World News Insights: Opinion Articles

Benjamin Netanyahu fears the end of the war. He will be confronted with investigation committees and several questions about accountability and errors. For him, the issue is practically about life or death. The issue is more than just about Netanyahu clinging to office to avoid accountability. …

Increasingly frustrated, more Ukrainians appear to be opening up to the idea of a negotiated peace, even as they remain vague about what that means. Most Ukrainians still oppose ceding any territory to Russia, not even the Crimean peninsula that was seized by Russia 10 years ago, polls show. But…

In 2003, a British writer and journalist named Alan George published a book that was aptly titled "Syria: Neither Bread Nor Freedom." While some regimes provide their people bread without freedom and others safeguard freedom without providing bread, the regime George discusses in his book denies…

I shared a room with a Romanian, made Bosnian friends, discussed Hajj rites with a nice group from Cambodia, had selfie with celebrities and shared a tent with Pakistani, Mozambicans and South Africans. All this while having ice cream and chocolates, laughing, hugging and bonding. In that very…

The method, location, and timing of the assassination of Hamas political bureau chief Ismail Haniyeh are the story and the message. It is a major turning point. Whether Iran retaliates directly or through its militias, Netanyahu has changed the course of events to his advantage. Dear reader,…

A Yazidi girl saw her ISIS rapist roaming the streets of Germany, evading justice. Meanwhile, thousands of displaced Yazidis continue to live in refugee camps far from their homes, and the fate of about 2,000 Yazidis remains unknown. Sinjar, on the other hand, is struggling on a long road to…

The two assassinations (Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran, and Fouad Shukr in the southern suburbs of Beirut) opened wide the doors of the Middle East. Whoever took the decision to liquidate them has also decided to push the conflict, which has been going on since October 7, 2023, towards an end or a…

Could Pezeshkian be Iran’s Gorbachev? Referring to President-elect Masoud Pezeshkian, the question was headlined in a Tehran daily Tuesday and triggered a torrent of comments. The paper’s commentator described Pezeshkian as a man trusted by the system and thus capable of introducing unspecified…

Ismail Haniyeh was aware that he was on the top of the Mossad’s hit list, even though Israel knew he had no connection to the October 7 attack. For years, Haniyeh had been at odds with Yahya Sinwar and the current leadership of Hamas. He was ousted from the leadership of the movement, which he had…

Ismail Haniyeh was a diligent student of Hamas founder Sheikh Ahmed Yassin. If we were to split Palestinian political Islamists into moderate and hardline camps, Ismail Haniyeh would be classified as a moderate. Even his opponents see him as part of the solution, be it for intra-Palestinian…

From the moment the missile fell on the school in Majdal Shams, it was evident that the tragedy in the Golan Heights could potentially precipitate a succession of other tragedies in other places. The greatest fear was that it could trigger "sedition" ("fitna" in Arabic) between Shiites and the…

Generals and conquerors have long recognized Gaza's strategic significance. Napoleon once said that "Gaza is the outpost of Africa and the gate to Asia." However, the path to Gaza was never paved with roses. Courageous resistance and the plague crushed Napoleon's army in the Levant. Despite…