International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) director-general Rafael Grossi has admitted that his organisation’s monitoring of Iran’s nuclear program is “no longer intact”. Speaking in an interview with NBC News, Grossi said that Iran’s continued refusal to grant access to camera at the key nuclear facility of Karaj meant the world Read more…
Israel announced on Monday that it was opening its border with Lebanon – with which it is technically at war – in order to allow agricultural workers to pick olives. “In light of the economic situation in Lebanon, and as a gesture of goodwill to the Lebanese people, the IDF Read more…
Bashar al-Assad’s international isolation appears to be coming to an end as Arab capitals make moves to bring the Syrian dictator in from the diplomatic cold. Political, strategic and economic imperatives have caused governments in the region – including some which previously aided the rebels attempting to overthrow the Assad Read more…
Labour Friends of Israel director Michael Rubin has written the below article for the Labour Foreign Policy Group. Click here to read the original. In the months since President Biden’s inauguration, we’ve already begun to see the difference in his administration’s approach to international affairs. “America First” is out, multilateral engagement is Read more…
The leader of the Iranian-backed Hezbollah terrorist group, Hassan Nasrallah, boasted this week that he commands 100,000 fighters. Experts estimate that the claimed figure, which exceeds the size of Lebanon’s army, is almost certainly an exaggeration of the more likely figure of between 25 to 50,000. However, Nasrallah’s claim is Read more…
In the first week back after the conference recess, parliamentarians debated Iran’s compliance with the JCPOA nuclear deal in a Westminster Hall Debate organised by Stephen Crabb. A refresher The JCPOA, or Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, was agreed in 2015 after some 20 months of negotiations. Signed in Vienna, Read more…
Labour Friends of Israel director Michael Rubin has written the below article for Fathom. Click here to read the original. Six years ago, at his first conference as Labour leader, Jeremy Corbyn attended the Labour Friends of Israel reception and managed the remarkable feat of addressing attendees without uttering the name of Read more…
Lotfallah Dezhkam, the representative of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei in Fars province, called for the destruction of Israel in a sermon in Shiraz last week. The clerical firebrand declared, “the global arrogance led by America with complicity of Israel seeks to delay the realisation of […] the destruction of the Read more…
Two Israeli ministers from the left-wing Meretz party, Nitzan Horowitz and Isawi Frej, met with Palestinian Authority president Mahmoud Abbas on Sunday night. Health minister Horowitz said his party was working to “keep the two-state solution alive” within Israel’s new coalition government, which is led by right-wing Naftali Bennett. “There Read more…
More than 300 prominent Iraqis made an unprecedented plea for regional reconciliation on 25 September, as they called for their country to normalise ties with Israel. “We demand full diplomatic relations with the State of Israel […] and a new policy of normalisation based on people-to-people relations with the citizens Read more…
Labour Friends of Israel fully returned to Labour party conference for the first time since 2018 last week, as thousands of parliamentarians, delegates and members descended on Brighton for the first physical conference of Keir Starmer’s leadership. Main takeaways The 2021 conference was a huge success for LFI, with an overwhelmingly Read more…
The highlight of LFI’s 2021 Labour conference was the annual reception, which took place on Tuesday night. Turnout for the reception overwhelmed all expectations, with some 500 people attending the two-hour event. Speakers to the capacity crowd included LFI chair Steve McCabe, Dame Louise Ellman, shadow foreign secretary Lisa Nandy, Read more…