The Path to Nasrallah's Assassination

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) - The Israeli assassination of Hassan Nasrallah has implications for the struggle of Iran and its alliance of resistance against Israel and the United States. But I would like to step back and look at how we reached this juncture. I lived in Lebanon on and off in the 1970s, when the Civil War (1975-1989) began. Lebanon is a country full of minorities, with no majority. Christians, Sunni Muslims and Shiite Muslims are the major groups, but there are some smaller communities of great importance, including the Druze (an offshoot of Twelver Shiism) and the Eastern

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What you Didn't Hear at DNC: Israeli Expulsion Decrees Disrupt last Gaza Aid Hub, jeopardizing Aid Workers, Thousands of Civilians

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) - The Norwegian Refugee Council, an aid NGO active in Palestine, reports that new Israeli decrees have forced thousands in Gaza's Deir al-Balah to flee once more, and have disrupted the Strip's last aid hub. The former 'safe zone' is now under concerted attack by Israeli forces. It and numerous other aid agencies again are calling for an immediate ceasefire, in the light of two International Court of Justice decisions against Israel. They point out that 'Civilians who are unable or unwilling to leave their homes remain protected under international humanitarian law.' The organization said that

Palestinian Baby in Gaza Paralyzed by Polio, as Israel Rejects UN Ceasefire Call to allow Vaccinations

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) - Julian Borger at The Guardian reports that the first verified case of type 2 poliovirus in 25 years in Gaza, in a baby, has resulted in the paralysis of the infant. It is only the first of many if the UN is not allowed to administer vaccines to 650,000 children in the Strip, which will definitely require a ceasefire. The Israeli authorities are refusing to consider this step. There is no cure for polio once it is contracted. Its victims can be paralyzed or can die. Without a ceasefire, UNICEF points out, you cannot get

B'Tselem accuses Israeli Authorities of Systematically Torturing Thousands of Palestinian Prisoners

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) - The brave and meticulous Israeli human rights organization, B'Tselem, has issued a report aptly entitled 'Welcome to Hell' on the functioning of the Israeli prison system, in which it concludes that Israeli authorities are now routinely using torture on Palestinian prisoners, some 800,000 of whom have at one time or another been put through the system. Israel today holds some 10,000 Palestinians, many of them without charge or trial or any semblance of habeas corpus. Although some prisoners engaged in violence, many are arrested for thought crimes or by mistake. Like the FBI, the Israeli

A Dictionary for Understanding the War on Gaza

Written byCivic Media Observatory   This story is part of Undertones, Global Voices’ Civic Media Observatory‘s newsletter. Subscribe to Undertones. Welcome back to Undertones, where we study narratives from around the world. Since the end of 2023, the Civic Media Observatory has started a new project focusing on data governance. But we still have some important stories from our Community Observatory to share. One of them comes from our researcher from Gaza, who's now living abroad but has helped us make sense of the conflict since it started. In December, we published an analysis of critical narratives coming from Israel. This time,