Name: Perfect Victims: And the Politics of Appeal
ISBN: 9798888903155

Mohammed El-Kurd

Perfect Victims: And the Politics of Appeal

shaymaa

“Zionism’s objection to the Palestinian

People isn’t about how we exist but that we exist at all.”

“And so, when eulogizing a Palestinian man, we take on the roles of historians, activists, and political analysts, and we riddle our overtures with UN resolutions and human rights reports. The colonizer’s language commands that we qualify him for mourning before mourning, that we wash him of his sins—his geography, religion, color, sex, and affiliations— and exclude him from the ranks of our fighters and fight to exhibit his exceptionalism. Obituaries like these demand that we sew the wings of angels on the Palestinian’s back, so that he will then, and only then, become mournable.”

“Why do we give the authority of narration to those who have

murdered and displaced us when the scarcity of their guilt means honesty is

unlikely? Why do we wait for those carrying the batons to confess when our

“Take the genre of Israelis and Palestinians making films together. The Palestinian filmmaker is chaperoned to the film festival, allowed on stage as their authoritative cosignatory’s charismatic sidekick. No one—not the producer of the festival, not the columnist writing a review—seems to care about the content of the film, whether it is good or garbage. What matters most is that the film was codirected, a mode that satisfies a libidinal urge in the viewers. They eavesdrop on a forbidden conversation, a titillating reconciliation between the slayer and the slain. Discussions about the film, reviews, the way it is promoted, and our excited elevator pitches to one another all become mastur-batory, reducing the film to the fact that it was a collaboration between an Israeli and a Palestinian, fulfilling the viewer’s fantasy of a happy ending to an otherwise miserable story. We turn it into a fetish.”

nhu ⋆𐙚₊˚⊹

Finally, throughout the book, there is a disproportionate use of masculine pronouns. That is done on purpose. For far too long the Palestinians have been reduced to "women and children." One implication here is robbing women and children of their agency and their political or revolutionary contributions. Another is the further demonization of Palestinian men as deserving of death and unworthy of mourning, exiled from their loved ones' embrace. I often use "he" in reference to "the Palestinian" because I want to force the reader to come face to face with the Palestinian man. I want the reader to contend with that complex and contradictory demographic, and not just those assumed to be the gentle or generous among us—not only the fathers, but the fighters as well.

ZIONISM IS THE LEADING CAUSE OF DEATH IN OCCUPIED PALESTINE, through both direct, state-sanctioned violence and indirect, consequential violence, which trickles down through suffocating bureaucracies, inescapable psychological onslaughts, and impetuous intercommunal conflicts. Yet this man-made quietus is treated like any other leading cause of death-heart disease in the US, dementia in England-and is scarcely cause for concern, let alone condemnation. On the con-trary, our death is sustenance for the world we live in, necessary to maintain things as they are. Our blood is the price of the colony's sense of "security." The empire cuts the lives of our loved ones short to prolong its reign. And our grief is negligible, our rage unwarranted. The more our loved ones are killed by Zionist colo-nialism, the less space we are offered to grieve them. We cannot narrate this colossal theft of life, let alone avenge it.

And the snipers are everywhere: the underhanded journal-ists, the spineless bureaucrats, the inconspicuous henchmen, the philanthropists who mine our tragedies for gold, the television anchors who obfuscate those tragedies, the missionaries who find their salvation in our demise, the devil's advocates, the distrac-tors, those who litter our roads with red herrings, the unscrupulous political advisors, the activists who act as puppet masters, the elite capturers, the elitists in our ranks who demand of us a certain dance, who imprison us in the panopticon of their gaze, the self-appointed intellectuals, the clergy who whisper when they should scream, the very well-fed weapons manufacturers and the university administrators who feed them, and the academics indulging in arrogance and willful misinterpretation, who mutilate Frantz Fanon and Walter Benjamin, deny human nature, and contest even the laws of physics in order to pathologize our resis-tance. In this reality, the sniper's hands are clean of blood, but his body count is insurmountable.

HERE IN THE WEST (WHATEVER "THE WEST" MEANS THESE DAYS), whether on television screens, university cam-puses, in public office, or in the public's imagination, Palestinians exist in a false-and strict-dichotomy: we are either victims or terrorists.

And we have seen God employed as a real-estate agent, bestowing Jerusalem houses to Brooklynites.

