#ahmed fouad alkhatib

[reuna]

Reading Ahmed Fouad Alkhatib's tweets is like reading someone who calls themselves a feminist spouting victim blaming stuff about rape victims needing to cover themselves up and stay home at night.

[notaplaceofhonour]

An American man self-immolated in the name of Gaza, and I’m seeing two different responses:

from American leftists, acting like it’s a brave/commendable thing while do

from Palestinians, begging people not to do this

This is a man who was incredibly mentally unwell and committed suicide, initially planning to livestream his suicide, and people are applauding it—which inevitably encourages more people to follow suit, throwing their lives away too. And for what? How has this helped Palestinians in any way?

Suicide is not the answer—not to your personal struggles and not to global conflict and geopolitical struggles. If you find yourself around people who are encouraging you to see suicide as a beautiful or commendable political act, get out.

Think of all the good things you can keep doing for Gaza if you keep living. Think of your loved ones. Think of your own life. Your life has value, and you deserve to keep living.

I think Ahmed Fouad Alkhatib, someone from Gaza, put it way better than I can in this tweet:

[fairuzfan]

Oh hi, sorry to bother you again but I just realised something: I sent in the ask about Ahmed Fouad Alkhatib, and I only now came to think that that could be interpreted as me thinking every palestinian somehow knows what other palestinians think or something. And that is in no way what I was after. The point was something like... whether he's a known person in the palestinian diaspora or the pro-Palestine community on Turtle Island or smth? And if people have... idk, opinions about him or something , because I'd never heard of him before and the stuff he writes is just so... mindboggling. (just wanted to send in this for clarification, not expecting a reply because I know you have so much more important stuff on your mind)

Oh no worries I wasn't ignoring your last one I just didn't know how best to approach it. I totally got what you mean. But yeah I haven't heard of the guy before the past few months and the only time I see him is when he's shared by zionists. I don't see him shared by any Palestinians in Gaza, I don't see any Palestinians on turtle island share him, so I wouldn't put much stake in his words tbh. And I'm not saying this lightly, I was worried that saying something about him since he obviously has family in Gaza would be in poor taste, but all I can say is that he.... is not popular.

I posted about him before when some other Palestinians were passing his tweets around in a "get a load of this guy" kind of way (so not endorsing him). He also has worked for the US military+went to school there and I guess he's involved with weapons manufacturers in some way because he's "interested" in it, according to his linked in.

I genuinely can't tell you why he's doing all this. For some reason, he seems to think that we can protest hamas...? Even though, repeatedly, the only one that can make a ceasefire happen is Israel. He seems to want to force the "pro palestine" movement to protest hamas into giving back the hostages but like... idk if he understands how protesting works.

He calls it the "israel-palestine conflict" which, i cannot emphasize enough, no palestinian says in casual spaces. None of us say this. Literally the biggest tell that shows hes a collaborator. I've seen him publish straight up lies in his articles recently too. He's not very common or popular among Palestinians on Turtle Island, at least.

Also in a tweet he posted recently, he literally gave up the right of return and redefined it to only specific locations in Palestine, which Palestinians have been adamant that it is ALL of Palestine we are returning to.

[girlactionfigure]

Ahmed Fouad Alkhatib

[calmeplat]

The most striking condemnation of this hardening of supposedly pro-Palestinian rhetoric has come not from Jews, but from Palestinians. The protesters have taken “an extremist, maximalist, inflammatory, unreasonable, and totally illogical approach which is harmful to the pro-Palestinian cause,” wrote Ahmed Fouad Alkhatib, a Gaza-born Palestinian analyst who has lost a staggering 31 members of his own family in recent months. Via social media, Alkhatib urges the demonstrators to stop “wasting time with slogan-driven and maximalist activism that does nothing”, and instead to “use your western privilege to actually help the Palestinian people and promote a pragmatic path forward by engaging Israeli and Jewish audiences”.

For him, it’s clear that that pragmatic path leads to two states, Israel and Palestine, side by side. As a demand, it does not deliver the same transgressive thrill as calling for an all-Arab, Jew-free Palestine. It doesn’t have a neat rhyme. But real friends of Palestinians and Israelis know that it is the only way the two peoples of that much-promised land can hope to have a future that involves life rather than yet more pain and death. Anything that makes that already impossible task harder is not an act of friendship – it is an act of unforgivable narcissism and self-indulgence.

