This is my latest column for Jewish News.

So, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad says that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is a “skilled killer”. Well, we’ve become accustomed to the Iranian dictator’s drama-queen outbursts. But still: get her, eh?

He’s not the only one to talk balderdash about Bibi. Last week, Australian newspaper columnist Mike Carlton evaded watchdog censure for the column he wrote after the flotilla incident. He had described Netanyahu as “an unprincipled thug addicted to the use of military force”.

I wrote to Carlton to point out the flaws in his argument. Netanyahu was not Prime Minister during the 2006 Hezbollah war, nor Operation Cast Lead in 2008/9. There have been no major military operations during either of his terms as Prime Minister.

Indeed, during his first term, he negotiated with Yasser Arafat, signed the Wye River accords and handed most of Hebron to the Palestinians. An unprincipled thug addicted to the use of military force? Only in the prejudiced imagination of the likes of Carlton.

Israel is the most slandered nation on earth, so such lies come with the territory. Menachem Begin, for instance, is oft reviled as war-mongering, blood-thirsty extremist. Which is strange, considering that Begin – perhaps my favourite figure in world history – is the man who signed the Camp David accords, sealed a peace treaty with Egypt and shared the Nobel Peace Prize with the Egyptian President.

I understand that it is mostly Begin’s role in the Jewish underground that earned him such notoriety in the eyes of some (though not in mine). But people can only overlook his glorious, statesman-like achievements if their eyes are blinded by a wicked agenda.

The same goes for those who insist on slandering Netanyahu. True, the Likud Party has some stringent polices, as does the Yisrael Beiteinu party which Netanyahu invited into his coalition. But Bibi’s record speaks for itself, and it is strongly at odds with the image that the world attributes to him.

I wrote to Carlton with a polite, factual correction of his description of Netanyahu. His single-line response? “More of the same old paranoid rubbish”. It’s ironic really – ‘paranoid rubbish’ would be a decent description of his own track record on Israel. Strewth!

During his many factually-dodgy attacks on Israel he has often been quick to boast in print that he has “many Jewish friends”. He also loves to point out that he knows Jewish people who are willing to join in his demonization of Israel. “Humane and decent Jewry,” he writes, ” Shalom to them.” Phew, now you know what you have to do to win his approval as the right kind of Jew!

Carlton has complained before about the efforts of those who “attempt to silence” his criticism of Israel. Oh for the good old days, eh? When there were fewer opportunities to respond to such blood libels. And heck, call me old-fashioned, but if he and his ilk around the world didn’t get their facts so spectacularly wrong they would probably receive fewer complaints.

As some readers may recall, last year I wrote to Jon Snow of Channel 4 News to challenge his breathtaking claim that “nobody gets hurt” by Qassam rockets. He was polite at first, saying that unfortunately he couldn’t find the relevant footage in his archive. So I sent him a YouTube video of the relevant edition, together with evidence of people – including kids – who have been injured and killed by the Qassams.

“Stop wasting my time,” he wrote back. Get her! I doubt I’ll be on his Christmas card list, but I also doubt he’ll be so quick to deny the effect of Qassam rockets again. Picking out these specific issues is a good way to affect paradigm-changes on the wider picture. I think it is well worth continuing to challenge and correct these lies.

There is a video of my aforementioned appearance on Australian television here. We discussed my books, Justin Bieber, and how I helped get David and Victoria Beckham together.

My latest appearance on BBC Radio London is on ‘Listen Again’ here. I am on between 21mins and 1hr50mins. It was great fun. We discussed, among other things: nicknames, columnists, Pete Doherty, Scientology, Justin Bieber and saucy broadcasters. I even played the ukulele briefly.

I’m back on BBC Radio London between 10pm and midnight on Tuesday evening, doing my side-kick stuff with the lovely Joanne Good. I’m then whizzing across London to a different studio to appear on Sunrise, Australia’s breakfast television show. I’ll be discussing my Justin Bieber biography. The live interview will be around 10.15am, Australian time.

