Middle East

Washington, DC (AFP) – Acting US Secretary of Defense Patrick Shanahan was quizzed by US lawmakers on President Donald Trump’s decision to withdraw US forces from Syria The fate of Acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan was thrown into the spotlight Wednesday following media reports of a fraught discussion he had with senior US lawmakers over […]

Israel/ Palestine

Israeli Assaults on Aqsa Mosque Worshipers Threaten Jerusalem Status Quo: Ashrawi

Maan News Agency

RAMALLAH (Ma’an) — Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) Executive Committee Member, Hanan Ashrawi, said on Wednesday, commenting on Israeli escalation at the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in occupied East Jerusalem over the past two days, “Israel is pursuing an irresponsible and dangerous policy in occupied East Jerusalem that aims to alter the historic status quo in the […]

Featured

How Kushner and other Key Trump Officials Plotted to Give Saudis the Atom Bomb in Return for Billions

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The House of Representatives’ Committee on Oversight and Reform has issued a Report on a plot to make billions of dollars by selling Saudi Arabia sensitive American nuclear technology that could allow the Kingdom to develop nuclear weapons. The scheme required breaking US law, which forbids technology transfers that might […]

Europe

Europe Rejects Trump’s demand they Take Back Captured ISIL Extremists

AFP

by Francis Curta with Dmitry Zaks in London | – Paris (AFP) – European officials on Monday gave a cold shoulder to a call by US President Donald Trump to take back citizens captured in the fight against Islamic State jihadists in Syria for prosecution back home. Concerns rose about the fate of European nationals […]

Israel/ Palestine

John Legend: “For too long it has been out of balance for progressives to speak up for the rights of Palestinians”

Maan News Agency

BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) — American award-winning singer, songwriter, and producer, John Legend, recently spoke out about standing up for human rights for Palestinians while on the “Real Time With Bill Maher” show. Legend appeared on the “Real Time With Bill Maher” show on HBO with American comedian and political commentator Bill Maher, where he discussed […]

Israel/ Palestine

Israeli Anchor on IDF Troops sent to Occupied Palestine: ‘We get back Animals’

Maan News Agency

BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) — An Israeli news anchor for Channel 13 stirred controversy, over the weekend, after saying that Israel was turning soldiers into “animals” with its ongoing rule over the occupied West Bank. Israeli news outlets reported that anchor Oshrat Kotler made her comments at the end of a news piece regarding Israeli army soldiers […]

Kurds

Leftist Syrian Kurds who defeated ISIL Plead with Europe not to Abandon them as Trump Did

AFP

By Valérie LEROUX | – Paris (AFP) – A top Kurdish official has called on Europe not to abandon Syrian Kurds once the battle against the Islamic State group is over and to help set up an international force to protect them from Turkey. European powers “have a political and moral responsibility” to the Kurds, […]

Israel/ Palestine

Yes, Ilhan, there is an Israel Lobby – Despite the Phony Controversy

Walter L. Hixson

In a country that has elected a born-rich, incompetent, petulant child as its president nothing should really surprise us any longer, but the absurdities of contemporary American political life just keep on coming. Consider the controversy over Rep. Ilhan Omar’s (D-MN) flippant tweet, “It’s all about the Benjamins” alluding to the financial role of pro-Israel […]

Holocaust

Outreach of Israel’s Netanyahu to Polish Right Roiled by Holocaust Assertion

AFP

Warsaw (AFP) – Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki has cancelled a visit to Israel for a high-level summit, a government spokesperson told AFP on Sunday, after uproar in Poland over reported comments by Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu about the Poles and the Holocaust. Netanyahu — who was initially quoted in Haaretz newspaper as saying that […]