— Jonathan Freedland, Most Jews and Palestinians want peace. Extremists, narcissists ​and other ‘allies’ only block the way

[al-kol-eleh]

Ahmed Fouad Alkhatib

[helsensm]

Anon that pointed out JVP - I am so very sorry for the delay. I thank you for your response.

This is a blog that is pro-peace/not anti-Palestinian last I saw and they endorse this heavy duty explanation: https://www.tumblr.com/anshelsgendercrisis/742674313753264128/is-jewish-voice-for-peace-actually-jewish-ive

That is a lot to read though, I am sorry :(

Another thing I stumbled across recently - JVP endorses BDS (that wasn't new), and BDS recently denounced Standing Together, which Ahmed Fouad Alkhatib calls out + explains why this is highly problematic: https://twitter.com/afalkhatib/status/1750735227763511779

No need to apologize, thank you for taking your time and coming back with sources, it was a good read! (also I went down the rabbit hole and filled the gaps in another topic, so thx for that too ahahh)

I'll make the links for anyone who's interested in knowing more on the matter:

Is Jewish Voice for Peace actually Jewish?

The problem with BDS and JVP

As far as I know, it's better to support Standing Together, The parents circle and T'ruah instead of JVP. Plz, let me know if there's a problem with any of them, since it's getting harder to stay on top of things with all the info overload...

[coralsgrimes]

Hbd!! 🥳 say, can you also post something about Palestine? To sort of counter the fact that Ukraine openly supports Israel? You’re not obliged, obv, but it would be nice to know that you’re not a Zionist like Ukraine seems to be. Thx!! And hbd again!!!!

See at first I thought ye be fucking with me but then I realized all ye be fucking is stupid. And yeah momma said don't go slapping the idiots silence is sometimes the better answer but I passed that breaking point months ago.

Would not even start on the fact of me sharing these orgs before cuz I know all the essential work they be doing first hand and they are close to me little heart in the most literal sense cuz, ye come closer imma about to tell ye a secret.... I'm Ukrainian and I know people whose life literally depends on them x.x so it's not a fucking oppression olympics for me.

So thanks for your contribution, which kinda smells of middle class American looking for identity instagram infographic idea about the world echo chamber couch on anon activism, that just singlehandedly saved the world from imploding on itself. Bless 🙏

And here are the resources I posted about Palestine the last time (as relevant now as it was then, also would recommend following Ahmed Fouad Alkhatib too), ye know like the Zionist that I am *checking your notes* as based on me nationality and me endorsing organizations that currently help saving lives during a fucking genocidal war. Fantastic line of thinking too, I wonder who else uses similar arguments to talk about us... x.x btw I would encourage people to learn what that term ye all be using like a catchphrase actually means...

[thecurrentevents]

you need read article The left must stop apologizing for Hamas by peace activist Ahmed Fouad Alkhatib and dont angry at me

yeah, Hamas is a shit organization. I’m sorry if I sounded like I supported them, which I don’t. Hamas suppresses any criticism of its group, and I’m not a fan of that.

thank you for directing me to that article. I’ll try to be more careful in my wording.

[rattusn0rvegicus]

I am going to keep this message in my mind forever and ever tbh (from Ahmed Fouad Alkhatib, a humanitarian activist from Gaza)

[ara-line]

I went through the posts of this tankie's blog:

Okay, so this person got that information from Max Blumenthal. Who exactly is Blumenthal?

Okay, so their source is already extremely unreliable. For further reading:

Enter the Grayzone: fringe leftists deny the scale of China’s Uyghur oppression - Coda Story

Navalny Film 'Debunk' Author Rejects Accusation of Writing with AI (newsweek.com)

This person also posted this video from Max Blumenthal, which falls apart when you think about it for 30 seconds. Why would a state that was created in the aftermath of the Holocaust as a homeplace for Jews choose to fund the people who want to exterminate them? It's why calling Zionism a Nazi ideology is a bad faith argument because they are actually pretty contradictory when you understand the basic ideology of both.

If you guys want actual reliable sources on Israel, I would suggest Motaz Azaiza, Ahmed Fouad Alkhatib (he has many good articles on a solution for peace. Read the articles I linked), +972 Magazine and Haaretz.

