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Ben Cohen. Credit: Courtesy.

Ben Cohen

Featured Columnist

Ben Cohen is a senior analyst with the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies (FDD) and director of FDD’s rapid response outreach, specializing in global antisemitism, anti-Zionism and Middle East/European Union relations. A London-born journalist with 30 years of experience, he previously worked for BBC World and has contributed to Commentary, The Wall Street Journal, Tablet and Congressional Quarterly. He was a senior correspondent at The Algemeiner for more than a decade and is a weekly columnist for JNS. Cohen has reported from conflict zones worldwide and held leadership roles at the Anti-Defamation League and the American Jewish Committee. His books include Some of My Best Friends: A Journey Through 21st Century Antisemitism.

Art from the Documenta 15 exhibit in Berlin, Germany, June 2022. Source: Screenshot.
Featured Columnist
The ‘Judensau,’ then and now
It is presented to the public as a particularly shameful episode in the long history of Jewish persecution in Germany. There is no endorsement of the sculpture, officially or otherwise.
June 24, 2022
Ben Cohen
A result of the oil crisis in 1973, when the OPEC oil cartel embargoed sales to Israel's allies during the Yom Kipper War. Credit: Everett Collection/Shutterstock.
Featured Columnist
Goodbye to the oil weapon
If the European Union wants to reduce its dependency on Russian gas by turning to Israel as an alternative supplier, then Israel is entitled to attach some political conditions to the arrangement.
June 17, 2022
Ben Cohen
Migrant workers in the West Bay area of Doha, Qatar, waiting for a bus on Feb. 1, 2014. Credit: Alex Sergeev via Wikimedia Commons.
Featured Columnist
Qatar’s blood-stained World Cup
When the winning team lifts the trophy after the final on Dec. 18, it will do so over the unmarked graves of more than 6,000 workers who died on the job so that the game could be played.
June 10, 2022
Ben Cohen
Lyon, France. Credit: Pixabay.
Featured Columnist
Another Jew is murdered in France
If the brutal death of René Hadjaj is to mark a sea change in the country’s approach to anti-Semitic crimes, the connections between hate speech and violence need to be analyzed and exposed.
June 3, 2022
Ben Cohen
Iraqis protesting at the Massachusetts State House in Boston take a stand against a lack of jobs, corruption and poor public services in their home country, Oct. 5, 2019. Credit: Jan van Dasler/Shutterstock.
Featured Columnist
Iraq’s blood-curdling bill targets Israel (and its own people)
A new law with the ominous title, “Criminalizing Normalization and Establishment of Relations With the Zionist Entity,” could end in lifetime prison sentences or even the death penalty for Iraqi citizens who disobey it.
May 27, 2022
Ben Cohen
Palestinian Kids, Military Camp
Featured Columnist
‘Ideology of rage’ comes to Congress
When you examine the impact of the various anti-Zionist initiatives in the United States and Europe over the last 20 years, it quickly becomes apparent that their principle effect has been to diminish the security of Diaspora Jewish communities.
May 20, 2022
Ben Cohen
Lufthansa aircraft at ground ready for boarding during the reduced traffic situation due to corona at Frankfurt Airport, June 8, 2022. Credit: travelview/Shutterstock.
Featured Columnist
‘Say yes to the world’ but no to the Jews: Lufthansa’s anti-Semitic scandal
It can emerge from this appalling episode with its credibility intact. For that to happen, the airline needs to recognize that its ground staff implemented an anti-Semitic policy and apologize for that offense specifically.
May 13, 2022
Ben Cohen
Russian President Vladimir Putin with Russia's Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov being awarded the Order of Service to the Fatherland, 1st class, at the Kremlin in Moscow on May 21, 2015. Credit: Kremlin Presidential Press and Information Office via Wikimedia Commons.
Featured Columnist
The apology that Russia won’t make
Since 1945, no state—not even Iran—has contributed to the distortion of the Holocaust as extensively as has the Soviet Union and then Russia.
May 6, 2022
Ben Cohen
U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in Moscow on Nov. 24, 2016. Credit: Kremlin, Presidential Press and Information Office via Wikimedia Commons.
Featured Columnist
Can the United Nations survive the war in Ukraine?
If the response of democratic nations to the Russian invasion is to promote a rules-based world order, it begs the question of how useful the world body can be as long as Moscow exercises a power of veto.
April 29, 2022
Ben Cohen
Credit: A Katz/Shutterstock.
Featured Columnist
A revived Iran deal is bad news for democracy
It is sobering to note that it always takes a crisis or a conflict for Western nations to recognize that their systems of government are worth defending.
April 15, 2022
Ben Cohen
Moshe Kantor. Credit: Roman Yanushevsky/Shutterstock.
Featured Columnist
Say goodbye to Russian oligarchs
Jewish organizations exist to serve their communities, not the individuals who fund them. This cozy exchange cannot—and should not—survive the war in Ukraine.
April 8, 2022
Ben Cohen
Gil Ofarim
Featured Columnist
Fabricating anti-Semitism: The case of Gil Ofarim
The singer and his faux hotel experience has made the job of those in Germany working diligently to combat anti-Semitism that much harder.
April 1, 2022
Ben Cohen
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