By his own admission, Israel’s new Finance Minister, Bezalel Smotrich, is a “fascist homophobe.” This declaration, which he made on January 16, should be enough to accentuate the violent nature of the new political concoction created by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu last December. Though Smotrich is not the only politician in Netanyahu’s cabinet with…

A recent talk in Paris by Israeli Minister of Finance Bezalel Smotrich raised eyebrows when he claimed that there are no Palestinian people. In fact, he said that he himself was a real Palestinian, which is a funny thing to say given that his surname, Smotrich, is the name of a town in Ukraine. Golda…

The MintPress podcast, “The Watchdog,” hosted by British-Iraqi hip hop artist Lowkey, closely examines organizations about which it is in the public interest to know – including intelligence, lobby and special interest groups influencing policies that infringe on free speech and target dissent. The Watchdog goes against the grain by casting a light on stories…

The MintPress podcast, “The Watchdog,” hosted by British-Iraqi hip hop artist Lowkey, closely examines organizations about which it is in the public interest to know – including intelligence, lobby and special interest groups influencing policies that infringe on free speech and target dissent. The Watchdog goes against the grain by casting a light on stories…

The European Union’s Foreign Policy Chief Josep Borrell is not particularly perceived by the EU’s political elite or mainstream media as a rightwing ideologue or warmonger. But seen through a different, non-western prism, it is hard not to mistake him for one. Borrell’s recent comments that “Europe is a garden” and that “the rest of…

HAIFA, ISRAEL — Israeli state violence manifests in several ways—police killings, home demolitions, displacement and detentions—but each is grounded in the same colonialist ideology spanning decades. In the U.S., policing can be traced back to the nineteenth century slave patrols designed to control and suppress Black people. In Israel, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and…

The Kenosha Police Department has come under heavy scrutiny in recent days after one of its officers shot Jacob Blake multiple times in the back at close range. Later, after protests erupted, its officers stood shoulder-to-shoulder with local militia, one of whom — a 17-year-old boy — would go on to shoot three people, returning…

In October 2019, Ecuador’s president Lenin Moreno announced a new round of austerity measures. As the cost of gasoline, diesel, transport and food skyrocketed in the wake of his announcement, the national strike quickly transformed into mass protests. I was in the heart of Ecuador’s capital, Quito, as riot police, tanks, untold amounts of tear…

Two seemingly unrelated items hit social media recently and both received a lot of attention. The first was an article by Peter Beinart that was published in the New York Times where Beinart claims he no longer believes in a Jewish State and calls for a binational state with equal rights in Palestine. The other, a video…

CHARLOTTESVILLE (Rutherford) –– For those old enough to have lived through the McCarthy era, there is a whiff of something in the air that reeks of the heightened paranoia, finger-pointing, fear-mongering, totalitarian tactics that were hallmarks of the 1950s. Back then, it was the government—spearheaded by Senator Joseph McCarthy and the House Un-American Activities Committee—working in tandem with…

Amid nationwide demonstrations that have brought racist violence to public attention, at least five black people have been found hanged in suspicious circumstances, sparking fears that the incidents mark a wave of lynchings, not seen for decades.   Suspicious Deaths Just two days after images showing Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin killing George Floyd went…

The slow, agonizing death of George Floyd in Minneapolis and the torturous murder of Iyad Halak in Jerusalem have a great deal in common. Testimony I heard from a member of Iyad’s family who wished not to be identified is chilling. That testimony doesn’t make up for the video footage that Israeli police refuse to release…