Okay, here comes the antisemitism, which is what this post is really about:

An Israeli captive should be thanking Hamas for saving her life even though she wouldn't have been in that situation if it weren't for Hamas to begin with. Amazing. Yes, there's problems with the IDF and how they treat queer Palestinians, but we don't need to make shit up.

An addendum to the whole don't make shit up:

It is true there does appear to be a problem with racism in Israel, according to a magazine article by +972 magazine, an Israeli leftist magazine. The article does a very good job of showing that there is a lot of nuance to the treatment of Mizrahi Jews. Strongly suggest you read it. In short, this post is bullshit because it won't dive into specific nuances. It ignores that many Israeli leftists put in work to overcome racism and are continuing to do so.

They made this bingo card:

I don't condone the anti-zionism bingo card, but this is equally as bad.

And then there's this post that takes a lot of context out for the explanations of the deaths in WWII:

While it is true 27 million (where is this person's source for that numerical discrepancy?) Soviet died in WWII, the reasons seem to be more casualty, sickness and starvation related than they are to the fact that 6 million Jews were rounded up and shipped off to die. The Soviets were not systematically targeted the way Jews were.

I found this one as well:

Here's another one:

Here comes the real doozy:

Oh, don't read the comments section on that video. Just a heads up.

I wonder what actual neonazis on this site say about Jews:

[female-malice]

By Ahmed Fouad Alkhatib November 26, 2023

As battered Gazans emerged from their destroyed homes in northern Gaza after the temporary four-day cease-fire took effect, a Palestinian reporter working for Hamas’ own TV station ironically captured dozens of resentful civilians cursing Hamas and accusing the group of having destroyed their lives.

This isn’t an isolated example.

In a short BBC clip showing the aftermath of a deadly Israeli strike that killed civilians in Gaza, a grieving Palestinian mother screams in agony, “This is all because of Hamas’ dogs.” A nearby man, likely a family member, can be heard quickly telling her, “Enough!” He places his hand on her mouth to prevent her from saying more.

Many Palestinians are either reluctant or fearful to express what they are honestly thinking about Hamas, the Islamist group that has ruled Gaza since 2007 and perpetrated the Oct. 7 terror attack on Israel. The massive Israeli bombardment throughout the Gaza Strip killed hundreds of people daily, many of whom were neither Hamas members nor supporters. Most, including my family members, are experiencing blowback for actions they didn’t commit, plan or endorse.

Immediately after the horrific Oct. 7 attack on Israeli towns and kibbutzim, I encountered dozens of social media posts from Gazans who expressed immense concern, fear, horror and worry about what this event would unleash. Hundreds condemned Hamas’ “adventures” and reckless disregard for the well-being of its people in the coastal enclave. They considered the attack a suicide mission that would inevitably result in the total and utter destruction of the strip.

Unfortunately, so far their fears have proven accurate.

After the first massive Israeli strike on the Jabalia refugee camp in Gaza, another short video captured a grieving man’s defiant outburst against Hamas during a press conference by one of the group’s spokespersons, blaming the group for what has befallen the coastal enclave.

“Why are they hiding amongst the people?” asked a battered man inside a Gaza Hospital on Aljazeera’s live Arabic news channel, referring to Hamas fighters. “Why don’t they go to hell and hide there?” The interviewer quickly cut him off.

Hamas is deeply unpopular with the people of Gaza. But the way that Israel is waging war in the strip will ultimately make things much worse for both Palestinians and Israelis long-term.

How Hamas uses the Gaza Strip

While ignoring its own people, Hamas has managed to insulate itself and its patrons from the impact of Israel’s 16-year-long blockade. There is rising anger among Gazans at this reality, as well as a rejection of Hamas’ methods, beliefs, ideologies and governance of the strip.

A recent popular Facebook post by a frustrated Gazan inside the strip lambasts the “Iranian-back armed factions” led by Hamas. “It doesn’t seem that we as civilians are remotely considered in their plans or calculus,” he adds, saying that militants “depict themselves as being perfectly fine” with their tunnels and well-prepared supplies and stockpiles while no such preparations were put in place to support the civilian population’s needs.

The post called for the release of all hostages in exchange for the complete withdrawal of IDF troops, stressing that the sanctity of Gazans’ lives is more valuable than prisoner swaps or Hamas’ ideologies and beliefs.

