Israel
By Qanta A. Ahmed A fetal heartbeat flutters and then stills, a bullet lodged in the embryonic heart. The mother survives the shooting and her child’s stillbirth. A body that has been decomposing for almost three weeks lies on the autopsy table, riddled with knife and bullet wounds. Another
Cartoon
Cartoonist Michael Ramirez is a progressive’s worst nightmare. In addition to a tightly focused conservative world view, his acid-dipped pen produces work that is simultaneously insightful and somewhat insulting. Like this one: This appeared in the Washington Post, for which the two-time Pulitzer Prize-winner draws twice a week, along
Guns
These are facts: The vast majority of American Jews are Left, with some 70% voting Democratic. And the vast majority of American Democrats are for gun control, the tighter the better. I am a moderate Democratic gun-owner and take a small measure of satisfaction in reports, such as this one
Israel
I have seen the Hamas snuff film. It is the 43-minute video compilation of horrors committed by Hamas during the Oct. 7 atrocity excursion into southern Israel, resulting in 1,400 deaths murders, including 33 Americans, and some 240 kidnappings. It was screened Thursday evening at the Weitzman National Museum
Donald J. Trump
I recently got back in touch with one of my oldest friends — from junior high school — and in the course of getting reacquainted, I mentioned another old friend, a mutual acquaintance, who supports Donald J. Trump. How can that be, my friend asked? I don’t understand his appeal and
Anti-Semitism
Thursday will be the 85th anniversary of Kristallnacht, or the Night of Broken Glass, during which the Nazis went on a two-day rampage throughout Germany, smashing Jewish stores, buildings, and synagogues. Streets everywhere were filled with broken glass. It was the harbinger of things to come. Those things included isolating,
Politics
If you haven’t voted by mail, I’m hoping you will vote on Tuesday. Everyone should, especially those who wish for a better Philadelphia, and that would mean loosening the stranglehold the Democrats have had on the city for some 70 years. Not that there is anything wrong with
Israel
Peaceful protests have a long tradition in America, and they are protected by the U.S. Constitution. The hundreds who assembled Thursday evening to chant and protest in the William H. Gray III 30th Street Station were within their rights, until they started blocking commuters from where they wanted to
Anti-Semitism
There’s been an outbreak of anti-Semitism at the esteemed University of Pennsylvania, and new president Liz Magill is going about combating it in exactly the wrong way. Actually, she sort of encouraged it when her first mealy-mouthed statement rebuking the Oct. 7 massacre of Israelis did not use the
Israel
This is not a call for war, or a call for gore, it is a call for transparency, so we can see what we are up against. And by “we,” I mean civilized citizens of democracies. There is an adage in story-telling: Don't tell me -- show me.
Israel
If I didn’t know the truth, I might be swayed by the three great lies, and two half truths, of Palestinian supporters. But I do know the truth, which the majority of their supporters — especially on college campuses — don’t know, and in some cases don’t want to
Middle East
By Rabbi Jill Maderer “How?” — or Eicha? when translated into Hebrew — begins the anguished text of the Book of Lamentations. Chanted while seated on the floor, in the dark, Eicha asks the questions for which there are no answers. Rabbi Jill Maderer, senior rabbi at Congregation Rodeph Shalom, North Broad