Human Rights

Silver Spring, Md. (Special to Informed Comment; Feature) – The true measure of a scholar is not the number of books they publish or the titles they hold. It is whether they speak when human beings are starved, bombed, and erased as a people. By that measure, some of America’s most visible academics have failed. […]

Featured

Israel is Deliberately Starving Palestinians of Gaza as Part of a Genocide: Amnesty

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Amnesty International concluded this week that the Israeli government is using starvation as a weapon of war in Gaza, and that denying food to people is part of a genocidal campaign. Like Human Rights Watch and other human rights non-govermental organizations, Amnesty International is extremely cautious and only issued the […]

Genocide

The West’s Long Struggle Against Genocide Prevention

Dan Steinbock

Q&A with Dr Steinbock on The Obliteration Doctrine: Part 2 DG Team ( Difference Group ) – The second part of Dr Steinbock’s highly topical new book, The Obliteration Doctrine, examines the West’s long struggle against genocide prevention which has set the stage for mass atrocities. In the second part of The Obliteration Doctrine, Dr […]

Authoritarianism

Saudi Arabia: Executions Surge in bid to Crush Dissent (HRW)

Human Rights Watch

Human Rights Watch – (Beirut) – Saudi authorities have been carrying out an unprecedented surge in executions in 2025 without apparent due process, Human Rights Watch and the Middle East Democracy Center said today. The June 14 execution of Turki al-Jasser, a journalist known for exposing corruption within the Saudi royal family, raises concerns that the […]

censorship

On Occidental College’s Disciplining of Students Protesting Gaza

Committee on Academic Freedom

Committee on Academic Freedom | Middle East Studies Association of North Africa | – Letter to the administration of Occidental College about disciplinary proceedings against students accused of participating in protest activity Tom Stritikus President, Occidental College president@oxy.edu . . . Dear President Stritikus, Deans Leonard and Santiago, Ms. Kahn and Trustees: We write on […]

Featured

War Crimes Then and Now: Hiroshima to Gaza

Peter G. Prontzos

This week marks 80 years since the United States used its nuclear weapons against the civilian population of Japan in August 1945. Prior to that, the U.S. began the mass firebombing of Japanese citizens. On the night of March 9, U.S. bombers, “dropped 1,665 tons of incendiary bombs on Tokyo, unleashing a firestorm that incinerated […]

censorship

Protesting Harvard’s Cancellation of a Journal issue on Education in Palestine

Committee on Academic Freedom

Committee on Academic Freedom | Middle Eastern Studies Association of North America | – Letter to Harvard University concerning the cancellation of a special issue of Harvard Educational Review on education and Palestine Alan Garber President, Harvard University president@harvard.edu . . . Dear President Garber and colleagues: We write on behalf of the Middle East […]

Academic Freedom

Protesting CUNY for Letting 4 Adjunct Faculty Go over Palestinian Rights and Suspending a Student

Committee on Academic Freedom

Committee on Academic Freedom | Middle East Studies Association of North America | – Letter to the City University of New York protesting the non-reappointment of four adjunct faculty members and the suspension of a student Félix V. Matos Rodríguez Chancellor, City University of New York felo@cuny.edu . . . Dear Chancellor Matos Rodríguez and […]

Genocide

US Green Beret: Israeli “Hunger Games in Gaza” (h/t Sen. Chris Van Hollen)

Juan Cole

Senator Chris Van Hollen interviews Anthony Aguilar, former Green Beret and former contractor in Gaza, on what Aguilar witnessed there. Warning: Graphic language, Images. Transcript: This is the YouTube auto-generated transcript but cleaned up by Google Gemini. Caveat Emptor. Senator Van Hollen: Well, thank you for getting together. Let me start by thanking you for […]