Creating new perspectives since 2009
Items by Yvonne Ridley
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An international criminal gang has been smashed, freeing a British kidnap victim in Syria
Kidnapped from Idlib in November 2018, British aid worker Muhammad Shabir's kidnappers demanded a $4 million ransom for his release...
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The NYT investigation proves that we must seek justice for Razan Al-Najjar
US President Donald Trump is a purveyor of fake news and a man who enjoys a long distance relationship with the truth; he hates the New York Times. Regarded as America’s most respected newspaper, the NYT takes news gathering seriously and when it fell short of its own standards...
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The Bishop of Truro must do justice to Palestine's invisible Christians
Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt has chosen the Christian festive season to launch an independent review to examine what the British government can do to stop the persecution of Christians around the world. There will be a special focus on the Middle East. It is indeed a much needed and worthy...
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Hang your head in shame, world; normal life does not exist for Palestinians in Hebron
Israel breaks international law with sickening and often deadly regularity. This is pointed out frequently by detractors of the Zionist State, which just as frequently attracts accusations of “anti-Semitism”; the obvious aim being to stifle any and all criticism of Israel. I’m wondering, therefore, how a new report by an...
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The pro-Israel lobby’s weaponisation of anti-Semitism takes a hit in the US
The pro-Israel lobby’s ongoing efforts to weaponise anti-Semitism has been dealt a major blow after a prestigious American university refused to sack one of its professors for showing solidarity with Palestine. Lobbyists inflicted a lot of pressure on the university after Marc Lamont Hill outraged Israel’s supporters and was...
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Eurovision challenges Israel to face the music
Supporting Palestine isn’t just about heroic resistance with little more than sticks and stones in the face of one of the most technologically-advanced armies in the world. Nor is it purely about politics and lobbying governments. As the peaceful Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) campaign has shown, it’s also...
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British Palestinian MP slaps down Trump
Layla Moran, the first British Member of Parliament of Palestinian descent, has urged the UK to “step up to the plate and lead” over the issue of Palestine given that the US President “can now in no way be considered an honest broker.” The MP launched her scathing attack...
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Netanyahu forgets prayers for world peace to make war on Gaza
Timing is everything in international politics, so as 70 world leaders descended on Paris at the weekend to commemorate the centenary of the Armistice that brought World War One to an end you’d think that most would use the occasion to talk about peace. Not so Israel’s leader Benjamin...
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The far right represents a real threat to Jews; criticism of Israel doesn't
An international Jewish pressure group has launched a blistering attack on the pro-Israel lobby and Israel’s Ambassador to the United States over their comments comparing Palestinian supporters with white supremacists. The comments in question were made in the wake of the Pittsburgh synagogue attack in which 11 people lost...
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An outrageous children’s ‘IDF party costume’ is being sold by Amazon for Halloween
When America’s largest supermarket chain, Walmart, advertised an Israel Defence Forces children’s party costume there was outrage and the stores withdrew the fancy dress outfit. That was three years ago, but now the IDF military costume is being advertised again, this time on Amazon, which has also come under...
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Nazi art case sets precedent for Palestinian Nakba restitution
Palestinian victims of the 1948 Nakba could benefit from a landmark legal ruling by a French court which ordered a painting to be returned to the family of the Jewish art collector from whom it was looted during the Second World War. The decision follows numerous legal disputes over...
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Israel aids genocidal Myanmar while urging the world to remember the Holocaust
Israel does not owe its existence to the genocide of the Jews during the Second World War but, without a doubt, the Holocaust played a significant role in speeding up the creation of the Zionist State. If nothing else, that happened in order to salve the world’s conscience for,...
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Our craven media continue to aid and abet Israel’s racist regime
I am delighted that Palestinian teenager Ahed Tamimi has been given the red carpet treatment by Spanish football giants Real Madrid following her release from an Israeli prison, where she spent eight months after slapping a couple of Israeli soldiers. Her heroic resistance has certainly captured the imagination of...
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Palestine: Read all about it… but not in the mainstream media
This time of year is always a period of personal retrospection for me, ending in trips down memory lane. It was, for example, when I became a cub reporter back in the seventies with high ideals and a determination to change the world through my stories. Already inspired by Washington...
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Idlib’s cries fail to move the global anti-war movement
The anniversary of the start of the Western war against Afghanistan is fast approaching and I remember it as though it was yesterday. The opening salvo from the US and Britain included nearly two dozen cruise missiles, indiscriminate weapons of mass destruction designed to strike terror into the hearts...
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All of these anti-Semitism allegations continue to sideline Palestinian suffering
As the row over what constitutes anti-Semitism rages in Britain, the very real fear that freedom of speech is being threatened has already been realised in America, according to one Jewish campaign group. At the heart of the argument is a decision by the Trump administration to change how...
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The UN has used the g-word, but will it tackle Israeli arms sales to the butchers of Myanmar?
The UN has finally used the g-word in accusing the Myanmar regime of genocide against the ethnic minority Rohingya Muslims. Now it needs to go one step further, by aiming a few choice words — and sanctions, if necessary — at those states which supply arms to the military...
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Popularity of any kind is a curse in Egypt, as Mo Salah is finding out
Shortly before he was assassinated, US President Abraham Lincoln said that it was best to avoid popularity if you want peace. Like so many public figures he realised that being popular can be a double-edged sword, and nowhere is this more obvious than in the Middle East, where paranoid...
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Netanyahu has dug himself into a hole in a graveyard full of untruths
Benjamin Netanyahu has dived headlong into the furore engulfing Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn, revealing the most blatant meddling to-date by Israel in British politics. What’s more, he’s done it armed with lies and distortions. The Israeli Prime Minister blasted Corbyn for apparently paying tribute to those behind the 1972...
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The men in charge of Saudi Arabia really don’t care a jot about Muslim women
If ever there was a time for the government of Saudi Arabia to stand up and defend its female citizens it is now, with Crown Prince Mohammad Bin Salman’s “reforms” in full swing; to great international acclaim, women can now drive cars on the public roads in the Kingdom...
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The Corbyn anti-Semitism row reveals how desperate Israel and its lobbyists are
The socialist leader of a British political party embroiled in an anti-Semitism row has apologised for appearing on platforms with people who drew Nazi-style comparisons with Israel’s actions. His remarks, though, have backfired among some Jewish and other pro-Palestinian groups. They have accused the Labour Leader Jeremy Corbyn of “crumbling”...
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Scotland's ‘Braveheart’ pension fund divests from Israeli bank
A landmark decision by a major Scottish pension fund to divest from Israel’s Bank Hapoalim could trigger a massive financial withdrawal by other funds in Scotland. The Falkirk Pension Fund is unhappy at the bank’s activities in occupied Palestine and its approach to human rights. The fund, which manages £2.3...
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Tariq Ramadan’s detention exposes the flaws in French liberté, égalité and fraternité
The authorities in France are coming under international pressure over their treatment of Muslim academic and philosopher Tariq Ramadan who is being held in custody pending investigations into a series of allegations pertaining to sexual misconduct. Scores of internationally respected public figures have joined the growing calls for justice...
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With a British minister dodging Israeli bullets, will his new boss stand up for international law?
Now that Jeremy Hunt has replaced Boris Johnson as Foreign Secretary in Whitehall, Palestinians are hopeful that there might be some cause for optimism, but if Britain’s top diplomat wants to be taken seriously as a fair-minded politician who cares about human rights, he could start by asking some...