On a separate note, regular readers might remember my Jewish News column, about my passion for pastrami sandwiches and the American deli scene. You can read it here. So I was overjoyed to find this video, featuring a humorous debate about what makes a perfect Reuben sandwich. Hold on for the Halachic interjection…

An editorial in today’s Observer presents Israel as the obstacle to peace in the Middle East and Mahmoud Abbas’s Palestinian Authority as the ones making all the moves. Indeed, it argues that “successive” Israeli prime ministers have refused to sincerely engage and negotiate with the Palestinians.

Successive Israeli prime ministers refusing to negotiate? Well, let’s look at the record of the three that preceded the current administration…

Ehud Barak (1999-2001) offered Yasser Arafat an extraordinary package including around 97 per cent of the territories, the majority of the Old City and east Jerusalem, and $30 billion compensation for the refugees.

His offer was refused by Arafat.

Ariel Sharon  (2001-2005) withdrew from Gaza, and was considering withdrawing from the West Bank, before his reign ended when he suffered a stroke.

The Gaza withdrawal was responded to with thousands of rockets fired into Israel.

Ehud Olmert (2006-2009) offered Mahmoud Abbas 93.5 to 93.7 per cent of the territories, along with a land swap of 5.8 per cent and a safe-passage corridor from Gaza to the West Bank. Under his offer the Old City of Jerusalem would be administered by a consortium of Saudis, Jordanians, Israelis, Palestinians and Americans. There would also have been (limited) return of refugees.

His offer was refused by Abbas

As for Netanyahu, it is too early to tell what will happen. But during his first reign as Prime Minister, (1996-1999) he negotiated with Yasser Arafat, signed the Wye River accords and handed most of Hebron to the Palestinians.

So The Observer could hardly be more misleading. Its editorial warns, with typical colonial-liberal pomposity, that if Israel continues to refuse to negotiate that it will become “an international pariah”. If that ever does become the case, it will not be because of intransigence on the part of Israel. But it will be in part because of dishonest reporting such as in today’s Observer.

M. Şefik Dinç, a Turkish newspaper reporter who was on-board the Mavi Marmara, has written a book about his first-hand experience of the flotilla confrontation. According to reviews of the book his account mostly tallies with the narrative given by the IDF, and contradicts the narrative circulated by the IHH thugs and their cronies, like Ken O’Keefe, the tattooed former US Marine who was on the Mavi Marmara.

Speaking of the intriguing O’Keefe, there was a lengthy interview with him in Saturday’s Haaretz. At the start of the interview he makes the breath-taking claim that he never had any idea that Israel might try and stop the flotilla, nor that violence might occur.

“The atmosphere was good and our spirits were high… I was certain we would succeed in entering Gaza…People came to me two-three hours before [the takeover of the ship] and told me, ‘There will be an attack.’ I replied, ‘No, that can’t be.’”

It’s hard to believe he really thought that, particularly because he repeatedly contradicts himself later in the interview, showing he had always been aware of exactly what was on the cards. For a start, he admits he knew that: “Ehud Barak [had] said he would stop the flotilla at any price”.

He also says: “Fehmi Bulent, the president of IHH, told us from the outset that this time we were not simply going to sit and wait for the soldiers. He said this publicly even before the flotilla set out.” O’Keefe drops himself in it even more when he adds later: “I knew before we set out that the Turks are not like the other Westerners, that there would be no passive resistance in this case.”

Yet he expects us to believe that he never foresaw any sort of confrontation or violence!

Back in the real world, Turkish author Dinç’s text and photographs prove once more that preparations for violence began on-board the Mavi Marmara many hours before the Israelis arrived, and that the Israelis only opened fire after the flotilla thugs had begun viciously beating them and taking them hostage. You can read more about the book here, though be warned that the report includes upsetting photographs of the IHH savagery. For a recent article outlining the legality of Israel’s blockade and its response to the flotilla, click here.

A few days after the flotilla incident, I wrote: “People around the world have seen the videos of what the commandos faced on those boats and still many are refusing to accept what happened. They are still angrily, aggressively rounding on Israel in astonishing defiance of absolutely clear-cut evidence. I fear for these people and I fear these people.”

