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Boris Johnson slams British gov: 'They changed direction because of Muslim voters'

omrif — Fri, 07 Nov 2025 08:35:29 +0000

Former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who led the Conservative Party from 2019 to 2022, has never been afraid to speak his mind. So it's no surprise that at a time when many European leaders are steering clear of pro-Israel events for fear of political backlash, Johnson is entirely unfazed.

On Monday, he received the King David Award from the European Jewish Association (EJA), led by Rabbi Menachem Margolin, during a conference in Krakow titled "Securing a Future Against Hate and Incitement." In an interview with Israel Hayom, Johnson did not hold back his criticism of the British government, attacked the BBC for its anti-Israel coverage, and explained why the UK's recognition of a Palestinian state is "a gift to Hamas."

Though not Jewish, Johnson takes pride in his partial Jewish heritage—his great-grandfather was Jewish—and said he is deeply troubled by the antisemitism spreading through London. "When I was mayor, I didn't allow national politics to spill into the local arena, into our streets," he said. "It's tragic that Jews now have to worry about their safety. The police should be the ones ensuring that, not the Jewish community itself."

The King David Award presented by the European Jewish Association (EJA) and Rabbi Menachem Margolin. Photo: Yoav Dudkevitch

He added, "I remember protests against Israel during my time as mayor, but it's disheartening to see middle-class professionals and intellectuals marching through London chanting 'From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free', a clear call for Israel's destruction. The antisemitic virus that has always existed in Europe is surfacing again."

Johnson said the situation could still be turned around but requires decisive leadership. "London's politicians must understand that this decline has to stop. The police need more authority and must act as effectively as they did when I was mayor."

He accused the current government of moral inconsistency: "Britain says it stands with Israel and is a close ally, yet it boycotts Israel by halting weapons transfers when Israel needs them most, and recognizes a Palestinian state unconditionally. I would never have done that. The government must choose a clear moral line when Israel is under threat and antisemitism is surging again."

Asked if he was affected by criticism over his outspoken support for Israel, Johnson said, "I don't care. I don't follow that criticism." He attributed his sympathy for Israel to personal experience. "I volunteered at a kibbutz in the 1980s when I was 18. It was tough, they worked me hard. I washed dishes, picked apples at four in the morning. I'm not surprised the kibbutz model failed economically, it was a kind of communism, but that experience deepened my love for Israel."

Johnson with Israel Hayom reporter Nissan Shtrauchler during the interview

While Johnson still supports the two-state solution, he voiced skepticism about its feasibility after Hamas's October 7 massacre. "I want the Palestinians to achieve what they desire eventually, but I feel sorry for them, they have been led catastrophically. Peace is possible, but they must first stop wanting to destroy Israel. Perhaps a kind of unarmed federal authority under international supervision could work, though that too may take time. Sadly, too many people profit from this conflict."

Johnson was especially critical of British media. "I don't understand why certain outlets, especially the BBC, have adopted such a hostile tone toward Israel. We all saw Hamas executing Palestinians right after the cease-fire began, so why isn't the BBC reporting that non-stop? We were told there was famine in Gaza, it wasn't true. We were told Israel deliberately targeted hospitals, that wasn't true either. Some of this anti-Israel sentiment is rooted in antisemitism."

UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer against the backdrop of explosions in Gaza. Photo: Reuters, AP Reuters, AP

He added, "In the past, Israel had support from the political Left, including in Britain. It's sad that the Left has withdrawn its backing from Israel, the only democracy in the region. But today, the Labour Party depends on Muslim voters, and out of fear of offending them, it has changed direction."

Asked whether the government's stance contributes to the rise in antisemitism, Johnson replied, "Yes, I think it does. It creates a false moral equivalence. Recognizing a Palestinian state now is a reward to Hamas. They committed the worst atrocities against the Jewish people since the Holocaust, and then Britain, which claims to stand with Israel, unconditionally recognizes a Palestinian state."

"I still believe in two states for two peoples," he said, "but why recognize one now, when we don't even know its borders? The answer is that it's not about Palestinians or peace, it's about Labour's domestic politics. That's a mistake."

The company's logo at the entrance of the British Broadcasting Company BBC's headquarters in London, Britain, August 1, 2024 | Photo: Andy Rain/EPA EPA

Although Johnson continues to speak about politics, he said he has no intention of returning to public office. "I don't miss politics," said the former London mayor, foreign secretary, and prime minister. "I'm writing books and articles, I have four children under six, and I'm happy about the new kitchen we're building at home."

