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Juan Cole

Featured
The Other Sinead O'Connor, Pro-Palestinian Critic of Violent Israeli Extremist Ben-Gvir, and Muslim Convert

The Other Sinead O’Connor, Pro-Palestinian Critic of Violent Israeli Extremist Ben-Gvir, and Muslim Convert

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Tragically, Sinead O’Connor is dead at 56. Many of the obituaries of Irish protest singer have been oddly thin, and have ignored key moments in her life. One was her contretemps with Israeli extremist Itamar Ben-Gvir, now the country’s Minister of National Security. She later became fiercely critical of the […]

Authoritarianism
Chaos as Israel departs the Ranks of Democracies, Adopting the Hungarian Model of Elective Dictatorship

Chaos as Israel departs the Ranks of Democracies, Adopting the Hungarian Model of Elective Dictatorship

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The Israeli newspaper Arab 48 reports that on Monday, the Israeli parliament or Knesset passed the article removing the power of administrative review from Israeli courts on grounds of “reasonability.” The measure passed 64-0 in the 120-seat body, with the far right wing coalition of Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu unanimously […]

Africa
Dear Ron DeSantis: Consider all the Valuable Skills the Enslaved Taught Cracker Slave-Holders (For Which they were never Paid)

Dear Ron DeSantis: Consider all the Valuable Skills the Enslaved Taught Cracker Slave-Holders (For Which they were never Paid)

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The new Florida history curriculum on slavery says that some enslaved persons learned skills while enslaved that later benefited them, provoking shock and outrage across the nation. One of the things that is wrong with this way of looking at the issue is the white nationalist assumption that white slavers […]

Featured
The "Destruction of the Third Temple"?  Israel's Apocalyptic Civil War Weakens State, Military

The “Destruction of the Third Temple”? Israel’s Apocalyptic Civil War Weakens State, Military

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – On Friday, all hell broke loose in Israel, even more so than the recent norm. The Israeli newspaper Arab 48 reports that an earthquake struck the Israeli Air Force when 1,142 reservists published an open letter saying that they will be forced, with great regret, to resign their commissions if […]

Africa
Hey Jason Aldean:  All Humans owe their Big Brains and Survival as a Species to Afro-Textured Hair

Hey Jason Aldean: All Humans owe their Big Brains and Survival as a Species to Afro-Textured Hair

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Afro-textured hair has been a frequent object of racist denigration. In April 2007 radio shock jock Don Imus got himself fired for referring to the Rutgers women’s basketball team as “nappy-headed ho’s.” Those formidable women, both scholars and athletes performing at a level Imus could never hope to, did not […]

Featured
Former PM Olmert calls on Biden to Boycott this Extremist Israeli Government, as Generals and Nat'l Union Also Shun It

Former PM Olmert calls on Biden to Boycott this Extremist Israeli Government, as Generals and Nat’l Union Also Shun It

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – President Biden hosted Israeli President Isaac Herzog at the White House on Tuesday. Herzog is addressing a joint session of Congress today, which a handful of progressive Democrats are boycotting. The same members of Congress also boycotted the address of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, a far right Hindu nationalist […]

Featured
58% Depressed: The Racism of Israel’s Apartheid Regime toward Palestinians Shows in their Mental Health

58% Depressed: The Racism of Israel’s Apartheid Regime toward Palestinians Shows in their Mental Health

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – While the Democrats in Washington, D.C. conduct a bizarre debate about whether Israel is a racist state, The World Bank has released some findings from its The Palestinian Psychological Conditions Survey (PPCS). They are summarized by Alia Aghajanian, Arden Finn, Gianluca Mele, and Nadir Mohammed. In a survey of 5,876 […]

Far Right
Israel Moves toward "Dictatorship" and Polarization, as one Likud Activist lauds the Targeting of Ashkenazi Jews in the Holocaust

Israel Moves toward “Dictatorship” and Polarization, as one Likud Activist lauds the Targeting of Ashkenazi Jews in the Holocaust

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – On the eve of Israeli President Isaac Herzog’s controversial visit to the United States, which several members of Congress say they will boycott, Israeli society is coming apart at the seams. The presidency in Israel is a purely symbolic post. Power resides with the prime minister, Binyamin Netanyahu and his […]

Democratic Party
Progressive Dem Caucus Chair Condemns Israel as a Racist State, says Palestinian Statehood increasingly "not Possible"

Progressive Dem Caucus Chair Condemns Israel as a Racist State, says Palestinian Statehood increasingly “not Possible”

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Update: See Rep. Jayapal’s clarification below. Remarks Saturday by Rep. Pramila Jayapal may signal the end of the “liberal except on Palestine” ploy of most Congressional Democrats, who decry police brutality against US minorities but are perfectly all right with Israeli government repression of the Palestinians being kept stateless and […]

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