Israel/ Palestine

By Lawrence Hill-Cawthorne, University of Bristol | – The UK government has received internal legal advice that Israel has broken international humanitarian law in its current war on Gaza. The advice was revealed by Alicia Kearns, the Conservative chair of the House of Commons foreign affairs select committee, in a speech to a fundraising event […]

Featured

Israel on the Brink as Ultra-Orthodox Exemption from Military Service is Set to End

H. Scott Prosterman

Oakland, Ca. (Special to Informed Comment; Featured) – On March 29, the Israeli Supreme Court ordered the government to stop subsidizing the academies and yeshivas (seminaries), whose students have been exempted from military service since Israel’s founding. This move, brought by Attorney-General Gali Baharav-Miara, was prompted by the expiration of prior government actions to maintain […]

Food Insecurity

Israel’s Attacks on Aid Workers Must End

OtherWords

By Mitchell Zimmerman | ( Otherwords.org) – Israel has come under intense criticism for killing aid workers helping the civilian victims of its war in Gaza. Most recently, an Israeli drone fired three missiles at a World Central Kitchen convoy, killing all seven humanitarian aid workers present. The trucks were clearly marked and their route […]

Iran

With Its Deterrence Strategy Weakened, Iran Faces Pressure To Hit Israel

Radio Free Europe Radio Liberty

By Kian Sharifi | – ( Radio Free Europe/ Radio Liberty ) – Iran’s strategy of deterrence against Israel has suffered greatly since the outbreak of the Gaza war — particularly after the brazen attack on its consulate in the Syrian capital on April 1. Eighteen members of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), including […]

Featured

The Story of Arab-Jews Instills Hope

Yakov M. Rabkin

Reflections on Avi Shlaim, Three Worlds : Memoirs of an Arab-Jew, London: Oneworld, 2023, 324 pp. During my stay in Iran in 2016, I heard from several Muslims that Jews are good businessmen because they are trustworthy, and their word weighs more than a notarized contract. I recalled these comments when I read about Yusef, […]

Featured

Israel’s Lavender Murderbot is Programmed to Kill up to a Third of all Palestinian Civilians in Gaza

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The incredibly brave and resourceful Israeli journalist Yuval Abraham revealed Wednesday in a hard-hitting piece of investigative journalism that the Israeli military has used two artificial intelligence programs, “Lavender” and “Where’s Daddy,” to target some 37,000 alleged members of the military wings of Hamas and Islamic Jihad. The programs used […]

Israel/ Palestine

The Gaza War at Six Months: Top 5 Recommendations for Ending the Fighting and Ensuring Human Security

Center for International Policy

The Gaza War at Six Months: Five Recommendations for Ending the Fighting and Ensuring Human Security in Israel-Palestine ( The Center for International Policy ) – This week marks six months since the horrific Hamas-led October 7, 2023 attack and atrocities against civilians in southern Israel, followed by the devastating and often indiscriminate Israeli assault […]

Featured

Was Israel’s Strike on Iranian Embassy in Damascus an attempt to draw the US into the War?

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Israel’s airstrikes Monday on the Iranian embassy in Damascus, which killed a senior general of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps and six other Iranian military advisers, as well as Syrians, is a violation of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations. Israel itself has squawked when its embassies and embassy personnel […]

Anti-intellectualism

Texas’ Gov. Abbott: Stop Weaponizing “Antisemitism” to Harass Campus Critics of Israeli Policy

Committee on Academic Freedom

Committee on Academic Freedom | Middle East Studies Association | – Letter to Texas Governor Greg Abbott regarding Executive Order GA-44 2 April 2024 Governor Greg Abbott Office of the Texas Governor Office of the Governor P.O. Box 12428 Austin, Texas 78711-2428 Dear Governor Abbott: We write on behalf of the […]