Monica Marks
@MonicaLMarks
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Prof of Middle East Politics @NYUAbuDhabi. Tunisia, Turkey, Gulf. PhD @StAntsCollege Oxford. Fulbright, Rhodes, @HarvardWCFIA. 14 yrs writing on Tunisia.
Dubai - Tunis - Istanbul
Joined May 2011
It’s been an awful day for #Tunisia. My friends’ children deserve the better world so many of them were struggling to build. I wrote this in the spirit of a requiem, an obituary, w the prayer that history—rarely linear—will smile broadly on Tunisia again.
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Anyone who says Harris would be better for Palestinians should be asked if they asked Palestinians for their opinion on the issue.
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AOC just spent an hour weighing in on efforts to replace Biden as the nominee. It’s an important listen. She thinks an open convention is lunacy & that multiple red alerts on the dashboard aren’t getting enough consideration. Here are her 7 main points, as I understood them: 🧵.
NEW . Congresswoman @AOC just did a nearly hour long live where she shared her grave concerns with replacing President Joe Biden as the Democratic nominee. Here’s the full video minus the very short intro she did on other work she is doing at the moment.
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The backlash to director Jonathan Glazer’s acceptance speech at the Oscar’s—where his film The Zone of Interest won “Best International Feature Film”—is really beyond the pale. Let’s take a minute to watch his speech & examine what he said in context: 🧵.
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A must-read by Oxford’s Avi Shlaim, who pulls precisely zero punches. “The Palestinian people,” he writes, “are the only people living under military occupation who are expected to ensure the security of their occupier.”. “What is happening in Gaza is… Israeli state terrorism.”
Avi Shlaim is one of the most high integrity Jewish intellectuals of his generation. This piece is a required read by all of us so torn by the events since October 7th
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John Ossoff, the 36 yr-old Jewish senator from Georgia, articulated a clear-eyed case for why 🇺🇸 should insist 🇮🇱 protect civilians in Gaza. An unmitigated humanitarian disaster in Gaza, he said, is a moral failure & undermines American national security.
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“Doctors in Gaza said that children, weakened by lack of food, had died from hypothermia and that several newborn babies with mothers who were undernourished had not survived for more than a few days.”
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For months, this account has worked to memorialise a sliver of the 28,000+ Palestinians killed in Gaza since Oct. 7. It offers Humans of NY-style snapshots of the lives lost: kids, college grads, new fathers, grandparents. Yesterday, the account posted their own daughter, Noor.
Noor, my daughter, was the only one who held my heart in this world. Her story was different from other girls. Noor Al-Fara, 13 years old. She had dreams for the future and was planning to achieve things beyond her age. She lived in her own world, with thoughts and interests
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Rashid Khalidi is the Edward Said Professor at Columbia Uni & an unparalleled authority on Palestine. This entire interview is a must-read. I was esp impressed by Khalidi’s advice for pro-Palestine activists, whom he argues must persuade the metropoles:.
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It took me not 1 but 3 separate trips to the Apartheid Museum in Johannesburg, South Africa 🇿🇦 to finally visit the gift shop. When I did, I was surprised to see that this was their top item for sale. Fortunately the Auschwitz Museum isn't selling "Arbeit Macht Frei" hoodies!
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3. Replacement efforts, AOC argues, are primarily donor driven not voter driven—especially insofar as they’re motivating her colleagues in Congress. “What I’m hearing from my colleagues is ‘my donors this, my donors that,’ not ‘my voters this my voters that.’”.
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Excellent statement from Norway’s Minister of Foreign Affairs re: UNRWA. Here’s part of it:
While I share the concern over the very serious allegations against some @UNRWA staff, Norway has decided to continue its funding. UNRWA is a lifeline for millions of people in deep distress in Gaza as well as in the wider region. My statement:
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Hamas killed 12 Thai workers on Saturday. They worked alongside Israelis. One was beheaded with a garden hoe in an absolutely gruesome video that many people—especially in Israel—have watched. Another reason why the “all forms of resistance are valid” narrative needs revision.
All of the academics defending Hamas's actions as a freedom fight against an oppressing force have not addressed how that justifies Hamas killing and abducting Thai and Filipino workers who are definitely not oppressing anybody.
