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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.

Mohamed Tataiat, imam of the Grand Mosque in Toulouse, France. Source: Screenshot.
Featured Columnist
‘There is a Jew hiding behind me—come and kill him’
As with any kind of hate speech, context is key. Tell that to the French judiciary.
Sept. 17, 2021
Ben Cohen
A Jewish man and his children walking in a park. Credit: Shutterstock.
Featured Columnist
Accosted by a hater: What would you do?
We are bound to engage in soul-searching about how we might balance the duty to our own safety and the safety of those in our care with the impulse to defend our integrity from those who want to humiliate us.
Sept. 3, 2021
Ben Cohen
ISIS-K fighters in Afghanistan. Source: Screenshot.
Featured Columnist
Islamism’s brutal face is back on display
Across the Middle East, extremist regimes and terrorist groups are rejoicing in the fact that the U.S. presence and reputation in their region is a shadow of what it was just 10 years ago.
Aug. 27, 2021
Ben Cohen
The Prime Minister of Pakistan, Imran Khan, in 2016. Credit: Awais khan/Shutterstock.
Featured Columnist
As Taliban conquer Afghanistan, time to sanction Pakistan
If robustly applied, the pain caused by sanctions could push the Pakistanis into curbing the worst tendencies of the Taliban.
Aug. 20, 2021
Ben Cohen
Black Death, Jews
Featured Columnist
‘Not vaccinated:’ How refusal is spreading the virus of anti-Semitism
Like COVID-19 seeping around the world, anti-Semitism whipped up during the pandemic, with its echo of the medieval slander that Jews spread the Black Death by poisoning wells, remains with us.
Aug. 6, 2021
Ben Cohen
Members of Team Israel at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics. Source: Olympics/Twitter.
Featured Columnist
‘Jews Always Run Away’: Fighting stereotypes in sports
As the world tunes in to the Olympics in Tokyo, watching an enormous variety of sports in which athletes of all nationalities compete, it’s evident that these ideas connecting race with sporting ability belong in the garbage can of history.
July 30, 2021
Ben Cohen
Panoramic view of the Great Synagogue in Dohany Street. The Dohany Street Synagogue (Tabakgasse Synagogue) is the largest synagogue in Europe. Budapest, Hungary. Credit: Pit Stock/Shutterstock.
Featured Columnist
The case of Hungary: Anti-Semitism without violence
Why can Jews walk safely to synagogue in Budapest as opposed to peering over their shoulders when doing the same in Paris or Vienna?
July 23, 2021
Ben Cohen
Chilean presidential candidate Daniel Jadue. Source: Twitter/Daniel Jadue.
Featured Columnist
Chile: The peril of Daniel Jadue
In common with the rest of the world, anti-Semitism has risen precipitously in Chile during the last decade; Jadue’s potential election would take it to another level.
July 16, 2021
Ben Cohen
The Lower House of the Polish parliament called Sejm. Credit: Spandow Stock Photo/Shutterstock.
Featured Columnist
After latest legislation on stolen Jewish property, it’s time to cut ties with Poland’s government
It is ironic that a political party named “Law and Justice” should be so wedded to outright theft and discrimination, but that is the present-day reality in Poland.
July 2, 2021
Ben Cohen
Human Rights Watch executive director Kenneth Roth. Source: Screenshot.
Featured Columnist
The ‘right’ way to be anti-Semitic, according to Human Rights Watch
The assailants in Los Angeles were referred to merely as “a group,” while the attackers in New York City were simply “assailants.” No more detail was provided.
June 25, 2021
Ben Cohen
A poster of Ebrahim Raisi, one of the leading candidates in Iran's presidential elections, June 2021. Credit: Farzad Frames/Shutterstock.
Featured Columnist
Iran’s election farce raises ‘regime change’ debate once more
The next president will assume office after what will be remembered as a laughably poor voter turnout amid an economy shattered by the coronavirus and years of U.S. sanctions.
June 18, 2021
Ben Cohen
Jean-Luc Mélenchon. Credit: Pierre-Selim/Flickr.
Featured Columnist
The anti-Semitism of Jean-Luc Mélenchon
His election numbers might be respectable, but his ideas about the world are far less so, even by France’s standards, where the extremes of left and right have always enjoyed solid electoral support.
June 11, 2021
Ben Cohen
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