become clearer—al Qaeda-linked Islamists dominating one side, Bashar al-Assad's forces and Hezbollah the other—it has become obvious that the window of opportunity for outside intervention is closed". In 2021, Murray chastised the Biden administration for withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan and for attempting to portray the withdrawal as a success. Murray supported the Iraq War and wrote in 2004, "Iraq may be the big intervention of this generation. Success means the success of the Iraqi nation in a region of failing states and unprecedented freedom for a nation previously cowed by brutalism and ignored by pacifism. Failure means not only the failure of the Arab world to allow freedom and democracy to stick, and the failure of the civilized world to stand up to tyranny, but the failure and loss of many more lives in a country which finally found hope and a future." Murray also defended the war against critics on multiple occasions. On December 16, 2017, Murray lambasted a decision by the High Court to award large payments to Iraqi civilians who claimed they had been mistreated while detained by British soldiers calling it disrespectful to soldiers who served in Iraq. In 2013, Murray condemned journalist Owen Jones for mistakenly saying that Israel had killed a 11 month old child in a military strike. Jones responded by criticising Murray for ignoring a UN report which reported an Israel airstrike had killed numerous innocent civilians. In 2014, Murray defended and supported Israel during 2014 Israel-Gaza conflict. Murray also defended Israel's right to defend itself, saying, "If you don't believe that Israel has the right to stop a group that has proposed repeatedly since its existence that it wants to annihilate Israel, if you believe that Israel doesn't have the right to try and stop this enemy, then of course you don't believe Israel has the right to exist; you believe Israel has the right to die." During a visit to Israel in 2019, Murray praised Israeli society, saying that Israel "has a healthier attitude towards nationalism than Europe" and lauded Israel's restrictive approach to immigration. In 2019, Murray supported the Trump administration's decision to formally recognize Israel's sovereignty over the Golan Heights. In June 2019, Murray referred to Robert Mueller's investigation into Donald Trump and Russian interference in the 2016 United States elections as a "nothing-burger". Murray called the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine a war crime and