Israel/ Palestine

The first Trump administration reversed decades of US policies regarding Palestinians. The new one shuns genocidal atrocities. It prefers cultural genocide. New York (Special to Informed Comment; Feature) – In my new book, The Fall of Israel (2025), I examine the activities of all US postwar administrations regarding the Israelis and Palestinians. The first Trump […]

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Trump’s Envoy Witkoff on Gaza Deal: “Now We Have to Implement it”

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – President Trump’s Special Envoy to the Middle East, Steve Witkoff, gave an interview with Fox Cable News. Below I will quote him and present a little commentary with further information and context. Witkoff was asked about a statement by Hamas reported in the New York Times “We’re prepared for a […]

Israel/ Palestine

The long-term Impact of Israel’s Gaza Genocide will only become Clear as the Toxic Dust Settles

Middle East Monitor

by Dr Emma Keelan by Dr Brendan Ciarán Browne ( Middle East Monitor ) – As the toxic dust begins to settle, it is hard to even fathom the complex feelings of our Palestinian friends and colleagues, many of whom have families in Gaza who are beginning the arduous task of returning home and […]

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Let us be Joyous about the Release of all Hostages, Israeli and Palestinian, in Gaza Peace Deal, including 21 Palestinian Children

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – It is wonderful news that on Sunday and Monday Israeli and Palestinian hostages were released as part of the ceasefire deal brokered by Qatar, Egypt and the United States. Hamas released Romi Gonen, 24, kidnapped from the Nova music festival on October 7, 2023. Emily Damari, 28, was kidnapped from […]

Israel/ Palestine

Tevet, Palindromes, and the Ceasefire in Gaza

Shamai Leibowitz

( The Times of Israel ) – On the occasion of the ceasefire in Gaza, let’s reflect on the current Hebrew month of Tevet: This word is a linguistic treat—it’s the only month that forms a palindrome, a word or phrase that reads the same backward and forward. However, in Hebrew, this palindrome magic doesn’t […]

Donald Trump

UK Parliamentary Committee to British Gov’t: Recognize Palestinian State for Sustainable Peace

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The British Parliament has the longest history of any parliament, since it was the first, so it has had time to make a lot of mistakes. On the other hand, it is generally far less an embarrassment than the U.S. Congress. This principle was demonstrated on Friday when the International […]

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Biden Reveals Netanyahu’s Determination to Turn Gaza into Hiroshima, and his own Complicity

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – President Joe Biden’s interview with MSNBC’s Lawrence O’Donnell demonstrates that the project of right-wing Zionism, led by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, is to repeal post-World War II international law and take the world back to the jungle of the 1930s and 1940s, when the world’s great powers polished off […]

Israel/ Palestine

Israel/Palestine: An Abyss of Human Suffering in Gaza and a Biden Double Standard

Human Rights Watch

( Human Rights Watch) – (Jerusalem) – The Israeli military killed, wounded, starved, and forcibly displaced Palestinian civilians in Gaza in 2024, and destroyed their homes, schools, hospitals, and infrastructure at a scale unprecedented in recent history, Human Rights Watch said today in its World Report 2025. Tens of thousands of civilians in Gaza were killed and […]

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The Fatal Effort to Dismantle the UN’s Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees

Dan Steinbock

Over the past 15 months, the international community has failed to prevent genocidal atrocities in Gaza. Dismantling the UN refugee agency would perfect the nightmare. New York (Special to Informed Comment; Feature) – Early in the year, State Department officials briefed Joel Rayburn from the Trump transition team there could be a humanitarian “catastrophe” in […]