One does not criticise Glenn Greenwald, one of journalism’s true heroes, and not expect to create a mini-firestorm, at least in my own little corner of the blogosphere. So the criticism that rapidly followed my post last night was not unexpected. I want to address the two types of criticism levelled at me to better [...]

I’m a huge fan of Glenn Greenwald’s work, and I very much hope his new media venture, the Intercept, is a success – not just for his sake but for all of us who want to see the media landscape open up for independent journalists. That said, I found his responses to Michael Albert in [...]

Russell Brand is back, with another incredible performance – and that is what it has to be, given the paradigm of debate he is forced into. This 15-minute interview with Ch4’s Jon Snow starts slowly, focusing on Brand’s efforts to change Britain’s primitive drugs laws. But it rapidly widens out into a fascinating ideological clash [...]

Forty-two years late, another Israeli war crime emerges from the shadows. In this case, dozens, and more probably hundreds, of Israeli soldiers kept a decades-long vow of secrecy. One of them is Shlomo Gazit, today a respected (in Israel, at least) academic at Tel Aviv University. In January 1972, Ariel Sharon decided that 3,000 Bedouin [...]

I never thought I would see it. A mainstream TV programme, this one made by Australian channel ABC, that shows the occupation in all its inhuman horror. The 45-minute investigative film concerns the Israeli army’s mistreatment of Palestinian children. Along the way, it provides absolutely devastating evidence that the children’s abuse is not some unfortunate [...]

Many thanks to all of you who sent me suggestions for how better to protect my privacy after what looked suspiciously like a hack of my computer by the Shin Bet. There are some suggestions that I will certainly be incorporating into my working practices, as best I can. I have received far too many [...]

I have been pondering – probably more than is wise – what happened yesterday, when I lost control of my computer for an hour shortly after I had contacted the Israeli prime minister’s spokesman for a comment from the Shin Bet. I was working on a story about the various ways the Shin Bet seeks [...]

I’m not much of an expert on computers, but I’m guessing I have just watched the Shin Bet, Israel’s secret police, hack mine. This was an NSA moment on speed. Here’s what happened. I am currently researching a story on Israel’s techniques for recruiting Palestinian collaborators. This typically involves the Shin Bet. According to human [...]

Good to see Ben White calling out reporter Matthew Kalman over his prejudiced use of language in the Guardian, after he referred to those who oppose SodaStream’s factory in the occupied West Bank as “anti-Israel” rather than being pro-Palestinian or anti-settlement. Kalman then tried to defend the indefensible, as Ben correctly points out. It’s not [...]

The New York Times’ oped pages have recently been opening up to much more critical commentary on Israel. This trend has not been quite as dramatic as it may appear. Two strong recent opeds by Ali Jarbawi and Avi Shlaim looked liked they had been made available to US audiences in the NYT but were [...]

Here is Oxfam’s official and very brief statement on the ending of its eight-year relationship with Scarlett Johansson, who served as a “global ambassador”. It seems clear that Oxfam – very belatedly – gave her an ultimatum following her recent decision to accept another ambassadorship, this time promoting SodaStream, whose factory is in an illegal [...]

Three updates follow The fallout from Scarlett Johansson’s recent decision to become “brand ambassador” for SodaStream, the drinks carbonation company with its factory in a settlement on occupied Palestinian territory, is no longer chiefly either about the immoral behaviour of a Hollywood actress or about the illegal activities of a major corporation. Both, unfortunately, are [...]

There was a time before the NSA was able secretly to collect personal data about us all, all the time. There was a time when it was much harder for our governments to know what we were up to. There was a time when they struggled to control the flow of information. In those days, [...]

Hidden away both behind the Haaretz paywall and in its business pages is one of the most astute articles I’ve seen in the Israeli media. It tells how Israel (more so even than other western states) has been taken over by a security elite – what is termed here a “security network” –  that has [...]

Four depressing things to be learnt by decoding a new report from the British defence ministry, in response to very minor cuts in the military budget. 1. The British military thinks the problem associated with the invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan was one of “perception”. The sources cite a long-term weariness in the British population [...]

The Economist has found itself at the centre of another of those “anti-semitic cartoon” rows. The cartoon has upset the Israel lobby because it shows, well, that the Israel lobby has a lot of influence in Congress. The article it illustrated refers to President Obama’s attempts to reach a deal with Iran, a diplomatic process [...]