Creating new perspectives since 2009
Items by Dr Ramzy Baroud
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African countries are challenging Israel’s plot across the continent
The sight of Israeli Ambassador Sharon Bar-Li and other Israeli delegates being escorted out of the opening ceremony of the African Union Summit in Addis Ababa on 18 February was historic. The very moment that was meant to crown twenty years of Israeli diplomacy on the African continent turned...
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Algeria’s gas vs. rightwing ideology: Will Italy change its position on Jerusalem?
When Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu left Tel Aviv for Rome on 9 March, he was flown to Ben Gurion airport in Tel Aviv by a helicopter because anti-government protesters blocked all the roads around it. Netanyahu’s visit was not met with much enthusiasm in Italy, either. A sit-in was...
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Mass protests and false hope: Israel’s Supreme Court is no friend of the Palestinian people
As hundreds of thousands, throughout Israel, joined anti-government protests, questions began to arise regarding how this movement would affect, or possibly merge, into the wider struggle against the Israeli military occupation and apartheid in Palestine. Pro-Palestine media outlets shared, with obvious excitement, news about statements made by Hollywood celebrities, the...
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Palestinian children’s art exposes Israel’s cultural genocide
The following text message tells the whole story of what pro-Palestinian communities around the world are fighting for, and what pro-Israelis are fighting against: “We are delighted to report that Chelsea and Westminster Hospital has removed a display of artwork designed by children from Gaza.” That was the summary of...
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Silence is not an option, and sending weapons to Ukraine perpetuates the war
As is usually the case in long wars, the warring parties and their affiliated media in the Russia-Ukraine conflict have painted each other using uncompromising language, making it nearly impossible to offer an unbiased view of the ongoing tragedy that has killed, wounded and displaced millions of people. While it...
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False hopes and broken promises litter the ground behind the UN Statement on Palestine
Rarely does the Palestinian Ambassador to the UN make an official comment expressing happiness over any official proceedings concerning the Israeli occupation of Palestine. Ambassador Riyad Mansour, though, is “very happy that there was a very strong united message from the Security Council against the illegal, unilateral measure” undertaken...
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‘Truth, no matter what’: Why watering down Palestinian reality is a crime
On 20 February, the United Nations Security Council approved a statement, described in the media as a ‘watered-down’ version of an earlier draft resolution which would have demanded that Israel “immediately and completely cease all settlement activities in the occupied Palestinian territory.” The intrigues that led to the scrapping of what was meant to...
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‘America is not a racist country’: How Nikki Haley became Israel’s candidate for the White House
Though it has been argued that the so-called American dream is long dead, Nikki Haley is proof that the dream is still alive. Unfortunately, the ‘dream’ is hers alone. Until recently, a close confidante of former US President Donald Trump and his pro-Israel circle, Haley wants to be the next...
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The true champions of humanity in Turkiye and Syria deserve our thanks
A funeral was held in the north Syrian town of Jinderis on 7 February. It was one of numerous such funerals to be held that day across Syria and Turkiye, following devastating earthquakes which killed and injured tens of thousands of people. Each one of these funerals represented two...
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Israel is struggling to maintain a coherent position on Russia and Ukraine
Israel has struggled for a whole year to articulate a clear and decisive position regarding the Russia-Ukraine war. The reason behind the seemingly confused Israeli position is that it stands to lose, regardless of the outcome. But is Israel a neutral party? It is home to almost one million Russian-speaking...
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A month’s notice: Why Burkina Faso ordered French troops out of the country
Though it was clear that Burkina Faso was eventually going to follow in the footsteps of Mali and the Central African Republic (CAR), Ouagadougou’s decision to break military ties with France was not as simple as media sound bites want us to believe. The conventional wisdom is that these countries...
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Failed experiment: Three reasons why Israel fears a major war on Gaza
Though Israel’s past wars on Gaza have often been justified by Tel Aviv as a response to Palestinian rockets or, generally, as acts of self-defence, the truth is different. Historically, Israel’s relationship with Gaza has been defined by Tel Aviv’s need to create distractions from its own fractious politics,...
