Middle East Monitor

The irreconcilable tension within Zionism has been laid bare once again by prominent columnist and commentator Peter Beinart. For a number of years, the 49-year-old has had the status of America’s pre-eminent liberal Zionist intellectual. His trenchant essays and books buttressed the hope of liberal Jews in the possibility of […]

Israel and the United States are developing a shared strategy aimed at taking out senior Iranian military figures and slowing down Iran’s nuclear program, US officials have revealed to the New York Times. Following the explosion at the Iranian city of Natanz on 2 July, in which a nuclear facility was severely damaged, […]

Two former managers of Monaco-based energy consultancy Unaoil have been convicted in Britain of bribing Iraqi officials to clinch lucrative oil projects as the war-ravaged country tried to boost exports after the fall of Saddam Hussein in 2003. The verdict marks a milestone in the British arm of a four-year, […]

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 […]

Morocco announced it is isolating the northern city of Tangier as of Monday to curb the spread of coronavirus outbreak in the city, reports Anadolu Agency. The Moroccan Interior Ministry said measures include the suspension of public transport – both road and rail – to and from Tangier. Citizens will […]

Bahrain will add around 177 million dinars ($470 million) to its 2020 state budget in emergency spending on fighting the new coronavirus pandemic, state news agency BNA said on Monday, reporting a royal decree. To this end, $450 million will be taken as a one-time deduction from the Future Generations […]

Bangladesh police said on Monday they have arrested three men over the trafficking of hundreds of young women taken to Dubai on the promise of jobs in hotels and then forced into sex work. The victims were paid a month’s salary upfront and told they would work as housekeepers or […]

The International Monetary Fund urged Lebanese authorities on Monday to unite around a government rescue plan and warned that attempts to lower losses from the financial crisis could only delay recovery. The government’s rescue plan has served as the cornerstone of talks with the IMF and maps out massive losses […]

After losing his job as a house cleaner in Cairo, Sudanese refugee Abdel-Nasser Khamis has been struggling to pay his bills. It’s a fate shared by tens of thousands of migrants in Egypt, where the fallout from the coronavirus has hit the economy hard, UN officials and aid workers say. […]

State-owned Kuwait Oil Company today announced a 25 per cent reduction in its budget for the next five years. Local media quoted a company statement as saying that the decision was made “in response to directives from the Kuwaiti Council of Ministers,” adding that the move would not affect its […]

The Palestinian Authority (PA) yesterday announced that it was prolonging a lockdown in the West Bank for four days, to prevent the spread of coronavirus infections, reported the Times of Israel. PA spokesman Ibrahim Milhem said that in accordance with the state of emergency, the cabinet also decided, “Travel will be prohibited daily from […]

An attack on pro-Palestine activists by lobby groups favouring the state of Israel took a violent turn in Canada over the weekend as the right-wing Jewish terrorist group the Jewish Defence League (JDL), took to the streets in an effort to bankrupt a Toronto food store and take away restaurant […]

The UK singed off more than £75 million ($94 million) worth of spyware and wiretaps normally used to curtail freedoms to some of the most authoritarian regimes in the world including Saudi Arabia the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Bahrain. Seventeen countries rated “not free” by the NGO Freedom House, […]

Palestinian resistance factions in the West Bank have called for a renewed popular uprising against the illegal Israeli occupation amid continued “colonial settlement and ethnic cleansing activities” reports the Palestinian Information Centre (PIC). In a press release issued on Saturday in Ramallah, national and political voiced their rejection of any proposals which […]

Lebanon’s traffic lights outage has been caused by a row over parking meter revenue, not fuel scarcity, a report by the National has revealed. Since mid-April, more than half of Beirut’s traffic lights have ceased to function, leaving motorists to navigate the city’s heavy traffic un-aided. The new system has led to a […]

A Lebanese TV show host is set to stand trial over remarks made against Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan during a talk show broadcast in June, after Turkish authorities called for action. Neshan Der Haroutiounian, the host of the popular show, “Ana Heik”, which broadcasts on Lebanon’s Al-Jadeed channel, is set to face trial in […]

Israel is set to turn ancient Muslim cemetery in Jaffa into a homeless shelter READ: Annexation will turn Palestinians into Israel’s modern day slaves  Related Source link

US Democratic candidate Joe Biden has said there will be no more “blank checks for Trump’s favourite dictator” in a widely shared Twitter post. The comments come not long after the release of the dual US-Egypt citizen Mohamed Amashah, who spent almost 500 days in an Egyptian prison after he held […]

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said his country’s intervention in Libya has foiled the plans of Libyan National Army (LNA) Commander, General Khalifa Haftar, to occupy the capital, Tripoli. Speaking to a Turkish magazine, Erdogan said the GNA has managed to expel the rebels from Tripoli within a short period, […]

The International Committee of the Red Cross warned on Saturday that two-thirds of Yemenis do not have food, and almost as many have no access to health care. In a series of statements on Twitter, the ICRC added that 58 per cent of Yemenis have no access to clean water, […]

The Iraqi Foreign Minister Fouad Hussein yesterday called on his German counterpart Heiko Maas to support Baghdad’s removal from the European list of high-risk countries for money laundering and terrorism financing. In a statement, the Iraqi Foreign ministry said Hussein received a telephone call from his German counterpart, during which […]

The Covid-19 pandemic has led to serious losses in the tourism industry in the Arab world, with more than 50 million jobs lost, Anadolu reported on Sunday. A report from the Arab Monetary Fund (AMF) said that the country most affected by the coronavirus is Saudi Arabia, followed by the […]

Libya’s National Oil Corporation (NOC) accused the United Arab Emirates (UAE) on Sunday of instructing forces loyal to Libyan warlord Khalifa Haftar to disrupt the country’s oil output and exports, Anadolu reports. NOC said oil production has been halted, referring to a recent statement by Haftar saying output would continue […]

Yemen’s Saudi-led coalition said on Monday it intercepted and destroyed four missiles and six explosive drones launched overnight by Houthi forces towards the kingdom, Reuters reports. Cross-border attacks by the Iran-aligned Houthi movement have escalated since late May when a truce prompted by the novel coronavirus expired. In late June, […]