Jonathan Cook

Jonathan Cook is a MintPress contributor. Cook won the Martha Gellhorn Special Prize for Journalism. His latest books are Israel and the Clash of Civilisations: Iraq, Iran and the Plan to Remake the Middle East (Pluto Press) and Disappearing Palestine: Israel’s Experiments in Human Despair (Zed Books). His website is www.jonathan-cook.net.

The Media’s 7 Years of Lies about Julian Assange Won’t Stop Now

Assange was reduced from one of the few towering figures of our time – a man who will have a central place in history books, if we as a species live long enough to write those books – to nothing more than a sex pest, and a scruffy bail-skipper.

Jonathan Cook
By Jonathan Cook
Julian Assange | Wikileaks

For seven years, from the moment Julian Assange first sought refuge in the Ecuadorean embassy in London, they have been telling us we were wrong, that we were paranoid conspiracy theorists. We were told there was no real threat of Assange’s extradition to the United States, that it was all in our fevered imaginations. For seven years, we have

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How the Media Paved the Way for Corbyn Target Practice

No one in the political or media class cares much whether their constant trivialising of Corbyn’s political programme degrades British political life, or whether their smears could lead to political violence.

Jonathan Cook
By Jonathan Cook
Jeremy Corbyn | target practice

It is time to stop believing these infantile narratives the political and media establishment have crafted for us. Like the one in which they tell us they care deeply about the state of British political life, that they lie awake at night worrying about the threat posed by populism to our democratic institutions. How do they persuade us of the

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Lessons for the Progressive Left From the ‘Failed’ Mueller Inquiry

In the combined success-failure of the Mueller inquiry, the progressive left has an opportunity to understand in a much more sophisticated way how real power works and in whose favor it is exercised.

Jonathan Cook
By Jonathan Cook
Trump Russia Probe

Here are three important lessons for the progressive left to consider now that it is clear the inquiry by Special Counsel Robert Mueller into Russia-gate is never going to uncover collusion between Donald Trump’s camp and the Kremlin in the 2016 presidential election.   No. 1: Painting the Pig’s face The left never had a dog in this race.

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How Anti-Semitism Vigilantes Are Feeding the Far-Right

Anti-semitism vigilantes aren’t concerned about nuance, about detail. They’re too busy keeping the left down to notice that the far-right is rearing up behind them.

Jonathan Cook
By Jonathan Cook
Ilhan Omar | Israel

Has anyone else noticed how almost anything you say nowadays – if it’s leftwing – can suddenly be cited as proof of your anti-semitism? That is if you haven’t already been denounced as a Kremlin stooge. Oppose the regular neoconservative regime-change operations, such as the latest one targeting Venezuela, and point to the long record of war

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How Detained US Student Lara Alqasem Became a Cause Celebrea for Jewish Liberals

Ms. Alqasem has been turned into a pawn in the struggle between Jewish liberals and Israeli ultra-nationalists.

Jonathan Cook
By Jonathan Cook
Lara Alqasem Israel detention

An American student of Palestinian descent detained in Israel’s airport for nearly a fortnight has become an unexpected cause celebre. Lara Alqasem was refused entry under legislation passed last year against boycott activists, and Israeli courts are now deciding whether allowing her to study human rights at an Israeli university threatens public

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Evidence Grows That Netanyahu’s Government Meddled in UK Politics

The Israeli foreign affairs ministry employs staff of the country’s embassy in London, which was at the centre of suspicions of meddling in UK politics provoked by an Al Jazeera undercover documentary aired last year.

Jonathan Cook
By Jonathan Cook
anti-Semitism

Nazareth, Israel: Has Israel been covertly fueling claims of an “anti-Semitism crisis” purportedly plaguing Britain’s Labour Party since it elected a new leader, Jeremy Corbyn, three years ago? That question is raised by a new freedom of information request submitted this week by a group of Israeli lawyers, academics and human rights

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Corbyn is Being Destroyed, Like Blowing Up a Bridge to Stop an Advancing Army

The corporate elite weaponised anti-semitism not because they care about the safety of Jews, or because they really believe that Corbyn is an anti-semite.

Jonathan Cook
By Jonathan Cook
anti-Semitism

The latest “scandal” gripping Britain – or to be more accurate, British elites – is over the use of the term “Zionist” by the Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, the head of the opposition and possibly the country’s next prime minister. Yet again, Corbyn has found himself ensnared in what a small group of Jewish leadership organisations, which claim

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