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The voices inside Gaza turning against Hamas — and Al Jazeera
A recent documentary promoted by Al Jazeera and a speech by a Hamas leader demonstrated that communications with Palestinians in Gaza have broken down. When will Hamas, which controls the strip's fate, address the people in Gaza — and their questions — directly? asks Firas Dalaty in Arabic-language independent digital media Daraj.
The Al Jazeera network recently announced on its Facebook page that it would broadcast a documentary about Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar called The Man Who Stopped the World on One Foot. The Qatari-owned television network didn’t offer details about the documentary or the date of its broadcast. But the film’s poster and title prompted dozens of comments around the Arab world, including from Palestinians inside Gaza.
These noted the exaggerated hero status given to Sinwar and the irony of the title, as many Palestinians have lost limbs in the war, and now, too, only have one foot. "This is half of the truth. As for the other half, of course [Al Jazeera] doesn't dare say that Gazans are left without feet to stand on — or the electricity to watch the documentary," wrote Tayseer Abdullah, a Palestinian political analyst based in Gaza.
While Al Jazeera later deleted the post without elaborating, the name of the documentary raised lingering questions among Palestinians in Gaza: Are they the target audience for the film, which tells the story of the man who controls their destinies? Are they the only ones directly impacted, at least physically, by his decisions and actions?
Amjad Abu Kush, an activist from Rafah, said that only those who benefit from Hamas welcomed the documentary, while many Palestinians in Gaza ridiculed it — as well as Al Jazeera's role in the war itself. He said the network has exaggerated Hamas' military power, arguing that this is used as a “winning card” to continue Qatar’s role “in guarding and containing” Hamas in coordination with the United States. [...]
— Read the full article by Firas Dalaty for Daraj, translated into English by Worldcrunch.
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“Broken heart,” titles Argentine daily El Ciudadano after Argentine President Javier Milei made incendiary comments about Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez and his wife, Begoña Gómez, at a far-right rally in Madrid on Sunday. Milei accused Gómez of corruption and criticized Sánchez for his delayed response to the allegations, which Sánchez has dismissed as part of a far-right smear campaign. Relations between Spain and Argentina have deteriorated sharply since, with the Spanish government demanding an apology and withdrawing its ambassador from Buenos Aires.
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• Iran enters period of mourning following death of President Ebrahim Raisi. Thousands of people have taken to the streets in Tabriz, in the northwest of Iran, where the helicopter crash that killed the president and seven others happened. As part of the five days of mourning, Raisi’s body is expected to be buried in his birthplace, Mashhad, in the northeast, on Thursday. Global leaders have offered condolences. The U.S. said on Monday that, due to largely logistical reasons, it had been “unable” to answer an Iranian request for assistance. Read more about what Raisi’s death means for the Middle East with this piece translated from French by Worldcrunch.
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