Creating new perspectives since 2009
Items by Nasim Ahmed
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Israel’s future is apartheid in a ‘solution of the three classes’
Reading the reflections of one of Israel’s most celebrated contemporary public intellectuals on the apparently never-ending occupation of Palestine, I was reminded of an old saying about the nature of truth. “All truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed. Second, it is violently opposed. Third, it is accepted…
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Blair mustn’t be allowed to ‘dodge’ responsibility for the chaos caused by the ‘war on terror’
Two schools of thought have emerged to explain the defeat of the West in the so-called “war on terror”. With proponents such as acclaimed CIA analyst and author Michael Scheuer, the first claims that it was a result of imperial hubris. “Al-Qaeda hates us not for who we are but…
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Blair’s criticism of the Afghan withdrawal is a robust defence of Western militarism
The architects of the “war on terror” have hit back following the humiliating US withdrawal from Afghanistan. From the political leaders who sanctioned never-ending wars to the intellectual high priests in journalism, academia and think tanks who cooked it up, exponents of Western imperialism have been doing the media rounds…
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Kier Starmer’s Labour is ‘purging’ Jews critical of Israel, says new report
The infighting within UK Labour over Israel took a surprising twist last week that could push the party into further disarray. Jewish Voice for Labour (JVL) – the main grouping of left-wing Jews in the Labour party known for their highly critical stance on Israel – have accused Labour under…
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Ben & Jerry’s is wrong, Israel and apartheid are one and the same just ask its leaders
The founders of Ben & Jerry’s doubled down on the company’s decision to end business in the Israeli occupied West Bank with a compelling article in the New York Times yesterday. Demonstrating rare moral leadership and courage where none seems to exist in the profit-seeking world occupied by multinational companies,…
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UAE denounced by victims of hacking scandal as Israel seeks to save-face
The global hacking scandal involving Israel’s notorious NSO Group has sparked fury around the world as the full extent of the industrial scale spying operation targeting politicians, academics and activists begin to emerge. As many as 50,000 phone numbers were said to have been targeted for surveillance by NSO Group’s…
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UK Labour Party reinstates controversial member accused of Islamophobia
The British Labour Party has become embroiled in another major race row following its decision to readmit Trevor Phillips to the party just over a year after he was suspended for alleged Islamophobia. The 67-year-old writer and broadcaster is one of the most high-profile members of the party. As the…
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Unpacking the appointment of an ‘unapologetic’ Israel supporter as Britain’s Health Secretary
Sajid Javid made a surprise comeback to Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s cabinet this weekend following the resignation of Matt Hancock. The former health secretary fell on his sword a day after his secret affair with an aide was exposed by British tabloids. The appointment of Javid, who has served in…
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US cannot claim to lead the world on combating racism if it continues to support apartheid Israel
The United Nations launched the “World Conference Against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance (WCAR),” one of the biggest global initiatives to combat racism in 2001 at a conference in Durban, South Africa. It was a grand project. Built on UN initiatives from the 70s and 80s and symbolically…
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MEMO in conversation with Prof. Norman Finkelstein
Join MEMO for a live conversation with Prof. Norman Finkelstein as we discuss his book ‘Knowing Too Much: Why the American Jewish Romance with Israel is Coming to an End’ in light of Israel’s latest bombardment of the Gaza Strip. Prof. Finkelstein is an American political scientist, activist and author. His primary…
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Israel’s Palestinian citizens are key to ending apartheid
Despite Israel’s efforts to “spirit the Arabs out of their homeland” and the vain hope of its first Prime Minister, David Ben-Gurion, that “the old will die and the young will forget”, just over half of the Palestinian people not only live in their historic homeland but have also kept…
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MEMO in conversation with Omar Shakir
Following last week’s publication of the report by Human Rights Watch A Threshold Crossed: Israeli Authorities and the Crimes of Apartheid and Persecution MEMO interviewed the report’s author, Omar Shakir, who is the Israel and Palestine director of the Washington based pre-eminent rights group. Shakir has a long history of covering…
