Recently, my
wife’s distant aunt, Leila, invited me, my wife, and our three children
to her home in the Faisal neighborhood of Cairo. She promised to cook us
maftoul, a Palestinian dish that we had not eaten since we fled Gaza in December. Back home, making maftoul
was often a family affair. One person cooks a rich stew from pumpkin,
onions, tomatoes, and chickpeas. Someone else mixes wheat flour into a
dough. A third person rubs the dough through the holes of a sieve,
creating tiny balls that are similar to pearl couscous. Finally, the
balls are steamed and served with a hot ladleful of the stew. We looked
forward to tasting it again.Leila speaks with the same warmth as my mother, and she cooks the same familiar foods... READ MORE https://www.newyorker.com/news/essay/my-familys-daily-struggle-to-find-food-in-gaza
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Saturday, February 24, 2024
The New Yorker: My Family’s Daily Struggle to Find Food in Gaza by Palestinian Poet Mosab Abu Toha
Friday, February 23, 2024
Jews don watermelon kippahs in Gaza solidarity #Palestine
Where you stand matters
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| Icon, “Christ in the Rubble,” by Kelly Latimore. It is inspired by the
witness of Palestinian pastor and theologian, Rev. Dr. Munther Isaac.
This year, he and his congregation in Bethlehem placed Christ under the
rubble in the nativity of their church. And when asked where God is as
Gaza is being bombed, Isaac replied, “God is under the rubble.” |
This is Jesus in Gaza today:
Khader El-Yateem
Wednesday, February 21, 2024
Our beloved "friend" Israel has been actively oppressing, demonizing, impoverishing, and displacing the native non-Jewish people of historic Palestine and has been since 1948.
Dear (Elected State & Federal Officials)
Pennsylvania's tax funds, our hard earned money usurped and saved
by our treasury should not be given to Israel.
Currently America's mainstream media refuses to expose the full
ugly truth about rampant Israeli cruelty, corruption, and lack of
REAL DEMOCRACY... but we no longer live at a time where America's
mainstream media and our elected officials are the only orators
heard.
The worldwide internet is exploding with real stories about the tragic plight and suffering of the Palestinians. Heartbreaking stories: Our beloved "friend" Israel has been actively oppressing, demonizing, impoverishing, and displacing the native non-Jewish people of historic Palestine and has been since 1948.
AIPAC and other Israel focused fund raising groups are highly motivated to silence support for real justice and a lasting peace for all people, regardless of supposed race or religion.
We live in a post Holocaust world, a time when international law and basic human rights are a vital part of how we say we operate, and how we expect other countries to operate, but we make Israel the exception to every rule and ideal we are supposed to uphold.
Shame on America for investing in Israeli
injustice and war... and the intentional torture and starvation
of Gaza's children.
Sincerely,
Anne Selden Annab
American Homemaker & Poet
NOTES
Washington Post: Why the U.S. should start telling the whole truth about Israel nukes: American silence no longer makes sense. In fact, it's dangerous https://www.washingtonpost.com/.../israel-nuclear-weapons/
Patriot News Harrisburg: Treasurer Stacy Garrity’s decision to invest more Pa. money in Israel Bonds, "Protesters called for Garrity to divest from all Israeli investments due to the war’s rising death toll and invest in domestic priorities instead. They also demanded she consistently take into account environmental, social, and governance ethics when choosing investments.“We’re talking about a large percentage of money that we have invested in Israel Bonds that [isn’t] going towards our schools, [isn’t] going towards our roads,” said Omar Mussa, an organizer with the Pennsylvania Palestine Network." https://www.pennlive.com/news/2024/02/treasurer-stacy-garritys-decision-to-invest-more-pa-money-in-israel-bonds-draws-democratic-opposition.htmlThe Patriot News Harrisburg: Israeli siege has placed Gazans at risk of starvation − prewar policies made them vulnerable in the first place | The Conversation "Yet untangling what Israel’s intentions may be – whether it is using starvation as a weapon of war, to force mass displacement, or if, as it claims, it is simply a byproduct of war – does little for the people on the ground in Gaza. " https://www.pennlive.com/opinion/2024/02/israeli-siege-has-placed-gazans-at-risk-of-starvation-prewar-policies-made-them-vulnerable-in-the-first-place-the-conversation.html
"I cannot understand how raw, naked evidence can be overridden by American intellectuals just because the “security” of Israel demands it" Edward Said"
The Philly Palestine Coalition, CAIR, and Jewish Voice for Peace Rally for Justice & Peace: DIVEST FROM GENOCIDE
Please stopping funding Israel and fueling terrorism and war all over the Middle East
Violence is the feel good answer in movies & on TV- not in real life
Religion should be a personal choice, not a state funded project.
Tuesday, February 20, 2024
Ahmed Masoud "I am currently tumbling in a drum of emotion..."
