Ben Cohen
Ben Cohen writes a weekly column for JNS on Jewish affairs and Middle Eastern politics. His writings have been published in Commentary, the New York Post, Haaretz, The Wall Street Journal and many other publications.
For Palestinians, the past remains the future
Judging by the present pattern, the next conflagration over Gaza—and by extension, the still-unresolved Palestinian question—will occur in 2028 or so, just in time for the 80th anniversary of Israel’s creation. And judging by...
‘They own the media:’ Coronavirus anti-Semitism remains lethal
Another one of my musical heroes, sadly, outed himself this week as an anti-Semite. On this occasion, it was the turn of Van Morrison—the consummate blues artist from Belfast in Northern Ireland, whose hoarse...
Global freedom on the decline
Passover is a celebration of freedom, but its underlying story is a salutary reminder that freedom is a fragile thing and that achieving it often requires extraordinary sacrifices. So it seems fitting at a...
South Africa’s chief justice confronts the apartheid analogy
As of this writing, South Africa’s Chief Justice Mogoeng Mogoeng was on day seven of a 10-day deadline to publicly apologize for a speech he made last year in which he offered a full-throated...
‘Shaun on P13:’ Ordinary Norwegians expose the anti-Semite in their midst
If Shaun Henrik Matheson was an American radio presenter rather than a Norwegian one, it’s highly unlikely that he’d still have a job this week.
Matheson is the presenter of a morning show on the P13 channel,...
The historical problem with Poland
The International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) launched a new website last month titled “Protect the Facts” for the purpose of addressing Holocaust “distortion.”
“Distortion” is not quite the same thing as “denial.” The claim that...
Joe Biden, Anne Neuberger and dual loyalty
Lost amid the whirlwind of anger, violence and recrimination that followed the November 2020 presidential election in the United States was the singular concern over where Joe Biden’s ultimate loyalties might lie, as voiced...
‘Your suffering is our pleasure’: The anti-Zionist glee at Sheldon Adelson’s death
When the former Conservative British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher died in 2013, there were some on the left who regarded her passing as a moment for celebration. Social-media channels filled up with jokes and...
Donald Trump: The un-American president
Move over, James Buchanan. The 15th president of the United States of America is regularly ranked by historians as the worst-ever holder of that hallowed office—a one-term commander-in-chief whose unctuous appeasement of pro-slavery forces...
European hypocrisy laid bare in kosher-slaughter legal judgement
Last time I checked, the French were still preparing their famed foie gras delicacy using the method of “gavage.” This involves force-feeding a duck or a goose with grain passed through a tube over...