Tom Gross – Mideast Media Analysis

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Other latest Mideast Dispatches: here

* Recent dispatch (1): Mossad, TV and the movies – how Israeli spies took over our screens

* Recent dispatch (2): UAE, Bahrain and Israel TV hold joint evening news broadcast, while Netanyahu nominated for Nobel Peace Prize by European politicians; The New York Times gets it wrong again

* Recent dispatch (3): Saudi Gazette: Palestinians have sabotaged peace negotiations for six decades / Bahraini activist: Jews are indigenous to Israel / The National (Abu Dhabi): The UAE-Israel accord is a win for every Muslim / Arab researcher speaking on RT: Iran - not Israel - is responsible for the deaths of millions of Arabs

* Recent dispatch (4): Photos from an historic day (UAE-Israel-US)

* Recent dispatch (5): Iran puts musician on trial for working with a woman (& UAE deal brings 25 years of covert cooperation out of the shadows)

* Recent dispatch (6): African migrants ‘left to die’ in Saudi Arabia’s hellish Covid detention centers (& First commercial Israel-UAE flight tomorrow)

* Recent dispatch (7): Conversations with friends: Mostafa Elostaz on the UAE deal, and Palestinian refugees

* Recent dispatch (8): “Blessed are the peacemakers. Mabruk and Mazal Tov” (& Peace for peace formula paying dividends); Some media reaction to the historic UAE-Israel peace deal

* Recent dispatch (9): Bahrain (& then maybe even Saudi) next? Breaking news: UAE becomes third Arab country to make peace with Israel

* Recent dispatch / Conversations with friends: Israel National Security Advisor Eran Lerman

* Recent dispatch / Conversations with friends: Mostafa Elostaz on Palestinian issues

* Recent dispatch / Conversations with friends: Lawyer Zoe Johnson

* Recent dispatch / Conversations with friends: Historian Amanda Foreman

* Recent dispatch / Conversations with friends: Guardian columnist Jonathan Freedland

* Recent dispatch / Conversations with friends: Shmuel Bar

* Recent dispatch / Conversations with friends: Evgeny Kissin on music, the Yiddish language, Israel and the Soviet Union

* Recent dispatch / Conversations with friends: The last Nazi-hunter Efraim Zuroff

* Recent dispatch / Conversations with friends: John O’Sullivan, Margaret Thatcher’s trusted advisor

* Recent dispatch / Conversations with friends: Filmmaker Hossein Amini (grandson of ex-PM of Iran)

* Recent dispatch / Conversations with friends: Writer David Pryce-Jones

* Recent profile (1) / “A leftist in the fight against left-wing lies”: Profile of Tom Gross in the German daily Die Welt

* Recent profile (2) / Tom Gross profiled in the pan-Arab daily Asharq Al-Awsat

* Interview / An interview with Tom Gross about his life

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A selection of TV interviews

The Media & ‘Fake news’

The Arab world

America & the Mideast

Britain & the Mideast

Britain under attack

Brexit

Israel & BDS

The future

* Are we today close to the reality of the novel “1984”?

A selection of articles

Media criticism

The New York Times

* The New York Times: All the news that’s fit to print?

The BBC

UK media’s global reach

News or Fake news?

Terrorism and radicalism

Palestinian issues

Israeli issues

The Arab world, Iran & Turkey

Syria

The Kurds

* The case for a Kurdish state

Iran

Turkey & The Gulf

Brexit & The Mideast

* Brexit and its Effect on the Middle East

U.S. politics

Human Rights

The Holocaust

Provocative cartoons

Photos essays

Videos: fun and serious

“Tom Gross is probably Europe’s leading observer of the Middle East” -- Former Pentagon official Michael Rubin

“Tom Gross’s dynamic dispatches bring to light stories that matter. He’s a one-man news agency of the most impressive kind” -- Former Arab Affairs editor for the BBC Magdi Abdelhadi, Cairo

“I read dozens of websites about the Middle East but I find new and important information at Tom Gross’s. You can’t skip his dispatches” -- Former U.S. Deputy National Security Adviser Elliott Abrams

“Tom Gross does an important job in bringing to our attention some of the most interesting articles published in various media outlets. His comments and analysis are very informative” -- Khaled Abu Toameh, Palestinian affairs correspondent, Jerusalem Post

more ...

Iranian women post photos free of hijab – but only for a few seconds

Hundreds of Iranian women defied strict rules requiring them to cover their heads in public, by sending photos of themselves without headscarves to a special Facebook page. They face arrest if identified. They quickly put their hijabs back on after taking the photos.

Interviews with human rights heroes

The wife of Saudi Arabia’s best known political prisoner, liberal blogger Raif Badawi, who was sentenced to 1,000 lashes, speaks out.

A schoolgirl who escaped Boko Haram in Nigeria describes her ordeal. Michelle Obama is among those campaigning to #BringBackOurGirls. Most remain in captivity.

An interview with a former French Islamic State hostage in Syria, who was held with the U.S. and British hostages who were beheaded, including Jim Foley and Steve Sotloff.

This is the impassioned plea which the first female Yazidi MP in Iraq’s parliament, Vian Dakhi, made to draw the world’s attention to the plight of Yazidi girls forced into sex slavery.

Egyptian liberal dissident and former political prisoner Maikel Nabil is one of the moderate centrists that Egypt needs.

North Korean defector and freedom campaigner Hyeonseo Lee has risked her life by criticizing one of the world’s most oppressive regimes.

At the grave of Yasser Arafat in Ramallah. Arafat was no human rights hero, rejecting a Palestinian state, setting back peace efforts, and keeping some unpleasant company.

Meanwhile on campus…

Incitement to kill Jews made by masked Palestinian students at a “moderate” American-partnered university: A series of photos exclusive to this website from Al-Quds campus.

And on a happier note…

News from the Middle East can be depressing. Here is something more upbeat: people across the region record themselves singing along to the Pharrell Williams’ hit “Happy”.

Happy in Tel Aviv

Happy in Jerusalem

Happy in Beirut

Happy in Gaza

Happy in Tehran

The Iranians who created this “Happy” video were arrested and subjected to harsh detention. Police chief Hossein Sajedinia told the official ISNA news agency that the “vulgar clip” had “harmed public chastity”. Iran’s state TV broadcast a program showing the men and women in the video (which had become a hit on Iranian social media) confessing to their “crime” on camera. In response, Pharrell Williams wrote on his Facebook page that “It is beyond sad that these kids were arrested for trying to spread happiness”.

Latest Mideast Dispatches: here