Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Bilal Daher of the Israeli newspaper Arab 48 reports on Thursday evening’s knock-down, drag-out fight between Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his Defense Minister Yoav Gallant at the cabinet meeting, which ended in a vehement shouting match. The heated discussion was leaked to an Israeli television news channel. Some […]
Archives for August 2024
Lebanon has made Survival an Art Form, after decades of War and Unrest
By Ian Parmeter, Australian National University | – (The Conversation) – I first visited Lebanon in 1978, three years into the civil war and six years before Theodore Ell was born. I mention this because, despite the fact our experiences of this fascinating country were at different times, his impressions and judgements in his excellent […]
Rebuking New York University for trying to Outlaw Criticism of Israel by Conflating Zionism with Judaism
Committee on Academic Freedom | Middle East Studies Association | – Linda G. Mills President, New York University linda.mills@nyu.edu Georgina Dopico Provost, New York University georgina.dopico@nyu.edu . . . We write on behalf of the Middle East Studies Association of North America (MESA) and its Committee on Academic Freedom to express our grave concern […]
Muslims’ favorability Rating Falls this Year among Americans, as Gaza casts a Shadow and Biden spreads Misinformation
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The University of Maryland issued a report this summer on a Critical Issues Poll that found an alarming rise in bigotry directed at Muslims and Muslim Americans during the past year, which seems certainly connected to the October 17 attack on Israel by Hamas in Gaza and the subsequent Israeli […]
“Wipe it off the Face of the Earth!” Israel’s War on the United Nations and International Law
( Middle East Monitor ) – Departing Israeli Ambassador to the United Nations, Gilad Erdan, has clearly had an unpleasant experience at the world’s largest international institution. In an interview published in the Israeli newspaper Maariv on 20 August, the disgruntled envoy said that, “The UN building should be closed and wiped off from the […]
The West must end its Two-Tier Approach to Protection of Civilians in Gaza and Ukraine
Published in: The New Arab Yasmine Ahmed Director, United Kingdom YasmineAhmed001 ( Human Rights Watch ) – Britain’s response to the attack, delivered by Ambassador Barbara Woodward at the UN Security Council meeting in Kyiv was unequivocal: the attack was a display of “cowardly depravity,” and Russia’s actions constituted “barbaric acts of violence.” Attacks directed at […]
The Truth about Immigration: Why Successful Societies Welcome Newcomers
Auburn, Al. (Special to Informed Comment; Feature) – Author Zeke Hernandez’s new book is The Truth About Immigration: Why Successful Societies Welcome Newcomers (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 2024: $30.00). The author, an immigrant born in Uruguay, lived in Costa Rica, Guatemala, and Argentina, before coming to the US. Hernandez received his B.A. and M.A. […]
War on Gaza Crystalizes Israel’s Image
( Russia in Global Affairs ) – Modern Israel attracts much attention from analysts and the public but our ability to understand it is hindered by ideology, prejudice, and myth. Many tread carefully when discussing Israel lest they be accused of antisemitism. In an earlier article, I explained what distinguishes anti-Zionism from antisemitism. However, the […]
Afghanistan: The Taliban’s ‘Vice and Virtue’ Laws Reimpose the Harsh Repression of Women
By Kambaiz Rafi, Durham University | – (The Conversation) – Until the collapse of Afghanistan’s US-backed government in August 2021, few knew clearly what the Taliban wanted once they had returned to power. Some western officials and observers hoped for a big change from the regime, which had governed the Taliban’s Islamic Emirate in the […]