Israel's genocide on Gaza is one of the gravest assaults on humanity of the modern age and still it gets worse by the day, but are musicians and festivals such as Glastonbury still scared to speak out?

Footage from our live-streamed book launch event at the Frontline Club, London for The Racket by Matt Kennard with Lowkey, Huda Ammori, and Ahmed Alnaouq.

Eight months into Israel’s ongoing genocide on Gaza—one funded, armed and enabled by the United States—it has never been more urgent to shine a spotlight on the American Empire and the mechanics of its operation. Matt Kennard’s 'The Racket' does just that.

The event took place on Friday 12th May at Central Hall in Westminster, London, where the United Nations General Assembly held its first meeting in January 1946.

Shalan discusses the expulsion of her grandfather from the city of Haifa in 1948, Britain's historical and ongoing role in supporting Israel's Nakba against the Palestinians, the increased suppression around Palestine on the streets and in the classroom and also questions the mindset of those ardently defending Israel in spite of its blatant abuses against the Palestinian people today.

Palestine Deep Dive and Double Down News host an emergency event, Gaza Frontline, hearing from four Palestinians from Gaza.

The discussion is chaired by investigative journalist Matt Kennard, co-founder of Declassified UK.

For a month now, Israel, a nuclear-armed military superpower, has conducted its biggest and harshest bombardments against the captive population of the Gaza Strip, leaving nowhere safe. Now under “complete siege”, Palestinians are not only killed from direct bombardment, crushed under the rubble, but suffer an imposed starvation, dehydration and a collapsed medical system.

A considerable number of respected human rights organisations and experts have expressed concern that Palestinians are at grave risk of genocide by Israel. More than 10,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israel’s bombardments, including over 4,000 children.

Since October 7^th, Israel has also reportedly ramped up its oppression of Palestinians under occupation in the West Bank and Jerusalem, killing Palestinians daily and committing other human rights violations such as arresting and detaining Palestinians without trial and committing torture.

Despite Israel continuing to commit atrocities in front of our eyes, Western governments refuse to call for an immediate ceasefire and a lifting of the siege to restore electricity, fuel, water, food and to provide urgent humanitarian relief.

Right now, as their families remain under blockade and bombardment, it has never been more urgent to hear Palestinians in their own words present both the facts on the ground and what must be done to end this ongoing crisis once and for all.

Panel:

Matt Kennard (chair) is co-founder and chief investigator at Declassified UK, a news outlet investigating British foreign policy. He was a fellow and then director at the Centre for Investigative Journalism (CIJ) in London, UK. He has worked as a staff writer for the Financial Times in Washington, DC, New York, and London. He is the author of two acclaimed books: Irregular Army (2012) and The Racket (2015). His new book Silent Coup is out now.

Ahmed Alnaouq is a Palestinian journalist from Gaza and the co-founder of We Are Not Numbers, a collective which trains the next generation of Palestinian writers to publish their stories in English. Ahmed obtained a Chevening Scholarship to pursue a Master’s degree in international journalism from Leeds University before serving as advocacy and outreach officer for the Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor. His writings have been published in many publications including The Washington Post, The New Arab and Arab News. He has appeared live in interviews across the Western media, speaking on channels such as Sky News, the BBC and MSNBC.

Dr. Shahd Abusalama is a Palestinian academic born and raised in Jabalia Refugee Camp, northern Gaza, currently based in London, UK. She recently got a Ph.D. from Sheffield Hallam University which explores the historical representations of Gaza and its refugees in documentary films, and is to be published by Bloomsbury next year, under the title, "Between Reality and Documentary". Dr. Abusalama is also an artist, activist, and the author of Palestine from My Eyes blog which was published as a book in ltaly in 2013. She is also a co-founder of Hawiyya Dance Company which showcases Palestine’s folkloric Dabke and music to UK audiences and beyond to amplify anti-colonial and anti-racist causes.

Dr. Mohammed Seyam is a medical doctor from Gaza, currently in London pursuing his MSc in Global Healthcare Management at UCL. He is a global diabetes advocate and educator, a Young Leader at the International Diabetes Federation, and the MENA chapter lead at T1International. Mohammed’s work focuses on access to health and health delivery, especially in Non-Communicable diseases.

