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Ben Ashraf

@ashrafzeneca.bsky.social
487 followers 224 following 38 posts

Editor, The New Arab @thenewarab.bsky.social submissions: benjamin.ashraf@newarab.com

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Ben Ashraf @ashrafzeneca.bsky.social · 24/12/2025
My review of @loubnamrie.bsky.social 's Defiance for @thenewarab.bsky.social This is THE Syrian War memoir—not expert analysis, not nostalgic elegy, but a witness. What happens when you're born into Assad's system and choose to defy it? The book Assad's fall demanded. www.newarab.com/features/lou...
newarab.com
Loubna Mrie’s Defiance and the cost of witnessing the Syrian War
Book Club: In ’Defiance’, Loubna Mrie recounts growing up inside Assad’s Syria and the painful unlearning that turned privilege and silence into witness
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Ben Ashraf @ashrafzeneca.bsky.social · 21/09/2025
GHF aid in Gaza, where bread is rationed in blood, is manned by US contractors wearing leather jackets, crusader crosses, and Infidel tattoos. US empire doesn’t hide — it franchises out. Infidels MC is just Blackwater 2.0 in Gaza. First op-ed in @mondoweiss.net mondoweiss.net/2025/09/the-...
mondoweiss.net
The Islamophobic biker gang running Gaza aid sites is just the U.S. empire in a leather jacket
Infidels MC, an “anti-Islamic” biker gang turned militia, now mans Gaza’s aid checkpoints. From Blackwater to the Pentagon, Islamophobia is no aberration, but the blueprint.
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Mondoweiss @mondoweiss.net · 19/09/2025
Infidels MC, an "anti-Islamic" biker gang turned militia, now mans Gaza’s aid checkpoints. From Blackwater to the Pentagon, Islamophobia is no aberration, but the blueprint. mondoweiss.net/2025/09/the-... #Palestine #Israel
mondoweiss.net
The Islamophobic biker gang running Gaza aid sites is just the U.S. empire in a leather jacket
Infidels MC, an “anti-Islamic” biker gang turned militia, now mans Gaza’s aid checkpoints. From Blackwater to the Pentagon, Islamophobia is no aberration, but the blueprint.
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Ben Ashraf @ashrafzeneca.bsky.social · 26/08/2025
Israel sells bikinis and trance while Gaza starves. In my first Op-ed for @aljazeera.com I write on how Israel weaponises pleasure — its all-inclusive apartheid sells forgetting Palestinians as ‘fun’. www.aljazeera.com/opinions/202...
aljazeera.com
Hasbara with glitter: Israel’s politics of pleasure
Leisure has long been a colonial cover for brutality; Israel refines it with festivals, pride and travel culture.
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Ben Ashraf @ashrafzeneca.bsky.social · 30/06/2025
BBC clutched pearls over Bob Vylan saying “death to the IDF”. Israeli artists have been singing about killing Palestinians for 50+ years, without a whisper of backlash. Read Shahla Omar and my 2023 feature on Israel's military-pop complex. @thenewarab.bsky.social www.newarab.com/features/sou...
newarab.com
Soundtrack to genocide: Inside Israel’s military-pop complex
Emboldened by far-right rhetoric, a new music genre has emerged in Israel, one that celebrates the death of Palestinians and the destruction of Gaza.
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The New Arab @thenewarab.bsky.social · 01/05/2025
India and Pakistan are heading toward war in Kashmir, driven by manufactured hatred, collective trauma, and an appetite for bloodlust, @ashrafzeneca.bsky.social writes ⬇
newarab.com
India, Pakistan, Kashmir: How religious nihilism can go nuclear
India and Pakistan are heading toward war in Kashmir, driven by manufactured hatred, collective trauma, and an appetite for bloodlust, says Benjamin Ashraf.
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Ben Ashraf @ashrafzeneca.bsky.social · 20/03/2025
Really excited to chair such an important discussion. Catch Ilan, Katy, Nadine and I at Reference Point on April 4.
