Jonathan Sacerdoti is a broadcaster and writer covering politics, culture and religion
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I sat in the synagogue where I grew up last night, waiting to interview Colonel Richard Kemp, the retired senior officer of the British Army who served for nearly three decades across Northern Ireland, the Balkans, the Middle East, and Afghanistan. Our conversation would end a service marking the transition between Israel’s Memorial Day for
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After an eleven hour flight, I stepped out of Phoenix International Airport into the balmy Arizona heat. It felt like I had stepped into the future. Weaving in and out of lanes of regular taxis and airport shuttle busses, I saw a constant flow of white Jaguars adapted with roof mounted cameras and sensors, gliding
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The news of last night’s attempted fire bombing at Kenton United Synagogue in London, and of last week’s arson attack at Finchley Reform Synagogue in London, wasn’t even surprising. Just a few weeks ago, ambulances operated by a Jewish volunteer organisation were firebombed and destroyed. In Manchester, a synagogue was attacked on Yom Kippur, leaving
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As Israel prepared to mark Yom HaShoah last night, remembering the Holocaust, the American blockade of the Strait of Hormuz moved into enforcement. At Yad Vashem, Israel’s Holocaust remembrance centre, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu tied the present conflict directly to historical memory, declaring that Israel had ‘crushed the evil regime in Iran to dust’, framing
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‘Iran never won a war, but never lost a negotiation!’ So tweeted Donald Trump in 2020. Like the man himself, it was blunt, slightly theatrical, but not empty. A Trumpian tweet that mocked the enemy but with just a hint of admiration. As he dismissed Iran militarily, he signalled a grudging respect for how it
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Somebody is lying about the ceasefire. Iran has insisted that the agreement includes Israel stopping its military action in Lebanon. The US has made it clear that was never part of the deal. Vice President J.D. Vance was explicit that ‘we never made that promise.’ Benjamin Netanyahu, too, made a point of clarifying, almost as soon as
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As Donald Trump’s 8 p.m. deadline crept closer by the minute, accompanied by increasingly furious posts from the president online, the last-minute scramble to achieve a ceasefire by diplomacy became ever more desperate. Within the final 90 minutes it was announced that there would be a two-week pause in the fighting, based on a ten-point
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Geert Wilders was refused entry to the United Kingdom in 2009. A sitting Dutch MP and leader of the Party for Freedom (PVV), he had travelled to screen his film Fitna in Parliament. Because the film, and Wilders, are critical of Islam, our government judged his visit to be threatening to community security and public order,
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‘WE GOT HIM!’ Donald Trump’s announcement was immediate and emphatic. The operation was ‘one of the most daring Search and Rescue Operations in US History,’ he said. Two American aircrew recovered from deep inside Iran, in separate missions, without a single US casualty. That was the headline. America has not lost control of the ongoing
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A state deciding when it may end a human life outside war is always crossing a line, even when it insists it is doing so for humane reasons. Two democracies are now approaching that line from opposite directions. Israeli hostages are taken because Israel places such value on individual lives. Prisoners are released because Israeli
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Houthi forces in Yemen have confirmed that they launched a barrage of ballistic missiles toward southern Israel overnight, with the Eilat region identified as the primary target. Their military spokesperson, Yahya Saree, stated that the missiles were aimed at sensitive Israeli military installations. Israeli air defence systems intercepted all incoming projectiles. No casualties were reported,
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Less than 48 hours after issuing a 48-hour ultimatum for Iran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz or face strikes on its energy infrastructure, Donald Trump stepped back and granted the country a reprieve of five days – a now familiar pattern in Trump’s online diplomacy. In doing so, he dropped what can only be
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Where’s your nearest bomb shelter? And how long would it take you to get there? What about at work? Have you downloaded an early warning app for alerts when there’s an incoming missile attack? If you live in Britain, you probably can’t answer most of these questions. I have no idea where my nearest shelter
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Shortly after midnight, Iran launched two long-range missiles towards the US base at Diego Garcia, the joint US-UK military base in the middle of the Indian Ocean, according to reports in the Wall Street Journal citing multiple US officials. This indicates a strike range of up to 4,000 kilometres. Neither missile struck the base, but
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As the war approaches the end of its third week, US and Israeli strikes inside Iran continue to intensify and repeated missile launches toward Israel continue to send the civilian population into shelters constantly. President Donald Trump said he had instructed Israel to stop targeting Iranian oil and gas facilities, a request Prime Minister Benjamin
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Into the early hours of this morning, Israel and Iran continued exchanging direct strikes, while the fighting spread further across Lebanon and the Gulf, and increasingly centred on energy infrastructure. Iranian officials confirmed the death of Intelligence Minister Esmail Khatib Israel widened its campaign inside Iran. Late last night, the Israeli military said it had
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If you hear ‘allahu akbar!’ shouted in the street, you’ll probably run for cover. If a stranger bellows the Jewish equivalent, ‘Baruch hashem!’ in public, you might guess they’re expressing gratitude for their good health when asked how they are. If the words ringing out from the midst of a crowd are ‘Jesus Christ!’ You’ll
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Situation update Missiles were launched from Iran toward Israel overnight, targeting its central and southern regions and triggering nationwide alerts that sent civilians into protected spaces. Israeli air defence systems intercepted multiple incoming threats, though several impacts were recorded across central Israel. In Ramat Gan, two civilians, a man and a woman in their seventies,
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Situation update Israeli forces carried out strikes across Iran over the past 24 hours, hitting targets in Tehran, Shiraz and Tabriz, while fighting with Hezbollah continued in southern Lebanon. At the same time, Iranian attacks on energy infrastructure were reported across the Gulf. The Israel Defence Forces (IDF) said its strikes formed part of a
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Two weeks into the war in Iran, Donald Trump’s critics have intensified their attacks not only on his conduct of the war, but on his decision to start it at all. As oil prices, global trade routes and energy markets come under strain, endless strategic and economic debates produce more speculation than answers. Does the
