-
Israel Tortured And Sexually Humiliated Greta Thunberg
In an interview with Swedish paper Aftonbladet, Greta Thunberg has corroborated earlier eyewitness reports that she and her fellow Global Sumud Flotilla activists were subjected to monstrous abuses by Israeli officials after being abducted from their boats carrying aid for Palestinians in Gaza. Here are some machine-translated excerpts (quotes from Thunberg are italicized, quotes from […]
-
Trump’s Diplomatic Initiative: A New Dawn or Just Another Dusk?
Prefatory Note: The post below is based on modified responses to questions addressed to me by Rodrigo Craveiro, a Brazilian journalist. The focus is on what to expect in the weeks ahead to follow from the Trump diplomatic offensive to bring an Israeli-crafted peace to fruition in Gaza, and broader stability to the entire Middle East. […]
-
“No Kings” — Another Chapter in the Quest for an Empire without an Emperor

There are many hyped “No Kings” protests this weekend. They seem fairly clearly a creation of the DNC or some appendage of it. They reflect a wretched sentiment I criticized back in 2017 — how many were “In Search of an Empire without an Emperor”: When Trump uses military violence in Yemen or Syria, […]
-
The West’s Dehumanization Of Arabs Is Completely Unforgivable

In October 2024, a Lebanese writer named Lina Mounzer wrote, “ask any Arab what the most painful realization of the last year has been and it is this: that we have discovered the extent of our dehumanization to such a degree that it’s impossible to function in the world in the same way.” I’ve thought […]
-
It was never a Gaza ‘war’. The ‘ceasefire’ is a lie cut from the same cloth

[First published by Middle East Eye] Ceasefires stick because the two sides in a war have reached military stalemate – or because the incentives for each side in laying down their arms outweigh those of continuing the bloodshed. None of this applies in Gaza. The past two years in the enclave have been many things. But […]
-
Worlds Extinguished: Hostage Returns, Central Casting and the Gaza Ceasefire
Depending on which source you consult, the twenty-point peace plan of President Donald Trump for securing peace in Gaza shows much exultance and extravagant omission. The exultance was initially focused on the return of the hostages. It then shifted to the broader strategic goals of the various parties. Commentary on this point, even as the […]
-
Thoughts on the Ceasefire News
Israel continued to hammer Gaza with military explosives on Thursday despite the announcement of the first stages of a ceasefire agreement with Hamas. Israel always does this. When normal people get a ceasefire agreement, they think, “Good, this means we can finally stop fighting and killing.” Whenever Israelis get a ceasefire agreement, they go, “This means we have to […]
-
Blinkered Bowen

On the second anniversary of the 7 October attacks on Israel, with Middle East peace talks underway, BBC international editor Jeremy Bowen asked, ‘Will Israel and Hamas seize the chance to end the war?’ An honest, insightful analyst would have addressed the issue differently. First and foremost, the narrative framing of a ‘war’ would have […]