The latter, in short, are characterized by an obsessive curation of "reliable narrators," whose testimonies are unthreatening, authoritative, or impartial. To illustrate: favoring Jewish and Israeli sources (books, human rights organizations, rabbis, historians, ex-soldiers, soldiers, cops, government officials, political analysts) over Palestinian sources, not based on the content of their contributions but on an identitarian basis, a choice rooted in the farcical, though deep-seated notion that the former are somehow more credible, more reliable. As if they are unbiased bystanders, as if they have no horse in the race.

For the spectators to sympathize with "the other, they must first sanitize and subdue him, sever him from his origin story, rendering him "utterly displaced and effaced." We sanc tify our victims in our testimonials and eulogies, adorning them with commiserating anecdotes. We hamper them with inno-cence. And we do this not only in the Palestinian context but also with regard to Black American victims of police brutality:

"They were artists" or "They were mentally ill" or "They were unarmed."' (It is as if condemning the state for sanctioning the death of a Black person is permissible only if the slain person is a sterile model of American citizenry.)

Dehumanization has situated us—ejected us, even-out-side of the human condition, so much so that what is logically understood to be a man's natural reaction to subjugation is an uncontained and incomprehensible, primal behavior if it comes from us. What makes some people heroes is what makes us crim-inals. It is almost simplistic to say that we are guilty by birth.

You are worldly and politically correct. You are a prodigy-unlike the others. But what about the others? The others who suffocate under this shrinking definition of humanity? Those who were not privileged enough to go to a five-star university or be born into a line of feudal lords?

Within minutes of her assas-sination, I got a "tip" in my email inbox from a reporter: "Very urgent and necessary, please announce on Twitter and Facebook that Shireen Abu Aqleh is an American citizen. This is a fact, not a rumor. The Israelis killed an American journalist." I did not "announce" that Shireen was a citizen of the United States.

And when I wrote about her murder, I insisted to my editors that, if I must mention this fact, I would refer to her as a carrier of a US passport, not as an American citizen. Why contribute-even if only with a simple phrase—to a hierarchy of lives where citizenry, like race, class, gender, "civility," plays a role in determining whether someone deserves compassion or due diligence?

When a passport becomes a political device for "human-ization," the pretext is to coax Western governments to "seek justice" on behalf of their citizens. But the subtext, more dan-gerously, more humiliatingly, is selling a narrative of innocence, a narrative that accepts the racist and xenophobic worldviews of the audience it attempts to persuade.

When it comes to Palestine, the sacred laws of journalism are bendable. Optional even. Passive voice is king. Omitting facts is standard. Fabrication is permissible. Journalists become stenog-raphers, and reporters become state secretaries, as they parrot police and military narratives. They tamper with evidence. They muddle, mislead, and misconstrue, manufacturing consent for ethnic cleansing and creating confusion around murders that are clear as day. The courageous industry that boasts of speaking "truth to power" is but a bullhorn for the powerful. We have seen this time and time again. It is almost satirical: anchors reject the data before their eyes to recite lies, and newspapers read like caricatures of themselves. When a 2014 Israeli airstrike on a cafe in Gaza blew eight Palestinians to shreds,® the headline from the New York Times was "Missile at Beachside Gaza Cafe Finds Patrons Poised for World Cup." Whose missile? Whose gunfire? Who is the sniper?

This, as Orouba Othman writes, "obscures the fact that the armed militant is a victim who first inherits from his ancestors the conditions of dispossession, expulsion and mutilation, and later transforms these abstractions into the motive force of decolonization."

While Ukrainian resistance is glorified for its guerrilla warfare tactics, Palestinian resistance-termed "terrorism"— is puzzling, perverted, and pathological. Mainstream media's insistence on these framings is not due to any fundamental differences in the ways both peoples exercise violence. Nor is it solely because of Ukrainians' skin color; one needs to look no further than the Irish Republican Army to see that whiteness alone is no golden ticket—at least not in a war against British colonialism.

Rather, the tonal shift employed in media coverage is simPly in service of the West's strategic interests.

In Jerusalem, hundreds of thousands participated in the funeral. Holders of green ID cards jumped over the Wall and snuck into the city from the West Bank. Busloads came from within 1948-occupied Palestine. Strangers offered each other embraces and condolences. They marched from Saint Joseph Hospital to the Catholic church and through Jaffa Gate to the cemetery where she was finally laid to rest. Dozens of Palestinian flags flew all around the occupied holy city. It was a scene like no other. And despite the bruises and batons, the land spoke Arabic.

