“Freedom is never voluntarily given”: Palestinian boycott of Israel is not racist, it is anti-racist
February 11th, 20210 Claims made by Democratic New York City mayoral candidate Andrew Yang in a recent op-ed in the Jewish weekly, “The Forward”, point to the prevailing ignorance that continues to dominate the U.S. discourse on Palestine and Israel. Yang, a former Democratic presidential candidate, is vying for the Jewish vote in New York City....
Our mutual fight: The case against Pakistani normalization with Israel
February 6th, 20210 The Pakistani government should never, under any circumstances and no matter the pressure, normalize with Israel. Doing so is not only dangerous — as it will embolden an already vile, racist, violent apartheid Israel — but it would also be considered a betrayal of a historic legacy of mutual solidarity, collective affinity and...
International Criminal Court rules it has jurisdiction over Palestinian Territories
February 5th, 20210 AMSTERDAM - The International Criminal Court ruled on Friday that it has jurisdiction over war crimes or atrocities committed in the Palestinian Territories, paving the way for a criminal investigation, despite Israeli objections. Judges said their decision was based on jurisdictional rules in the Hague-based court’s founding...
International year in review: Palestinians betrayed, calamity in Beirut, crisis in Yemen
January 14th, 20210 The following is a year in review for the top international news that we covered in 2020. Palestinians betrayed, calamity in Beirut, crisis in Yemen. Protests in Lebanon over deepening economic crisis Authorities in some of the most populous areas of Lebanon cracked down on mass protest by Lebanese expressing their frustration...
A country in turmoil: Why Netanyahu is a symptom, not cause of Israel’s political crisis
December 23rd, 20200 It is convenient to surmise that Israel’s current political crisis is consistent with the country’s unfailing trajectory of short-lived governments and fractious ruling coalitions. While this view is somewhat defensible, it is also hasty. Israel is currently at the cusp of a fourth general election in less than two years. Even by...
When the people rose: How the Intifada changed the political discourse around Palestine
December 16th, 20200 December 8 came and went as if it was an ordinary day. For Palestinian political groups, it was another anniversary to be commemorated, however hastily. It was on this day, 33 years ago, that the First Palestinian Intifada (uprising) broke out, and there was nothing ordinary about this historic event. Today, the uprising is merely...
After 60 years, East Jerusalem Palestinians face eviction under Israeli settler rulings
December 15th, 20200 JERUSALEM — For Nabil al-Kurd, being forced out of the East Jerusalem home he has lived in since the 1950s would be a fate worse than death. But the 76-year-old and his wife and children are among dozens of Palestinians under threat of eviction from two districts of the disputed city, after an Israeli court ruled their properties are...
“Long live the (dead) peace process”: Abbas prioritizes U.S. ties over Palestinian national unity
December 10th, 20200 No one seemed as excited about the election of Joe Biden being the next president of the United States as Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas. When all hope seemed lost, where Abbas found himself desperate for political validation and funds, Biden arrived like a conquering knight on a white horse and swept the Palestinian...
The king’s man: Blinken’s appointment reassures Israel that little will change under Biden
December 2nd, 20200 Right-wing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has nothing to worry about as Antony J. Blinken, who will directly handle America’s foreign policy in the Middle East is a loyal friend of Israel. Crisis averted. President-elect Joe Biden’s appointment of Antony J. Blinken as his secretary of state was a master stroke,...
Expansion and mass eviction: Israel “takes advantage” of Trump’s remaining days in office
December 1st, 20200 In a few words, a close associate of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu summed up the logic behind the ongoing frenzy to expand illegal Jewish settlements in Israel. “These days are an irreplaceable opportunity to establish our hold on the Land of Israel, and I’m sure that our friend, President (Donald) Trump and Prime...
Netanyahu has “warm” convo with Biden, calls him “president-elect”
November 17th, 20200 WASHINGTON, D.C. — Joe Biden had a “warm conversation” with Israel’s Benjamin Netanyahu over the phone on Tuesday. Netanyahu referred to Biden as president-elect in a statement after the talk. Netanyahu had acknowledged and congratulated Biden’s electoral victory early on, but had refrained from calling him president-elect...
“Playing for time”: The non-strategy of Mahmoud Abbas
November 14th, 20200 “If we are going to live another four years with President Trump, God help us, God help you and God help the whole world.” These were the words of Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Mohammed Shtayyeh during a virtual meeting with European legislators on November 3. While some may agree with Shtayyeh’s assessment, such...
What does Israel have against Palestinian singer Mohammed Assaf?
November 4th, 20200 Why does Israel hate Palestinian singer Mohammed Assaf? On October 16, Avi Dichter, Israeli member of Parliament from the right-wing Likud Party, announced that Assaf’s special permit to enter the occupied Palestinian West Bank would be revoked. Assaf, originally from Gaza, now lives with his family in the United Arab Emirates....