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Palestine is my cause: Arabs reaffirm support for Palestinians, rejection of the Occupation
The latest Arab Opinion Index 2022 is yet more proof that Arab societies are diverse in every possible way, from their assessment of their economic situation and living conditions to their take on immigration, state institutions and democracy. With one single exception: Palestine. 76 per cent of all respondents to...
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Israel is a state for only some of its citizens, as the saga of the captive Black soldier highlights
The words uttered in Hebrew by a person believed to be Avera Mengistu, an Israeli soldier of Ethiopian origin who was captured and held in Gaza in 2014, are telling. “For how long will I be in captivity? After so many years, where are the state and the people...
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A State for some of its citizens: Captured black soldier’s saga highlights racism in Israel
“For how long will I be in captivity? After so many years, where are the state and the people of Israel?” These were the words, uttered in Hebrew, of a person believed to be Avera Mengistu, an Israeli soldier of Ethiopian origin, who was captured and held in Gaza...
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Palestinians are not liars: confronting the violence of media delegitimisation
During one of its frequent raids in the occupied West Bank on 19 January, the Israeli military arrested Palestinian journalist Abdul Muhsen Shalaldeh near the town of Al-Khalil (Hebron). This was just the latest of a staggering number of violations against Palestinian journalists and freedom of expression. A few days...
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Strong militaries, weak society: The missing story in the Global Firepower ranking
The Global Firepower (GFP) ranking was published on 6 January. The annual report classifies the world’s strongest militaries based on over 60 factors, including size, spending and technological advancements. The report, which placed the United States military on top, followed by Russia, China, India and the UK, raised more questions...
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It has always been a ‘Religious War’: On Ben-Gvir and the adaptability of Zionism
In a self-congratulatory article published in the Atlantic in 2017, Yossi Klein Halevi describes Israeli behaviour at the just-conquered holy Muslim shrines in Occupied East Jerusalem in 1967 as “an astonishing moment of religious restraint”. “The Jewish people had just returned to its holiest site, from which it had been...
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What will happen after the ICJ delegitimises Israel’s occupation of Palestine?
Once more, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) is set to offer a legal opinion on the consequences of Israel’s occupation of Palestine. A historic UN vote on 31 December called on the ICJ to look at the occupation in terms of legal consequences, the rights of the Palestinian...
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Giuseppe Trani and the ‘human condition’ suggest positive vibes for 2023
When the newsstand of Giuseppe Trani was swept away by disastrous flooding that devastated the southern Italian town of Casamicciola at the end of November, the 70-year-old man lost everything. Not for long, though, as the townsfolk, who were also affected by the flooding and landslides experienced throughout the...
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Israel was never a democracy, so why is the West lamenting the end of a ‘liberal’ state?
Even before the new Israeli coalition government was officially sworn in last week, angry reactions emerged, not only among Palestinians and other Middle Eastern governments, but also among Israel’s allies in the West. As early as 2 November, top US officials told Axios that the administration of US President...
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Culture of hope: 2022 and the margins of victory in Palestine
Another critical year for Palestine has folded. While 2022 has wrought much of the same in terms of Israeli military occupation and increasing violence, it also introduced new variables to the Palestinian struggle – nationally, regionally and internationally. Palestine, the War and the Arabs The Russia-Ukraine War starting in February pressured...
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The price of betraying Palestine: Moroccans challenge normalisation with Israel
Two years ago, Morocco and Israel signed the US-brokered “Joint Declaration”, thus officially recognising Israel and instating diplomatic ties. Though other Arab countries had already done the same, the Moroccan official recognition of Apartheid Israel was particularly devastating for Palestinians. Years ago, a close Moroccan friend told me that the...
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On football, opium and popular resistance: Not all sports are created equal
My friend is not an elitist. To the contrary, he has spent decades of his life fighting social inequality, racism and championing the rights of disadvantaged groups. Therefore, I was taken aback when he surmised that “football is the opium of the people”. The reference, which summons a famous Marxist...