At the Hague, South Africa accuses Israel of genocide in Gaza
January 12th, 20240 On Thursday, South Africa accused Israel of carrying out genocide in Gaza and demanded that the U.N.'s top court order an emergency suspension of Israel's devastating military campaign in the Palestinian enclave. On the first of two days of hearings at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), South Africa said Israel's offensive,...
U.S., Britain carry out strikes against Yemen, officials say
January 12th, 20240 The United States and Britain launched strikes from the air and sea against Yemeni military targets in response to the Houthi's attacks on ships in the Red Sea, a dramatic regional widening of the Israeli war on Gaza. As witnesses in Yemen confirmed explosions throughout the country to Reuters, President Biden cautioned in a statement...
Three months later: Still no lessons learned
January 5th, 20240 One day last week, the New York Times printed two separate articles describing Israeli and Palestinian reactions to the ongoing war that, together, paint a disturbing portrait of where we are three months after October 7. The piece about Israelis was headlined “Oct. 7 Is Forcing Israelis to Rethink Their Identity,” with the subhead...
U.S. “not seeing acts of genocide” in Gaza, State Dept says
January 5th, 20240 WASHINGTON, D.C. - The U.S. has not observed acts in Gaza that constitute genocide, State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said on Wednesday, after South Africa launched genocide proceedings at the International Court of Justice over Israel's military operation in the Palestinian enclave. "Those are allegations that should not be...
South Africa’s genocide case against Israel sets up a high-stakes battle at U.N. court
January 5th, 20240 THE HAGUE — South Africa has launched a case at the United Nations’ top court alleging that Israel’s military campaign in Gaza amounts to genocide. The filing and Israel’s decision to defend itself at the International Court of Justice set up a high-stakes showdown before a panel of judges in the Great Hall of...
Nasrallah vows revenge after Hamas leader’s killing, “cannot be silent”, warns Israel against spreading Gaza war
January 5th, 20240 BEIRUT — On Wednesday, the head of Lebanon's Hezbollah said it "cannot be silent" after the killing of Hamas' deputy leader in the suburb of Beirut and warned that his heavily armed forces would fight to the finish if Israel chose to extend war from Gaza to Lebanon. Israeli forces meanwhile kept up their aerial and ground assaults...
“We will come to you in a roaring flood”: The untold story of the October 7 attacks
January 5th, 20240 The dramatic, earth-shattering events in Palestine starting on October 7 have taken many people by surprise. However, attentive observers are not. Few expected that Palestinian fighters would be parachuting into southern Israel on October 7; that instead of capturing a single Israeli soldier — as done in 2006 — hundreds of Israelis,...
ISIS claims responsibility for deadliest attack in Iran since 1979, Tehran vows revenge
January 5th, 20240 ISIS claimed responsibility on Thursday for two explosions in Iran that killed nearly 100 people and wounded scores at a memorial for top commander Qassem Soleimani, who was killed in Iraq in 2020 by a U.S. drone. In a statement posted on its affiliate Telegram channels, the militant Sunni Muslim group said two ISIS members had...
McDonald’s CEO says several markets in Middle East impacted by Israeli war on Gaza
January 5th, 20240 McDonald's CEO Chris Kempczinski said on Thursday several markets in the Middle East and some outside the region were experiencing a "meaningful business impact" due to the Israel war on Gaza as well as "associated misinformation" about the brand. Major Western fast-food chains, including McDonald's and Starbucks, have seen largely...
Israel’s port sees 85 percent drop in activity amid Red Sea Yemen’s Houthi attacks
December 22nd, 20230 Israel's Eilat Port has seen an 85 percent drop in activity since Houthi military forces in Yemen stepped up attacks on ships heading to Israel in the Red Sea, the port's chief executive said on Thursday. The Houthis are playing an escalating role in the conflict in the Middle East, also firing drones and missiles at Israel in a...
Gaza grandfather describes killing of his entire family by Israeli soldiers
December 22nd, 20230 GAZA — When the Israeli occupation army entered the Gaza school where Yousef Khalil was sleeping near his family, they began shooting indiscriminately, killing nine people, including children, he said, pointing to bullet-pocked, bloodstained walls. His account, which Israel's military says it is looking into, comes after the killing...
CBP confiscates 110 pounds of ketamine in man’s luggage at Detroit Metro Airport
December 22nd, 20230 ROMULUS – U.S. Customs and Border Protection detected and seized roughly $4 million worth of ketamine at Detroit Metro Airport. According to a CBP press release, a United Kingdom citizen flew in from France on Dec. 13 and was selected for secondary inspection. A search of two large suitcases reportedly revealed plastic bags filled...
