‘How many dead Palestinians are enough?’ – Day 430

In the face of siege and war in Gaza, the writer and educator Refaat Alareer fought for his people’s right to narrate their experiences and history. “As a Palestinian, I have been brought up on stories and storytelling,” writes Alareer. “It’s both selfish and treacherous to keep a story to yourself.”

First written in 2022, these lines now sit at the heart of If I Must Die, a posthumous collection from Alareer’s eclectic and compelling oeuvre.

Published by OR Books to mark a year since the writer’s death by an Israeli airstrike in Gaza, If I Must Die contains a selection of journalism, literary criticism, essays and poems written between 2010 and 2023.

Taken together, they provide a glimpse into a restless political and literary mind, one that was still rising to the height of its powers.

Many readers and students knew and loved Alareer while he lived, but it was his death that brought his name into the global consciousness. In the hours and days after his killing, Alareer’s poem If I Must Die went viral, resounding from social media to the streets.

Written to his daughter Shymaa in 2011, the seemingly simple verses vibrate, stretched taut between tragedy, tenderness and resolve: “If I die / you must live / to tell my story … let it bring hope / let it be a tale.”

Shymaa and her infant son were killed by an Israeli airstrike a few months after her father’s death; on 4 December, at a New York City launch event for the anthology, the Palestinian poet Mosab Abu Toha reflected that, with both Refaat and Shymaa Alareer now dead, If I Must Die becomes a letter to “each one of us who read or heard the poem” (continue reading here).

Universities continue to retaliate against staff for participating in Gaza campus protests

Clara C. began working at Columbia University one month after the start of the genocide in Gaza in October 2023. Like many incoming members of the Columbia community, she had high hopes for her time at the university.

Seven months later, she was suspended from her post, ostensibly because of her involvement in the Gaza Solidarity Encampment. By early summer, she was terminated.

Clara pushed back. No evidence had been presented in her dismissal, and – against university protocol – there was no union representative present when she was fired on May 10, less than a month after her participation in the encampment. Together with her union, Clara filed a case arguing that she was wrongfully terminated and demanding reinstatement and back pay.

Employees often face certain restrictions on their freedom of speech. In the past year, retaliation against employees or future employees for expressions of solidarity with Palestine has repeatedly made headlines. Law firms have rescinded their offers to graduating students. Tech companies, including Google, have fired employees for organizing. Last year, Starbucks and its union sued each other over a disputed social media post by the union.

But the response of universities, with their long standing reputations of creating space for intellectual engagement and dissent, stands out. Faculty at Columbia and other universities have described a growing climate of academic suppression (continue reading here).

Stalwart Israel defender Brian Mast tapped to lead House Committee on Foreign Affairs

The US House of Representatives Republican Steering Committee announced its selection of Rep. Brian Mast (R-Florida) as the next chairman of the Committee on Foreign Affairs.

Mast currently serves on the Foreign Relations Subcommittee on Oversight and Accountability.

Roll Call described the Mast pick as surprising and said the conservative congressman is “known for his sharp tongue and grievance politics.”

Mast will bring to the role his staunch support of President-elect Donald Trump, Israel and, notably, opposition to continued US support of Ukraine.

The late Queen Elizabeth believed every Israeli was “either a terrorist or a son of a terrorist” and refused to allow Israeli officials into Buckingham Palace, former Israeli president Reuven Rivlin has said.

“The relationship between us [Israel] and Queen Elizabeth was a little bit difficult,” Rivlin told a gala event celebrating Haifa’s Technion Institute of Technology in London on Sunday night.

The queen was often thought to have had a strained relationship with Israel.

Despite her visiting more than 120 countries and traveling around a million miles during her 70 years on the throne, she never visited the country.

Some have speculated that Elizabeth had a negative attitude to Israel due to the violent insurgency waged against the British mandate in Palestine by Zionist armed groups in the 1940s, before Israel’s declaration of independence.

Rivlin said on Sunday that King Charles, Elizabeth’s son, had always been “so friendly” in comparison to his mother (continue reading here).