Right before Oct. 7, a survey by the Arab Barometer found a continuing decline in Gazans’ trust in Hamas’ governance along several metrics. Sadly, the intensity of Israel’s military operation is overshadowing dissenting voices, both those that existed before Oct. 7 and those that are increasing as a result of the destruction of Gaza.

Interestingly, Hamas enjoys much more support among the West Bank’s population despite lacking a robust presence in the territory. Resentment of settler violence, Israel’s occupation and the impotent Palestinian Authority likely fuel support for the violent resistance represented by Hamas’ ideology and tactics.

But despite the widespread suffering, the West Bank is light-years ahead of Gaza in terms of quality of life. The violent reality that Hamas rule would bring would seriously reverse support for the group.

Something that makes it difficult to assess Palestinian public opinion, including in Gaza, is that the concept of “resistance” enjoys widespread support, even if people dislike Hamas’ governance and practices. Hamas exploits this, and hides its failures behind its “acts of resistance,” which makes it possible to claim any “achievement.”

This is precisely why Hamas launched its attack on Oct. 7. The attack was not about settler violence in Jerusalem or seeking to break the blockade. It was about stemming the tide of resentment and discontentment. A recent poll suggests that Hamas’ gambit may have worked. Evidence suggests wide Palestinian public support for the Oct. 7 attack. Despite the severe limitations of this survey, the impending release of 150 Palestinian prisoners is already being spun by Hamas as a victory despite the unbearable death toll and cost.

Top Hamas leader Khalil al-Hayya told The New York Times — from Qatar — that the group’s goals are not to “run Gaza and bring it water and electricity,” or to “improve the situation in Gaza,” but rather to put the Palestinian cause back on the map.

In other words, Hamas aims to use Gaza as a citadel from which it can drag 2.3 million people along in a “resistance” project that entails continuous and permanent war and violence.

The people of Gaza know this. Poor and working-class residents of the coastal enclave have paid the ultimate price in blood, misery, suffering and hardship without any hope for a prosperous and peaceful future. Amid the devastation of the IDF’s response to Oct. 7, more Gazans have been criticizing Hamas’ actions and hold on power.

Thousands took to the streets in Gaza this summer to protest against Hamas’ rule and their miserable living conditions, a rare display of defiance. The Islamist group quickly quashed the protests, arresting and beating hundreds of people. This is the group’s playbook whenever civilians demand improvements to dire living conditions. And yet there are still people daring to speak out.

I know Gaza well, and have a deep understanding of its population. The aforementioned anecdotes, my lived and professional experiences, friends and family currently in the strip, Palestinian social media, Hamas’ own statements, multiple past protests and the group’s brutal rule clearly demonstrate deep unpopularity and disdain for Hamas, both now and before Oct 7.

The unfortunate truth, however, is that the way Israel is waging this war will prove ineffective in achieving long-term and sustainable security. It is ultimately planting seeds for further violence, extremism and hate while also making it difficult for anti-Hamas activists and the general Gazan population to express what they truly feel and to challenge the Islamist group’s rule.

A counterproductive operation

Many Gazans blame Israel for their displacement from the land their families lived on for generations — about 70% of Gazans are refugees or descendants of refugees from the 1948 Nakba — as well as much of their current predicament. But they have no illusions about Hamas’ nefarious intentions, incompetence and selfishness. And they see the Israeli blockade as enabling Hamas to conveniently absolve itself from its responsibility to govern effectively and provide for their needs.

If Israel were to wave a magic wand over Gaza and somehow dislodge Hamas and remove its grip on power without civilian casualties, I am willing to bet my life that at least half of the strip would welcome such a move, and yell in unison: “Do us a favor!”

However, I am not optimistic that we are on the course to achieving anything close to that. Israel’s past political decisions, poor strategic choices and the conduct of the current military operation in Gaza point to an uncomfortable and deeply disturbing inevitability: Hamas will not be eradicated. And the group will survive as a cohesive entity, ideology and component of the Palestinian national project.

Israel’s military actions in response to the Oct. 7 attack have already killed over 14,000 people. Many bodies, like that of my dad’s youngest brother, uncle Riyad, 57, are long buried under rubble. My uncle was killed in a massive raid that destroyed our entire neighborhood. His body was only extracted from the rubble after six days. Nothing and no one has been spared, including aid workers, many of whom are in southern Gaza.