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Rebecca Ruth Gould @rrgould.bsky.social · 20/03/2025
For The New Arab @thenewarab.bsky.social l wrote about Mahmoud Khalil and our collective complicity in genocide www.newarab.com/opinion/ivy-... Thanks to @ashrafzeneca.bsky.social for wonderful editing.
newarab.com
Ivy League’s tenured complicity in deportation of Mahmoud Khalil
Failed by Columbia’s faculty, the responsibility of upholding Edward Said’s legacy now falls to students like Mahmoud Khalil, says Rebecca Ruth Gould.
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The New Arab @thenewarab.bsky.social · 20/03/2025
Book Launch: Palestine in a World on Fire Join Ilan Pappé & Katherine Natanel for the launch of their powerful new book w @ashrafzeneca.bsky.social 📅 Fri, April 4 🕢 7:30pm 📍 Reference Point (London, UK) A @haymarketbooks.org & The New Arab event Reservations: www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/palestine-...
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The New Arab @thenewarab.bsky.social · 13/02/2025
"Here was an African American woman treated with compassion, receiving free housing & healthcare in a country Joe Biden once deemed 'one of the most dangerous in the world'." @ashrafzeneca.bsky.social on how Onijah Robinson's TikTok saga flipped the script on decades of anti-Pakistan sentiment 👇
newarab.com
Emily in Karachi: Why 'American woman in Pakistan' won my heart
Onijah Robinson flipped the script on decades of anti-Pakistan sentiment in Western media in this captivating yet chaotic TikTok saga, says Benjamin Ashraf.
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Elias Jahshan @eliasjahshan.bsky.social · 13/02/2025
the headline lmao
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Alan Allport @alanallport.bsky.social · 13/02/2025
WSJ sub: “Indian Partition went smoothly enough, right? Will try to remember to check this before publishing.”
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Ben Ashraf @ashrafzeneca.bsky.social · 06/02/2025
Mouin Rabbani in The New Arab: "The challenge now is to impress upon Washington that its interests are better served by compelling Israel to fulfil its commitments under the ceasefire agreements it was forced to accept, rather than indulge its genocidal fantasies" www.newarab.com/opinion/trum...
newarab.com
Is Trump's Gaza 'takeover' actually Jared Kushner's last hurrah?
Trump isn’t the first to propose the ethnic cleansing of Gaza. Even if his plan fails, it still reinforces Israel's genocidal designs, writes Mouin Rabbani.
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Robin Yassin-Kassab @qunfuz.bsky.social · 28/01/2025
If you haven't already, please read my opinion on the secular/Islamist binary (with regard to Syria in particular) and what should replace it.
qunfuz.com
Neither Secularism Nor Islamism…
I’m really happy to have published this with New Lines Magazine, an excellent initiative in long-form journalism organized by some of the very best people in the field. al-Sharaa enters the U…
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Ben Ashraf @ashrafzeneca.bsky.social · 21/12/2024
The New Arab’s 2024 retrospectives begin, as they should, with my dear friend Abubaker Abed’s reflections of one year of genocide in Gaza. An intensely emotive piece, let this be another reminder of our apocalyptic failings. www.newarab.com/opinion/im-b...
newarab.com
I'm barely alive. Let 2025 not be a third year of Gaza genocide
Gaza has lived and died through a year of Israeli genocide. With 2025 nearing, there isn't much left other than the faint hope of peace, says Abubaker Abed.
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Amer matar عامر مطر @amermatar.bsky.social · 09/12/2024
The red ropes seen in the video were used for daily executions in Sednaya Prison. They should stand as one of the symbols of the dark era Syria endured under the rule of the Assad family and their prisons.
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Ben Ashraf @ashrafzeneca.bsky.social · 09/12/2024
"My eyes are on you, O Damascus, for it is from you that the morning flows" A brilliant piece of writing from @kshaheen.bsky.social — Stand tall! newlinesmag.com/spotlight/da...
newlinesmag.com
Dawn in Damascus
In the end, Bashar al-Assad had nothing to say to the country he bludgeoned and bled, but what matters now is that his ‘forever’ rule is over
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Robin Yassin-Kassab @qunfuz.bsky.social · 08/12/2024
I wrote this quickly on Syria's national liberation from fascism and imperialism.
qunfuz.com
Liberation
The Syrian Revolution: the most thoroughgoing, diverse, persistent and resilient revolution in all human history. The revolutionary Syrian people: a people that risked everything, lost everything, …
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elia ayoub @ayoub.bsky.social · 08/12/2024
These four men were going to be executed today by the Assad regime. “Our executions were going to be half an hour ago.”
