Secret courts

“The quality of justice behind the clerks’ closed doors can depend on where the hearing is held, who you know, or the color of your skin, according to a Spotlight Team investigation. It’s a land of arbitrary second chances, where the powerful, the privileged, and the lucky can see serious charges like reckless endangerment of a child and motor vehicle homicide quietly swept away in private hearings.” (thanks Amir)

This is how NPR describes the expulsions of Palestinians from their homeland

"They're part of a Bedouin tribe that was displaced from the desert in Israel many decades ago, and they relocated here in the early '50s." (thanks Basim)  Displaced from the desert in Israel when there was NO ISRAEL??

Charles Aznavour

This is by far my favorite song by Aznavour.  But I detested him at the personal level.  Despite his popularity in the Arab world and the pleas by Arabs for him to boycott the occupation state, he maintained a very close relationship with the occupation state since the 1960s and participated in cruel festivities for the Israeli war criminal state.  

My critical review of Seth Anziska's book, "Preventing Palestine"

My weekly article in Al-Akhbar: "From the history of the American "peace process": On Preventing Palestine", Part I.

the worst corruption scandals to hit the New York Police Department in years

“The brothel empire was always one step ahead of the law. Last week, prosecutors disclosed why: They said the brothels were run by a retired police detective who had been repeatedly tipped off about planned raids by officers on the force, revealing one of the worst corruption scandals to hit the New York Police Department in years.” (thanks Amir)

Saudi regime media standards

Meanwhile, Asharq al-Awssat newspaper quoted security sources and other extremist groups in Pakistan as saying that Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi arrived in the state of Nangarhar in eastern Afghanistan after crossing the Iranian territory. Baghdadi relocation, according to the sources, who asked not to be identified, came after the arrival of hundreds of ISIS members to the province after crossing the Iranian territory, through the city of Zahedan in eastern Iran, where sources said that the terrorist organization maintains a headquarter of the hospitality of its fighters with the knowledge and coordination with the Iranian Revolutionary Guards." (thanks Basim)

Bob Woodward Versus Donald Trump

My weekly article for Al-Akhbar: "Bob Woodward versus Donald Trump: the media of the invisible State".

Comrade Joseph Massad on Self-determination

"The 1993 Oslo Accords, in contrast, made no mention of that right whatsoever, let alone of “independence” or “liberation.”60 Instead, the Oslo Accords stipulated PLO recognition of the legitimacy of Israel as a state established on Jewish-colonized Palestinian lands. Thus, the Oslo Accords were in effect the best expression of the century-old Berlin Conference’s “right” of the Palestinians “to dispose of themselves” through ceding their “hereditary” right to their “soil” to a foreign power.61 Upon the orders of the United States and on the occasion of U.S. president Clinton’s visit to Gaza in 1998, the Palestinian Authority (PA) convened the PLO’s Palestinian National Council (PNC) to modify the Palestinian National Charter, for the express purpose of canceling articles Israeli officials found objectionable in it, including Article 19, which based itself on jus soli, though the PNC did keep Article 24, which bases itself on jus sanguinis.62

What emerges from the colonial and anticolonial use of the principle of self-determination in the Palestinian-Zionist context is its dependence on the same legal references to the question of nationality, not least the British Nationality and Status of Aliens Act of 1914, and its 1918 amendments, namely, the two main definitions of the right to nationality: blood and land, or, jus sanguinis and jus soli.63 These became the two bases invoked by the British Mandatory authorities and the Zionists to establish a Jewish claim to Palestine."

By far, my favorite passage of Bob Woodward's new book, "Fear"

How Yasser Arafat led the Palestinian people to Trump's "Deal of the Century"

My article for Consortium News on Yasser Arafat's disastrous path of leadership.

