Israel’s use of Gender-Based Violence, Sexual Humiliation, and Destruction of Women’s Healthcare in Gaza was Genocidal: UN

March 14, 2025
Juan Cole
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – An independent UN commission has found that “Israel has increasingly employed sexual, reproductive and other forms of gender-based violence against Palestinians as part of a broader effort to undermine their right to self-determination and carried out genocidal acts through the systematic destruction of sexual and reproductive healthcare facilities.”

“Prisoners,” Digital, Midjourney, 2025

When Dissent Becomes a Crime: The War on Political Speech Begins

March 14, 2025
John W. Whitehead and Nisha Whitehead
“Once the principle is established that the government can arrest and jail protesters… officials will use it to silence opposition broadly.”

~ Heather Cox Richardson, historian

How a Cuba Defies U.S. Sanctions to Lead in Healthcare

March 14, 2025
Renée L. Quarterman
In the heart of the Cuban capital, the Dr. Cosme Ordoñez Carceller Teaching Polyclinic stands as a testament to the nation’s unique approach to healthcare: universal, free of charge, accessible, regionalized, community-centered, and deeply rooted in preventive medicine. Unlike the profit-driven models that dominate much of the world, Cuba’s system prioritizes equitable access, public health education, and early intervention.

Jewish Americans and Allies Occupy Trump Tower Demanding Release of Mahmoud Khalil

March 13, 2025
Julia Conley

Nearly a year and a half after the advocacy group Jewish Voice for Peace began leading nationwide demonstrations against Israel's U.S.-backed assault on Gaza, hundreds of organizers and supporters of the group risked arrest Thursday as they assembled in the lobby of Trump Tower in New York City, demanding the release of Columbia University graduate Mahmoud Khalil.

Demostrators from the human rights organization Jewish Voice for Peace hold a civil disobedience action inside Trump Tower in New York on March 13, 2025.(Photo: Timothy A. Clary/AFP via Getty Images)

'Do whatever the hell you want': Iranian president fires back against US threats

March 12, 2025

Donald Trump has called for talks with Tehran while simultaneously threatening it with military attacks 

ز گهواره تا گور

بسیاری از ما انسان‌ها به این باور هستیم که خالقی ما را خلق کرده است. او نطفهٔ ما را در رحم مادرمان نهاده و به ما زمان معینی‌ عمر ارزانی داشته است. پس از اتمام آن زمان مشخص که در هر فردی متفاوت است، مرگ به سراغ ما می‌آید و ما را از این دنیا به دنیای دیگری می‌برد.ا

The U.S. and Israel: An Alliance of Blood, Politics and Money

March 12, 2025
M. Reza Behnam
To begin to correct the injustices that generations of Palestinians have faced, and to become “a society that can live with its conscience,” the story of Palestine and its people must be told.

Anyone who goes near the water risks his life. But if we leave the sea, we die’

March 11, 2025
Ruwaida Kamal Amer
Little remains of Gaza’s fishing industry, devastated by the war and years of Israeli restrictions. Yet fishermen are still clinging on to their livelihood.

Revolt of the rich: Wealthy elites have waged a fifty year class war—and won

March 11, 2025
Jeremy Kuzmarov
The 2024 election between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump makes clear that the U.S. has two right-wing parties and no effective left-wing opposition.

Hamas showing ‘flexibility’ in Gaza ceasefire talks with Washington

March 10, 2025

As Israel threatens a return to war in Gaza, Washington is looking to negotiate a separate deal with Hamas to release US citizens held in Gaza 

The Petrodollar – The US-Saudi Deal that Ruined the World

Daragh Cogley
March 10, 2025
I’m going to Saudi Arabia. I made a deal with Saudi Arabia. I’d usually go to the U.K. first. Last time I went to Saudi Arabia they put up $450 billion. I said well, this time they’ve gotten richer, we’ve all gotten older so I said I’ll go if you pay $1 trillion to American companies, meaning the purchase over a four-year period of $ 1 trillion and they’ve agreed to do that. So, I’m going to be going there. I have a great relationship with them, and they’ve been very nice but they’re going to be spending a lot of money to American companies for buying military equipment and a lot of other things.” – President Donald Trump, 7th March 2025.

