Rabeah Ghaffari

Writer. Idler.

[Esfandyar Batmanghelidj @yarbatman]

Earlier this summer, the wonderful editors at @thebafflermag asked me if I wanted to contribute an essay for a forthcoming issue.

I said I wanted to write about Iranian bricks.

Iran's remarkable brick architecture has become something of a meme. Everyday there's a new picture circulating online of a beautiful brick edifice in some Iranian city (often courtesy of @SustainableTall).

But why is Iran, a country dealing with so many traumas, the site of the most innovative and ambitious brick architecture in the world?

That's the question I set out to answer in this essay, which starts with a visit to the mudbrick village of Abyaneh, just over the ridge from the nuclear site at Natanz.
https://t.co/sFPWO3fJNA

[Richard Sanders @PulaRJS]

Watch this.

Lubna Speitan, author of the Greens4Palestine motion “Zionism is racism”, spells out the central obscenity of our age – the grotesque inversion whereby the victims of ethnic cleansing, Apartheid and genocide must constantly fend off accusations from their tormentors that it is they who are the racists.

“We as Palestinians are being silenced and gaslit and vilified [as we] witness the annihilation, the cold-blooded murder of our families, of our people… our children burnt with phosphorus, having to endure amputations with no anaesthetic, having their limbs torn and shredded, their bodies burnt by phosphorus, being starved to death … And to have to sit here … and try to bury my feelings so I can eloquently and diplomatically shield my anger, my rage, my anguish that every Palestinian is feeling, is an insult.” /1

[Drop Site @DropSiteNews]

Benjamin Moser, author of Anti-Zionism: A Jewish History, told Rashid Khalidi that his 80-year-old mother, who had all but called him a Hamas member, apologized after reading his book: “I’m ashamed I ever said I was a Zionist.”

His book traces Jewish opposition to Zionism over the past century and challenges their exclusion in discussions over Palestine. “No, you don’t get to set the rules anymore. We’re setting the rules now,” Moser said.

Khalidi added that he had never seen so many people change their views so rapidly, noting that major publishers are now embracing books on Palestine that would have been virtually unpublishable just three or four years ago.

[Nikhil Pal Singh @nikhil_palsingh]

Anyone who takes a minute to consider what Iranian officials say, cannot but conclude that they are the sane and rational party to this war.

[Will 🦥 Menaker @willmenaker]

Anyone who posts like this about how "no one cares or should care" about Israel/Palestine are only loudly announcing how much *they* care but are upset with the current direction of public opinion.

[Shawn @ShawnHils]

voters: I have to choose between food and getting to work

Paxton: (slurring) talafreako wants to trans your kids

Ramaswamy: amy acton was raped by her stepfather. can she be trusted to lead?

Trump: ever stare at the small of a man’s back

[Richard D. Wolff @profwolff]

Wolff Responds: "Lessons From France" Dated October 21, 2026

[Rex v. Anton 🎃 @antonerable]

This Simpsons joke about Catholic v Protestant heaven is welded into my brain, especially because in the narrative of the show Catholic heaven is meant to be undesirable despite Christ himself preferring it

[Benjamin Kunkel @kunktation]

I wrote about Cormac McCarthy (including the new biography) for @Harpers https://t.co/labvLbmMxg

[Séamus Malekafzali @Seamus_Malek]

Netanyahu would like to inform the American public that a vote for the Republicans in the midterms is a vote for even more war with Iran. A popular sell!

[David Weigel @daveweigel]

Disavow the Muslim Brotherhood.

[Alan MacLeod @AlanRMacLeod]

A timely reminder that leaked Israeli studies found that pushing pro-Israel propaganda to Westerners didnt work & instead they advised spending millions blasting the West with racist Islamophobic content demonizing Muslims instead.