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One Israeli hostage is a 74 yr-old peace activist. “I spent much time in Gaza until the 2nd intifada,” she wrote. “It infuriates me when ppl claim: We have no partner on the other side! I know so many Palestinians who yearn for peace no less than we do.”.
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Excellent visual illustrating the absurdity of #France’s 🇫🇷 new abaya ban by @PeterHogness. Bc no clear legal criteria exist for defining “abaya,” enforcement of this ban—which is seeing girls expelled from public schools every day—will necessarily pivot on racism.
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Standing Together—a collective of Jewish & Arab/Palestinian Israelis—organised their own aid convoy from w/in Israel to try & break their government’s cruel & illogical stranglehold on food aid to Gaza’s starving ppl. The army is stopping them. This should be international news.
The army has blocked us on the way to Gaza with an aid convoy. There is no justification for collective punishment and mass starvation. Ever.
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1. Legal viability. AOC thinks that pundits, pollsters & columnists are underestimating the legal challenges Republicans could mount to the presence of another candidate on the ballot in key swing states including but not limited to Ohio.
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@LibyaLiberty We don’t have polling on this, tmk, but these are the only pieces I’ve read that interviewed Palestinians in Gaza & the West Bank on the question. Their material realities are the ones most at stake, and most said they preferred anyone to Trump.
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“I’m not here to dismiss everyday people who have this opinion,” she says [i.e. that Joe needs to go]. But “the mechanisms by which this decision is being made are concerning me.”. She portrays replacement efforts as the work of elites who have not gamed out a clear alternative.
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One of my Lebanese friends, a funny & highly astute man in the publishing industry around my father's age w/ whom I danced tango in Byblos last weekend, lives in Hamra, about 7km from Dahiyeh. I texted to check on him. "Did you feel the explosion today?" I asked. "Are you okay?".
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4. Donors & elites driving “Joe must go” are not united behind Harris, AOC argues. “The people in these rooms,” she says, “don’t have a plan.” Many are critical of Harris, or engaging in wishful thinking about other candidates & impracticable notions of an open convention.
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This platform is an extraordinary tool—I’ve met wonderful people through it & seen excellent work done with it. But it’s also a festering pit of inhumane extremism. The discourse on Noa Argamani dancing illustrates, yet again, how twisted bullying unites extreme right & left 🧵
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Getting union endorsements takes weeks, for example, she says. And early ballots start going out in September. “This election is not in November,” she says. “It’s in September.”. “This is not 2023,” she states. We can’t let decisions be made by “groupthink, momentum, inertia.”.
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She says lawyers specialised in elections—those meeting with Congress Democrats like her—cannot game out how defending against those might look. Michigan’s ballot deadline is just 2 days after the Dem convention, for ex: one of many reasons AOC thinks an open convention is nuts.
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6. Biden has outperformed electoral expectations w/ key demographics. He’s done well historically w/ “marginalised” demographics (I think she meant Black voters). She also says that Biden does well with older people who aren’t on social media & are hard for Democrats to win.
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2. Time. Even at breakneck pace, she suggests, Democrats might not be able to get a new nominee and ensure they have the time it takes to get on all ballots, garner key endorsements, etc. And certainly not if there’s an open convention.
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5. There is “no safe [alternative] option”. AOC says polling points to no clear candidate who would necessarily beat Trump, and that no alternative process avoids those other pitfalls. “I have not seen an alternative scenario that doesn’t set us up for enormous peril,” she says.
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Only 1/3 of ppl in Gaza trace their origins to Gaza Strip. The rest are mostly refugees from 1948 Nakba, the ethnic cleansing of greater 🇵🇸 that was part of 🇮🇱’s creation. See this map of their hometowns ⬇️. “Palestinians in Gaza” is the less concise, but more nuanced, phrasing.
Please consider using the term "Palestinians in Gaza" and not "Gazans." First, many people in Gaza are from elsewhere - refugees multifold, and this erases that history. Second, it entrenches a purposeful fragmentation and reproduces political and social isolation. 1/2.
