Try GOLD - Free
Eyeless in Gaza, from Balfour to Starmer
THE WEEK India
|October 05, 2025
One couldn't miss the several historic ironies when Britain declared support to a Palestine state last week.
One, we saw the original sinner at the confessional. It was Britain which had sowed the idea of a homeland in Palestine for the globally dispersed Jews in 1917, thereby triggering the strife that has been raging in the Middle East since. In the process, they two-timed the Arabs who had supported them against the Ottoman empire in the First World War. Remember the story of Lawrence of Arabia.
Two, it was a Jew who made the statement for Britain last week. Keir Starmer, though a Christian by birth and an atheist by faith, is a synagogue-goer. One may say that it is to keep shalom at home—his wife is a Jew—but many Jews consider him as one of them, as they did Benjamin Disraeli in the 19th century.
This story is from the October 05, 2025 edition of THE WEEK India.
Subscribe to Magzter GOLD to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 10,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
MORE STORIES FROM THE WEEK India
THE WEEK India
Lore to the fore
A tribal museum in Nava Raipur celebrates Chhattisgarh's forgotten freedom fighters
3 mins
December 14, 2025
THE WEEK India
QUIET BRILLIANCE
In a world of shrinking attention span and hyperactive media consumption, a Grammy-nominated album on the Dalai Lama offers a cultural counterpoint
4 mins
December 14, 2025
THE WEEK India
THE ART OF PLAY
What video games can teach you about yourself
5 mins
December 14, 2025
THE WEEK India
Why Delhi can't be Indraprastha
The recent proposal by a Delhi BJP MP to officially rename the capital city from Delhi to 'Indraprastha'—invoking the legendary city of the Pandavas from the Mahabharat—is more than a superficial suggestion. It is a politically motivated attempt to rewrite the complex, multilayered history of one of the world’s oldest continuously inhabited metropolises.
3 mins
December 14, 2025
THE WEEK India
UKRAINIANS ARE WRITING THE CHRONICLES OF OUR TIMES WITH THEIR BLOOD, WE ARE SHAPING HISTORY
Viktor Yushchenko is a towering figure in Ukrainian politics.
10 mins
December 14, 2025
THE WEEK India
India through Mexican eyes
A book on Mexican poet Octavio Paz's years in India offers fresh perspectives
3 mins
December 14, 2025
THE WEEK India
Freedom on independence day
Volodymyr Mykolayenko, mayor of the city of Kherson in south Ukraine from February 2014 till December 2020, was aware of the perils of Russian attacks, because he witnessed the occupation of Crimea in 2014. But he never believed that Russians would attack the south of Ukraine and that too his city, Kherson. Here are excerpts from what he told Mridula Ghosh after he was freed from Russian captivity.
3 mins
December 14, 2025
THE WEEK India
'Ten'acious ties
The significance of Putin's 10th visit to India exceeds previous trips
4 mins
December 14, 2025
THE WEEK India
We shall implement the master plan as designed by the Mother
Q/When you took over, what was your idea of Auroville, and how has it changed under you?
3 mins
December 14, 2025
THE WEEK India
Moments of truth for Ukraine
Reaching the fourth year of Russian aggression, a new page opens in the history of Ukraine, torn by war and darkness, its energy infrastructure destroyed by Russia. The hour of reckoning emerges as the powers-that-be ponder how to win the war amidst a bombshell corruption investigation of the energy sector and a 28-point peace menu offered by the US
5 mins
December 14, 2025
Listen
Translate
Change font size