Middle East

San Francisco (Special to Informed Comment; Feature) – Last month, some House members publicly acknowledged that Israel has been committing genocide in Gaza. It’s a judgment that Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch unequivocally proclaimed a year ago. Israeli human-rights organizations have reached the same conclusion. But such clarity is sparse in Congress. And no wonder. Genocide denial is needed for […]

Israel/ Palestine

Workers Rights and Palestine Solidarity: Clover in South Africa

Open Democracy

When dairy workers made common cause with Palestine solidarity activists, the result was radical love in the public square Maya Bhardwaj United against Clover Here’s what it looked like in practice. In late 2021, I joined a town hall meeting for the Clover campaign in Johannesburg. The hall was full with attendees. Some wore […]

Israel/ Palestine

Israel’s War: Gaza’s Once-Growing Economy is Nearing Total Collapse

The Conversation

By Dalia Alazzeh, University of the West of Scotland and Shahzad Uddin, University of Essex (The Conversation) – Gaza is going through one of the most severe economic collapses the world has seen in modern times. According to a UN report published in late November, the average income per person there is now just US$161 […]

Featured

200 Luminaries from the Arts and Business World demand release of “Palestinian Mandela”

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Patrick Wintour at The Guardian reports that some 200 prominent literary, cultural and political figures have signed an open letter demanding the release from Israeli prison of Palestinian activist Marwan Barghouti. Barghouti 66, is widely thought to be one of the few figures who could unite the Palestinians and lead […]

Iraq

Iraq’s 2025 Elections reveal a Democracy without Belief

The Conversation

By Bamo Nouri, City St George’s, University of London The Conversation – Iraqis went to the polls on November 11 to vote in parliamentary elections. Preliminary results put the coalition of Iraq’s prime minister, Mohammed Shia al-Sudani, in the lead. But no bloc has won anything close to a governing majority in the 329-seat parliament. […]

Climate Crisis

Iran’s Capital, Tehran, Faces Zero Day without Water: Climate Change and Bad Policy

The Conversation

By Ali Mirchi, Oklahoma State University; Amir AghaKouchak, University of California, Irvine; Kaveh Madani, United Nations University, and Mojtaba Sadegh, Boise State University; United Nations University (The Conversation) – Fall marks the start of Iran’s rainy season, but large parts of the country have barely seen a drop as the nation faces one of its […]

censorship

Rebuking U of Guelph for Cancellation of People’s Conference for Palestinian Solidarity

Committee on Academic Freedom

Committee on Academic Freedom | Middle East Studies Association of North America | – Letter to the University of Guelph expressing concern at its last-minute cancellation of the People’s Conference for Palestinian Solidarity Rene Van Acker President and Vice-Chancellor, University of Guelph president@uoguelph.ca Dear President Van Acker and Provost Rosehart: We write on […]

Christianity

Pope Leo XIV: “We Know Israel does not … Accept” Palestinian State, But “We see it as the only Solution”

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Pope Leo XIV flew from Turkiye to Lebanon on Sunday, and surprised the press corps flying with him by making some comments to them. His predecessor, Pope Francis, had been more engaged with the press in such situations. Justin McClellan at the National Catholic Reporter reports that Leo said that […]

Israel/ Palestine

The ruptured Mirror: How 7 October broke the Israeli Narrative

Middle East Monitor

by Jasim Al-Azzawi ( Middle East Monitor ) – The world beyond 7 October 2023 is not the same. It is a world that has finally seen beyond the decades-old narrative of a perpetually vulnerable Israel, whose actions were always justified by existential fear. The brutal atrocities committed by Israel in Gaza have inflamed world […]