The Star's critic MARIA DUARTE reviews Sebastian, Four Mothers, Restless, and The Most Precious of Cargoes
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Bending the truth
ALEX HALL exposes the moral double standards peddled by Western media in name of political expediency when dealing with Hamas
understanding hamas
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SYLVIA HIKINS applauds a polemic against “cleanfluencers” and considers radical alternatives to current inequalities of housework
RUTH AYLETT admires the blunt honesty with which a woman’s experience is recorded, but detects the unexamined privilege that underlies it
IAN SINCLAIR draws attention to the powerful role that literature plays in foreseeing the way humanity will deal with climate crisis
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Understanding Hamas and Why That Matters
Helena Cobban and Rami C Khouri, OR Books, £15.99
WHEN Piers Morgan was inviting every guest to “condemn Hamas” only a few notables, including Norman Finkelstein, declined to take the bait and thus seal the terms of debate before even starting it.
As far as Western discourse was concerned, Hamas were the perverts at the bottom of the seventh circle of hell, sadistic fanatics who took great pleasure in atrocities.
Just World Educational, a small US non-profit educational outfit with a board that includes the authors, decided that this demonisation was a serious obstacle for a political solution and a workable peace. Indeed, in a ruling-class narrative that appears ubiquitous at this present time, when an adversary is evil, diplomacy itself becomes pandering to evil and eradication is the only logical course of action.
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