Creating new perspectives since 2009
Items by Omar Ahmed
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Young US evangelicals are refusing to be ‘useful idiots’ for Israel
“The Zionist establishment has realised the value of Christian Zionism, despite the essential anti-Semitism of its ideology. To Jewish Zionists, the Christian Zionists are useful idiots. For end-timer Christian Zionists, the Jews are sacrificial lambs.” — Author and lecturer Irving Wesley Hall The unwavering support for Israel from the Christian...
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God's Man in Iraq: The Life and Leadership of Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani
As the pre-eminent marja taqlid (source of emulation) in matters of Islamic jurisprudence in Iraq, Grand Ayatollah Ali Al-Sistani holds a position of immense influence within the Shia Muslim community worldwide. This is not limited to religious affairs, but extends into the realm of politics too. However, due to...
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The life and martyrdom of Malcolm X
Malcolm X was assassinated at the age of 39 on 21 February 1965 while addressing the Organisation of Afro-American Unity at the Audubon Ballroom in New York, and his legacy continues to profoundly shape young minds on matters of education, liberation, and social justice....
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Apprentice star needn’t apologise for posts on ‘godless, satanic’ Zionism – he’s right
Even before the 18th season of the BBC’s “The Apprentice” aired at the beginning of this month, it stirred controversy after several social media posts by one contestant, Dr Asif Munaf, attracted media attention. They related to Israel’s genocidal war against the Palestinians in Gaza and the ideology on...
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Gandhi was India’s ‘Father of the Nation’ who opposed Zionism in ‘Arab’ Palestine
The ongoing genocidal war by the settler-colonial state of Israel against the Palestinians in Gaza has recaptured global attention and rejuvenated the Palestinian national liberation struggle. Nevertheless, the issue remains highly divisive, with one side advocating for a free Palestine and the other, smaller but significant, ideologically opposed to...
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Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown
Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown is the latest installment of the iconic action-adventure platform game, which has been around since the late eighties and comes 13 years after Ubisoft’s critically-acclaimed reboot Sands of Time trilogy. While The Sands of Time is reportedly undergoing its own remake, Ubisoft Montpellier’s new...
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The bombing of Arab capitals reveals who really stands with Palestine
Having reached its 100th day, Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza has so far claimed the lives of almost 24,000 Palestinians and injured 60,000, sparking a humanitarian crisis in the already besieged enclave, and comes as Israel faces charges of genocide at the International Court of Justice (ICJ). The outcome...
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The Geopolitics of Religious Soft Power: How States Use Religion in Foreign Policy
Over the past several decades, there has been a growing body of literature on the role of religion in international relations, in a supposed post-religious, secular age. This has challenged a once-held theory of the predominance of a Western-led liberal world order and the “End of History” following the...
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Is it ‘anti-Semitic’ to acknowledge that Arabs are Semites too?
As with every, almost annual Israeli war against the Palestinians of the Gaza Strip, efforts to counter protests and dissent against the atrocities of the occupation state frequently resort to labelling such opposition as “anti-Semitism”. This is consistent, they say, with the guidelines of the 2016 International Holocaust Remembrance...
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The Mamluks: Slave Warriors of Medieval Islam
Between the fall of the Abbasid Caliphate and the ascent of the Ottoman Empire, there stood the formidable Mamluk Sultanate. Spanning the 13th to the 16th centuries CE, this regional power ruled over Egypt, Syria and the Hijaz. The transfer of Sunni Muslim political authority from Baghdad to the Ottomans...
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The Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps: Defining Iran’s Military Doctrine
The powerful Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) in Iran has attracted significant attention from western policy makers, intellectuals and the media, especially over its growing influence in the Middle East post-2003. This scrutiny has intensified, in particular for the IRGC’s elite Quds Force, following the assassination of its commander,...
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Remembering the Iran hostage crisis
What: The US Embassy was besieged and taken over by Iranian revolutionary students, leading to a hostage crisis lasting 444 days When: 4 November 1979 – 20 January 1981 Where: Tehran, Iran From the Iranian perspective, the CIA-backed coup of 1953 that overthrew the democratically-elected populist government of Prime Minister Mohammed Mossadegh...