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So those were her 7 main points, as I heard them. Personally, I think Biden should hand the reins to Harris ASAP & in a manner that avoids open convention. AOC seems to be down with Biden or Harris topping the ticket, but thinks full ticket erasure & open convention are lunacy.
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The key point here—which I think anyone w/ a brain who’s watching this fairly should grasp—is that Glazer & his team don’t want the Holocaust or their Jewishness, which they clearly care about deeply (hence their making of this very film) used & abused to justify abusing others.
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AOC added that Biden has “strong, broad union support” & that his union support does not automatically transfer over to another candidate. The union endorsement processes “takes WEEKS,” she says, if you’re going at a breakneck pace.” Which gets back to the time challenge.
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I just contacted two well-connected friends in Tunisia’s small Jewish community to inquire whether this tweet, about a synagogue attack there last night, was true. Sadly, they said, it is. The fire was set in protest against Israel last night at El Hamma synagogue near Gabes.
En Tunisie, la synagogue d'El Hamma a été détruite et incendiée hier soir par des centaines d'émeutiers, sans la moindre intervention policière. De nombreuses vidéos sur TikTok et Facebook. Et pas la moindre mention dans les médias nationaux
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7. Polling is often wrong & July polls shouldn’t dictate this decision. AOC says she doesn’t put huge stock in polls. She cites two examples (her first race & most recent primary race) where polls, inc her own, had her down but she won handily. This seemed to contradict point #5.
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Possibly the most bizarrely disconcerting video I’ve seen from a conflict. IDF social media posts have shown them nicking Gazans’ jewelry, fondling their lingerie & dressing up as dinosaurs to bomb them. Any disciplined army would’ve restricted soldiers’ phone use months ago.
A video circulating on social media shows an Israeli soldier dressed up in a dinosaur costume carrying bombs and launching them into the Gaza strip. He then does a celebratory dance on top of a tank
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AOC also reminds us of her electoral pragmatism, a trait that’s annoyed more ideological supporters inc those farther to the left. “We need to make decisions in the conditions we have before us,” she says, “even if they’re ugly, even if they’re hard.”. “We don’t get to run away”.
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AOC reserves her greatest anger for elected Democrat colleagues who are:. 1) knocking Biden off the record in leaks to the press (she blames them not the press btw), and. 2) saying that Democrats are going to lose in November (she says they should stop warming their seats).
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Tunisia has, like many societies, long struggled w/ anti-Black racism as the scholar @HudaMzioudet documents. But following President Saied��s Feb. 2023 “great replacement” speech, Tunisia rapidly morphed into the most violently anti-Black environment I’ve ever experienced 🧵.
House to house manhunt for black Africans takes toll in Tunisia 🇹🇳. In the last two weeks a door to door and street collection of any dark skinned persons even those identified as Tunisians are crammed into police vans & deported to the eastern border regions. Women, men and
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“My community doesn’t have the luxury of saying we’re gonna lose—in July!” she says, clearly exasperated with this crowd. “They’re the first ones deported.”. She emphasises avoiding defeatism and being clear-eyed, even when the choices are hard.
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Profoundly wise piece by @gershonbaskin, who has negotiated w/ Hamas since 2006. “We Israelis must begin to confront the delusion that we have been living for decades. You cannot lock more than 2 million people into a human cage & expect quiet.”
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This is a huge decision and it’s happening in an extremely non-ideal way. Whatever goes down this coming month, I believe Biden & his inner circle did a huge disservice by waiting this long. It’s a Catch-22 w/ serious risks all around. AOC is right that it’s not 2023, sadly.
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Nova & the kibbutzim that Hamas attacked on Oct 7 were home to many anti-occupation, pro-peace Israelis. Those victims, like Hersh, wanted a better world. But they’ve been perversely dehumanised by Hamas apologists & given up for dead by Netanyahu. Please see them. Grieve them.
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A rare, good story:. Standing Together, an Israel-based NGO that opposes racism & hatred, outnumbered settlers blocking a food shipment to Gaza. As a result of ST's presence, the group of settlers left & this aid got through. Mabrouk & mazel tov to these everyday heroes! 👏.