The unprecedented death toll and destruction have expended most of the international political capital that the Israeli government garnered after Hamas’ horrendous attacks. The IDF estimates its operation inside the strip has killed up to 2,000 Hamas fighters (not including Hamas and other groups’ members killed on Oct. 7) out of a force it estimates to be around 30,000 strong — a shockingly low number of combatants killed relative to dead civilians. Former CIA director and experienced counterinsurgency commander Gen. David Petraeus cautioned that “there’s got to be a real concern about the Palestinian people in Gaza,” especially as the IDF gears up for a ground operation in the south of the strip.

Instead of carrying out a targeted, low-intensity, long-term operation that could sustainably reduce Hamas’ military capabilities and create conditions to introduce a new administration in Gaza, the massive bombardment and destruction throughout the strip have set the scene for what will be one of the most complicated predicaments that Israel has ever found itself in: ambitious, difficult-to-achieve tactical and strategic goals, continued occupation of a ruined Gaza, and most importantly, a highly resentful and deeply antagonistic Palestinian population that will be even more hostile to Israel and more likely to embrace violence as a strategy.

Hamas is resilient

Multiple analysts and observers, including an unnamed senior U.S. defense official, have stated that Israel’s campaign thus far hasn’t even “come close” to eradicating Hamas’ mid- and senior-level leaders.

Unlike other Islamist groups, the official argued that Hamas has a “deeper bench of experienced midlevel military leaders,” in essence making it impossible to destroy the group by eliminating individual commanders.

As a child growing up in Gaza, I remember vividly when Israel assassinated founding and senior Hamas officials, including people like Salah Shehade, Ahmed Yassin and Adnan al-Ghoul. The killing of these leaders was thought at the time to be a fatal blow to Hamas.

Instead, the group’s arsenal, capabilities, political clout and position grew exponentially and expanded beyond what its founders could have ever dreamed of achieving. Not only have I observed this over the last two decades, but I am certain that Hamas today is militarily and politically prepared to successfully withstand Israel’s onslaught in the aftermath of the Oct. 7 attacks.

This isn’t to suggest that Israel cannot or shouldn’t seek to weaken Hamas and target its terror infrastructure. Instead, thinking critically and methodically is an operational and strategic imperative to move forward meaningfully.

Tunnel warfare is dirty, complicated, costly and requires lengthy efforts and campaigns, not the short and swift operations upon which Israel’s military doctrine is built. Rather than weakening Hamas, which is underground, the current Israeli military operation in the strip is killing supporters and opponents of the group alike, inflaming the region, exacerbating anti-Israel sentiments worldwide, silencing political opposition to Hamas inside Gaza, complicating efforts at normalizing relations with Arab countries and achieving precisely what the group wanted in the first place: to reinvigorate the Palestinian cause and force Israel to act in a manner that in essence proves Hamas’ claims.

Despite our mistakes during the global war on terror, the U.S. took numerous steps to minimize civilian casualties. Consider the raid on bin Laden’s compound in Abbottabad in 2011. Instead of flattening the entire building, the U.S. surgically raided the structure and methodically separated bin Laden’s family from his guards and defenders, sparing the lives of women and children. 

Even if Hamas operates near civilian targets, making it difficult to clearly identify the group’s combatants, international and humanitarian law does not absolve the IDF of its responsibility to operate with due regard for civilians’ lives. If an active shooter is rampaging through a shopping mall, the response would not be to call an airstrike that levels the whole complex. Rather, the counterattack’s top priority would be eliminating the threat while minimizing civilian loss of life.

Defeating an ideology — and what comes next

By indirectly and inadvertently allowing Hamas to cement its rule over Gaza, Israel helped the group further entrench itself as an indisputable component of the Palestinian national project.

Even if the IDF were to permanently occupy Gaza at the end of this war — an option politically and diplomatically untenable —  the moment it leaves, Hamas would find a way to reconstitute. Remember, the Taliban survived 20 years of U.S. occupation in Afghanistan. Plus, an occupation will always entail some degree of populace resistance, including through violent means.

