Republicans starting to reap kosher vote, says poll

The stereotype of the Jewish voter as a confirmed Democratfrom cradle to grave is starting to crack.

A study this month by the respected Pew Research Centre, comparing polls from 2008 and 2011, shows a significant increase in Jewish support for Republicans over that period.

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Netanyahu won Likud poll, but is more shackled now

This is not the way Benjamin Netanyahu planned his Likud leadership primary. It was all supposed to be over very quickly - a month or so of low-profile campaigning, voting day by the end of January, polling stations closed at 10pm. Then a swift tallying of his overwhelming majority, with everything wrapped up before midnight.

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A fight over history's tragic truth

Seventy years is the lifespan for latterday humans. It is also the years that have passed since Hitler's "Final Solution" Wannsee Conference.

In the half year beforehand, the Nazis saw how easy it was to find enthusiastic local killers in the parts of Eastern Europe they invaded in June 1941.

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Human Rights Watch gets Egypt all wrong

Human Rights Watch (HRW) has just released its World Report 2012, in which it warns western governments not to ignore the popular will in the Arab world just because that has resulted in a massive victory for political Islam.

HRW is aware of the potential dangers for minority rights as well as of the possibility of a lurch back to authoritarianism but its thinking betrays a profound sense of co

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Good-natured liberals become Iran apologists

Every further step Iran's quest for nuclear weapons takes, and any new piece of evidence documenting it, should concern good-natured liberals. As dedicated internationalists, they should decry the lasting damage such a development will do to the non-proliferation regime - a key element of the international order they sanctify.

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Fissure opens in Whitehall

When I asked Nick Clegg at his joint press conference with Mahmoud Abbas about the increasingly combative nature of the UK government's language on settlements, I didn't expect him to escalate the rhetoric still further.

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UK's Iran sanctions are a game-changer, says Israel

It's rare to find consensus on anything among Israeli politicians, soldiers and analysts.

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Margaret Thatcher: An embedding Zionist

Margaret Thatcher may not have had the visceral or spiritual connection to Israel felt by Tony Blair or Gordon Brown but her premiership marked a sea-change within the Conservative Party, which has defined its policy ever since.

Mrs Thatcher's anti-Communism and uncompromising position on terrorism made her naturally lean towards Israel in the Middle East.

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We need to change this divide in Israel with love

"If the Nazis searched out every Jew in hate, we will search out every Jew in love."

These were the recent words of our Chief Rabbi, Lord Sacks, during a summary of what he learned from the Lubavitcher Rebbe, of blessed memory.

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'No need for fence. It's all ours'

Newlywed Yedidia Slonin, 20, says that his first marital home is in a "very central location". It is a wooden shack on a West Bank hilltop that has a population of two dozen.

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