משאיות הסיוע עוברות!. הגענו למחסום תרקומיא, עשרות פעילים מהמשמר ההומניטרי של עומדים ביחד @omdimbeyachad. המתנחלים שהיו כאן עזבו כשהגענו, כי היינו רבים יותר מהם. עכשיו המשטרה מאפשרת למזון לעבור. הנוכחות שלנו עוזרת!. להצטרפות: לתרומה:
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Throughout the hour, AOC acknowledged that people on all sides of this debate are here because of fear about what a Trump presidency might mean. But she said that it’s important to add more dimensions to this discussion so people go in “with their eyes wide open.”.
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I summarised & shared this not bc it is my personal view—I am very concerned by Biden topping the ticket, wish he’d bowed out sooner, think he’s been blinded by ego & poor advice, and wish he’d exit stage left for Harris—but bc I think AOC raises points we must deal with.
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Head of UNRWA in Gaza: “This is the darkest hour in the agency’s 75-year history… Our staff take their children to work so they know they are safe or can die together.”.
In my 35 years of work in complex emergencies, I never have expected to write such a letter, predicting the killing of my staff & the collapse of the mandate I am expected to fulfill #Gaza
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He, too, is Lebanese. He, too, is in Beirut. He could be your father, friend, or brother. A teacher or mentor. Lebanon is extremely diverse, with many precious people who did nothing to deserve this war. When you see bombs fall, let your mind consider who all they’re hurting.
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Today in anti-Semitic madness:. Tunisia's president, Kais Saied, claims that Storm Daniel (which destroyed Derna, Libya) is evidence of Zionist infiltration & a Zionist "attack on the mind & thought" bc it's named Daniel, after a "Hebrew prophet." 🤦🏻♀️🧵⬇️.
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Glazer’s speech is short, just over 1 minute. The point he emphasises first, & that he & his team find pivotal, is this: that the film & its ethos are not just about denouncing past injustices—they’re about confronting us w/ the past *so that we can better confront the present.*.
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Immediately after uttering the controversial line, Glazer says this:. “Whether the victims of October 7 in Israel or the ongoing attack in Gaza- all the victims of this dehumanisation. How do we resist?”. He’s opposing dehumanisation *of everyone* and asking how we resist it.
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She ends by suggesting she’s fine with Biden or Harris but that an open convention is madness. “As a person responsible for coming to a decision, I haven’t seen what I need to see to substantiate an alternative,” she says, indicating she’s most comfortable with Biden.
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“Gil Hoffman, executive director of HonestReporting, admitted Thursday the group had no evidence to back up” its suggestion that Gaza journalists had foreknowledge of Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack, the AP’s @dbauder reports:
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He then utters the speech’s most controversial line:. “We stand here,” he says, as men who refute their Jewishness & the Holocaust being used by an occupation which has led to conflict for so many innocent people.”.
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BDS has called to boycott Standing Together (@omdimbeyachad), an org I proudly support.. BDS describes it as a "Israeli normalization org" that “whitewash[es] Israel’s ongoing genocide.". This is counter-productive, circular firing squad purism. 🧵
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@jh_swanson Yeah, I mean he looked slightly nose-ier in profile but not THAT nose-y… . Also I hadn’t realised but Leonard Bernstein was *fine*
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At no point does AOC argue Biden is not missing a step cognitively, or say he’s fully capable of conducting presidential duties at all hours. Though she does say he performs better in front of crowds, who jazz him up, than in debates or interviews with just moderators present.
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“All our choices [on this film] were made to reflect & confront us in the present,” Glazer says. “Not to say 'look what they did then,' rather 'look what we do now.'”.
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So many people seem incapable of fully humanising victims who come from countries they haven't visited, or who speak languages they don't. So many people rush to justify their "side," blaming the other "side's" victims as inhuman masses of enemy supporters.
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Instead of cowering after backlash to his Oscars acceptance speech, “Zone of Interest” director Jonathan Glazer is donated signed posters to the Cinema for Gaza auction, which is raising money for Medical Aid for Palestinians. Good for him.
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Kamala had to make this statement. Yesterday's Hamasnik cosplayer protest in DC featured terrorism apologia, vandalism (illegal) & flag burning (legal but moronic PR). It was a gift to Republicans, who are painting Harris & Biden as anti-🇮🇱 wingnuts cosy w Hamas supporters. 1/.
