Every time I stroll down the street unafraid, walk down a grocery aisle stocked with food, turn on the faucet, or flick a light switch, my mind turns to the people of Gaza. My home in Alexandria, Egypt, is only about 400 kilometers away, but with the border strictly closed, I feel so close yet so far. Muslims worldwide have been feeling a whirlwind of emotions since Israel began its total blockade and bombing of Gaza on October 9: shock, grief, and horror at Israel’s targeting of civilians and complete disregard for human life; anger and betrayal at the complicity of Western powers who have effectively rubber-stamped Israel’s actions; and despair and helplessness at the unwillingness of Muslim countries to intervene. Beyond these emotions, however, these unprecedented events have clarified some hard realities. Here are five lessons I’ve learned from the past few weeks. First, Allah is the source of all strength. Gazans have been suffering immensely for a very long time. Many of them are descendants of refugees from the first Nakba of 1948, when hundreds of thousands were forced to flee their homes as Zionist militias engaged in forced expulsions, massacres, and destruction of villages. This was according to an ethnic cleansing blueprint called Plan Dalet. In the present, Gazans have been living under a blockade for 17 years, with all aspects of life limited—food, water, work, and movement—and with intermittent Israeli bombings causing repeated loss of life and property. However, this latest assault, which can only be described as genocide, has dwarfed all these difficulties. Thousands of civilians, half of them children, have been killed in indiscriminate bombings. Entire families have been wiped out. Hospitals, schools, mosques, residential buildings, refugee camps, and even bakeries, have been decimated. Despite all the death and destruction, the people of Gaza show us the imperative value of faith by praising Allah, calling out to Him, and seeking His help. At a time when the powers of the world have turned against them and ignored their heart-wrenching suffering, the people of Gaza see with certainty that Allah is their only helper. They also, insha’Allah, maintain their certainty in Allah’s promise—that calamities erase sins, that patience is rewarded without measure, and that those they’ve lost will be granted an honorable status in the hereafter. If people who have experienced so much difficulty and injustice can endure, surely, we can as well. They’ve truly been an inspiration—and not just to Muslims. By observing such resilience and faith, many non-Muslims have been motivated to learn more about Islam and read the Qur’an. The more we understand and internalize that all strength comes from Allah—by increasing our knowledge of and adherence to Islam, and by strengthening our relationship with Allah—the stronger and more resilient we will be. Hopefully, these painful events have brought our hearts closer to our Creator. Perhaps we can follow the lead of Gazans and say, “Allah is sufficient for us, and He is the best protector.” Second, Palestine is the beating heart of the ummah. The land of Palestine holds a special place in the hearts of Muslims around the world, and the latest barbaric bombing and virtual destruction of northern Gaza has torn off the covering of a long-festering wound within the Muslim consciousness. Palestine is a sacred land on whose soil many prophets walked, and in which stands Masjid al-Aqsa, the first qiblah of the Muslims and the location from which our Prophet Muhammad ascended to the heavens on his miraculous journey. The loss of Palestine to the British in 1917 was a key stepping-stone towards the apartheid state we see today. The land where Muslims, Christians, and Jews lived side by side in harmony for centuries was, as of 1947-48, in the hands of Zionist militias, who immediately began the brutal campaign of ethnically cleansing the indigenous population, expelling over 750,000 people and killing 15,000. The dormant hearts of millions of Muslims around the world have been jolted awake by these atrocities committed against the Palestinians—the latest culmination of a 75-year history of erasure and oppression—as well as recent provocations and violations at Al-Aqsa Mosque. Despite our differences, the cause of Palestine is one that unites Muslims everywhere. As our Prophet taught us, “The parable of the believers in their love, affection, mercy, and fellowship is that of a body. When any limb aches, the whole body aches with sleeplessness and fever” (Bukhari and Muslim). In the many actions being taken by Muslims around the world—protests, boycotts, educational initiatives, social media activism—we can see that the ummah, as one united body, is very much alive. Third, people have shown their true colors. The most disturbing lesson from the genocide in Gaza has been discovering who has a moral compass and who doesn’t. Hard times bring out what’s deep inside us of good or evil, and the stances taken have been revealing. Nations and individuals who we thought stood for justice and equality were suddenly silent about the killing of thousands of civilians. Most Western powers, along with their media, are still proclaiming their undying support for Israel and its “right to defend itself,” while the rest of us are wondering what self-defense has to do with killing more than 18,000, including children (as of mid-December). The true values of the imperial powers—to whom nothing is sacred but money, power, and self-interest—have become clear to all, and it’s been a rude awakening. In contrast to this morally bankrupt world order, Allah warns us in the Qur’an against transgression, even in times of war: “O believers! Stand firm for Allah and bear true testimony. Do not let the hatred of a people lead you to injustice. Be just! That is closer to righteousness. And be mindful of Allah. Surely Allah is All-Aware of what you do” (Qur’an 5:8). Thankfully, many people have also shown the good that’s inside them. Tens of thousands have marched in cities around the world calling for an end to the killing, and many more are seeing through the lies,

