Middle East

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) – Meir Dagan, the former head of Israeli intelligence, has long been on the outs with Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu. Now he is actively campaigning for the Israeli electorate to dump him as prime minister in the upcoming elections. Soon after leaving office four years ago, he broke longstanding […]

Christianity

ISIL/ Daesh wiping out Iraq’s Religious Minorities

contributors

By RFE/RL | – Human Rights organizations warn that the Islamic State (IS) extremist group has targeted minority communities in Iraq in a “systematic strategy to remove them permanently” from large parts of the country. In a report launched on February 27, four nongovernmental organizations detailed summary executions, forced conversions, rape, and other abuses suffered […]

Apartheid

Israeli Blockade could cause Gaza Reconstruction to Take Over a Century

contributors

By IMEMC News | – British rights organization, Oxfam, stated that the reconstruction of the Gaza Strip may take more than 100 years, at the current rate, to complete essential building of homes, schools and health facilities in Gaza unless the Israeli blockade is lifted. According to Al Ray’s report, less than 0.25 percent of […]

Entertainment

Leonard Nimoy’s Last Wishes for Israel and Palestine

Juan Cole

Reprint edn. in honor of the passing of Mr. Nimoy, who inspired a generation. Leonard Nimoy, who played Mr. Spock on Star Trek, speaks out as a Jewish American in favor of a two-state solution and a divided Jerusalem. Nimoy said, ‘ “I reach out to you as someone who is troubled to see the […]

Apartheid

5 Surprising Ways Iran is better than Israel

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) I think I’m one of the few Americans who has been to both Iran and Israel. I like both countries and have a lot in common with thinkers in both. I love What I know of Tel Aviv’s cafe culture and the searing honesty and high ethics of the […]

Energy

Gaza: How the Struggle for Natural Gas drives the Wars

contributors

By Michael Schwartz | (Tomdispatch.com) | – Guess what? Almost all the current wars, uprisings, and other conflicts in the Middle East are connected by a single thread, which is also a threat: these conflicts are part of an increasingly frenzied competition to find, extract, and market fossil fuels whose future consumption is guaranteed to […]

History

ISIL militants destroy Humankind’s heritage of Civilization from Ancient Iraq

contributors

RT | – The Islamic State has posted a video online showing a group of militants destroying ancient statues and other artifacts, saying they are symbols of idolatry. Some of the objects date from the seventh century BC. Specialists say the damage is incalculable. The video, which appeared online on Thursday, shows monuments and relics […]

Featured

Why Netanyahu’s Congress Speech will Fail: Iran Can’t be Stopped, only Monitored

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) – The conspiracy hatched by Republican Speaker of the House John Boehner and Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu to undermine President Obama’s negotiations with Iran over its civilian nuclear weapons program has a false premise that dooms it. Many Republicans, and Netanyahu, believe that Obama is negotiating a bad deal […]

Islam

Jewish Jihad on Palestinians: Israeli Squatters burn mosque near Bethlehem

contributors

BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) — Extremist Jewish settlers set fire overnight Tuesday to a mosque in the southern West Bank town of al-Jaba west of Bethlehem, locals told Ma’an. As worshipers arrived around 4:30 a.m. Wednesday to prepare for the dawn prayer at al-Huda mosque, they saw smoke and flames rising from inside the building. Worshipers alerted […]