Think Tank man fired because of pro-Israel book

The author of a new book sympathetic to Israel believes his views ultimately cost him his job at the UK’s most prestigious foreign-affairs think tank.

Robin Shepherd, whose new book, A State Beyond the Pale — Europe’s Problem with Israel explores hostility towards the Jewish state, says his pro-Israel position put him at odds with the leadership of London’s Chatham House.

At a book launch at a London synagogue last week, Mr Shepherd recalled an op-ed piece he had written for The Times in January 2008 defending Israel’s actions against terrorism, which had resulted in an “aggressive” email from Chatham House director Robin Niblett.

“It didn’t result in my leaving immediately,” he said, “but it broke the relationship I had with my boss at the time.”

In the article, Mr Shepherd blamed Hamas for the situation in Gaza and hit out at the “frenzied onslaught” against Israel among commentators in Europe.

He contended that the rockets fired by Palestinians since Israel’s withdrawal from Gaza defeated the argument, put by “apologists for extremism”, that occupation, rather than ideology, was the root cause of terrorism.

But Dr Niblett wrote that the article was “polemical in tone and content” and that he was concerned at the “potential damage you have done to the institute’s reputation for thoughtful and balanced insight”.