Saleem Lubbad is a full-time physicist working on the development of Nuclear Fusion Energy He was Oxford University’s first Gaza scholar. Saleem is also an Arabic language poet, writer, voice-over artist and TV presenter. His interests span Arabic literature, modern science and technology, the history of science and Islamic architecture. Saleem has worked on various museum curation and media production projects, produced and presented a science show for Al-Araby TV, and often pens columns for several newspapers in the Middle East.

Palestine Deep Dive continues its UK event series, opening up space for Palestinians to be heard articulating their own discourse, this time hosting esteemed Palestinian author Dr Ghada Karmi to celebrate the launch of her latest book with Pluto Press, One State: The Only Democratic Future for Palestine-Israel.

In April, PDD hosted Mohammed El-Kurd to explore the pressing need for a media landscape which no longer marginalises and excludes Palestinians, but centres their voices, experiences and agency,

This time Mark Seddon speaks with Ghada Karmi at the Frontline Club to learn more about her vision for Palestinian liberation, one of equal rights for all between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea.

Karmi argues the 'peace process' that has favoured the two-state solution for more than forty years has now been internationally exposed as masking the expansion of Israel's apartheid regime. Seventy-five years ago,  Ghada Karmi and her family in Jerusalem were among the hundreds of thousands of Palestinians who were exiled during the Nakba. She has since become one of the most vocal proponents of the single democratic state in Palestine-Israel in which all inhabitants of the lands would have equal rights.

Forced from her home in 1948, Karmi came to the United Kingdom as a refugee and later trained as a Doctor of Medicine at Bristol University. She established the first British-Palestinian medical charity in 1972 and was an Associate Fellow at the Royal Institute for International Affairs. Her previous books include the best-selling memoir In Search of Fatima (2002) and Return: A Palestinian memoir (2015).

Mark Seddon was the first UN Correspondent for Al Jazeera English and is a former editor of Tribune Magazine.

Opening up the conversation, Seddon asks Dr Karmi what motivates her to keep pursuing justice and liberation for the Palestinians after all these years.

Dr Karmi responds:‍

"Why do I keep going? Well, it's very simple. There's nothing difficult about it. I want to go home. I want to at least end whatever life is left to me in my own homeland. I deeply resent the fact that I can't do that. That strikes me as being a very basic, fundamental injustice, not difficult to understand. That's the thing that drives me all the time."

Mentioning how Mexico has recently recognised Palestine as a state, and that the Palestinian Ambassador to the UK would likely stress commitment to the two state solution is a legal and moral imperative for the international community, Seddon asks why Dr Karmi no longer considers it a serious proposition.‍

"This is the crux, isn't it? This is the heart of it. The two-state solution has been this mantra that people repeat over and over again. What it is in reality, when you examine it, what you realise, what it's all about is preserving Israel. Albeit in slightly smaller geographical space. Preserving Israel is very important. But at the same time, being aware that the poor Palestinians have had a rough deal, so we'll give them something. We'll talk about a fifth of their original homeland. They can create their own state there so that everybody's happy, and who is everybody?"

"First of all, the Israelis because they retain their state and their status. Secondly, the Western world, which created Israel and doesn't want to see it come to an end. So that keeps them happy. Now, as for the Palestinians, well, they get something. So there you are, it's not a bad idea."

Expanding upon why such a proposition should never have become the adopted consensus in the first place and exposing how the rights of millions of Palestinian refugees have been ignored as a result, Dr Karmi continues:‍

"To me that kind of construct is totally to be rejected. If you think about it, it's outrageous."

"The settler state that created itself in the Palestinian homeland and was maintained by Western support is apparently entitled to 80% of the territory of the Palestinian homeland and the original inhabitants are given 20%. Now, what is omitted even in the best variation of the two-state solution are the refugees. I'm talking about the people sitting in camps, five to six million who've been in camps since 1948. Well where are they going? Not a mention of these people. How is it acceptable to leave them, nearly six million people, rotting in camps supported by the UN, with no end in sight, with no promise of a future. How is that acceptable?"

