Peace be upon you reader,
There are no words left to express what has not already been expressed by others who are more eloquent and present physically on the ground about what is occurring in Gaza. One cannot do better but to listen and read to the words of Palestinians themselves trapped in that awful dystopian and harrowing open air concentration camp that the Zionists have constructed emulating the tactics of those that oppressed them decades before. A prison that is of the creation of American Empire, the worst of technocratic surveillance evil that has captured and laid waste to the aspirations of the peoples of that blessed land.
Unlike in times before, there is little now that is stopping Muslims bypassing legacy media and directly listening to their kin and blood as they do God’s work whether it be militarily resisting occupation and the onslaught of hostile forces sniping, bombing and targeting hospitals, mosques and churches, providing medical aid or documenting the harrowing atrocities committed by the world’s “most moral army” aided and abetted by American Empire and its vassal states. Make no mistake all of what is unfolding in Gaza has the blessings of the American imperial elite. The Israelis are but an instrument.
Yet for the Muslims to come, who are not yet born and who are to take up the torch in years to come the ground must be prepared. There are many aspects to this preparation but one dimension is the intellectual one. To understand Zionism in all its manifestation and to look at Israeli society through a critical lens - studying it, dissecting it, analysing its fault lines, exposing its cracks and waging a war through the pen against it. As pitiful and pathetic as this may sound whilst a genocide is being waged and the Muslim political elites in the region simply look on, this is the only realistic and viable option open to us at present as Muslims living in the diaspora and we would be remiss not to fully exhaust it until such time other means of engagement become viable.
What follows is a selection of pieces that are focused exclusively almost on the dynamics unfolding in Israeli society - it is paramount that this enemy is understood holistically - religiously, technologically, demographically, politically, socially and financially. The list provided is nowhere near exhaustive of course and there are probably plenty of pieces I have missed but these are the ones that have really stood out.
Naturally given some of the pieces are written by Israelis some of their perspectives are simply incompatible with the faith of any Muslim of remote sanity and moral clarity. Yet, it is their own evaluations and commentaries about their Zionist project that can be revealing - and that is where the value is. There is an art to reading one’s enemies and it is high time Ishmaelites once again become accustomed to this great Islamicate tradition.
And truly God knows best
Fascinating interview of Guy Laron, a Zionist historian focusing on the ascendance of the Netanyahu government and its ideological and geopolitical priorities including the ambition of turning Israel into a regional energy hub
Guy Laron again with a long but worthwhile twitter thread analysing the different trends within Zionism in the context of the latest genocide in Gaza
Fascinating interview by the New Yorker with Daniella Weiss, “a West Bank settler and activist, about how her religious views shape her view of the conflict”
Interview with one of the American imperial diplomatic elite - Martin Indyk, providing the American perspective on events unfolding
An informative blog piece about the internal political leanings and affiliations of mainstream Israeli media
Dror Eydar’s piece that offers insight into a very popular and mainstream understanding that combines the secular and Messianic narratives of Zionism
Dr Eithan Orkini’s piece that again sheds light on how Israelis view recent events as their version of 9/11 which provides justification for all sorts of surveillance and military expansionism just like it did in America in 2001
An old piece but still very relevant reflecting an honest appraisal of the Israeli settler state by Joshua Leifer in Jewish Currents
Raz Segal a professor of genocide studies and a specialist on the Holocaust offering his thoughts on the Israeli operation in Gaza
Fascinating podcast with Antony Loewenstein discussing the technological dimensions of Israel’s occupation and how it is exported around the world after “rigorous testing” on Palestinians. His book on the same topic has also been made available free as an ebook by the publisher Verso Books. For those who want a brief insight into what the book is about there is a nice article by Loewenstein available here.
Israel as a technocratic surveillance regime by Mona Shtaya
The journal Antipode Online has released and made free its 2021 issue that focused on the geographical dimensions of Israeli occupation - some insightful pieces in there to sift through
Great thread by Bheria that I have included in this tweet that show cases the brilliant work examining Zionism’s philosophical foundations robustly - Shahid Alam’s work on “Israeli Exceptionalism” - I have included a link to the book in my tweet
A short thread by yours truly on Israeli think tanks over the years two important geostrategic plans for the region to secure dominance - “A Clean Break” and the infamous “Yinon Paper”
Pre-October 7th but an important round table discussion which includes Israeli pundits examining the state and health of “Israeli democracy” focusing particularly on Netanyahu’s attempted judicial coup which is an important contextual background factor in the current genocide against the Gazans
A frank and honest assessment by one of the American imperial commentariat about the abysmal state of Israel’s propaganda machine
Israeli commentary on how the Netanyahu faction within the country funded and encouraged Hamas as a means of weakening and dividing Palestinian authority
A reminder that Anshel Pfeffer has an interesting work that is due for release soon abou the state of the global ultra-Orthodox Jewish movement
The larger expansion of Israel’s surveillance state mimicking that of the American Empire after 9/11
An opinion piece in the Jerusalem Post highlighting a widespread fear within the Zionists about the prospect of an Israeli civil war due to Netanyahu’s domestic policies. Another piece here by the Middle East Monitor
A set of articles curated by the Middle East Policy councils on the fault lines between religious and secular Zionists within Israel
For a frank introduction into the religious dimensions of Zionism one can do little better than Meir Kahane’s “They Must Go” - sentiments from that work now more than forty years ago, now form the heart of the identity of the Zionist State today
Dr Samaan’s piece examining Israeli military doctrine and how it may evolve in light of recent events
A roundtable discussion scheduled for 13/11/23 about how the Israeli state weaponizes the memory of the Holocaust. For those unfamiliar or new to all things Palestine, Norman Finklestein’s work remains probably the classic introduction on the topic.
A remarkably clear headed piece by the Financial Times oddly enough on the impact of the current Israeli genocide on its own economy
Peace be upon you also, just came across your substack. You're doing beautiful work, keep it up!!