Creating new perspectives since 2009
Items by Hannah Szeto
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Elie Saab Jr’s wedding draws envy on social media
This weekend, Lebanese designer Elie Saab’s son got married in a stunning three-day ceremony already being dubbed as Lebanon’s royal wedding. Elie Saab Jr. and Christina Mourad tied the knot on Friday in a Maronite ceremony just northeast of Beirut at the Church of Bkerke, followed by a reception...
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#IStandWithIlhan trends after Trump’s racist attacks
US Representative Ilhan Omar has received an outpouring of support on social media after yet another set of racist attacks against her enabled and encouraged by President Donald Trump. Earlier this week, Trump went on a racist Twitter rant attacking four Democratic Congresswomen and telling them to “go back”...
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US anti-occupation group questions presidential candidates on Israel
American Jewish anti-occupation organisation IfNotNow has begun its campaign to press 2020 Democratic presidential hopefuls on their positions on the Israeli military occupation of the Palestinian people. In doing so, the group hopes to “push the candidates past giving lip-service to a two-state solution without recognising the underlying dynamics...
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‘In US universities students who criticise Israel are under attack’
Throughout history, students have been at the forefront of important movements advocating for fundamental changes in society. In the 1970s and 1980s, the anti-apartheid movement gained traction on university campuses in the UK and the US, with various demonstrations taking place and calls to divest from companies doing business...
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FaceApp takes on Arab Twitter
The #FaceAppChallenge or #agechallenge emerged as a new trend on Twitter this weekend, with thousands downloading the viral app that alters their appearance so that they look much older or have a different hairstyle, among other settings. Besides using the app on their own pictures, users took to uploading...
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Profile: Ghassan Kanafani (1936 – 1972)
Palestinian activist and novelist was murdered in Beirut by a bomb planted in his car by Israel’s Mossad spy agency on 8 July 1972. He was 36 years old. Today, his writings remain among the most influential in modern Palestinian literature, indeed, among modern Arab literature, with his works...
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Netanyahu uses DNA claim to deny Palestinian right to homeland
Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu yesterday tweeted that the Palestinians’ connection to the Land of Israel is nothing compared to the 4,000 year connection that the Jewish people have with the land. He cited a recent article stating that Biblical Philistines had come from Europe, according to DNA uncovered...
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Israel’s apartheid regime in the spotlight at Palestine Expo
Hundreds gathered in London this weekend to celebrate Palestinian history, art and culture at Palestine Expo, Europe’s largest Palestine event organised by British NGO Friends of Al-Aqsa (FOA). Despite attempts by pro-Israel group UK Lawyers for Israel (UKLFI) to shut down the event, there was a tremendous turnout as...
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Egypt footballer kicked off team after sexual harassment allegations
Egyptian midfielder Amr Warda has been kicked off the national football team amid sexual harassment allegations that surfaced this week. The Egyptian Football Association said Warda would be excluded from the rest of Egypt’s matches at the Africa Cup of Nations to “ensure discipline and focus” within the team,...
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Bella Hadid attacked for ‘insulting’ Saudi Arabia, the UAE
Palestinian-American supermodel Bella Hadid has come under fire on social media for supposedly disrespecting Saudi Arabia and the UAE in her recent Instagram story. She is pictured with the sole of her boot facing three planes, including a Saudi plane and a UAE plane, an insult in Arab culture....
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Sudan will not be silenced
Thousands have taken to social media to stand with Sudanese protesters and to raise awareness of the brutal crackdown on demonstrators in the midst of a nation-wide internet blackout. The internet blackout came after a violent police dispersal of protesters in the nation’s capital Khartoum. Since then, access to...
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‘Syrians are not refugees, Egypt is their home’
An Egyptian social media campaign standing in solidarity with Syrian refugees has sparked on Twitter in response to lawyer Samir Sabry’s calls for new laws to strictly surveil Syrian business owners to prosecute “those who finance terrorism and hostility against their country”. Sabry is notorious for his lawsuits accusing...