A pogrom conducted by Jews

You've probably had your fill of atonement for this year. You'd be forgiven if you didn't want to think of Yom Kippur for another 12 months.

More..

Hague's poor university exam

I make no apologies for bringing to your attention again a matter that I raised in my column two months ago. On that occasion, I berated the Israeli academic establishment for its frankly self-serving opposition to the proposal to upgrade the status of Ariel University Centre, in the West Bank, to that of a full university.

More..

The rumours and the rampage

Travelling as I was in the middle of last week, I missed the beginning of the story of what became known as the "US film" - in reality a shoddy YouTube trailer made by someone in the US - that led to/sparked/coincided with/had nothing at all to do with (delete according to source) the attacks on US and other diplomatic buildings in the Muslim world.

More..

Obama’s dangerous campaign

Into my inbox last week popped an email from Michelle Obama. "Thank you for an amazing week… Can you chip in $5 or more to stand with Barack today?"

More..

Coming to a podium near you

In common with other members of British Jewry enjoying a certain media presence, from Maureen Lipman to David Baddiel and Vanessa Feltz, I am the recipient of invitations to speak to all manner of communal groups.

More..

Truth rebuffed as 'interference'

A great deal of heat has been caused by a letter sent last month by Israel's Foreign Minister, Avigdor Lieberman, to the Quartet (the USA, EU, UN and Russia) - the group charged with facilitating a Middle East peace process.

More..

Tutu and a badly slipping halo

"If you like the president's politics, you probably like his voice and appearance as well". So writes social psychologist Daniel Kahneman in his wonderful book Thinking Fast and Slow. The Nobel laureate used the example to introduce his readers to the "Halo Effect".

More..

I come to bury, not to raise

In common, I'm sure, with many other JC readers I initially thought that reports of the sale in parts of Jerusalem of special glasses that blurred salacious visions were nothing more than mischievous rumours. But they weren't.

The manufacture of "blinkers" - or "vision impeding hoods" - to blot out forbidden images I initially took to be a gimmick. I was wrong.

More..

Fine writer’s love of conspiracy

"He is materialising my fear that he will do something to disgrace his oeuvre," Christopher Hitchens told me an in interview a few months before his death. The "he" was Gore Vidal, the author and essayist. They had once been allies. Vidal had only semi-jokingly nominated Hitchens as his successor in the world of letters.

More..

Romney is not alone on Israel

Yanks! You either love 'em or hate 'em. Or (like me) both. Until I went to live and work in the US some 12 years ago my experience of Yanks was confined to meeting them at conferences and spending time as a tourist in their midst. The US is a vast country. Most of its citizens do not have passports and so have never ventured beyond its borders.

More..