BREAKING: The Saudi ministry of defence says on X that a cruise missile was intercepted and destroyed "east of Al-Kharj Governorate".
🔴 LIVE updates: https://t.co/kJ17nXVltl
I’ve tried to bite my tongue about this for a very long time but as a community, I think we need to start talking about how many MENA magazines/news sites take advantage of principled writers who are boycotting major western newspapers, and pay them next to nothing or offer them “exposure” instead of money. It’s exploitive and exhausting and often leaves young writers with nowhere to go — they accept horrible rates so that their work can see the light of day.
The academic class is no better: these people will claim to care about “uplifting Arab voices” or supporting Palestine, but continuously disrespect their writers behind closed doors. Editors make their money, get invited to events, get featured as “trailblazers” in the Arab/Muslim community often off the backs of the writers and reporters who actually produce content. This is obviously not true of every magazine — some places are genuinely strapped for cash and are trying their best. But it’s very obvious when a place has money for expensive launch parties or celebrity features, but not for their writers.
I know so many young journalists and writers who are starting to leave the industry because they simply have nowhere to go. They have refused to be complicit in the western media landscape, but simply cannot afford to keep freelancing for these exploitative MENA outlets. This is why we keep getting empty slop about “Arab creativity” with the same five celebrities every month and no real nuanced reporting. To those with the power to change this: please do better.
In a rare move, members of the press have organized a rally in protest against rising repression following the arrest of *yet another* NY-based photojournalist for documenting the aftermath of a protest event.
3pm - Foley Square - 10/1
#JournalismIsNotACrime
I highly recommend this essay by Ismail Ibrahim, a former fact-checker at The New Yorker about what it's like to work at a place like that when you have a brain or a conscience.
https://t.co/utfcvJ8Ylv
Jaw-dropping essay on being the only Arab at the New Yorker, from editor David Remnick refusing to call Gaza a genocide to another editor saying he had trouble editing a story because “Israeli characters seemed evil, while all the Palestinians were angels” https://t.co/4Q0rDavxUJ
A few notes on the state of the Gaza "ceasefire" negotiations. Hamas has now submitted its response to the Israeli-crafted framework and Netanyahu responded by announcing he would recall his negotiating team from Doha.
Israel has been pushing a narrative via leaks to mostly Hebrew media that Hamas is taking a hard line and obstructing a deal. This is totally false.
Israel put forward a proposal to effectively occupy huge swaths of Gaza indefinitely, including building a large concentration camp in Gaza. Hamas, of course, rejected this because this is not a negotiation, it is a declaration of intent to continue the mass extermination and expulsion campaign. In response, Hamas showed a willingness to agree to Israeli troop withdrawal and redeployment "maps" that would still allow significant Israeli imposed "buffer zones" encircling Gaza.
On the issue of aid, Israel has demanded that its lethal aid scheme, the so-called Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, remain in Gaza. More than 1,000 Palestinians have been killed trying to obtain meager food rations from these pitiful sites. Hamas proposed that the UN resume control of the distribution to its 400 sites in Gaza, the only effective program that has ever existed.
There are more than 10,000 Palestinians held captive by Israel. There are also an estimated 2,000 snatched since October 7 for the explicit purpose of "exchanging" them for Israeli captives in Gaza. Hamas proposed a framework that would free these 2,000 Palestinian hostages as well as hundreds of other Palestinians, including those serving life sentences, in return for Israeli soldiers held captive in Gaza.
Finally, Hamas has asked for a clear guarantee from the U.S. that Israel will not resume the genocide after an initial 60 day truce, so that negotiations for a permanent end to the war and occupation can be reached.
Israel has promoted a false narrative that it has been reasonable and Hamas has been obstructionist. The reality is that Netanyahu has repeatedly sabotaged deals throughout the past 22 months. And Israel unilaterally crushed the January ceasefire endorsed by both Trump and Biden and resumed the genocide and forced starvation campaign. He has boasted that he will get a "side letter" from Trump allowing him to resume the war regardless of any deal that he signs.
This is the context in which the Palestinians are forced to operate in these "negotiations" with an Israeli side that daily makes clear—in public—that it wants to wipe Palestinians off the map of Gaza. The Palestinian negotiators are left with only one actual hope: that Donald Trump will decide to stop Israel's war of annihilation. That is a huge gamble regardless of what the actual signed deal states.
Tehran is one of the most beautiful cities in human history, home to 10 million people & some of humanity's most cherished cultural sites. The mere threat against Tehran & its people is a great historic crime. Trump, Israel & their accomplices are waging war on all of humanity.
Hi everyone. Reactivating twitter to share this
I was denied entry, detained, and deported from the USA at the end of last week because of my reporting on the Columbia student protests
I arrived back in Melbourne on Sat 6am and had my phone handed back to me upon landing
UPDATE — A federal judge ruled Wednesday that the government had until 9:30AM today (30 minutes ago) to appeal Mahmoud Khalil’s possible release. They *did not* do so.
His legal team has just asked the court to accordingly order his release.
SOS! the volunteers on 'Madleen' have been kidnapped by Israeli forces.
Hüseyin Şuayb Ordu is a Turkish citizen.
Pressure their foreign ministries and help us keep them safe!
X : @MFATurkiye
IG : @tcdisisleri
FB : @T.C. Dışişleri Bakanlığı
#alleyesonMadleen
SOS! the volunteers on 'Madleen' have been kidnapped by Israeli forces.
Greta Thunberg is a Swedish citizen.
Pressure their foreign ministries and help us keep them safe!
Web: https://t.co/uCGmx8sn8j
X : @SweMFA
FB : @SweMFA
IG : swedishmfa
#AllEyesOnMadeleen
Words are strong and optimistic. However, only actions can change the stark reality of Gaza right now.
We need actions. Just actions. Move right now. Now.
This is a beautiful tribute to Hossam Shabat, a tremendous journalist who was assassinated by Israel on Monday. We owe a debt greater than we could ever pay to the Palestinian journalists of Gaza.
Statement from Drop Site News on Israel’s Murder of Our Colleague Hossam Shabat: We Hold Both Israel and the U.S. Government Responsible
https://t.co/vhHfCkkrsu