Meet Arwa Elrayess—the first Palestinian elected president of the Oxford Union in its 202-year history.

Husam Zomlot & Arwa Elrayess

Husam Zomlot

Ambassador of the State of Palestine to the UK. Former Ambassdor to the United States. 

@hzomlot

 

Meet Arwa Elrayess—the first Palestinian elected president of the Oxford Union in its 202-year history. 

 

I’ve known Arwa and her family since she was a teenager. 

 

She is from #Gaza, and now she’s making history at #Oxford, championing open debate on human rights, justice, and equality. 

 

Despite silencing campaigns against her, her election shows the power of young Palestinian talent and a growing global movement for justice. 

 

From Zohran Mamdani in New York to Arwa Elrayess at Oxford—it’s the same movement, the same demand. And it is unstoppable. 

 

 #ArwaElrayess #OxfordUnion #Palestine #FreePalestine #Justice #StudentMovement #PalestinianVoices.

 https://x.com/hzomlot/status/1997694456691122591

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Palestinian writer and journalist Plestia Alaqad paints a stark portrait of life for Gazans under siege with The Guardian, describing a world that is both physically and symbolically shrinking...

Palestinian writer and journalist Plestia Alaqad paints a stark portrait of life for Gazans under siege with The Guardian, describing a world that is both physically and symbolically shrinking. 

She writes, “In my homeland, I’m trapped by bombs. Outside, I’m trapped by identity,” highlighting how Gaza’s relentless bombardment, displacement, and starvation leave Palestinians confined within a tiny, ever-diminishing strip of land. 

Even beyond Gaza’s borders, Palestinians face systemic barriers, from visa rejections to intrusive scrutiny of their passports, exposing the global double standards that treat their identity as a security threat while ignoring the ongoing genocide. 

 Alaqad underscores the human cost of this isolation, noting how international attention often only recognizes Palestinians in moments of suffering. 

She observes that the so-called ceasefire does little to relieve the reality of displacement, destruction, and exposure to the elements. 

Reflecting on winter in Gaza, she writes of families shivering in tents, children without shoes, and lives perpetually on the edge of survival. 

For Gazans, safety is measured not in distance but in minutes, in the path of a drone, or the direction of the wind, as the world largely looks away. 

Her testimony calls for a reckoning with the persistent injustice, asking with Mahmoud Darwish: “where should the birds fly after the last sky?”

 

https://x.com/QudsNen/status/1997829483642966394

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https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2024/feb/13/poetry-forged-in-war-palestinian-exile-plestia-alaqad-wows-sydney-audience 

This article is more than 1 year old

Poetry forged in war: Palestinian exile and social media sensation Plestia Alaqad leaves Sydney audience in tears

On 9 October, a video which captured her unflinching composure as bombs fell nearby saw her Instagram followers swell from about 3,700 into the hundreds of thousands. She now has 4.8 million subscribers.

With her influence came concerns about the safety of her family and in late November, with the help of an uncle in Melbourne, she fled with her mother, sister and grandmother, arriving in Australia 45 days after the war began. She is now living with relatives in Melbourne.

Before she had said a word as the poetry competition’s feature performer, the audience was on its feet, giving Alaqad an enthusiastic standing ovation... READ MORE 

December 8th 2025 in Jerusalem: The United Nations flag was pulled down & replaced with an Israeli flag

Philippe Lazzarini

@UNLazzarini

Today in the early morning, Israeli police accompanied by municipal officials forcibly entered the @UNRWA compound in East Jerusalem. 

 

Police motorcycles, as well as trucks & forklifts, were brought in & all communications were cut. 

 

Furniture, IT equipment & other property was seized. 

 

The @UN flag was pulled down & replaced with an Israeli flag. 

 

This latest action represents a blatant disregard of Israel’s obligation as a United Nations Member State to protect & respect the inviolability of UN premises.  

 

Following months of harassment that included arson attacks in 2024, hateful demonstrations & intimidation, supported by a large-scale disinformation campaign, as well as anti-UNRWA legislation passed by the Israeli parliament in breach of its international obligations, UNRWA personnel were forced to vacate the compound at the beginning of this year.   

 

However, whatever action taken domestically, the compound retains its status as a UN premises, immune from any form of interference.  

 

Israel is party to the Convention on the Privileges & Immunities of the UN. The Convention makes UN premises inviolable - in other words, immune from search and/or seizure - and makes UN property and assets immune from legal process.  

 

The International Court of Justice has also underscored that Israel is obliged to cooperate with UNRWA & other UN agencies.   

 

There can be no exceptions. 

 

To allow this represents a new challenge to international law, one that creates a dangerous precedent anywhere else the UN is present across the world.

 

https://x.com/UNLazzarini/status/1997985397440172110

 

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"Nothing says “trust us” like a massive propaganda budget." Assal Rad

Assal Rad

@AssalRad

 

Nothing says “trust us” like a massive propaganda budget.

