Karen Greenberg, The Forever Prison and the Forever Wars

according to the Costs of War Project, the USA ended up spending at least $8 trillion on those wars. According to that project, an estimated 940,000 people died directly thanks to America’s war on terror (almost half of them civilians) and 3.6 to 3.8 million indirectly in its war zones, bringing the total to nearly five million dead…. that group has estimated that… Read More Karen Greenberg, The Forever Prison and the Forever Wars

When will this horror end? When Israel realises that the cost of destroying us is too high

Israel often narrates relations between Israelis and Palestinians as replete with traumas that are never forgotten and are used “to legitimate the killing of Palestinians as an effective tool to preserve a secure Jewish state and prepare Israeli youth to be good soldiers and to carry on the practices of occupation”, as Israeli professor Nurit… Read More When will this horror end? When Israel realises that the cost of destroying us is too high

The United States is already at war

And it is very much a willing belligerent in a conflict of its own making. Belén Fernández Yesterday, Iran fired a barrage of missiles at Israel in retaliation for Israel’s assassination in Beirut of Hezbollah secretary-general Hassan Nasrallah last week and its assassination in Tehran of Hamas’s political chief Ismail Haniyeh in July. United States President Joe Biden instructed the US… Read More The United States is already at war

In Gaza, we have one question for the rest of the world: aren’t we human, just like you?

Every night we huddle together and pray our building doesn’t collapse over us. Who will stop this war – and give us a future? A voice from Gaza Living in Gaza has given me a profound and often challenging perspective on life. I am a person who doesn’t usually feel afraid, but the things we are seeing… Read More In Gaza, we have one question for the rest of the world: aren’t we human, just like you?

Historical Origins of the War in Palestine: Lecture by Madhavan K. Palat

Historical Origins of the War in Palestine GAZA casualties, live statistics United Nations Documentation on the Origins and Evolution of the Palestine Problem United Nations Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide The war in Palestine has three players: Israel; the USA, with its European satellites fully backing Israel; and Palestinians, isolated, a people… Read More Historical Origins of the War in Palestine: Lecture by Madhavan K. Palat

Israelis Must Ask Themselves if They’re Willing to Live in a Country That Lives on Blood

Gideon Levy Israel is turning, with alarming speed, into a country that lives on blood. The daily crimes of the occupation are already less relevant. Over the past year, a new reality of mass killing and crimes of an entirely different scale has emerged. We are in a genocidal reality; the blood of tens of… Read More Israelis Must Ask Themselves if They’re Willing to Live in a Country That Lives on Blood

With Gaza in ruins and Lebanon under siege, what defence remains for Israel’s actions?

‘Existential threat’ is a thin excuse: the out-of-control force that is pushing the Middle East to the brink is Israel itself Nesrine Malik Acommon defence of Israel’s belligerence, both within the Palestinian territories and in the wider region, is the claim that it must act in this way because it is surrounded by countries that are trying… Read More With Gaza in ruins and Lebanon under siege, what defence remains for Israel’s actions?

Daniel Berrigan, Defiant Priest Who Preached Pacifism Dies at 94 (2016) / Catonsville 9 Statement written by Dan Berrigan, S.J.

First posted May 01, 2016 NB: The Berrigan brothers represent the best in the tradition of non-violent resistance to war and bellicose nationalism. Here is what they said in a public statement issued at the height of the Vietnam war, in 1968:  “We confront the Catholic Church, other Christian bodies and the synagogues of America with their… Read More Daniel Berrigan, Defiant Priest Who Preached Pacifism Dies at 94 (2016) / Catonsville 9 Statement written by Dan Berrigan, S.J.

‘Education of hatred’: Killing of Japanese boy sparks soul searching in China over rising nationalism

A rare statement issued last week by dozens of Chinese people living in Japan condemned the assault and called for reflections on the “underlying causes.” “The extreme nationalist hate education against Japan has been prevalent in China for a long time. It has obscured some Chinese people’s understanding of Japan, and even indulged ignorance and evil,” the statement… Read More ‘Education of hatred’: Killing of Japanese boy sparks soul searching in China over rising nationalism