-
Western Leaders Betrayed Palestinians 70 Years Ago. There is no sign that’s about to change
Middle EastOn Tuesday, Palestinians will commemorate the anniversary of the Nakba, or catastrophe, their mass expulsion and dispossession 70 years ago as the new state of Israel was built on the ruins of their homeland. As a result, most Palestinians were turned into refugees, denied by Israel the right to return to their homes. Israel is braced for many tens of thousands to turn out in the occupied territories this week to protest against decades of its refusal to end its oppressive rule.
-
The Coming War Against Iran
Middle EastTrump has kept up his anti-Iran rhetoric since becoming president. More importantly, he has appointed Iran hawks to the two most important positions in foreign policy: former CIA Director Mike Pompeo as secretary of state and former US ambassador to the UN John Bolton as national security advisor. The two have made clear that their preferred policy toward Iran is “regime change,” a policy that is actually prohibited by international law.
-
Israel: Arms embargo needed as military unlawfully kills and maims Gaza protesters
Human RightsIsrael is carrying out a murderous assault against protesting Palestinians, with its armed forces killing and maiming demonstrators who pose no imminent threat to them, Amnesty International revealed today, based on its latest research, as the “Great March of Return” protests continued in the Gaza Strip. The Israeli military has killed 35 Palestinians and injured more than 5,500 others – some with what appear to be deliberately inflicted life-changing injuries.
-
Syria is the dam against more bloody chaos
Middle EastWe know the consequences of this policy: massive sectarian bloodspilling, huge internal population displacement and the creation of waves of refugees who head towards the relative stability of Europe, the seizure and dispersal of military arsenals that spur yet more fighting, and the inspiration of more militant and reactionary ideologies like that of ISIS. If Syria falls, it will not become Switzerland. And if it falls, it will not be the end of the “war on terror”.
-
NDP insiders suppressing Palestine resolution
Canadian PoliticsIf after a half-century of illegal occupation, one can’t call for boycotting Israeli settlement goods, then when? After a century? Two? Or is the problem the particular country to be boycotted? Does the NDP hierarchy believe that anti-Semitism can be the only possible motivation for putting economic pressure on Israel to accept a Palestinian state?
-
‘I won’t fly refugees to their deaths’: The El Al pilots resisting deportation
Human RightsIn recent weeks the Israeli government approved the deportation of refugees to third countries. According to the plan, the Holot desert detention facility, where many asylum seekers are held, will shut down and those who refuse to leave “voluntarily” to Rwanda and Uganda (and perhaps other countries) will be imprisoned indefinitely. According to numerous reports, which Rwanda and Uganda have denied, Israel will pay those countries $5,000 for each refugee they take in from Israel.
-
Abbas Declares Oslo Accords Dead: ‘Trump’s Peace Plan Is a Slap, We’ll Slap Back’
Middle EastPalestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Sunday said Israel killed the Oslo Accords and called U.S. President Donald Trump’s Mideast peace plan “a slap in the face” during a dramatic meeting in Ramallah on Sunday, adding that “we will slap back.” Abbas said that “today is the day that the Oslo Accords end. Israel killed them. We are an authority without any authority, and an occupation without any cost. Trump threatens to cut funding to the authority because negotiations have failed.
-
The ‘New Anti-Semitism’
Middle EastThe Israeli government needs the ‘new anti-Semitism’ to justify its actions and to protect it from international and domestic condemnation. Anti-Semitism is effectively weaponised, not only to stifle speech – ‘It does not matter if the accusation is true,’ Butler writes; its purpose is ‘to cause pain, to produce shame, and to reduce the accused to silence’ – but also to suppress a politics of liberation.
-
Iran and the Left: a Dissenting View
Middle EastRegardless of how long these protests last and what the outcomes may be, these protests have proven once again that the Iranian regime is fundamentally incapable of addressing people’s most basic social and economic needs, and that is why for forty years it has depended on brute force to control the population. But, rule by brute force alone cannot last forever.
-
Where is Zionism Taking Us?
Middle EastHaving forgotten about this state-based aspect of their own past, the Zionist state now commits this same offense against the Palestinians. It also needs the rest of us to forget the sins of past racism if it is to carry on its effort to ethnically cleanse the Palestinians. Our response should be to embrace the motto, “Never Again!” It is time to direct this demand to the shameful behaviour of Israel and the Zionists.
