religion

Committee on Academic Freedom, North America, Middle East Studies Association | – Representative Mike Johnson Speaker of the House of Representatives Representative Hakim Jeffries Minority Leader, House of Representatives Dear Speaker Johnson and Minority Leader Jeffries, We write on behalf of the Committee on Academic Freedom of the Middle East Studies Association […]

Christianity

Juan Cole: Infidel or Pagan? Understanding Kufr (كفر) in the Qur’an | Muhammad the Prophet of Peace

Juan Cole

Gabriel Said Reynolds of Notre Dame writes: “In this video I interview Professor Juan Cole, the Richard P. Mitchell Collegiate Professor of History at the University of Michigan. We discuss the historicity of Muhammad’s raids as well as the picture of the messenger that is obtained when one focuses on the Qur’an alone. The bulk […]

Islam

Never Forget: Jews and Muslims have Often imagined themselves in History as Siblings and Allies

Anouar Majid

Excerpted from Tingis. Historically, and even theologically, Jews have always been closer to Muslims than they were to Christians. It was in Muslim lands, the late eminent historian Bernard Lewis told us, that Arabic “became the language of science and philosophy, of government and commerce, even the language of Jewish theology when such a discipline […]

Featured

The Israeli Right Wing’s Genocidal Dream of the “River to the Sea”

Mark Karlin

(Special to Informed Comment; Feature) – While the US mainstream media and most political leaders have condemned ceasefire rallies for embracing the cry “from the river to the sea” as being anti-Semitic, the government of Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu has been openly championing an Israel “from the river to the sea.” And while ceasefire rallies […]

Donald Trump

Speaker MAGA Mike Johnson is the Face of the Republican Party: Election Denialist, Forced Birth Enforcer, Homophobe and Christian Zionist

Dan Dinello

Chicago (Special to Informed Comment; Feature) – Disguised as a mild-mannered Clark Kent, Mike Johnson is a raging theocrat under his tailored suit, who believes his ascension to the speakership was ordained by God. The formerly invisible but now made manifest Christian Nationalist from Louisiana was elevated to power unanimously, following three weeks of vindictive, […]

Israel/ Palestine

Does Compromise show Weakness or Strength? – A Surprising finding in the Talmud

Shamai Leibowitz

Growing up in Israel, the prevailing mentality surrounding me everywhere I went was that compromise shows weakness. The message was clear: compromise is a “Diaspora thing,” but for us Israelis – we stand strong, we take “what is ours,” and we don’t back down. But my father Elhanan Leibowitz OBM (of blessed memory), whose yahrtzeit, […]

Antisemitism

Confessions of an Ex-Zionist: My Judaism will not stand for the Mass Slaughter in Gaza

H. Scott Prosterman

Oakland, Ca. (Special to Informed Comment; Feature) – I grieve for the people of Israel and Palestine, both of whom are being abused and terrorized by their own governments and leadership. Hamas is not a legitimate government, and is not Islam. Zionism is not Judaism. Hamas and the Israeli government have used their own people’s […]

Israel/ Palestine

Why so Many Jews Denounce Israel’s War on Gaza

Yakov M. Rabkin

By Yakov M. Rabkin ( Pressenza ) – A profound division exists between Zionist advocates of Israel on the one hand, and both secular and religious Jews, on the other, who reject Zionism and thus the very idea of a separate state for the Jews. Most Jews must be somewhere in between. For years, they […]

Evangelicals

Apocalyptic Politics are Clouding the U.S. Response to the Israel-Hamas Conflict and Demonizing Muslim-Americans

Florida Phoenix

By Diane Roberts | – ( Florida Phoenix ) – Remember when a quarter of Americans thought Barack Obama might be the Antichrist? They feared he’d impose a One World Government — as Dr. Peter Venkman says in Ghostbusters, “a disaster of biblical proportions, human sacrifice, dogs and cats living together” — and trigger the […]