Middle East

Denial of Care, Deadly Forced Evacuations, Destruction of Medical Facilities Israeli military forces caused deaths and unnecessary suffering of Palestinian patients while occupying hospitals in the Gaza Strip during the current hostilities, amounting to war crimes. The Israeli military’s denial of water and electricity left sick and wounded people to die, while soldiers mistreated and forcibly […]

Featured

Amid Gaza Protests: – Top 5 Ways Israeli PM Netanyahu kept Hamas in Power

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The London-based, Saudi-owned pan-Arab daily, Al-Sharq al-Awsat [The Middle East], reports that demonstrations against Hamas broke out this week in Gaza, beginning in Beit Lahia on Tuesday, and continuing on Wednesday there and in Shuja’iyyah in the north of Gaza, where people set tires on fire. They chanted for the […]

Climate Crisis

Iraq’s Climate Crisis is a Human Rights Crisis

Human Rights Watch

Sarah Sanbar Iraq Researcher, Middle East and North Africa Division ( Human Rights Watch ) – By any metric, Iraq’s environment is under severe pressure. Lakes, rivers, and marshlands are shrinking, and in some cases entirely disappearing. Sandstorms are increasing in frequency and severity, resulting in hospitalizations and the grounding of flights. Decades of conflict-related […]

Displaced and Refugees

Syria after Assad: Why many Syrian Refugees aren’t returning Home

The Conversation

By Charlotte Al-Khalili, University of Sussex and Melissa Gatter, University of Sussex (The Conversation) – When news of Bashar al-Assad’s downfall broke on December 8 2024, 13 years after the beginning of the Syrian uprising, Syrians around the world rejoiced. We rejoiced along with them, having spent the last decade in conversation with Syrians displaced […]

Israel/ Palestine

Doublethink and the Struggle for Survival in the Gaza Genocide

Ramzy Baroud

( Middle East Monitor ) – In a genocidal war that has spiralled into a struggle for political survival, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition and the global powers supporting him continue to sacrifice Palestinian lives for political gain. The sordid career of Israel’s extreme far-right National Security Minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, epitomises this tragic reality. […]

Featured

Signalgate shows Trump bombing of Yemen just for Show, Ignores Dead Yemeni Children

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The high-level Trump administration Signal message thread on bombing Yemen on which someone on the staff of National Security Adviser Michael Waltz included The Atlantic‘s editor-in-chief Jeffrey Goldberg is what is impolitely called in the military a SNAFU (Situation Normal All F*cked Up). Yes, it is a security breach of […]

Academic Freedom

Middle East Studies Assn, AAUP, and Knight Inst. file Lawsuit over Trump Arrests and Deportation for lawful Speech

Middle East Studies Association

Middle East Studies Association | – Policy has created “climate of fear and repression” on campuses around the country, groups say FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE March 25, 2025 CONTACT: Adriana Lamirande, adriana.lamirande@knightcolumbia.org; AAUP, Kelly Benjamin, kbenjamin@aaup.org BOSTON—The American Association of University Professors (AAUP) and the Middle East Studies Association (MESA) today filed a lawsuit seeking to […]

Dissent

Istanbul Mayor’s Arrest Sparks Türkiye’s Largest Protests in over a Decade

Volkan Isbasaran

Istanbul (Special to Informed Comment) – Major protests over the arrest of Ekrem İmamoğlu, the Mayor of Istanbul and President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s main political rival, have entered their sixth day. Demonstrations have erupted in at least 55 out of Türkiye’s 81 provinces, according to AFP, which marks one of the most widespread waves of […]

China

Can Trump’s Plan to Target China for its Oil Imports from Iran Succeed?

Neil Thompson

London (Special to Informed Comment; Feature) – Since returning to office in January, US President Donald Trump has reinstated the maximum pressure campaign of his first administration on Iran. Trump wants to push Iran into ending its nuclear programme, and the White House has tried to severely curtail Iran’s oil exports as way of putting […]