Orlando Radice



Democracy in Israel - how worried should we be?

By Orlando Radice, November 30, 2011

What to make of the so-called ‘anti-democratic’ laws being batted around in the Knesset? Is this the beginning of end of Israeli democracy, as many on the left would have it? Not all bills are as ruinous to political pluralism as they have been made out.

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How not to talk about the Arab Spring

By Orlando Radice, November 25, 2011

Congratulations to Israeli news website Ynet for posting a shining example of the kind of bigoted thinking that keeps the Middle East in perpetual conflict.

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China, Russia and fearful symmetry

By Orlando Radice, November 15, 2011

China may be wavering in its support of “Basher” Assad, but Russia is hanging on in there.

Syria is a crucial stepping stone in Iran’s axis of influence to the west and Iran would view Russian pressure on Assad as a direct affront to its imperial ambitions.

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Senior Israeli: Freezing PA funds is counterproductive

By Orlando Radice, November 8, 2011

One of Israel's foremost experts on strategic and military planning has said that the Israeli government's decision to freeze funding to the Palestinian Authority is like "shooting itself in the foot".

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Let's Occupy this debate

By Orlando Radice, October 28, 2011

It was sad to hear that antisemitism found its way into the Occupy Wall Street demonstration in New York. The odd banner bearing the age-old tropes about Jewish bankers were spotted in the crowds.

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Hearts, minds and Gilad

By Orlando Radice, October 19, 2011

Once you have got over the surreality of it all, one’s first thought on the release of Gilad Shalit might be: so if Israel and the Palestinians can knit a deal like this together – which took years of proposals, planning and attempts at indirect talks – why can’t they get down to the bigger business of peace talks?

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The riots and us

By Orlando Radice, September 2, 2011

As Britain continues to debate why thousands of young people smashed and looted their way through our town centres last month, one very obvious aspect of social reality seems to have slipped out of view.

In fact, it is so taken for granted that many of us probably hadn't noticed it in the first place.

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Yes, it was self-defence

By Orlando Radice, September 2, 2011

Note to all who ever had an opinion on the Gaza flotillas: today’s UN report on the 2010 flotilla, the Palmer Report, finds that Israel's naval blockade of Gaza is legal under international law. And that the Israeli commandos acted in self-defence.

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Notes on a (boycott) scandal

By Orlando Radice, July 15, 2011

There is a sad footnote to Israel’s passing of the much-derided ‘Boycott Bill’.
The fact that Benjamin Netanyahu did not turn up to vote reveals the degree to which he is unwilling or unable to upset his coalition partners.

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If All Else Fails with Netanyahu

By Orlando Radice, May 19, 2011

There is palpable fear within the Knesset that nothing will come of Mr Netanyahu's visit to Washington and that, come September, when the Palestinians seek recognition of an independent state at the UN, a second "Arab Spring" protest will spark international sympathy and sanctions against Israel.

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How to solve a problem like al Qaida

By Orlando Radice, May 6, 2011

Aditya Chakrabortty writes in the Guardian this week that Islamic terrorism is “soluble” in the healing waters of economic development. By providing sewage and schools, he suggests – citing a study by US academic Eli Berman – Western powers can neutralize terrorist groups, such as Hamas, Hizbollah and al Qaida, whose footsoldiers are motivated by altruism rather than ideology.

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Is Israel ready for UN battle?

By Orlando Radice, April 22, 2011

Much has been written about what a certain UN General Assembly meeting in September this year could mean in the history of Israel. Put simply, the country is facing a diplomatic D-Day.

September is the month in which Palestinian leaders are likely to seek recognition for an independent state with the pre-1967 borders, if no progress is made in the peace process by then.

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New frontiers in Wild West for Jew who became Sioux

By Orlando Radice and Jim Winnerman, April 14, 2011

If you thought the Wild West was no country for Jews, you haven't heard of Julius Meyer.

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Lithuania Holocaust memorial vandalised

By Orlando Radice, April 14, 2011

The attack on the Ninth Fort memorial in Lithuania this week, the site of one of the Holocaust's biggest single massacres, has been condemned by the Lithuanian government.

At the site near the city of Kaunas, where almost 5,000 Jews were brought by train and executed in 1941, vandals drew swastikas on memorial plates and stole a granite marker bearing the Star of David.

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Guardian's April Fool

By Orlando Radice, April 1, 2011

Congrats to the Guardian on an entertainingly crafted April Fool. By debunking the ersatz, media-generated joy surrounding the royal wedding they are standing up for the cultural sensitivity-agenda at the heart of the liberal-progressive movement. (Just don’t mention British culture).

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Eco bravo

By Orlando Radice, February 25, 2011

Most of the attention was appropriately heaped on Ian McEwan at the Jerusalem Book Fair this week – but Umberto Eco grabbed a headline or two with his eloquent trashing of academic and cultural boycotts.

He told an AP reporter: "I consider it absolutely crazy" and "fundamentally racist to identify a scholar, a private citizen, with the politics of his government."

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What is the real meaning of Israel’s gas find?

By Orlando Radice, January 6, 2011

Understandably, there has been much excitement around the announcement that Israel has discovered around 500 billion cubic metres of gas in the Leviathan deposit.

These articles in Ha’aretz and Green Prophet
suggest that Israel is about to turn global energy relationships on their head, rivalling the influence of Iran and Saudia Arabia on energy export markets.

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Stand up to extremists, especially our own

By Orlando Radice, December 23, 2010

First, Jewish Leadership Council chief executive Mick Davis argues that Israel risks becoming an apartheid state. Communal uproar follows. Then along comes the news that 39 Israeli rabbis signed an edict forbidding Jews from renting property to non-Jews. Did anyone else detect a touch of irony here?

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Borderline behaviour

By Orlando Radice, December 15, 2010

Don’t be surprised that yesterday Israel refused entry to three of the Palestinian firefighters who had helped fight the massive Carmel fire and were returning for a ceremony to honour their bravery. You can read the story here

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