Dr Karmi also sees the drive for Western states to recognise Palestine as a state as counterproductive: ‍

"As people know, 138 member states of the UN, that's a majority of member states have recognised this thing called Palestine. Well when you look into it, what is the Palestine they've recognised? They've recognised a state which is to be constructed, by the way, it doesn't exist now on the 1967 territories, some of which we know, or a lot of which are already taken over by Israeli settlements."

"Apparently that is what is going to be the Palestinian state. So the question that has to be asked is, "What are these UN states thinking of?" What are they recognising, really? Therefore, this constitutes a huge obstacle in the path of people who believe in what I believe because you are immediately up against a so-called international consensus which says you people deserve a state. Here we are recognising your state and, as you said, Mexico just now. I know that attempts have been made to get the British government to recognise the Palestinian state. So what? It's meaningless. What it does is effectively put a spanner in the works of people who really want a just solution. That's the problem with it."

Dr Karmi argues that with Israel already ruling over a one state reality which includes the occupied West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem, the next step ought be to focus on pressuring Israel into ending its apartheid system which systematically deprives Palestinians of the rights its affords to Israeli Jews within that space.‍

"Israel's trajectory is clear and anybody who can't see that really needs to do a bit of reading.  It's to get the land without the people and they're working hard at it all the time, it's quite openly debated in Israel, that's the Israeli position. Now, if you actually look at geography, what you see is that the territory between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea, one territory, ruled by Israel, is composed demographically of roughly half and half Palestinian Arabs and Israeli Jews, never mind the refugees, that's in actual historic Palestine."

"It seems to be very clear that since we have a situation of one state already, there is one state, but the problem with that one state is it's ruled by one apartheid regime, which deals with half the population in a manner that no civilised society can accept, they have no rights, they have no citizenship."

"Honestly, what’s more logical than to look at setup like that, never mind all the stuff that's written all the time, look at the setup. Clearly, the next move from that is to alter the regime that's ruling this one territory, that's clearly the case because if you do not have a system of government which discriminates between Jew and non-Jew to the detriment of non-Jews, if you don't have that anymore, what you have is moving towards what I'm talking about, that you're all together in one state and what government is going to rule?"

Under no illusion that the idea of a single democratic state for Palestinians and Israelis to live side-by-side, under equal rights, is likely to be unpopular both among Palestinians and Israelis today, Dr Karmi nevertheless considers it the only realistic solution for achieving justice.‍

"Now, here I feel very strongly people have to face facts. It's really the case that if you asked Palestinian Arabs today to say, we're going to change the form of government. We're going to have a government of equal rights. You become equal citizens with these Jews. I can bet you most Palestinians will say no thank you, because they don't want to live with their usurpers, with the people who've treated them so badly. That's on the Palestinian side."

"If you go to Israeli Jews and you say how do you view the idea of equality, equal-citizenship with all these Arabs? They would be horrified, because for them, Arabs, first of all, there is a strong racist element in all this. They are a despised people, and the last thing they would want is equal citizenship with people they despise. Furthermore, they have loads of privileges at the moment, the privileges of a colonial society they don't want to give up."

"If you were to approach this question from how does this side feel and that side? You have to face facts. They don't like it. They don't want it. The Palestinians would say to you, our dearest wish is to turn the clock back to a time before 1948 when this was our homeland. If you go to the Israeli Jews and say to them, what about their dearest wishes for the Palestinians to disappear? That is the reality and that's what we are dealing with. Where do we go from here?"

Being frank in her pessimism that Western states are unlikely to support a one state solution any time soon due to their unrelenting commitment to the State of Israel, in spite of its ongoing settler-colonialism and apartheid, Dr Karmi says:‍

"Let me just say a word or two about the West. These liberal Zionists you mentioned, the truth is, and it's got to be faced, the West is fixated on the idea of Israel. They can't give it up. I've often speculated that one of the reasons why the one-state idea, with all the sense that it makes, doesn't get anywhere at an official level in Western circles. No institution, no Western government has supported it or adopted it. That a very basic reason for this, is the fact that they understand that if you have a one democratic state, that's the end of Israel as you know it."

