Thursday, April 18th 2024 |
By ALAN SMASON
September 11 marked 18 years since the dastardly attack on American soil by foreigners in which more than 3,000 of our citizens’ lives were snuffed out by cowards intent on dismantling our union. The towers that fell that day in Manhattan, the damage to the Pentagon in Washington and the failed flight downed in Pennsylvania, which was intended to wreak even more death and destruction in our...
By DILIMAN ABDULKADER
(JNS.org) – “Certainly, Christians don’t want to see Turkish troops entering Syria given the past brutal history of the 1915 massacres of Christians carried out by the Turks,” says Chaldean Catholic Father Samir Kanoon of Qamishli, Syria.
Northeast Syria is known to be a pluralistic safe haven for religious and ethnic minorities in a country ravaged by war since 2011. As we mark five years since the brutal genocide campaign...
By ANDREW SILOW-CARROLL
(JTA) — Theater folk in England are debating a recent revival of the musical “Falsettos,” asking whether non-Jews should be playing its Jewish characters. In an open letter, critics of the religion-blind casting complain that non-Jewish actors can at best portray only a “secondary understanding” of Jewish mannerisms but have no awareness of the “psychology, geography, culture and history that have framed these outward signifiers of Judaism.”
...By YISCAH SMITH
JERUSALEM (JTA) — As a spiritual activist, I feel a deep calling to build bridges between people and their inner selves.
My own story involves building and crossing many bridges. Gender identity dysphoria accompanied me at birth 68 years ago, severely impacting most of my life. I was born on Long Island as Jeffrey Scott Smith, but I never felt right putting breath into what I felt...
By MOSHE PHILLIPS
If ever there was a week that illustrated the dramatic difference between the lives of Israeli Jews and American Jews, this was it.
Over the course of the past week, Palestinian Arab terrorists stabbed and wounded an Israeli in the Old City of Jerusalem, drove a car into Israelis standing at a bus stop near Elazar, fired rockets into Sderot, set fields on fire in the western...
By BENJAMIN KERSTEIN AND DAVID MEYERS
(JNS.org) – Many of Donald Trump’s Jewish supporters are willing to overlook his flaws and failings, partly because they think he is “good for Israel.” Moving the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem, backing Israel unreservedly at the United Nations and recognizing the Golan Heights as part of the Jewish state are more than enough to convince them that Trump is the “best friend Israel...
By ALAN SMASON
In recent months, the old American Dream of hope and opportunity has been contorted into a new, darker American Dream, whereby are found those who are able “to stand on their own two feet” and those who can afford to live within its borders.
To be frank, this is a vastly different public face for America under which I grew up. It is a strident tone for...
By JONATHAN S. TOBIN
(JNS.org) – Unlike his predecessor, Barack Obama, President Donald Trump doesn’t think more “daylight” between the United States and Israel is needed, and he has had Israel’s back on all the major issues regarding the peace process and threats like Iran.
But ironically, this is a moment when Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu should have not only sought to establish a little distance between his government...
By JAMES SINKINSON
(JNS.org) – It’s been an article of faith for most recent U.S. presidents, for Western European nations and for many American politicians today that peace between Israel and the Palestinians can only be achieved through the so-called “two-state solution”—two states for two peoples, living side by side in peace and security.
Certainly, sympathy for the Palestinian people’s national aspirations is understandable, as is heartfelt sadness that they’re...
By RABBI HERSHEL D. LUTCH
BALTIMORE (JTA) — As Americans of conscience, many of us are deeply troubled by the hyperpartisan tone that seems to color almost every news story and cycle. The sensationalism that is so often present within our nation’s discourse undermines our collective ability to assimilate information and reach well-reasoned conclusions. At times, the only voices that we hear are the loudest and most outrageous.
If this...