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The lives of four Yemeni journalists are on the line, but Joe Biden could save them
The fate of four Yemeni journalists is in the hands of US President Joe Biden, Dr Khalid Ibrahim and Dr Ikram Ais have told me as they explained the details of their campaign for their release. Ibrahim is the Executive Director of the Gulf Centre for Human Rights, while Ais…
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MEMO in conversation with Justin Scheck
MEMO interviewed Wall Street Journal journalist Justin Scheck about his new book ‘Blood and Oil‘ which he co-authored with Bradley Hope. The book traces the meteoric rise of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman and exposes his ruthless quest for power. Scheck has been writing about Saudi Arabia since 2016. A graduate of…
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Remembering the 2002 Arab Peace Initiative
What: A Saudi-led peace initiative endorsed by the Arab League’s 22 member states offered Israel a comprehensive formula for peace based on international norms. In exchange for Israel’s complete withdrawal from all territories occupied during the June 1967 Six Day War, the Arab states offered full normalisation of diplomatic ties…
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The already ‘messy break-up’ of American Jews over Israel is getting messier
An alliance of far-right groups including Jewish Power, a party so extreme that even unflinching supporters of the pro-Israel lobby in the US cannot stomach, are poised to enter Israel’s parliament, if exit polls for the latest General Election are to be believed. Ideological heirs of Meir Kahane, who openly…
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MEMO in conversation: Decolonising Israel, Liberating Palestine
MEMO interviewed Israeli peace activist and author Jeff Halper about his latest book: Decolonizing Israel, Liberating Palestine: Zionism, Settler Colonialism and the Case for One Democratic State. The Israeli academic and activist was asked about his personal intellectual journey which led him to becoming an anti-Zionist campaigner before moving onto the…
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MEMO in conversation with Dr David H. Warren: The Gulf contest over the Arab Spring narrative is shaping regional geopolitics
Dr David H Warren spoke to MEMO this week about his new book Rivals in the Gulf: Yusuf al-Qaradawi, Abdullah Bin Bayyah and the Qatar-UAE Contest Over the Arab Spring and the Gulf Crisis. His work details the relationships between the influential Egyptian-born cleric Al-Qaradawi and the Qatari royal house…
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Why did the United States add Israel to CENTCOM?
A major reorganisation of US military operation in the Middle East was announced last month in a momentous decision reflecting the seismic geo-political shifts underway in the region. The move, the last of many gifts granted by Washington to Tel-Aviv under former President Donald Trump, saw Israel’s inclusion inside Central…
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Reviewing US policy on Palestine, with Professor Rashid Khalidi
Professor Rashid Khalidi of Columbia University joined MEMO for a live conversation on Wednesday to discuss what the Joe Biden administration holds for Palestine and to review the past four years under Donald Trump. The discussion opened with the Palestinian American historian fielding questions about his most recent book, The…
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Israel is an apartheid state, says B’Tselem; time to ditch the IHRA definition of anti-Semitism?
When B’Tselem described Israel as an apartheid state in a position paper last week, it did more than just dispel long held delusions about the Zionist state. In saying that Israel “promotes and perpetuates Jewish supremacy between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River,” the country’s largest human rights group…
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Trump’s dictatorial impulses have been indulged, now the chickens have come home to roost
How the mighty have fallen. In the space of a few months, Donald J Trump, the 45th President of the United States, has gone from the dizzy heights of Nobel Peace Prize chatter to the infamy of instigating the most disgraceful act of domestic terrorism in the country’s history. Americans…
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MEMO in conversation with Jeremy Wildeman
Dr Jeremy Wildeman is an expert on Middle East politics and has extensive knowledge and experience of state development. MEMO interviewed Dr Wildeman to discuss the issue of the “de-development” of Palestine. The conversation centred on aid; state development under the Oslo Peace Process; the failure of the 1993 Oslo…
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Starmer’s refusal to challenge a far-right conspiracy theorist was shocking
British Labour Party leader Keir Starmer is facing fierce criticism for failing to challenge a caller to a radio phone-in who advanced a racist conspiracy theory that has inspired several far-right terrorist attacks. The same caller then hailed Israel as an ethnonationalist utopia which Britain should seek to replicate. Listeners…