Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The South African government lodged an urgent complaint on Monday at the International Court of Justice against the plan announced by Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu to attack Rafah in southern Gaza, where 1.4 million people, most of them refugees from elsewhere, have been pushed by the Israeli military. So […]
Archives for February 2024
Jerusalem: Jewish Settler Movement makes bid for Large Expanse of Christian Armenian Quarter
By Svante Lundgren, Lund University | – The Armenian quarter in Jerusalem’s Old City is facing its biggest crisis in a long time. A Jewish businessman with connections to the radical settler movement is poised to develop a quarter of the neighbourhood’s territory, with plans to build a luxury hotel. If this goes ahead, it […]
Throwing out the Constitution: Donald Trump vs. the 14th Amendment
By Clarence Lusane ( Tomdispatch.com) – When the Civil War ended in 1865, the 76-year-old Constitution needed an upgrading and those leading the country did indeed dramatically transform it with the passage of the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments, known collectively as the Reconstruction Era amendments. The 13th (1865) abolished slavery, while the 15th (1870) […]
Netherlands Judges Halt Export to Israel of F-35 Parts: “Disproportionate Civilian Casualties including Thousands of Children”
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Dutch News reports that an appeals court in The Hague, Netherlands, has ruled that the Dutch government must cease sending spare parts for the F-35 fighter-jet to Israel. The spare parts are technically owned by the U.S., but are kept in storage at Woensdrecht Air Base. The news site quotes […]
We Need to Phase out Fossil Fuels Immediately, but Equitably
By Tom Athanasiou | – This essay was originally published in Foreign Policy in Focus Just before the recent climate summit in Dubai, COP28 president Sultan Al-Jaber, with some exasperation, came out with the following rather amazing statement: “Please help me, show me the roadmap for a phase out of fossil fuel that will allow […]
A Brief History of Dearborn, Michigan – The First Arab-American Majority City in the US
By Sally Howell, University of Michigan-Dearborn; and Amny Shuraydi, University of Michigan-Dearborn | – (The Conversation) – Dearborn, Michigan, is a center of Arab American cultural, economic, and political life. It’s home to several of the country’s oldest and most influential mosques, the Arab American National Museum, dozens of now-iconic Arab bakeries and restaurants, and […]
Egypt Threatens Netanyahu with End of Camp David Peace Accords if he Invades Rafah
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – It is being widely reported based on press leaks that the Egyptian government of President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi has privately threatened Israel. Cairo is said to have warned that the 1978 Camp David Peace Treaty will be suspended “with immediate effect” if the government of Binyamin Netanyahu tries to take […]
Israel: Rafah Displacement Plans Catastrophic, Unlawful (HRW)
Human Rights Watch – (Jerusalem) – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has ordered the Israeli army and other officials to submit to the cabinet a plan to evacuate Rafah, Gaza’s southernmost governorate. Netanyahu said this action is necessary to attack Hamas battalions in the area. With a pre-war population of 280,000, Rafah is now housing […]
Public Libraries under MAGA Threat: Banning what Matters
( Tomdisptach.com) – When my mother died in 2000, I inherited all her books. Sadly, after several moves and downsizings over the decades, her collection had shrunk. Still, it remains considerable and impressive in its own way. Her legacy to me included some special volumes like a first edition of Frederick W. Taylor’s The Principles […]