Jonathan Cook

Another reminder that, contrary to expectations, Bluesky is by far the most hostile social media platform for genuinely progressive writers like me. I grow my reach by a follower or two a day. Better to follow me on a site where algorithms aren't a factor, like Substack: jonathancook.substack.com

In the past few days, Israel has banned entry to five foreign journalists working for publications seen as critical of Israel. What does that say about the rest? That Israel knows it can trust them to pull their punches. They'll be even more careful about what they say from now on.

How Yemen, the Arab world's poorest state, took on Israel and the West's military-industrial complex – and won. Watch here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=FDlB...

NAZA is an updating of the famous Milgram experiment in social obedience. It's a foretaste of the terrifying dangers of the AI rollout. And it's a case study in the human capacity for evil. Read my full review here: www.middleeasteye.net/opinion/naza...

NAZA is not just about Israel and Gaza. It’s about the evil lurking in us all. Read my latest here: www.middleeasteye.net/opinion/naza...

For three years, Britain's political class made clear that genocide was not a red line. Now they're making clear that opposition to genocide is a red line.

The claim that Israel has a ‘right’ to exist is not what it seems. It’s really the diabolical claim that Israel has a right to commit apartheid, ethnic cleansing and genocide against Palestinians. Read latest here: jonathancook.substack.com/p/the-idiots...

The BBC still peddling the dangerous myth that states have a "right" to exist – an idea invented to bully politicians into silence on Israel's mass-murder of Palestinians. I explain why international law – wisely – denies states a "right" to exist: jonathancook.substack.com/p/no-state-h...

There were some reluctant slave owners, so slavery wasn't racist. There were some diffident apartheid supporters, so South African apartheid wasn't racist. There are some conflicted Zionists, so Zionism isn't racist. The state of political debate in 2026.

Declassified finds evidence suggesting a British man, Jonathan Burman, likely participated in war crimes in Gaza. Why has Scotland Yard's war crimes unit failed to investigate Burman – or the 2,000 other Britons who've served in Gaza? Watch here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fzj3...

A majority of the 635 children held in Israeli prisons in 2025 were put in solitary confinement, usually for between one and two weeks – some up to eight times. 92 per cent had not been sentenced. A third had not even been charged. The world's highest court says Israel is an apartheid state.

Andy Burnham’s government is rolling out a new “Centre for Information Defence”. But the outside actors most aggressively undermining what little remains of British democracy – Israel and the US – are nowhere in its sights. Matthew Alford reads my latest: jonathancook.substack.com/p/listen-wor...

Andy Burnham’s government is rolling out a new “Centre for Information Defence”. But the outside actors most aggressively undermining what little remains of British democracy are nowhere in its sights. Read my latest here: jonathancook.substack.com/p/worried-ab...

Worried about Russian meddling in UK politics? Wait till you see what Israel is up to. Read my latest here: jonathancook.substack.com/p/worried-ab...

Every establishment journalist is suddenly playing dumb about the most elementary of issues in international law. No states have a "right" to exist – least of all the apartheid, genocidal state of Israel. Matthew Alford reads my latest: jonathancook.substack.com/p/listen-no-...

There's lots of evidence, courtesy of the Israeli media, that the Israeli military killed many Israelis on 7 Oct 2023. The western establishment media has entirely blanked the story. Mehdi Hasan offers a compelling overview: www.youtube.com/watch?v=7BFI...

Israel has no “right” to exist. That’s just a fact of international law. It has nothing to do with hatred of Israel or antisemitism, though the establishment media are determined to tell you otherwise. Read my latest here: jonathancook.substack.com/p/no-state-h...

There is a reason why there are so few truly leftwing politicians visible in public life. Because the media’s role is to weed them out, to discredit them, to place them beyond the pale, to other them. Matthew Alford reads my latest: jonathancook.substack.com/p/listen-how...

In an excited column on the "Burnham bounce", Jonathan Freedland, the notorious anti-Palestinian racist and genocide apologist, calls Zack Polanski a "charlatan and a coward". Another timely reminder that the Guardian's main role is to keep the left tethered to neoliberalism.

There’s a reason why so few truly leftwing politicians are visible in public life. Because the media’s role is to weed them out, discredit them, place them beyond the pale. Read my latest here: jonathancook.substack.com/p/how-the-bb...

What’s shameful is that no party before the Greens called Zionism racist. Read my latest here: www.middleeasteye.net/opinion/what...

Rees-Mogg says he supports the mass-murder of children – and liberals fawn over him. Read my latest article here: jonathancook.substack.com/p/rees-mogg-...

The West wants Netanyahu gone - so Palestinians can be killed more quietly again. Read my latest here: www.middleeasteye.net/opinion/west...

If the “foreign actor” of Iran can recruit petty criminals to unwittingly spark a major security incident outside RAF Fairford, why can't the “foreign actor” of Israel do exactly the same? I unpick the absurd spin on the RAF Fairford arrests: jonathancook.substack.com/p/reporting-...

