Jonathan S. Tobin
Jonathan S. Tobin is editor in chief of JNS. Follow him on Twitter at: @jonathans_tobin.
Should Jews be angry about Pompeo’s speech from Jerusalem?
Republicans did their best last week to highlight the presence of a pair of anti-Israel figures at the Democratic National Convention. But in a stroke of irony, this week the Democrats are, among other...
Can the world wait for Biden to deal with Iran?
In an election year, everything a president does is fair game for political potshots. So the sniping at the Trump administration’s policy towards Iran from Democrats is to be expected. But do they have...
Can calls for unity and moderation unite divided societies?
It says something about the state of Israeli society that a speech containing many platitudes and little in the way of practical suggestions not only went viral, but is also being lauded as a model for...
Does it matter if Democratic Socialists don’t want Jews in Israel?
In a bygone era of New York City politics, you could always tell if a politician was serious about running for mayor if he made public plans to travel to the three “I’s”: Ireland,...
Did the Charlottesville quote define Donald Trump?
Three years later, we’re still quoting, discussing and debating it. If there is a defining moment of the presidency of Donald Trump, it took place at a press conference on Aug. 15, 2017, when...
How to help a failed state?
Last week’s disaster in Beirut epitomizes everything that is wrong with Lebanon. But we didn’t have to wait for an investigation into the explosion at the Beirut port that left more than 150 people...
What to teach (and not teach) your children about Israel
As if Jewish educators didn’t have enough problems these days, actor Seth Rogen set off a controversy which, along with giving his new Jewish-themed movie undeserved publicity, focused attention on the failures of Jewish...
The perils of COVID incumbency create a summer of woe
Only a few months ago, the coronavirus pandemic seemed to illustrate the vast differences in management skills between President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
The former was slow to react to the...
The community-relations outreach trap
Maybe everything would be better if we could all go for walks in the woods with people who say or tweet hateful and deeply offensive things. Then again, maybe the Jewish community would be...
On Tisha B’Av, it’s time for Americans to step back from apocalyptic rhetoric
Americans are experiencing a summer of discontent in a way that exceeds any in living memory. The nation is divided not just along political lines but seems increasingly immersed in something much dangerous—a culture...