 

King Salman, Presidents Trump and el-Sisi inaugurate the Global Center for Combating Extremism by touching an illuminated globe of the Earth. Image Wikipedia.

LIVE BLOG: Israel Cuts Electricity to Gaza | Car Explosion in Tel Aviv – Day 520

March 9, 2025 

Killed    Missing   Wounded

48,458  14,000    111,845

 

Palestinian teacher Asmaa Al-Najjar, 28, teaches in a tent in Jabaliya after losing one of her children. (Photo: via WAFA)

The Cherry Tree

Composed Date: July 10, 1994

A strong wind is forcing the dark cloud. Water is pushing towards the beach and leaves white foam behind. With a heavy load on his shoulders, he gazes at the waves and throws the heavy bundle into the water. He sits on the sands, where the water meets the shore. The bag is still floating on the water's edge. He suddenly gets up, kicks the bundle several times, and shouts: "Take it. Wash it away. I don't want them anymore." He kicks the bundle several times, pushing it further into the water until it floats away. He sits back again while staring at the waves and whispering: "Take the past away. Take all elements of hurt and deceit. Take it all; saws, ropes, tools, everything."

Israeli attacks on Gaza kill three as Hamas, Egypt hold ceasefire talks

March 8, 2025
Israeli drone strikes in Rafah kill three Palestinians amid escalating violence and fragile ceasefire talks in Cairo.

 

 Israel blocks vital supplies to Gaza: Aid organisations warn conditions are worsening

On Int’l Women’s Day: In Memory of Iranian Women who have Struggled for Freedom

March 8, 2025
Fariba Amini
Newark, Delaware (Special to Informed Comment; Feature) – When Ruhollah Khomeini was still in Neauphle-le-Château, in various declarations and interviews, he had promised that women would have the freedom to choose their attire.  That they would have the same rights as men.

 

 Graffiti picture in Frankfurt am Main for Jina Mahsa Amini on a demolition building in Gallus. The location was accessible to through traffic at the time of the photo. 11 March 2024, By Ostendfaxpost. Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license.. Via Wikimedia Commons..

Israeli troops raid West Bank Mosques on first Friday of Ramadan

March 7, 2025

Israeli police also placed heavy restrictions on Palestinians seeking to enter occupied East Jerusalem for Friday prayers at Al-Aqsa Mosque, Islam's third-holiest site

'Cruelty Is the Point': Private Prison Giants Set to Cash In as Trump Revives Family Detention

March 7, 2025
Jake Johnson
"Taking away a child's freedom and deliberately putting them in these conditions is unconscionable, as is denying a parent their most fundamental role of providing their child with a loving and nurturing environment."

 

Mexican migrants turn themselves in after crossing over a section of border into the United States on January 5, 2025 in Ruby, Arizona. (Photo: Brandon Bell/Getty Images)

Iranian Singer Mehdi Yarrahi Flogged Over Song Against Mandatory Hijab

March 7, 2025
( RFE/RL ) – Pop singer Mehdi Yarrahi has been given 74 lashes for a song criticizing Iran’s mandatory dress code for women, ending a criminal case against him that also included a prison term.

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y9Wd0tdM-rU&t=4s

Understanding the life and work of James Baldwin: In conversation with Colm Tóibín

March 7, 2025
JP O’Malley

    Colm Tóibín first read James Baldwin’s 1953 novel Go Tell It on the Mountain as an English undergraduate student in the early 1970s. In John Grimes, the novel’s central protagonist, Tóibín recognized a little bit of himself: a young man struggling to come to terms with his own sexuality and ambivalent feelings about God.

 

Hamas accuses Trump of aiding Israel’s Netanyahu in Gaza blockade

March 6, 2025
Hamas says Trump’s rhetoric helps Israel to tighten Gaza siege, risking starvation for 2.3 million residents.

 

 Palestinians try to continue their daily lives in rubble of buildings or makeshift tents on the fifth day of Ramadan at the Bureij Refugee Camp in Gaza City, Gaza [File: Moiz Salhi/ Anadolu Agency]