Read my full statement on the protests in Washington, D.C. yesterday.
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Here's the full text of the 2-min speech that @Ruwa4Georgia, the Palestinian-American elected representative from Georgia, wanted to give at the @DNC. AOC pushed for her to speak. So did Uncommitted. The speech clearly endorses Harris. It's not divisive.
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A few days ago, I tweeted about Chaim Katzman, one of ~1000 Israeli civilians Hamas killed on Saturday. Chaim was an activist for 🇮🇱-🇵🇸 peace. Today, his brother told CNN that he rejects Israel’s gov using Chaim’s killing to justify killing innocent Palestinians. Clip below 🧵.
Chaim Katzman was PhD student of @returnstosender’s spouse @UWJSIS & anti-occupation activist. I’ve seen fellow academics suggest all resistance, inc killing civilians, is valid & Israelis are all legit targets. Please think abt Chaim. He could’ve been your student, your ally.
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The word "feel," he said, was "the understatement of the year.". "I almost left the ground & hit the ceiling of the living room where I was sitting, watching the news!" he said. "It was deafening & so scary. My heart is still beating at an alarming speed!".
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Excellent new article out from Berkeley professor Dorothy Kronick on Venezuela’s election that wasn’t. She gives an extremely detailed account of Venezuela’s balloting system, showing how the Gonzalez campaign proved its victory.
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“The first thing he saw was a woman’s arm hurled across the street to the door of a mosque. It was his mother’s. In a bag were parts of his brother & family. He recognised pieces of his niece Suzan from a bracelet, one she used to fight over w her sister”
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Anyone with older friends or parents in Beirut- even if they're far from Dahiyeh- must be so worried. Explosions like today's do not only kill people in the immediate vicinity. They can give others farther away heart attacks. They can pack hospitals, making care inaccessible.
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“Hamas Is Not ISIS. Here’s Why That Matters”. For @TIME, I explained why the “Hamas=ISIS” conflation is dangerous for the security of both Israelis & Palestinians. Thanks to @gershonbaskin & @azelin, who are quoted in the piece.
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For whatever it's worth, think of one book-loving man in his 60s, fit & multilingual & inquisitive & well-travelled. Someone who loves Argentine tango, adores learning, and is teaching himself Greek. Someone who has nothing to do with Hezbollah, or hatred or violence in any form.
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@LibyaLiberty Democrats have sadly given ample reason to feel that way. But these pieces, which are the best reporting we have, tmk, re: how Palestinians on the ground are feeling on this, indicate preference for Harris on basis that Trump could exacerbate the horrors. Elaborated in this 🧵.
Asking Palestinians, @LibyaLiberty says, is key- but what does that mean?. To my knowledge, we don’t have polling on what Palestinians who are actually living in Gaza & the West Bank think re: Harris vs. Trump. But we do have reporting that’s interviewed them:.
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Sickened by Europe’s descent into fascism, the Austrian Jewish author Stefan Zweig & his wife Charlotte committed suicide in 1942. They were found, having escaped to Brazil, overdosed on barbiturates, holding hands. His memoir, The World of Yesterday, describes what was lost. 🧵
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#Tunisia’s sailors & fishermen are routinely finding—& accidentally “catching”—human corpses, including bodies of babies. “Step by step I got used to it,” said Oussama, a fisherman. “After awhile getting a dead body out of my net is like getting a fish."
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18 hours later, the Israeli Prime Minister’s official “spokesperson to the Arab world” has not removed this tweet. The tweet is obvious disinformation that’s been rightly outed by community notes. It uses footage from a Lebanese film to claim that Palestinians are crisis actors.
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But unfair it is. Today, bad faith critics are having a feeding frenzy, painting Glazer & his team as self-hating Jews moronically gifting support to Hamas & Oct. 7 supporters. But I don’t see how anyone who actually watches this speech & thinks about their film could buy that.
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Being in Lebanon this weekend has made events I saw from afar on the news last week leap to life in far in more immediate & disturbing ways. Many here loathe Hezbollah as a pox on the nation, but are upset that innocents were killed yesterday & put at risk in the pager attack.
