In recognising Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, President Trump is reflecting Jewish emotional and spiritual yearning for Jerusalem. In doing so, he is appealing to many outside of the far Right and the strictly orthodox in American Jewry who make up his usual supporters. 82 per cent of evangelicals voted for Donald Trump — far more than…
The Kurds are a fighting people that have proven political commitment and political moderation – they are worthy of their own political independence. So spoke prime minister Netanyahu in June 2014. The overwhelming Kurdish vote in support of independence last Monday was endorsed by Israelis of all political views. It built on half a century…
The overwhelming Kurdish vote in support of independence on Monday was endorsed by Israelis of all political views. It built on half a century of Israeli-Kurdish cooperation which commenced when Golda Meir was Foreign Minister. Nahum Admoni, Mossad chief in the 1980s, described this approach on initiating assistance to the Kurds as “definitely humanitarian, an…
Review of Yitzhak Rabin: Soldier, Leader, Statesman (Yale University Press 2017) pp. 304, £16.99 The Israeli novelist, Amos Oz, described Yitzhak Rabin as ‘not a charismatic man, but rather a logical, skilful captain’. Rabin was both a political dove and a military hawk, who never pretended to be a far-sighted intellectual, had no small…
The latest rebuke to the ‘entry to Israel’ law barring entry to foreigners who call for a boycott of Israel or settlements has come from lecturers in Israel studies in the Diaspora. Although many of the leading lights of the Association of Israel Studies have struggled valiantly against the advocates of BDS on U.S. campuses, they may…
Review of Neill Lochery’s The Resistible Rise of Benjamin Netanyahu Admiration and respect are not words usually attached to the persona of Benjamin Netanyahu by either friend or foe. Rather, it is his prowess as ‘the national goalkeeper’ and the guarantor of security that matters. In the eyes of many Israelis, the question of…
In November, we will mark the 100th anniversary of the Balfour Declaration. Jeremy Corbyn, the leader of the Labour opposition, said that this declaration was a mistake. How will he react this time? It was in 2013 that he offered his opinion on the Balfour Declaration. It arises from his lack of understanding of both…
TOURISTS CAN expect their hotel room to be bugged and their every movement watched, but that has not stopped one Israeli travel agency from announcing group trips to the North Korean capital, Pyongyang, starting in April. Rimon Tours said earlier this month it had secured an exclusive agreement to issue tourist visas for North Korea….
Image copyright REUTERSImage caption Donald Trump’s remarks broke with decades of US policy When President Donald Trump commented “two states and one state - I like the one that both parties like” about an eventual Israeli-Palestinian settlement, it suggested a rethink, and perhaps a downgrading, of the time-honoured “two-state solution” of past US administrations. But what are…
By withdrawing its protection at the UN on the question of Israeli settlement expansion, the fading Obama administration has caused turmoil within many Jewish organisations. Despite a recent American $38 billion military aid package to Israel, many viewed the move as a wholesale betrayal and a deliverance into the hands of Israels enemies. Was the…