Some British Jews believe that London University’s School of Oriental and African Studies is a den of anti-Semitic iniquity. Some British Trotskyites believe that it is the center of the Zionist conspiracy. Both caricatures exist at one and the same time. Both are false. SOAS, however, is unusual in London colleges in that its firstclass … Read more
The Qatari-owned website Al Araby proudly proclaimed that “SOAS becomes the first UK university to boycott Israel”. This was patently untrue. It was not “SOAS” the institution that voted – not the governing body, not the administration, not even formally the lecturers’ union, but an invented “SOAS community”. Anyone could vote who wanted to – … Read more
The Best of Times or the The Best of Times or the Worst of Times? American Attitudes Towards Israel and Attitudes Towards Israel and Implications for the Peace Implications for the Peace Process Alistair Burt MP, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State, Foreign & Commonwealth Office (2010-13) Dr Jonathan Rynhold, Director, Argov Center for the Study of Israel … Read more
Shlomo Avineri Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 2013. pp.274 In his autobiography, Chaim Weizmann commented that Theodor Herzl was ‘not of the people’ despite being an inspiring leader and brilliant organiser. The author of this interesting book, the eminent Israeli academic and public intellectual, Shlomo Avineri, has not written a conventional biography of Herzl. Instead he has … Read more
Diaspora critics of Israel’s government’s policies occupy an uncomfortable position on the political spectrum, between those who repeat the latest wisdom from Jerusalem and those who think that the establishment of Israel in 1948 was never a good idea. Either wrap yourself in the flag or burn it. Yet black or white is easy, the … Read more
Résumé The reaction by the Left in Britain and France to the Arab Spring was one of both joy and opportunity in 2011, but had descended into a muffled and confused embarrassment by 2014. Yet this tentative alliance with Islamism mirrors past ideological mishaps such as a belief in Stalinism or the initial acceptance that … Read more
One hundred years ago today, Turkey entered World War I on the side of the Kaiser’s Germany. Within days, Russia, France and Britain all declared war on ‘the sick man of Europe’. This event was probably far more important for Jewish national interests than the outbreak of hostilities between Britain and Germany in August 1914. … Read more
Surrounded and confounded – Vladimir Jabotinsky (centre) shortly before his death in 1940 By Hillel Halkin Yale University Press, £18.99 This is a revelatory exploration of Vladimir Jabotinsky, “father of the Israeli right”. He has been projected as a colossus by Menachem Begin and succeeding generations of Likud leaders. The Zionist left, aided and abetted … Read more
Menachem Begin: A Life, by Avi Shilon, New Haven, Yale University Press, 2012, xii þ 546 pp., ISBN 978-0-300-16235-6 This book is an English translation of Avi Shilon’s biography of Menachem Begin that first appeared in Hebrew in 2007. Although the author is a journalist with academic interests, this popular work is informed and comprehensive … Read more
The low attendance at last Sunday’s rally for Israel in part reflects the unease and dilemmas of many British Jews. While the security of Israel’s citizens is paramount, it co-exists with a concern for the sanctity of human life in general. Such nagging doubts underline the unspoken question whether this conflict was avoidable. Its genesis … Read more