By Eadaoin Carthy, Dublin City University and Abrar Abdelsalam, Dublin City University | – (The Conversation) – Since their inception in the 1940s, the so-called forever chemicals have woven themselves into the fabric of our modern world. But recently, they’ve been appearing in alarming news headlines about their damaging effects on our health. PFAS have, […]
Israel-Hamas Conflict puts China’s Strategy of ‘Balanced Diplomacy’ in the Middle East at Risk
By Andrew Latham, Macalester College | – On Oct. 30, 2023, reports began to circulate that Israel was missing from from the mapping services provided by Chinese tech companies Baidu and Alibaba, effectively signaling – or so some believed – that Beijing was siding with Hamas over Israel in the ongoing war. Within hours, Chinese […]
Yemen’s Houthis enter the Israel-Gaza Conflict: What Impact on US and Saudi Arabia?
By Mahad Darar, Colorado State University | – Yemen’s Houthi movement launched missiles and drones at Israel on Oct. 31, 2023 – provoking fears of a dangerous escalation of the Middle East conflict. With the militia – which controls part of the Arabian Peninsula state – vowing further attacks, Israel countered by sending missile boats […]
Gaza Bombing adds to the Generations of Palestinians displaced from their Homes
By Michael Vicente Perez, University of Memphis | – (The Conversation) – An estimated 1.4 million Palestinians have been displaced from their homes since the Israeli military began bombing the Gaza Strip on Oct. 8, 2023, in retaliation for a surprise attack by Hamas militants. Many of these Palestinians have sought refuge in United Nations […]
In the Israel-Hamas Conflict, Children are the Ultimate Pawns — and Ultimate Victims
By Omer Bartov, Brown University | – (The Conversation) – In 1903, a local mob killed 49 Jews, including several children, and raped and wounded 600 others, in the city of Kishinev, then part of the Russian Empire. These three days of violence later became known as the Kishinev pogrom. A few days later, the […]
How Islamophobia and anti-Palestinian Racism are Manufactured through Disinformation
By Jasmin Zine, Wilfrid Laurier University | – (The Conversation) – In political communication, a big lie — what is known as the “illusory truth effect” — is when the constant repetition of misinformation makes people more likely to accept it as truth. Repetition is how lies gain traction. The more exposure to specific ideas […]
Gaza conflict: the US has learned from its ‘forever wars’ – but Israel has not
By Rob Geist Pinfold, Durham University | – (The Conversation) – After Hamas’s deadly attacks on October 7, a ground invasion of the Gaza Strip by the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) appeared inevitable. Benjamin Netanyahu’s government apparently had little choice, given that the attack shocked Israel to its very core. The IDF failed to prevent […]
Domicide: the Destruction of Homes in Gaza reminds me of what happened to my City, Homs
By Ammar Azzouz, University of Oxford | – This article accompanies an episode of The Conversation Weekly podcast featuring an interview with the author, Ammar Azzouz. The Israeli bombardment of Gaza following the Hamas attack on southern Israel on October 7 has forced hundreds of thousands of Palestinians out of their homes. At least 43% […]
Hamas was unpopular in Gaza before it attacked Israel – Surveys showed Gazans cared more about fighting Poverty than armed Resistance
By Nathan French, Miami University | – (The Conversation) – Amid the escalation of the Israel-Hamas war, observers in the region and internationally continue to make assumptions about Gazan public support for Hamas. Mistaken assumptions such as those by U.S. presidential candidate Ron DeSantis, claiming that all Gazans are “antisemitic,” or those that blame Gazans […]