Even by Israel’s abysmal standards, provocations against the people of Palestine have seen a dramatic escalation since the arrival of Bibi Netanyahu’s new government three months ago: hundreds of innocent civilians murdered, including many children, an outright anti-Palestinian pogrom in the West Bank that was cheered on by the minister of interior, a brutal attack on worshippers inside one of Islam’s holy sites in the middle of Ramadan, as well as statements by a key government official declaring that the Palestinian people simply does not exist.

At the same time, a historic wave of protests contesting the new government’s attempts to temper with the role of the judiciary claims to defend democracy in the holy land without a single mention of the central question of Palestinian civil and human rights. We asked asked prominent Israeli historian Ilan Pappé for his take on these recent developments.

The 2003 invasion and occupation of Iraq resulted in massive death and destruction, and fueled sectarian tensions, which culminated in a violent civil war. More than 300,000 Iraqis have died from direct war violence and 9.2 million people have been internally displaced, according to Brown University's Costs of War Project.

The brutal invasion and occupation of Iraq entrenched the country in a cycle of sectarian violence and impacted every aspect of life in Iraq, from governance to health care, infrastructure, economy and the environment and long term trauma

In a recent piece in the Guardian, one of today’s guests Professor Sinan Antoon writes, “I had always hoped to see the end of Saddam’s dictatorship at the hands of the Iraqi people, not courtesy of a neocolonial project that would dismantle what had remained of the Iraqi state and replace it with a regime based on ethno-sectarian dynamics, plunging the country into violent chaos and civil wars."

This week, we bring you the first part of our conversation about the reasons behind the catastrophic invasion of Iraq.

Clashes between Sudanese armed forces and the Rapid Support Forces spread to different regions in the country, creating a humanitarian crisis of immense proportions. Hundreds have died and tens of thousands of Sudanese are attempting to escape the violence. Host Shahram Aghamir spoke to Prof. Khalid Medani about this topic.

On May 28th, Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan was re-elected for a third term by winning 52% of the popular vote. His main rival Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu garnered 48%.

Two weeks earlier, the right wing Islamist-Nationalist coalition consisting of Erdogan’s ruling Justice and Development party (AKP) and its allies had won the majority in the parliamentary election.

Shahram Aghamir spoke with Professor Cihan Tuğal about these outcomes and how and why Erdoğan was able to secure a third term in office despite a worsening economy and now chronic hyperinflation, the government's disastrous response to the deadly earthquakes, as well as his increasingly authoritarian rule.

Courtesy of Voices of the Middle East & North Africa (VOMENA).