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Middle East Monitor
 

Nasim Ahmed

Nasimbythedocks
 

Items by Nasim Ahmed

  • Israel faces many existential threats but Hamas, Daesh and Iran are not amongst them

    “Israel will not exist in 25 years,” Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei affirmed earlier this week. He joins a growing number of people, Jews and non-Jews, Zionists and non-Zionists, who paint a very bleak future of the future of the Jewish state. While Khamenei sees many existential threats to Israel, he...

  • Refugees’ plight exposes the moral degeneration of modern politics

    David Cameron’s hard-line refusal to take more refugees from the Middle East is dismaying, especially after the distressing image of a lifeless Syrian child, refused asylum by Canada and washed up on a Turkish tourist beach captured global attention. Thousands of people are calling for Britain to do more. The...

  • Why is Cathy Newman still making false allegations when a British court has cleared Sheikh Raed?

    Since becoming the front runner in the Labour leadership contest, Sheikh Raed Salah, to discredit him as a potential leader. Yesterday, it was the turn of Channel 4 news presenter Cathy Newman, who ambushed him with questions about his alleged links to Holocaust deniers and anti-Semites – including his...

  • Recognition of historical injustice should not be a political afterthought

    “Britain caused many of the world’s problems.” These are not the words of a “radicalised” individual “indoctrinated” by an extremist narrative; they are the words of the British Prime Minister, David Cameron. This rare admission of guilt over the violent hangover from Britain’s colonial past was made in 2011 during...

  • Cameron's anti-extremism speech failed miserably

    David Cameron’s much-trailed speech in Birmingham this week about “the struggle of our generation” failed miserably to live up to its billing. Instead of tackling genuine concerns about terrorism, the prime minister displayed a worrying level of misleading rhetoric and what might best be described as wilful ignorance. To the...

  • If we are really serious about destroying ISIS, why is our policy so misguided?

    I have been watching a bit more television than usual, certainly more than I expected to in this blessed month of Ramadan. I was gripped, in part due to the never-ending conversations about Islam; partly because I despair at the rhetorical belligerence of neo-cons like Douglas Murray; and also,...

  • RAND Corporation predicts a bleak future for Israel

    The unsustainability of Israel’s occupation is acknowledged almost universally, yet its permanence is the only reality known to most Jews and Palestinians. Its supposed temporary nature has not prevented Israel from becoming more entrenched in its occupation, thus making any future peace deal unviable. This unbridgeable divide is reflected in...

  • Charleston Church killings: is the 'war on terror' narrative costing American lives?

    Following the tragic killings in Charleston Church, many noticed, once again, the striking difference between the mainstream media and political establishment’s coverage of violent crimes perpetrated by Muslims and those carried out by non-Muslims. It reinforced the widely held perception of media prejudice in the labelling of violence committed...

  • How America keeps alive the ghost of the inquisition in Guantanamo Bay

    A church apologist in the early fifteenth century, writing approvingly of the Inquisition, declared, “We persecuted the seeds of evil not only in men’s deeds, but in their thoughts.” The statement is emblematic of the centuries-old system of oppression that targeted thoughts, actions and beliefs of those deemed by...

  • The Henry Jackson Society and the Degeneration of British Neo-conservatism

    A new report by Spinwatch, a public interest investigation group, provides an in-depth scrutiny of The Henry Jackson Society and the Degeneration of British Neo-conservatism; it examines the history, activities and politics of the right-wing think tank, which is a leading exponent of neo-conservatism in Britain. Based at the University...

  • Curtailing free speech and activism comes at a great cost to us all

    Millions of Muslims around the world are buying dates for the coming month of Ramadan. Many will be careful not to purchase those produced by Israel in occupied Palestinian land. This growing act of solidarity is in no small part the result of sustained campaigning by organisations linked to...

  • We need to challenge Israeli exceptionalism

    On 15 May millions of Palestinians will be commemorating 67 years of the Nakba, the episode in their history described as the “catastrophe”, with the creation of the state of Israel on their land and subsequent ethnic cleansing. To astute observers, the seven decades of continued violence against, and dispossession...

  • Egypt's junta has no intention of letting the people be free

    My previous article on Egypt examined how “the heart of the Arab world” has been locked into foreign dependency since its formation as a modern nation state. I argued that Egypt, for decades, has endured “development of underdevelopment”; the process has fostered poverty and the impoverishment of Egyptian society...

  • Is the Muslim vote a growing factor in British politics?

    Britain’s Muslim community is sufficient in number to have a significant impact in the coming general election. Muslim voters are an “untapped resource” with the potential to seal the outcome of at least 32 constituencies; that would be more seats than the Liberal Democrats, UKIP and Green Party combined,...

  • The heart of the Arab world is in need of a transplant

    What better way to begin a series of articles on Egypt than to start by examining the country’s composition to explore why it’s teetering on the brink of being a failed state. The descent of Egypt and the region as a whole into what is increasingly looking like the Middle...

  • It's time for liberal Jews to admit that liberal Zionism is bankrupt

    To be a freier is anathema to Israelis. The Yiddish word is translated loosely as “sucker”, which doesn’t really do justice to its broader and more significant connotations. “Don’t be a freier” is practically the 11th commandment in Israel and the fear of actually being one plays into every...

  • If Cameron Stout was Kareem Salah everyone would know of the plot to assassinate Obama

    What would the reaction be if a Muslim was known to have plotted to assassinate the president of the United States? How could we even approximate of the level of outrage and hysteria that would follow if, God forbid, some lunatic from the Muslim fringe was indeed attempting to...

  • If I were a Palestinian I'd be pleased with Netanyahu's victory

    Benjamin Netanyahu has won a resounding electoral victory despite the fact that he has become a caricature of Israeli rejectionists and the best efforts of “anyone but Bibi” political campaign, which reportedly received $350,000 from the US State Department to unseat him. But is this really a disaster for...

  • Sabotaging Washington's foreign policy on Iran isn't the only way that Israel harms US interests

    Whether it’s with friend or foe, Israel bears no cost for its extreme political brazenness. Such chutzpah is normally the privilege of superpowers, which are able to pursue national interests with bare-faced conceit. Though it’s usually not the most effective way to wield power and influence, superpower status grants...

  • Will exploitation of fear and vilification of Europe be the winning formula in the Israeli elections?

    We all remember the infamous comical moment when Benjamin Netanyahu addressed the UN back in 2012 and made his fabricated case for striking Iran. In his desperation to convince the international community, he even drew the famous red line and warned of a ticking nuclear time bomb. It turns out...

  • Freedom of speech is too valuable to be lost through pro-Israel legislation

    With the appalling rise in anti-Semitic hate crimes across Europe, arguably as a consequence of political decisions being implemented elsewhere, there is an urgent need to separate Jews and Judaism from the colonial policies of Israel. This is evident by the growing numbers of Jews who are distancing themselves...

  • The rise of 'pro-Israelism' in American politics

    The US-Israel special relationship is acknowledged universally as the unswayable force of politics in the Middle East. The theme is confessed ritually by every US president and Israeli prime minister, who have all claimed, more or less, that “the bond between Israel and the United States is rooted in...

  • Can Egypt escape the grip of its authoritarian past?

    When Egypt’s 25 January Revolution began in 2011 calling for the removal of the regime, few anticipated the speedy dismissal of the man who had held the reins of power for four decades. Fewer still would have predicted that in the space of two years the Egyptian military would...

  • BDS is gaining traction in Britain

    The academic boycott of Israel was the theme of a discussion at London University’s School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) this week. An event organised by the student union and hosted by SOAS Palestine Society attracted a large audience as part of the campaign to secure a yes...