It is difficult to undo almost eight decades of hostility. To understand what’s happening now in Gaza you have to go back to the creation of the Israeli state. The bodies of Palestinians who were killed while attempting to access aid trucks entering northern...
Standing by while a whole people gets massacred doesn’t absolve countries of their responsibility in that. There is complicity in silence. A Palestinian woman holds the body of her 8-year-old daughter who was killed in an Israeli military strike on Gaza, at...
The fall of Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad has given hope to millions of Syrian refugees who fled their country during its 13-year civil war. We look back at the start and evolution of the conflict. Syrians wait to cross into Syria from Turkey at the Cilvegözü border...
The world’s attention is on Gaza. But Israel’s neighbors worry about their own stability as they fear the chaos will spread. Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Minister Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud attends a meeting with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and...
The world’s attention is on Gaza. But Israel’s neighbors worry about their own stability as they fear the chaos will spread. News Decoder correspondent Alistair Lyon decodes the conflict’s effects on the region.
Exercise: Use the article as a starting point to understanding conflict and the effects of conflict on neighboring nations. Divide the students into groups. Each group represents a country in or bordering the conflict of your choice. Get students to research the root causes of the conflicts and the effects on their given country. Hold a crisis meeting in which each group voices its concerns about the conflict. Present and debate.
The rule of law applies when enemies commit crimes. For national allies, the same crime isn’t necessarily a crime. Vladimir Putin and Benjamin Netanyahu against a backdrop of a court. (Illustration by News Decoder) Is there a rule of law for the United States...
The world’s court can issue arrest warrants against government leaders. But would a country like Israel submit to its authority? The International Criminal Court, or ICC, is seen in The Hague, Netherlands in 7 November 2019 (AP Photo/Peter Dejong) Editor’s...
To understand the anger and fear in Israel and Palestine, you have to go back to Israel’s foundation and the lines drawn in the sand. A Palestinian protester argues with Israeli security forces to prevent shooting tear gas at Palestinian protesters during a...
Desperate to give daughters a safe life, some refugees marry them off early. One organization in Lebanon is showing girls that there is an alternative. Batoul, age 13, in an Alsama classroom in Lebanon. Batoul came to Alsama two years ago illiterate because her...
Girls face barriers to education due to poverty, cultural norms and practices, traditional gender roles, societal pressure and gender inequality. Katharine Lake Berz looks at how education and gender equality play a crucial role in redressing the balance and keeping girls worldwide from early marriage.
Exercise: Read the article. Use the ‘Questions to Consider’ below it as a starting point for discussion. Find out more about the importance of girls’ education and think about why it should be a priority. For further reading and research, use the following information on girls’ education: Girls Not Brides, World Bank. Discuss why this issue should be a priority and how it relates to SDG 4 and SDG 5. You could screen this ‘School is just the start’ TED Talk by Angelina Murimirwa (8min) and discuss the key points in groups.
The Houthis, battle-hardened from years of fighting a civil war in Yemen, have proven to be a formidable adversary to Israel and its allies in the Red Sea. A Houthi forces helicopter approaching the cargo ship Galaxy Leader on 19 November 2023. Yemen’s Houthis...
From Gaza to Israel to the United States some people are turning to social media for civil discussion. Can we stop disinformation about the Middle East? Posts on an imaginary social media page calling for civil dialogue about the Middle East. (Illustration by News...
Social media can be a double-edged sword — with the power to unite and to divide. How can students differentiate between disinformation and credible content? Journalism undergraduate student Ella Gorodetsky from the University of Wisconsin-Madison looks at social media posts about the Israel-Hamas war to investigate.
Exercise: After reading the article together, have students come up with a social media campaign to stop the spread of disinformation. In 160 characters or less, students should invent a catchy slogan to help others distinguish between credible and fake content. This activity should be done in groups of 2-3.