The Listening Post

After almost 2 years of Israel’s genocide in Gaza, Western powers have issued synchronised declarations recognising Palestinian statehood - a diplomatic move seemingly born out of the immense public pressure they face. What’s missing from the story is the concrete measures those governments could take to stop the slaughter in Gaza, as well as their complicity by continuing to supply weapons to Isr...

It’s been just more than a week since the assassination of Charlie Kirk, and in death, as in life, the far-right podcaster is proving divisive. While his supporters mourn, many critics have seized the moment to call out his polarising legacy - a legacy now being weaponised by far-right leaders from DC to Tel Aviv. Contributors: Jeffrey Sharlet - Professor, Dartmouth College Jude Russo - Managing e...

Israel’s rampage through the Middle East continues, with an attack on United States ally, Qatar. As Arab nations evaluate the value of a US security guarantee, we examine the fallout in the region and beyond. Contributors: Elham Fakhro – Research Fellow, Harvard Kennedy School Laleh Khalili – Professor of Gulf Studies, University of Exeter Yossi Mekelberg – Senior Fellow, Chatham House Yousef Muna...

Israel’s renewed offensive in Gaza City - the largest Palestinian population centre - is being framed as an assault on Hamas’s “final stronghold”. But behind that narrative lies a campaign of expulsion and erasure that bears all the hallmarks of an endgame. Contributors:  Dana Mills - Writer, Local Call & +972 Magazine Muhammad Shehada - Journalist Saree Makdisi - Professor of English & Comparativ...

India is expelling Bengali Muslims - stripping citizenship, detaining and deporting them to Bangladesh. The crackdown has spread nationwide, prompted by years of BJP propaganda and a news media all too willing to sell the story of a Muslim "enemy within". Contributors:  Shoaib Daniyal - Political editor, Scroll Fatima Khan - Political journalist Vaishna Roy - Editor, Frontline magazine Paranjoy Gu...

The Epstein saga has flipped the script within the MAGA movement. Having spent years accusing the Democrats of an establishment cover-up, many right-wing influencers are now turning against their idol, President Trump, as he resists calls to release the files. Contributors: Joan Donovan - Director, CriticalNet Mehdi Hasan - Editor-in-chief, Zeteo News Miles Klee - Culture writer, Rolling Stone Dan...

As Netanyahu courts Trump with peace prizes and platitudes, divisions over Israel in the MAGA media space are deepening. Contributors: Laura Albast – Fellow, Institute for Palestine Studies Mitchell Plitnick – Author, Except for Palestine Mouin Rabbani – Co-editor, Jadaliyya Jude Russo – Managing editor, The American Conservative On our radar: Since the US-Israeli GHF took over the distribution of...

At Glastonbury, Britain’s biggest music festival, two artists called out Israel’s genocide in Gaza and accused the British government of complicity. On-stage remarks by one of them - Bob Vylan - plunged the country's public broadcaster, the BBC, which livestreamed the performance, into yet another Gaza-shaped row. Contributors: Des Freedman – Author, The Media Manifesto Peter Oborne – Journalist a...

From negotiating with Iran to bombing its nuclear facilities and then brokering a ceasefire, Trump’s erratic pivots appear to be driven more by optics than coherent diplomacy. Mainstream Western news outlets, however, are making the job easier - painting Iran as an existential threat while downplaying Israel’s illegal actions. Contributors:  Roxane Farmanfarmaian – Senior fellow, European Leadersh...

Israel's war on Iran was one that many have expected, and yet with nuclear talks between the United States and Iran ongoing, few saw it coming. Propaganda from the Netanyahu government and credulous reporting in the Western media have played a major part in how we got here. Contributors: Narges Bajoghli – Author, Iran Reframed Matt Duss – Executive Vice President, Center for International Policy A...

Israel has launched an unprovoked assault on Iran, including strikes on nuclear facilities and assassinations of several senior military commanders and scientists. In front of the world’s media, however, the Netanyahu government is spinning the attack as “preemptive”. Contributor: Negar Mortazavi – Host, The Iran Podcast On our radar: This past week, phone and internet services virtually collapsed...

Throughout the various ceasefire negotiations between Israel and Hamas, western news outlets have repeatedly blamed their failure on Hamas. This week, we hear a perspective that rarely features in the coverage - the group's own - on the negotiations and the media narratives that surround them. Contributors:  Tahani Mustafa – Senior Palestine Analyst, International Crisis Group Basem Naim – Politbu...

