Newsletter

A collection of 160 posts

Paid-members only

The War at Home

The Enduring Surveillance Act of 2023

Here comes the legislative vehicle to save the expiring NSA and FBI surveillance powers called Section 702. Its (predictable) offer to reformers is: nothing!

Paid-members only

The War Abroad

Meanwhile, in The West Bank

The quasi-ceasefire in Gaza will thankfully last into Wednesday. But the West Bank continues to be riven by Israeli violence and displacement

Paid-members only

The War Abroad

Peace Is Built, Not Handed Out

A pause in the bombing and a hostage release is the first sign of hope since Oct. 7. But the U.S. is bombing Iraq now, and the deal doesn't constrain Israel in the West Bank

The War at Home

The Antisemite Defense League

To Elon Musk's rescue rides the ADL's Jonathan Greenblatt. When you conflate Anti-Zionism and antisemitism, it's a short step to saying only Anti-Zionism is antisemitism.

Paid-members only

The Nation

Gaza Shows The Difference Between International Law And The 'Rules-Based International Order' (Director's Cut)

Gaza Shows The Difference Between International Law And The 'Rules-Based International Order' (Director's Cut)

The War Abroad

Usama bin Laden Was Bad, In Case I Really Have To Explain That

Sure, it's social-media manipulation pushing us to the Edgelord Singularity. But just because you were lied to about UBL doesn't make him redeemable.

Paid-members only

The War Abroad

A Ceasefire/Hostage Release Might Have Saved These Elite U.S. Soldiers

It's been a simply horrific past 72 hours in Gaza, as Israel besieges hospitals and the latest round of U.S.-Iranian escalation unfolds.

The War at Home

The Anti-Surveillance Coalition's Highest-Stakes Gamble

They're leveraging the renewal of Section 702 for by far the most sweeping surveillance reform since 9/11. But won't 702 immediately be used against Palestinians and their allies?

Paid-members only

The Nation

The Weekend Biden’s Middle East Policy Collapsed (Director's Cut)

Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s diplomatic trip was a humiliating failure. The administration’s regional approach has gone down in flames

The War Abroad

Pentagon Confirms U.S. Drone Presence Over Gaza

They're not armed, DOD says. But drone footage, especially cumulatively, provides Biden a substantial look at the realities Israel is creating on the ground.

The War Abroad

U.S. Hostage Rescue Is A 'Contingency' for U.S. Special Ops in Israel

It isn't the mission for elite U.S. forces, according to a senior Pentagon official. But it's an option—and one that the Biden team has to be very careful about.

Paid-members only

The Nation

The Anti-Defamation League Is Defaming Palestinian Students as Terrorist Supporters (Director's Cut)

The group is urging hundreds of colleges to investigate Students for Justice in Palestine for material support for terrorism. Sept. 11 politics are back in force.

Newsletter

Video: How Israel Is Repeating The U.S.' Post-9/11 Mistakes

I spoke with DW, the German news outlet, about the "grim chain of consequences" known as the War on Terror, and how Israel's devastation of Gaza follows the template. PLUS: Amalek in Gaza

The War Abroad

U.S. Bombs Iran in Syria And Tries To Call Time-Out

As it struck Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps positions in Syria, the Pentagon insisted that it's neither part of Israel's war and it doesn't want to fire again. Good luck with that

Paid-members only

The Nation

The Lesson of 9/11 Is That Israel Cannot Win Its Gaza War

Biden says he doesn’t want Israel to repeat America’s mistakes, so why is he supporting Israel as it does exactly that?

The War Abroad

Talking Israel/Palestine on The Ezra Klein Show

PLUS: the Pentagon sees "a prospect for much more significant escalation," while the King of Jordan has a message about U.S. leadership in light of Gaza.

The War Abroad

Biden's "Indispensable Nation" Is on The Brink of A Wider War

A regional war that could involve America is frighteningly close. Biden's speech talked past it

The War Abroad

Veto Joe

Whatever the Biden administration sought this week for humanitarian aid to Gaza, they blocked a U.N. resolution demanding the violence pause in order to provide it.

Newsletter

Islamophobia Kills. Protect Your Neighbors

It was a matter of time before someone listened to the politicians and media figures dehumanizing Palestinians and took action. The victim was a six-year old boy

The War Abroad

Confront 9/11 Politics And They Can Be Defeated

If this is Israel's 9/11, be Susan Sontag. Apartheid is what has gotten over 1200 Israelis killed and may soon "pretty much ethnically cleanse the northern part of the Gaza Strip"

The War Abroad

Sami al-Arian & Daniel Levy on The Return To Open War in Israel/Palestine

Two wise people, a Palestinian and an Israeli, on a harrowing past few days and avoiding the horrors to come. FOREVER WARS editorializes: if you want peace, free Palestine.

Paid-members only

The Nation

A Deal Signed in Blood

An anticipated deal between the U.S., Saudi Arabia, and Israel is set to create a new Middle Eastern order. But as Israel and Gaza return to war, will the security pact do more than entrench the violence of the status quo?

Paid-members only

The War Abroad

The Media's Role in 20 Years of Islamophobia

Notes on a weekend in Doha and my prepared remarks to a panel discussion on Islamophobia that Georgetown University convened. PLUS: Your War on Terror news roundup

Paid-members only

The Nation

Atrocity Exhibition

These New Yorkers want to transform the September 11 museum, but can it be anything other than a purveyor of War on Terror propaganda?

Newsletter

China Says NSA Surveillance Is Intensifying

As Uncle Ben once said, with great power competition comes great espionage expansions. PLUS: Egypt buys a senator; and more!