Analysis

He would change Iran, but don’t hold out hope

By Meir Javedanfar, May 17, 2013

Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani’s decision to register as a candidate for the June 14 presidential elections in Iran has created much excitement.

But it is not worth holding out much hope that he gets elected.

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After $57m trial, claims body is still under fire

By Dan Friedman, May 17, 2013

As if the convictions in the $57.3 million (£37.6m) fraud case that was wound up in a Manhattan federal court last week were not enough, it was alleged on Tuesday that top officials at the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany were warned about the criminal activity nearly a decade before they called in external investigators.

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‘Rebel’ fight against Assad is jihad to set up Islamist state

By John R Bradley, May 9, 2013

As the Syrian civil war spirals into mindless violence, the Western powers’ response to the turmoil is increasingly confused and contradictory.

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Iranian presidential candidates reflect discontent with Ahmadinejad stance

By Anshel Pfeffer, May 3, 2013

The Iranian presidential elections are just under six weeks away and although the current president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, is barred from running for a third term, his record is being attacked by a number of candidates. What is even more surprising is that they are attacking him on his policy towards Israel and the Jewish people.

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Morsi’s hidden purge of the judges

By John R Bradley, May 2, 2013

The decision this week of Egypt’s Islamist President, Mohammed Morsi, to convene a “conference” in response to outrage among the country’s judges at a proposed reduction of their compulsory retirement age, from 70 to 60, is being presented as a victory for the latter group of greedy geriatrics and a humiliating climbdown on the part of the former.

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Why am I running? I’m the best person for the post

By Frances Grossman, April 24, 2013

"I've been the vice-chair of Belmont Synagogue for four years. I feel that, having done my apprenticeship as it were, I can now stand for chair.

"I did feel that is was unfair before that women could not stand. Surely every organisation wants the best person for the job. It can be a man or a woman, as happens in business, but the best person should get the position.

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Harding’s battle for balance

By Alex Brummer, April 18, 2013

The re-emergence of James Harding, former editor of The Times, as the BBC's director of news, will be watched with interest in the Jewish community. He inherits a news culture that remains under siege and needs to re-establish the integrity that was badly damaged by the Jimmy Savile affair.

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Peace frozen on Kerry-go-round

By Alon Pinkas, April 18, 2013

Unsurprisingly, it didn’t take Israelis and Palestinians long to declare with conviction that US Secretary of State John Kerry’s first “shuttle” trip to the region had failed. Conditions are “unacceptable” and the “obstacles are too big.” And this was before either was asked to do the fundamentally reasonable thing: compare maps delineating the two-state model.

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My Granta moment made mum proud

By Clive Sinclair, April 18, 2013

Back when I was young, lists seemed like fences on the open range. But secretly I was pleased to be corralled among other literary thoroughbreds. Did being on Granta’s first-ever list 30 years ago make a difference to anything other than my ego? You bet.

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US policy on Iran is not working

By Jonathan Adelman, April 11, 2013

The failure this week of G5+1 negotiations with Iran in Almaty, Kazakhstan, raises the question of the viability of Western efforts to stop the Islamic Republic from getting a nuclear bomb.

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