"It's not Israelis being killed. It's that the state structure of Israel will end, it has to in a one democratic state, and they resist that. Now it's an area I want to explore much more. Not now obviously, we haven't time because it's very important and very interesting, the Western adherence to the idea of Israel, which they can't give up. It's like an addict. They can't give up on it. It makes it very difficult really to work with them."

Going deeper into the issue of Zionism, Dr Karmi explains why all forms of the ideology, even “soft” or “liberal” Zionism, must be totally rejected outright before organisations and individuals can claim to be genuinely advocating for Palestinian rights in a meaningful way.

She describes how an event organised earlier in the month to celebrate the launch of her book was cancelled by UK-based charity, the Balfour Project, the night before because of a complaint made by another UK-based organisation against the scheduled interviewer - musician and activist, Lowkey. ‍

"The reason was, the Balfour Project, people may or may not have heard of, but is this charity which interests itself in Palestine and also does have connections with what you might call liberal Zionist organisations and individuals. Now, what happened on this occasion and, as Mark said, this is the book launch that you were not allowed to hear, but you are allowed this evening."

"The book launch was canceled because one of these liberal Zionist organisations objected to Lowkey. Lowkey, who is identified by some of them as ‘antisemitic.’ Now, that's nonsense. He's not at all antisemitic, and they were never able to produce any evidence that he was. Sadly, the organisers on behalf of the Balfour Project, pulled it in fear in case there was an offence caused to the liberal Zionists. Now, this happened on the night before the book launch was due, literally on the night before."

"They threw me under the bus, and Lowkey was persona non grata. Just because these Zionists were upset. Now, this is exactly what, in a way, I've been talking about in a roundabout way. I can only put it to you this way, until people understand, really what Zionism has done to the Palestinians until they understand what it is actually, what Zionism is  - soft, not soft, liberal, not liberal - it's all Zionism. Until people understand that, they cannot claim to support Palestinians wholeheartedly. If you support Palestinians wholeheartedly, you must reject Zionism."

Bringing the conversation with Mark Seddon to a close, Dr Karmi ends by defining what Zionism means in practice to Palestinians:‍

"At its most basic, Zionism was a project, is an ongoing project, to create and maintain a state for Jews. In doing so it had to exclude right from the beginning non-Jews. Hence, I was expelled, and so many others were expelled because we were non-Jews. It's very important to understand it's on that basis that we were non-Jews that we're expelled. That's what Zionism continues to maintain and wants to expand, the territory of the state of the Jews in order to accommodate more Jews, and so you can see, in order to get more territory, you've got to clear the non-Jews out. Which is more Palestinians like me. Now that is Zionism, and it's brutal and it's been extremely cruel to us Palestinians. If you support us, how on earth can you show any sympathy towards a project like this?"

Watch the book launch in full here or listen via all major podcast streaming platforms. Purchase One State: The Only Democratic Future for Palestine-Israel (Pluto Press).

The event took place on Friday 12th May at Central Hall in Westminster, London, where the United Nations General Assembly held its first meeting in January 1946.

Mohamad describes the abuse and attempted silencing she has experienced for being vocal about Palestine, exposes how the Nakba is ongoing against Palestinians today and how the British government continues to enable it through its foreign policy towards Israel.

Francesca Albanese, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian Territory occupied since 1967, addresses the Palestinian Mission to the UK’s event commemorating the 75th anniversary of the Palestinian Nakba in London.

The event took place on Friday 12th May at Central Hall in Westminster, London, where the United Nations General Assembly held its first meeting in January 1946.

Albanese reminded politicians in attendance, which included members of parliament from across the house, of the UK’s ongoing complicity in Israel’s colonisation of Palestine. Watch the speech in full above, and read a selection of quotes below:

“The British mandate has innumerable responsibilities, along with the United Nations. In fact, not just for being there during the Nakba, but for enabling the circumstances that made the Nakba possible. And this warrants reflection and action.”