Arrested in Israel for Facebook posts

"On Tuesday morning, September 11, while Israel was celebrating the Jewish New Year, the Israeli police raided the home of Raja Eghbarieh, one of the leaders of the Abnaa Al-Balad movement, in Umm Al-Fahm. They searched the house, confiscated documents, smartphones and computers, 

and carried Eghbarieh with them. On the next day he was brought before a remand judge in the Israeli court in Hadera. The police representatives clarified that they were interrogating him for his posts on Facebook. They said they have already waged a “covert investigation” for a long time and now want to carry on while he is under detention. They claimed that some of his posts consisted “incitement to violence” and “support for a terrorist organization”." (thanks Eyal)

The US political crisis

My weekly article in Al-Akhbar: "The American Crisis of Governance: Will Trump Stay as President"?

Border agent accused of killing 4 women, abducting another

“A US Border Patrol agent was arrested on Saturday on the suspicion that he killed four women and abducted a fifth, who escaped.”

Manafort & Israeli official meddled in Ukraine & the U.S.

“The document further states that “Manafort coordinated privately with a senior Israeli government official to issue a written statement” that would highlight the alleged anti-Semitism of his client’s political rivals in Ukraine. Then, “with secret knowledge of that Israeli statement,”  Manafort worked to spread the story in the American media." (thanks Amir)

My comments on John McCain for Consortium Podcast

You can listen to my comments on John McCain on Consortium Podcast here.

Bashir Gemayyel and the "rights of the Christians"

My weekly article in Al-Akhbar: "Bashir Gemayyel and the (Stripped) Rights of Christians".

Beirut, the movie

By far, my favorite scene of Jon Hamm’s movie, Beirut: Camels on the beaches of Beirut. Some Israeli assistant director must have come up with this touch.

Resistance in the White House

The "resistance" official in the White House: There is a historical precedence. There was another "resistance" in the Nixon White House who leaked to the press that the president is unhinged and that he is being controlled by the wise staff. The name of that person is Henry Kissinger.

McCain and the Middle East

My article for Consortium News on McCain and the Middle East.

Sometimes Western media ignore what de Mistura has to say if it was not favorable to the Syrian rebels

"de Mistura said there was a high concentration of foreign fighters in Idlib, including an estimated 10,000 fighters designated...as terrorists...belonged to the al-Nusra Front and al Qaeda. “both the government and al-Nusra have the capability to produce weaponized chlorine.”"

The Doctrine of John McCain

My weekly article in Al-Akhbar: "The John McCain Doctrine and the Ronald Reagan Revolution".

Learn about the Middle East from Newsweek Magazine

"In 2015, the death of the Saudi King Abdullah, grandfather of MBS" (thanks Basim)

Al-Arabiyya is considered "liberal" by Saudi regime and Western media standards

36% of respondents blame women's clothing for sexual harassment while only 9% blame men's conduct.

Human rights Watch

This is information from someone who went through it: when an Arab is interviewed for a job at Human Rights Watch one of the first questions asked during the job interview is: are you willing to work with Israelis because part of our work entails dealing with Israelis.

Mystique of Marxism in the 21st century

My weekly article for Al-Akhbar: "The Mystique of Marxism in the 21st century".

Refutation of Zionist propaganda (part IV)

The 4th and last installment of my article for Al-Akhbar: "Refutation of Zionist propaganda in the documentary of Al-Arabiyya: An abstract about Nakbah, Part IV".

My article on Anti-Semitism and Jeremy Corbyn

My article for Consortium News on anti-Semitism and Jeremy Corbyn.

1979 Vela Incident

“This article offers a new analysis of radionuclide and hydroacoustic data to support a low-yield nuclear weapon test as a plausible explanation for the still contentious 22 September 1979 Vela Incident, in which U.S. satellite Vela 6911 detected an optical signal characteristic of an atmospheric nuclear explosion over the Southern Indian or Atlantic Ocean.”

