Middle East

As Israel struggles to form a Government, why do its poorest immigrants vote for the right and far right?

By Amandine Desille | – The Israeli election was held on September 17, but it remains unclear who – Benyamin Netanyahu (Likud) or his main opponent Benny Gantz (Blue White) – will be able to bring together a government. One thing is for sure: in elections in April and September 2019, Israel’s populist, religious and […]

Israel/ Palestine

Anti-Palestinianism is the modern day McCarthyism

Middle East Monitor

By Asa Winstanley | @AsaWinstanley | – As regular readers of this column will know, the McCarthyite atmosphere in Britain against supporters of Palestinian rights is getting worse. That is down in part to the Labour Party leadership’s acquiescence to the smear campaign to portray the party as anti-Semitic. The Labour National Executive Committee’s acceptance […]

censorship

On Khashoggi Murder Anniversary: Trump’s other Dangerous Conversations besides Ukraine, with Saudi Bin Salman

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – CNN reports that, in addition to Trump’s Ukraine conversation last July, the transcripts of his telephone calls with Saudi crown prince Mohammed Bin Salman and Russian president Vladimir Putin were also stored in a super highly classified server. The implication is that his staff heard him commit crimes in the […]

Featured

Saudis Riposted to drive Houthis from Najran, after Defeat of Saudi-Backed Yemeni Nationalists

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The details of the alleged Houthi operation against Saudi Arabia are still murky, and Saudi Arabia has so far declined to provide its side of the story. Al Jazeera Arabic on Sunday rounded up the details provided by the Houthis and by its Yemeni sources. First of all, Al Jazeera […]

Israel/ Palestine

Israel’s systemic harassment of human rights workers

Middle East Monitor

By Asa Winstanley | @AsaWinstanley | – Last week Israel … raided the offices of Addameer, a prisoners rights association, stealing some of its computers and hard drives.* This is all part of Israel’s long-running war against the Palestinian civilian population. It is a war to remove Palestinians from Palestine; to liquidate their existence as […]

Featured

Yemen’s Houthis Say they Invaded Saudi Arabia, Captured Thousands of Troops in Najran

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Update 9/30: The Houthi military operation appears to have been against Saudi-backed nationalist bases in the far north of Yemen, and the POWs taken seem to be mostly Yemeni nationalists, along with some Saudi officers and troops. There may have been Houthi infiltration of Najran and Jizan as well, but […]

censorship

With outbreak of New Demonstrations, Egyptian Authorities warn Foreign Journalists not to do their Jobs

Brian Whitaker

(Al-Bab.com) – The Egyptian authorities have issued a notice to accredited foreign journalists based in Cairo. Basically it seeks to restrict their reporting of demonstrations by demanding compliance with some rather bizarre “professional standards” — presumably with the threat of expulsion if they disobey. Here is the text: The State Information Service calls upon Correspondents […]

Egypt

Egypt’s Sisi Regime again Engages in Mass Arrests of Protesters as West looks the other Way

Jonathan Fenton-Harvey

(Informed Comment) – The sheer brutality of Egypt’s Abdel Fatah al-Sisi’s military regime once again came to light, following another crackdown and mass arrests on protesters. Meanwhile, many Western leaders at the latest United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in New York again show no sign of addressing such abuses from their ally. Small but widespread […]