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As I said, ‘Only Arab states aligned with Iran will oppose Zionism’
Three years ago, I opined that “Only Arab states aligned with Iran will oppose Zionism”. I argued that the Iranian-led Axis of Resistance, which comprises both state and non-state actors, would be the only force actively opposing the threat of Zionism in the region. It would seem that, in light...
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There is no way Saudi’s ex-intel chief truly believes ‘civil disobedience’ will liberate Palestine
In his address last week at the Baker Institute for Public Policy at Rice University in Houston, Texas, Saudi Arabia’s former intelligence chief, Prince Turki bin Faisal, discussed Israel’s genocidal war against Gaza in response to the Hamas-led resistance operation, Al-Aqsa Flood, which began on 7 October. Although widely lauded...
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Transnational Palestine: Migration and the Right of Return before 1948
Contrary to the commonly-held belief, the issue of Palestinian national identity, statelessness and the fundamental right of return did not originate in response to the formation of the state of Israel in 1948 at the height of the Nakba. These sentiments have deeper historical roots, dating back to the...
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The wrong kind of Israeli: Avi Shlaim on life as an Iraqi Jew
MEMO hosted a book launch event yesterday at the University of London’s Senate House for the recently published and reviewed Three Worlds: Memoirs of an Arab-Jew by distinguished author Professor Avi Shlaim, a British-Israeli historian of Iraqi heritage. Joining Professor Shlaim was another accomplished British academic, Professor of Humanities Jacqueline...
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Israel fails to mention India again despite ‘full support’
Two years after their self-inflicted humiliation on social media, Hindutva (Hindu nationalist) users in India have once again expressed disappointment that Israel has not included them in their latest online propaganda campaigns, which feature supporters and messages of solidarity with the occupying state from around the world. In May 2021,...
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Assassin’s Creed Mirage
After over 15 years and more than a dozen games and spin-offs, Ubisoft’s highly successful Assassin’s Creed (AC) franchise has undergone noticeable changes, leaving some fans feeling that it had drifted far from the original essence introduced in the first AC. This essence revolved around a triple approach involving...
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Has India taken a leaf out of Mossad’s assassination handbook?
Canada’s diplomatic blunder on 22 September, when parliament gave two standing ovations to a Ukrainian Nazi veteran — “who fought for Ukrainian independence against the Russians” — has not managed to eclipse the controversy just four days earlier. That’s when Prime Minister Justin Trudeau told parliament that there were...
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Unlike Iran and Turkiye, Iraq and Syria are vulnerable to Kurdish separatism
Among the myriad of the Middle East’s post-colonial, post-independence issues, the Kurdish question stands as a perennial one. This is closer to home for the four states which straddle the historic geographic region of Kurdistan, in particular fragile states, Iraq and Syria (ranked 27th and 5th place, respectively on...
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The Deadly Promise
The Deadly Promise by Gilou Bareau delves into the intricate web of political tensions, personal vendettas and unexpected alliances in the midst of the 2014 Gaza War. Set against the backdrop of Israel’s devastating offensive against the besieged Palestinian enclave, the novel opens with a chilling “murder” in London...
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Will Saudi Arabia make Friday a working day?
In a thought-provoking op-ed published on Friday by Saudi Arabian daily newspaper Okaz, entitled “Friday is a working day,” writer Mona Al-Otaibi questions whether the Kingdom’s traditional Friday-Saturday weekend needs an overhaul, igniting a debate on social media. The piece highlighted the potential financial losses incurred due to Friday being...
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The Clergy and the Modern Middle East: Shi’i Political Activism in Iran, Iraq and Lebanon
It is often stated that within the world of Shia Muslim seminaries, the cities of Najaf in Iraq and Qom in Iran represent two contrasting camps in Shia scholarly stances on politics: one of quietism and the other of activism, respectively. This simplistic narrative has not only been perpetuated by...
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Iran's diplomatic drive: Raisi's focus on the Global South
It’s been quite a busy year for Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi in terms of diplomatic engagement. In February he made an official state visit to China, where 20 agreements were signed, in addition to receiving pledges from President Xi Jinping to strengthen security and economic cooperation – more on...