As the left-wing government's popularity collapses in the polls in favor of Nigel Farage's right-wing Reform UK Party, Johnson's own Conservative Party is also struggling. Still, he remains optimistic: "Absolutely. The Conservatives are Britain's oldest party, nearly 200 years old. We'll be back in the center of the stage. The party needs to reconnect with ordinary voters. I've always been a Conservative, and I always will be."

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Johnson says he is 'like a booster rocket that has fulfilled its function'

ErezL — Tue, 06 Sep 2022 11:39:18 +0000

Prime Minister Boris Johnson left his Downing Street office for the last time on Tuesday before heading to Scotland to formally offer his resignation so Liz Truss can succeed him.

The British leader, who announced his intention to step down two months ago, is expected to meet with the monarch in the late morning at her Balmoral estate to begin the transfer of power to Liz Truss.

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Truss, who was named leader of the ruling Conservative party on Monday, will be appointed prime minister during her own audience with the queen a short time later.

Speaking outside No. 10 Downing Street, Johnson said his policies had given Britain the economic strength to help people weather the energy crisis, and he called on the Conservatives to unite behind Truss during the "tough time" facing the country. Then he signed off with his typically colorful language.

"I am like one of those booster rockets that has fulfilled its function,'' Johnson said. "I will now be gently re-entering the atmosphere and splashing down invisibly in some remote and obscure corner of the Pacific.''

Johnson, 58, became prime minister three years ago after his predecessor, Theresa May, failed to deliver Britain's departure from the European Union. Johnson later won an 80-seat majority in Parliament with the promise to "get Brexit done."

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'Omicron has peaked,' Johnson says as UK lifts COVID restrictions

RachelG — Wed, 19 Jan 2022 15:24:27 +0000

Prime Minister of Britain Boris Johnson announced Wednesday the end of COVID-19 measures introduced to curb the rapid spread of the Omicron variant in the country, looking to transition to life alongside the virus.

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Britain was the first country to limit international travel over Omicron, raising alarm about its high infection rate, and in December encouraged work from home, more mask-wearing and vaccine passes to slow its spread.

But while cases soared to record highs, hospitalizations and deaths have not risen by the same extent, in part due to Britain's booster rollout and the strain's lesser severity.

Johnson's approach to avoiding lockdowns and living alongside the virus contrasts with China and Hong Kong's zero-tolerance policy with regard to COVID, and tougher restrictions in many other European countries.

"Many nations across Europe have endured further winter lockdowns... but this government took a different path," Johnson told lawmakers, saying the government had got the toughest decisions right and that numbers of patients in intensive care were decreasing.

"Our scientists believe it is likely that the Omicron wave has now peaked nationally ... because of the extraordinary booster campaign, together with the way the public have responded to the Plan B measures, we can return to Plan A."

Johnson said that none of the so-called Plan B measures would remain, as face masks would no longer be legally enforced anywhere, COVID passes would not be mandatory, and work from home not be encouraged.

The prime minister has faced criticism for his handling of the pandemic overall as Britain has reported 152,513 COVID deaths, the seventh-highest total globally. Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland have followed their own anti-coronavirus measures, generally with tougher restrictions, but have also begun to ease them.

Johnson hopes to reset his agenda following furor over the lockdown gatherings at his office, which was followed by calls on him to resign. Johnson admitted he attended a party in the garden of his Downing Street office and residence in May 2020 while social gatherings were banned.

The lifting of Plan B measures, along with Johnson's navigation of Omicron without resorting to a stringent lockdown, could help him appease vocal opponents of restrictions in his own caucus amid the party unrest.

He said that if data supported it, he may end the legal requirement for people to self-isolate if they test positive before the regulation lapses in March.

"But to make that possible, we must all remain cautious during these last weeks of winter," he said, warning of continued pressure on hospitals. "The pandemic is not over."

A third of Britain's 15 million cases have been reported since the onset of Omicron. By contrast, the country has reported 5% of its COVID deaths since the mutation was identified in late November.

"The idea was by really trying to put a lot of impetus on the booster program, it would be possible ride it out without the most coercive methods," Professor Francois Balloux of University College London's Genetics Institute, told Reuters.

"In terms of morbidity and mortality, I think it could be seen as probably the right decision."