Author Samya Ali converted to Islam in 1980 and she is a free-lance writer. All mainstream media in the U.S. is reporting on the current fighting between Palestine and Israel according to the usual official narrative: Hamas is a terrorist organization; this was an unprovoked attack; Israel has the right to defend itself, and on and on. There are, however, growing numbers of Western independent journalists and websites who know the truth of what is happening, know the context and the history, and are not fooled by those who, through obliviousness or deceit, parrot the talking points that have indoctrinated Americans for decades. Below are excerpts from some of these independent writers and sites. Kathryn Shihadah, on patheos.com, writes: Israel is realizing right now that it can’t oppress its neighbors forever without expecting retaliation. Palestinians have tried many methods of reasoning with Israel, only to be turned down; many nonviolent forms of protest, only to be gunned down. In the olden days, there were suicide bombers – the desperate act of the hopeless (and of those without the usual weapons to deliver bombs). Hamas hasn’t been involved in such an attack since 2008. Palestinians in Gaza have been locked in an open-air prison for sixteen years – under a brutal blockade that blocks the entrance of critical medicine and medical supplies, food, and other staples, causing rampant malnutrition in children; the Al-Aqsa mosque (one of the holiest sites in Islam) has been desecrated again and again in recent months; illegal Israeli settlers (with assistance from the Israeli military) have been attacking Palestinians and taking over their land; Palestinians in the West Bank have endured fifty-six years of occupation and indignity; Israel is illegally holding over five thousand Palestinians as political prisoners, under inhumane conditions. The list goes on. And there is no end in sight. That is why Hamas initiated these hostilities – because, how long should humans live, starving, in a cage, before they fight back? What else did Israel expect would happen? People who know the situation in Palestine-Israel knew this day would come – we just never expected it would play out as it has. Israel has powerful weapons and wealthy allies. What do the Palestinians have? A desperate hunger for justice and dignity, and nothing left to lose. ******* Chris Hedges, writing on Consortium News, notes: Regimes implanted and maintained by violence engender violence. The Haitian war of liberation. The Mau Mau in Kenya. The African National Congress in South Africa. These uprisings do not always succeed, but they follow familiar patterns. The Palestinians, like all colonized people, have a right to armed resistance under international law.    Israel never had any interest in an equitable settlement with the Palestinians. It built an apartheid state and has steadily absorbed larger and larger tracts of Palestinian land in a slow motion campaign of ethnic cleansing. It turned Gaza in 2007 into the world’s largest open air prison. How can you trap 2.3 million people in Gaza, half of whom are unemployed, in one of the most densely populated spots on the planet for 16 years, reduce the lives of its residents, half of whom are children, to a subsistence level, deprive them of basic medical supplies, food, water and electricity, use attack aircraft, artillery, mechanized units, missiles, naval guns and infantry units to randomly slaughter unarmed civilians and not expect a violent response? ******* Phyllis Bennis, on Consortium News, wrote: In 2012 the U.N. determined that without “herculean action” by the international community, by 2020 Gaza “will not be livable” – largely, though not only, because of the profound lack of access to clean water.  In 2015 the U.N. again reported that conditions had worsened, particularly because of the Israeli military assault in 2014 and its destruction of water and electrical infrastructure. And once again they urgently warned that Gaza would be “unlivable” by 2020. ******* The Palestine Bureau, on Mondoweiss.net, reports: According to the latest reports from the UN Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), more than 17,500 Palestinian families, comprising over 123,538 people, have been internally displaced in Gaza since Israel’s bombardment began. The majority of Palestinians in Gaza, who number more than two million, are facing prolonged blackouts, as Israel continues to cut power to the majority of the strip. On Monday Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said in a statement that he “ordered a full siege on the Gaza Strip. No power, no food, no gas, everything is closed. We are fighting human animals and we act accordingly.” Gaza has been under complete Israeli siege since 2007, with Israel controlling the land and sea borders, as well as air space around