It is hard to attribute those sort responses to the incident as motivated by anything other than antisemitism. I mean, seriously. The evidence could hardly have been more clear-cut, yet people still demonised Israel and cast the IHH thugs as the good guys. So yes, I do fear for these people and fear these people, whose hatred of the Jewish state takes them to such nonsensical conclusions.

But every day I am relieved and happy to not be one of them.

PS – There are interesting hints in the Haaretz feature about what really drives O’Keefe. He became a US Marine to be a hero, but had a run-in with a superior and it all went wrong. Later he burnt his US passport and became a fanatical anti-Israel activist. He recalls the first time he went to Gaza and the reception he got. “There was excitement like we had just won the World Cup. Tens of thousands of people were there. For one day there was total euphoria. They looked at us like we were heroes.” So it’s not really about Israel or the Palestinians, is it? He just wants to be a hero.

Have a lovely weekend everyone.

During my time in Israel in August, I met some MKs at the Knesset, including Zeev Bielski, of the Kadima Party, and Anastassia Michaeli of Yisrael Beiteinu. While speaking with Bielski I raised – slightly more angrily than I had intended – the issue of those evacuated from Gush Katif during the 2005 disengagement.

Bielski seemed genuinely concerned with their plight, but my sense is that he is swimming against a tide of indifference in Israel. A report released earlier this year accused successive Israeli governments of “absolute and complete failure” in dealing with the uprooted settlers who are said to have become “refugees in their own country”.

What a shame. In the wider world it is hard to drum-up interest in the plight of the Gush Katif evacuees even among Israel’s supporters. Partly because people are so busy defending Israel from an avalanche of lies and hatred, partly because even some of Israel’s friends have swallowed the demonisation of the settler movement.

The evacuees deserve better, much better. You can read here about the community of Netzer Hazani, who were uprooted from their homes and are now striving to rebuild the town. There are ways to support them listed on the website, too.

Supporting Israel is about more than just defending it against the lies and threats of the wicked, and celebrating its many, many wonderful points. We need to keep this issue alive and help get the former residents of Gush Katif a fair deal.

Banished selected scenes from CHUTZPAPRODUCTIONSINC on Vimeo.

The Sydney Morning Herald‘s columnist Mike Carlton has been cleared by the Australian Press Council of using antisemitic writing in a column he wrote in June. In the column Carlton had accused Benjamin Netanyahu of being “an unprincipled thug addicted to the use of military force”. He also wrote the pro-Israel lobby was “a ferocious beast” that “lunges from its lair, fangs bared”.

I’m not sure his words should be interpreted as antisemitic. However, his description of Netanyahu is spectacularly dishonest. Netanyahu was not Prime Minister during the 2006 Hezbollah war, nor Operation Cast Lead in 2008/9. Indeed, Netanyahu has never been Prime Minister during a major military operation.

On the contrary, during his first reign as Prime Minister, Netanyahu personally negotiated with Yasser Arafat, signed the Wye River accords and handed most of Hebron to the Palestinians. In his current term he is engaged in peace talks again. An unprincipled thug addicted to the use of military force? Not at all – other than in the prejudiced imagination of Mike Carlton, whose dishonesty does nothing to bring peace closer.

Carlton has complained about the efforts of those who “attempt to silence” his criticism of Israel. Just a thought: perhaps if he didn’t get his facts so spectacularly wrong he would receive fewer complaints?

Pretty much every Monday morning, as I sit down at my desk to start work for the week, I play this song. I think it is the perfect song to kick the week off with. It’s not so much the lyrics that make it relevant, just the feel of the song. Have a great week everyone!

I’m glad the wonderful Matisyahu is playing two dates in Israel this month. He announces the dates in this video. I suppose it seemed a funny idea at the time…

The anniversary of 9/11 is always a poignant time and one that invites much reflection. For me, the weeks that followed the attacks are every bit as memorable as the day itself. It was hard to feel safe, wasn’t it? I kept thinking that the aeroplanes were flying too low or along unfamiliar trajectories.

