Deadly clashes rage in Baghdad in Shi’a power struggle
August 30th, 20221 BAGHDAD — Iraq is seeing a fresh wave of violence in a power struggle between the powerful Shi'a cleric Moqtada al-Sadr and Shi'a parties and paramilitary groups. On Thursday, clashes among rivals in the Iraqi city of Basra killed at least four people, as violence from a worsening political crisis hit the south of the country. Heavy...
Fake neutrality: How Western media language misrepresents Palestinians, shields Israel
August 27th, 20220 While U.S. and Western mainstream and corporate media remain biased in favor of Israel, they often behave as if they are a third, neutral party. This is simply not the case. Take the New York Times' coverage of the latest Israeli war on Gaza as an example. Its article on August 6, “Israel-Gaza Fighting Flares for a Second Day” is...
Lebanese chess champion withdraws from international competition
August 23rd, 20220 LEBANON — Nadia Fawaz, a Lebanese chess champion, was matched with an Israeli player, Elia Grozman, in the fourth round of the 28th Abu Dhabi International Chess Festival. Lebanese outlet The961 has reported that Fawaz, however, decided she did not want to play with an Israeli and has withdrawn from the international chess...
Israel’s premature “victory” celebration: The defining war in Gaza is yet to be fought
August 20th, 20220 For years, Palestinians, as well as Israelis, have labored to redraw the battle lines. The three-day Israeli war on Gaza, starting on August 5, clearly manifested this reality. Throughout its military operation, Israel has repeatedly underscored the point that the war was targeting the Islamic Jihad Movement only, not Hamas or anyone...
Israel army, Palestinian fighters set for truce from Sunday night
August 7th, 20220 Israel and Palestinian soldiers agreed to a Cairo-mediated truce to take effect late on Sunday, sources said, raising hopes of an end to the most serious flare-up on the Gaza frontier in more than a year. Israeli forces pounded Palestinian targets through the weekend, triggering longer-range rocket attacks against its cities and...
Iran stands with Russia in the war against Ukraine, but clashes with Turkey’s plans in Syria at summit
July 22nd, 20220 Russian President Vladimir Putin ended his first major summit outside Russia since the invasion of Ukraine with an endorsement from Iran for its response to NATO, a clash with Turkey over Syria and signs of progress over the lifting of the Russian blockade of Ukrainian grain. The White House said the Tehran summit held between Putin,...
Nasrallah: “no one” will extract gas from maritime zone if Lebanon is unable to do so
July 15th, 20220 Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah had strong words on Wednesday about a maritime oil dispute between Lebanon and Israel. Nasrallah warned that "no one" would be allowed to operate in maritime oil and gas fields if Lebanon was barred from its "rights" in extracting from areas off of its own coast. "If Lebanon is prevented...
Analysis: Political and banking deadlock may plunge Lebanon deeper into crisis
July 2nd, 20220 BEIRUT – Lebanon’s untamed financial crisis is gathering new menace as it heads into a fourth year, with political paralysis dampening hope of reforms that could unlock foreign support and stave off social turmoil, according to analysts, lawmakers and former officials. The emergency gripping the small country squeezed between Syria...
Biden says he won’t directly ask Saudi Arabia to produce more oil
July 1st, 20220 President Biden said on Thursday he would not directly press Saudi Arabia to increase oil output to curb soaring crude prices when he sees the Saudi king and crown prince during a visit later this month. Biden also said at a news conference in Spain that Americans will have to stomach high gas prices for "as long as it takes" to beat...
Maker of Pillsbury products divests from Israel, after multi-year boycott campaign
June 3rd, 20220 After two years of calls by human rights campaigners, General Mills, the company that produces the popular Pillsbury brand of products, has divested its Israeli business. The calls came from a diverse set of organizations and interests, including the Quaker organization American Friends Service Committee (AFSC), which promotes "a...
Long marginalized, the “Right of Return” is once more a Palestinian priority
May 30th, 20220 The Nakba is back on the Palestinian agenda. For nearly three decades, Palestinians were told that the Nakba — or Catastrophe — is a thing of the past. That real peace requires compromises and sacrifices, therefore, the original sin that has led to the destruction of their historic homeland should be entirely removed from any...