“While commemorating the Nakba, particularly in this country, may lead to think primarily of the United Kingdom’s historical responsibilities, I want to reflect in fact, by virtue of my mandate, on the United Kingdom’s current role and responsibility, or irresponsibility vis-à-vis Israel and Palestine, and the disparaging state of affairs in that tormented land.”

“The United Kingdom, not differently from other European countries and Western states in general, still plays an influential role in Middle Eastern politics, but not for the better and certainly not for justice.”

“Today the prevailing climate in the occupied Palestinian territory continues to be of widespread and systematic violence, maintained through occupation under the pretence of security, which is there just to protect and expand the colonies that over fifty-six years have grown from zero to 270, with a population which has grown from zero to 720,000. Israeli governments policies and the inertia of the international community have worsened the situation granting impunity to Israel, its army and settlers.”

“In this context, apartheid, a word many in this room might still struggle to even pronounce, is a crime. But it’s also the unavoidable, the organic consequence, of the regime of supremacism that even Israel itself does not hide any more.”

“So in this respect, the recently unveiled UK-Israel 2030 Roadmap, the commercial agreements that the United Kingdom maintains with Israel, and even the recent proposals to ban activities calling for sanctions and divestment vis-à-vis Israel, send really the wrong signal, to a country like Israel, at a moment of heightened repression of the Palestinians, the defenceless Palestinian people, under occupation.”

“As a leading nation in International relations and given its past, the United Kingdom should embrace the Nakba as a past and current issue, and embark on a new principled approach which starts with undoing the present as a form of atonement for what has been done to the Palestinians for the past one hundred years.“

Exploring the pressing need for a media landscape which no longer marginalises and excludes Palestinians, but centres their voices, experiences and agency, Palestine Deep Dive (PDD) held its second ever in-person event last week, and its first in London in collaboration with Haymarket Books.

They hosted award-winning Palestinian poet, journalist and organiser Mohammed El-Kurd in conversation with Malia Bouattia, the Opinion Editor of The New Arab, at the Frontline Club, Paddington. On his first visit to the UK, El-Kurd also sat down with Novara Media, Double Down News and Jeremy Corbyn’s Peace and Justice Project for sessions around media bias and reform, which PDD proudly helped facilitate.

In 2021, El-Kurd published RIFQA, his debut collection of poetry with Haymarket Books. That same year he was named one of the 100 most influential people in the world by TIME Magazine alongside his sister Muna for their role as leading voices in the #SaveSheikhJarrah movement. He currently serves as the first ever Palestine Correspondent for The Nation.

Speaking from first hand experience to an audience of journalists and campaigners, El-Kurd presents a multifaceted critique of mainstream media coverage on Palestine, from the decades-long systematic exclusion and underrepresentation of Palestinian voices to the outright dehumanising presentation of Palestinians enduring Israel’s occupation.

He offers suggestions to independent platforms and media giants alike on how to quickly improve their reporting if they are truly committed to presenting informed and accurate news, and also how other young Palestinians can be bolder and more assertive in articulating their own discourse and presenting their narrative. 

With Israel’s attempted erasure of the Palestinian people accelerating by the day, PDD’s Omar Aziz preceded the discussion by drawing attention to the urgent need to find new ways of connecting Palestinian realities to Western audiences.

He drew attention to the ease of centring Palestinian voices on the ground today, even for small media platforms using household streaming services such as Zoom, and asks, “So what excuse does a multimillion-pound international news station have with teams of correspondents, producers, and editors not to be able to do the same?”

Opening up the conversation, Bouattia asks El-Kurd about the rationale behind his uncompromising approach to interviews with the mainstream media. He emphasises how Palestinians are still struggling against decades of dehumanisation:

“When you turn the question on its head, when you correct the presenter, you are changing the power dynamic in the interview itself. You are having the observer, the viewer question the integrity of that media platform and thus give you more authority on the subject. For me, the most important aspect of going on these TV shows has been, can I do this and still maintain my dignity? Because we are so starved for representation as Palestinians and because we have been so demonised across history, particularly after the First Intifada and we have been depicted as terrorists. We tend to back into a corner when we're attacked with these types of questions, and we tend to defend ourselves and we tend to start our statements with a million disclaimers and qualifiers and somehow rebelling against that is able to turn the question on its head and it is empowering for the viewer. That's why I do it.”