Perhaps this paranoia was forgivable. The media was falling over itself to conjure up new terror threats. Canary Wharf was regularly cast as an inevitable target, and my father and many close friends worked there. As my overground train to work turned towards Waterloo each morning, I was relieved to see the tower still standing. But then there was the spectre of chemical and biological attacks to worry about, and those fears  were propped up by strange goings-on with anthrax in America.

I remember a photograph on the front page of The Times that merged Osama Bin Laden’s face into a mushroom cloud. This was unsettling for sure, but I was more frightened by the rumour that Al Qaeda planned to fly cropduster planes over central London, all the better to spray us with deadly plagues. A-tishoo, a-tishoo, we all fall down…

Something else was occupying my mind in those weeks. In the wake of the attacks I became actively interested in the Middle East conflict. I was working at a predominantly Jewish company at the time and I recall some fascinating lunches with a member of staff during which he patiently answered my questions about Israel.

I had many questions and I was desperate for answers. I also realised that I would, unwittingly, probably have some misconceptions. Like many British people, I had always had a lazy, default feeling of ill-informed pity for the Palestinian people and therefore a vague sense of hostility towards Israel, despite the fact that I’d long had a somewhat latent philosemitic side.

I’d always worried that I would offend, but I wanted to learn. So I asked my colleague straight out: “If I buy you lunch, can I ask you lots of possibly offensive questions about Israel?”. He had a great mind and was painstakingly honest and balanced in his responses.

I began voraciously reading about the conflict, pouring through books that covered the issue from both sides, from Edward Said to Alan Dershowitz, and more. Many, many books and much thinking later, I fell in firmly on Israel’s side. The rest is history: a history of wonderful trips to Israel, countless new friends and a blog in which I write in defence of the Jewish state.

And it all started in the weeks after 9/11. Returning to those scare stories that dominated the media during that period, it is worth reflecting nine years on that none of our worst fears have come true. No capital cities have disappeared under a mushroom cloud, no town centres have turned into mass graves after chemical or biological attacks.

This is probably down to the vigilance and hard work of the security services. They deserve much praise for their courageous and careful efforts. While that vigilance must be maintained, blind fear is something we could do with a lot less of. Much of the discussion about these issues is dominated by fear.

Pro-Palestinian groups fear that Israel is going to annihilate the Palestinians, even though it isn’t. Other people worry that a small Muslim community centre several blocks from Ground Zero will lead to further atrocities in Manhattan, even though it won’t.

Hate-mongers like George Galloway and Geert Wilders trade on scaring the gullible. I remember interviewing John Pilger, and he told me: “You should always be scared”. Sheesh, no wonder his politics is sometimes so muddled.

We must take real threats seriously, but that is not the same thing as living in fear. I love the words of the wonderful Rabbi Nachman: he sang that the world is a very narrow bridge and the main thing to recall is not to be afraid at all.

The above is my latest column for Jewish News. For more on why I support and blog about Israel, click here.

Had a lovely day yesterday. I met up with my Israeli friend Yossi (the star of this article from 2006) and had a lovely day in London, which included a nice surprise. Regular readers will know how excited I was by the publication of the Tony Blair book, and the huge sales of my latest book about Justin Bieber. I loved seeing them stocked side-by-side yesterday.

I also managed to eat shawarma in Golders Green for both lunch, (at Sollys) and dinner, (White House Express). The manager of the latter establishment is now well aware of my praise of it on my blog and in Jewish News. He must read the blog regularly because he recently said to me, “I see you had a good time in Israel, then.” Tonight he introduced me to a friend, saying: “This is our shawarma ambassador!”

I feel it is vital to keep an open mind on all issues, so I’m forever reading articles, blogs and books written by people with a very different position on Israel to mine. One such book I have recently read is The Punishment of Gaza, by Gideon Levy. It surprised me on a few levels.

