“The nature of the Arabs and their lack of confidentiality requires us to be cautious when circulating information affecting our strategic planning…

On 11 January 1958, 14 Syrian officers drove to the airport, boarding a charter flight headed for Cairo. Carrying no passports and dressed in full…

At 5:17 pm on 30 January 1948, Mahatma Gandhi was shot three times on his way to a prayer meeting. He died instantly, aged 78.The assassin, Nathuram…

Throughout the 19th century, international diplomatic dispatches referred to our part of the world as either the East or the Orient. The French would…

Vladimir Lenin died on 21 January 1924. Although relatively young, he was a sick man, having suffered three back-to-back strokes that left him half…

In 1929, the Busch Circus toured France with a special programme featuring 31-year-old Russian lion-tamer and dancer Maria Rasputin as “daughter of…

As the world was celebrating Christmas in 1991, the Soviet flag was being lowered from the Kremlin – one last time – and replaced with the flag of…

On 3 December, Shin Bet director, Ronen Bar, was quoted saying: “The cabinet set a goal for us to take out Hamas. And we are determined to do it;…

“The opening of a complicated negotiation is like the beginning of an arranged marriage,” wrote Henry Kissinger in his memoirs. “The partners know…

The year 1943 kicked off with an avalanche of congratulatory telegrams pouring into President Alfred Naccache’s office on the New Year.Little did he…