Avi Gabbay, a political outsider, was elected leader of the Israeli Labor party on Monday. His upset victory – in the second round of the primary election, Gabbay convincingly defeated Amir Peretz, a one-time party leader and cabinet minister – brought immediate comparisons with the rise of Emmanuel Macron in France. Once Read more…
The Israeli Labor party will have a new leader after Isaac Herzog lost his bid for re-election earlier this week. With no candidate clearing the 40 percent threshold needed to win outright in the first round, the top two-placed candidates – Amir Peretz (pictured) and Avi Gabbay – will fight Read more…
Ten years ago this month, Hamas executed a brutal takeover of Gaza, one that saw the terrorist group murder its political opponents and impose an Islamist regime on the poverty-stricken enclave. On three occasions since, most recently in 2014, the group has provoked bloody conflicts with Israel after sustained attacks Read more…
The green and yellow flags, adorned with an upturned machine gun, which were on display on the streets of central London last weekend were those of the anti-Semitic terror group, Hezbollah. The flags have become a regular feature of the annual Al Quds Day parade through the city, but, given the Read more…
Benjamin Netanyahu and the leader of the Israeli Labor party, Isaac Herzog, secretly flew to Cairo last April to engage in clandestine talks with Arab leaders aimed at restarting the Middle East peace process. The meeting between Netanyahu, Herzog and Egyptian president Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi was revealed on Monday in the Israeli media. The Labor Read more…
More than 200,000 people are expected to travel to Tel Aviv this weekend to participate in the annual Pride celebrations – the largest such event in the Middle East and Asia. The event symbolises Israel’s strong record on LGBT rights. The new Jewish state inherited Mandate-era laws banning same-sex relationships. While Read more…
The full extent of the Palestinian Authority’s policy of paying “salaries” to terrorists and their families was revealed this week, with the bill said to have exceeded $1bn over the last four years. The figure was revealed by Brig.-Gen (res.) Yossi Kuperwasser, a former director general of Israel’s Ministry of Strategic Affairs Read more…
There are few better examples of the yawning gap between Donald Trump’s campaign rhetoric and governing reality than his approach towards Israel. After eight years of Barack Obama’s alleged cool indifference, the Israeli right were led to believe they would have a “true friend” in the White House once again: one who would Read more…
Donald Trump’s quixotic attempt to broker what he once he termed the “ultimate deal” – a peace agreement between Israel and the Palestinians – bore its first tentative signs of success this week when President Mahmoud Abbas indicated he was prepared to begin talks with Benjamin Netanyahu. The Palestinian president’s announcement came Read more…
LFI chair Joan Ryan MP has written to Theresa May, urging the government to ensure that the Palestinian Authority does not pay a salary to the man who murdered British student Hannah Bladon in Jerusalem last month. This practice, enshrined in Palestinian law and first exposed in 2011, has been Read more…
Palestinian political leader Marwan Barghouti announced last week that he was going on hunger strike, accepting only water and salt. Palestinian officials say Barghouti’s health is “dangerously deteriorating” and that he is refusing Israeli medical treatment and food. This dramatic move has garnered the support of 1,000 of his fellow prisoners Read more…
Palestinian political leader Marwan Barghouti announced last week that he was going on hunger strike, accepting only water and salt. Palestinian officials say Barghouti’s health is “dangerously deteriorating” and that he is refusing Israeli medical treatment and food. This dramatic move has garnered the support of 1,000 of his fellow prisoners Read more…