Iraq makes it illegal to attempt normalizing ties with Israel
May 28th, 20220 BAGHDAD – Iraq's parliament approved a law on Thursday that will ban normalizing relations with Israel, at a time when several Arab countries have established formal ties. The Iraqi parliament has been unable to convene on any other issue, including electing a new president and forming its own government, prolonging a political...
Elections results in Lebanon raise fear of new power struggle
May 20th, 20220 Lebanon's emboldened opposition goes from protest to parliament BEIRUT – When Halime El Kaakour enters Lebanon's parliament as a newly elected lawmaker next week, she will step past the same concrete barriers that security forces erected to keep her and other protesters out during massive anti-government rallies in 2019. Powered by...
Stand for Palestine and Shireen Abu Akleh
May 14th, 20220 - Amer Zahr is a law professor at the University of Detroit Mercy and president of New Generation for Palestine On Wednesday morning, in the occupied Palestinian city of Jenin, Israeli occupation forces assassinated Palestinian journalist Shireen Abu Akleh. Since 1997, Shireen has been the face of Palestine for Al-Jazeera, the...
Bennett must tread carefully: The “Sword of Jerusalem” could be unleashed again
May 1st, 20220 Starting on April 15, the Israeli occupation army and police raided the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Occupied East Jerusalem on a daily basis. Under the pretense of providing protection to provocative “visits” by thousands of illegal Israeli Jewish settlers and right-wing fanatics, the Israeli army has wounded hundreds of Palestinians,......
Israeli forces kill three Palestinians in the West Bank, including 14-year-old
April 16th, 20220 RAMALLAH - Israeli soldiers shot dead three Palestinians in the occupied West Bank on Wednesday, including a teenager and a lawyer, the Palestinian Health Ministry said, as troops mounted more sweeps in the territory after deadly Palestinian attacks in Israel. The Health Ministry said soldiers shot and killed a 14-year-old near...
Organizations call for Ramadan boycott of Israeli dates grown and packaged in illegal settlements
April 1st, 20220 A rights organization is relaunching a Ramadan boycott of Israeli dates grown on illegal Israeli settlements on Palestinian lands, and harvested through abusive treatment of Palestinian workers. American Muslims for Palestine’s (AMP) National Israeli Date Boycott Campaign 2022 is a nationwide boycott of dates produced in Israeli...
The billion dollar deal that made Google and Amazon partners in the Israeli occupation of Palestine
March 26th, 20220 “We are anonymous because we fear retaliation.” This sentence was part of a letter signed by 500 Google employees last October, in which they decried their company’s direct support for the Israeli government and military. In their letter, the signatories protested a $1.2 billion contract between Google, Amazon Web Services (AWS)...
U.S. accused of hypocrisy for supporting sanctions against Russia, but not Israel
March 11th, 20220 By Chris McGreal The U.S. and some of its European allies are facing accusations of double standards for supporting sanctions and international war crimes investigations against Russia for its invasion of Ukraine while blocking them over Israeli military actions in the occupied Palestinian territories. But pro-Israel groups in the......
Israeli demolitions in occupied Palestine under Biden far surpass same period under Trump
March 11th, 20220 The latest data from the United Nations showed that Israel’s demolitions of Palestinian property since President Biden took office have far surpassed the amount seen under his predecessor, Donald Trump. Israel has displaced more than 1,300 Palestinians, a majority of whom are children, in the time Biden has been president. According...
Amnesty International accuses Israel of crimes against humanity, apartheid, in devastating new report
February 3rd, 20220 LONDON — An investigation by a renowned international human rights agency shows the state of Israel imposes a system of oppression and domination against Palestinians. The devastating report by Amnesty International, a thorough analysis of how Israel’s actions against Palestinians, stretching back to the state’s settler......
Lebanon security forces bust 17 Israeli spy rings
February 3rd, 20220 Lebanese authorities said on Monday that the country's intelligence and security agencies dismantled 17 Israeli spy rings and made numerous arrests in connection with the network. The spy network was embedded in various aspects of Lebanese society and collected data on politicians and NGOS, specifically targeting Palestinian...
Israel draws condemnation for forced removal of Palestinian family, demolition of their home
January 19th, 20220 After a multi-day standoff, Israeli authorities illegally removed a Palestinian family from their home in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood of occupied East Jerusalem and demolished it. Resident Mahmoud Salhiyeh and members of his family took to the roof of the home to defend it on Monday and threatened to blow it up with gas canisters......
