Britain Global conflict Israel 

Is Boris Johnson “good for the Jews”?

Britain now has its first celebrity prime minister. On Tuesday, Boris Johnson was elected leader of the Tory Party following Theresa May’s resignation over her failure to deliver Brexit. On Wednesday, Johnson “kissed hands” with the Queen and thus succeeded Mrs. May as Britain’s PM. As with all social or political developments of note, the Jewish world is predictably asking about this one: “Will it be good for the Jews?” Johnson has entertained and scandalized Britain for years through his many scrapes, his jokes, his politically incorrect gaffes, his chaotic…

Britain 

The BBC’s hilarious new comedy production

The BBC has produced a new comedy which is an absolute roll-on-the-floor, laugh-out-loud side-splitter. It’s called the revised Editorial Guidelines. Here are some comic highlights. “In our journalism in particular, we seek to establish the truth and use the highest reporting standards to provide coverage that is fair and accurate… We are impartial, seeking to reflect the views and experiences of our audiences – so that our output as a whole includes a breadth and diversity of opinion and no significant strand of thought is under-represented or omitted. We are independent of outside interests and…

Britain Global conflict 

The real scandal of the Darroch leak

Today’s papers are full of the political fall-out from the leak of undiplomatic messages which caused Britain’s former ambassador to the US, Sir Kim Darroch, to resign after President Trump went ballistic. While people are understandably focused upon the hunt for the leaker and the way in which Boris Johnson, the favourite to become Tory party leader and Britain’s next prime minister, has been attacked for failing to support Darroch before he resigned, virtually no attention has been paid to the second tranche of Darroch’s leaked remarks which appear in…

Global conflict 

Still tyrannical? Barbaric? Yes; but in Saudi Arabia the tectonic plates are moving

So how are our new best friends in Saudi Arabia doing these days? After last year’s grisly murder of the Saudi dissident Jamal Khashoggi in the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul, it looked like it might be curtains for Saudi’s reformist crown prince, Mohammad bin Salman, known as MBS, who was accused of ordering his killing. As I revealed last October, however, Khashoggi was no reformer but an Islamist extremist. A one-time friend of Osama bin Laden, he called on all Arabs to join the “resistance” against Israel; and he opposed…

antisemitism Britain Israel USA 

Doing what comes naturally – the west’s suicidal animus

As around 700 rockets rained down on southern Israel last weekend, leaving four Israelis dead and many more wounded, many in Western media were doing what comes naturally to them – suspending the normal rules of journalism to distort, twist or lie. The usual, fundamental errors littered their reports – such as that Gaza was “occupied,” regardless of the fact that Israel pulled out of Gaza in 2005. There was the usual reversal of aggressor and victim, with sly implications of moral equivalency between Arab attack and Israeli defense. There…

Israel 

Madonna chooses freedom singing at Eurovision

The singer Madonna has announced she’ll be singing at next month’s final of the Eurovision song contest in Tel Aviv before an estimated global audience of 180 million viewers. She intends to perform two songs, including a new one from her forthcoming album. Cue all the too predictable outrage from those who demonize Israel. Jewish Voice for Peace launched a “Tell Madonna to Choose Freedom” campaign, claiming that “there’s no neutrality in situations of injustice,” and calling on the star to “stay home” and “lend your voice for freedom.” Would…

woke Britain Israel 

From the Golan to Brexit, “compromise” is a fig-leaf for surrender

Two current sources of uproar tie Britain, the United States and Israel into a matrix of hypocrisy, double standards and spinelessness. The first was the welcome announcement by President Donald Trump that the United States will recognize Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights, the strategically crucial mountain range that Israel seized from Syria in 1967. Cue horror in the foreign ministries and policy circles of the world where Israel’s annexation was denounced as a violation of international law. Britain’s Foreign Secretary, Jeremy Hunt, tut-tutted: “We should never recognize the annexation…

antisemitism Culture wars 

Why Labour party antisemitism is a crisis for the world

At long last, the British government has proscribed Hezbollah as a terrorist organization. Ministers previously banned only its military wing, pretending that Hezbollah also had a legitimate political function in the government of Lebanon. This week, however, Home Secretary Sajid Javid said it was no longer possible to distinguish between Hezbollah’s “already banned military wing and the political party.” About time. Hezbollah is a murderous proxy for the Iranian regime, through which it destabilizes and effectively controls the Lebanese government. It is responsible for numerous murderous attacks around the world…

Europe Israel 

Is Netanyahu making deals with the devil?

Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has been severely criticized for cozying up to sundry dictators, autocrats or governments that downplay or deny their country’s role in the Holocaust. Among those he has either visited or hosted are Russia’s president Vladimir Putin, Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orbán who boasts of creating an “illiberal democracy” and President Rodrigo Duterte of the Philippines who once compared himself to Hitler. The next summit of the Visegrád group, an alliance of Hungary, the Czech Republic, Poland and Slovakia, will be held this month in Jerusalem.…

antisemitism Britain Culture wars USA 

The dirty little secret of the “diversity” agenda

If there’s one concept in Western progressive circles that is deemed essential for a decent society, it’s “social inclusion.” The promotion of diversity is assumed to be morally unchallengeable. That’s also the prevalent attitude among Jews in both America and Britain. Many if not most support liberal immigration policies and equate antisemitism with “Islamophobia.” The belief is that those who are against immigration and diversity will be against the Jews too. In fact, the opposite is the case. The default narrative on the left is venomous hostility to Israel. This…