I think about that a lot while browsing Twitter

[Chase Madar @ChaseMadar]

The next president should normalize diplomatic relations with Iran, undo the sanctions and engage in trade and cultural exchange. Making believe that Iran is an “existential threat” to us is not only pathetic, it is an elite “luxury belief” that we now struggle to afford

[Barack Obama @BarackObama]

It is a basic principle of American democracy that the government can’t selectively target individuals simply because of their political beliefs or what they say. But that’s exactly what the Trump Administration is doing to Congresswoman Ilhan Omar of Minnesota.

To understand why this is so appalling, it’s important to know the facts. Congresswoman Omar came to this country with her father when she was 12 years old. Five years later, her father became a naturalized citizen. If Ilhan had been 18 at the time, she would have had to apply for citizenship separately. But because she was 17, she became a naturalized citizen automatically.

Congresswoman Omar went on to graduate from college, work as a community organizer, become the first Somali-American legislator elected to public office in the U.S., and win a seat in Congress. There, she has been one of the Trump Administration’s fiercest critics, which has led the president to repeatedly single her out as someone who he believes does not belong in this country.

Now the Administration is actively trying to deport Congresswoman Omar, seemingly based solely on the unsubstantiated theory that she was actually 18 when her father was naturalized, and therefore is not a citizen. Federal agents have raided her home, confiscated personal records, and seized her phone — all to try and uncover a nonexistent smoking gun from 20 years ago that will somehow make their case.

Think about that. The full weight of the federal government is being brought down on a law-abiding elected official because she has dared to criticize the president. And it’s not the first time this has happened. Under President Trump, the Justice Department has repeatedly gone after those he considers his political enemies — from the Attorney General of New York, to the former head of the FBI, to members of the Federal Reserve.

In those cases, the prosecutions either stalled or were dismissed for having no basis in law, and the same is likely to happen in this case. But not before Congresswoman Omar’s life has been turned upside down, her legal bills have piled up, and she’s been forced to spend time fighting unsubstantiated charges instead of serving the people of Minnesota.

The fact that any president, or any administration, is willing to engage in such transparent efforts to intimidate someone should outrage all Americans, regardless of how they feel about Congresswoman Omar’s political views. Because if this becomes the new normal, there’s no reason to believe it will stop with her — or that future presidents, in either party, won’t do the same.

[jasper nathaniel @infinite_jaz]

I wrote a full, detailed account of the October 16 settler and soldier attack on the olive harvest in Abu Falah. I think it may be the most important thing I’ve ever written.

“The Palestinians Who Rescued Heidi Levine”

Link in next tweet.

[Richard H @TheHoogie]

I’d you’re shocked at the damage in France to an old town hall you’ll be horrified to hear what’s happened to the beautiful old buildings and heritage of the Palestinians, Lebanese, Syrians, Iraqis and Afghans

[sebastian castillo @bartlebytaco]

while i find the phrase funny, i don’t believe the beaver would support this, their industriousness is in solidarity with the world, and an optimism for how we can change it

[Ayşen Şahin @temcikterelelli]

Fransızları hayretle izliyorum, inanılmaz hızla adapte oluyorlar öğrendiklerine. Polisin haberleşme yöntemini keşfedip düdükle trollediler. Yumurtalara boya doldurup kaskların görüşünü engellediler. Havai fişekleri acayip bir şeye dönüştürdüler. Direnişi şehrin her yerine yayıp polis kuvvetleri sayısını düşürüp orada püskürtüp meydanlarda buluşuyorlar. Bu isyan noktaları için bir web sitesi hazırlamışlar. Sıkı durun isyanın adı:
Opération Escargot
Paris farklı Marsilya Lyon Strazburg farklı, hepsi farklı direniyor ama ne biçim direnmek o la la

[Esfandyar Batmanghelidj @yarbatman]

This is one of the most frustrating things about working on Iran policy.

Everyone worried about the emergence of a nuclear-armed, militarized, carceral, revanchist, ethnoreligious, illiberal, and polarized state in the Middle East, should really be worried about Israel.