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Polls show Jill Stein leading Kamala Harris among Muslim voters in key swing states like Michigan. Many think she's an anti-war, anti-genocide candidate. But her record on Bashar Assad's war crimes against Syrians has been awful. This is an essential 🧵 on Stein's Syria record:.
The National Arab American Convention taking place in Dearborn this weekend has made it very clear that it doesn't see Syrians as deserving of life and basic rights - given the platforming of speakers, including Assadist Jill Stein.
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Noa Goldenberg, 27, the young Israeli woman who threw sand on Ben Gvir yesterday, has been arrested & will be tried today. Meanwhile, impunity thus far for IDF soldiers who killed 26 yr-old American peace activist Ayşenur Eygi & 13 yr-old Palestinian girl Bana Bakr yesterday.
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Remember that unlike Syria, Sudan, and Ukraine, Gaza is essentially a border-sealed open air prison. There's no other conflict in modern memory where so many civilians have been bombarded & terrorised in such a small space with no escape routes to safe third countries.
What has been bombarded by the Israeli military in Gaza since Oct (source UN Satellite Centre, updated Jul 6)
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Statements like this from Columbia SJP reflect a very real confusion on the left about the morality & legality of Oct. 7. International humanitarian law prohibits attacks that target civilians, regardless of the cause or whether the actor doing the attacking is occupied.
I'm disappointed & frustrated with the statement by Columbia Students for Justice in Palestine (who blocked me despite having never interacted with them). In it, they reaffirm the right of armed resistance, an explicit endorsement of Hamas and October 7 & the “all means
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The replies are exactly the left-right antisemitic horseshoe meld one would expect based on current discursive trends on & beyond this platform. A 🔻 account said that “non-zionist jews should wear watermelon symbols so they don't get associated w/ the child killers.”. Bonkers.
Jews, he's refusing to serve Jews. This is illegal.
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“A Hamas terrorist was taken out of the debris, carried in his father’s arms. Covered w/ dust, his body jerking like a sack, his stare blank. It’s not clear if he’s alive. He is a toddler.”. Searing critique of Israel’s Jabaliya camp attack by @gideonle:.
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UNHCR "appalled" by reported violations of Palestinan women & girls, inc rape. I encourage everyone who, like me, was rightly disgusted by reports of Oct. 7 sexual violence against Israeli women to spotlight this, too. Consistency re: all victims is key.
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Suffering isn’t a zero-sum game. Neither is truth. I refuse the supposition, so widespread & instinctual, that recognising Oct. 7 horrors detracts from recognition of the horrors Palestinians face, or vice versa. May all victims rest in peace, with their truths told.
The New York Times has published a lengthy investigation into the sexual violence and brutality faced by women in Israel on October 7 by Hamas terrorists. Their two-month long investigation was based on: . - Interviews with 150 people including witnesses, medical personnel,
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In the past 24 hours, the Uncommitted Movement has had two important successes that I think are worth celebrating:. (1) First, it secured a panel on Palestinian human rights at this week’s Democratic Convention. It is, as co-director @luluelabed explains below, a historic first:.
On Monday, for the first time in its history, the Democratic National Convention will hold a panel on Palestinian human rights. We thank the DNC for recognizing this pivotal issue and remain dedicated to pushing VP Harris to stop providing weapons for Israel's assault on Gaza.
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In Midtown Manhattan, tucked into Trump Tower, is 45–the 45th president’s official bar. It plays kitschy 70s hits (“Do the Hustle”) & is covered in gilt-framed photos from Trump’s presidency. It serves…hummus. And it displays this insane 2019 letter Trump penned to Erdogan ⬇️
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I don't know how Ihab has managed this level of principled consistency over the past year, despite watching the horrors meted out to his people in Palestine, including his own family members. But he has, and I hope that more of us can be like him in this coming year.
Polish artist Igor Dobrowolski stands alone outside Auschwitz concentration camp protesting for Gaza. As a Palestinian, I am sickened by this. Holocaust memorials or concentration camps are not a stage for your political stunts. If you truly stand with us, do it without
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This interview w/ Coates by @ezraklein is the single best discussion I’ve heard of his new book, “The Message,” so far. It’s fair, intelligent, amicable & mutually critical in edifying ways. Coates calls Oct. 7 “horrifying” & says violence corrupts. 🧵.
