Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Supporters of the Israeli genocide against tens of thousands of innocent Palestinian women, children, and noncombatant men in Gaza have fixed upon an unlikely villain in their denunciation of any slightest protest against this century’s worst act of barbarity. They are denouncing the patterned black-and-white scarf of cotton called a kuffiyeh or keffiyeh, which is worn by many Palestinians but also by Iraqis, Saudis and others in the Arabian Peninsula (where it is called a

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – CNN reports ominously this week that “Biden is actually 11 percentage points behind Trump among young voters 18-34 in a head-to-head match in a CNN poll conducted by SSRS and released over the weekend.”

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – A key feature of American bigotry toward people from the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), and toward Muslims more generally, has been the demonization by journalists, politicians and interest groups of ordinary, everyday Arabic words.

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Going back to the late nineteenth century, Zionism has had a complex and storied history, and there have been many strains of the ideology. Some early Zionists did not insist on colonizing Palestine, while others did (and colonizing it was the word they used). All agreed that the Jewish religion should be made a platform for erecting a nation-state, though where and how was initially a somewhat open question. Some Zionists were socialists and early some Zionist labor organizations were open to having Palestinian members, as

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) - Catherine Russell, the head of UNICEF, said this week that of the 600,000 children in …

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The Israeli newspaper Arab 48 reports that tens of thousands of Israelis rallied Saturday night against the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Tel Aviv and other cities, including Jerusalem, Beersheba and Haifa.

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The Committee to Protect Journalists on Sunday condemned the Israeli cabinet’s decision to ban the Al Jazeera news network in Israel. The network’s office was closed and its equipment was confiscated. Israeli cable channels were forced to delete Al Jazeera from their offerings, and even its website has been blocked for Israeli residents. Since Israeli news channels do not show the effects of the government’s total war on Gaza civilians, the Qatar-based channel had been one of the few sources of comprehensive coverage of the Gaza campaign for those Israelis who know English or Arabic.

Catherine Russell, the head of UNICEF said of the 600,000 children in Rafah, all are either injured, or sick, or malnourished.

Juan Cole: Israel, Gaza and Campus Protests, Part I on Sea Change Radio with Alex Wise. Transcript below. Or listen …

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) - Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton delivered herself of some ahistorical and distorted remarks about …