Creating new perspectives since 2009
Items by Yvonne Ridley
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Trump’s insane decision about Western Sahara shows he still has time to wreak more havoc
The words and wisdom of the late, great South African leader Nelson Mandela are often invoked to illustrate a point when confronted by injustice and how to deal with it. Although his heart and soul were anchored in South Africa, Mandela’s outlook was global, and there seemed to be...
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Saudi King Salman should keep his son on a tight rein
Even though Donald Trump has still not accepted that he lost the US presidential election, I hear that his imminent departure from the White House is causing great concern in the marbled corridors of power in Riyadh. Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammad Bin Salman and his cabal were staking...
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The Tariq Ramadan case exposes even more French double standards
Around half a million French people took to the streets over the weekend urging President Emmanuel Macron’s government to abandon legislation which would stop the publication of photographs or video images of police officers behaving badly. As we know from recent experience, nothing riles the French more than a...
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The UN’s Day of Solidarity for the Palestinians exposes its own impotence
The United Nations declared 29 November to be the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People more than 40 years ago. Sadly, it has become just another date in the ever growing timeline of misery inflicted on the people of Palestine. The reality is that ever since the stain...
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Journalist looks to judges to ‘champion American ideals’ in historic US court case
American journalist Bilal Abdul Kareem yesterday challenged his inclusion on a US government “kill list” even though he is thousands of miles away in a rebel-held prison in Syria. The US Federal Court heard how the controversial New Yorker believes that he has been targeted by at least five...
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White House theatrics are no laughing matter for the Palestinians
Millions of people around the world are watching in astonishment at the bizarre spectacle of Donald Trump’s end days as US president which is turning America into a laughing stock. This, though, is no One Man Show. Trump’s ongoing refusal to accept the result of the election on 3 November...
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France should grow up and apply liberté, égalité, fraternité to all of its citizens
It looks as if French President Emmanuel Macron is looking for a way out of the mess he has created with his fiery rhetoric and attack on the Muslim world and his Turkish counterpart, one of the most popular Muslim leaders. Of course, it is hard to tell if...
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The Arab League and regional leaders will forget Arafat's warning at their peril
I miss Yasser Arafat. Like many revolutionary leaders he was flawed but he had guts, determination and a courage that reflected the Palestinians he served so well. When challenged by him, the members of the Arab League were either in awe, fear or a combination of both, which led...
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TikTok calls time on Israel's extremists (well, some of them)
Nothing irritates Israel’s apologists more than to see it being described as an “Apartheid state” even though its Palestinian citizens will confirm their second class status to anyone who asks. There are dozens of laws on Israel’s statute book which legitimise discrimination against non-Jews. The treatment of the Palestinians...
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The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation is trying to wipe Palestine off the map
On average we each tend to use around 16,000 words a day to communicate with one another, but there is one word which appears to be banned by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation: Palestine. The censors at the publicly-funded broadcaster ignore the fact that Palestine is recognised as a sovereign...
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Desperate scare tactics suggest that the Zionist dream has become a nightmare
The future of Israel is hanging in the balance as the number of immigrants has dropped by more than a third, according to the latest statistics. While the coronavirus pandemic is being blamed for this, stories of a broken economy and general decline in living standards are thought to...
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Qatar's solidarity with Palestine shows that not all members of the Arab League are worthless
The Arab League has a reputation for being full of men overburdened by their own sense of importance. This, though, could be about to change because of one small gesture by the tiny but influential state of Qatar. In terms of decisive action, Qatar’s gesture will barely register on the...
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Scotland is being targeted by an anti-Palestine dirty tricks campaign
When Al Jazeera’s hard-hitting documentary “The Lobby” exposed how the pro-Israel lobby had faked allegations of anti-Semitism and sought to influence British politics, it led to an apology from the Israeli Ambassador in London. Mark Regev, notorious for his spin doctoring during Israel’s military offensives against the Palestinians in...
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The ‘ban’ on Emiratis praying in Al-Aqsa highlights the fact that treaties with Israel are worthless
Israel’s plans to wipe Palestine off the map are very real, especially Benjamin Netanyahu’s intention to annex a huge section of the occupied West Bank. Such expansionism by the Zionist state has been the intention from the day it was created in Palestine in 1948. Alone among all UN...
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This shocking video exposes the truth about HTS torture in Syria
'In the video, Sharif talks openly about how he was tortured, describing the crude methods adopted by HTS from the Assad regime. What is being done is not only torture and a war crime, but is also prohibited in Islam'...
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Don't shoot the messenger
The controversial American journalist who sued the US government for putting him on a “kill list” in war-torn Syria, was arrested yesterday by a Sunni Islamist militant group in rebel-held Syria, sparking outrage both in the Middle East and across the West. Yesterday’s arrest came hours after Bilal spoke to Middle East...
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British-born aid worker rearrested in Syria
The ordeal of a British-born aid worker in Syria who was taken by members of a Sunni Islamist militant group in rebel-held Idlib took another twist on Tuesday when he confronted the man who he says had interrogated and tortured him in prison. During the dramatic encounter in a...
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Pointless presidents, corrupt kings and playboy princes
When Americans tell me that they are envious of Britain because of our Royal Family, I can sort of understand what they mean, especially when I look across the Atlantic and see who they have for a president. The man who snatched Jerusalem from the Palestinians and also gave...
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British complicity in Israeli war crimes is being highlighted by pro-Palestine activism
A direct action group in support of Palestine burst onto the scene in London this week by storming an Israeli arms company in the heart of the English capital to highlight Britain’s complicity in war crimes against the Palestinians. Four members of Palestine Action took part in the audacious...
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A tale of two cities twinned by treachery
This is a tale of two cities twinned by treachery. Syria’s Jabal Al-Zawiya might be 1,800 miles away from Sirte in Libya, but their fates are very much intertwined as military forces threaten to put the regional powers of Turkey and Russia on a collision course. In Sirte, trenches are...
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Step into Palestinian shoes by watching this film and help Make Apartheid History
The Palestinian people have drawn support from many legendary figures over the years. The universally admired Afro-American civil rights activist, writer and poet Maya Angelou was one of them. She stood in solidarity with the Palestinian struggle when she honoured the late Rachel Corrie, another heroic woman who put...
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Hagia Sophia: Religious and political leaders are missing their own chances to right historical wrongs
Apparently Pope Francis, the leader of the Roman Catholic Church, is “very distressed” by the decision to revert the Byzantine-era Hagia Sophia into a mosque; it has been a museum since 1934. He made his views known in the latest edition of the Vatican newspaper L’Osservatore Romano. Quite why he...
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Palestinians must not rely on back-stabbing Britain
Vocal human rights activist Malcolm X once said: “You don’t stick a knife in a man’s back nine inches and then pull it out six inches and say you’re making progress” and I was reminded of his comment when I heard that British Prime Minister Boris Johnson today begged Israel not to push ahead with plans...
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Labour leader's knee jerk reaction to knee-on-the-neck tweet is spineless
Britain’s Labour Party leader Sir Keir Starmer sacked his shadow education secretary, Rebecca Long-Bailey, today after she tweeted praise for an interview in which the actor Maxine Peake described the US police tactic of kneeling on a suspect’s neck as being a method taught by the Israeli secret service....