Israel
Arab Winter update
Rachid al-Ghannouchi is a great British success story. This Muslim Brotherhood leader sought asylum in Britain in 1989 and stayed here throughout the reign of Tunisian dictator President Ben Ali.… Continue reading
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Did Israeli settlements in the West Bank kill the two-state solution?
When did the dream of a two-state solution die? When it became clear that there are already two Palestinian states – the Hamas-run Gaza and the Palestinian Authority-governed West Bank?… Continue reading
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Abbas and the death of the two-state solution
If anybody still wonders why there has not been a two-state solution long ago to the most famous – albeit least bloody – Middle East conflict, tonight’s UN speech by… Continue reading
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Israel under Islamist siege
I have a piece in the Wall Street Journal (Europe) today on the pyrrhic ceasefire between Israel and Hamas. Also – this week’s magazine carries a cover piece by me… Continue reading
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Operation Pillar of Defence leads Israel to strategic failure
Last night’s ceasefire is a strategic failure for Israel. While the end of military action must be welcomed, it is hard to see what Netanyahu has achieved beyond the killing… Continue reading
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A moral distinction in the Gaza conflict
Hamas have claimed responsibility for a bus-bombing in Tel Aviv earlier today. It is worth watching this video, which went out a few hours ago on Hamas’s ‘Al-Aqsa’ TV. Over… Continue reading
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Israel's Tragedy: Even If She Wins She Loses - Spectator Blogs
Next time someone bores on about the so-called decline of the British literary novel you might consider pointing out to your dinner-party companion that this is not such a bad… Continue reading
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Hopeless in Gaza
I have already tweeted my feeling of utter despondency at the situation in Gaza. I feel hopeless, both in the sense of having no hope and in the sense of… Continue reading
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Ceasefire in Gaza?
A ceasefire is expected in Gaza later this evening, but is yet to materialise. Unsurprisingly, agreement has been hard to reach. Indeed, it has become a tool of propaganda. Hamas… Continue reading
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The Gazan conflict poses a dilemma for Mohammed Morsi
As tensions between Israel and Gaza continue to flare, the real story is what’s happening in Cairo. The conflict represents an acute crisis for the Muslim Brotherhood, which knows the… Continue reading
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Bigotry on the Beeb
I have only just caught up on the latest episode of BBC Radio 4’s ‘Any Questions’. In that programme, from All Saints Church in Somerset, a Mr Stephen Bedford asked… Continue reading
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Some questions for the apologists of Hamas
The latest offensive between Israel and Hamas may only just have begun. But already a set of the usual lies have entered the British coverage. Let me pose a few… Continue reading
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Can Hamas contain Gaza’s other terrorist groups?
One of the things to watch for as tensions escalate between Gaza and Israel is the extent to which Ismail Haniyeh’s authority is eroded within the Strip. Hamas is clearly… Continue reading
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Israel’s public relations problem
The front page of today’s Washington Post shows a picture of the BBC’s Jihad Masharawi holding his dead 11-month-old son, an innocent victim of Israeli action against Hamas’ paramilitary targets following months of… Continue reading
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Israel vs Hamas: Who started it?
The papers and media are full of the news that Israel has killed a Hamas leader in the Gaza. Why did this happen? Where did it come from? Is it… Continue reading
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The UK pays salaries to terrorists
Why are UK taxpayers paying salaries to terrorists? The answer, as I explain in this morning’s Wall Street Journal, is Alan Duncan. The International Development Minister has been told repeatedly… Continue reading
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Party conferences: a vapid kind of hell
As I may have intimated last week, political conference season is a particular kind of hell. Most of us just are not diverted by faked class warfare or efforts by… Continue reading
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Mitt Romney’s ‘gaffe’ is nothing of the sort
The papers today are full of the latest alleged ‘gaffe’ by Mitt Romney. It has become a staple of US election coverage that any Democrat’s foreign policy fumble is a… Continue reading
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Israel is losing the battle in Britain
The simplest way to react to the madder pronouncements of the trade union movement is to dismiss it as so much infantile ‘group think’. Solidarity can be very selective and… Continue reading
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Iran: Jews make Gays
An article in an Iranian state-controlled newspaper has claimed that the Jews are spreading gays. According to Mashregh News the ‘Zionist regime’ (with the help of the US and UK)… Continue reading
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