Rob Eshman, Forward Journalist Profile

Articles

Pro-Palestinian protesters are suddenly supporting Iran. They might want to talk to some Palestinians

2 days ago | forward.com | Rob Eshman

There's a photo floating around social media of a blonde woman at an anti-war rally last week in London, wearing a keffiyeh and holding up a photo, as if in solidarity, of the Iranian news anchor who her TV studio under Israeli attack. The woman seems earnest, committed - and delusional. Whom, exactly, does she think she's helping by taking to the streets to advocate for the essential rights of Iranian state TV?
If war with Iran goes badly for the U.S., Jews will be the scapegoat

6 days ago | forward.com | Rob Eshman

If the United States' attack on three sites in Iran truly puts an end to the Islamic Republic's nuclear weapons program with no serious or prolonged repercussions against American troops or civilians, then sign me up for the celebration. But in ordering the bombing of Iran's nuclear facilities, chances are President Donald Trump didn't end a war, he just entered one. And where it goes from here can have dire, unforeseen consequences for America, Israel and American Jews.
My brother-in-law's kibbutz weathered Oct. 7. Then came the Iranian missile strikes

1 week ago | forward.com | Rob Eshman

I was talking on the phone to my Israeli brother-in-law about the war with Iran when he said he had to put me on hold. "No problem," I said, and the phone went silent. David had been driving from Modiin, a city between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, back to his home on Kibbutz Mishmar HaNegev, which is about 12 miles from the border with Gaza. David moved to Israel in 1977, and has lived there since.
A precise, Chekhovian logic guided Israel's strike on Iran

2 weeks ago | forward.com | Rob Eshman

Israel's Thursday attack on Iran feels simultaneously shocking and inevitable. Shocking, because President Donald Trump had for the past two months positioned himself as the dealmaker-in-chief when it comes to the two Middle Eastern countries.
The righteous rabbis protesting those immigration raids in Los Angeles

2 weeks ago | forward.com | Rob Eshman

Once again my city is burning. This time, the smoke is coming not from wildfires but from tear gas, flash bang grenades and protest fires set off in a confrontation between agents of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency, or ICE, the National Guard, and Angelenos who oppose ICE's crude round ups of of people it suspects are undocumented immigrants. There are three things you need to know about what's happening here: 1) It is completely unnecessary.
'This did not come out of vacuum'

3 weeks ago | forward.com | Rob Eshman

At the initial flash, Dr. Yonatan Gold knew exactly what was happening. The Boulder pediatrician was taking part in a march in support of the Israeli hostages still being held in Gaza. Most weeks since the Hamas attack of Oct. 7, 2023, Gold has joined the demonstrators, part of a movement called Run for Their Lives, who walk in silence toward the courthouse. "We're not trying to be political or antagonistic," he said.
This Shavuot, fill your blintz with lox

4 weeks ago | forward.com | Rob Eshman

When our kids were young, I often made them crepes for Sunday breakfast. Standing at the stove, pouring the batter into the hot pan, I explained that the first crepe is the dog crepe. That first one always comes out wrinkled, uneven, blotchy, fit only for the dogs. But if you keep going, I said, every crepe after that gets better and better. "Dog crepe" became a shorthand way of explaining any initial setback or less-than-spectacular result. Doing new stuff is hard.
How anti-Israel rhetoric led to the killing of two Jews in Washington, D.C.

1 month ago | forward.com | Rob Eshman

If there was ever a time for reckoning in the anti-Israel movement, this is it. The cold-blooded murder of Yaron Lischinsky and Sarah Milgrim in Washington, D.C., last night should mark the beginning of the end - preferably the end of the end - of the zombie belief that the only path to a "Free Palestine" is to abolish Israel. Now we see where that eliminationist ideology can lead: to murder.
The staggering hypocrisy behind Trump's deal to free the last living American hostage

1 month ago | forward.com | Rob Eshman

Seeing photos of the newly freed American-Israeli hostage Edan Alexander reuniting with his parents fills me with unadulterated joy. Because at the same time Trump's administration was proudly detaining and attempting to deport strong critics of Israel, accusing them of being " agents of Hamas," the administration itself was actively dealing with actual Hamas operatives - working through a Trump supporter who is a fervid Israel critic.
The staggering hypocrisy behind Trump’s deal to free the last living American hostage

1 month ago | flipboard.com | Rob Eshman

3 hours agoDemocrats and Republicans speak out on Trump’s plan to accept $400m ‘gift’ plane from ‘Hamas-supporting’ QatarFor President Donald Trump, accepting a free Air Force One replacement from Qatar is a no-brainer. But Trump’s plan threatens to turn a global symbol of American power into an airborne collection of ethical, legal, security and counterintelligence concerns.