Israel
Netanyahu’s speech to Congress won’t achieve much
Nearly ten months after Israel’s worst day, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made history far away in Washington DC when he…
Israel hits back at Houthi drone attack
Operation Long Arm, the code name for Israel’s counter-terror strikes in Yemen, sends a message almost as forceful as the…
Israel says it’s ready for another war
According to my phone, I’m in Beirut-Rafic Hariri International Airport. Except I’m not. The Israel Defence Forces have scrambled the…
We’re serviceless, stateless – and still off grid
You need a personal public service number to get married in Ireland, but in order to get one, you need…
Portrait of the week: gambling politicians, gender rows and a free Julian Assange
Home The Conservative party withdrew its support from two parliamentary candidates, Craig Williams (who was parliamentary private secretary to the…
Benjamin Netanyahu must decide what to do about Hezbollah
Tensions on Israel’s northern border are currently at their highest point since the outbreak of hostilities in October last year.…
Is Israel ready for war with Hezbollah?
Whenever the great Shakespearean actor Sir Donald Wolfit had to exit the stage during a performance, he would always take…
The trials and tribulations of getting a plumber
‘Please, I’ll do anything,’ I told the plumber. ‘I’ll give you all the money I have if you just come…
Why Biden’s Gaza ceasefire proposal failed
Ceasefire deals to end the war in Gaza have come and gone. President Biden’s unexpected announcement of the latest formula…
Netanyahu thinks he’s Churchill, Israelis see Chamberlain
Aleading member of Israel’s wartime cabinet has threatened to resign should Benjamin Netanyahu fail to present a strategy for ending…
Who is allowed to play Richard III?
On Tuesday night I was body double/understudy for the brave, brainy, beautiful Rachel Riley, at a packed ‘support Israel’ evening.…
Portrait of the Week: Farage returns, Abbott reselected and Trump guilty
Home Nigel Farage took over leadership of the Reform party from Richard Tice and is standing for parliament in Clacton.…
Will Netanyahu declare war on Hezbollah?
The war in Gaza is perceived internationally as a limited affair, pitting Israel against the Islamist Hamas organisation within the…
Joe Biden’s ceasefire proposal could sink Benjamin Netanyahu
Joe Biden’s introduction of the three-stage deal to end the war in Gaza was a clever rout to bypass Benjamin…
Portrait of the Week: Sunak’s downpour, national service and the ‘triple lock plus’
Home Parliament was dissolved, leaving no MPs until the general election on 4 July. With hours to go, Diane Abbott had…
I’m setting up a ‘climate crisis hub’
‘We thought the house would make the most fantastic centre for climate action,’ I heard myself telling the cat rescue…
Netanyahu’s strategy in Rafah isn’t working
On 7 April, six months after the October massacres in southern Israel, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told the public that…
Israel may have to stop its offensive in Rafah
The devastating fire that, according to Hamas, killed dozens of displaced civilians in Rafah and that reportedly started because of…
The grandstanding against the Hay Festival is short-sighted
When the country’s largest literary festival parts ways with its main sponsor, it is not usually a cause for rejoicing among writers,…
How Benjamin Netanyahu and Joe Biden fell out
After the atrocities committed by Hamas in southern Israel on 7 October, President Biden offered his total and unflinching support…
Anti-Semitism has returned to French politics
New Caledonia is an archipelago in the South Pacific not far from Australia. James Cook discovered it in 1774, but,…
Portrait of the Week: Infected blood apologies, falling inflation and XL bully attacks
Home Rishi Sunak, the Prime Minister, said: ‘I want to make a wholehearted and unequivocal apology’ for a ‘decades-long moral…
The dignity of Eden Golan
Two questions dominated last night’s Eurovision Song Contest final in Malmo, Sweden. First, whether 20-year-old Eden Golan, Israel’s entrant, would…
Britain doesn’t need an Iron Dome
Air defence was in the news this week, after Israel, with the help of allies including the UK, shot down…
