Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – In his speech on Saturday, October 27, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu made reference to the Bible’s instructions about the Amalekites, a favorite trope of his when he has argued that Israel is under existential threat and must respond with lethal and devastating force. He has talked about Iran this way, […]
Ireland, a leader on Human Rights, Backs UNGA call for Gaza Humanitarian Ceasefire
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The situation in the besieged Palestinian Gaza Strip grew even more dire on Friday, as Israel bombed internet and telecommunications facilities, plunging the occupied territory into an information black hole, as Israeli military incursions began. All day Friday the Israeli Air Force subjected the desperately poor, densely populated cities of […]
The Fate of the Children of Gaza under Israeli Bombardment
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Of the 2.2 million people living in the Gaza Strip, about half of them are minors. This datum is why the rightwing Israeli talking point that Palestinians in Gaza as a whole are responsible for backing Hamas is outrageous. Hamas was elected in 2006 when most people in Gaza now […]
“These are not the Droids you’re Looking For:” Biden and Blinken try to Make the Israeli genocide against Gaza’s Palestinians Disappear
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Barak Ravid at Axios reports that when Secretary of State Antony Blinken met with Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim al-Thani a couple of weeks ago, he asked the government to have al-Jazeera Arabic “tone down” its coverage of Israel and Gaza. Blinken, addressing a Jewish group in […]
The Reemergence of the Palestinian Statehood Issue (Ian Masters Interviews Juan Cole)
Interview of Juan Cole by Ian Masters, Background Briefing.. Background Briefing with Ian Masters Background Briefing with Ian Masters · The Reemergence of the Palestinian Statehood Issue See also France 24: “‘Under siege, locked away’ Palestinians have been ‘depersonalised in Western political imagination’
US Troops in Iraq, Syria, targeted by Shiite Militias in Sympathy with Occupied Palestinians of Gaza
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – On Wednesday, Al-Quds al-`Arabi reports two rockets were fired at `Ayn al-Asad base in al-Anbar Province, Iraq, where US troops are stationed. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin both put pressure on Iraqi prime minister Mohammad Shia al-Sudani. Al-Sudani reaffirmed his determination to […]
If Gaza is a Conflict over Oil Money investments, Norway points to a Near Future where Petroleum is Worthless
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The Biden administration has concluded that the horrific Hamas attacks on Israel of October 7 and after aimed at derailing the normalization negotiations between Saudi Arabia and Israel. But why should this issue be so pressing as to cause a war? Saudi Arabia is the world’s swing petroleum exporter. The […]
Juan Cole – 3 Possible Futures for Palestinians: One-State Solution, Continued Apartheid or Ethnic Cleansing (Again)
Interview by Nedžla Kurtćehajić of Juan Cole for FACE TV (Sarajevo, Bosnia) | While in Sarajevo last week I did a television interview on issues in Islamophobia, Islamic History, and the Israel-Hamas conflict. Here it is: Article continues after bonus IC video FACE TV (Sarajevo): Juan Cole on War and Islamophobia
Biden’s Historically Illiterate and Hypocritical Speech on Ukraine and Gaza
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The Biden administration’s foreign policy is a mess and lacks any real consistency. This messiness was on full display in the president’s brief address on Thursday evening, a plea for Congressional funding of both the US struggle to get Russia back out of Ukraine and of support for the extremist […]
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