Book Review: An American Evangelical Christian Man’s Awakening to Palestine

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“This is all we ask. Go back and tell the truth.” The author of this memoir, Rev. Don Wagner, is a longtime friend. Back in the day, Rev. Wagner was based in Chicago, Illinois and I was in Youngstown, Ohio. We both were engaged in the same struggle for Palestine. Subsequently, when I relocated to Palestine, I would speak to the various eyewitness delegations he led to the Holy Land, or what he prefers to call the “unholy land” — which, he Continue Reading...

Barbaric Israeli Police Attack on Christian Funeral for Slain US Reporter Shireen Abu Akleh Shocks World

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The Israeli newspaper Arab 48 reports that at least 33 mourners were injured by Israeli security forces who attacked the Christian funeral procession to a cathedral for the body of murdered American correspondent Shireen Abu Akleh on Friday. The actions of the Israeli security forces can only be explained by settler-colonial fear that the indigenous people will refuse to give up their identity and melt away. Frequent police attacks Continue Reading...

Israeli Police Raid Sacred al-Aqsa Mosque during Ramadan, Wound 158 Palestinians

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The Israeli newspaper Arab 48 reports that at dawn prayers on Friday Israeli security forces mounted an assault on the worshipers at the holy al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem, the third holiest site in the Muslim religion, in the midst of the Muslim Lent or fasting month, Ramadan. They injured some 158 and arrested 500 Palestinians. The assault began with tear gas volleys, after which the Israeli forces assaulted the worshipers. The attack Continue Reading...

Check Yourself For Confirmation Bias

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I think we should all be aware that confirmation bias is a real thing. The US has done terrible things. Bush’s invasion of Iraq was illegal aggressive warfare, with its “run up” of propaganda lies to justify what Bush did. Vietnam, wow … CIA overthrowing elected governments and installing horrific, murderous dictatorships. And what we did with Russia after the Soviet Union fell led to Putin and the oligarchs running things. So Continue Reading...

Incompetence or Accomplice?

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The international community, coerced by America, never misses an opportunity to miss an opportunity to bring peace to the Middle East. A logical explanation is that they are accomplices to Israeli crimes against humanity. This edition of the Palestine-Israel Journal presents a fascinating exchange—dare I term it a debate—between two acclaimed analysts, Dr Noam Chomsky and Dr Tony Klug. Dr Klug and I co-authored opinion Continue Reading...

Americans Shocked to See Ukrainians treated Like Iraqis even though they are White (Not the Onion)

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Some European and American commentators on Russia’s war against Ukraine have covered themselves in shame by implying that because Ukrainians are “European” or “civilized” it is harder to see them hit by artillery and made refugees than it had been with regard to Iraqis or Syrians. While in 2015 Syrians and Afghans who came to Europe were called “migrants” and were seen as a dire problem, Ukrainians fleeing their country for European states have Continue Reading...

Coming Out of the Pandemic, Some of Us Faster Than Others (and That’s Okay)

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Lemme admit something here. I haven't been the most dedicated Covid warrior. I mean, sure, yeah, I got vaccinated and boosted as soon as I could because you're just a motherfucking delusional piece of shit if you don't. And, for a good while, I wore masks pretty devotedly, especially once I found one style that fit my big, bearded face decently. Hell, I started wearing a mask before wearing a mask was cool, before it was recommended. I had people Continue Reading...

A Tale of Two Speeches

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Two recent speeches on the partition of India in 1947, one by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and the other by Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP)President Rabindra Narain Singh remind me of the opening words of Charles Dickens’ immortal work A Tale of Two Cities: It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Continue Reading...

In War Crime, Saudi, UAE Airstrikes on Yemen kill over 100 in Migrant Detention Center, in War that has left 377,000 Dead

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The Saudis and the United Arab Emirates launched an air campaign of 45 air strikes on Yemen on Friday. According to the International Committee of the Red Cross, one of the strikes hit a migrant detention facility in Sa’adeh in north Yemen, killing over 100 detainees there. In addition, there were large numbers of wounded, and the Red Cross mobilized ambulances to get them to two area hospitals. The Houthis are saying there were 233 Continue Reading...

The Rise of Jewish Populism

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Two Jews may have three opinions but they’re likely to share political preferences. At least that goes for American Jews, who tend to lean left. “Jews earn like Episcopalians,” the sociologist Milton Himmelfarb once wryly observed, “and vote like Puerto Ricans.” Politically conservative Jews have long rued this supposed contradiction, viewing each election cycle as an opportunity for their coreligionists to come to their senses. Many had hoped Continue Reading...

Israel’s ‘Economic Peace’ is Hollowing out the Palestinian Economy

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Bennett’s initiative to entice Palestinians to work in Israel’s high-tech sector will make it harder for the struggling Palestinian economy to stand on its own two feet. Startup accelerator Flow’s office space in Ramallah (Ozy) Israeli Prime Minster Naftali Bennett may have brought about Benjamin Netanyahu’s defeat and created Israel’s most diverse government, but governing is more than electoral gymnastics. It comes down to policies, and Continue Reading...

New Israeli government, same old smoke and mirrors

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Unless one seeks the truth, it is easy to fall for the hasbara-messaging such as ‘shrinking the conflict’ or ‘economic peace’ that Bennett keeps repeating. Israel's new government is in full swing, with Prime Minister Naftali Bennett at its head. Now that Bennett has made his maiden trip to the White House as prime minister, one can confidently, albeit regretfully, acknowledge that nothing has really changed except the personalities. In Continue Reading...

4 migration factors will keep Inclusion on the Agenda for most of this Century

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Today dark clouds hang over Afghanistan as the Taliban takes over the country. The situation may soon deteriorate into a humanitarian crisis, leading to a mass exodus of refugees to neighboring countries and beyond. However the story in Afghanistan unfolds, at least four critical global developments will keep migration at the top of many country’s policy agendas for decades to come. More people crossing borders, whether as refugees or Continue Reading...

Afghanistan’s Armageddon 20 Years After 9/11 Offers Foreign Policy Choices: Groundhog Day or Imperial Reckoning?

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Wakeup Calls As the Afghanistan Armageddon unravels, this humiliating, devastating defeat for the US and its allies and the 20th anniversary of 9/11 (and who knows what may take place to mark that day?), plus the June 29 death of war monger extraordinaire Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, are wakeup calls. They offer Americans the chance to reflect upon, reconsider and rethink Washington’s disastrous, interventionist foreign policy. After 20 Continue Reading...

Hyphen-ated for Life

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"Democratic representation of ‘We The People' requires an accurate ascertainment of who ‘We The People' are." ~Arab American Institute The space of identity is tight. A single identity can hardly fit into its place, yet that is what society expects. The reality of identity is much more dynamic and colorful than dry categories of some census-defined race or ethnicity. But wait. Is any generic definition a fair categorization of a Continue Reading...