Middle East
Drake, DJ Khaled and the Gaza Test
By invoking Palestine to criticize DJ Khaled, Drake unintentionally exposed more than celebrity hypocrisy. The moment also revealed how Palestine has become a public measure of authenticity, morality and credibility — often at the risk of eclipsing Palestinians themselves.
Eurovision’s Missing Arab Entries
The controversy around Israel’s participation in Eurovision extends well beyond the atrocities committed in Gaza. In the contest’s 70-year history, only one of the seven Arab nations that are members of the body that runs it has ever competed — in the year Israel did not.
Dead Soldiers Can Make Babies, But Should They?
Reproductive technologies, and the ambitions embedded within them, are increasingly playing a role in global conflicts. Fertility tech has become a policy tool and opened a new frontier for ethical questions provoked by war, particularly in Israel and Ukraine.
The West Bank on Strike
While international attention has been focused elsewhere, Israel has been steadily constricting everyday life in the occupied West Bank, including through the withholding of tax revenues it is legally obligated to pass to the Palestinian Authority. The desperate situation has led to a general strike, but there are few avenues for relief.
Hopelessness and Love in an Israeli Prison
In his prison memoir, Nasser Abu Srour writes in a long tradition of incarcerated authors left only with their thoughts and words as vestiges of their autonomy. Now free from confinement, he has a new challenge on his hands: how to make meaning of his new life in exile.
Does Israel Prefer Weak Neighbors?
Why does Israel so often seem to be pursuing tactics aimed at weakening states in the Middle East, particularly in Lebanon, Syria and now Iran? Israel might not have a consistent weak-state doctrine, but its actions give the appearance that it does — with far-reaching negative consequences.
Unrecognized and Unprotected: Bedouin Villages in Israel’s War Zone
The Bedouin citizens who live in “unrecognized” villages in southern Israel are exposed to incoming missiles from Iran and from Gaza, yet the government refuses to build them bomb shelters. The consequences have proved deadly.