(Israeli military and police undercover intelligence units famous for dressing and speaking like Palestinians and blending into crowds as agents provocateurs and carrying out arrests and beatings), Palestinians' political or social gatherings have become nearly nonexistent. During the 2021 Unity Upris-ing, bare-chested youth confronted heavily armed soldiers for their right to sit, eat, sing, and protest at Damascus Gate—once the beating heart of Je-rusalem, now plagued with surveillance cameras, military watchtowers, and police ready to brutalize people. During Ramadan that same year, Palestinians fought to preserve the status of Al-Aqsa Mosque compound, not only one of Islam's holiest sites but also a hub for social, political, and educational Palestinian activities. Shireen Abu Akleh's funeral—at the Jaffa Gate— marks a reclamation of public space.

encapsulates my thoughts in a truly perfect way; I think about this book all the time 

Rahma A

I think this is one of the most impactful books on Palestine in recent times, unlike others this book is for Palestinians and people in support of the end to their oppression and self determination. It is a call in to us, to advocate for Palestinians in better ways that don't leave them 'defanged' and dehumanized. It is a call for us to be braver in our convictions and to center the Palestinian narrative  as Mohammed el-kurd states "

Palestinian is not just a strategic object in a film or an article but a sovereign protagonist whose real story, no matter how it is received by foreign audiences, is reported accurately. Our testimonies have heft, whether published on Israeli websites or not. Our tragedies are real  whether they are broadcast. Above all, the Palestinian struggle for liberation is heroic--no qualifiers needed

': El-Kurd is asking for a new radical consciousness for Palestinian people and those that support them.

I really enjoyed this conversation Mohammed had with Robin DG Kelley: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FXcqfLsraJI&t=4065s

Marion

I think this is one of the most impactful books on Palestine in recent times, unlike others this book is for Palestinians and people in support of the end to their oppression and self determination. It is a call in to us, to advocate for Palestinians in better ways that don't leave them 'defanged' and dehumanized. It is a call for us to be braver in our convictions and to center the Palestinian narrative  as Mohammed el-kurd states "Palestinian is not just a strategic object in a film or an article but a sovereign protagonist whose real story, no matter how it is received by foreign audiences, is reported accurately. Our testimonies have heft, whether published on Israeli websites or not. Our tragedies are real  whether they are broadcast. Above all, the Palestinian struggle for liberation is heroic--no qualifiers needed" 

Similar to Hadar Eid book 'Decolonizing the Palestinian mind': El-Kurd is asking for a new radical consciousness for Palestinian people and those that support them.

I really enjoyed this conversation Mohammed had with Robin DG Kelley: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FXcqfLsraJI&t=4065s

what an incredibly generous work — in its clarity, in its citations. mohammed el-kurd writes with such precision. 

aisha

It is well-known to everyone who knows me that I'm Mohammed El-Kurd's biggest fan since 2021. Note that I am unbiased towards the literature I read.

This book was immaculate and relieving for me as a Palestinian reader. Mohammed El-Kurd knows how to brilliantly articulate everything we've been trying to scream at the top of our lungs for years. It's an ode to our people- not just the resilient ones portrayed by media as perfect, but also the ones who are fighting back- as much as it is an eye-opening, highly dignifying and contextualising read. He slams the reader out of our humiliating subordination to the customised liberal world order (which is a web of lies) and reminds us to dignify ourselves from said obedience. His usual sarcasm seeps into the margins and surprises me every time. I love him and his writing.

(This review still needs a lot of work. It's an injustice to how much I loved and appreciated the book)

It is well-known to everyone who knows me that I'm Mohammed El-Kurd's biggest fan since 2021. Note that I am unbiased towards the literature I read.

This book was immaculate and relieving for me as a Palestinian reader. Mohammed El-Kurd knows how to brilliantly articulate everything we've been trying to scream at the top of our lungs for years. It's an ode to our people- not just the resilient ones portrayed by media as perfect, but also the ones who are fighting back- as much as it is an eye-opening, highly dignifying and contextualising read. He slams the reader out of our humiliating subordination to the customised liberal world order (which is a web of lies) and reminds us to dignify ourselves from said obedience. His usual sarcasm seeps into the margins and surprises me every time. I love him and his writing.

(This review still needs a lot of work. It's an injustice to how much I loved and appreciated the book)

Perfect Victims: And the Politics of Appeal

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