“Israel can be a partner, a junior partner, but a perfect partner for China in the development of a variety of technologies that change the way we live, how long we live, how healthy we live − in every area.” So spoke Benjamin Netanyahu during a visit to China in March 2017. He then went … Read more
Eighty years ago on 16 July 1940, Hitler issued Führer Directive No.16 which instructed his forces to prepare for an invasion of the United Kingdom. The Nazis had conquered France and on a clear day could see the white cliffs of Dover — they readied themselves to launch Operation Sealion. A few weeks before, David … Read more
“IT IS THE RESPONSIBILITY of an Israeli ambassador to maintain intimate links with his fellow Jews, in whatever country he serves. If you have a Jewish heart and soul, how can you not want to be an integral part of a Jewish community when you are representing the Jewish state?” So spoke Yehuda Avner, a much-respected … Read more
Searching for Socialism, by academics Leo Panitch and Colin Leys, traces the odyssey of Labour’s “Old Left” from the 1970s until the defeat of the far left in last year’s elec-tion. It looks at the political voyage of left-wing Brexiteers from Tony Benn to Jeremy Corbyn; and also indicates that the mindset of the far … Read more
Ring a ring a rosesA pocket full of poses Atishoo, AtishooWe all fall down THE ORIGIN of this familiar nursery rhyme is often attributed to the Black Death of 1348 when Jews in several European countries were accused of poisoning wells in order to deliberately cause the pandemic. Jews were subsequently murdered in great numbers … Read more
AT JEWISH DINNER PARTIES in north west London, the topics of discussion not so long ago were Brexit, Jeremy Corbyn’s inability to deal with anti-Semitism and the inanities of Netanyahu’s latest manoeuvre to remain in power – topics all swept away, including the dinner parties themselves, by social distancing and self-isolation. Instead of tea and biscuits … Read more
In normal times, the election of the leader of Her Majesty’s opposition would be front-page news in Britain. In the age of the coronavirus, Sir Keir Starmer’s election as Labour party leader was more of a media whimper. Yet it spelled the end of the far Left’s control of Labour under Jeremy Corbyn and signals a shift to more rational policies … Read more
Review of We Fight Fascists: The 43 Group and Their Forgotten Battle for Post-War Britain by Daniel Sonabend Published by Verso 2019, 369pp IN APRIL 1946, a government committee decided it would be an error to ban fascist groups as they now posed no threat. Manny Shinwell, a committee member and Jewish Labour MP disagreed; … Read more
There have been many explanations for the rapid spread of antisemitic utterances within the British left. For some, the explanation is that it is ideologically ingrained since the birth of socialism; for others, sheer ignorance about Jewish history exacerbated by social media; for still others, an indifference to the Jews per se, that Jews are … Read more
Seventy Five years ago, on 26 August 1944, General Charles de Gaulle walked triumphantly down the Champs-Elysées, engulfed by a sea of jubilant Parisians. The capital had been liberated from the Nazi oppressor, but France was yet to be free. The road from D-Day in June 1944 had been long and tortuous. The original plan … Read more