Middle East

( Middle East Monitor ) – A single, candid statement by US President Donald Trump during a Fox News interview on 9 October may illuminate the true calculus behind Israel’s decision for a ceasefire in Gaza, following a relentless, two-year genocidal campaign that has tragically killed and wounded nearly a quarter of a million Palestinians. […]

Israel/ Palestine

The Gaza ceasefire Deal could be a ‘Strangle Contract’, with Israel holding all the Cards

The Conversation

By Marika Sosnowski, The University of Melbourne (The Conversation) – There are jubilant scenes in both Gaza and Israel after both sides in the war have agreed to another ceasefire. If all goes well, this will be only the third ceasefire to be implemented by Israel and Hamas, despite there being numerous other agreements to […]

Donald Trump

Terror from the Skies in the Middle East: Israel and the Ghost of Bomber Harris

Juan Cole

Here is my essay for this week’s Tomdispatch.com . Check out the great Tom Engelhardt’s introduction at that site, where he reminds us of the eerie similarity of today’s Washington strategy toward the Middle East, of intensive bombardment, to that of Nixon-Kissinger in Southeast Asia. For people of my generation, it raises the sad question […]

Israel/ Palestine

Israel is still not allowing International Media back into Gaza, despite the Ceasefire

The Conversation

By Colleen Murrell, Dublin City University (The Conversation) – The world’s media are currently busy recording the tales of released Israeli hostages, freed Palestinian prisoners and their families after a ceasefire came into effect for the war in Gaza. But they are doing so while still being held at a distance from the centre of […]

Featured

The Sumud Aid Flotilla did more than Trump to Achieve Gaza’s Fragile Peace

Mohammad Eslami and Ibrahim Al-Marashi

Braga, Portugal and San Marcos, Ca. (Special to Informed Comment; Feature) – US President Trump arrived in Israel on Monday as the first hostages were released by Hamas, ostensibly to take credit for brokering the ceasefire, still hurt from the fact that he was not nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize. However, the Sumud Flotilla […]

Iran

“Ah, my Belovéd, fill the Cup that clears:” FitzGerald’s The Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám 1:20

Juan Cole

Stanza no. 20 in in the first edition of Edward FitzGerald’s The Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám celebrates wine as a means of escaping lingering shame and the dread of an unknown future. It is about, as the hippies used to say in the 1960s, “being here now,” with a little help from a mind-altering substance. […]

Israel

Lebanon: Seek Justice for Journalists Killed by Israeli Forces

Human Rights Watch

2 Years since Killing of Issam Abdallah; Attacks on Civilians, Media Continue Human Rights Watch – (Beirut) – Lebanon’s announcement on October 9, 2025, that it has tasked the Justice Ministry with assessing the legal measures that may be taken following Israeli attacks on journalists during the last war offers a fresh opportunity to achieve […]

Featured

Rashid Khalidi on the Gaza Ceasefire: The veil that has hidden the true nature of the Zionist project was shredded for good

Fariba Amini

Fariba Amini interviews Rashid Khalid, Edward Said Professor of History Emeritus, Columbia University on the Gaza Ceasefire

Feminism

Iran’s Streets ‘Transformed’ As More Women Shun The Mandatory Hijab

Radio Free Europe Radio Liberty

By Fereshteh Ghazi and Farangis Najibullah ( RFE / RL ) – Iranian journalist Zeinab Rahimi has refused to wear the mandatory hijab for over two years, despite the risk of arrest and imprisonment. She is among a growing number of women and girls who have stopped covering their head in public, in direct defiance of […]