Creating new perspectives since 2009
Items by Ramona Wadi
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Perfect Victims and the Politics of Appeal
“It is not only grief that makes writing in the time of genocide a tortuous task; it is, more so, one’s recognition of the written word as shamefully insufficient in the face of 2,000-pound bombs,” Mohammed El-Kurd writes in the introduction to his book Perfect Victims and the Politics...
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Zohran or Zion: The future of world order
They say history swings on a hinge—on moments that demand a reckoning, not a retweet. Today, we stand at such a crossroads. One path leads to ‘Zohran’: a world built on egalitarian liberation, where justice is not a marketing slogan but a lived reality, and where the commons are...
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Qatar and Indonesia must channel their $4 billion fund into renewable energy
In April 2025, a pivotal agreement marked a new chapter in Indonesia–Qatar relations. Danantara, Indonesia’s newly established sovereign wealth fund, and the Qatar Investment Authority (QIA), one of the most powerful state-owned investors in the Middle East, established a joint investment fund worth $4 billion—$2 billion from each party....
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Merz’s blurred division between reasoning and questioning
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz spouted several contradictions in his speech on Tuesday to the Bundestag, ahead of the NATO summit which was held at The Hague this week. Germany’s “reason of state,” he said, “is to defend the state of Israel in its existence.” But, he added, “the moment...
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The EU makes Gaza fodder for its delayed diplomacy
Leaked excerpts of the European External Action Service’s (EEAS) review of the EU-Israel Association Agreement exhibits more cautiousness than determination to condemn Israel’s genocidal actions in Gaza. “There are indications that Israel would be in breach of its human rights obligations under Article 2 of the EU-Israeli Association Agreement.” ...
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The EU-Israel Association Agreement is not fit for purpose
It is now possible that the EU-Israel Association Agreement will not be suspended, in light of Israel’s attacks on Iran. No mater how much the EU tries to frame this outcome on Iran, the fact remains that Israel extended its warfare. And for extending its warfare, Israel will likely...
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The politics of postponing Palestine
As attention shifts towards Israel’s attacks on Iran, where does Palestine stand? Just a few weeks ago, anticipation for the joint France-Saudi Arabia conference on the two-state paradigm was gradually building, albeit with no particular expectations other than statements of promise to symbolically recognise a Palestinian state. If symbolic...
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A mad dog and a muzzled empire: Israel, Iran, and the limits of strategic patience
There are moments in history when diplomacy dies with a whimper, not a bang. But this time, it may die with both. Israel, drunk on decades of unpunished aggression, has now hurled itself off the ledge of military recklessness, dragging its American enablers and the wider Middle East into...
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The implications of supporting Israel’s ambiguity policy on its nuclear weapons
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had the audacity to accuse Iran of genocide in his statement outlining the reasons for Operation Rising Lion, while openly committing genocide against Palestinians in Gaza with the international community’s complicity. “For decades, the tyrants of Tehran brazenly, openly called for Israel’s destruction. They...
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Resisting Erasure: Capitalism, Imperialism and Race in Palestine
One statement the authors make in the introduction to Resisting Erasure: Capitalism, Imperialism and Race in Palestine (Verso Books, 2025) encapsulates book’s essence: “We hope to de-exceptionalise the question of Palestine.” The prevailing concepts of the Zionist colonisation of Palestine do not consider the wider imperialist context. Religious conflict,...
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The silence of the sultans: Muslim regimes and the holocaust of our time
Tel Aviv is no longer content with turning Gaza into a graveyard—it now flies its missiles eastward, striking Iranian soil with the kind of psychotic bravado usually reserved for Bond villains and colonial empires on their last legs. Over the past year, Israel has escalated its shadow war on...
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Protecting Israel’s narrative also protects genocide
According to US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee, there is a ‘complication’ when Palestinians want their own state on their own land. Speaking during an interview with Bloomberg, Huckabee undoubtedly awarded Israel with further impunity for its ongoing genocide of the Palestinian people, when severing the link between Palestinians...
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Israel’s PR stunt backfires, guides focus to humanitarian deprivation in Gaza
“All the passengers of the ‘selfie yacht’ are safe and unharmed. They were provided with sandwiches and water. The show is over,” Israel’s Foreign Ministry posted on X. The images of Israeli commandos handing out packets of sandwiches and bottles of water to the 12 activists on board the...
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The empire’s playpen: Nukes, nationalism, and manufactured madness in South Asia
More than a month has passed since the deadly terrorist attack in Pahalgam, deep in the restive terrain of Indian-occupied Kashmir. Yet, the region has not exhaled. That attack was the spark; the explosion was narrowly averted—this time. Fighter jets scrambled, missiles were mobilized, and once again the world...
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How world leaders stand with genocide
Do world leaders really want the genocide in Gaza to end? Israel’s arms sales record for 2024 paints a clearer picture of where the international communities’ loyalties lie. For the fourth consecutive year Israel broke its arms sales record, totalling $14.8 billion in 2024. Israeli media reports note that...
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The diplomatic gamble on Palestinian statehood gives Palestinians no security
After France announced its intention to recognise a Palestinian state, Israel and the US have been lobbying against the possibility. France and Saudi Arabia are due to host a summit on Palestinian statehood at the UN in June. The summit is based on UN General Assembly Resolution 79/81, and...
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Why Israel did not defeat Gaza after 600 days of war?
I have been following the comments of various analysts published on portals in several countries, including Israel, questioning the performance of the Zionist army, which even after more than 600 days of intense aerial and ground bombardment against Gaza, none of the three objectives of the war have been...
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Starvation, surveillance and elimination in genocide
Images from Gaza do not paint a picture of humanitarian aid, as the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) commenced its operations. The long lines of Palestinians waiting for food evoked recollections of people in concentration camps, and the grouping of Palestinians was more an exercise in surveillance. Of course, chaos...
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Antisemitism as a cover for genocide
The accusation of antisemitism is spreading widely and escalating as the fascist government in Israel intensifies its crimes against the Palestinian people, prompting criticism even from its closest friends. Netanyahu accused Israel’s traditional allies —France, the UK, and Canada — of encouraging antisemitism simply because they announced their rejection...
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Humanitarian aid serves violent interests
Humanitarian aid has become one of the most prominent and shameful means through which international institutions attempt to mitigate the consequences of military aggression. Israel’s purported concept of aid has obviously fared no better. It must be said again that Israel’s designation of the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) can...
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Will the international community rethink its support for Israel’s security narrative?
Earlier this week, Israel fired warning shots at an international diplomatic delegation in the occupied West Bank. According to the Israeli military, the delegation “deviated from the approved route and entered an area where they were not authorised to be”. The delegation was visiting the Jenin refugee camp, which...
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Bureaucracy is saving both Israel and the EU
Article 2 of the EU-Israel Association Agreement has long been touted as one avenue for the EU to rethink its allegiances with Israel. The article states, “Relations between the Parties, as well as all the provisions of the Agreement itself, shall be based on respect for human rights and...
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International rhetoric aids Israel’s impunity
Israel allowed nine trucks of humanitarian aid to enter Gaza on a completely flawed premise in which the international community is completely complicit. Since the start of Israel’s genocide in Gaza, the international community has selected which actions to condemn, and the starvation policy took precedence even over the...
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On the Pleasures of Living in Gaza
In the epilogue to On the Pleasures of Living in Gaza (OR Books, 2025), Mohammed Omer Almoghayer writes, “We have our sorrow, which cannot be soothed by the analysis of a world that hasn’t experienced it. We have our loss, which others can only ponder in the realms of...