When asked whether there is much to learn from the approach of pro-Israel media platforms and media watch groups, El-Kurd responds:

“Yes. We have the truth on our side, but the truth is not enough. Those of us who are advocates, who go on TV, must acquire a certain kind of political education, must know what the hell they're talking about before they go on TV. It is not enough to be just a subject of violence, it's not enough to just have the bruises. You must also be able to be compelling…  I think about the 2021 campaign for Sheikh Jarrah and the fact that it was mostly successful in halting the expulsion orders against our families was the fact that it was completely volunteer-led, and it was hundreds of thousands around the world that were participating in it, that were taking the time out of their day to protest, to tweet, to divest, to create work in their cities, and so on and so forth. We went against one of the most highly-funded foreign ministries in the world, and we beat them in the narrative. Imagine how powerful we could have been should we have that training, should we have the resources, and the infrastructure. ”

Asked if he has the luxury to put in demands around interviews, El-Kurd responds:

“I usually demand that it's a live interview. You should not care what the interviewer is asking. You have a talking point to deliver. You have a narrative to deliver, so you deliver it. Yes, I think that's really the most important thing you should always expect if you're going on mainstream media. Honestly, after some of the interviews I’ve done here, even going on leftist media, you're going to get stupid questions, and you should know not to be derailed, not to be distracted by these questions.”

Mentioning that in 1984, union members refused to publish The Sun’s front page picture of the National Union of Miners’ leader Arthur Scargill, which froze him in a pose misleadingly imitating a Nazi salute, Bouattia asks whether El-Kurd feels journalists and workers in mainstream media outlets can do more to exert pressure on their editors to report the truth.

El-Kurd: “Yes. People should be a lot more bold and a lot more courageous. I say this from just engaging with journalists who work at the New York Times and who work at the Washington Post who have their hearts in the right place, and they have the right sentiment and they even know the facts… Then when their editor changes something in their piece, they just go, ‘Oh, fuck,’ and they drink a cocktail and go home. They don't push back against their editors. It's quite cowardly. If we are serious about this, then we must run the risk of sacrifice. Across history, any opposition to any injustice has not been met with applause initially.”

El-Kurd emphasises that while leftist media platforms can be ideal spaces for young Palestinians to gain media experience, the platforms themselves still often retain problematic positions on Palestine:

“I think certainly they are and they could be training spaces, but even observing the UK or the United States, these so-called leftists or progressive media outlets, oftentimes do not even have a principled stance on Palestine. They often engage in this qualification policy, where they can only speak about Palestine if they spent fifteen minutes denouncing all kinds of bigotry and racism as if Palestine is inherently tied to a certain bigotry. We saw how some leftist media organisations dealt with accusations against Corbyn, for example and how they conceded, how they gave heft to these baseless, incredibly bogus and outrageous accusations that are designed to silence advocates for Palestine. Maybe I'm too cynical, but there's lots of work to be done.”

Rounding off the conversation, El-Kurd reiterated that Palestinians are not asking for an easy ride in the media, but simply calling upon journalists to do their jobs:

“We're not asking them to do us any favours. We're asking them to do their jobs. When you are writing an article about a raid on Al-Aqsa Mosque and the first quote you start with, and the last quote you end with, is from the Israeli police you are not a journalist, you're a stenographer. When you are writing an essay about forced expulsions in Sheikh Jarrah , and the only people you're referencing is the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs, you're not a journalist, you're a state secretary so do your jobs. Thank you.”

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Rashid Khalidi & Zarefah Baroud

Roger Waters

Mohammed El-Kurd “Part 1”

Mohammed El-Kurd “Part 2”

Pam Bailey

María Fernanda Espinosa

Mark Seddon

Enas Ghannam

Mike Hanna