A day in the life of a Gazan surfer

A story of rare hope and the kind I wish I read more about. The National publishes a piece about surfing in Gaza, of all places, and the surfers in Israel and America that want to help Gazans experience the global sport. We often hear about attempts at understanding but this is the real deal,…

When loving the establishment is a media natural

Accusations of left-wing bias against public broadcasters is a mainstay of the culture wars (witness the latest non-story in Australia over the ABC). Mehdi Hasan, senior political editor of the New Statesman, argues that the BBC is an inherently status-quo enforcing organisation: The BBC’s bias is thus an Establishment bias, a bias towards power and…

Iran knows a few things about torture

The New York Times publishes a powerful editorial on the crimes in the Islamic Republic: Longer than many people might have predicted, Iran’s political opposition is continuing to challenge the ruling hard-line mullahs. The street protests that shook the country after the bogus June 12 presidential election have faded, but the courage to speak out…

The faces of a Muslim nation

Friend and colleague Mustafa Qadri has spent much of the past two years in Pakistan. He’s a fine reporter; astute, brave and incisive. Here’s a photo essay of his observations:

The addictive war on terrorism

George W. Bush must be so proud of his protege, Barack Hussein Obama: The Obama administration will largely preserve Bush-era procedures allowing the government to search — without suspicion of wrongdoing — the contents of a traveler’s laptop computer, cellphone or other electronic device, although officials said new policies would expand oversight of such inspections.…

A US leader who understands Palestine

Jimmy Carter talks to al-Jazeera about the “absolutely necessary” end to West Bank settlements and the engagement of Hamas. Carter has been saying the same thing for years and I admire him for it:

At what point does one take a stand on apartheid?

When film-maker Ken Loach recently called for the Melbourne International Film Festival to refuse Israeli government funding, the response was electric. Now, the director of the festival has fully responded (and I’m informed Loach has responded to this response by Richard Moore): To allow the personal politics of one filmmaker to proscribe a festival position…

Taking a moral cue from a real leader for the Middle East

South Africa’s Desmond Tutu has dedicated his life to fighting oppression, including in the Middle East. Currently in Isreal and Palestine with The Elders in an attempt to find a path to peace, he tells Haaretz that he has strong views on Israeli academic Neve Gordon’s call for a boycott against Israel: “I always say…

We are all self-hating Jews

Benjamin Netanyahu allegedly called two of Barack Obama’s senior advisers, Rahm Emanuel and David Axelrod, “self-hating” Jews because he didn’t like their leader pressuring his country. The poor dear. The New Republic’s Leon Wieseltier, a life-long dedicated Zionist, has something to say about that: If Emanuel is a self-hating Jew because he believes that Israeli…

They should be throwing the settlers in prison

Israeli peace activist Ezra Nawi, currently facing the prospect of jail time for allegedly attacking an Israeli officer, was defended in a Jerusalem court last week by the country’s former deputy attorney general: She said the Palestinians’ life in the southern Hebron Hills “is surreal – they have no water, no power supply, they are…

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