Middle East

Conservative hard-liner poised to be Iran’s next president – what that means for the West and the nuclear deal

By Nader Habibi | – ( The Conversation ) | – Iran’s conservative rulers’ effort to orchestrate the outcome of the June 18 presidential election triggered a voter boycott – but the result may still bode well for ongoing negotiations over the lapsed 2015 nuclear deal. The leading candidate is Ebrahim Raisi, chief of Iran’s […]

Antisemitism

5 ways to push antisemites and the Alt-Right out of the Palestinian solidarity movement

Waging Nonviolence

By Shane Burley | – With support for Palestinian freedom hitting a new level, intentional strategies are needed to stop white nationalists looking to hijack the movement. ( Waging Nonviolence ) – As Israel resumes its bombing of Gaza, and settlers attack Palestinians on both sides of the Green Line — the boundary between what […]

Featured

Not only Should Congress repeal 2002 Authorization for use of Force in Iraq, it should Apologize for that Pack of Lies

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Jacob Pramuk at CNBC reports that Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and the Biden White House are backing an attempt to repeal the 2002 Authorization for the Use of Military Force that allowed the Bush administration to launch the Iraq War. The repeal is driven in part by the Trump […]

Haredim

How Israel’s missing constitution deepens divisions between Jews and with Arabs

The Conversation

By Brendan Szendro | – Renewed fighting has erupted again between Israel and the Palestinian group Hamas, endangering a ceasefire instituted after an 11-day war in May. The conflict in Gaza is an early test of Israel’s new coalition government. Recently, parties across the political spectrum united to remove Israel’s scandal-plagued prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu […]

Israel/ Palestine

How Israel’s Extremist-Right Flag March helped Mobilize Young Palestinians for Resistance to Apartheid Rule

Middle East Monitor

By Motasem A Dalloul | – ( Middle East Monitor) – Ultranationalist, right-wing Israeli settlers carried out their “Flag March” in Jerusalem yesterday. Due to security concerns, the route was changed from previous years, and they passed the Jaffa Gate of the Old City rather than the usual Damascus Gate. Also as usual, the settlers […]

Israel/ Palestine

From Dentist to Israeli Kingmaker: Mansour Abbas Isn’t The Champion Palestinians Need

Sandy Milne

Perth, Australia (- Special to Informed Comment) – “We will reclaim the lands that were expropriated from our people,” said Dr. Mansour Abbas, 47, in a largely Arabic-language speech before the Knesset plenum. “This is a national cause of the first degree.” This, he said right before being sworn in to join a patchwork coalition […]

Featured

In Challenge to New Gov’t, Far Right Israeli Extremists Chant “Death to Arabs” in Provocative March through Palestinian East Jerusalem

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Dia Hajj Yahya writes at the Israeli newspaper Arab 48 that because of extreme right Israeli squatters’ deliberately provocative march through Palestinian neighborhoods, 33 Palestinians were injured during confrontations with the Israeli Occupation authorities in the area of the Old City in occupied Jerusalem on Tuesday, one of them by […]

Israel/ Palestine

It wasn’t just politics that led to Netanyahu’s ouster – it was fear of his demagoguery

The Conversation

By Dov Waxman | ( The Conversation) – There is something Shakespearean about Benjamin Netanyahu’s downfall. As in a scene from “Julius Caesar,” who was assassinated by Roman senators, Netanyahu was deposed by his former underlings, the leaders of the three right-wing parties that have joined the new government – Naftali Bennett, Avigdor Lieberman and […]

Featured

Israel’s New Secular Government: Lieberman Crows that he Sidelined Fundamentalist Ultra-Orthodox and, read his lips: “No new taxes”

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – A lot of attention is focused on Naftali Bennett, the new prime minister of Israel. But it should be remembered that he had been a bit player, and his 7 coalition allies are often headed by much more prominent and powerful figures who are in the coalition precisely in order […]