Creating new perspectives since 2009
Items by Yvonne Ridley
-
Libya’s foreign minister is the latest victim of Israeli leaks
George Orwell, the author of Nineteen Eighty-Four, a dystopian novel and cautionary tale, once said, “If you want to keep a secret, you must also hide it from yourself.” American statesman and diplomat Benjamin Franklin was far more direct when he wrote: “Three may keep a secret, if two...
-
We must not lose our own humanity in addressing the plight of refugees
I wonder if it has ever occurred to Home Secretary Suella Braverman that the British government is responsible in part for today’s refugee crisis, and that the solution does not lie with her inhumane “Rwanda project” and other crackpot ideas fuelled by the prospect of a forthcoming General Election....
-
Cricket legend Khan may be down, but he is 'absolutely not' out
Events in Pakistan these past few days have been quite astonishing and yet the treatment of its former Prime Minister Imran Khan, jailed on spurious corruption charges, has raised barely a headline beyond the foreign pages of Western newspapers. Possibly because most reporting is one-dimensional, the complexities of Pakistan’s...
-
Sister Sinéad-Shuhada: misunderstood, much-maligned, much-loved and Muslim
Headlines and photographs of the singer Sinéad O’Connor told us that the iconic star had died. What followed have been well-deserved eulogies, despite some glaring omissions. Sinéad was beautiful, brave and talented, and an uncompromising rebel who often railed against the Establishment and has never been forgiven by some for...
-
Seeing is believing in Afghanistan, and dialogue is the only way forward
The arrogance and ignorance of the Western media were highlighted a few days ago when a former British army officer-turned-politician was accused of making himself a “useful idiot” for the ruling Taliban regime in Afghanistan. Some of his fellow MPs have even tried to oust Tobias Ellwood, the Conservative...
-
Is AIPAC bound for that special place in Hell reserved for Israel and its supporters?
I was reminded of my favourite joke the other day by a heroic group of American Jews who want to bring an end to US support for Israel’s brutal apartheid occupation of Palestine: A priest is performing the Last Rites for a dying Irishman and asks if he is...
-
We need to hold Britain's racist banking system to account
If you live in the Middle East, Asia or Africa you’ve probably never heard of Nigel Farage; if so, count yourself lucky. He is a prime example of white privilege; a truly obnoxious individual whose hateful words whip up racism across Britain. My enduring memory of this repugnant, right-wing politician...
-
Forest dump: how a Jewish charity hides Israeli war crimes
Most war criminals are caught because of a failure to cover up their crimes. The Holocaust probably provides the grimmest example of this, because Nazi Germany exterminated millions of European Jews, Poles, Roma and others but failed to hide the evidence. Extermination camps existed alongside labour camps where inmates...
-
Sweden’s freedom of speech is trumped by a Muslim masterclass in tolerance
It’s Eid Al-Adha, a blessed time of year for Muslims and a magnet for attention-seekers who do their best to provoke and incite them to react violently so that they can sell a mediocre book, film or cartoon, or create a volatile political situation to demonise Islam. It happens,...
-
Justice in apartheid Israel reflects the racist nature of the state
Expressing a negative opinion about Israel on social media can land you in prison if you happen to be a Palestinian in occupied Palestine, which is not a good image to project when you claim to be the only democracy in the Middle East. The law doesn’t always just...
-
Bin Salman has ‘weaponised’ Hajj to the detriment of all Muslims
I have been blessed to perform the Hajj pilgrimage on two occasions, and can confirm that being part of the greatest Islamic show on earth is not only life-changing, but also a privilege granted by the Almighty. One of the first things that we who embrace Islam later in life...
-
Servile Western leaders queue up to congratulate Erdogan
It has been a week of mixed blessings for Western leaders as Turkiye’s Recep Tayyip Erdogan once again confounded his critics at the ballot box. Sporting more faces than the Big Ben clock in Westminster, servile Western leaders rushed to congratulate the Turkish president on his election victory last...
-
Some justice at last for Tariq Ramadan, who warns Muslims to beware of Zionist vilification
Anyone who supports Palestine and is vocal about the injustices suffered by the Palestinians living under Israel’s brutal military occupation should be ready to be targeted and vilified by Zionist lobby groups. This is the astonishing warning from popular Muslim academic Tariq Ramadan who was cleared of rape charges...
-
Clear aerial message exposes Saudi sportswashing at Newcastle United FC
A spectacular aerial stunt designed to prick the conscience of the publicity-shy Saudi Arabian regime was carried out in front of 52,000 eyewitnesses on Sunday as part of a campaign to expose Saudi sportswashing and human rights abuses. The airborne drama happened over Newcastle United Football Club’s stadium on...
-
Political ignorance and lies hide the truth of the two-state solution
Politicians are, generally, good at lying. Some of them, like former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, simply can’t help themselves and are widely regarded as serial offenders, while others are guilty of nothing more than ignorance. Either way, it is deemed to be rude or against the rules of...
-
UAE backs winners and losers in Sudan
The outbreak of civil war in Sudan is a sad story of two out-of-control Generals at odds with each other, both trying to convince us all this is merely a continuation of the people’s revolution that overthrew the dictatorship of Omar Al-Bashir in 2019. It is, of course, a...
-
Scotland's new First Minister refuses to call Israel an apartheid state even though he has family in Gaza
Scotland is one of the smallest countries in the world but you would have to be deaf, dumb and blind not to know that last month Humza Yousaf became the first Muslim to be elected as a leader in Western Europe. You’d also have to live somewhere very remote to be unaware...
-
The Ottoman soldier who sacrificed his freedom to defend Al-Aqsa Mosque
Procrastination is the thief of time and I have idly spent the last few hours disappearing down different rabbit holes following odd facts and bits of useless information. I’m sure many of you will have spent hours looking for one thing, only to be led way off track and...
-
Spare us the crocodile tears, Zionists; legitimate criticism of Israel is not anti-Semitism
The deliberate targeting and persecution of academics who are put through the “Zionist wringer” shows no sign of abating, even though the latest victim, Lara Sheehi has been cleared of spurious claims of inciting hatred of Jews. Sheehi is an assistant professor of clinical psychology at George Washington University....
-
Israelis are now at war with themselves
Israel has gone to war yet again, but this time it’s on home turf: Israelis are fighting with Israelis. The eyes of the world are on the Zionist state as more than half a million Israelis protest to get rid of corrupt Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. There is a...
-
Unpunished and unrepentant: the war criminals who get away with murder
When the then British Prime Minister Tony Blair and US President George W Bush flouted international law and unleashed Shock and Awe on Iraq in March 2003, the attack and invasion had unintended consequences which could probably lead us directly to the equally illegal invasion of Ukraine by Russia’s...
-
FIFA Women’s World Cup woes for Saudi Arabia’s prince of darkness on Mother's Day
Mother’s Day in the Arab world is celebrated on the first day of spring, 21 March, and for many children it is the most important day of the year, so high is the Muslim regard for mothers, who should be obeyed and treated with the utmost respect. This, of...
-
Sportswashing: when money talks, everyone listens
No one likes to be ignored, but before it can happen, you have to be heard in the first place. In many ways, that makes the deliberate turning of a deaf ear even more upsetting and offensive. Such disregard is practiced by too many supporters of Saudi-owned Newcastle United Football...
-
Jimmy Carter: the first (and only) US president to identify Israeli apartheid
As Jimmy Carter, at 98 the longest-lived US president, spends his final days with his family in “home hospice care”, obituary writers will be busy reflecting upon the legacy of America’s 39th president. There’s a great deal of talk about legacy these days as political leaders come and go with...
