Middle East

Netanyahu says Israel must Control from the River to the Sea, but it won’t cost him his Job as it does Palestinians

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The Israeli newspaper Arab 48 reports on the press conference in Tel Aviv on Thursday evening of Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu. He vowed to continue the war on Gaza and vowed to attack Iran. “Who says we won’t attack Iran? We will attack it.” At one point Netanyahu insisted that […]

Middle East

Ukraine as a Global Economic War, and the Role of the Middle East

Marc Martorell Junyent

Review of Maximilian Hess, “Economic War: Ukraine and the Global Conflict between Russia and the West” (London: Hurst & Co., 2023). Barcelona (Special to Informed Comment; Feature) – The war in Ukraine is being fought at two different levels. The first one is the military confrontation, where developments are measured in numbers of casualties, kill […]

Houthi

US Officials Care More about Protecting Oil Tankers than Palestinians

Foreign Policy in Focus

By Edward Hunt | – ( Foreign Policy in Focus ) – While Israel continues its military offensive in Gaza, the United States is directing a major military operation in the Red Sea, where U.S. warships are maintaining a persistent presence to protect shipping lanes. With its recently launched Operation Prosperity Guardian, the United States […]

Archaeology

Gaza’s Oldest Mosque, Destroyed in Israeli Airstrike, was once a Pagan Temple, a Church and had Jewish Engravings

The Conversation

Stephennie Mulder, The University of Texas at Austin The Omari Mosque in Gaza was largely destroyed by Israeli bombardment on Dec. 8, 2023. It was one of the most ancient mosques in the region and a beloved Gazan landmark. The mosque was first built in the early seventh century and named after Islam’s second caliph, […]

Iraq

Afterlife of Occupation : Iraqi Academia and the Peripheries of Resurgence 20 Years After Bush’s Invasion

Juan Cole

University of Michigan | Hatcher Graduate Library Discussion | – A panel discussion exploring the landscape of anti-war advocacy within U.S. universities at the outset of the occupation, “Afterlife of Occupation : Iraqi Academia and the Peripheries of Resurgence” 14 November 2023, Hatcher Graduate Library A panel discussion exploring the landscape of anti-war advocacy within […]

Anti-intellectualism

Zionism, Anti-Palestinianism, and the Fall of Harvard’s Claudine Gay

Charles Hirschkind

Berkeley, CA (Special to Informed Comment; Feature) – Much of the media conversation about the recent resignation of Harvard’s president, Claudine Gay, has (rightfully) framed her abrupt removal in the context of the current right-wing assault on liberal education and, particularly, its targeting of the policies and practices designed to promote racial equality on US […]

Featured

Food as a Weapon of War: The Crime of Starvation in Gaza

Hilal Elver

Istanbul (Special to Informed Comment; Feature) – On October 7, 2023, the day after Hamas’ attack on Israeli civilians, the Minister of Defense, Yoav Gallant, announced a “complete siege” on already besieged Gaza that often described as the “largest open-air prison” with 2.2 million people squeezed into a small tract of land that had been […]

censorship

Iran: Chokehold on Dissent

Human Rights Watch

Human Rights Watch – (Beirut) – Iranian authorities show no signs of ending their brutal repression of peaceful dissent across the country one year after nationwide protests that erupted after the death in morality police custody of Mahsa Jina Amini in September 2022, Human Rights Watch said today in its World Report 2024. The authorities […]

art and photography

Artists Bring Human Richness at Times of Strife – and must be allowed to Speak about the Israel and Gaza

The Conversation

By Lowell Gasoi, Carleton University | – The current Israel-Hamas war has dominated the news for the past few months. As reports of military machinations and diplomatic efforts have gained attention, the art world has struggled with responses to the horrors of this war. For example, controversy and calls for transparency and accountability followed the […]