After Iran’s retaliation

Israel’s apparently limited response to Iran’s retaliatory attack will be paid for in Palestinian blood, as Israel will likely barter its restraint for a U.S. green light to invade Rafah.

View On WordPress

Cutting Through: Iran-Israel Confrontation: Where Are We Now?

Iran showed restraint, and Joe Biden did something right. But a lot depends on what Israel’s irrational leadership does next.

View On WordPress

Cutting Through: The Desperate Effort to De-Contextualize October 7

Hamas bears full responsibility for its crimes on October 7, but the event was still the result of disastrous policy decisions by many outside actors. Both things can be and are true.

View On WordPress

Netanyahu’s endgame and the Israeli far-right’s regional ambitions

The events of recent days suggest we may be seeing the Israeli endgame take shape. Netanyahu’s far right government’s goals are not limited to Gaza: it wants to take over all of Palestine and start a war with Hezbollah and Iran as well.

View On WordPress

Cutting Through: Opposing Trump Must Not Mean Accepting Biden's Crimes

The panic and bullying is starting again. And we should be very frightened of another  Trump presidency. But that should not mean we ignore the massive crimes and failures of Joe Biden. This piece in the latest edition of the Cutting Through newsletter captures the duality. Please subscribe, share, and if you can, support the work being done here.

View On WordPress

How Netanyahu will use the U.N. ceasefire resolution to prolong Gaza’s genocide

Netanyahu may have been angry the U.S. refused to veto the ceasefire resolution in the U.N. Security Council this week, but he will still use it to prolong the Gaza genocide. He does not want an end unless it’s an ending that keeps him in office.

View On WordPress

Cutting Through: Rapid Reaction: UNSC Passes A Gaza Ceasefire Resolution

While this resolution isn’t going to have the impact that the people of Gaza so desperately need, it’s still a significant win. The US was forced to back down on some of its demands. It was forced to resort to arguing that the resolution does not mean what it plainly says, specifically that the issue of a ceasefire and that of the hostages in Gaza are two separate issues. They are also claiming…

View On WordPress

Chuck Schumer’s speech widens rifts over Israel in Congress

Chuck Schumer called on Israelis to bounce Benjamin Netanyahu from office. While his speech is not going to make any impact on the Israeli government or even his own White House, it has certainly roiled the US public and widened the fissures between Democrats and Republicans and, more importantly within the Democratic party itself.

View On WordPress

Cutting Through: Universalism vs Nationalism In Hollywood

In the latest edition of the Cutting Through newsletter, I look at the radical and antisemitic response of self-styled “Jewish creatives” whop excoriate Jonathan Glazer for daring to explain that his message about the Holocaust was universal and that his Jewish identity demands that he objects to the slaughter in Gaza.

View On WordPress

It isn’t Netanyahu who is acting against the will of his people, it’s Biden

There is no doubt that Benjamin Netanyahu is an extremely unpopular prime minister in Israel. But when it comes to his handling of the onslaught against Gaza, he has the support of a very clear majority of the Israeli people. Chuck Schumer, Kamala Harris, and Joe Biden may not like that truth, but that doesn’t make it any less true. In fact, it is them, and Biden in particular, who are acting…

View On WordPress

Interview: “Unpacking Islamophobia"

Sahar Aziz and I spoke with Arsalan Iftikhar, Senior Researcher for the Bridge Initiative for their podcast, Unpacking Islamophobia, where we discussed our report, “Presumptively Antisemitic: Islamophobic Tropes in the Palestine-Israel Discourse,” and its implications for how the war in Gaza is perceived in the West. Check it out.

View On WordPress

Cutting Through: Jonathan Glazer's Noble Speech and The Shame of His Critics

In the latest edition of the Cutting Through newsletter, I take on three examples of so-called “liberal Zionists” who willfully misled their readers about Jonathan Glazer’s speech at the Oscars. Glazer spoke out against dehumanization, and specifically pointed to BOTH the October 7 attacks and the genocide in Gaza (he didn’t use that term for it). I break down the dishonesty and also reflect on…

View On WordPress

Replacing Netanyahu with Gantz won’t fix the problem

My report for Mondoweiss on Gantz’s trip to the US and UK and what it means politically, in Israel, in the United States, and in Gaza. I make it clear that Gantz might be more respectful to Biden, but his policy toward the Palestinians is pretty much the same.

View On WordPress

Cutting Through: Biden Vs Trump On Ukraine

If Biden loses in November, the implications for Ukraine are grim, yet there is no accounting for this in US policy. That’s unacceptably dangerous. There are better policy options, and you can read about them in the latest edition of the Cutting Through newsletter. 

View On WordPress

Biden memos show Palestine advocacy is working

Joe Biden is feeling the heat, and it’s showing. He is desperately trying to continue his support for Israel’s genocidal operations in Gaza, but he has finally realized that this support is a serious impediment to his winning re-election. He has taken some steps that can provide tools in the future for impactful political action to stop Israel’s impunity in his attempt to buy off his critics. The…

View On WordPress

Cutting Through: When The Lesser Of Two Evils Is Still Intolerably Evil

Joe Biden should not have run for a second term. He is doubling down on that mistake with terrible decisions that make a Trump victory distressingly more likely. In the latest Cutting Through newsletter, I examine what this means and why. Read it and subscribe here.

View On WordPress

Interview: Parallax Views: The Islamophobia Network and the Israel-Palestine Discourse

Sahar Aziz and I sat down recently with J.G. Michael of Parallax Views to discuss our paper, “Presumptively Antisemitic: Islamophobic Tropes in the Palestine-Israel Discourse.” It was wide ranging conversation, covering antisemitism, Islamophobia, Gaza, Orientalism, and much more. You can listen here.

View On WordPress