Gaza, controlling the movement of people and goods in and out of the Strip. ******* Jonathan Cook, writing at middleeasteye.net, notes: The West’s hypocrisy over Palestinian fighters killing and wounding hundreds of Israelis and holding dozens more hostage in communities surrounding and inside besieged Gaza is stark indeed. This is the first time Palestinians, caged in the coastal enclave, have managed to inflict a significant strike against Israel vaguely comparable to the savagery Palestinians in Gaza have faced repeatedly since they were entombed in a cage more than 15 years ago, when Israel began its blockade by land, sea and air in 2007. Western media are calling the jailbreak and attack by Palestinians from Gaza “unprecedented” – and the most dismal intelligence failing by Israel since it was caught off-guard during the Yom Kippur War exactly 50 years ago. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has accused Hamas, which nominally runs the open-air prison of Gaza, of starting “a cruel and evil war.” But the truth is that the Palestinians have “started” nothing. They have managed, after so much struggle, to find a way to hurt their tormentor.  ******* According to Lawrence Richard, writing at Fox News: More Democrats in the United States support Palestinians living in Gaza and the West Bank than Israel, the closest U.S. ally in the Middle East, according to a 2023 poll. Democratic sympathies for Palestinians has increased over the last decade, and a Gallup poll published in March 2023 found their affinity toward the Palestinians finally eclipsed their support of Israel,

Lina B. Date published: Wed, 26 July 23 In France weeks ago, Nahel M. was killed by French police at a traffic stop. The 17-year old was from the suburbs of Paris. The killing sparked protests amongst French Algerians, French Moroccans, French Muslims, and Black French people. Most of these groups live in underserved minority areas. In Europe, racism, Islamophobia, and anti-Semitism are embedded within the fabric of society, although many Europeans will claim that color does not matter. Hiding behind perceptions of color-blindedness helps members of Europe’s privileged classes to ignore systemic issues. In many cases, it is illegal to even compile racial statistics in France . The New York Times reports an investigation by France’s Defenseur des Droit that “young men perceived to be Black or Arab” were 20 times as likely to be subjected to police identity checks than other members of the population.  In any case, it is difficult to speak about race and other institutional systems in Europe, and specifically France. France’s history with colonialism can be understood as one of the primary reasons behind its racism and institutionalized discrimination against minority groups. French colonialism was brutal. Even now, in the era of “post-colonialism,” France’s former colonies are still paying France a reparation tax – a tax for the inconvenience independence of the colonies caused to France. French president Macron refuses to ask for forgiveness for the crimes of the colonization of Algeria, despite Algeria’s request to do so. The birth of the idea of Western civilization is a precursor, or perhaps even a framework, to how race is understood today. French colonial and imperial propaganda has depicted the SWANA region, South Asia, East Asia, and Africa as lands of “backwardness, lawlessness, and barbarism tamed by French rule.” Vinecia Perkins in an article on the constitutional stratification of French ethnic minorities says that French culture sees itself as superior to all non-European cultures. The notion and rhetoric of “otherness” and pseudo-scientific racism has persisted amongst French treatment of its minorities from the expulsion of Jewish people from France to French participation in the Transatlantic slave trade. In French textbooks, colonialism is taught as having positive aspects. Politician Marine Le Pen has said that French colonialism gave former colonies “a lot.” Le Pen has made an influential political career despite racist statements like this, signifying that racism in France is persistently supported. Jean Beaman in the Georgetown Journal of International Affairs wrote back in 2021 that the ethos that is put forth regarding what makes an individual French is significant in understanding French color-blindedness. The values of “liberté, égalité, et fraternité” are seen as French. If an immigrant ascribes to French Republican values, they are French. Bauman argues that this is an assimilationist framework, where “individuals relate to the state as individuals and not as members of identity groups.” French Republicanism negates race and ethnicity, not treating them as identity groups. When these markers are not treated as identity groups, there can be little to undo harm and state violence against these groups. It is clear that the French state treats those who are non-white as an inferior class of people. However, when race is not a marker of identity, then the French state can claim that there is not institutional and discrepant behavior with those of minority groups. “Part of French racial discourse is actually not even using the word “race” in government documents. And as French scholar Mame-Fatou Niang remarks, there is no French word for ‘blackness.’ Despite French Republican ideology which denies race as salient, it nonetheless structures boundaries of inclusion and exclusion.” Jean Bauman, Georgetown Journal of International Affairs