The New Arab Voice

The recent local elections in Turkey did not go to plan for President Erdogan. 

The voters sent a clear message to the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) party and the strongman president, when they voted in unprecedented numbers for the opposition Republican People's Party (CHP). 

The CHP took control of Turkey's biggest cities and also managed to make significant headway into provinces that had been tradition...

The Palestinian Authority (PA) has a new government and a new Prime Minister.

An exciting and yet highly challenging time for them; but for the Palestinian people, optimism for real change is low. 

The Palestinian Authority has been in place since the 1990's, but satisfaction is low. There are systemic governance problems across Palestine, and the PA is no longer seen as the leaders of the liberation movement. 

This wee...

At the start of March polling stations for Iran's legislative elections opened, and yet, very few Iranians turned up. 

It was a record low turnout, with just 40.64 percent of eligible voters casting their ballot.

The low turnout reflected the discontent in the country, and the poor quality of candidates on offer. 

This week on The New Arab Voice, we look at the Iranian elections. Why was the turnout so low, and w...

Welcome to the first episode of The New Arab Weekly. 

Each week, we take a look at some of the biggest stories of the week and examine what happened and why is it important. 

This week we look at the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, the looming prospect for an invasion of Rafah, and the recently announced definition of extremism, as laid out by the UK government. 

We're joined this week by The New Arab's Opinions Edito...

This week, we’ll be launching The New Arab Weekly, a brand new podcast, that will bring you a collection of biggest stories of the week. 

With help from the editorial and reporting teams at The New Arab in London, we’ll break down the stories for you and answer the questions: what happened and why does it matter?

The first episode will be released on Friday March 15th, and will be finding its way to your feeds every Frid...

The humanitarian crisis is older than the war in Gaza. 

For years, Palestinians inside the besieged enclave have struggled to secure some of the basic needs for life.

The war, which has now entered its four month, has turned crisis into catastrophe. All 2.2 million residents of Gaza are now suffering from acute food insecurity, and Israel are continuing the bombardments, day after day. 

The humanitarian situation in Gaza was...

The International Court of Justice returned a verdict on 26 January. 

Not a complete verdict on whether genocide is being committed by Israel in Gaza, but the court did agree that there was a case to be heard, and it did recognise that there was a sense of urgency. 

Because of this urgency, they issued a series of provisional measures; these include an order to end the killing of civilians, end the mental and physical ...

Since the start of the war in Gaza, protests around the world have called on the Israeli government to end their slaughter and protect civilian life. 

Thousands have turned out to protest in London, New York, Paris, Berlin, and Washington DC. 

Also, protests have been seen in Israel, however the civil space in Israel is shrinking.

This week, we look at the shrinking civil space in Israel, and the shrinking rights of Israelis...

With the start of war in Gaza, the Houthi movement in Yemen decided that it would also do what it can to provide support to the people of Palestine. 

It decided the best thing that it could do was to attack commercial shipping lanes in the Red Sea, of the coast of Yemen.

They have fired missiles, launched drone attacks, attacked ships by sea, boarded ships and taken people hostage. 

On 11 January, the UK and US decided that...

A new year and a new season of The New Arab Voice podcast. 

This week, we continue with the story that has dominated the Middle since October: the war in Gaza. 

While we were away the violence did not cease nor slow down. The death toll has now passed 23,000, the vast majority women and children. Additionally, over 60,000 have been injured. 

There have been developments related to the war in Gaza that have occurred beyo...

Last week we looked back at the first six months of 2023, and this week, we're completing the year with refresher on the last six months of the year. 

We remember the arguments at the UN Security Council over Syrian aid delivery, the release of Patrick Zaki, the deadly wedding fire in Iraq, the COP28 in Dubai, and of course, the deadly Hamas attack of 7 October and the following war in Gaza. 

As well as looking back, we loo...

2023 is drawing to a close and we’re spending our last two episodes of the year to look back over the past twelve months and the stories that have shaped the Middle East. 

For our first episode of our review, we look at the months from January to June, with help from some of The New Arab’s journalists, correspondents, and editors. 

We remember the earthquake in Turkey, the normalisation between Iran and Saudi Arabia, the pr...

The Hamas attack of 7 October shook Israel to its core. 

It was a horrifying day that left at least 1,200 people dead, saw hundreds taken hostage, and a country deeply traumatised. 

Israel responded with a deadly barrage of airstrikes and bombardment. This assault continues to this day, and has so far killed over 17,000 people, and turned huge areas of Gaza into desolate wasteland. 

The stated aims of Israel is to destr...

The ceasefire in Gaza didn’t last, but seven days without experiencing intense Israeli bombardments is certainly welcome. 

During the seven days when the worst of the violence was stopped, aid was able to get to the desperate people of Gaza, but additionally it allowed for the release of hostages, held by Hamas.

In exchange, Palestinians held by Israel would also be released from Israeli prisons. 

During the ceas...

The death toll from the conflict in Gaza passed 14,000 this week. 

With a ceasefire starting on Friday evening, international diplomacy is happening, but so is the conflict. 

The recent four-day ceasefire and prisoner swap was negotiated by Qatar and Israel’s closest ally, the US. 

This week on The New Arab Voice, we look over the recent events in Gaza, including the siege of Al-Shifa Hospital, the humanitarian catastro...

Violence in Gaza has continued to intensify. 

The death toll passed the grim milestone this week, with over 10,000 now killed. 

In addition to the ongoing violence in Gaza, the West Bank is also seeing an increased level of attacks by Israeli settlers and increased oppression by the Israeli occupation forces. 

This week on The New Arab Voice, why is violence rising in the West Bank, how are Palestinians in the West Bank...

The Israeli bombardment of the people of Gaza has unleashed horrors. 

Thousands have been killed, including thousands of children. There’s no end in sight, and Israel does not look like it will step away from its path. 

The past 27 days in Gaza have been punctuated by war crimes of almost every nature.

This week on The New Arab Voice we look at the past 27 days, the crimes that have been committed, the tragedies endure by th...

The attack by Hamas on 7 October has changed the region and the world in ways that are still yet to be completely understood. 

In response to the attack, which killed over 1,400 Israelis, and took 200 hostage, Israel has unleashed a brutal and indiscriminate campaign of airstrikes. So far, thousands of Palestinians have been killed. 

This week on The New Arab Voice, we look at Hamas' attack, why they decided to attack,...

The residents of the Libyan city of Derna are sadly no strangers to tragedy. They have seen war and violent militant groups ravage their town. But the recent environmental disaster that struck was a new terrifying horror.

In the early hours of 11 September, after hours of torrential rain, the two dams outside Derna broke, sending a torrent of water in the heart of the city. 

Entire buildings were washed away. Thousands were kill...