ACRL calls on President Biden to rescue U.S service member’s mother trapped in Gaza
December 22nd, 20230 DEARBORN – The Arab American Civil Rights League (ACRL) has urgently called on the Biden administration to exert an effort to save the lives of Zahra Sckak, the mother of an active U.S. military service member, and his American uncle, Farid Sukaik, both trapped in Northern Gaza. Fadi Sckak has spent the last month making phone calls...
Israeli war on Gaza among the deadliest and most destructive in history, experts say
December 22nd, 20230 The Israeli war on Gaza, experts say, now sits among the deadliest and most destructive in history. In just over two months, the offensive has wreaked more destruction than the razing of Syria’s Aleppo between 2012 and 2016, Ukraine’s Mariupol or, proportionally, the Allied bombing of Germany in World War II. It has killed more...
Kissinger left complex foreign policy legacy
December 21st, 20230 Possibly no one had more influence on American foreign policy in the late 20th century than Henry Kissinger, who died last month at age 100. In his long and active career, he advised presidents, carried out policies and initiatives and was a highly visible figure around the world. While it’s early to pronounce judgment on his......
Urinating on prisoners: Why humiliation is functional in Israel’s war on Palestinians
December 20th, 20230 When Zionist militias, using advanced Western arms, conquered historic Palestine in 1947-48, they expressed their victory through the deliberate humiliation of Palestinians. Much of that humiliation targeted women, in particular, knowing how the dishonor of Palestinian females represents, according to Arab culture, a sense of dishonor...
U.N. says food trucks being intercepted as hunger grows in Gaza
December 15th, 20230 GENEVA — On Thursday, the head of the U.N. Palestinian refugee agency said that crowds of hungry people were stopping its aid trucks in Gaza and helping themselves to the food, making it almost impossible to continue delivering aid. The U.N. World Food Program has said half of Gaza's population of 2.3 million is starving as Israel's......
Israel suffers heaviest combat losses since October, International isolation
December 15th, 20230 On Wednesday, Israel announced its worst combat losses in more than a month after an ambush in the ruins of Gaza, and faced growing diplomatic and international isolation as civilian deaths mounted and a humanitarian catastrophe worsened in the Palestinian territory. Intense fighting between Hamas fighters and Israeli soldiers was under...
Poll shows Palestinians’ support for Hamas rises and 90 percent wants Abbas to resign
December 15th, 20230 RAMALLAH, Occupied West Bank — A wartime opinion poll among Palestinians published Wednesday shows a rise in support for Hamas, which appears to have ticked up even in the devastated Gaza Strip, and an overwhelming rejection of Western-backed President Mahmoud Abbas, with nearly 90 percent saying he must resign. The findings by a...
Majority of Israelis want Hamas crushed despite Gaza casualties, U.N. rebuke
December 15th, 20230 On Wednesday, Israelis said that their army should not back off its unrelenting offensive to crush Hamas, despite the U.N. General Assembly's ceasefire call, the growing list of troop casualties and a spiraling Palestinian death toll in Gaza. Israel's military suffered one of the deadliest days in the two-month-old Gaza war on Tuesday,...
“If Christ were born today, he would be born under rubble, Israeli bombing”
December 8th, 20230 Bethlehem, occupied West Bank – The churches of Palestine have announced the cancellation of all festive Christmas celebrations in an expression of unity with Gaza and rejection of the ongoing aggression against Palestinians, limiting them to masses and prayers. In Bethlehem, the Lutheran Church decided that its Christmas nativity......
Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar plotted Israel’s most deadly day in plain sight
December 8th, 20230 Last year, Yahya Sinwar told a rally in Gaza that Hamas would deploy fighters and rockets in a fierce strike on Israel, the nation that imprisoned him for 23 years before he was freed and rose to a leadership role in the militant group. The speech by Hamas' leader in Gaza to thousands of cheering supporters bore the hallmarks of...
U.N. calls for “irreversible” move toward two-state solution to Palestinian-Israel conflict
December 1st, 20230 On Wednesday, the United Nations called for the international community to move towards a two-state solution to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, saying Jerusalem should serve as the capital of both states. "It is long past time to move in a determined, irreversible way towards a two-state solution, on the basis of United Nations......
U.N. chief says Gaza in midst of “epic humanitarian catastrophe”
December 1st, 20232 On Wednesday, U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned that the Gaza Strip was in the midst of an "epic humanitarian catastrophe", as calls grew for a ceasefire to replace the temporary truce between Israel and Palestinian Hamas militants. "Intense negotiations are taking place to prolong the truce – which we strongly welcome...
Michigan lawmakers urge Biden to “advance a lasting ceasefire” in Gaza
December 1st, 20230 LANSING — Twenty-five Michigan lawmakers sent a letter to President Biden Wednesday, urging him to “advance a lasting ceasefire” between Israel and Hamas. In the letter, the state lawmakers noted that international organizations — including the United Nations, the World Health Organization and UNICEF — faith leaders, elected......
