Middle East

It’s not even 10am, but already the Galilee sun is prickling the back of my neck. I’m standing outside a war room set up in the community centre of the village of Julis, watching a delegation of 200 Druze men arrive. One by one, they make their way up the steep path – most dressed in their trademark black robes, baggy trousers, and white hats. They’ve come from across northern Israel to plead for their people on the other side of the border, where a quiet massacre has been unfolding in southern Syria. ‘Tomorrow it could be Europe or the US. These extremists will get stronger, and they will murder each and

The sirens began at about 5 am. A Houthi ballistic missile was on its way, over Jerusalem, in the direction of the coastal plain. After half a minute or so, I began to hear the familiar sound of doors scraping and muffled voices, as people made their way to the shelter.   It has become a regular occurrence. No one makes much of a fuss anymore. For most Israelis, most of the last 70 years, Yemen was a remote country on the other edge of the Middle East, the part facing the Indian Ocean, rather than the Mediterranean. What was known about it consisted of a few items of food

Ed Davey’s got this Middle East business figured out. The Liberal Democrat leader has tweeted — because, honestly, what else is there to do as Lib Dem leader other than tweet? — his latest insight into the Gaza war: ‘Now the Hamas terrorists behind the October 7 atrocities are trying to erode support for recognition of a Palestinian state by falsely claiming it would be a victory for them. Hamas do not represent the Palestinian people and have no future in Gaza with a two-state solution.’ I know who we can ask about what the Palestinians really think. Let’s ask…the Palestinians That’s nice, Ed. Now, I’m not suggesting you’re a

When I walked past a group of shouting protestors holding placards announcing, ‘Christians for Palestine,’ I couldn’t resist: ‘If Christians hadn’t treated Jews so appallingly for so many centuries there wouldn’t have been a need for Israel,’ I said politely. ‘Do you genuinely think that one-sided polemics are appropriate,’ I asked. There was a pause for self-righteous reflection, before one of the group responded: ‘Typical! A Zionist playing the antisemitic card.’ Early in its history, the church removed the Jewish Jesus from the Christian narrative The truth is that this Anglican priest with three Jewish grandparents wasn’t playing any card at all. I was trying to point out some of

‘Afghanistan’ was the heading of Defence Secretary John Healey’s statement to the House of Commons on Tuesday – a word that hardly does justice to a three-year saga involving a catastrophic security breach and loss of data by the Ministry of Defence, a superinjunction and billions of pounds of taxpayers’ money. Ministers and civil servants cannot be allowed to make policy and spend taxpayers’ money without any kind of oversight. That is not how a democracy works The bare bones of the story are these. In February 2022, the details of nearly 20,000 Afghans who had applied to come to the UK after the Taliban had seized power, as well

Even as the British parliament’s Intelligence and Security Committee (ISC) published its stark warning yesterday that the Islamic Republic of Iran’s Quds Force orchestrates spy rings on British soil, the UK continues its public ostracisation of Israel, the very country on the frontline of seeing down that exact threat. Britain must choose. Not between Israelis and Palestinians, but between honesty and hypocrisy Earlier this week, an Afghan-Danish spy working for Iran was arrested for photographing Jewish and Israeli targets in Berlin. The intelligence trail ran through Israel, Denmark, Switzerland, Turkey and the UK. Israel’s cooperation helped foil an operation with chilling echoes of the Iranian regime’s 1980s and 90s terror

Marcus Fakana, a British 18-year-old, has been in prison in the United Arab Emirates since December. His crime? Having consensual sex with a 17-year-old British girl on a trip to Dubai. Now, thanks to the granting of a royal pardon by Dubai’s ruler, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Marcus has been freed and is back home in London. The merciful monarch did this as part of a tradition of releasing lesser miscreants during Eid, the feast that marks the end of Ramadan. Dubai comes with considerable risks – fun, fun, fun with a side order of mediaeval theocracy The freeing of Fakana is further confirmation – as if it were

Qatar is basking in its latest diplomatic success. On Monday evening, Qatari diplomats brokered a ceasefire between Israel and Iran. This truce remains intact despite Iran’s parliamentary vote to suspend cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) nuclear watchdog and brinkmanship over alleged breaches of the ceasefire.  Qatar’s success was the product of years of tenacious diplomacy and capitalisation on time-tested partnerships with the key warring parties. During the summer of 2022, Qatar hosted indirect nuclear negotiations between US and Iranian officials. While these talks did not produce immediate results, Qatar continued its efforts. In August 2023, Qatar facilitated a US-Iran hostage deal that led to the unfreezing of $6 billion (£4.4

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran’s supreme leader, has made his first public comments since the ceasefire with Israel took hold. Khamenei, who has ultimate authority over all major decisions in the country, has not been seen or heard from in more than a week. His pre-recorded speech, aired on state television, is meant to put an end to rising speculation about his fate after he went into hiding at the start of the conflict. In the televised address, the Iranian leader hailed his country’s ‘victory’ over Israel and vowed never to surrender to the United States. The Iranian leader was eager to tell anyone who would listen that the US bombing of