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William Christou @willchristou.bsky.social · 07/12/2024
Moammar has been searching for his brother for 39 years, arrested by Syrian soldiers in Lebanon when he was 18. He hadn’t heard anything from him since. Until Thursday, when his brother emerged from Hama prison as an old man, 39 years later. www.theguardian.com/world/2024/d...
theguardian.com
‘He has come out an old man’: joy and grief as loved ones released from Assad prisons
Family members describe renewed hopes after decades-long searches for political detainees in ‘Kingdom of Silence’
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Ben Ashraf @ashrafzeneca.bsky.social · 03/12/2024
Mouin Rabbani makes his debut for The New Arab! By refusing to enforce ICC warrants, the West has hardened its support for Israel's genocide, relying on absurd justifications to do so, he writes. Israel and the ICC: A Catch-22 for the West's rules-based order. www.newarab.com/opinion/isra...
newarab.com
Israel and the ICC: A Catch-22 for the West's rules-based order
By refusing to enforce ICC warrants, the West has hardened its support for Israel's genocide, relying on absurd justifications to do so, says Mouin Rabbani.
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Faisal فيصل @faisalhamadah.bsky.social · 03/12/2024
Facsinating detail from Adam Hanieh’s new banger of a book on Lenin’s use of oil concessions as a ‘weapon’
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Ben Ashraf @ashrafzeneca.bsky.social · 02/12/2024
Published two great pieces in @thenewarab.bsky.social today. 1) Mona Fawaz: "To survive after ceasefire, rebuild Lebanon for all its citizens" www.newarab.com/opinion/surv... 2) Leila al-Shami: "Our dream of an Assad-free Syria has returned with rebel advance" www.newarab.com/opinion/our-...
newarab.com
To survive after ceasefire, rebuild Lebanon for all its citizens
Lebanon is bruised but not broken. Reconstruction efforts must focus on the public good and not fall prey to private interests once more, argues Mona Fawaz.
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Robin Yassin-Kassab @qunfuz.bsky.social · 01/12/2024
I've written a summary/ initial analysis of what's happening in Syria. qunfuz.com/2024/12/01/h...
qunfuz.com
History Made on the Ground
You know the multiverse theory, that there are many parallel universes, and that they may contain alternate versions of ourselves and our conditions in this universe…. Well, the last couple of days…
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Ben Ashraf @ashrafzeneca.bsky.social · 01/12/2024
Bluesky feels like a throwback to the Twitter days of 2013, and now a Syrian rebel offensive — somehow it feels all too familiar.
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Ayman Makarem @aymanmak.bsky.social · 30/11/2024
So a lot is happening right now in Syria, but this didn't start yesterday. Here's a thread of resources to understand the Syrian context that centres Syrian revolutionary and liberatory voices. First up, humbly, I made a comic a couple years ago on this very thing! unicornriot.ninja/2022/revolut...
unicornriot.ninja
Revolution in Every Country Comic Series: Episode 1 - Syria: Erasing an Inconvenient Revolution - UNICORN RIOT
Episode 1 takes a look at aspects of the Syrian Revolution that have been erased, from Omar Aziz and local councils to the Douma 4 and more.
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Faisal فيصل @faisalhamadah.bsky.social · 29/11/2024
My cardinal directions as a marxist: 1) make Palestine central 2) brinng sartre back 3) value oriented stuff and ideology critique aren’t as opposed as many present them 4) residual antipathy to the fragment on the machine
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Hend Amry @libyaliberty.bsky.social · 29/11/2024
Read the words on the sweater of this Palestinian child standing in flood water outside his meager tent shelter in Gaza. Read the words and ask yourself why the US is allowed to do this to him.
