Israel/ Palestine

( Middle East Monitor) – Nothing seems to be working for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has tried every trick in the book to save his political career and avoid a possible prison sentence. Nevertheless, for Israel’s longest-serving leader, the end is almost certainly nigh. Netanyahu described his indictment on charges of fraud, bribery […]

Israel/ Palestine

In Search of Mideast Empire? Why is Russia Cozying up to Hamas?

Middle East Monitor

By Adnan Abu Amer | @adnanabuamer1 | – Hamas and Russia have in recent months have shared a remarkable series of official visits and telephone calls, which led observers to conclude that the two sides are strengthening their relations. Russia’s rapprochement with Hamas shows the latter’s need for Moscow, being a major capital in the […]

Donald Trump

Trump and Israel’s Netanyahu: How the Far Right Subverts Democracy Globally

H. Scott Prosterman

San Francisco (Special to Informed Comment) – The trajectories and political fortunes of Israeli PM Benjamin “Bibi” Netanyahu and President Donald Trump are so closely aligned that there’s no irony it. They invested heavily in one another and may be experiencing parallel falls from “grace,” which was never a defining trait of either man. The […]

Israel/ Palestine

Could Trump’s Coddling of Israeli far Right Hasten Collapse of Apartheid Regime?

Middle East Monitor

By Asa Winstanley | @AsaWinstanley | – (Middle East Monitor) – Last week US President Donald Trump’s administration made a notable move. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced that the US is reversing previous policy which basically accepted that Israel’s colonial settlements in the occupied West Bank are a violation of international law. This is […]

Israel/ Palestine

Israel v. Palestine in Age of Trump: Annexation is the Highest Stage of Settler Colonialism

Ramzy Baroud

( The Middle East Monitor ) – It is hardly a major surprise that the US government has finally decreed that illegal Jewish settlements built in defiance of international law are somehow “consistent” with the said law. US foreign policy has been edging closer towards this conclusion for some time. Since moving into the White […]

Israel/ Palestine

Stateless, Occupied Palestinians can’t vote in Next Israeli Election, but Have the Greatest Stakes

Middle East Monitor

By Adnan Abu Amer | @adnanabuamer1 | – With the declaration of the leaders of Israel’s two major parties, Likud led by Benjamin Netanyahu and Blue-White led by Benny Gantz, about their failure to form the next government, despite the expiry of the deadline allocated to them, Israel seems to soon head towards holding a […]

Featured

Expelling Human Rights Watch: Israel Joins Burundi, Uzbekistan and other Authoritarian States

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Israel on Sunday expelled the in-country director of Human Rights Watch from the country. Israel thereby joins dictatorships such as Uzbekistan, Burundi, Azerbaijan, and Egypt, which have also expelled HRW human rights workers. Breathless headlines in the US are saying that Israel became the first democracy to do so, but […]

Israel/ Palestine

Now that Trump deems Israeli Squatting Legal, will More Palestinians be Kicked off their Land?

The Conversation

By Anne Irfan | – When US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced that the US government will no longer view Israeli settlements in the West Bank as illegal, it was a dramatic departure from the stance of previous US administrations. His predecessors held to the State Department’s 1978 legal opinion that the settlements are […]

Donald Trump

What does Fraud and Bribery trial of Israeli PM Netanyahu tell us about Trump Impeachment?

Juan Cole

Revised By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Israel’s attorney general, Avichai Mandelblit on advice from the police, indicted caretaker Israeli prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu on fraud and bribery charges Thursday. On Friday, he refused to step down. Netanyahu is charged in three cases. In Case 4000, Netanyahu is accused of giving the […]