Jonathan Cook

Late last month, a fortnight into Israel’s war against Lebanon, the Hebrew-language media published a story that passed observers by. Scientists in Haifa, according to the report, have developed a "missile-trapping" steel net that can shield buildings from rocket attacks. The Israeli government, it noted, would be able to use the net to protect vital … Continue reading “After Lebanon, Israel Looks for More War”

During Israel’s war against the people of Lebanon, our media, politicians, and diplomats have colluded with the aggressors by distracting us with irrelevancies, by concocting controversies, and by framing the language of diplomacy. In the fragile truce that is currently holding while Lebanon waits for Israel to withdraw, we are simply getting more of the … Continue reading “Lebanese Deaths, and Israeli War Crimes, Kept Off the Balance Sheet”

It occurred to me as I watched the story unfolding on my TV of a suspected plot by a group of at least 20 British Muslims to blow up planes between the UK and America that the course of my life and that of the alleged "terrorists" may have run in parallel in more ways … Continue reading “Suddenly, I’m an ‘Islamic Fascist’”

A reader recently e-mailed to ask if anyone else was suggesting, as I have done, that Hezbollah’s rocket fire may not be quite as indiscriminate or maliciously targeted at Israeli civilians as is commonly assumed. I had to admit that I have been plowing a lonely furrow on this one. Still, that is no reason … Continue reading “Hypocrisy About Hezbollah”

If there were any remaining illusions about the purpose of Israel’s war against Lebanon, the draft United Nations Security Council resolution calling for a "cessation of major hostilities" published over the weekend should finally dispel them. This entirely one-sided document was drafted, noted the Hebrew-language media, with close Israeli involvement. The top adviser to Israeli … Continue reading “The End of Illusions”

Here are some interesting points raised this week by a leading commentator and published in a respected daily newspaper: "The Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert embeds his soldiers in Israeli communities, next to schools, beside hospitals, close to welfare centers, ensuring that any Israeli target is also a civilian target. This is the practice the … Continue reading “Winning the Propaganda War”

The crowds in Beirut last year demanding a Cedar Revolution, “the first shoots of democracy” supposedly planted by the United States, are a distant memory. Yesterday we saw in their place the fury of Lebanon directed against the capital’s United Nations building – an early “birth pang” in Condoleezza Rice’s new Middle East. If Israel … Continue reading “Why Do They Hate Us?
Listen to Qana (Again)”

When journalists use the word "apparently," or another favorite "reportedly," they are usually distancing themselves from an event or an interpretation in the supposed interests of balance. But I think we should read the "apparently" contained in a statement from the head of the United Nations, Kofi Annan, relating to the killing this week of … Continue reading “The Lies Israel Tells Itself (and We Tell on Its Behalf)”

This week I had the pleasure to appear on American radio, on the Laura Ingraham show, pitted against David Horowitz, who most recently made his name under the banner of Campus Watch, leading McCarthyite witch-hunts against American professors who have the impertinence to suggest that maybe, just maybe, Arabs have minds and feelings like the … Continue reading “Five Myths That Sanction Israel’s War Crimes”

The general surprise that Lebanese civilians are taking the brunt of Israel’s onslaught – and the unwillingness in some quarters of the media to report the fact – reflects a poor understanding of Israel’s historical use of violence. Since its birth six decades ago, Israel has always been officially “going after the terrorists,” but its … Continue reading “Israel’s Disproportionate Violence No Surprise”