Meanwhile, Sweden set a new daily record for COVID-19 cases, registering 37,886 cases on Jan. 18, health agency data showed on Wednesday as an infection wave mounted across the country.

The previous record of 26,566 cases was set on Jan. 12. The record came despite limited national test capacity.

Kronoberg, one of Sweden's 25 healthcare regions, said on Wednesday it would pause all testing except for hospital and elderly care patients and staff.

Sweden, with 10.4 million inhabitants, recorded 67 new deaths since Tuesday, and 28,176 deaths since the outbreak of the pandemic.

The government announced new restrictions this month as Omicron spread rapidly and put a strain on Sweden's healthcare.

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In related news, the US government will make 400 million non-surgical N95 masks from its strategic national stockpile available for free to the public starting next week, a White House official said, marking the Biden administration's latest effort to help curb the pandemic.

The face masks will be shipped to pharmacies and community health centers this week, the official said, and available for pickup late next week.

The move comes after President Joe Biden and his team faced criticism for failing to foster masking or bolster testing as Omicron raged across the country.

Addressing that criticism and the wave, the administration has made free tests available via a website that launched officially on Wednesday in addition to its announcement about deploying masks from the strategic reserve.

"This is the largest deployment of personal protective equipment in US history," the official said. "To ensure accessing these masks is easy and convenient, the administration is leveraging the federal retail pharmacy program and the federal community health center program, so that free masks are available at many of the same convenient and trusted locations Americans go to get vaccinated and boosted."

The masks will be available at tens of thousands of pharmacies and thousands of community health centers with supplies available by the end of next week, the official said. "The program will be fully up and running by early February."

Masks like the N95 that form a seal around the nose and mouth are considered especially effective at preventing virus spread. Last week the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommended that Americans wear "the most protective mask" that they can.

Biden's team previously said there is ample supply to share the masks.

Hospitals have recovered from the desperate N95 shortages of the early pandemic, but several executives told Reuters that healthcare supply chains remain fragile and that small and poorly funded hospitals are at most risk if Americans make N95s their "everyday" masks.

US mask makers told Reuters they have the machines to make millions of N95s each month.

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Bennett welcomes UK push to define Hamas a terrorist organization

Noga Martin — Fri, 19 Nov 2021 08:47:42 +0000

Prime Minister Naftali Bennett welcomed on Friday an announcement that British Home Secretary Priti Patel is to push for Hamas to be proscribed as a terrorist organization, as reported in British media.

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While the military wing of Hamas has been defined in the UK as a terrorist entity since 2001, Patel said Friday that she would seek to include the movement as a whole under that classification, the Telegraph reported.

Patel noted that Hamas has "significant terrorist capability, including access to extensive and sophisticated weaponry," but the UK's current listing of Hamas as distinct political and militant wings created "an artificial distinction between various parts of the organization."

The home secretary also called Hamas "fundamentally and rabidly antisemitic."

"Antisemitism is an enduring evil which I will never tolerate. Jewish people routinely feel unsafe – at school, in the streets, when they worship, in their homes, and online," she said.

"Anyone who supports or invites support for a proscribed organization is breaking the law. That now includes Hamas in whatever form it takes," Patel said.

Bennett said in a Twitter post that "Hamas is a terrorist organization, simply put."

"Hamas is a radical Islamic group that targets innocent Israelis & seeks Israel's destruction. I welcome the UK's intention to declare Hamas a terrorist organization in its entirety -- because that's exactly what it is," Bennett tweeted.

Hamas is a radical Islamic group that targets innocent Israelis & seeks Israel's destruction.

I welcome the UK's intention to declare Hamas a terrorist organization in its entirety — because that's exactly what it is.

Thank you to my friend @BorisJohnson for your leadership.

— Naftali Bennett בנט (@naftalibennett) November 19, 2021

Foreign Minister Yair Lapid said in response to the reports of Patel's planned action that "there is no legitimate part of a terrorist organization, and any attempt to separate between parts of a terrorist organization is artificial."

Lapid said that Patel's announcement "summed up an intimate, successful dialogue between Israel and Britain, led by the Foreign Ministry and our embassy team in London, under Ambassador Tzipi Hotovely."

Lapid thanked Britain for its "productive cooperation" on the issue.

Reuters contributed to this report.

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UK raises terror threat level following taxi explosion

ErezL — Mon, 15 Nov 2021 16:46:54 +0000

The UK government on Monday increased the terror level to severe, meaning an attack is highly likely. The decision followed a taxi explosion outside a hospital in England that killed a man.

