Creating new perspectives since 2009
Items by Yvonne Ridley
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The mothers of Palestine are being treated shamefully, and not just by Israel
World Cancer Day arrived over the weekend with the great news that survival rates have improved dramatically over the past five decades to around 50 per cent. What’s more, an effective cure for all types of cancer could be less than 10 years away, according to one of the...
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Trump's poor intelligence is pure torture
Donald Trump says that “torture works” but, like many of his unwise proclamations, he has surely made his latest claim without facts or foundation. If the pro-torture lobby had any evidence at all that waterboarding someone is an effective method of gathering intelligence and saving lives we would, by...
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Israel’s occupation is brutal, but what does that make the Arab nations?
Israeli newspaper columnist Gideon Levy is loved and loathed in equal measure across the Zionist State because of his acerbic views about the despicable way in which Israel chooses to treat the Palestinians. He recently accused the Israeli military of regarding Palestinians as “fair game” in one of his...
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Can people power trump US president over choice of ambassador in Israel?
The new US President, Donald Trump, is a vulgar, misogynistic bully who is used to getting his own way and reacts angrily to those who try to stop him from doing so. Now that he is the “free world’s most powerful leader” he might imagine that nothing and no...
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The Muslim Brotherhood is caught in Trump's twilight zone
The news today is that the United States of America has a new President in Donald Trump. Beyond that, the world of fact and fantasy has collided to create a fake news landscape in which it is going to become increasingly difficult to separate the truth from lies. It is...
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Zionists threaten British government over illegal settlement vote at the UN
The powerful pro-Israel Zionist lobby in Britain, which wields money and influence within parliament, is threatening to bring down the entire Conservative-led government over an escalating row which has been simmering for weeks, long before last week’s Israeli Embassy scandal erupted. Zionist support for Israel has often led to...
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Lame duck presidents and angry secularists should keep quiet; it’s Syrian voices which must be heard
There is a narrative being pushed today by members of the global anti-war movement and other pro-Syrian regime supporters that they are defending a secular state against the Islamic “head choppers” who have descended on the Middle East from around the world. The latter, including Daesh, are in league...
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Creepy behaviour and double standards at the UN
Samantha Power's little drama fooled no one this week...
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As death rains down on Aleppo, why are Western countries so reluctant to act?
The heroic resistance inside the besieged walls of eastern Aleppo is coming from the Syrian people themselves, and not foreign fighters as is often portrayed in the Western media, says a journalist trapped inside the most dangerous place on earth. New Yorker Bilal Abdul Karim went inside Aleppo four...
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Israeli wildfires expose Netanyahu's burning hatred
As wildfires tore through large swathes of the land a week or so ago, some Israeli politicians used the disaster as an opportunity to fan the flames of hatred against Palestinians by calling it a “fire intifada”. Foreign firefighters from many countries came to Israel’s assistance, but it seems...
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Lebanon's wall of shame should be torn down
Twenty seven years ago this month, I was in Germany hacking away at a pile of twisted metal and concrete with thousands of others who were celebrating the demise of the world’s most infamous wall. Weeks earlier, on 9 November 1989, the real heroes were German citizens from both...
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Castro has gone; we are unlikely to see his like again
Palestine has lost one its oldest and closest friends following the death of Cuba’s former president and leader of the Communist revolution, Fidel Castro. Few leaders, with the exception of the late South African leader Nelson Mandela, gave such vocal and unstinting support to the Palestinian people and their...
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From presidents to mad dogs, Israel is an apartheid state
If there’s one thing you can say that is guaranteed to rattle the Israeli regime it is the A-word; yes, Apartheid. Tel Aviv has never forgiven former US President Jimmy Carter for not only using the word when referring to Israeli policies, but also including it in the title...
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Israel's wishful thinking over the Trump presidency
Speculation among world leaders and political observers is rife over what will happen next now that billionaire businessman Donald Trump has emerged triumphant as the US president-elect. In Israel, for instance, the right-wing Education Minister Naftali Bennett came out within hours of Trump’s victory to declare the demise of...
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The UN has sunk to a new low in terms of human rights
The United Nations plunged to a new low over the weekend when it held a secret ballot to elect 14 members to its Human Rights Council. Rather predictably, Russia was voted off, although some might question what it was doing on the council in the first place when its...
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Heathrow expansion highlights the injustice of Israel’s demolition of Palestinian homes
The big story dominating the news this week in Britain is the proposal for a third runway at London’s Heathrow Airport. This is a controversial plan which will lead to one village being completely flattened and others facing partial demolition. The residents face a traumatic wait as politicians decide...
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From Aberfan to Aleppo, the deaths of innocents count for nothing
Whenever I travel to the Middle East it is usually to document a war, the aftermath of a war or a massive tragedy which is more often than not the by-product of man-made blunders, power hungry leaders and political misjudgements. The only constants in all of this are the...
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Outrage over Scottish law chief meeting with Israeli embassy
A secret document has emerged revealing how Israeli embassy officials in Britain sought a meeting with Scotland’s most senior legal official to discuss the Scottish Jewish community. Released under the Freedom of Information Act, the communication between the Lord Advocate and the embassy suggested a meeting which would enable...
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Universal mire and empty promises
Earlier today I received a phone call from a state-owned Russian TV station asking me to comment on the anniversary of the American bombing of a hospital in Afghanistan. Last year, on 3 October, the Medecins Sans Frontieres Trauma Centre in Kunduz, Afghanistan sustained an hour long air attack...
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Blair must still be held to account for Iraq
A major row is escalating in Britain over whether individual soldiers should be dragged through the courts and held to account for alleged war crimes carried out in Iraq and Afghanistan. Leading the debate is the failed former Middle East peace envoy Tony Blair, who is running to the...
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Astonishing as it may seem, chanting 'Viva Palestina' could soon be a 'hate crime'
“Viva Palestina” is an enduring chant along with “Long Live Palestine” and “Long Live Gaza”, all of which are often used by human rights activists and others who want to show their support and goodwill for the long life and well-being of the state and its people. However, using...
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Undiplomatic language exposes the mother of all war criminals
It was bound to happen sooner or later, but when Barack Obama looked down his nose at the President of the Philippines over his questionable record on human rights, it was still surprising to hear that Rodrigo Duterte called the US leader a “son of a whore”. This was the...
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Israel’s Apartheid Wall can be seen from outer space, but not by Google
#ShowTheWall campaign includes an online petition in conjunction with global campaign group Avaaz. It is expected to make Google confront its apparent reluctance to recognise the existence of Palestine...
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Defiant Celtic fans' game changer for Palestine
Glasgow Celtic Football Club is arguably Scotland’s most famous and successful team, but rarely does it make headlines beyond the sports pages; until now. Celtic’s fans have demonstrated an unprecedented act of solidarity with the people of Palestine, and it is going viral. What have the generous folk in Scotland...