His sweater reads “turn up the love” around the graphic of a green heart.
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Ben Ashraf @ashrafzeneca.bsky.social · 29/11/2024
Impunity for crimes and a lack of avenues for recourse remain issues that many in Iraq feel should be addressed with urgency. A recent ruling awarding millions to Abu Ghraib torture victims has rekindled interest in the role that private security play in Iraq. www.newarab.com/analysis/abu...
newarab.com
Abu Ghraib case casts spotlight on Iraq's private security firms
In-depth: A recent ruling awarding millions to Abu Ghraib torture victims has rekindled interest in the role that private security companies play in Iraq.
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Lee Cicuta @butchanarchy.bsky.social · 27/11/2024
This essay has been on my to-read pile ever since it was published. Just finished it this morning and can only wish I got to it sooner! Such an incredible and necessary piece. Take the time to read it yourself!
The "third sex", such as it is, is not a prescriptive category, but a dumping-ground, a landfill in which to deposit everyone that a society organized around the
reproductive imperative considers extraneous and aberrant.
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Ben Ashraf @ashrafzeneca.bsky.social · 26/11/2024
An important read from @khalilsayegh.bsky.social Donald Trump has gifted Christian Zionists control of his cabinet, giving Israel a green light to trample over Christians in Palestine. Put simply, Donald Trump's pro-Israel cabinet is Christian Zionism on steroids. www.newarab.com/opinion/gaza...
newarab.com
As a Gazan Christian, Trump's pro-Zionist cabinet is apocalyptic
Donald Trump has gifted Christian Zionists control of his cabinet, giving Israel a green light to trample over Christians in Palestine, says Khalil Sayegh.
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Ben Ashraf @ashrafzeneca.bsky.social · 26/11/2024
According to Raja Sharaf, audiologist and speech-language pathologist from Gaza, hearing loss has remained a significant and growing problem since the Israeli siege on the enclave in 2007 due to frequent Israeli bombing and sonic booms. www.newarab.com/news/bombed-...
newarab.com
Bombed into silence: Hearing loss skyrockets in besieged Gaza
Palestinians in Gaza have been shocked to find their hearing impaired following Israeli bombing and are concerned they won't be able to hear incoming attacks
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Petra Molnar @petramolnar.com · 25/11/2024
"The War on Terror has coincided with the explosive rise of Big Tech, and this is no coincidence." Great article - with practical recommendations and resources too by @adelewalton.bsky.social with illustrations by Heedayah Lockman for Shado Mag shado-mag.com/opinion/isla...
shado-mag.com
Islamophobic governments have a new weapon – AI and algorithms are the new surveillance state
Adele Walton discusses the threats of new tech technologies and how artificial intelligence and algorithms are the new surveillance state
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Murtaza Hussain @mazmhussain.bsky.social · 26/11/2024
The Pakistani military has orders to open live fire on protestors who have gathered in the capital city to demand the release of imprisoned prime minister Imran Khan. The political situation is the most explosive that the country has seen in years and the press has been silenced: t.co/JzXiIxVHZt
t.co
https://www.dropsitenews.com/p/pakistan-protest-imran-khan-biden-islamabad
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Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò @olufemiotaiwo.bsky.social · 25/11/2024
couple notes from a Jason Hickel thread from over on Twitter:
Jason Hickel Tweet: "People often assume that capitalist globalization is closing the wage gap between workers in the global North and global South. 

But it's not happening.  In fact, the North-South wage gap is *increasing*."  

tweet comes alongside a graph with average, high-skilled, medium-skilled, and low-skilled charts, all of which show a significant gap
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Mat Nashed @matnashed.bsky.social · 25/11/2024
Sudanese asylum seekers and refugees in Lebanon are trapped between two wars. Their ordeal points to a clear gap in international protection, whereby asylum seekers are left to fend for themselves once their country of asylum degenerates into conflict. My latest www.aljazeera.com/features/202...
aljazeera.com
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Somdeep Sen @somdeepsen.bsky.social · 26/11/2024
A few words from me on Trump and the “liberal order” for @aljazeera.com
aljazeera.com
Trump will deliver the final death blow to the liberal order
The current international order, already on its last legs due to the West’s support for Israel, won’t survive Trump 2.0.