 

https://x.com/AssalRad/status/1997192358933549082/photo/1 

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Assal Rad

@AssalRad

 

If you’re not writing the truth about crimes against humanity, you’re culpable in them. 

 

... “Evictions” makes it sound like they didn’t pay their rent. An indigenous population is being forced out of their homes, off their land, brutalized by security forces & threatened with violence. Call it what it is. #Palestine

 

https://x.com/AssalRad/status/1390843028072402944/photo/1 

 

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@AssalRad

 

“Tested in Gaza” 

 

Genocide as a weapons experiment.

 

https://x.com/AssalRad/status/1996991382444298675 

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"Since the US-brokered ceasefire was announced on 10 October, Israeli forces have killed more than 360 Palestinians in Gaza; according to a UN official, at least 70 are children – like Jumaa and Fadi."

A boy sits slumped amid the rubble in Nuseirat, central Gaza, after an overnight Israeli airstrike on 29 October in which at least 50 Palestinians died. Photograph: Eyad Baba/AFP/Getty Images

 ‘Bloodshed was supposed to stop’: no sign of normal life as Gaza’s killing and misery grind on

Seham Tantesh in Gaza, Julian Borger and Emma Graham-Harrison in Jerusalem

 Sat 6 Dec 2025

The term ceasefire ‘risks creating a dangerous illusion life is returning to normal’ for Palestinians squeezed into the remaining 42% of their land behind Israel’s ‘yellow line’

When Jumaa and Fadi Abu Assi went to look for firewood their parents thought they would be safe. They were just young boys, aged nine and 10 and, after all, a ceasefire had been declared in Gaza.

Their mother, Hala Abu Assi, was making tea in the family’s tent in Khan Younis when she heard an explosion, a missile fired by an Israeli drone. She ran to the scene – but it was too late.

Since the US-brokered ceasefire was announced on 10 October, Israeli forces have killed more than 360 Palestinians in Gaza; according to a UN official, at least 70 are children – like Jumaa and Fadi.

They were killed, their mother said, at “a time when bloodshed was supposed to stop”.

“After the ceasefire was announced, I felt a bit of safety and believed that nothing would harm my children any more,” Abu Assi said. “But fate had another plan.”

She is focused now on keeping her two surviving daughters alive. “I still hear explosions and gunfire,” she said. “I do not feel that the war has ended.”

The toll from Israeli attacks in Gaza has fallen significantly compared with the preceding two years of war, when on average 90 Palestinians were killed each day, but significant numbers of civilians are still losing their lives.

On average, Israeli weapons now kill seven people a day. That rate of violent death would be considered an active conflict in many other contexts, raising questions about how accurately “ceasefire” describes the new status quo.

“It’s something that if you want to you can call a ceasefire, which is very convenient for the Americans and for everyone who wants this off their television screens and off their streets and off their annoying parliamentary and political schedules,” said Daniel Levy, a former Israeli negotiator and the president of the US/Middle East Project....READ MORE   https://www.theguardian.com/news/ng-interactive/2025/dec/06/bloodshed-was-supposed-to-stop-no-sign-of-normal-life-as-gazas-killing-and-misery-grind-on

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Every day, across the region, #UNRWAworks to make a difference.... The plight of Palestine Refugees remains the longest unresolved refgee crisis in the world

 UNRWA

@UNRWA

 

@UN   Agency for #PalestineRefugees

 

Dismantling UNRWA will not address the refugee status of Palestinians. A political solution will. Investing in peace is the answer to end what was meant to be a temporary situation.” – @‌UNLazzarini

 

https://x.com/UNRWA/status/1996899844313547200

 UNRWA

 

@UNRWA

 

“Nearly 42,000 people in #Gaza have life-changing injuries because of the war, according to @‌WHO. One in four is a child. 

 

Gaza now hosts the largest group of child amputees in modern history. 

 

With the collapse of the medical system during the war, those with serious injuries struggle to get the treatment + rehabilitation they need to rebuild their lives. 

 

UNRWA teams together with WHO & partners are sparing no efforts to make sure they are not left behind. 

 

Since the war began, they have provided essential psychosocial support to more than 30,000 persons with disabilities, with over 8,000 of them receiving assistive devices + rehabilitation services. 

 

Every day, across the region, #UNRWAworks to make a difference." — UNRWA Commissioner-General @UNLazzarini

 

 https://x.com/UNRWA/status/1996899844313547200

 

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UNRWA

 

@UNRWA

  

Millions of #Palestine Refugees rely on UNRWA for education, healthcare and humanitarian services across five fields of operation. 

 

Every day, our teams deliver essential support, even in times of conflict and crisis. 

 #UNRWAworks

https://x.com/UNRWA/status/1996821935691309417

 

#UNRWAworks