Israel/ Palestine

“When plunder [and dispossession] becomes a way of life for a group of men in a society, over the course of time they create for themselves a legal system that authorizes it and a moral code that glorifies it.” — Frédéric Bastiat Ilan Pappe, the Israeli historian, wrote in “The Forgotten Palestinians” that “Zionism was born […]

Apartheid

Israel now ranks among the world’s leading jailers of journalists. We don’t know why they’re behind bars

Peter Greste

By Peter Greste, Macquarie University | – (The Conversation) – Israel has emerged as one of the world’s leading jailers of journalists, according to a newly released census compiled by the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists. Each year, the committee releases a snapshot of the number of journalists behind bars as of December 1 […]

Displaced and Refugees

Netanyahu says Israel must Control from the River to the Sea, but it won’t cost him his Job as it does Palestinians

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The Israeli newspaper Arab 48 reports on the press conference in Tel Aviv on Thursday evening of Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu. He vowed to continue the war on Gaza and vowed to attack Iran. “Who says we won’t attack Iran? We will attack it.” At one point Netanyahu insisted that […]

Houthi

US Officials Care More about Protecting Oil Tankers than Palestinians

Foreign Policy in Focus

By Edward Hunt | – ( Foreign Policy in Focus ) – While Israel continues its military offensive in Gaza, the United States is directing a major military operation in the Red Sea, where U.S. warships are maintaining a persistent presence to protect shipping lanes. With its recently launched Operation Prosperity Guardian, the United States […]

Archaeology

Gaza’s Oldest Mosque, Destroyed in Israeli Airstrike, was once a Pagan Temple, a Church and had Jewish Engravings

The Conversation

Stephennie Mulder, The University of Texas at Austin The Omari Mosque in Gaza was largely destroyed by Israeli bombardment on Dec. 8, 2023. It was one of the most ancient mosques in the region and a beloved Gazan landmark. The mosque was first built in the early seventh century and named after Islam’s second caliph, […]

Anti-intellectualism

Zionism, Anti-Palestinianism, and the Fall of Harvard’s Claudine Gay

Charles Hirschkind

Berkeley, CA (Special to Informed Comment; Feature) – Much of the media conversation about the recent resignation of Harvard’s president, Claudine Gay, has (rightfully) framed her abrupt removal in the context of the current right-wing assault on liberal education and, particularly, its targeting of the policies and practices designed to promote racial equality on US […]

Featured

Food as a Weapon of War: The Crime of Starvation in Gaza

Hilal Elver

Istanbul (Special to Informed Comment; Feature) – On October 7, 2023, the day after Hamas’ attack on Israeli civilians, the Minister of Defense, Yoav Gallant, announced a “complete siege” on already besieged Gaza that often described as the “largest open-air prison” with 2.2 million people squeezed into a small tract of land that had been […]

art and photography

Artists Bring Human Richness at Times of Strife – and must be allowed to Speak about the Israel and Gaza

The Conversation

By Lowell Gasoi, Carleton University | – The current Israel-Hamas war has dominated the news for the past few months. As reports of military machinations and diplomatic efforts have gained attention, the art world has struggled with responses to the horrors of this war. For example, controversy and calls for transparency and accountability followed the […]

Children

Israeli-Made Famine: Denial of Food Aid could Kill 22,000 Palestinians this Month, Half of them Children

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs reports that Israeli airstrikes and ground operations continued over the weekend in Gaza and says, “Between the afternoons of 12 and 14 January, according to the Ministry of Health (MoH) in Gaza, 260 Palestinians were reportedly killed, and another 577 people […]