Middle East

Belfast (Special to Informed Comment) – The period between the American election in November and the inauguration of the new president in January is often considered by the Israeli leadership an opportune time to conduct operations against the Palestinians, including those with high foreseeable civilian casualties. The outgoing president doesn’t care to interfere, while the […]

Donald Trump

Trump’s Parting Shots for Israel

Asa Winstanley

( Middle East Monitor) – At the start of this year, in this column, I argued that the annexation of the West Bank was coming, one way or another. The West Bank and the Gaza Strip were the remaining 22 per cent of historic Palestine left for the Palestinians in 1949, after the ceasefire between […]

Israel/ Palestine

How the Israeli Occupation has stolen Palestinians’ Childhood

Middle East Monitor

By Wafa Aludaini | – ( Middle East Monitor ) – Decades of occupation, unrest and blockade have taken a heavy toll on the children of Palestine and in particular the children of the Gaza Strip, where regular outbreaks of aggression and the deteriorating living conditions have left a generation in desperate need of psychosocial […]

BDS

Pompeo’s attempt to Penalize Boycotters of Israel aims to Strengthen White Nationalism and Roll back Civil Rights

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Carol Morello and Steve Hendrix at the Washington Post report that Secretary of State Mike Pompeo visited Israeli squatters on Palestinian land in the West Bank on Thursday (well, that is my characterization, they didn’t put it that way). In a bid to please his evangelical constituency and potential Jewish […]

Donald Trump

A Trump strike on Iran will make the US an Outcast and won’t stop Tehran’s civilian Nuclear Program

The Conversation

By Christoph Bluth | – Donald Trump asked his senior advisers to examine options for air strikes against Iran’s main nuclear installation, the New York Times reported recently. According to the report, the meeting occurred the day after inspectors reported a significant increase in the country’s stockpile of nuclear material. Key advisers reportedly counselled against […]

Anti-War Movement

Ten Foreign Policy Fiascos Biden Can Fix on Day One (and Should)

Medea Benjamin and Nicholas J.S. Davies

( Code Pink ) – Donald Trump loves executive orders as a tool of dictatorial power, avoiding the need to work through Congress. But that works both ways, making it relatively easy for President Biden to reverse many of Trump’s most disastrous decisions. Here are ten things Biden can do as soon as he takes […]

Israel Lobbies

Criticizing Israel is not antisemitic — it’s academic freedom

The Conversation

By Jasmin Zine, Greg Bird and Sara Matthews | – This summer controversy arose around the hiring of Valentina Azarova as the director of the University of Toronto faculty of law’s international human rights program. Some faculty accused the dean of rescinding a job offer because public figures were uncomfortable with her scholarly criticism of […]

Israel/ Palestine

Letter regarding ongoing denial of Palestinians in Gaza right to study abroad

Committee on Academic Freedom

Committee on Academic Freedom, Middle East Studies Association Letter regarding ongoing denial of Palestinians in Gaza right to study abroad Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu Fax: +972-2-5664838 pm_eng@pmo.gov.il Minister of Education Yoav Galant Fax: +972-2-5602390 yoavg@knesset.gov.il Minister of Higher Education Ze’ev Elkin Fax: +972-2-2649438 zelkin@knesset.gov.il Minister of Justice Avi Nissenkorn Fax: +972-2-6285438 mancal@justice.gov.il Brigadier General Rasan […]

Afghanistan

Is Trump leaving 2500 Troops in Iraq and in Afghanistan as a Poison Pill for Biden?

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Dustin Jones at NPR reports that Trump has instructed the Pentagon to bring most US troops home from Iraq and Afghanistan by January 15, 2021. Some 2,500 would remain in each country. The announcement was made, WaPo reports, by acting secretary of defense Christopher C. Miller. Miller was apparently brought […]