Israel’s increasing attacks to undermine the possibility mean that no action is too small or without consequence
Palestinian hopes for achieving an independent state comprising the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem have been lifted by France, Britain, Portugal, Canada, Australia and a number of other countries formally recognising the state of Palestine in recent days, after nearly 80 years of its existence.
Israel’s strategy in recent weeks has been to disparage the decision of several countries to recognize the state of Palestine. Yet when France, the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, Portugal, and Belgium, took such a step at the United Nations early this week, or indicated that they would, the Israeli and American reaction was anger. How strange, and telling, that a decision the Israelis and their advocates had ridiculed as “childish” and “performative,” even “an absurdity,” could provoke so excessive a response.
Following the deadly clashes that broke out in July 2025 in Syria’s Al-Suwayda governorate between Druze factions and Bedouin tribes, which resulted in the death of over 1,000 Druze, Egyptian journalists and writers published articles claiming that the Al-Sharaa regime, which supported the Bedouin tribes during the clashes, is a terrorist ISIS-like regime that only pretends to be moderate and egalitarian. The slogans uttered by Syrian President Al-Sharaa about democracy and freedom, they said, are aimed at gaining temporary Western support for his regime – a regime which in practice is no different from extremist Islamist organizations like ISIS and Al-Qaeda that seek to establish an Islamic caliphate and do not hesitate to use terrorism to achieve this. The writers harshly condemned the massacres carried out by Al-Sharaa’s supporters against Syria’s Alawite and Druze minorities, and warned that these actions endanger Syria’s unity and the stability of the region as a whole.
Gen Z is a generation born into a world full of anxieties—from school shootings to climate Armageddon, to a pandemic and political violence. But I’m here to give you one more thing to worry about!
A high-stakes debate about the timing of peak oil has been simmering for decades. Although few of today’s Gen Z members know much about it, their lives will be impacted profoundly by the waning of the petroleum era.
Palestinians now suffer beyond our worst nightmares, and it is terrifying to see how much latitude the world offers the Israeli killing machine, writes Saher Safi [photo credit: Getty Images]
I had just turned ten when the First Intifada began in 1987. The Israeli army reacted harshly to Palestinians rising up to demand freedom, arresting thousands, breaking children’s bones, and killing unarmed demonstrators with impunity. The reality today is worse than I ever could have imagined as a child.
Les grandes puissances occidentales – la Grande-Bretagne, le Canada, l’Australie et plusieurs membres de l’UE sous la conduite de la France – ont décidé de faire preuve de largesse politique en reconnaissant l’État palestinien.
Under the Assad regime, hundreds of Syrian children were hidden in orphanages to extort their parents. Families still have few answers from the new government or the international charity that kept it a secret for years.
Under the totalitarian rule of Bashar al-Assad, when opponents and defectors were jailed, their children were often taken too – and quickly vanished.
Four hundred drums containing a pharmaceutical agent commonly used in making antihistamines were shipped legally to Syria via Lebanon, with the approval of the ministries of health, economy and environment. But the contents of these drums was not used for making medicines. Instead they were found stacked inside one of the largest of the old Syrian regime Fourth Division’s secret Captagon factories, near the capital Damascus.
Huda Skaik shares her harrowing experience of Israel’s invasion of Gaza City, and her fear of permanent displacement & the erasure of her people.
As Israel proceeds with its occupation of Gaza City, where I live, the residents who witnessed past invasions fear the worst is coming. Despite having survived the ongoing genocide for almost two years, the approaching forced displacement feels permanent this time.