For those who haven’t heard of him, Levy is an Israeli reporter and a columnist for the Ha’aretz newspaper. He is the son of two Holocaust survivors, has served in the IDF and also worked as an aide to Shimon Peres. More recently he has become a thorn in the side of Israel, taking an extremely critical stance in his journalism, particularly his Ha’aretz column.

You won’t be shocked to learn that as I read The Punishment Of Gaza I found plenty to disagree with both in terms of dodgy ‘facts’ and even dodgier stances. As early as the first paragraph of the Introduction he claims that “never a thought is given to Gaza” in the city of Tel Aviv.

That is nonsense. Every time I have visited that city I have noticed that many of those who live there are deeply concerned about the Palestinians and strongly critical of the Israeli governments policies and actions towards them. Indeed, the place that some in Tel Aviv could perhaps afford to spend a little more time thinking about is not Gaza, but Sderot.

Throughout the pages of Levy’s book there are further distortions of Israeli society, which those who have never visited the country will probably swallow whole. He’s so keen to cast himself as the sole conscience in Israel that he ignores that Israel is a country rich with morality, perhaps more so than any other in the world. ‘I’m the only one who cares’, he keeps crying, while covering up his eyes and ears lest he see how many others care.

He has a track record of rushing to false judgements about Israeli actions and he keeps some highly dodgy company, including appearances on platforms arranged by the terror-supporting Palestine Solidarity Campaign. Not only that, among his biggest media fans are the contemptible Jon Snow (who lies that ‘nobody gets hurt’ by Qassam rockets) and Johann Hari (whose distortions on Israel are numerous and obsessive).

We should be proud that such a critical journalist as Levy is able to flourish in Israel, something that could never happen in many neighbouring states. Despite my many objections to his work, I’m glad I read Levy’s book. It serves people on either side of the debate to be aware of the consequences of the conflict. We can rage and bitch at Levy all we like, we know that some of what he writes about Israel’s military actions is, sadly, true.

Can one still support Israel’s right to launch Operation Cast Lead having read painful accounts of the consequences of it? Yes, given the background, one still can. Indeed, perhaps one cannot truthfully support such operations without having read accounts of them such as Levy’s. Israel needs real, informed friends, not blind, unquestioning toadies.

We were so quick to rally behind Colonel Richard Kemp, with his cold-hearted, selective statements about Operation Cast Lead. It might do us some good to also listen to those who are not simply selling us what we want to hear. Or, to put it another way, as well as listening to a Westerner who coldly glosses over the deaths of children, we could also consider listening to an Israeli who – though he does make mistakes – cares about them.

When airport staff go on strike unexpectedly, it can very frustrating for passengers. But some know how to respond in style:

‘A small riot broke out at [Ben Gurion] airport, after hundreds of Hasidim returning from their annual pilgrimage to Uman, where they visited Rabbi Nachman of Breslov’s grave, found out they would not be able to claim their baggage. A group of them began shouting “disgrace,” banging goblet drums they had with them, and even burst into an impromptu dance on the baggage conveyor, damaging it slightly.’

Love it! The full story is on Ynet.

1) This is an informative assessment of where the prospects of a deal for Gilad Shalit’s freedom currently stand. Interestingly, the writer concludes that such a deal would be a blow to Fatah. Worryingly, I think if this is true then it will make the Israeli government less keen to make such a deal.

2) Israel’s law of return is often criticised, but as CifWatch’s Adam Levick shows it is far from a unique state of affairs.

3) I’ve written before about my admiration of Hasidic Judaism, the stories of the Baal Shem Tov and the inspiring chat I had with Breslovs in Jerusalem. I adore the stories of Rabbi Nachman, so I was interested to read of how 50,000 of his devotees made a pilgrimage to his resting place.

4) “I deplore the act of burning the Koran,” says Tony Blair. So do all decent people, and you can read the rest of his statement on the issue here. I was pleased to see him make this statement, which will hopefully dampen the increasing ardour felt for him by some of the less savoury who hide among us.

5) Finally, Ron Feinberg gives 34 reasons why Israel touches his soul on JPost. Read it, wipe the tears from your eyes and book a trip to Israel. They need more visitors, and you know you’ll love it.