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So if you’re making tweets like this—either bc you didn’t watch Glazer’s full & forgot about its context, or bc you’re desperately trying to deflect criticism of Israel in bad faith—please stop. Retract a tweet like this, or quietly revise your opinion if you’re less public.
I simply cannot fathom the moral rot in someone's soul that leads them to win an award for a movie about the Holocaust and with the platform given to them, to accept that award by saying, "We stand here as men who refute their Jewishness.".
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What do these impressive women, an Iranian chess master & a French Olympic sprinter, have in common?. Both their countries stopped them from competing internationally dressed as they please. Iran forces its female players to wear hijab. France's Olympic team forces them not to.
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This film hasn’t blown up yet, but it should. It’s about an Italian medical student who takes the unheard-of step of studying abroad in Gaza in 2019, during the March of Return. @java_films put it on YouTube 5 days ago: Here are 3 reasons I loved it: 🧵
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I want to introduce you to some of the kind, dignified ppl—most of them card-carrying UNHCR-certified refugees—surviving in utterly inhumane conditions in one of #Tunisia’s 🇹🇳 very poshest neighbourhoods. This is what President Saied’s “Great Replacement” speech has wrought:🧵⬇️
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The left image should haunt Americans as much as our mass murder of unarmed civilians in My Lai, Vietnam. That was 1968. This is now. The US has helped Israel do war crimes nearly every day since Hamas massacred Israelis on 10-7. Nothing justifies any of it. And no one is safer.
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First, let’s recall the plot of the film that Glazer wrote & directed, for which he & his team won Oscars. It’s about the Holocaust, & how a German couple whose home is next to the Auschwitz concentration carry on their lives w/ genocide in the backyard.
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This. The inhumanity in corners of the pro-Palestine left today has been chilling. I’ve seen multiple ppl claim any form of resistance is justified—even killing civilians, inc elderly & children. I’ve seen even more say they feel zero civilians exist in Israel, implying as much.
There is never any justification for the murder of civilians, for the slaughter of entire families, for the kidnapping of children and old people. Ever. Also, keeping millions of people under brutal occupation, with no end in sight - results in unjustifiable acts.
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Her name is Aysenur Ezgi Eygi, 26, and she’s not the first US citizen to be killed by the IDF whilst peacefully protesting Israel in Palestine, or whilst simply doing her job there. From Rachel Corrie to Shireen Abu Akleh, this sad list is growing.
🚨An American peace activist was shot and killed during a weekly protest in the West Bank village of Beta, near Nablus. These demonstrations, often met with live fire, highlight how under Israeli military rule, there is no legal way to protest peacefully.
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Today’s case study in politicised use of the passive voice:
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As a woman, I never walked a man home for his safety—let alone 3 strong, young adult men. But I did that in Tunis tonight. I did it bc these 3 smart, sensitive men are Black Sudanese refugees living in #Tunisia, where racist pogroms have made them terrified to leave their home.
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@Gledster Sadly, yes. As my thread states, I put most of this on Biden & his inner circle. These are 2023 conversations, but here we are. Every moment counts.
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And let’s watch The Zone of Interest—for which Glazer & his team won Oscars yesterday—reflecting on how we, like the German family he portrays, might be witness to gross violations of human rights or apologias for them in our own backyards, wherever those backyards may be.
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In 2018 I dated a brilliant Turkish seismologist who worked at 🇹🇷’s top earthquake research institute, Bogazici University’s Kandilli Observatory. We naturally discussed earthquake preparedness a lot. He was fond of saying that earthquakes don’t kill ppl; buildings do.
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Which really is, in my view, the key Q post-Oct. 7. I’ve been appalled by “by any means necessary” rhetoric that treats all Israelis as fair targets & terrorism as legitimate resistance. But I am appalled every single day by Israel’s eliminationism & plausible genocide in Gaza.
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Israel passed a law to deport its own citizens. It applies to Palestinian citizens of Israel who knew about family's attacks beforehand or “express support or identification w/ terrorism.”. Does any other country deport its own citizens? And will this survive court challenges?
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