Israeli delegation travels to Sudan to discuss normalization, Sudanese PM ready for ties with Israel
October 23rd, 20200 KHARTOUM – On Thursday, Sudan’s Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok indicated he was ready to proceed with normalizing relations with Israel once a yet-to-be-formed transitional parliament has approved the step, two Sudanese government sources told Reuters. The comments are the clearest sign that Hamdok, under pressure from the United...
Despite ambiguity in international law, Palestinians are winning the “legitimacy war”
October 14th, 20200 “International law” remains one of the most discussed terms in the context of the Israeli occupation of Palestine. It is almost always present, whether the discussion pertains to the Israeli wars and siege on Gaza, the expansion of illegal Jewish settlements in the West Bank or the encroaching apartheid throughout Israel and the......
In lieu of a liberation strategy: Palestinian elections are designed to buy time
October 1st, 20200 It is abundantly clear that Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas has underestimated the seriousness of the challenges facing Palestine and the Palestinians. The rushed agreement between his party, Fatah, and Hamas in Istanbul on September 24, and the Palestinian leader’s speech at the 75th session of the U.N. General...
How do Democrats and Republicans differ on Palestine and Israel?
September 23rd, 20200 The polarized nature of American politics often makes it difficult to address fundamental differences between the country’s two main political rivals, Republicans and Democrats. As each side is intent on discrediting the other at every opportunity, unbiased information regarding the two parties’ actual stances on internal and......
Local activists react to U.S backed normalization treaties struck between UAE, Bahrain and Israel
September 18th, 20200 DEARBORN — So-called “peace agreements” between two Arab countries, the UAE and Bahrain, with Israel were signed on Tuesday, in a ceremony at the White House hosted by President Trump. The normalization efforts between governments of the two Arab countries and Israel carried little consent from the people of those nations and...
Israeli who killed Palestinian baby, parents gets life imprisonment
September 14th, 20200 LOD (REUTERS) — An Israeli court sentenced a Jewish settler to life imprisonment on Monday for killing a Palestinian couple and their baby in a 2015 arson attack in the occupied West Bank. The deaths of 18-month-old Ali Dawabsheh and his parents, Saad and Riham, in the village of Duma contributed to a surge of Israeli-Palestinian...
“Dying to Fish”: How Israeli piracy destroyed Gaza’s once thriving fishing industry
September 3rd, 20200 On August 16, the Israeli navy declared the Gaza sea a closed military zone. A few days later, a group of Gaza fishermen decided to take their chances by fishing within a mere two or three nautical miles off the Gaza shore. No sooner had they cast their nets, Israeli navy bullets began whizzing all around them. Soon after the...
“Palestine is still the issue”: U.N. vote exposes, isolates Canada
August 26th, 20200 This article is cowritten by Ramzy Baroud and Romana Rubeo The notion that “Canada is better”, especially when compared with U.S. foreign policy, has persisted for many years. Recent events at the United Nations have, however, exposed the true nature of Canada’s global position, particularly in the matter of its blind and......
Arab and Jewish youths in Brooklyn come together for Palestinian refugees amid COVID-19 pandemic
August 21st, 20200 NEW YORK — A new initiative by nine Muslim, Jewish and Arab youths in Brooklyn, New York seeks to provide humanitarian aid to Palestinian refugees in the West Bank, East Jerusalem, Gaza, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria amid the COVID-19 pandemic. The pandemic has deeply affected the already vulnerable 70 million forcibly displaced people...
Trump expects Saudi Arabia to join UAE-Israel deal
August 20th, 20200 WASHINGTON, D.C. — On Wednesday, President Trump said he expected Saudi Arabia to join the agreement announced last week by Israel and the United Arab Emirates to normalize diplomatic ties and forge a broad new relationship. “I do,” Trump replied when asked at a White House news conference if he expected Saudi Arabia to join......
Palestinians call Israel-UAE normalization deal treason and stab in the back
August 13th, 20200 WASHINGTON, D.C. — Israel and the United Arab Emirates reached a "historic" deal on Thursday that will lead to a full normalization of diplomatic relations between the two nations in an agreement that President Trump helped broker. Under the agreement, Israel has agreed to suspend applying sovereignty to areas of the West...
List of Israeli targets leaked: Tel Aviv fears the worst in ICC investigation of war crimes
July 29th, 20200 When International Court of Justice (ICC) Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda confirmed last December that the Court has ample evidence to pursue a war crimes investigation in occupied Palestine, the Israeli government responded with the usual rhetoric, accusing the international community of bias and insisting on Israel’s “right to defend......