More than 600 days into its genocidal war in Gaza, some of Israel's closest allies have begun to condemn its actions. Alongside the changing global narrative, growing opposition in Israel to the Netanyahu government's war methods has seeped into the media coverage - fracturing a consensus that dates back to October 7, 2023. Contributors:  Yara Hawari – Co-Director, Al-Shabaka Natasha Lennard – Con...

The images coming out of Gaza are apocalyptic, depicting the latest - and perhaps final - chapter in a genocide. Under an operation called Gideon’s Chariots, the Israeli military is forcing Palestinians into tiny corners of the besieged enclave. Its next phase: another full-scale invasion aimed at taking complete control of the territory. Contributors: Hani M Abuishaiba – Gaza correspondent, Al Ja...

United States President Donald Trump's tour of the Middle East this week is his first international trip since he started his second term. Conspicuously absent from his itinerary, however, was Washington’s closest ally in the region: Israel. In the US and Israeli media, the apparent snub has fuelled talk of a growing rift between Trump and his Israeli counterpart, Benjamin Netanyahu. Contributors:...

One might think that images of starving children, as political leaders withhold aid and openly call for ethnic cleansing, would be topping news agendas everywhere. In the case of Gaza, the failure of many in the international media to meet the moment has made them part of the story. Lead contributors: Chris Doyle – Director, Council for Arab-British Understanding Daniel Levy – President, US/Middle...

A deadly attack in Indian-administered Kashmir shattered a narrative Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government has spent years constructing - that Kashmir was safe, open for business, and back to “normal”. In response, Indian officials have launched a sweeping crackdown and spurred nationalist rhetoric. Much of the media is echoing the government line. Too busy demanding revenge to ask the most ba...

As tech billionaires infiltrate the White House, the question looms, “Who really rules us, the government or Silicon Valley?" This film examines the influence and ideology of technocrats over the last century, and asks whether they pose a threat to democracy. Contributors: Gil Duran – Tech journalist Siva Vaidhyanathan – Professor of Media Studies, University of Virginia Payal Arora – Digital anth...

The renewal of Israel’s genocidal assault on Gaza has unleashed yet more death, destruction and displacement, but Palestinians remain determined to make the world witness their plight. Contributors: Shahd Abusalama – Palestinian scholar and artist Omer Bartov – Professor of Holocaust and Genocide Studies, Brown University Abdaljawad Omar – Lecturer, Birzeit University; writer and analyst The art o...

Over the past month, hundreds of international students in the US have either been detained, deported, or stripped of their visas for protesting Israel’s war on Gaza. The Trump administration’s crackdown is being described as an assault on political dissent - one that has been enabled by mainstream news outlets and pro-Zionist pressure groups. This story is about more than just visas. It’s about w...

Turkiye is witnessing its largest protests in more than a decade. Millions have taken to the streets after the arrest of Istanbul’s mayor, Ekrem Imamoglu - who is seen as the biggest challenge to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s presidency. Nearly 2,000 people have been detained so far, including journalists. But despite myriad official efforts to suppress news coverage, protesters keep pouring on...

The ceasefire brokered by President Donald Trump in January barely lived up to its name. Despite the deal, Israel continued its attacks on Gaza, killing more than 150 Palestinians in just eight weeks. The last remnants of hope were shattered as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu launched one of the deadliest bombing campaigns since the genocide began - followed by a ground invasion. Israeli outlets...

Just months after the fall of President Bashar al-Assad, Syria has been rocked by an eruption of violence. Coastal towns have turned into killing fields, with forces aligned with the government accused of massacring hundreds of civilians from religious minorities. The Syrian online space is also littered with misinformation - part of an information war that is inciting sectarian fear and deepening...

Seven weeks into the Gaza ceasefire deal, Israel openly resumes its war crimes in Gaza - blocking humanitarian aid - with the tacit support of the international mainstream media. Lead contributors: Daniel Levy – President, US/Middle East Project Saree Makdisi – Professor of English and comparative literature, UCLA Samira Mohyeddin – Founder, On the Line Media Mouin Rabbani – Co-editor, Jadaliyya O...

With international media’s attention on the captive exchange, the Israeli military and settlers are forcibly displacing tens of thousands of Palestinians in the West Bank. Meanwhile, Israeli journalists are parroting military talking points of security operations. Contributors: Abdaljawad Omar - Assistant professor, Birzeit University Jehad Abusalim - Co-editor, Light in Gaza: Writings Born of Fir...