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Russ Jackson, the head of Counterterrorism Policing in northwest England, said Sunday's explosion at Liverpool Women's Hospital was caused by "the ignition of an explosive device" that was brought into the vehicle by a passenger. The male passenger died in the explosion and fire that followed, and the taxi driver was injured.

Police were investigating the motivation of the incident and if anyone else was involved.

Home Secretary Priti Patel told reporters that the threat level increase came in the context of it being the second terrorist incident in the space of a month. She did not elaborate.

"Our security and intelligence services prevent all sorts of acts, day in, day out," Patel said. "And of course, they understand the landscape, they see context, they see all sorts of things that keep our country safe and secure every single day and that work will continue."

Three men in their 20s were arrested elsewhere in the city under the Terrorism Act on Sunday, and a fourth was detained on Monday. All are believed to be "associates" of the dead passenger, police said.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson was due to chair a meeting of the government's COBRA crisis committee on Monday in response to the blast.

Suspicions about a motive for the explosion have been aroused by the timing – just before 11 a.m. on Remembrance Sunday, the moment people across Britain hold services in memory of those killed in wars.

Jackson said investigators had not found a link to remembrance events, "but it is a line of inquiry we are pursuing."

"Although the motivation for this incident is yet to be understood, given all the circumstances, it has been declared a terrorist incident," he said at a press briefing.

He said the passenger had been picked up by the cab a 10-minute drive away and asked to be taken to the hospital, where the explosion occurred. The driver, named locally as David Perry, managed to escape from the car. He was treated in hospital and released.

Police said officers had searched two addresses in the city linked to the passenger, and found "significant items" at one of them.

Liverpool Mayor Joanne Anderson said the taxi driver locked the doors of his cab so the passenger couldn't leave. Police did not confirm that account.

"The taxi driver, in his heroic efforts, has managed to divert what could have been an absolutely awful disaster at the hospital," Anderson told the BBC.

The prime minister also said the driver appeared to have behaved "with incredible presence of mind and bravery."

Nick Aldworth, a former senior terrorism investigator in Britain, said the taxi appeared to have sustained "a lot of fire damage with very little blast damage."

He said that "whatever was in that vehicle was either a low yield or didn't work properly, or possibly an incendiary. So I think it's very much open to debate at the moment about what has happened."

Until Monday's announcement, Britain's official threat level from terrorism was "substantial," the middle rung on a five-point scale, meaning an attack is likely. The Joint Terrorism Analysis Centre sets the threat level based on intelligence about international terrorism at home and overseas.

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British PM apologizes to disabled Israeli minister after COP26 access denied

ErezL — Tue, 02 Nov 2021 20:43:23 +0000

In a meeting with both Prime Minister Naftali Bennett and Energy Minister Karine Elharrar today, British PM Boris Johnson issued his apologies to the energy minister for a misunderstanding that had occurred the previous day when she was not allowed into the COP26 climate conference due to the entrance to the venue not being wheelchair accessible.

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During the encounter, the British head of government can be seen elbow-bumping Elharrar, expressing his pleasure to see her, and quickly making sure to apologize for the events of the previous day.

"I gather there was some confusion with the arrangements yesterday. I am very, very sorry about that," said Johnson, before changing the subject to COVID-19 and hailing the efficacy of the Israeli government in providing booster shots.

Energy Minister Karine Elharrar, who has muscular dystrophy and is wheelchair-bound, told local media that she was unable to participate in the COP26 summit on Monday because neither the premises nor the shuttle offered to attendees are wheelchair-accessible.

Speaking with Channel 12 News, Elharrar said that when she arrived at the conference grounds, she found that the only ways to actually get there from the gathering area were to walk or board a special shuttle that was not suited for a wheelchair.

"I came to COP26 to meet my counterparts in the world and advance our joint struggle against the climate crisis," Elharrar had tweeted on Monday. "It's sad that the United Nations, which promotes accessibility for people with disabilities, in 2021 doesn't worry about accessibility at its own events."

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Leaders issue stern warning as climate conference begins

ErezL — Mon, 01 Nov 2021 17:37:17 +0000

World leaders turned up the heat and resorted to end-of-the-world rhetoric on Monday in an attempt to revive sputtering international climate negotiations.

