Creating new perspectives since 2009
Items by Ramona Wadi
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Humanitarian aid and colonial violence
As scrutiny of the Gaza Humanitarian Fund (GHF) increases, the Israeli military has tried to rally support for the agency’s operations, saying it provides “Palestinians with an opportunity to eat from another hand that isn’t the terrorist group,” with reference to Hamas. The military also stated it does not intentionally…
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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 of…
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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 has…
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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.” If…
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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 be…
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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 recognition…
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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 backed…
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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, the…
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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 and…
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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 Madleen…
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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 European…
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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 it…
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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 ensued.…
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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 be…
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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 both…
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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 democratic…
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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 so-called…
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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 fiction…
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Humanitarian aid in return for forced displacement
When Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu embarked upon his campaign to destroy the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), one of the aims was to alter the definition of who qualifies for refugee status. The bans on UNRWA have made it near to impossible for the agency…
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A veneer for genocide
As Israel continues with its genocide in Gaza, criticism is piling up. From within Israel itself, former senior Mossad official Anon Sofrin recently pointed out that “full military takeover of Gaza would likely come at a steep price”. And during a visit to Israel, German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul stated,…
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The EU’s discrepancies in humanitarian aid rhetoric
Reading through comments regarding the latest purported disagreements over the delivery of humanitarian aid to Gaza, one fact stands out above all others – humanitarian aid is being politicised, and it always has been. It is easy for the European Union to state that aid “must bever be politicised or…
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Colonialism, dissociation and genocide
The international community’s lenience towards Israel’s genocide in Gaza mirrors the complacency and complicity in the early years of Zionism. What we have seen through decades of Zionist colonisation in Palestine is the international community moving away from the stipulated human rights and international law violations to chart a new…
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The PA’s efforts to keep Palestinians colonised
The Palestinian Authority’s dependence on Israel and the US makes it traitorous to Palestinians. This week, Israeli media reported that the PA’s Intelligence Chief Majed Faraj will be meeting with the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) officials in Washington. Faraj has been part of the PA’s security establishment since 1994…
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Advisory opinions will not stop genocide
Legal recourse becomes absurd when the need is to stop genocide as a matter of great urgency. In December 2024, the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution calling for an advisory opinion from the International Court of Justice about Israel’s obligations in Gaza to ensure delivery of humanitarian aid “essential…