Jonathan Cook forensically exposes how the 'mainstream' press is keeping our minds right for the security state's propaganda: jonathancook.substack.com/p/reporting-...

The uniform, absurd coverage of an Iranian “terror plot” since five men were arrested on Sunday close to RAF Fairford is blowing a very big hole in the idea of a “free press”. Matthew Alford reads my latest: jonathancook.substack.com/p/listen-rep...

Reporting of the RAF Fairford arrests blows the idea of a ‘free press’ out of the water. Read my latest: jonathancook.substack.com/p/reporting-...

The furore engulfing Sheeran wasn't provoked by his silence on Gaza. But now it's clear that billionaires dictate what artists can say in venues, Sheeran’s silence looks a lot more malign than it did before. Matthew Alford reads my latest: jonathancook.substack.com/p/listen-ed-...

Ed Sheeran does provide a ‘safe space’ – for the billionaires who own him. Read my latest article here: jonathancook.substack.com/p/ed-sheeran...

The media can have us believe anything – that black is white, that up is down. They can, by imposing a new narrative consensus, make us believe the very opposite of what we were encouraged to believe a few moments earlier. Matthew Alford reads my latest: jonathancook.substack.com/p/listen-the...

Through sheer force of a new, imposed narrative consensus, the media can make us believe the very opposite of what we were encouraged to believe moments earlier. Read my latest here: jonathancook.substack.com/p/the-media-...

Why do billionaires buy up newspapers? Because by owning everything – and most especially the media – they can mould our minds into believing it would be a catastrophe if they did not own everything. Read my latest here: jonathancook.substack.com/p/the-media-...

During Israel's genocide, the billionaire class has maintained its grip on our cultural spaces. Now in the bust-up between Ed Sheeran and Macklemore, that chokehold has been exposed – and it looks every bit as ugly as it is. Matthew Alford reads my latest: jonathancook.substack.com/p/listen-ed-...

Ed Sheeran just learnt: Being pimped by the billionaires in support of genocide is a bad look. Read my latest here: jonathancook.substack.com/p/ed-sheeran...

The super-rich have already screwed up the planet in their pursuit of power and profit. AI simply gives them a new tool to hasten their story – and ours – to its dramatic finale. Read my latest here: jonathancook.substack.com/p/super-inte...

Ed Sheeran bleats in his own defence: "There is room for multiple approaches to the same end: Peace." But there's precisely no such room, if pro-Israel billionaires dictate who's allowed a platform. Sheeran could have defended Macklemore's place on stage. Instead he caved.

I just attended a screening of Abby Martin's remarkable new film Earth's Greatest Enemy, on the US military's unprecedented destruction of the planet. Find a way to see it if you can. In the meantime, watch Martin explain what is at stake: www.youtube.com/watch?v=5IIl...

Chief Rabbi Mirvis confirms the worst assumptions of antisemites when he keeps confusing Jews with Israel and using his influence to protect his self-declared Jewish state from ever being held accountable for its crimes. Matthew Alford reads my latest: jonathancook.substack.com/p/listen-it-...

Easily the best, simple explanation I've seen of why, if we carry on the race for super-intelligence, we are all likely to end up dead: www.youtube.com/watch?v=gR0I...

Britain's settlement trade ban is cosmetic. For it to work, it must sanction Israel. Read my latest here: www.middleeasteye.net/opinion/mili...

Senior rabbis have come out backing Ed Miliband over sanctions on Israel's illegal settlements. Yet the media keep citing Chief Rabbi Mirvis as if he speaks for all Jews. I explain why no one should be listening to this deeply compromised figure: www.jonathan-cook.net/blog/2026-09...

The deaths on 9/11 sparked a propaganda blitz launching a global "war on terror". Over 10 times that number killed in Europe by this summer's heat is met not just with inaction but by moves to make the crisis far worse. Media Lens on mounting global insanity: medialens.substack.com/p/the-nepal-...

Chief Rabbi Mirvis confirms the antisemites’ worst assumptions when he keeps confusing Jews with Israel and using his influence to protect Israel from ever being held accountable for its crimes. Read my latest article here: jonathancook.substack.com/p/british-je...

Anything that limits Israel’s ability to commit atrocities against Palestinians will, says Chief Rabbi Mirvis, make British Jews less safe – for reasons that are never explained, and about which the media are always, and strangely, incurious. Read more: jonathancook.substack.com/p/british-je...

British Jews are being made less safe by chief rabbi Ephraim Mirvis, not Ed Miliband. Read my latest article here: jonathancook.substack.com/p/british-je...

The BBC asks: ‘What will you tell your grandchildren about the summer of ’26?’ How much I miss it, how much I want it back. Matthew Alford reads my latest article: jonathancook.substack.com/p/listen-bbc...

The BBC suggests 2026 will replace 1976 as the ‘benchmark’ for a hot summer. It could not be more wrong. We will look back on this year’s succession of heatwaves with unbearable nostalgia. Read my latest here: jonathancook.substack.com/p/bbc-asks-w...