews, editorials and images, the basic facts of the incident have often been obscured. Segments of the American Jewish community were rendered confused… Read more »

Two letters to the Arizona Jewish Post (June 4) are confusing, based as they are on mistaken understanding of federal immigration law. Though both writers claim the Arizona statute is an exact copy of federal law, it isn’t. SB 1070 defines a new crime; being an illegal is per… Read more »

The effort to delegitimize Israel among the constituents and future leaders of the United States, Israel's chief ally, poses a threat to Israel's long-term security equal to many of the threats Israel faces in its region. … Read more »

Gary Wexler

Lamenting the lack of a coordinated marketing strategy for the Jewish state, marketing guru Gary Wexler says "the grand word, painted across all our aggregated marketing efforts in the world arena: LOSER!" But he's ready to get to work.… Read more »

Like the radicals aboard the Mavi Marmara, critics of the “Israel Lobby” are leading American-Jewish organizations into a trap. And unlike the Israeli commandos who boarded the ship, Jewish leaders still have a chance to change their strategy. Among those critics, Chicago’s John Mearsheimer has emerged as the Grand… Read more »

(June 6, 2010) Scanning news reports this week, I was surprised to learn that according to much of the press, Turkey had been Israel’s “staunchest ally in the Muslim world,” until this past Monday following the Gaza aid flotilla debacle. According to Associated Press, the UK’s Daily Mail and… Read more »

JERUSALEM (JTA) — Despite the international outcry following last week’s lethal confrontation between Israeli commandos and militant pro-Palestinian activists aboard a Turkish vessel carrying humanitarian aid to Gaza, Israel insists its naval blockade of the Hamas-ruled territory is justified and will continue. But even Israel’s closest allies backing the… Read more »

Istanbul — While Turkey and Israel have seen their once-close relationship deteriorate steadily for the past few years, the Israeli commando raid of a Turkish-led flotilla heading for Gaza, in which several Turks were killed, marks a dangerous new low in the two countries’ relations. “Turkey is now involved… Read more »

Washington — President Obama’s Cairo speech and its equivalent invocations of Palestinian and Jewish sufferings. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton’s call for an unequivocal freeze: “Not some settlements, not outposts, not natural growth exceptions.” The Joe Biden fiasco. And now the Obama administration’s venture into a nuclear-free Middle… Read more »

LOS ANGELES (JTA) — What stands for those who have fallen? As a small boy, I played with green plastic soldiers. Sometimes after they died in backyard battle, I would mark their passing with a little cross made of twigs. Even then it seemed off. This Memorial Day weekend… Read more »

I am simply amazed at the knee-jerk response of liberals – especially Jewish liberals – who are so vehemently opposed to the new Arizona “immigration” law. I guess they haven’t been following the Congress’ actions in recent years. Nearly every part of this new law is an exact copy… Read more »

Mazel tov on your new website, it is terrific! I would like to respond to the article in your 5/21 issue regarding the new immigration bill (“JCRC, Reform rabbis decry Arizona immigration law”). I hope the negative comments came from people who actually read the bill, and I’m truly… Read more »

SONOMA, Calif. (JTA) — When I was a kid, the prospect of catching polio was terrifying. We could not dive into a public swimming pool for fear we would spend the rest of our lives in an iron lung. Two Jewish doctors vanquished that disease and removed such fears… Read more »

Jerusalem On the day last week that Israel gained admission to the prestigious Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak told the Knesset’s Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee that Israel’s continued control over the Palestinians was eroding its global standing. Whereas Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu… Read more »

Far be it from me to defend Pat Buchanan, but I don’t think critics of his attack on the Elena Kagan nomination understand what makes it so objectionable. The fast version of Buchanan’s Kagan column (available at WorldNet Daily) is this: By failing to nominate WASPs, or white ethnics… Read more »