A few years ago, I tweeted about a German former Neo Nazi who converted to Judaism and became associated with the Kabbalah Centre, teaching Jewish spirituality. Here is his story ynetnews.com/articles/0,734…
I’ve met him several times both in Berlin and London. Today, it was such an amazing thing to see him leading part of the Yom Kippur services in London. What a Mensch.
That sort of things shows you how humans can change, and de radicalisation not only can work, but can turn a totally negative person into a totally positive one. In fighting extremism, we should focus on the individual humans because they can be saved.
(Ps. Not the sort of touchy feely leftist “de radicalisation” that aims to disempower the security services).
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This is the worst time in Egyptian Israeli relations since the Camp David Accords. Egypt clearly had enough. The political and diplomatic significance of this is absolutely huge. We haven’t been as close to cancelling Camp David as we are now.
Remember Netanyahu’s cheerleaders said South Africa was the legal arm of Hamas because of the ICJ case. Egypt (hugely anti Hamas) joining South Africa against Israel is a turning point in Egypt’s tolerance
Egypt would not take such a major step- a legal nuke, unless it felt that Israel’s actions are threatening Egyptian national security. The West will be considering its position too.
Most interesting points about Hamas ceasefire response:
1. Reconstruction of Gaza in 3 years; 2. Includes return to Al Aqsa pre 2002 status quo 3. Guaranteed by US, Russia, Turkey, Egypt & Qatar
It’s not only about Gaza…they’re clearly either totally delusional or speaking from a position of strength
Hamas is already negotiating on a Palestinian Israeli deal that goes beyond the current Gaza war. The PA is totally sidelined…this in itself was an aim for Hamas and they have already successfully achieved it
It was clear from 7 Oct that Hamas did not launch its horrible attacks to negotiate about ending this war. It’s about putting Hamas in the primary negotiating position on behalf of the Palestinians, and so far, they have succeeded.
Extraordinary President Sisi live on TV effectively lecturing Blinken. Addressed him as “Jewish citizen…” said he grew up in a Cairo neighbourhood with Jewish neighbours who were never attacked in Egypt or Arab world like what happened in Europe…
This is the video. Approx min 6. Also worth noting that President Sisi condemned the Hamas terrorist attacks (also in video)
For the record, I’m not an expert on Jews or antisemitism in Egypt. There is no doubt that Jews were discriminated against across Arab world but nowhere like in Europe. Important now to continue rebuilding bridges and fight antisemitism in Muslim communities.
I was asked about whether the Jordanian Royal wedding had any political significance esp in relation to Jerusalem (Jordanian future king to a Saudi national with a Palestinian grandmother). The simple answer is yes and no, which is why it has and hasn’t political significance.
This is not the first wedding between a Jordanian royal and a Saudi national but the first since the Awadallah incident. It certainly kills off any such alleged (and totally unfounded conspiracy theories) but it is not a marriage of dynasties.
Even marriages of dynasties in the Middle East have not necessarily ended harmoniously, but they never led to wars. There was never a prospect of a Hashemite Saudi conflict anyway, only idiots who believe in conspiracies thought that. But this Royal wedding is a good sign… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…
Ad from Lebanon’s Middle East Airlines advertising 3 daily flights from Beirut to Jerusalem. Pre 66, Jerusalem Qalandya/Atarot was only international airport in Jordan until Jordan decided to build a new airport south of Amman (QAIA opened in 83). Most international flights from… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…
Post 67 war, Jerusalem airport was no longer accepted as an international airport by international community and foreign airlines stopped using it. It was used till late 80s as domestic Israeli airport. Now it’s just a disused runway and checkpoint between Jerusalem and Ramallah.
My father (who flew on military planes to Britain in the 50s) flew for the first time on a civilian plane on a Pan Am flight from Beirut, with a connection originating at Jerusalem airport…incredible to see how this horrible checkpoint now was origin of international flights… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…
Qatar had an amazing opportunity to modernise btw getting awarded the World Cup in 2010 & now. It could have made itself the Switzerland of the East. Sadly,it chose not to. It employed criminals, extremists & spies only interested in £$€ rather than in Qatar’s future. #Qatar2022
What a waste of $200 billion. For a country of Qatar’s size, that like the Qatari govt giving each Qatari family US$4 million. Instead, it wasted its national resources on the most corrupt World Cup in history, trashing its own and FIFA’s reputation in the process #Qatar2022
We are talking of extreme corruption, never seen on this level anywhere. Plundering the national wealth of Qatar and in the process killing thousands of innocent workers, funding Hamas and Alqaeda and industrial scale human rights abuses, all enabled by FIFA. #Qatar2022