MATTHEW HAWKINS applauds a psychotherapist’s disection of William Blake
Bending the truth
ALEX HALL exposes the moral double standards peddled by Western media in name of political expediency when dealing with Hamas
NEVER TO BE FORGOTTEN: Palestinians walk through the destruction left by the Israeli air and ground offensive on the Gaza Strip near Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, on April 1, 2024
New releases from Christina Alden and Alex Patterson, Odette Michell, Clementine Lovell
JOHN GREEN is fascinated by a very readable account of Britain’s involvement in South America
Strip cartoons used to be the bread and butter of newspapers and they have been around for centuries. MICHAL BONCZA asks our own Paul Tanner about which bees are in his bonnet
GORDON PARSONS acknowledges the authority with which Sarah Kane’s theatrical justification for suicide has resonance today
RON JACOBS welcomes a timely homage to one of the IWW and CPUSA’s most effective orators
Understanding Hamas and Why That Matters
Helena Cobban and Rami C Khouri, OR Books, £15.99
WHEN Piers Morgan was inviting every guest to “condemn Hamas” only a few notables, including Norman Finkelstein, declined to take the bait and thus seal the terms of debate before even starting it.
As far as Western discourse was concerned, Hamas were the perverts at the bottom of the seventh circle of hell, sadistic fanatics who took great pleasure in atrocities.
Just World Educational, a small US non-profit educational outfit with a board that includes the authors, decided that this demonisation was a serious obstacle for a political solution and a workable peace. Indeed, in a ruling-class narrative that appears ubiquitous at this present time, when an adversary is evil, diplomacy itself becomes pandering to evil and eradication is the only logical course of action.
More from this author
ALEX HALL is intrigued by a detailed history of Gaza that demonstrates its historic resilience and changing economy
ALEX HALL puts on asbestos gloves to handle a simple-minded ideological work of the ruling class
ALEX HALL recommends a meticulous and fascinating academic account of the development of Lebanon’s ‘Party of God’
ALEX HALL recommends a considered and unemotional evaluation of the history and strategic choices made by Hamas
