Middle East

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The ongoing rallies and demonstrations that have wracked Iran since mid-September have been many things. It is a women’s protest against severe patriarchy It is a Gen Z youth protest demanding greater personal freedoms from their 85-year-old Theocrat. It is an ethnic protest by Sunni Kurds and Baluch against Shiite […]

Featured

Israel: Ultra-Far-Right Ben-Gvir Given Nat’l Security Ministry – As though KKK took over Homeland Security in US

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The Israeli newspaper Arab 48 reports that the Likud Party of Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu signed a deal on Friday with what the paper calls the “fascist” Jewish Power party of Itamar Ben-Gvir giving the latter the post of minister of national security. Jewish Power will also get the ministry […]

Authoritarianism

‘A Nightmare’: Iran Intensifies Deadly Crackdown In Kurdistan Region As Protests Rage

Golnaz Esfandiari

( RFE/RL ) – Iranian authorities have intensified their deadly crackdown in the country’s western Kurdistan region, which has been the epicenter of the anti-establishment protests that have raged for months. Human rights groups say government forces have killed more than a dozen people in predominately Kurdish cities in the past 24 hours. The bloodshed […]

Arab World

No more “Marry your Rapist”: Repeal Laws Discriminating against Women in the Middle East – ‘Equality Now’

Middle East Monitor

By Amelia Smith | – ( Middle East Monitor ) – The women’s rights NGO, Equality Now, has released a policy brief to mark International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women on how inadequate justice for women and girls, and a lack of deterrents for perpetrators, has increased violence against women. According to […]

Israel/ Palestine

Will Netanyahu’s new Religious Right Gov’t Turn Israel into an Iran, with Gender Segregation and Pampered Seminarians?

Middle East Monitor

( Middle East Monitor ) – Outgoing Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid has asked Likud voters a series of questions related to the current impasse into which Benjamin Netanyahu, who is tasked with forming a new government, has fallen in the company of extreme neo-fascists and racist nationalist parties. “Is this what you wanted? That’s […]

Authoritarianism

Iran’s Creative Resistance: From Hugs and Kisses to Tossing Turbans

Global Voices

By Fred Petrossian | – ( Globalvoices.org ) – It has been eight weeks since protests erupted across Iran on September 16 in response to the death of Mahsa (Zhina) Amini, who was detained by the country’s morality police for allegedly violating hijab regulations. Despite harsh repression, the killing of at least 360 people, including […]

Featured

Israel has Jailed 50,000 Palestinian Children since 1967, and the Number of Detentions is Growing Rapidly: Report

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The Palestinian Commission on Detainees and Ex-Detainees released a report for World Children’s Day on the routine Israeli arrest and jailing of minors, saying that Palestinian children are not secure from being constantly targeted by Israeli security forces. The Commission report found a worrying and massive increase in the rate […]

Authoritarianism

Iran’s Athletes, Including Soccer Players at World Cup, are Boycotting National Anthem to Support Protests

Golnaz Esfandiari

I’m RFE/RL correspondent Golnaz Esfandiari. Here’s what I’ve been following during the past week and what I’m watching for in the days ahead. ( RFE/ RL ) – A growing number of Iranian athletes are refusing to sing the national anthem or to celebrate their victories in solidarity with the months-long anti-establishment protests that have […]

Afghanistan

How the Bush “War on Terror” Fed US White Nationalism and brought the Terror Home

Andrea Mazzarino

( Tomdispatch.com ) – Recently, an agent of the Department of Homeland Security called me and started asking questions about a childhood acquaintance being investigated for extremism. I put him off. My feelings about this were, to say the least, complex. As a military spouse of 10 years and someone who has long written about […]