Jonathan Cook

Jonathan Cook is a writer and journalist based in Nazareth, Israel. His latest books are Israel and the Clash of Civilizations: Iraq, Iran, and the Plan to Remake the Middle East (Pluto Press) and Disappearing Palestine: Israel's Experiments in Human Despair (Zed Books). Visit his Web site.

Israel’s New Government Will Deepen Rifts, Not Heal Them

The photo was unprecedented. It showed Mansour Abbas, leader of an Islamist party for Palestinians in Israel, signing an agreement on Wednesday night to sit in a “government of change” alongside settler leader Naftali Bennett. Caretaker Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will fervently try to find a way to break up the coalition in the next … Continue reading “Israel’s New Government Will Deepen Rifts, Not Heal Them”

Jewish Groups That Aid Israel’s War Crimes Can’t Deny All Responsibility for Those Crimes

Here is something that can be said with great confidence. It is racist – antisemitic, if you prefer – to hold Jews, individually or collectively, accountable for Israel’s crimes. Jews are not responsible for Israel’s war crimes, even if the Israeli state presumes to implicate Jews in its crimes by falsely declaring it represents all … Continue reading “Jewish Groups That Aid Israel’s War Crimes Can’t Deny All Responsibility for Those Crimes”

Jerusalem Protests: The Mob ‘Breaking Faces’ Learned From Israel’s Establishment

Inside the Israeli parliament and out on the streets of Jerusalem, the forces of unapologetic Jewish supremacism are stirring, as a growing section of Israel’s youth tire of the two-faced Jewish nationalism that has held sway in Israel for decades. Last week, Bezalel Smotrich, leader of the far-right Religious Zionism faction, a vital partner if … Continue reading “Jerusalem Protests: The Mob ‘Breaking Faces’ Learned From Israel’s Establishment”

‘Finished With the Bluffing’: Jewish National Fund Goes Public With Its Aid to Settlers

For decades, Jews around the world have cherished the Jewish National Fund’s supposedly “charitable” work buying and managing land in Israel. Generations of Jewish children have been encouraged to drop pennies into its iconic blue collection boxes. The Fund is held in similar high esteem by western governments, which typically subsidize their citizens’ donations to … Continue reading “‘Finished With the Bluffing’: Jewish National Fund Goes Public With Its Aid to Settlers”

The ‘Humanitarian’ Left Still Ignores the Lessons of Iraq, Libya and Syria To Cheer On More War

The instinct among parts of the left to cheerlead the right’s war crimes, so long as they are dressed up as liberal "humanitarianism", is alive and kicking, as Owen Jones revealed in a column last week on the plight of the Uighurs at China’s hands. The "humanitarian war" instinct persists even after two decades of … Continue reading “The ‘Humanitarian’ Left Still Ignores the Lessons of Iraq, Libya and Syria To Cheer On More War”

Israel Is Losing the Fight To Obscure Its Apartheid Character

For more than a decade, a handful of former Israeli politicians and US diplomats identified with what might be termed the “peace process industry” have intermittently warned that, without a two-state solution, Israel is in danger of becoming an “apartheid state”. The most notable among them include Ehud Barak and Ehud Olmert, two former Israeli … Continue reading “Israel Is Losing the Fight To Obscure Its Apartheid Character”

The US and UK Are Making Assange’s Death More Likely

There was a hope in some quarters after Judge Vanessa Baraitser ruled on Monday against an application to extradite Julian Assange to the US, where he faced being locked away for the rest of his life, that she might finally be changing tack. Washington has wanted Assange permanently silenced and made an example of – … Continue reading “The US and UK Are Making Assange’s Death More Likely”

Assange Wins. The Cost: The Crushing of Press Freedom, and the Labeling of Dissent as Mental Illness

The unexpected decision by Judge Vanessa Baraitser to deny a US demand to extradite Julian Assange, foiling efforts to send him to a US super-max jail for the rest of his life, is a welcome legal victory, but one swamped by larger lessons that should disturb us deeply. Those who campaigned so vigorously to keep … Continue reading “Assange Wins. The Cost: The Crushing of Press Freedom, and the Labeling of Dissent as Mental Illness”

Antisemitism Claims Mask a Reign of Political and Cultural Terror Across Europe

The Israeli newspaper Haaretz has run a fascinating long report this week offering a disturbing snapshot of the political climate rapidly emerging across Europe on the issue of antisemitism. The article documents a kind of cultural, political and intellectual reign of terror in Germany since the parliament passed a resolution last year equating support for … Continue reading “Antisemitism Claims Mask a Reign of Political and Cultural Terror Across Europe”

The Guardian‘s Deceit-Riddled New Statement Betrays Both Julian Assange and Journalism

In my recent post on the current hearings at the Old Bailey over Julian Assange’s extradition to the United States, where he would almost certainly be locked away for the rest of his life for the crime of doing journalism, I made two main criticisms of the Guardian. A decade ago, remember, the newspaper worked … Continue reading “The Guardian‘s Deceit-Riddled New Statement Betrays Both Julian Assange and Journalism”