Informed Comment

by Sania Faisal El-Husseini
( Middle East Monitor ) – Israeli policies and measures directed at Palestinians in the West Bank have steadily intensified since the current right-wing government led by Benjamin Netanyahu came to power at the end of 2022. These policies became more...

By Pascual Berrone, IESE Business School (Universidad de Navarra)
(The Conversation) – For residents of European cities – with their snarled traffic, draughty old buildings, creaking public services and grey winters – it’s easy to see the appeal of moving to a brand-new, high-tech metropolis....

Silver Spring, Md. (Special to Informed Comment; Feature) – In the heat of war, the Torah or Hebrew Bible demands an unexpected restraint: Do not cut down the fruit trees.
The Jewish ecological principle known as Bal Tashchit (‘do not destroy’) forbids the destruction of fruit-bearing trees — and by extension any source of nutrition — even during a siege — is rooted in Deuteronomy 20:19, ““If you besiege a town for a long...

( Middle East Monitor ) – Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney sounded more like a populist leader than a former central banker during his address at the World Economic Forum in Davos on 20 January. Bemoaning the “fading” of the rules-based order, Carney...