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The metaphors were dramatic and mixed at the start of the talks, known as COP26. For British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, global warming was "a doomsday device" strapped to humanity. United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres told his colleagues that people are "digging our own graves." And Barbados Prime Minister Mia Mottley, speaking for vulnerable island nations, added moral thunder, warning leaders not to "allow the path of greed and selfishness to sow the seeds of our common destruction."

Johnson – who is hosting the summit in the Scottish city of Glasgow – likened an ever-warming Earth's position to that of fictional secret agent James Bond: strapped to a bomb that will destroy the planet and trying to work out how to defuse it.

He told leaders that the only difference now is that the "ticking doomsday device" is not fiction and "it's one minute to midnight on that doomsday clock and we need to act now." The threat is climate change, triggered by the burning of coal, oil, and natural gas, and he pointed out that it all started in Glasgow with James Watt's steam engine powered by coal.

Johnson spoke at the opening of the world leaders' summit portion of the UN climate conference, which is aimed at getting governments to commit to curbing carbon emissions fast enough to keep global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) above pre-industrial levels. The world has already warmed 1.1 degrees Celsius (2 degrees Fahrenheit). Current projections based on planned emissions cuts over the next decade are for it to hit 2.7C (4.9F) by the year 2100.

The other goals for the meeting are for rich nations to give poor nations $100 billion a year in climate aid and to reach an agreement to spend half of the money to adapt to worsening climate impacts.

But Mottley, of Barbados, warned negotiators are falling short.

"This is immoral and it is unjust," Mottley said. "Are we so blinded and hardened that we can no longer appreciate the cries of humanity?"

In his own call to action, Johnson pointed out that the more than 130 world leaders who gathered had an average age of over 60, while the generations most harmed by climate change aren't yet born.

The gloomy note he struck got only darker when Guterres followed him.

"We are digging our own graves," Guterres said. "Our planet is changing before our eyes – from the ocean depths to mountaintops, from melting glaciers to relentless extreme weather events."

Britain's Prince Charles told the world leaders they need to "save our precious planet" and that "the eyes and hopes of the world are upon you."

After Johnson, Guterres, Charles, and an impassioned 95-year-old Sir David Attenborough, scores of other leaders will traipse to the podium Monday and Tuesday to talk about what their country is going to do about the threat of global warming.

The biggest names, including US President Joe Biden, India's Narendra Modi, France's Emmanuel Macron and Ibrahim Solih, president of hard-hit Maldives, will take the stage Monday.

And then the leaders will leave.

The idea is that they will do the big political give-and-take, setting out broad outlines of the agreement, and then have other government officials hammer out the nagging but crucial details. That's what worked to make the historic 2015 Paris climate deal a success, former UN Climate Secretary Christiana Figueres told The Associated Press.

Thousands lined up in a chilly wind in Glasgow on Monday to get through a bottleneck at the entrance to the venue. But what will be noticeable are a handful of major absences.

Xi Jinping, president of top carbon-polluting nation China, won't be in Glasgow. Figueres said his absence isn't that big a deal because he isn't leaving the country during the pandemic and his climate envoy is a veteran negotiator.

Biden, however, has chided China and Russia for their less than ambitious efforts to curb emissions and blamed them for a disappointing statement on climate change at the end of the meeting of leaders from the Group of 20 major economies in Rome this weekend.

Perhaps more troublesome for the UN summit is the absence of several small nations from the Pacific islands that couldn't make it because of COVID-19 restrictions and logistics. That's a big problem because their voices relay urgency, Figueres said.

In addition, the heads of several major emerging economies beyond China are also skipping Scotland, including those from Russia, Turkey, Mexico, Brazil, and South Africa. That leaves India's Modi the only leader present from the so-called BRICS nations, which account for more than 40% of global emissions.

Kevin Conrad, a negotiator from Papua New Guinea who also chairs the Coalition for Rainforest Nations, said he's watching the big carbon-polluting nations. "I think it's really important for the United States and China to show leadership as the two largest emitters. If both of them can show it can be done, I think they give hope to the rest of the world," he said.

The amount of energy unleashed by such warming would melt much of the planet's ice, raise global sea levels, and greatly increase the likelihood and intensity of extreme weather, experts say.

But before the UN climate summit, the G-20 leaders offered vague climate pledges instead of commitments of firm action, saying they would seek carbon neutrality "by or around mid-century." The countries also agreed to end public financing for coal-fired power generation abroad, but set no target for phasing out coal domestically – a clear nod to China and India.