Israeli infantry crossed the Lebanese border to kidnap a shepherd

“An Israeli enemy infantry unit crossed the border line in Al-Radar axis near the town of Shabaa for a distance of about 40 meters, NNA field reporter said on Tuesday. The enemy infantry failed in its attempt to kidnap the shepherd, identified as A.Z. The hostile patrol fired several smoke bombs in the direction of the shepherd, who managed to flee away.” (thanks Amir)

Elie Wiesel and the Sea is Never full (or empty)

I don't understand why people who like Elie Wiesel and approve of his politics and his posturing would not concede that his writings have no literary value whatsoever.  The titles of his books are more like titles of bad B movies, and the narratives in all of them are like articles you read in the Atlantic (when it was under the editorship of the former Israeli military prison guard).  In the Sea is Never full (how profound), he tells a story: how the Palestinian poet Rashid Husain contacted Wiesel and assured him that he is not a dangerous Arab and not even a PLO and that he is "an Israeli". He met with Wiesel and showed him a list of Israeli repression, injustices, and censorship.  Wiesel said that he did not believe what he heard and that he contacted an Israeli Jewish journalist to verify (because Arabs are liars) and that the Israeli journalist verified what Husayn had told him. So Wiesel went to Golda Meir who basically told him to mind his own business. The irony is that Wiesel never ever criticized Israel.  So it works: what Meir ordered him to do.

Refutation of Zionist propaganda on Al-Arabiyyah: part III

My weekly article in Al-Akhbar: "Refutation of Zionist Propaganda on Al-Arabiyyah: an abstract on Nakbah, Part III."

My interview with the Real News

Here is a link to my interview with The Real News on the political developments in Gaza.

Two years before the assassination of despot, Anwar Sadat, the US government rules:

"Sadat’s security, however, is good and the Egyptians are aware of the threat."

Walid Jumblat and French colonialism

My article for Al-Akhbar: "Walid Jumblat honors French colonialism and reminds it of Mukhtarah's alliance with it."

PS This is the official response of the party's mouthpiece to my article.

An official Saudi regime page threatens Canada and the Canadian people with a Sep. 11 of their own. Where is the outrage?

Refutation of Zionist propaganda

My weekly article: "Refutation of Zionist Propaganda: the Documentary on Al-Arabiyya: an abstract about Nakbah II".

Damascus book exhibit: censorship in full force

I today learned that the authorities in Syria have banned a whole number of books in the Damascus book exhibit even by writers who support the Syrian regime in the region.

Chulov wrote this propaganda piece for the Saudi regime in order to blame the Muslim Brotherhood for Bin Laden's terrorism

"One of the men he met there was Abdullah Azzam, a member of the Muslim Brotherhood"."  It is being widely circulated by professional Saudi regime propagandists.

Martin Chulov: another lousy Western correspondent in the Middle East with a lousy track record

Look at this: "and the bowls of dates and chocolates that mark the three-day festival that follows it sit on tabletops throughout the house."  He thinks that Muslims (and Arabs) don't eat dates and chocolates except on holy days.  

If you want to know why New York Times (and most Western) correspondents in ME are clueless, read this:

How New York Times correspondents cover the world:

“I depend way too heavily on Google Translate, both for work and in my personal life. For accurate translations I rely on an excellent support staff”.  I like how unaware he is of the blatant incompetence and ill-prepeaation that he is admitting to here.

A leader has been born ولادة قائدة.

Refutation of the Zionist documentary on Al-Arabiyya

My weekly article in Al-Akhbar: "Refutation of Zionism in the Documentary of Al-Arabiyyah: An Abstract of An-Nakbah".

Kim Philby: his articles for the Observer

Anyone knows how to get copies of Kim Philby's articles for the Observer? They were so bothersome to Israel that his anti-Zionist bent played a role in his ultimate exposure.   But I could not find any of those articles.  You know Patrick Seale started as his understudy.  

Qatari regime media and ISIS apologia

There is no question that Qatari regime media, especially Al-Quds Al-`Arabi, has provided propaganda cover for ISIS. DO you know that there was not a single ISIS bombing in Syria (including last one) that this regime mouthpiece didn't absolve ISIS from responsibility for it?

Imran Khan

Saudi regime can't be happy about his victory. A Pakistani colleague told me that he talked about improving relations with Iran in his victory speech.  His stance on Syria has been different from the policies of GCC, and has been accused of being an Asad apologist by supporters of Saudi regime.  Personally, I think he is a demagogue.