religion

( Tomdispatch.com ) – As more of the Epstein files are released, reminding us of Donald Trump’s close association with Jeffrey Epstein and the young people he abused and trafficked, as well as the president’s ongoing array of misogynist insults and actions (like calling journalist Catherine Lucey “piggy” and name-calling Marjorie Taylor Greene to the point where […]

Featured

War, Peace, and Erasure: Lessons from Wakara for Gaza and Beyond

Max Perry Mueller

Lincoln, NE (Special to Informed Comment; Feature) – Long before Israeli leaders invoked biblical rhetoric to justify the “erasure” of a Palestinian homeland, another colonizing people sought to remake a land in the image of their God. In July 1847, Brigham Young declared the American Great Basin “the place” God had set apart to “make” […]

Dominionism

Cracks in the MAGA – Likud Collusion to Hasten End Times Reality

H. Scott Prosterman

Oakland, Ca. (Special to Informed Comment; Feature) – It looks like the perverse romance between MAGA and Israel’s Likud Party is becoming frayed at the edges. Despite the long-standing, anti-Semitic undercurrents in American conservatism, the Republican Party has been a staunch supporter of Israel at least since the 1967 War. The far right Likud Party […]

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 […]

Featured

Syrian FM: Israel’s deadly Incursion against Islamic Group a ‘War Crime’ after 13 killed

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Israeli military forces made a raid into Syria on Friday that from what I can gather turned into a disaster for them. Israeli troops mounted an assault on the hamlet of Beit Jinn southeast of Damascus, where they maintained that three members of the Lebanon-based Islamic Group (al-Jama`ah al-Islamiyyah) constituted […]

Academic Freedom

Trump using Jews to Ban Free Speech: The Ultimate in Antisemitism

Tomdispatch

By Mattea Kramer ( Tomdispatch.com ) – Rooting out terrorism and antisemitism was the supposed reason that plainclothed ICE agents arrested doctoral student Rümeysa Öztürk on a street in Somerville, Massachusetts, after she coauthored an op-ed calling on Tufts University to divest from companies with ties to Israel due to the killing and starvation of […]

African-Americans

When Zohran Mamdani campaigned in Arabic, He was Speaking an old American Language

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani made a campaign ad in quite passable colloquial Arabic for the some 180,000 Arab residents of New York, who live primarily along Steinway Street in Queens and in Brooklyn. Mamdani’s wife, artist Rama Duwaji, is a Houstonian whose family hails from Syria. Some observers are suggesting […]

Muslim-Americans

How Zohran Mamdani is the Future: Affordability and the Dignity of Working People

Tomdispatch

By Douglas H. White ( Tomdispatch.com ) – On Tuesday, New York, the largest city in America, has an opportunity to elect Zohran Mamdani, a young man, a democratic socialist, an immigrant (at age seven), a Muslim, a progressive, and someone hated by Donald Trump. And no wonder, since he’s the antithesis of Trump. No […]

Israel/ Palestine

A Gaza Ceasefire Is Not Enough: We Must Choose Life and Freedom

Shamai Leibowitz

( The Times of Israel ) – As we wait anxiously to see whether the ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas will take hold and become permanent—ending the massacres in Gaza and bringing the hostages home—we find ourselves in the midst of Sukkot, the festival of fragile dwellings [or “Feast of the Tabernacles”]. During Sukkot, […]