Whist at the Conservative Party Conference I joined the Conservative Friends of Israel; something I have been meaning to do some time, but never got around to it. To find out more about their excellent work, click HERE.

The Conservative Friends of Israel have been quoted verbatim and without criticism at ConservativeHome. Tim Montgomerie is responsible and is pictured above on a fact-finding mission (June 2006*). Reproduced below. Here is my immediate response which I would repeat at any similarly ignorant, unbalanced, disingenuous and uncritical posting on behalf of Labour Friends of Israel. In fact I posted a q...

Iain Dale: Whenever I write about Israel it provokes some vile comments, even if what I write is balanced. I am a critical friend of Israel. Iain Dale: As you can tell, I support Israel 100% in their actions in Gaza. Looks like the trip, payed for by the Conservative Friends of Israel is being repaid.

Iain Dale: Whenever I write about Israel it provokes some vile comments, even if what I write is balanced. I am a critical friend of Israel. Iain Dale: As you can tell, I support Israel 100% in their actions in Gaza. Looks like the trip, payed for by the Conservative Friends of Israel is being repaid.

Lib Dem Voice has invited both the Liberal Democrat Friends of Palestine (article published here yesterday) and the Friends of Israel to submit articles looking at the current Middle East crisis. Today we publish this contribution from Matthew Harris, Secretary of Liberal Democrat Friends of Israel. At the pro-Israeli peace rally on Sunday 11 January, Trafalgar

23% voted for the Libdems at the election in May. Around half that number currently say that they will vote for the party again in most polls. But while remaining LibDems are equally divided over whether the cuts are too quick and too harsh, most conservatives are much happier with the government's strategy. This suggests it could be useful to think about three different groups when thinking ...

You can go on a little holiday with the Conservative Friends of Israel and return with a mindset about the current carnage in Gaza. Or, you can spend 30 years covering the Middle East as a foreign correspondent and come to the conclusion that simple solutions to complex problems are just trite. The blood-splattering has its own routine. Yes, Hamas provoked Israel's anger, just as Israel provo...

The Mainly Dale, freshly briefed from his hosts when he recently visited Israel, has come out 100% for Israel’s actions, publishing many of the points from Conservative Friends of Israel’s briefing. He thinks “it’s a shame” that William Hague, amongst other things, deeply regretted the loss of civilian life in Gaza and that Hague called on

Hamas are a bunch of murderous thugs. Over the past few years they have fired 5,000 rockets on Israel from residential parts of the Gaza strip, killing and injuring dozens of innocent Israelis. Israel has done its best not to react, but in the end their patience has snapped - and understandably so. They have acted using the only kind of force Hamas can understand. According to Conservative Friends...

So the Ming Campbell amendment failed by only four votes. Had the LibDems actually told the Tories and the other parties about it earlier and their whips had got their act together, things could have turned out very differently. Despite that, the Government should be embarrassed by it. Sadly, this government is almost beyond embarrassment. The Conservatives have now joined the LibDems in pulling o...