Shortly after Israel assassinated Hassan Nasrallah, the former leader of Hezbollah, the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) spokesman, Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, revealed that Nasrallah’s bunker, located under a hospital in Beirut, held half a billion dollars in cash and gold. Over the past year and a half, Israel has gone to great efforts to significantly […]
Confusion is worse confounded. As far as I can tell, no one foresaw the fall of Bashar al-Assad. So it is hardly surprising that no one has any clear idea what will happen next. Some 20 years ago, I spent a bit of time in Syria in the days of Hafeez al-Assad. The country seemed […]
If you think you’ve had a tough year, spare a thought for Ayatollah Khamenei. Iran’s Supreme Leader has had a 2024 to forget, with his sulphurous statesmanship boosting opposition towards his regime at home and abroad, while allies fall by the wayside. The speed with which Bashar al-Assad’s regime in Syria collapsed has shocked Tehran. […]
Last year, on October 8, I walked past a group of anti-Israel protesters on my way into the Labour Party conference. This was before Israel had acted against Hamas in Gaza and the terrible details of the October 7 massacre – the torture, rapes, beheadings and cold-blooded killing of children and elderly people – had […]
The fate of Lebanon is heart-rending. It should be one of the glories of the Levant and of Mediterranean civilisation. At ground level, the Lebanese have always had an appetite for a good time: every vice imaginable can be found in Beirut. But there’s one problem. The pleasures of dolce far niente are likely to […]
The request for arrest warrants for Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, and his Defence Minister, Yoav Gallant, by the International Criminal Court has given critics of the war in Gaza an enormous boost and the apparent endorsement of an impartial international body. It is one of the ICC’s few forays outside Africa: warrants have only […]
Since the savagery of Hamas’s attack on Israel on October 7 last year, and the ensuing bloody conflict in Gaza, there has been sharp controversy over the role and nature of the UNRWA. The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East was established in 1949 to provide relief for […]
Israel’s war in Gaza and more limited conflict with Hezbollah on its northern border with Lebanon is taking a toll on the Israeli economy. In the final quarter of 2023, Israel’s gross domestic product (GDP) – a measure of a country’s economic health – shrank by almost 20%. Consumption dropped by 27% and investment by […]
A video showing a Jewish man being advised by police to hide his Star of David ‘for his own safety’ while watching a pro-Palestine parade in Edinburgh went viral on social media yesterday. While many people criticised the officer concerned, I think he was acting in good faith. That is to say he perceived a […]
When Arthur James Balfour wrote his famous letter of 2 November, 1917, promising, ‘His Majesty’s Government view with favour the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people… it being clearly understood that nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine,’ it […]
We should congratulate the governments of many nations, both in Europe and beyond, for suspending aid to UNRWA, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees in the Middle East. It follows the allegation that at least 12 UNRWA employees were involved in the appalling attacks of 7 October, leading to their dismissal by the agency. However, […]
In March 2021, a 1,300ft container ship rammed into the side of the Suez Canal, blocking one of the world’s most important trade routes. What followed was a week of chaos, as hundreds of cargo ships, carrying billions of dollars’ worth of goods, were forced to wait for the blockage to be removed. Some companies […]
South Africa says that Israel is committing genocide against Palestinians in Gaza and has asked the International Court of Justice to intervene and stop Israeli military action in Gaza. Israel issued its initial defense to South Africa’s charges on Jan. 12, 2024, at the International Court of Justice – the United Nations’ highest human rights […]
Last week, the nation listened to Stephen Fry’s alternative Christmas message and his personal disclosure, ‘I am a Jew’. What went unnoticed were the layers of meaning in that short sentence. Perhaps even Fry himself was unaware that these words originally have biblical connotations. Jonah uttered this same line as he revealed his identity to […]
If post-terror history has anything to teach us, it is that Israel is set to see a sharp economic downturn. A downturn driven by investor nerves, a hiatus in tourism, the high costs of war and a slowdown in trade. To navigate this crisis, Israel must adopt a comprehensive approach, leveraging allies, practicing diplomacy, and […]
‘I said: “I found the British still very emotional about Palestine. Why?” And he said: “It’s associated, don’t you think with partisanship with one side or the other. I can’t think of any colony or mandate that was as demanding intellectually and emotionally as Palestine.’ These were the words of Harold Beeley, Middle East adviser […]
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