Hi Mehdi – good of you to unblock me on Twitter a month ago after blocking me 2 years ago for I don’t know what reason. If you recall, soon after dozens of my family members were killed in Gaza in Israeli airstrikes, I messaged you and asked for your help in elevating my voice and telling their story, but you ignored me completely. I see you’ve been talking to Peter Beinart, and I had wanted to respect that he reached out to me privately 2 days ago, but since he’s spilling the beans, I’ll take the liberty of telling you what I told him. I fail to understand why an anti-Zionist Jew, and in your case, an Indian-British man, see yourselves as the most suited arbiters or facilitators for such conversations.
I don't get the point of having a debate with other Palestinians with someone like yourself being a moderator. Why can’t you speak with me, and you’re welcome to speak with any of the others on your own time? I told your producer that I don’t want a debate, but rather a discussion and conversation, one that is elastic and doesn’t necessitate a “winner” and “loser,” but creates an opportunity for mutual learning and exploration. It seems that this has never been your interest, and your whole shtick is trying to ambush, dogpile, and play your clever, manipulative gymnastics to make a point, not make a difference.
The points of view that most of your supremely “representative” Palestinians guys want to yell and scream at me are staples in the "pro-Palestine" industrial complex, so ubiquitously stated and repeated as part of a stale and useless diet for all to feast on. Though I speak for myself, my perspectives are rarely heard even though they are so prevalent among so many Gazans, the majority of whom are singularly focused on Hamas and blame it for their misery, both contemporarily and historically. Therefore, I'm not interested in talking to your pals - what I would be interested in is having a 1-on-1 conversation with you about the New York Times article and other topics that we can raise relevant to Gaza’s conditions and pathway forward.
Please stop this elitist and horrifically pompous attitude that you, Peter Beinart, and countless others display as if you are the “truth tellers” when it comes to Israel and Palestine or as if you can proclaim who is a real or authentic Palestinian. Palestinians and their views/opinions are so deeply divided between Gaza, the West Bank, East Jerusalem, inside Israel, Arab & Muslim countries, and the Western world. The few Palestinians that you and Beinart love to salivate over are ultimately an irrelevant drop in the ocean.
If you want to kill a civilization, Mehdi, keep suppressing opposition and dissent like you’re doing – seemingly to gather likes and shares on social media. I hope you’ll change course.
Hi Ahmed, if you're such a representative and authentic voice of Gaza, why have you repeatedly turned down opportunities to debate your views, and your op-ed, on camera, with multiple other Palestinian activists and journalists from Gaza, including Christian Palestinians who hate Hamas? What are you afraid of?
(I think we all know...)