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Marc Owen Jones @marcowenjones.bsky.social · 25/11/2024
On the left, a progressive US newspaper On the right, a progressive Israeli newspaper
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Ben Ashraf @ashrafzeneca.bsky.social · 25/11/2024
BREAKING NEWS: Israel and Lebanon have reportedly agreed to the terms of a ceasefire deal to end the Israel-Hezbollah war, a senior US official told Axios
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Josephine beckbook.com Riesman @josie.zone · 24/11/2024
🚨🚨🚨MY DEBUT GUARDIAN OP-ED IS UP
theguardian.com
Theatrics, hatred and Linda McMahon: how pro wrestling explains Donald Trump
The ex-WWE CEO and likely incoming education secretary doesn’t seem like a threat. That’s what makes her one
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Citizen.Coping @propcazhpm.bsky.social · 20/10/2024
All 6 of Edward W. Said's recorded Reith lectures on Representations of the Intellectual can be heard here: 1) Representations of the Intellectual 2) Holding Nations And Traditions At Bay 3) Intellectual Exiles 4) Professionals and Amateurs 5) Speaking Truth To Power 6) Gods That Always Fail
bbc.co.uk
BBC Radio 4 - The Reith Lectures, Edward Said - Representation of the Intellectual - Available now
Available episodes of Edward Said - Representation of the Intellectual
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Ben Ashraf @ashrafzeneca.bsky.social · 25/11/2024
It's not just Netanyahu and Gallant on trial at the ICC, but the West itself. If the West fails what Francesca Albanese calls the Litmus Test of Palestine, the essential building blocks of the existing global order will fail with it. @alonso-gd.bsky.social in TNA www.newarab.com/opinion/icc-...
newarab.com
ICC arrest warrants: Has Palestine birthed a post-Western world?
It's not just Netanyahu and Gallant on trial at the ICC, but the legitimacy of the West. The balance of the global scales is shifting, says Alonso Gurmendi.
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Ben Ashraf @ashrafzeneca.bsky.social · 24/11/2024
Such a good read. Looking back, what a spark that # was, is, and will be. @zidani.bsky.social
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Amy @lolennui.bsky.social · 23/11/2024
some goober in mesopotamia invented agriculture and now I have to have a credit score, how is that fair
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Joseph Willits 🍉 🦩🦚🏳️‍🌈🇵🇸🇱🇧 @josephwillits.bsky.social · 24/11/2024
UK companies arming Israel mapped by @caatuk.bsky.social, inc those producing parts for Israeli F35s bombing Gaza & Lebanon, killing our Palestinian & Lebanese loved ones. We need to take action. UK complicity & active participation in genocide must end #stoparmingisrael caat.org.uk/data/countri...
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Dr Sarah Irving @drtermagant.bsky.social · 24/11/2024
Some useful reflections here (from 2020) by @benlauderdale.bsky.social on being a journal editor - recommended reading for anyone thinking of doing this, wondering about it, contemplating the role of peer review, etc: benjaminlauderdale.net/blog/archive...
benjaminlauderdale.net
Things that I have learned by being a journal editor : benjaminlauderdale.net
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Azad Essa @azadessa.bsky.social · 23/11/2024
Colonies of former colonies: India’s ongoing subjugation of Kashmir holds portentous lessons about the nature of contemporary colonialism aeon.co/essays/india...
aeon.co
India is a postcolonial power. Its rule in Kashmir is colonial | Aeon Essays
India’s ongoing subjugation of Kashmir holds portentous lessons about the nature of contemporary colonialism
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Jonathan Liew @jonathanliew.bsky.social · 22/11/2024
this week's column www.theguardian.com/sport/2024/n...
theguardian.com
Sport may be a blunt tool of social change, but it’s time to take a stand against Israel | Jonathan Liew
As the bombardment continues in Gaza, bodies such as Fifa and the IOC have evaded taking a stand. But fans’ solidarity with Palestinians is growing and should not be ignored
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