Author Archives: Nima Shirazi

About Nima Shirazi

Nima Shirazi is a political commentator from New York City. His analysis of United States foreign policy and Middle East issues is published on his website, WideAsleepInAmerica.com, and can also be found in numerous other online and print publications. Follow him on Twitter @WideAsleepNima.

Troubled Jeopardy!: Travels through Trebekistan

The Jeopardy! writers, widely respected as masters of fact and trivia, got a simple one wrong on February 8, 2012 when they claimed Gaza was no longer controlled by Israel.

Posted in Israel Lobby, Israel/Palestine, Media, US Politics | 2 Comments

Leader in fight for indigenous Australians’ rights is on board for denial of those rights in Israel and Palestine

“Australian Jew working to end discrimination against indigenous peoples,” reads a proud headline from the Jewish Telegraph Agency (JTA) today, January 22, 2012. The article reports that a “high-profile Jewish Australian cited the effects of the Holocaust on his family … Continue reading

Posted in Israel Lobby, Israel/Palestine, Nakba, Occupation | 4 Comments

Military indoctrination at Nazi death camps stokes… universal democratic values!

Israeli officers who tour Nazi death camps come back less committed to Jewish values

Posted in Israel/Palestine | 13 Comments

Israel: Still not doing Gandhi very well

Israel plans to build a statue for Mahatma Gandhi in East Jerusalem that NGOs charge is a pretext to seize Palestinian land. Major General Amos Gilad was right when he told U.S. officials, “we don’t do Gandhi very well.”

Posted in Israel/Palestine, Occupation | Tagged | 14 Comments

Trivializing the Holocaust charge

Israel’s trivialization of the Holocaust for political ends offers great insight into Israeli society.

Posted in American Jewish Community, Israel Lobby, Israel/Palestine, Israeli Government | Tagged | 39 Comments

Why Alan Dershowitz is wrong on Israel’s ‘rights’

Alan Dershowitz is out of step with the basic tenets of international law and ignores both historical facts and current reality in order to draw his dubious conclusions.

Posted in American Jewish Community, Israel Lobby, Israel/Palestine, US Politics | 22 Comments

Eldar: ethnocentrism has called on religious and secular alike

Akiva Eldar recognizes that hunger for land and Jewish ownership have driven both secular and religious in Israel

Posted in Israel/Palestine, Israeli Government, Occupation, One state/Two states | 15 Comments

Propaganda Revisited: Iraq, Iran, and the rhyming of history

The propaganda about Iran’s nuclear program bears a striking resemblance to the lies about Iraq leading up to the invasion of that country.

Posted in Iran, Iraq, Middle East, US Policy in the Middle East, US Politics | 9 Comments

Rattling Sabers & Beating Drums: Fear-mongering over nuclear Iran reaches a fever-pitch

“Based on my experience with the administration in the months leading up to the war, I have little choice but to conclude that some of the intelligence related to Iraq’s nuclear weapons program was twisted to exaggerate the Iraqi threat.” … Continue reading

Posted in Israel/Palestine | 38 Comments

‘Atlantic’ expose on Rick Perry’s affinity for Israel ignores the H2Occupation of Palestine

“[It is] of vital importance not only to secure all water resources already feeding the country, but also to control them at their source.” – Chaim Weizmann, President of the World Zionist Organization and the first President of Israel, at … Continue reading

Posted in Israel/Palestine | 19 Comments

The Ninety-Nine Percent

To sit in silence when we should protest Makes cowards out of men. The human race Has climbed on protest. – Ella Wheeler Wilcox, I Protest, 1914 With so much effort being exerted by the right-wing lunatic punditocracy and commentariat, … Continue reading

Posted in Israel/Palestine | 30 Comments

The Department of Corrections: Ben-Hur, the LA Times & a place called Palestine

“You know the law – every son of Israel must have some occupation.” – Lew Wallace, Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ, Chapter IV On September 26, The Los Angeles Times ran a short Calendar section item on the new belated 50th anniversary, fully restored … Continue reading

Posted in Israel/Palestine | 55 Comments

Fleitz of Fancy & A New Diehl on Iran: An update on fear-mongering about Iran’s nuclear program

It has been nearly seven months since I wrote, ”The Phantom Menace: Fantasies, Falsehoods, and Fear-Mongering about Iran’s Nuclear Program” (posted here on Mondoweiss), a time-line of false U.S., Israeli, and European assertions regarding the supposed inevitability and immediacy of a nuclear-armed Iran, hysterical allegations … Continue reading

