Barry Rubin - one of the few analysts who really understood the Middle East - has died

Barry Rubin died today. Tributes appear at Elder of Ziyon and IsraellyCool. In my view there was no analyst and writer who understood the Middle East as much as he did. Because his analyses did not fit with the 'liberal', anti-Israel narrative, and also because he had previously been a man 'of the left', he never received the widespread recognition that he deserved. But his work lives on in his writings.

I met Barry Rubin in Tel Aviv in 2007 and have been in frequent email contact since then. On occasions he provided important background information for articles I wrote, including shedding light on a number of Israeli academics in the UK who were hiding their extreme anti-Zionist background in order to be able to speak at mainstream Jewish/Zionist events in the UK. This included one academic who was even hired to run the advocacy work of one of the mainstream organisations, but spent his time essentially arguing for the dissolution of the Jewish state.