Arab World

Vice News | — “In response to last year’s Gaza conflict, the Israeli government announced the construction of further settlements in the West Bank — a move condemned by the international community for escalating tensions that were already highly fraught. The expansion of the settlements has consumed privately owned Palestinian land, causing the destruction of […]

France

Hezbollah’s Surprising Denunciation of Paris Attacks: is it Courting the West?

contributors

By Rola El-Husseini | (Special to Informed Comment) In a speech in Beirut on January 9, 2014, on the occasion of the birth of the Prophet Mohammed, Hezbollah secretary general Hassan Nasrallah declared that killings and beheadings by “takfiris” (excommunicators) are more harmful to Islam than are cartoons or books mocking the Prophet. This was […]

Dissent

Saudis torture jailed Liberal Blogger w/ 1000 lashes for… Blogging

contributors

Human Rights Watch | (Beirut) — More Lashes Pending for Creating Liberal Website, Insulting Religious Authorities King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia should overturn the lashing and prison term for a blogger imprisoned for his views and immediately grant him a pardon. Saudi authorities lashed Raif Badawi 50 times on January 9, 2015, in front of […]

al Qaeda in the Arabian Penisula

From Yemen to Paris: The al-Qaeda Franchise from the 15th to the 60th Parallel N.

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) — Analysts have been understandably cautious about the nature of the attacks on the Charlie Hebdo staff and a Jewish deli in Paris. On the one hand, they appear to be the work of a small cell. On the other, members of the cell have long and clear links […]

Apartheid

Winter Floods strike a Gaza reduced to Rubble by Israeli Shelling

Juan Cole

GAZA CITY (Ma’an News Agency) — Hundreds of Palestinians in the southern Gaza Strip on Friday were forced to evacuate their homes due to rising water levels, as winter Storm Huda began to take a toll on the besieged coastal enclave on the third day of its landing. Hatem al-Khur, an official in the Khuzaa […]

Arab World

How is the Press in the Muslim World covering the Paris Attacks?

contributors

By Joanna Paraszczuk | (RFE/RL) — Media in the Muslim world have published a wide variety of reactions to the deadly attack on the offices of the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo in Paris. In Iran, the morning papers offered very diverse coverage of the event. Although overall coverage was low-key compared to Western media, some […]

al-Qaeda

Yes, they’re Condemning the Paris Attacks: The Muslims’ War on Terror

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) — When American commentators like Carl Bernstein complain that Muslim authorities have not sufficiently denounced the terrorist attack on the Charlie Hebdo staff in Paris, they show a profound ignorance of the current situation in the Middle East. The fact is that both governments of Muslim-majority countries and the […]

Apartheid

Paris attack becomes Political Football in Israel and Palestine

contributors

By Nasser Lahham | Ma’an News Agency | — The shooting at a satirical magazine in Paris on Wednesday, which left 12 people dead, came at a very sensitive and dangerous time for both Palestinians and the Israelis. France has recently supported the Palestinian people and their cause at the UN Security Council, causing panic […]

al-Qaeda

Paris Terrorist was Radicalized by Bush’s Iraq War, Abu Ghraib Torture

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) — Sharif and Said Kouashi, the two brothers for whom the French police are searching, were born in Paris of Algerian parents, Mokhtar et Freiha Méguireche, according to a profile published by Le Monde. Said was born in 1980. Sharif was born in 1982. The brothers were poor and […]