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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.

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.
Apr. 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.
Apr. 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.
Apr. 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.
Apr. 1, 2022
Ben Cohen
Yellow Star of David with shadow on black background. Credit: Ausra Barysiene/Shutterstock.
Featured Columnist
America has to remain a leader in the fight against anti-Semitism
The stalled nomination pf Deborah Lipstadt should go through as soon as possible as this scourge continues to intensify worldwide.
Mar. 25, 2022
Ben Cohen
President Slobodan Milošević of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, President Alija Izetbegović of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and President Franjo Tudjman of the Republic of Croatia initial the Dayton Peace Accords ending the conflict arising from the breakup of the Republic of Yugoslavia, Dec. 14, 1995. Credit: U.S. Air Force/Staff Sgt. Brian Schlumbohm via Wikimedia Commons.
Featured Columnist
From Israel to Ukraine, self-reliance is key
However sympathetic they feel towards the beleaguered Ukrainians, Americans are still reluctant to place their troops in combat roles absent a direct threat to this country. That reality gives succor to Russia and China, neither of whom have to worry about the twists and turns of public opinion.
Mar. 18, 2022
Ben Cohen
France's Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin. Credit: Wikimedia Commons.
Featured Columnist
French politicians call time on anti-Zionist provocation
That misinformation and vile anti-Jewish sentiment are being stripped of intellectual and moral legitimacy in certain circles is a most welcome development.
Mar. 11, 2022
Ben Cohen
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy greets Israel’s President Isaac Herzog upon his arrival to Ukraine, in part to address an international gathering marking 80 years since the Babi Yar massacre, Oct. 5, 2021. Source: Isaac Herzog/Twitter.
Featured Columnist
The delegitimization campaigns targeting Israel and Ukraine
Refusenik Natan Sharansky famously argued that legitimate criticism of Israel could be distinguished from anti-Semitic invective by the application of the “3Ds” test: delegitimization, demonization and double standards. In the case of Ukraine, Vladimir Putin has applied all three.
Mar. 4, 2022
Ben Cohen
Russian President Vladimir Putin. Credit: Photographer RM/Shutterstock.
Featured Columnist
On Putin, the Jews and the Future of the World
Russian dictator Vladimir Putin is benign in his attitude towards Jews. But as Jews living in the West, we owe it to ourselves and our fellow citizens to oppose Putin’s imperial project with every fiber of our beings.
Feb. 25, 2022
Ben Cohen
Chinatown in New York City. Credit: Zoltan Tarlacz/Shutterstock.
Featured Columnist
We need to step up the fight against anti-Asian hatred in America
No two forms of prejudice are exactly alike, but whatever the contextual differences between the discrimination encountered by the Jewish and Asian communities, there is no question that we need to be close allies at this point in time.
Feb. 18, 2022
Ben Cohen
Akiva Elder. Source: Screenshot.
Featured Columnist
The Israeli left’s anti-Semitism blind spot
For them, the cause of attacks lies ultimately with the government’s policies in the Palestinian territories, which is not seeing the situation in its entirety.
Feb. 11, 2022
Ben Cohen
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