Israel
Iran keeps saying it’s nuking up – despite what its Western apologists say
The same problem keeps occurring for the megaphones of Iranian propaganda in the West: they keep being let down by their own side. Every time another op-ed appears in the… Continue reading
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Anti-Semitism: no longer big news
My fellow Spectator blogger Douglas Murray wrote a powerful post yesterday. Like him, I was disturbed by the way the Bulgarian bus-bombing and the Manchester terror trial were treated in… Continue reading
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An arms race in the Middle East is a real possibility
The war with Iran has already been raging for many months. So far, Western powers have largely confined themselves to covert operations designed to thwart Tehran’s nuclear aspirations. However, the… Continue reading
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The Gazan double standard
The journalist Tom Gross notes a story that you may have missed. One hundred and twenty families in Gaza have lost their homes. ‘Ma’an and other Palestinian news agencies report… Continue reading
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First, call the lawyers
I have just started a new column, Bright on Politics, for the Jewish Chronicle. My first piece last week discussed Ed Balls and Israel. And this week I discussed why… Continue reading
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Plus ça change in Cairo
Don’t expect Cairo to become Kabul now that the Muslim Brotherhood’s presidential candidate, Mohammed Mursi, has been sworn into power earlier today. There are real fears, of course, about the… Continue reading
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Have Israel and Britain given up on each other?
Benjamin Netanyahu’s announcement to authorise more than 800 new housing units in West Bank settlements, and the condemnation which followed from British Foreign Secretary William Hague, has marked a new… Continue reading
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Gunter Grass: the tin drum and the tin ear
This morning’s editorial in Israel’s left-wing Haaretz newspaper noted a double standard that was also a bad joke. Israel’s Interior Minister’s had declared, ‘If Gunter Grass wants to continue to… Continue reading
80 Comments
How do you solve a problem like Baroness Ashton?
Baroness Ashton has managed a return to diplomatic form by comparing the murder yesterday of three children and a Rabbi at a Jewish school in Toulouse with ‘what is happening… Continue reading
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Will Israel strike?
While we’re on the subject of conflict in the Middle East, it’s worth pointing out the cover story to this week’s edition of the magazine. It’s by the Atlantic’s Jeffrey… Continue reading
30 CommentsIran Hawks Circling
At National Review, Mario Loyola offers a pretty succinct summary of the conservative (that is, American conservative) case for attacking Iran: [I]n an editorial, the Wall Street Journal makes the same… Continue reading
6 Comments10% of Voters Will Agree With Anything (Except for the Canadian Question)
Almost no belief is so barmy it can’t win the approval of at least one in ten voters. The problem for politicians is that the nutty tenth is not fixed.… Continue reading
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Hague’s ‘Cold War’ warning
William Hague has gazed into his Middle Eastern crystal ball and doesn’t like what he sees. In an interview in today’s Telegraph, he says of Iran: ‘It is a crisis… Continue reading
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Our enemy’s enemy
It’s unusual for The Guardian and The Spectator to agree on anything, but Seamus Milne and our own John R Bradley are sceptical about these Syrian rebels whom we’re being… Continue reading
25 CommentsDoes Iran Actually Want the Bomb?
The obvious answer to this is, Yes of course it does. Were I advising the Iranian regime I’d probably be pretty keen on developing a nuclear capability too. At the… Continue reading
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An Israeli strike on Iran?
Will they or won’t they? Most political parlour games involve a question of this kind and the one about whether Israel will strike Iran – played out regularly in Washington,… Continue reading
66 CommentsPalestine presses on in the UN
While the Palestinian bid for membership at the United Nations moved closer to rejection, it turned out that Palestine has a veto over which UN agencies the United States funds.… Continue reading
12 CommentsHamas splashes out
There are many questions arising from the prisoner swap between Israel and Hamas, not least whether it opens the door to a more lasting deal in future. But one question that… Continue reading
6 CommentsSaving Private Shalit
It’s difficult for the outside world to understand the huge significance that Gilad Shalit’s release, this morning, has for Israel. A soldier captured by Hamas five years ago, he has… Continue reading
10 Comments