Human Rights

( Tomdispatch.com ) – On January 10th, one day before the 23rd anniversary of its opening, a much-anticipated hearing was set to take place at the Guantánamo Bay Detention Facility on the island of Cuba. After nearly 17 years of pretrial litigation, the prosecution of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed (KSM), the “mastermind” of the devastating attacks […]

censorship

Protesting to Columbia U. over Forced Retirement of Professor Katherine Franke for Palestine Advocacy

Committee on Academic Freedom

Committee on Academic Freedom | Middle East Studies Association | – Senator Greg Fryer Co-Chair, Faculty Affairs, Academic Freedom and Tenure Committee Columbia University Senate gaf1@cumc.columbia.edu Senator Letty Moss-Salentijn Co-Chair, Faculty Affairs, Academic Freedom and Tenure Committee Columbia University Senate lm23@cumc.columbia.edu Dear Senators Fryer and Moss-Salentijn: We write on behalf of the […]

censorship

Iran: Unchecked Repression of Dissent

The Conversation

Human Rights Watch – (Beirut) – Iranian authorities have continued their brutal, targeted repression even though the new Iranian president has promised change, Human Rights Watch said today in its World Report 2025. The authorities have targeted human rights defenders, women, ethnic and religious minorities, and families of those arrested or killed in the 2022 protests. For […]

Featured

The Qur’an’s Celebration of Diverse Skin Colors: Forms of Equality in the Muslim Scripture

Juan Cole

I am reprinting part of this essay that appeared in Renovatio, the literary magazine of a small Muslim liberal arts college — Zaytuna — in Berkeley, Ca. The Qur’an is the most hated book in America that no one has ever read, and there are already new visa bans on Muslims deriving from severe misunderstandings […]

Antisemitism

Death shaded the Life of this Holocaust historian. The cancer Memoir he began in Hospital was a final ‘Act of Love’

The Conversation

By Tess Scholfield-Peters, University of Technology Sydney (The Conversation) – Mark Raphael Baker began writing his final book, A Season of Death, from his hospital bed, in the wake of his terminal pancreatic cancer diagnosis. His second wife, Michelle, would later observe: “More than a comfort or distraction, in him it was a need.” The […]

censorship

Professor Katherine Franke on being Fired from Columbia Law School for Palestine Advocacy

Katherine M. Franke

Statement from Katherine Franke, January 10, 2025 For the last year and a half, as students at Columbia University and across the globe have protested against the Israeli government’s genocidal assault on Palestinians after the October 2023 attacks, a response that has resulted in horrendous devastation in Gaza, I have ardently defended students’ right to […]

Congress

Representative, it is Shameful that you Voted to Sanction the Justices of the Int’l Criminal Court for Netanyahu Arrest Warrant

Hugh J. Curran

Letter to Representative Jared Golden (D-ME) Dear Representative Jared Golden: Your decision to vote in favor of sanctioning the International Criminal Court of Justice, (ICC) which had ordered Israel to take steps to prevent genocide in Gaza, was dismaying. This recent vote to sanction the ICC by Representatives of Congress erodes the ability of the […]

Displaced and Refugees

What challenges do Syrian Refugees face as they return Home?

Global Voices

Written byRami Alhames Syrian and Iraqi refugees arrive at Skala Sykamias Lesvos, Greece. Image by Georgios Giannopoulos via Wikimedia Commons. CC BY-SA 4.0. ( Globalvoices.org ) – Since the eruption of the Syrian civil war in 2011, millions of Syrians have fled their country, seeking refuge in neighboring countries and beyond. Thirteen years on, a significant number […]

Drones

European Union funding for Israeli AI, Tech, raises Fresh Concerns about Complicity in Genocide

Middle East Monitor

By Melike Pala | – ( Middle East Monitor ) – Israel’s use of artificial intelligence (AI) funded by European Union research programmes to target civilians is attracting a lot of criticism. Since the Israeli attacks on Gaza began on 7 October, 2023, the EU has provided over €238 million ($246m) to Israeli institutions for […]