The G-20 countries represent more than three-quarters of the world's climate-damaging emissions and summit hosts Italy and Britain had been hoping for more ambitious targets.

India, the world's third-biggest emitter, has yet to follow China, the US, and the European Union in setting a target for reaching "net zero" emissions. Negotiators are hoping Modi will announce such a goal in Glasgow.

The Biden administration has tried hard to temper expectations.

Rather than a quick fix, "Glasgow is the beginning of this decade race, if you will," Biden's climate envoy, John Kerry, told reporters Sunday.

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Brexit trade deal takes effect, ending 4-year saga

RachelG — Fri, 01 Jan 2021 10:23:35 +0000

The comprehensive trade deal between the UK and the EU that redefines their relationship kicked in on Friday, four-and-a-half years after the British people voted to leave the bloc and almost a year after the kingdom formally stopped being a member

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Prime Minister Boris Johnson, a central figure for the campaign to leave the EU, said it was an "amazing moment" for a "global Britain" to be free of obligations to Europe.

"We have our freedom in our hands and it is up to us to make the most of it," he added.

Post-Brexit Britain, he vowed, would be an "open, generous, outward-looking, internationalist and free-trading" country.

This article was first published by i24NEWS.

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Trump and Netanyahu face their rendezvous with destiny

Oren Klass — Fri, 03 Jul 2020 09:29:59 +0000

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu needn't take heed of the "friendly advice" British Prime Minister Boris Johnson proffered on Wednesday. As UAE Ambassador to the US Yousef Al-Otaiba did earlier this month, Johnson published an article in Yedioth Ahronoth threatening Israel with various disasters if Netanyahu implements his plan to apply Israeli sovereignty in areas of Judea and Samaria in conformance with US President Donald Trump's peace plan.

Johnson's "friendly" threats should surprise no one. Since 2017, when he began serving as Britain's foreign minister under then prime minister Theresa May, Johnson demonstrated amply that he is no great friend of Israel, or of anyone else.

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After leading the fight for Brexit as Mayor of London, as foreign minister Johnson was quick to align all of Britain's foreign policies with the European Union, as if he was its most obedient member. He did so not only at Israel's expense, but at the expense of Anglo-American ties.

When the Trump administration withdrew the US from the UN Human Rights Council due to the council's structural anti-Semitism and anti-Americanism, not only did Johnson not follow suit, he sped off to Geneva, appeared before the UNHRC, and pledged Britain's undying allegiance to the body.

When the Trump administration abandoned the nuclear deal with Iran which enriched the terrorist regime, enabling it to expand its terrorist campaigns on multiple fronts and gave Teheran an open road to a nuclear arsenal within a decade, Johnson didn't merely oppose the move. He worked with his French and German counterparts to develop a financial exchange to bypass US economic sanctions on Iran.

Now, as Prime Minister, aside from paying lip service to the Trump administration's efforts to extend the UN embargo against Iran which is set to expire in October, Johnson is doing nothing.

As to Israel specifically, Johnson's tenure as foreign minister was an unremitting disappointment.

In March 2017 Johnson paid an official visit to Israel. Before meeting with Netanyahu, Johnson went on a very public tour in Judea with the heads of Peace Now. British taxpayers are some of the largest funders of the radical Israeli NGO that has long acted on behalf of foreign governments interested in subverting the property rights of Israeli Jews in Judea and Samaria.

When Johnson was asked whether he intended to meet with the leaders of the Council of Israeli communities in Judea and Samaria to hear the other side of the story, he scoffed.

Parroting the anti-Semitic lingo of the well-groomed anti-Israel mob, Johnson insisted – as a friend – that Israel has two choices: It can fork over all of Judea and Samaria and eastern, southern and northern Jerusalem to the PLO, (otherwise known as "the two-state solution"), or it can become an apartheid state.

Johnson, to be sure is vastly preferable to Labour's anti-Semitic leader Jeremy Corbyn. But the mere fact that Johnson doesn't hate Jews doesn't make him a friend of the Jewish state.

The disparity between Johnson's iconoclastic, flamboyant rhetoric and his rush to conform with the anti-American, anti-Israel, post-nationalist foreign policy establishment shows that Johnson can talk the talk of leadership but he cannot walk the walk. He will not be remembered as a leader of historic dimensions. He will be remembered as a blowhard.

This brings us to Johnson's disappointed partners – President Donald Trump on the one hand and to Netanyahu on the other. Like Johnson, their futures in office and their legacies will be determined by what they do, not by what they say.

