'Republicans want to silence Israel's opponents'
Opinion, comment and editorials of the day


'Republicans wanted a crackdown on Israel's critics. Columbia obliged.'
Michelle Goldberg in The New York Times
"You don't have to like anti-Israel language or activism to be worried about congressional demands to suppress it," says Michelle Goldberg. After Republicans on a House panel investigating campus antisemitism grilled Columbia University's president, Nemat Shafik, about pro-Palestinian, anti-Israel activism, the university started "cracking down," calling in police to arrest dozens at a "Gaza solidarity encampment." Shafik emerged "largely unscathed" by the GOP's newfangled McCarthyism. "All that's been damaged is Columbia's guarantee of academic freedom."
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
'Could fossil fuels re-elect Biden?'
The Wall Street Journal editorial board
President Joe Biden's "biggest economic success is something he has done everything in his power to thwart," says The Wall Street Journal editorial board. The "economy he touts" expanded by 2.5% last year, and states driving America's record oil production "led the way" while growth remained "sluggish" in other parts of the country. "Privately financed fossil-fuel production is doing far more to boost the U.S. economy" than Biden's big "spending on electric vehicles and green energy."
'Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese are in the WNBA now. Stop telling them to "play nice."'
Frankie de la Cretaz at CNN
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Women's basketball finally got the "kind of audience it deserves" this year, says Frankie de la Cretaz. The NCAA Championship Game, in which the undefeated South Carolina Gamecocks beat superstar Caitlin Clark's Iowa Hawkeyes, drew a whopping 24 million viewers. But along with the attention came "harsh, undeserved" criticism of the players, including Clark and LSU's Angel Reese, both WNBA-bound, for their trash-talking. "This criticism is sexist — how often do we expect men to play nice?"
'It's not just David Chang. Celebrity chefs are sellouts.'
Raj Tawney at Bloomberg
It's good that David Chang apologized and dropped his company Momofuku's effort to trademark the term "chili crunch," says Raj Tawney. But this is "standard damage control for a popular chef" trying to protect a culinary "empire." This debacle shows how the "wacky concept of a 'celebrity chef'" hurts the "food industry." The excessive commercialization has "caused what used to be the star — the food — to take a backseat" to the "sellouts" preening for the cameras.
Harold Maass is a contributing editor at The Week. He has been writing for The Week since the 2001 debut of the U.S. print edition and served as editor of TheWeek.com when it launched in 2008. Harold started his career as a newspaper reporter in South Florida and Haiti. He has previously worked for a variety of news outlets, including The Miami Herald, ABC News and Fox News, and for several years wrote a daily roundup of financial news for The Week and Yahoo Finance.
-
White House fires new CDC head amid agency exodus
Speed Read CDC Director Susan Monarez was ousted after butting heads with HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. over vaccines
-
Twelfth Night or What You Will: a 'riotous' late-summer jamboree
The Week Recommends Robin Belfield's 'carnivalesque' new staging at Shakespeare's Globe is 'joyfully tongue-in-cheek'
-
August 28 editorial cartoons
Cartoons Thursday’s political cartoons include Taylor Swift's wedding bells, Donald Trump's objections to mail-in voting, and thoughts and prayers
-
Trump soaks up adoration in his made-for-TV Cabinet meetings
IN THE SPOTLIGHT The president's televised sessions have become a platform for his top lieutenants to demonstrate executive flattery
-
'With every technological advance, there are risks'
Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
-
Can anyone save Jimmy Lai?
Today's Big Question 'Britain's shameful inaction' will mean it's partly 'responsible' if Hong Kong businessman dies in prison
-
'The question is what it does for the ecosystem'
Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
-
'America is simply not investing at the level the crisis demands'
Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
-
'It's hard to discern what it actually means'
Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
-
'It's our financialized economy in miniature'
Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
-
Israel starts Gaza assault, approves West Bank plan
Speed Read Israel forces pushed into the outskirts of Gaza City and Netanyahu's government gave approval for a settlement to cut the occupied Palestinian territory in two