Judaism

Revenge is natural. This is why the Torah not only forbids it but instructs the Jews to be mindful of the impression they make

Israel/ Palestine

Judaism as an Occupied Territory

Moshe Behar

The most conspicuous example is the ongoing mass-carnage in, and of, Gaza, carried out by Israel, yet fully enabled by the US and Europe

Featured

When Delay becomes Killing in Gaza: Wisdom from the Talmud

Shamai Leibowitz

Rabbinic authorities derived a broad prohibition against all forms of destruction and waste

American Jews

In 2025, 65% of Americans view Muslims Favorably, 85% view Jews Favorably

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Shibley Telhami, the Anwar Sadat Chair for Peace and Development and director of the Critical Issues Poll at the University of Maryland has the results of a sounding done this past summer on American attitudes to Jews and Muslims. The PDF of his conclusions and those of his colleague Michael […]

Israel/ Palestine

A Gaza Ceasefire Is Not Enough: We Must Choose Life and Freedom

Shamai Leibowitz

( The Times of Israel ) – As we wait anxiously to see whether the ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas will take hold and become permanent—ending the massacres in Gaza and bringing the hostages home—we find ourselves in the midst of Sukkot, the festival of fragile dwellings [or “Feast of the Tabernacles”]. During Sukkot, […]

Featured

Benjamin Netanyahu’s Abuse of History for Politics

Yoram Meital

Beersheba (Special to Informed Comment; Feature) – After his address to an almost empty hall at the UN, Benjamin Netanyahu found a warmer reception at a Shabbat gathering in the Israeli Consulate in New York. There, the Prime Minister chose to “reveal” what he presented as a forgotten historical truth. “The Arabs expelled us from […]

Anti-Zionism

Anti-Zionist Jews Gather at the Birthplace of Zionism

Yakov M. Rabkin

Montréal (Special to Informed Comment; Feature) – In March 1896, William Hechler, the Anglican chaplain at the British Embassy in Vienna, came across a book titled Der Judenstaat (The State for Jews). Hechler belonged to a centuries-old Protestant movement that aimed at gathering Jews in Palestine and converting them to Christianity. The book’s author, journalist Theodor Herzl, […]

Christianity

What do the Bible, the Quran and the Torah say about the Justification for War?

The Conversation

By Robyn J. Whitaker; Mehmet Ozalp, Charles Sturt University, and Suzanne Rutland, University of Sydney (The Conversation) – Wars are often waged in the name of religion. So what do key texts from Christianity, Islam and Judaism say about the justification for war? We asked three experts for their views. The Bible Robyn J. Whitaker, […]

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A Great Muslim Scholar of Jewish Heritage Passes: Abdallah Schleifer (1935 – 2025)

Shalom Goldman

Middlebury, Vt. (Special to Informed Comment; Feature) – Abdullah Schleifer, prominent Arab journalist and Professor Emeritus at the American University in Cairo, died last week at the age of ninety. The grandchild of European Jews who fled Europe and immigrated to the U.S. in the last quarter of the nineteenth century, Schleifer converted to Islam […]