Posted in Israel/Palestine | 10 Comments

Jeffrey Goldberg vs. The Truth

By now Mondoweiss readers have probably seen Jeffrey Goldberg’s updated post on supporting the boycott of Netanyahu here in the US. It includes this tidbit (emphasis added): “…all I can say is this: Since 1948, Israel has been a besieged … Continue reading

Posted in Israel/Palestine | 88 Comments

Desert Bloomism: The Israeli myth that won’t spoil, wither, or die

“This tractor does two things – it turns the land and turns us off the land. There is little difference between this tractor and a tank. The people were driven, intimidated, hurt by both. We must think about this.” – … Continue reading

Posted in Israel/Palestine | 54 Comments

“Deplorable!” – The ‘Quartet’ Comments on Gaza

Provided always, That if any goods, wares or merchandise, shall be laden or put off from, or discharged or landed upon, any other place than the quays, wharfs, or places, so to be appointed, the same, together with the ships, … Continue reading

Posted in Gaza, Israel/Palestine | 11 Comments

The ‘No Humanitarian Crisis in Gaza’ Canard: From massacre myopia to blockade blindness

On Monday, former IDF prison guard Jeffrey Goldberg approvingly quoted an excerpt from a recent anti-Gaza Flotilla opinion piece by Irish columnist Kevin Myers. Myers’ snide commentary is full of historical revisionism, factual errors, total fabrications, racist anti-Arab and Palestinian stereotyping, and an adolescent … Continue reading

Posted in Israel/Palestine | 20 Comments

The Neverending Story: Updates on the fantasies, falsehoods, and fear-mongering about Iran’s nuclear program

On October 26, 2004, Trita Parsi, founder and president of the National Iranian American Council, conducted an interview for his book “Treacherous Alliance – The Secret Dealings of Iran, Israel and the United States” (published three years later) with Shlomo Brom, a … Continue reading

Posted in Israel/Palestine | 13 Comments

No surprise Bob Dylan is visiting the ‘neighborhood bully’

You may have seen the recent letter by the Israeli peace and justice group “Boycott From Within” (BfW) asking Bob Dylan to heed the Palestinian call for BDS and therefore not perform in Israel.  The letter follows reports of Dylan’s 2011 summer tour, during … Continue reading

Posted in Israel/Palestine | 92 Comments

Even the pretense of supporting ‘peace’ is now gone…

In the least surprising move ever, the Obama administration has made its policy regarding Israel/Palestine clear as it “blocked an initiative by Britain, France and Germany to restart stalled Israeli-Palestinian talks by proposing the outlines of a final settlement to … Continue reading

Posted in Israel/Palestine | 12 Comments

Israel’s war on Palestinian memory

Today’s Los Angeles Times has a piece entitled “Israel and Palestinians have conflicting visions for village’s future,” which describes recent efforts to build “212 luxury apartments, a hotel and retail shops” over the remnants of Lifta, the “last intact pre-1948 … Continue reading

Posted in Israel/Palestine | 21 Comments

Amidst fake bomb shelters, one student admits he’d rather live in Sderot under missiles than in Gaza under siege

I attended the bomb shelter installation Monday afternoon in Washington Square Park and had some lengthy talks with a number of Israel-supporters and, though definitely frustrating, those conversations were by and large calm and non-combative. The single most repeated statement I heard … Continue reading

Posted in Israel/Palestine | 37 Comments

British double standard on recognizing Palestine lets Israel off the hook

In recent months, seven South American nations have recognized Palestine “as a free, independent and sovereign state.” Last week, following similar statements by representatives of Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, Bolivia, Ecuador, and Chile, the Foreign Ministry of Guyana declared that its decision to recognize Palestine … Continue reading

Posted in Israel/Palestine | 19 Comments

The Phantom Menace: Fantasies, falsehoods, and fear-mongering about Iran’s nuclear program

“To tell deliberate lies while genuinely believing in them, to forget any fact that has become inconvenient, and then, when it becomes necessary again, to draw it back from oblivion for just so long as it is needed, to deny … Continue reading

Posted in Israel/Palestine | 91 Comments

The Palestinian right of return is not for the US, Israel, or Israel’s supporters, to bargain away

When discussing possible solutions to the current Israeli/Palestinian impasse during a recent panel discussion entitled “Jewish Perspectives on the Boycott/Divestment/Sanctions Movement,” participant Gil Kulick suggested a return to the proposals of the 2000 Clinton Parameters, the 2002 Nusseibeh-Ayalon agreement, and the 2003 Geneva … Continue reading

Posted in Israel/Palestine | 54 Comments