To a large degree, until the sudden appearance of Covid-19 and the riots across America, Trump's presidency was a textbook case of talking the talk and walking the walk. Trump does not inspire the hatred of well-heeled establishment types just because of his flamboyant style. They hate him because he has matched his rhetoric with action.

In the Middle East, Trump said Barack Obama had betrayed Israel and the US's Sunni Arab partners to cozy up to Iran. Trump promised to restore those alliances. And he did.

Trump promised to abandon Obama's nuclear deal with Iran. And he did. He said he would develop and implement a sanctions policy to bring Iran to its knees. And he did.

Now, with the UN arms embargo about to expire, and Iran at the edge of nuclear breakout, that policy faces a make or break moment. With the Europeans unwilling to act to prolong the arms embargo, Trump has only one option – restore all UN sanctions on Iran, including the arms embargo by invoking the snapback clause of Security Council Resolution 2231.

UN Security Council Resolution 2231, which anchored the nuclear deal stipulates that if Iran is in breach of the deal, a member of the Security Council can trigger a restoration of the UN Security Council sanctions against Iran for its illicit nuclear activities which were suspended as part of the deal's implementation. Iran is now openly enriching and stockpiling uranium in quantities well beyond what is permitted under the deal to the point where according to the IAEA, Iran is on the verge of nuclear breakout capacity.

Ignoring the text of the resolution, the EU, Russia, and others are falsely arguing that when the US walked away from the nuclear deal, it ceased to be authorized to trigger the snapback clause. Asserting the US's legal right to trigger the sanctions will require an ugly fight. But right now, that is the only way to achieve the aim Trump has declared – preventing Iran from becoming a nuclear power and a regional hegemon. If he has this fight, he will win it and secure his achievements. If he walks away from this fight, his entire Iran policy will fail and Iran will race to the nuclear finish line.

This brings us to Israel itself. Trump promised to move the US embassy to Jerusalem. And he did. He said he would reject the failed peace paradigm of his predecessors and replace it with a vision based on reality. And he did.

Now that plan and Trump's Middle East legacy face a make or break moment.

Trump recognized that all the peace plans offered up by his predecessors failed because they were based on the anti-Israel falsehood that the cause of the enduring Palestinian conflict with Israel was Israel's size. Trump recognized that the real problem isn't how large Israel is but the Palestinians' historic rejection of Israel's right to exist at any size and their determination to annihilate Israel – large or small.

To start negotiations, the Palestinians must take concrete steps to show they are changing. For instance, they need to stop paying salaries to terrorists who have killed Israelis.

As to Israel itself, whereas his predecessors' plans reject Israel's legal rights to sovereignty in Judea and Samaria, Trump accepts this legal reality. He also recognizes that Israel has critical national and strategic interests tied up with the areas. To secure those rights and interests, Trump said in January that he will recognize Israeli sovereignty over some of the areas – specifically the Israeli communities in Judea and Samaria and the Jordan Valley as soon as Israel applies those rights.

Now it appears the weight of the foreign policy establishment is taking a toll on Trump and he is losing his nerve. For weeks, reports have flowed that Trump has soured on his own plan. He doesn't know if he wants to back Israeli sovereignty as he pledged to do at the White House in January. Maybe at the end of the day, Israel's rights are subject to an EU veto if not a Palestinian one.

If these reports are correct, Trump's weakness won't win him supporters. It will empower his opponents who will erase all of the things he has done and return US Middle East policy to the anti-Israel fantasy track it has operated on since 1993.

What goes for Trump goes for Netanyahu ten times over. What Netanyahu does over the next few weeks will determine if he goes down in history as one of the greatest Jewish leaders of all time, or if he is remembered as a disappointment of Sabbatean proportions.

Since he was first elected Prime Minister in 1996, Netanyahu has faced two main challenges: Preventing Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons, and securing Israel's rights and interests in Judea and Samaria in the face of Palestinian rejectionism and terrorism and in the midst of phony peace process supported by the foreign policy establishment, the Israeli left, and the international left.

After 24 years, both of these issues have reached a moment of truth.

Setting aside the issue of the mysterious explosions in areas in and around Iran's nuclear installations, Netanyahu's primary task diplomatically is to clear a path for Trump to enact the snap-back sanctions just as he cleared the path for Trump to exit the nuclear deal in 2018.

