'Israel should be wary of policies forged in anger and retribution'

Israeli leaders shouldn't neglect the history of fights against terrorism

Fareed Zakaria for The Washington Post

"Intense emotions often make it difficult to think carefully about the implications of one's actions," writes Fareed Zakaria in The Washington Post. Israel is feeling "deeply vulnerable" but it is "worth reflecting on whether policies forged in anger and retribution yield lasting gains". He recalls 1982 when "Israel invaded Lebanon and got Hezbollah" and fears that what the current campaign leads to "will not be good for Israel or the Palestinians".

Read more

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

Rishi's Musk love-in raises more questions than it answers

Tim Stanley for The Telegraph

Was the AI summit at Bletchley Park staged "so Rishi could get Elon's autograph?" asks Tim Stanley in The Telegraph. "It felt like it." In front of 300 "tech boys", Rishi Sunak "was like a kid in a pharmacy" as he interviewed Elon Musk on stage "about his views on computers and such". But "a celebrity should be asking the PM questions, not the other way around".

Read more

Thatcherite conservatism is on its last legs. I've had a disturbing glimpse of what might replace it

Andy Beckett for The Guardian

"Where on earth is conservatism going?" wonders Andy Beckett in The Guardian. "In Britain, at least, the simple answer seems to be opposition". But "political disasters, or even just the threat of them, can also create new possibilities", such as "the abandonment of old taboos and assumptions". But the right is "going to need a fresher conservatism" if it is going to "regain its dominance in Britain and beyond".

Read more

Dominic Cummings is no Reservoir Dog

Kathleen Stock for UnHerd

In his "white shirt and skinny black tie" Dominic Cummings "put one in mind of an extra from Reservoir Dogs" during his appearance at the Covid inquiry, writes Kathleen Stock for UnHerd. "And with exposure to his profanity-strewn emails and private messaging, spectators were plunged into a retro world of adolescent play-acting." In his written submission he "came across more like Adrian Mole than Harvey Keitel". Unfortunately, he "doesn't seem to have learnt much from the experience".

Read more