The rewards of terror
United States envoy Morgan Ortagus casts the lone veto against a UN Security Council draft resolution calling for a Gaza ceasefire, aid access, and hostage release. The measure, supported by…
Derek Sayer
Oh Canada, where art thou?
The flag of the International Criminal Court at The Hague. Photo by Tony Webster/Wikimedia Commons. A long time ago “It was an extraordinary moment,” remembered Stephen Lewis, Canada’s ambassad...
A graveyard of liberal illusions
An aerial view showing destruction in Rafah, Gaza. Photo by Ashraf Amra/UNWRA. Cometh the hour, cometh the politicians Back in February, Canadian-American novelist and journalist Omar A...
Endgames in Gaza?
Girl in Gaza on her way to get food. Photo by Jaber Jehad Badwan/Wikimedia Commons. After reneging on its January ceasefire agreement with Hamas, Israel imposed a total blockade on…
Things fall apart: the centre will not hold
Displaced Palestinians roam the shattered streets of the Gaza Strip. Photo by Jaber Jehad Badwan. As I write this, the press are reporting that a third ceasefire in Gaza is…
Gaslighting the way to World War III
Aftermath of Israeli airstrike in Tehran, June 13, 2025. Photo courtesy Tasnim News Agency/Wikimedia Commons. Gaslighting, noun: psychological manipulation of a person usually over an ex...
One day, everyone will have always been against this
Fire engulfs a classroom at the Fahmi Al-Jargawi School in Gaza City following an Israeli strike, May 26, 2025. One of the most remarkable—not to say shameful—features of the last…
Democracy dies in daylight
President Donald Trump in the White House Rose Garden. Photo by Daniel Torok. "KaMaLa TriEd tO WaRn YoU!"No sweetheart. WE tried to warn HER.— Yvangeline Blondeau (@Ada...
Living in the upside-down
Illustration of Humpty Dumpty from Through the Looking Glass, by John Tenniel, 1871. “When I use a word,” Humpty Dumpty said in rather a scornful tone, “it means just what…
Trump’s second coming: the first six weeks
Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump in 2019. Photo from Wikimedia Commons. “This is going to be great television, I will say that,” said Donald Trump at the end of the…
One law for the West and another for the rest?
The scales of justice. Photo by James Cridland/Wikimedia Commons. No one is above the law.— Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) May 31, 2024 On December 1 Joe Biden, acting under the author...
I’m speaking! (and you’re not)
Kamala Harris speaking with attendees at the 2019 Iowa Democratic Wing Ding at Surf Ballroom in Clear Lake, Iowa. Photo by Gage Skidmore/Flickr. Red lines? What red lines? If anyone…
Not even the main event
Palestinians mourn their relatives killed during an Israeli airstrike in southern Gaza. Photo by Abed Rahim Khatib. An eternity ago, back in March, accepting his Academy Award for The Zo...
Is the West finally seeing sense on Gaza?
Aftermath of an Israeli bombing raid on the Jabalia refugee camp in the Gaza Strip. Photo courtesy the Palestinian News & Information Agency-WAFA/Wikimedia Commons. In my most recent article...
Our dead don’t seem to count the same way
The Great Mosque of Gaza in the late nineteenth century. Photo by Maison Bonfils/Library of Congress. The discrepancy between Western framing of the conflicts in Ukraine and Gaza has often…
States of exception
Stripped, blindfolded, and bound Palestinian civilians are taken prisoner and ordered into a line by Israeli occupation forces in Gaza in December 2023. Photo from a social media post by…
The measure of our evil
Gazan children. Photo by gloucester2gaza/Wikimedia Commons. “It’s been 300 days since October 7—the deadliest attack on the Jewish people since the Holocaust,” posted UK Foreign Secretary ...
First we take Manhattan
Student encampment at Columbia University. Photo courtesy Columbia Students for Justice for Palestine/X. There are snipers on the roof of the school where I got my MA. There are police…
All the perfumes of Arabia
Lavender fields near Hitchin, England. Photo by DeFacto/Wikimedia Commons. “Here’s the smell of the blood still. All the perfumes of Arabia will not sweeten this little hand.” —William Shakespeare, Macbeth,…
Powerful stories
Destruction in Gaza following an Israeli bombing raid. Photo courtesy Fars News Agency/Wikimedia Commons. Red lines In his State of the Union address, delivered on March 7, US President Joe…