Middle East

Violent Provocateur Ben-Gvir, Israeli Squatters, run Riot in al-Khalil/ Hebron, injuring Indigenous Palestinians and Israeli Troops

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Israel’s new extremist far right-wing government is the gift that keeps on giving. Itamar Ben-Gvir, an ally of the new prime minister, Binyamin Netanyahu, led his violent followers to al-Khalil, the Palestinian city in the Palestinian West Bank named for Abraham that the Israelis term “Hebron.” Israel’s president Isaac Herzog […]

Arms Sales

Ukraine war ignites the Arms Race in the Middle East

Middle East Monitor

By Ibrahim Nawar | – ( Middle East Monitor ) – The Ukraine war has cast a shadow over the arms race in the Middle East and ignited it. The Iranian weapons supplies to Russia, the Turkish and Israeli weapons to Ukraine, and Germany’s request from Israel to provide it with a system of Arrow-3 […]

Authoritarianism

Social Media shows Iranian Crowds setting fire to Khomeini’s House, in Generational Rejection of Islamic Republic

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Reuters reports that social media sites carried video allegedly from Thursday night in the small town of Khomein in Iran, which appeared to show protesters setting fire to the childhood home of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the founder of the Islamic Republic of Iran. Khomeini died in 1989. The house had […]

Israel/ Palestine

Washington cares about Israel killing Palestinian-American Journalist Abu Akleh, but Not about dead unhyphenated Palestinians

Ramona Wadi

( Middle East Monitor) – Israel is once again, albeit temporarily, under the spotlight for the targeted killing in May of Palestinian American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh. This follows the revelation that the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is conducting an investigation into the crime. In September, after many denials, Israel conceded there was […]

Featured

Biden Administration Tells U.S. Court Saudi’s Bin Salman can’t be sued for Role in Murder because he is Head of State

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Stephanie Kirchgaessner at the Guardian reports that the Biden administration has made a filing with the U.S. court that was considering a civil suit against Mohammed Bin Salman, the crown prince of Saudi Arabia, by the widow of slain Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi, seeking damages for his involvement in […]

Israel

Can U.S. Backing for Israel survive its New Extremist, Racist and undemocratic Government?

H. Scott Prosterman

Oakland, Ca. (Informed Comment) – The election of a far-far right wing Israeli government may challenge the strength of US-Israeli relations as never before. How many human rights violations and imperialist annexations are to be tolerated before the spigot of endless financial support is turned off? The U.S. has made clear to Israel that it […]

Authoritarianism

In New Tactic, Young Iranian Protesters Knock Off Clerics’ Turbans On The Street

Golnaz Esfandiari

By Golnaz Esfandiari and Hamid Fatemi | – ( RFE/RL ) – Nationwide antiestablishment protests have raged across the Islamic republic since the death of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old woman who died on September 16 shortly after she was arrested for allegedly violating the hijab law on women’s dress. As the authorities have waged a […]

Authoritarianism

Iranian Women’s Demands for Freedom Must Be Heard

Human Rights Watch

By Rothna Begum, Senior Researcher, Women’s Rights Division | – ( Human Rights Watch ) – The current protests gripping Iran show no signs of abating. More than forty days since the death of Iranian Kurdish woman Mahsa Amini–who died after being arrested by Iran’s morality police for breach of the country’s strict dress code–the […]

censorship

Musk’s Twitter won’t Label as False the Whopper that Iran has Sentenced 15,000 Protesters to Die (It is so far 2)

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Maria Ramirez Uribe at Politifact explains that a wildly inaccurate Instagram post alleging that Iran’s parliament had sentenced 15,000 arrested demonstrators to death went viral. The allegation of 15,000 on death row was shared by Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and other prominent figures and then went viral on Twitter. […]