Patrick Hilsman

Patrick Hilsman is a freelance journalist and New York native reporting on Syria and the Middle East. He has written for The Daily Beast, Syria Deeply, Vice News, the Christian Science Monitor, Newsday and The Stranger. He is a dual national of France and the US.
Avatar photo
"Whose side are you on?" A Kurdish female fighter from the People's Protection Units (YPG) near the site of fighting between ISIS and fighters from the Democratic Forces of Syria in south-eastern Syria. (Photo by REUTERS / Rodi Said)

Sectarian Superpowers: At war with ourselves in Syria

by Patrick Hilsman
Sunni/Shia, Arab/Kurd. How viewing the Middle East through a sectarian lens has driven the U.S. to folly.
Nov 12, 2015
A police officer beats back migrants trying to enter into Macedonia from Greece. (Photo from REUTERS/Alexandros Avramidis)

Let them drown: Cowardly responses to the European refugee crisis

by Patrick Hilsman
European leaders are turning their backs on what may be the defining crisis of our generation.
Aug 27, 2015
Destruction in Gaza City, after Israeli shelling and air strikes during the war last summer. (Photo from REUTERS / Mohammed Salem)

Activists boycott Israel, Congress boycotts America?

by Patrick Hilsman
Perspectives from Seattle on the Palestinian Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement and the new laws intended to suppress it.
Jul 15, 2015
Protesters in July calling for the ouster of Mohamed Morsi hold a photo General Abdel Fattah al-Sisi. (Photo from REUTERS/Mohamed Abd El Ghany)

Everybody loves el-Sisi: World leaders complicit as Egypt returns to dictatorship

by Patrick Hilsman
The world stands by and watches as Egypt returns to the same military dictatorship that the Arab Spring was celebrated for overthrowing.
May 27, 2015
Vladimir Putin on a 2013 RT broadcast.

Have you been watching Russian government propaganda?

by Patrick Hilsman
Popular cable and internet news channel Russia Today has developed cozy relationship with holocaust deniers and the ultra-right.
May 6, 2015
Convicted suicide bomber Sajida al-Rishawi was executed Wednesday in a misguided act of retaliation for ISIS's murder of a captured Jordanian pilot. (Still from Jordanian TV)

Tit for tat executions are no way to counter ISIS

by Patrick Hilsman
Jordan's execution of Islamist prisoners as revenge against ISIS sets a disturbing precedent.
Feb 7, 2015
Vigils expressing solidarity widespread immediately following the Charlie Hebdo attacks. But consensus about the limitations of free speech has since fallen apart. (Photo from Flicrk by Valentina Calà)

France’s double standard on free speech

by Patrick Hilsman
Rallies for free speech in France following the Charlie Hebdo attacks have ironically given way to calls for censorship of anti-Semetism.
Jan 26, 2015