Back from a mini tour of Yorkshire and Stockport and cheering for supporting act Indignation Meeting
Understanding the war in Gaza
TOMASZ PIERSCIONEK welcomes essays by leading Palestinian, Israeli, and international authorities that set the Israeli-Gaza war into context
deluge
ALISTAR FINDLAY is mesmerised by this multiple ‘Visions of Scotland’ assault on the audience’s eyes and senses
The Star's critics ANGUS REID, ANDY HEDGECOCK and MICHAL BONCZA reviews I Am Love, The Penguin Lessons, Freaky Tales, The Thicket
MAYER WAKEFIELD has reservations about the direction of a play centered on a DVLA re-training session for three British-Pakistani motorists
New releases from Steve Knightley, Jupiter & Okwess, Jason Palmer, Lisa Knapp and Gerry Driver, Kin'Gongolo Kiniata, Ingrid Laubrock/Tom Rainey, Dan Sealey, Simin Tande, PAZ
JOHN GREEN relishes photography that unfolds a longstanding and poetic relationship with Leeds
A uncomfortably misogynistic authorial voice that sometimes seems to lack insight troubles FIONA O’CONNOR
Deluge: Gaza and Israel from Crisis to Cataclysm
Edited by Jamie Stern-Weiner
OR books, £17.99
ON 7 October 2023, Hamas launched an extensive surprise attack (which it called al-Aqsa Deluge) against Israeli soldiers and civilians that was unprecedented in its ferocity and reportedly occurred without the knowledge of the group’s regional allies. Around 1,200 Israelis, the majority civilians, were killed while another 250 were taken hostage.
The subsequent weeks and months saw Hamas’s terrorism repaid by Israel’s extreme aggression as the latter launched an extensive bombing campaign and ground invasion, the brutality of which made all previous incursions pale in comparison.
Amid the confusion, anger and sorrow felt by Israelis and Palestinians in the days following October 7, many questions were asked about why Hamas launched the attack and how it managed to catch one of the world’s most sophisticated military forces off guard.
More from this author
While the group known as the Colourists certainly reinvigorated Scottish painting, a new show is a welcome chance to reassess them, writes ANGUS REID
ANGUS REID recommends an exquisite drama about the disturbing impact of the one child policy in contemporary China
The phrase “cruel to be kind” comes from Hamlet, but Shakespeare’s Prince didn’t go in for kidnap, explosive punches, and cigarette deprivation. Tam is different.
ANGUS REID deconstructs a popular contemporary novel aimed at a ‘queer’ young adult readership
