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 … Read more
38 LONDRES STREET: ON IMPUNITY, PINOCHET IN ENGLAND AND A NAZI IN PATAGONIA By Philippe Sands Published by Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 480 pages; In the autumn of 1998, the former president of Chile Augusto Pinochet was awakened from his slumber by several British policemen as he lay in bed recovering from a back operation at … Read more
In a few weeks, on Rosh Hashanah, Jews worldwide will pray for the good of humanity in the Jewish year to come, 5786. An end to war and to hunger, an end to injustice and to persecution – a year of peace and a personal resolve to do better. Jews will also pray for their … Read more
Many Israelis believe that Britain is a den of antisemitic iniquity. Many American Jews believe the UK is on the road to a repeat of the violence of 1930s Germany. Many evangelicals believe that Britain’s 300,000 Jews are about to be overwhelmed by the millions-strong Muslim community who have embraced Jihadism. But while there has … Read more
One hundred years ago, the Revisionist Movement was established at the Café du Panthéon in the heart of the Latin Quarter in Paris by acculturated Russian Jews. Its leader was Vladimir Jabotinsky – an intellectual, a man of letters and a spellbinding orator, a figure often quoted by Benjamin Netanyahu. The link is not coincidental. … Read more
Two weeks ago, Israel joined Iran, North Korea and Belarus in opposing a UN resolution which named and condemned Russia as the aggressor in the war in Ukraine. Its central reason in following these pariah dictatorships was because Donald Trump’s America had done so. This was how Netanyahu’s government commemorated the third anniversary of the … Read more
It has been said that the Weimar Republic of post-World War I Germany died twice. It was first murdered, and then committed suicide. This incisive comment refers to the moral, political, and economic decay of German society during the Great Depression – as well as to the politicians of various right-wing parties in Germany who … Read more
Prime Minister Netanyahu was only informed about Donald Trump’s ideas about relocating the Palestinians of Gaza on the day before his meeting with the president. It also came as a surprise to US Secretary of State Rubio and most of Netanyahu’s delegation. Even Netanyahu seemed bemused at this turn of events. As the Trump look-alike … Read more
During the 1930s, Winston Churchill, cast out from the political establishment as an eccentric warmonger, earned his living through his writing. In 1937, he coined the phrase “making the weather” in his book Great Contemporaries about figures who changed history but never made it to the top. Churchill specifically directed his attention to Joseph Chamberlain, a … Read more
Iran has been in our eyes and ears throughout the last year. Its direct and open confrontation with Israel has marked a substantial change from the clandestine shadow war that has been ongoing since the establishment of the Islamic Republic in 1979. Steven R. Ward’s book Iran’s Ministry of Intelligence: A Concise History provides the background to … Read more