Michael Jansen

Middle East Contributor at Irish Times

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Articles

VE Day, Trump distances US from Europe alliance

3 days ago | gulftoday.ae | Michael Jansen

The 8th anniversary last Thursday of the Allied victory over Nazi Germany (VE Day) was celebrated royally in Britain with marching bands and colour-coded regiments, a service in Westminster Cathedral, an air force fly-past, and wreath laying by King Charles and Queen Camilla. Ceremonies were held at war memorials in cities, towns, and villages in France, where VE day is a public holiday.
Israel not included in Yemen-US ceasefire, say Houthis

1 week ago | irishtimes.com | Michael Jansen

A ceasefire deal between Yemen‘s Houthis and the US does not include sparing Israel, the group said on Wednesday, suggesting its shipping attacks that have disrupted global trade and challenged world powers will not come to a complete halt. Israeli air defences on Wednesday intercepted a drone flying from the east, understood to have come from Yemen. Neither casualties nor damage were reported. On Sunday, a Houthi ballistic missile struck near Tel Aviv’s international airport, wounding eight.
Gaza: At least 57 have starved to death under Israeli blockade, say aid agencies

1 week ago | irishtimes.com | Michael Jansen

At least 57 Palestinians have starved to death during the 60 days of Israel’s blockade of Gaza at a time the Israeli army has stepped up bombing and launched an offensive by ground forces, according to aid agencies. Since March 2nd, no food, potable water, medical supplies and fuel have entered Gaza while hundreds of aid trucks have parked along the roadside waiting to enter the strip. The line of lorries stretches from the Gaza-Egypt border 45km to El-Arish in Egypt’s Sinai.
Making food a political issue throttles Gaza lives

1 week ago | gulftoday.ae | Michael Jansen

In a world where 757 million people face chronic hunger, and 45 million children suffer from wasting due to acute malnutrition, Gaza stands out as unique. War, drought, earthquakes, and other natural disasters are responsible for starvation in other places. Gaza is the only territory where a hostile foreign power illegally occupying Gaza is deliberately depriving the population of food, water, fuel, and medical supplies. Weaponising food is prohibited under international law.
Running on empty

1 week ago | gulftoday.ae | Michael Jansen

A week ago, Donald Trump said he had pressed Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu to let food and medicine into Gaza. He told the press in his plane as he flew to Rome for the funeral of Pope Francis, “Those people are suffering. We’ve got to be good to Gaza. We’re taking care of it.” It remains to be seen whether Israel will listen. At the time of writing this article, the blockade of food, fuel, and medicine continues.
Syria’s largely secular Druze community drawn into sectarian conflict

1 week ago | irishtimes.com | Michael Jansen

Syria’s Druze community remained on the sidelines during the civil war but, since the fall of the secular Assad regime in December 2024, has had to contend with the sectarian Sunni Muslim Islamist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS). The group led the offensive which brought about Bashar al-Assad’s downfall. Clashes on Tuesday in the Druze-Christian Jaramana suburb of Damascus were triggered by a social media recording said to be of a Druze cleric insulting the Prophet Muhammad.
Unrwa calls on Israel to lift blockade on aid into Gaza as humanitarian crisis worsens

2 weeks ago | irishtimes.com | Michael Jansen

The UN agency for Palestinian refugees, Unrwa, has called on Israel to lift its blockade on aid into Gaza as the humanitarian crisis in the coastal enclave worsens daily. “Not a drop of water, not a grain of wheat,” has entered Gaza since March 2nd, when Israel reimposed a blockade, Unrwa spokeswoman Juliette Touma told the BBC. In an email to The Irish Times, she said supplies received during the two-month ceasefire that began in mid-January were running out quickly.
Even the day before death Pope urged end to Gaza war

2 weeks ago | gulftoday.ae | Michael Jansen

Western secular leaders and religious patriarchs and prelates attended Pope Francis’ globally televised Vatican state funeral in Rome on Saturday. He would have preferred a quiet blessing as he was entombed at the 4th century Basilica de Santi Maria Maggiore where seven other popes have been laid to rest rather than at St. Peter’s.
Speech under siege

2 weeks ago | gulftoday.ae | Michael Jansen

Last week articles appeared in The Washington Post and The Guardian by Mahmoud Khalil, a Columbia University graduate arrested without producing a warrant by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents intent on his deportation. He wrote from a detention facility in Louisiana far from his wife Noor Abdalla, a US citizen who is about to deliver their first child. For company he has dozens of others who have been held for weeks and months without legal hearings until they could be deported.
‘Dedicated to the oppressed, refugees and marginalised’: How Pope Francis is remembered in Middle East

2 weeks ago | irishtimes.com | Michael Jansen

Middle Eastern Christian and Muslim political and religious leaders paid tribute to Pope Francis, who had made it his mission to promote tolerance, dialogue, justice and peace in a region savaged by wars, uprisings and poverty.