As for the Palestinians, in 1996, Netanyahu was elected prime minister because he was the leader of the opposition to the phony Oslo peace process with the PLO. As Netanyahu and his supporters warned, the Oslo process was a strategic mistake. In due course, it failed and it caused Israel unspeakable damage. More than 1,500 Israelis were killed because of the terrorist whirlwind Oslo reaped and Israel's international standing dropped to new lows.

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Despite Oslo's total failure, throughout his years in power, until the Trump presidency, Netanyahu lacked the strategic opportunity to replace it with a different vision for Judea and Samaria and Israel's relations with the Palestinians.

Netanyahu's sovereignty plan is that vision.

The Oslo process is predicated on a denial of Israel's rights in Judea and Samaria. While it pays lip service to Israel's security needs, in practice it undermines them.

Netanyahu's sovereignty plan is predicated on Israel asserting and the US recognizing Israel's rights to Judea and Samaria on the one hand, and Israel securing in perpetuity its vital security interests. Here too, in the face of Trump's hesitation and his coalition partners' efforts to subvert him, Netanyahu is wavering. He missed the July 1 target date he had declared for implementing his plan. Now there is talk of him putting it off until some later date, which of course, will never arrive.

If Netanyahu stays the course and implements his plan now, he will secure his political power now. More importantly, he will be remembered in the annals of Jewish history as a leader of historic proportions. If Netanyahu wavers, if he fails to carry through on his plan, he will lose his political position and be remembered as an Israeli version of Boris Johnson – nothing more than a smooth-talking charlatan.

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Britain says stabbing attack in town park was terrorism

Oren Klass — Sun, 21 Jun 2020 05:54:18 +0000

A stabbing rampage in the southern English town of Reading in which three people were killed and others wounded was an act of terrorism, police said on Sunday, calling the attack in a sunny park an atrocity.

Detectives said a man had run into a park in Reading, about 40 miles (65 km) west of London where locals had been enjoying the evening sun on Saturday, and attacked people with a knife before being detained by unarmed officers.

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Police said an unnamed 25-year-old man had been arrested on suspicion of murder and remained in police custody.

A Western security source, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Reuters that the arrested man was a Libyan called Khairi Saadallah.

Initially, police and the government had said the attack did not appear to be terrorism. But Britain's most senior counter-terrorism police officer, Neil Basu, said officers had worked through the night and had now declared it to be a terrorist incident.

"This was an atrocity," Basu said. "From our inquiries undertaken so far, officers have found nothing to suggest that there were any other people involved in the attack, and presently, we are not looking for anyone else in relation to this incident."

While the motivation for the attack was far from certain, he said there was no intelligence that crowded places were at risk.

The victims have not yet been identified.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson held a meeting on Sunday with security officials, senior ministers and police to be updated about the investigation.

He said he was "appalled and sickened" by the attack and said Britain would change the law if needed to prevent any future incidents.

"If there are lessons we need to learn ... we will learn those lessons and we will not hesitate to take action if necessary," he said.

A witness said the attack began in Reading's Forbury Gardens when a man suddenly shouted intelligibly and then veered toward a group of about eight to 10 friends and began stabbing them.

"He darted round anti-clockwise the circle, got one, went to another, stabbed the next one, went to another, stabbed the next one," Lawrence Wort, 20, told BBC TV. "He stood up and I saw a massive knife in his hand, probably at least 5 inches (13 cm) minimum."

The attack took place after a Black Lives Matter rally by anti-racism protesters in the park which concluded three hours earlier but Basu said the two incidents were not related.

Current coronavirus restrictions mean venues like pubs are closed, so many people in Britain gather in parks in the evenings to meet friends.

The nature of the attack was reminiscent of a number of recent incidents in Britain that authorities considered to be terrorism.

In February, police shot dead a man, previously jailed for promoting violent Islamist material, who had stabbed two people on a busy street in south London. Last November another man who had been jailed for terrorism offenses stabbed two people to death on London Bridge before he too was shot dead by police.

Britain also suffered four attacks in 2017, the most deadly of which – a suicide bombing at the end of a concert by US singer Ariana Grande in Manchester, northern England – was carried out by a Briton born to Libyan parents.

In April, the officer in charge of the police's anti-radicalization program said social isolation during the coronavirus lockdown could make people more susceptible to being exploited by extremists.

"Isolation may exacerbate grievances that make people more vulnerable to radicalization – such as financial insecurity or social alienation," Chief Superintendent Nik Adams said.

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