Recent Articles

  • The Nazis and Argentina

    Last month, the Argentinian government declassified an official file relating to the Nazi war criminal Josef Mengele. He was known as “the Angel of Death” for his sadistic experiments on prisoners in Auschwitz. The release of documentation came about after pressure from Republicans in the US Senate and indicates that the Argentinian authorities knew exactly…

  • The Complex Legacy of Margaret Thatcher

    Forty years ago, as a member of a delegation to discuss the plight of Soviet Jewry, I met Margaret Thatcher prior to her 1987 visit to meet Soviet president Mikhail Gorbachev in Moscow – someone she said she “could do business with.” She was remarkably informed about the Soviet refuseniks – Ida Nudel, Vladimir Slepak, and Natan…

  • Tommy Robinson and the Jewish Question

    A couple of weeks ago, the British far Right anti-immigration activist, Stephen Yaxley-Lennon aka Tommy Robinson, spoke at a large Tel Aviv social gathering, one ostensibly dedicated to hearing all points of view. He had been invited to Israel by the Minister for the Diaspora, Amiḥai Chikli, who has had several public rows with the…

  • On the 30th Anniversary of the Murder of Yitzhak Rabin

    Thirty years ago, Yitzhak Rabin, the then prime minister of Israel, was assassinated as he left a peace rally in Tel Aviv. He had been cut down essentially because he had signed a Declaration of Principles – the Oslo Accord – with Yasser Arafat, the leader of the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) in September 1993. The killing…

  • Tommy Robinson in Tel Aviv

    On Saturday evening, Tommy Robinson will be speaking in Tel Aviv. He has been invited by Amiḥai Chikli, the Israeli Minister for the Diaspora in Netanyahu’s government who has had countless run-ins with many Jewish organisations in the UK. The Chief Rabbi, Sir Ephraim Mirvis, refused to attend a conference earlier this year because Chikli…

  • On Tony Blair

    Last Friday, Hamas agreed to negotiate an end to hostilities in Gaza and the release of Israeli hostages on the basis of the Trump peace framework. Hamas has not said that it will disarm or that its leaders will go into exile and there are clear divisions of opinion within the organisation. The Israelis have…