Sunday, February 18, 2024
"I cannot understand how raw, naked evidence can be overridden by American intellectuals just because the “security” of Israel demands it" Edward Said
Edward Said seems like a prophet: 20 years on, ‘there’s hunger for his narrative’
As war rages in Gaza, the scholar and activist’s words feel prescient. That’s because so little has changed

Twenty years after his death in 2003, Edward Said – a man variously known for his groundbreaking scholarship, dogged political advocacy, fine-tuned musical abilities, and serious sense of fashion – continues to inspire. This time around, Said’s words and presence appear to answer a specific need prompted by Israel’s assault on Gaza, a campaign so calculated and unrelenting that it has been ruled plausibly genocidal by the international court of justice. It’s not easy to know how one should respond to such evil, and many appear to be turning to Said as their guide.
Finding old clips of Edward Said on social media was never very difficult, but since the Hamas attacks of 7 October, Said’s ideas, quotes and archival clips have been widely disseminated across a range of books, journals and platforms.
After Columbia University suspended its campus chapters of Students for Justice in Palestine and Jewish Voice for Peace last November, the satirical website the Pigeon Post ridiculed Columbia, Said’s stomping ground for nearly 40 years, with Said’s very words. “Edward Said once wrote: ‘Our role is to widen the field of discussion, not to set limits in accord with the prevailing authority.’ Therefore, Columbia University is suspending Students for Justice in Palestine and Jewish Voice for Peace,” the website read, pigeon tongue planted firmly in pigeon cheek. Gerrie Lim, the twentysomething creator of the Pigeon Post, followed it up with a TikTok explainer video about Said highlighting Columbia’s hypocrisy of once supporting Said’s right to free speech on Palestine but now curtailing students’ speech on the same topic.... READ MORE https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/feb/15/edward-said-palestine-israel-gaza?CMP=share_btn_tw
The famous Palestinian journalist Muàtaz Ghafari was murdered by Israel along with his daughter Maria (photo), his wife and their 9-month-old boy
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| Muàtaz Ghafari was murdered along with his daughter Maria |
Tuesday, February 13, 2024
Every Palestinian's Impossible Choices
Thursday, February 8, 2024
Where Should People Go?
In Gaza, Palestine- intentional & cruel destruction by Israel is everywhere... Mosab Abu Toha's younger brother's library
![]() |
This
is what remains of my younger brother’s home library. My brother is an
extraordinary scholar of Arabic language grammar and was about to earn
his PhD and who has introduced six books into the Arabic language rich
collection of scholarly books. Mosab Abu Toha |
![]() |
| This is part of the original library |
Tuesday, February 6, 2024
The Philly Palestine Coalition, CAIR, and Jewish Voice for Peace Rally for Justice & Peace: DIVEST FROM GENOCIDE
On February 5, hundreds of members of CAIR, the Philly Palestine
Coalition, and JVP, along with Arab and Muslim community members and
allies from across Pennsylvania rallied at the Capitol in Harrisburg to
demand the state divest from genocide and invest in our communities.
As
hundreds rallied and marched outside, hundreds occupied the main
Rotunda steps in the Pennsylvania Capitol Building to demand the state
divest from Israeli bonds and invest in Pennsylvania.
State
troopers and other police agencies took over a hundred demonstrators
away with their hands zip-tied, later releasing them with citations.
As
Pennsylvanians, we work hard every day to invest in our communities and
improve the lives of our families and neighbors–and our government
should do the same.
But instead of investing in improving our
communities, Pennsylvania elected officials are giving into special
interests by investing our tax dollars in genocide and war by
irresponsibly investing millions in Israel Bonds.
The
Pennsylvania Treasury recently invested an additional $20 million of
taxpayer dollars in Israel Bonds–bringing the total amount invested to
$56 million.
This money directly enables the Israeli military
and government to commit genocide of Palestinians and oppress
Palestinians by upholding a brutal, separate-and-unequal apartheid
system. The Israeli military has used these funds to kill over 25,000
Palestinians in this recent genocidal assault, with half being children.
Pennsylvanians want our government to invest in our communities–not
genocide and war.
Pennsylvania State Treasurer Stacy Garrity
unilaterally made the decision to invest an additional $20 million in
genocide and war via Israel Bonds, shortly after joining a financial
advisory board for the Israel Bonds corporation. Stacy Garrity should
invest in improving the lives of our communities–not gambling our
taxpayer money to appease special interest groups.
Pennsylvania
State Treasurer Stacy Garrity’s decision to invest public funds in
Israel Bonds is both ethically and fiscally indefensible. Not only is an
investment in Israel Bonds an investment in genocide of
Palestinians–it’s a terrible investment of taxpayer money.
Pennsylvania
State Treasurer Stacy Garrity should invest taxpayer money in our
communities–not in genocide of Palestinians and war.
Pennsylvanians demand: not another dime for genocide, not another dime for Israel Bonds. https://www.flickr.com/photos/109799466@N06/albums/72177720314604388/

















