Israel, Not the ‘Liberators’ of Damascus, Will Decide Syria’s Fate

There has been a flurry of “What next for Syria?” articles in the wake of dictator Bashar al-Assad’s hurried exit from Syria and the takeover of much of the country by al-Qaeda’s rebranded local forces. Western governments and media have been quick to celebrate the success of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), even though the group … Continue reading “Israel, Not the ‘Liberators’ of Damascus, Will Decide Syria’s Fate”

The Day the Media Decided Militant Jihadism Was Respectable

Here is a very strange thing. For years, western media outlets and politicians have been recklessly indifferent to the fact that Hamas is not a jihadist movement, like al-Qaeda or Islamic State, but a specifically *Palestinian* national resistance movement – if one underpinned by an Islamist ideology that distinguishes it from secular Palestinian national movements … Continue reading “The Day the Media Decided Militant Jihadism Was Respectable”

Syria’s Assad Has Fallen – Just as the Pentagon Planned 23 Years Ago

The long-harboured aspirations of the US, Turkey and Israel to topple the Syrian government, mainly through their rebranded al-Qaeda allies, succeeded at lightning speed. Damascus fell days after Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) forces under Abu Mohammad al-Jolani surprised observers by breaking out of their small north-western enclave in Syria and seizing the country’s second city, … Continue reading “Syria’s Assad Has Fallen – Just as the Pentagon Planned 23 Years Ago”

Israel Kills the Journalists. Western Media Kills the Truth of Genocide in Gaza

Israel knew that, if it could stop foreign correspondents from reporting directly from Gaza, those journalists would end up covering events in ways far more to its liking. They would hedge every report of a new Israeli atrocity – if they covered them at all – with a “Hamas claims” or “Gaza family members allege”. … Continue reading “Israel Kills the Journalists. Western Media Kills the Truth of Genocide in Gaza”

The West’s Support for Israel’s Genocide Is Destroying the World as We Know It

The horrifying images from Gaza last week of fire consuming a Palestinian teenager confined to his hospital bed with an intravenous drip may come to define Israel’s genocide, as completely as earlier images of human depravity have defined the world. Naked, skin-and-bone corpses thrown into mass graves in the death camps of the Nazi Holocaust. … Continue reading “The West’s Support for Israel’s Genocide Is Destroying the World as We Know It”

Police Escalate the British State’s War on Independent Journalism

The UK government and police – the British state – made clear on Friday they are waging a war of intimidation against the country’s independent journalists in a desperate attempt to silence them. Ten Metropolitan police officers made a dawn raid on the home of investigative journalist Asa Winstanley and seized his electronic devices under … Continue reading “Police Escalate the British State’s War on Independent Journalism”

War on Gaza: Israel Wants To Finish the Job Washington Started After 9/11

Nearly a decade ago, a leading Israeli human rights activist divulged to me a private conversation he’d had a short time earlier with one of Europe’s ambassadors to Israel. He was shaken by the exchange. The ambassador’s country was then widely seen as one of the most sympathetic in the West to the Palestinian people. … Continue reading “War on Gaza: Israel Wants To Finish the Job Washington Started After 9/11”

Media Complicit in the Crimes of Israel

The coverage of Israeli soldiers pushing three Palestinians off a roof in the West Bank town of Qabatiya – it’s unclear whether the men are dead or near-dead – is being barely reported by the western media, even though it was videoed from at least three different angles and a reporter from the main US … Continue reading “Media Complicit in the Crimes of Israel”

Israeli Torture Chambers Aren’t New. They Provoked October 7

For many years I lived just up the road from Megiddo prison in northern Israel, where new film of Israeli guards torturing Palestinians en masse has been published by Israel’s Haaretz newspaper. I drove past Megiddo prison on hundreds of occasions. Over time I came to barely notice the squat grey buildings, surrounded by watch … Continue reading “Israeli Torture Chambers Aren’t New. They Provoked October 7”

UK Labour Party Purges Have Mutated Into the Arrest of Palestine Supporters

The arrest yesterday of Palestine solidarity activist Sarah Wilkinson, following the arrest of journalist Richard Medhurst last week – both based on an improbable claim they have violated Section 12 of the Terrorism Act – is definitive proof that Keir Starmer’s authoritarian purges of the Labour left are being rolled out against critics on a … Continue reading “UK Labour Party Purges Have Mutated Into the Arrest of Palestine Supporters”