I mentioned last week the case of imprisoned Greek journalist Iason Athanasiadis, currently being held in an Iranian jail on spurious grounds. Salon has published a feature about this fine man: Iason’s detention is especially ironic, given his love of Iran and his understanding of its people and culture. His on-the-ground reporting in the aftermath…
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The not so secret hand of Washington
Yesterday I met here in New York with the Mondoweiss boys. Plans are being hatched, but in the meantime, Iran came up: Surprise. Max Boot at Commentary wants Israel to bomb Iran now. So does John Bolton, speaking from the fever ward, the Washington Post op-ed page. The former ambassador says the Tehran revolt has…
Why would anyone who can get along with Arabs want to exalt the two-state solution?
Mondoweiss writes: The other day I wrote that now that non-Zionists are finally gaining a voice in the discourse on Israel/Palestine, we have to bring our bat and ball– positive ideas about how to solve things in the Middle East, not just a litany of Palestinian suffering. I’m planning to have a rolling roundtable on…
Rupert craves clueless revolution
Guy Rundle writes for Crikey: Should Antony Loewenstein sue Greg Sheridan for libel? In his rather hysterical article in yesterday’s Oz, Sheridan slates various people for failing to condemn the actions of the Iranian government with the vociferousness with which they condemn Israel. Leaving aside the fact that Israel claims its legitimacy from the West…
The threat of good food
Another side of Gaza, where cooking and politics meet: Food and cooking in Gaza have changed radically in the last few years since the whole area has been under siege. The borders of this tiny strip are entirely closed, allowing only humanitarian shipments of basic foods to enter–flour, sugar, salt, oil, pulses–and even these are…
Let the Ayrabs rot
Gideon Levy in Haaretz: When there are no terror attacks, there are no Arabs: When Gaza isn’t shooting, it is abandoned to its fate. That is the message Israel is sending its imprisoned neighbors: Launch Qassams and we’ll take an interest in you, don’t launch Qassams and we won’t take an interest. Only abducted soldier…
The Israeli fear of international attention
Democracy Now! interviews the Nobel Peace Laureate Mairead Maguire who speaks from an Israeli jail cell after her arrest on a boat delivering humanitarian aid to Gaza:
Some refuse to be Zionist whores
Via the essential Australian blog, Middle East Reality Check: Paul Barratt is a former Australian Defense Department official. The following quote is from his post Passionate Supporters of Israel here: “The Israelis are very good at duchessing people. I had been Secretary to the Department of Defence for only a few weeks when I received…
Compare and contrast the horrors
What’s the legal, moral and practical differences between apartheid South Africa and present-day Israel/Palestine?
Friends forever, no matter what
The US is really clashing with Israel over settlements? Don’t believe the hype: The US has renewed a program of massive loan guarantees to Israel in spite of an ongoing dispute about the construction of illegal settlements in the West Bank. According to Reuters, the program allows Israel to sell bonds and take out loans…