IF SOMEONE had told me 50 years ago that the rulers of Israel, Jordan and Egypt had met in secret to make peace, I would have thought that I was dreaming. If I had been told that the leaders of Egypt and Jordan had offered Israel complete peace in return for leaving the occupied territories,…
Theresa May told us that Britain will celebrate the centenary of the Balfour Declaration this summer with “pride”. This was predictable. A British prime minister who would fawn to the head-chopping Arab autocrats of the Gulf in the hope of selling them more missiles – and then hold the hand of the insane new anti-Muslim…
The art of the deal, when practiced for 2500 years, does lead to the palace of wisdom. I had hardly set foot in Tehran when a diplomat broke the news: “Trump? We’re not worried. He’s a bazaari”. It’s a Persian language term meaning he is from the merchants class or, more literally, a worker from…
The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) confirmed on Monday that the Israeli Air Force (IAF) conducted retaliatory airstrikes in the Gaza Strip, the IDF spokesperson said. The IDF also pointed out that it held Hamas, an Islamist political and militant group which has been governing the Gaza Strip since 2007, accountable for all attacks from the Gaza Strip that threaten…
This week Khalid Bin Ali Al Humaidan, who directs the General Intelligence Directorate (GID), Saudi Arabia’s primary spy agency, paid an unexpected visit to Jerusalem and Ramallah, although those visits have not been officially confirmed by the Israeli and Palestinian governments. Israeli news outlet Debka reported that Iranian engineers have been working almost nonstop to expand…
There’s been lots of attention-grabbing opposition to Trump’s “Muslim ban” executive order, from demonstrations to court orders. But polls make it clear public opinion is much more mixed. Standard phone polls show small majorities opposed, while web and automated polls find small majorities continue to support it. What surprises me about the poll results isn’t that lots of Americans like…
