religion

By Ellen Cantarow and Jennifer Loewenstein | – ( Commondreams.org ) – All of us—and we are legion across the worldmust keep our eyes on the genocide in Gaza, as well as on the vicious pogroms underway in the West Bank. A recent statement by James Elder of UNICEF reports that in Rafah, “The European […]

Anti-Zionism

Antisemitism and Antizionism: A Dangerous Conflation

Yakov M. Rabkin

Montréal (Special to Informed Comment; Feature) – Antisemitism is making the headlines. The Israeli Prime Minister describes as antisemitic the accusation that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza, and even American students who are calling for a ceasefire. What Israel is doing does in fact provoke antisemitic acts against synagogues, Jewish schools and even individual […]

Arab World

Why are Algorithms called Algorithms? A brief History of the Persian Polymath you’ve likely never Heard of

The Conversation

By Debbie Passey, The University of Melbourne | – (The Conversation) – Algorithms have become integral to our lives. From social media apps to Netflix, algorithms learn your preferences and prioritise the content you are shown. Google Maps and artificial intelligence are nothing without algorithms. So, we’ve all heard of them, but where does the […]

Donald Trump

Top Ways MAGA and Right Wing Zionism Converge, and Why Smotrich is Embracing Trump

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Going back to the late nineteenth century, Zionism has had a complex and storied history, and there have been many strains of the ideology. Some early Zionists did not insist on colonizing Palestine, while others did (and colonizing it was the word they used). All agreed that the Jewish religion […]

Anti-Zionism

Zionism’s Expired Shelf-Life: Why Naomi Klein is right that it has become Pharaoh

H. Scott Prosterman

Oakland, Ca. (Special to Informed Comment; Feature) – Previously I’ve argued that Zionism has run its course as a political movement, and accomplished its goal: The creation of a viable Jewish nation-state. I’ve also argued that Zionism under Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu (Bibi) has become a driving force in nurturing global anti-Semitism. He has perverted […]

Islam

Learning about Patience and Impatience: Top Three Principles from the Great Sufi Scholar al-Ghazali

The Conversation

By Liz Bucar, Northeastern University | – From childhood, we are told that patience is a virtue and that good things will come to those who wait. And, so, many of us work on cultivating patience. This often starts by learning to wait for a turn with a coveted toy. As adults, it becomes trying […]

Featured

Israel on the Brink as Ultra-Orthodox Exemption from Military Service is Set to End

H. Scott Prosterman

Oakland, Ca. (Special to Informed Comment; Featured) – On March 29, the Israeli Supreme Court ordered the government to stop subsidizing the academies and yeshivas (seminaries), whose students have been exempted from military service since Israel’s founding. This move, brought by Attorney-General Gali Baharav-Miara, was prompted by the expiration of prior government actions to maintain […]

Africa

Epic Fail: The New Junta in Niger Tells the United States to Pack up its War and Go Home

Nick Turse

( Tomdispatch.com ) – Dressed in green military fatigues and a blue garrison cap, Colonel Major Amadou Abdramane, a spokesperson for Niger’s ruling junta, took to local television last month to criticize the United States and sever the long-standing military partnership between the two countries. “The government of Niger, taking into account the aspirations and […]

Islam

Europe’s Jewish Scholars of Islam

Shalom Goldman

Middlebury, Vt. (Special to Informed Comment) – At the end of the nineteenth century, the Turkish government asked its Minister of Education to prepare a report on European universities and the possibility of introducing Western style higher education to the Ottoman realm. The Minister travelled to the great European educational institutions and submitted his report […]