Middle East

In Quatrain no. 23 in the first edition of Edward FitzGerald’s translation of The Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám, we find an explicit denial of the afterlife. This denial is repeated throughout the poetry, and it surely was one of the more challenging themes in this poetry for Victorian Britain and the United States. Of course, […]

Israel/ Palestine

The Int’l Court of Justice Demands Israel let UN Aid Flow into Gaza, but to what Avail?

The Conversation

By Ben L Murphy, University of Liverpool (The Conversation) – The UN’s top court, the International Court of Justice (ICJ), demanded that Israel allow aid into Gaza in an advisory opinion on October 22. It held that Israel is in breach of its obligations as a UN member state by having failed to do so […]

Israel/ Palestine

UN: “Extreme Concern” as Netanyahu Orders “Powerful” Israeli Strikes on Gaza, killing 21

International Middle East Media Center

( IMEMC ) – Israeli warplanes launched a series of airstrikes across the Gaza Strip on Tuesday evening, killing at least 21 Palestinians, including eight children, and injuring several others. The attacks mark a renewed breach of the ceasefire agreement and have intensified fears of a broader military escalation. The Middle East Monitor reported that […]

Donald Trump

Vance of Arabia: The Trump Administration’s Reality-TV “Peace” in Gaza

H. Scott Prosterman

Oakland, Ca. (Special to Informed Comment; Feature) – Vice President J. D. Vance went out to the Middle East last week to show the MAGA flag. While convicted felon Donald Trump, Vance’s boss, prosecutes his undeclared wars on Venezuela and the American people, he has declared “Peace” between Israel and Gaza, where there is none. […]

Israel/ Palestine

The World confronts the Genocide Washington is trying to Bury

Medea Benjamin and Nicholas J.S. Davies

( Code Pink ) – On October 4th, 2025, in an interview with Axios, President Trump stressed that one of the main goals behind his Gaza plan was to restore Israel’s international standing. “Bibi took it very far and Israel lost a lot of support in the world,” Trump said. “Now I am gonna get […]

Iran

“And we, that now make merry in the Room:” FitzGerald’s The Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám 1:22

Juan Cole

Quatrain no. 22 in the first edition of Edward FitzGerald’s translation of The Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám again invokes the image of the way the living are walking atop those who lived and died before them, leaving them alone in the “room” of the world. The departed dead are dressed in blooms, i.e. flowers grow […]

Ireland

New Irish President Catherine Connolly’s Victory and Europe’s Moral Rebellion against the Israeli Occupation of Palestine

Middle East Monitor

Catherine Connolly’s victory: Europe’s moral rebellion against the Israeli occupation By Adnan Hmidan ( Middle East Monitor ) – When Catherine Connolly was elected President of Ireland, the shockwaves were felt far beyond Dublin. Her victory was not a symbolic gesture, nor a routine political milestone. It was a direct moral rebuke to the Israeli […]

Israel/ Palestine

The one Person who could Lead a Palestinian State is Languishing in an Israeli Prison

The Conversation

By Amin Saikal, Australian National University; The University of Western Australia; Victoria University (The Conversation) – As the future of Gaza hangs in the balance, the Palestinian Authority (PA) needs renewal if it’s to eventually govern the strip and play a key role in making the two-state solution a reality. The PA has not proved […]

Academic Freedom

First Circuit Judges Strike down Israel Lobby Suit against MIT for Permitting Gaza Protests

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Erik Uebelacker at Courthouse News Service reports that a three-judge appeals panel of the US Court of Appeals, First Circuit, in Boston, struck down a lawsuit by a pro-Israel pressure group against the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) alleging that the university permitted pro-Palestine students to harass Jewish students. The […]