Unconventional and creative thinking is the only way to stop the massive bloodshed and stabilize the strip. Secretary Blinken stated recently that “there may be a need for some transition period at the end of the conflict.” Before then, greater U.S. and European pressure on the Israeli government to minimize civilian suffering, protect hospitals, and allow for more humanitarian aid to make its way into Gaza could help achieve meaningful outcomes. Vengeance is not a productive military strategy.

U.N. peacekeeping troops, with Arab and international support and participation, could provide a transitional period that stops the war and provides Israel with an offramp. Deploying these forces along Gaza’s borders with Israel to prevent future infiltration and attacks against Israel, and acting as a quasi-government while Gaza rebuilds, could allow for the emergence of a capable Palestinian body that can govern the strip. The U.N. could operate aerial and maritime corridors over the Mediterranean Sea to facilitate the movement of people and cargo, using existing U.N. infrastructure, protocols, and commonly deployed practices after wars and natural disasters.

Many have taken issue with calls for a cease-fire, fearing that it would freeze the conflict, abandon the remaining hostages and allow Hamas to re-attack Israel. But short-term and temporary cease-fires, not localized and inconsistent “pauses,” can allow for negotiations to release more hostages, revision of battle plans, further evacuations of civilians in Gaza and the delivery of desperately needed humanitarian aid. The impending four-day cease-fire is an example of this.

My brother, who works for a British medical NGO in Gaza City and has lost his home, told me that in addition to enduring heart-stopping daily bombardment, his family sometimes had to drink salt water (seawater) and boil grassy plants to sustain themselves in Gaza City. How is his suffering and that of hundreds of thousands of innocent civilians going to help eliminate Hamas?

Thousands of innocent Gazans are paying with their lives for a sin they didn’t commit. Israel and its international partners should actually implement steps that will weaken and eventually marginalize Hamas. The group and its extremist ideology will never be entirely eliminated in a military operation, just like the U.S. could not destroy the Taliban even after 20 years. However, there are practical steps to take that would give Gazans a fighting chance for political self-determination and stability in the strip.

[mbti-sorted]

Ahmed Fouad Alkhatib

Anonymous asked: Ahmed Fouad Alkhatib - humanitarian activist and blogger?

[huynh19nguyen]

Ahmed Fouad Alkhatib From The River To The Sea Only Peace Will Set Us Free Shirt - Shibtee Clothing

The Ahmed Fouad Alkhatib From The River To The Sea Only Peace Will Set Us Free Shirt is a powerful and meaningful piece of apparel that carries an important message of peace and unity. The design features the name of the renowned Palestinian poet, Ahmed Fouad Alkhatib, along with the phrase “From The River To The Sea Only Peace Will Set Us Free.” This bold statement emphasizes the need for peace and solidarity among people living in the region. The shirt is made of high-quality materials, ensuring comfort and durability. It comes in a range of sizes to fit any body type, making it a versatile and inclusive piece for anyone who wants to show their support for peace in the Middle East. By wearing this shirt, you are not only making a fashion statement but also showing your commitment to promoting peace and understanding in a conflicted region. It serves as a remin - j6dlqule32

[agentfascinateur]

Protest without alienating allies, as "most Palestinians and Jews want peace"

The protesters have taken “an extremist, maximalist, inflammatory, unreasonable, and totally illogical approach which is harmful to the pro-Palestinian cause,” wrote Ahmed Fouad Alkhatib, a Gaza-born Palestinian analyst who has lost a staggering 31 members of his own family in recent months. Via social media, Alkhatib urges the demonstrators to stop “wasting time with slogan-driven and maximalist activism that does nothing”, and instead to “use your western privilege to actually help the Palestinian people and promote a pragmatic path forward by engaging Israeli and Jewish audiences”. For him, it’s clear that that pragmatic path leads to two states, Israel and Palestine, side by side. As a demand, it does not deliver the same transgressive thrill as calling for an all-Arab, Jew-free Palestine.

I don't know which Palestinians would prefer, since their voices have been muffled by media and only these bright students have been able to drive the point home and occupy the public space on their behalf 👏🏼. Protests AND savvy use of privilege?... anything is good at this point that gets Palestinians heard. 👍🏼

They want to live.

[myfootyrthroat]

Weird that Palestinian activists have been pushing for air drops of food for months (specifically Ahmed Fouad Alkhatib, who lost dozens of family members in Gaza), but then people in the US don't like it when it actually happens.