The Fight for Dignity: Reshaping Gaza’s Post-War Narrative

Ramzy Baroud

 January 21, 2025
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Following every Israeli war on Gaza, numerous narratives emerge. Some claim victory for one side and defeat for the other, while others—knowingly or unknowingly—attempt to exploit the aftermath for their own purposes.

The latter is not always nefarious, as the humanitarian calamities resulting from Israel’s actions are undeniable—especially as Israel and its allies often use aid to Palestinians as bargaining chips for political concessions or to exert pressure on the Strip and its leadership.

This dynamic often results in the exploitation of Palestinian suffering to raise funds, sometimes by organizations with high overhead costs, leaving independent researchers puzzled over the discrepancies between the funds collected and the funds allocated.

Additionally, Gaza lacks an independent commission to track all received funds and their usage, which leads to controversies and public accusations at times.

Exploiting Gaza

However, this is a topic for another discussion. The issue at hand here is the portrayal of Gaza’s victims—particularly children—without dignity or respect for their privacy, all in the name of helping Palestinian victims.

Throughout the latest Israeli assault on Gaza, the desperation of many Palestinian families, faced with famine and extermination, led them to seek help from international donors, often turning to online donation platforms.

Many of these personal fundraisers were, of course, legitimate, as Gaza was entirely pushed past the point of starvation. Yet, suspicious accounts also appeared, raising money for individuals—real or imagined—who had not sought assistance.

Perhaps future researchers will uncover how Gaza has been exploited by online profiteers and determine how to regulate such practices.

We hesitated to raise this issue during the war, fearing that a single misstep could have dire consequences for an individual or a family. Now that a ceasefire has been signed, it is crucial to open the conversation to scrutiny.

Reclaiming the Narrative

The latest Israeli war on Gaza was not ordinary, but then, no previous wars have been anything but destructive and lethal. For Israel, it was a genocide—a war aimed at exterminating Gaza’s population through mass killings and driving the survivors into Egypt.

Thanks to the legendary steadfastness of Gaza’s resistance and the unbending spirit of its people, Israel failed. As Israeli writer David K. Rees said, “For the first time, Israel just lost a war”

This is the Gaza that most Palestinians want us to know and remember—a symbol of collective strength and resistance. Their hope is that this message can reverberate around the world, not only to elevate the centrality of Gaza and Palestine in all political discourse but also to inspire oppressed groups globally to fight for their rights unapologetically.

Sadly, though sometimes understandably, that message is not one many are eager to champion.

Many will continue to see Palestinians only as victims. While this narrative may hold Israel accountable for its genocide, it fails to recognize the agency Palestinians have earned and deserve.

However, at times, this viewpoint can be understandable, especially in charitable causes, where the immediate need for aid must be addressed. Yet, it is possible to strike a balance—between meeting the urgent needs of victims and honoring their dignity, resilience, and collective power.

Not Hapless Victims

The exploitation of Palestinians, especially their children, as tools for fundraising must end. Gaza’s children, many of whom are amputees, should not be paraded in the most degrading manner to appeal to wealthy donors. The world already knows what Israel has done to the Palestinian people—especially the children of Gaza, who suffer the highest rate of child amputations globally.

This is not to deny the suffering. We are proud and humbled by every Palestinian child—whether martyred, injured, amputated, or emotionally scarred. However, instead of portraying them as helpless victims, we must celebrate them as poets, artists, reporters, and representatives of their people.

The time has come for a new narrative, one fundamentally different from those that have emerged in the wake of previous wars. The new narrative must position Gaza as the heart of the Palestinian struggle, as a model for humanity, and as the central path for the liberation of Palestine—which, thanks to Gaza, now seems closer than ever.

Don’t Help Israel 

To betray this fact is to betray Gaza and all its sacrifices. A victim-only narrative that ignores the larger political context risks undoing the gains made by Palestinian popular resistance in Gaza and inadvertently helping Israel reintroduce a fear-driven discourse. After 15 months of relentless genocide, Israel has failed to instill fear in Gaza’s population—and it must not succeed in rebuilding it.

Yes, we must spare no effort to help Gaza rebuild and resume its historical role as the leader of the Palestinian liberation movement. But we must do so with sensitivity, compassion, and above all, respect for Gaza and its unparalleled sacrifices.

Ramzy Baroud is a journalist and the Editor of The Palestine Chronicle. He is the author of five books. His latest is “These Chains Will Be Broken: Palestinian Stories of Struggle and Defiance in Israeli Prisons” (Clarity Press, Atlanta). Dr. Baroud is a Non-resident Senior Research Fellow at the Center for Islam and Global Affairs (CIGA), Istanbul Zaim University (IZU). His website is www.ramzybaroud.net

Mass Deportation: a Bad Idea for the US Economy

Algernon Austin

 January 21, 2025
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Photograph by Nathaniel St. Clair

There were many lies about immigrants spread during the 2024 presidential campaign. It is necessary to replace the misinformation with facts to think clearly about the economic impact of immigration and deportation on the US economy – especially since Donald Trump says he intends to move forward on mass deportation.

For all of the 21st century, there have been millions of unauthorized immigrants in the United States. The peak year on record was 2007, when there were 12.2 million unauthorized immigrants living here. In 2022, there were 11 million – 1.2 million fewer or about 10 percent less than in 2007. The provisional estimate for 2023 is 11.7 million, still below the 2007 peak.

In some cases, a sudden, rapid increase in immigrants – authorized and unauthorized – could put social and economic stress on the specific communities receiving the influx. There might be difficulties finding housing and finding space in schools, and social service organizations might find their capacity strained. At the same time, many anecdotal reports detail the economic benefits of increased immigration in particular communities.

At the US-Mexico border, migrant encounters – which refers to apprehensions and expulsions – dramatically increased from 2020 to 2023, but there was a sharp reversal in 2024. The foreign-born population, authorized and unauthorized, in the United States increased 1.6 million from 2022 to 2023. While this was the largest increase in 20 years, it was not large enough to have an impact on the day-to-day lives of most of the over 300 million people in the country.

In a population of nearly 12 million unauthorized immigrants, it would not be surprising to find that there are some number of them who commit serious crimes. The research clearly shows, however, that the rate of criminal offending among immigrants is lower than for the native-born. A study of data from the Texas Department of Public Safety, for example, found that “undocumented immigrants are arrested at less than half the rate of native-born US citizens for violent and drug crimes and a quarter the rate of native-born citizens for property crimes.” Further, research suggests that immigrant populations actually help to reduce crime ratesin communities.

In sum, the situation in the United States in relation to immigrants today is not much different than it was a decade ago. There is no new crisis.

Unauthorized Immigrants and the US Economy

How would Trump’s planned mass deportation impact the US economy? Recent history gives us some indications. From 2008 to 2014, about 400,000 people were deported from the United States. This mass deportation allowed scholars to study its economic effects. A recent analysis concluded that for each half million immigrants deported, the US-born population would actually lose 44,000 jobs. The work that the immigrants did was necessary to the jobs of US-born workers, so the loss of the immigrants caused the loss of jobs for the native-born. Also, the spending of immigrants (on food, clothing, etc.) paid the wages of US-born workers. Without that spending, jobs for US-born workers were lost. The deportation of millions of unauthorized immigrant workers will mean the loss of hundreds of thousands of jobs for the US-born.

While the overall number of unauthorized immigrants is small in comparison to the entire US population, the fact that they are concentrated in particular sectors of the economy would make their rapid removal disruptive. Unauthorized immigrants are overrepresented as maids, housecleaners, cooks, grounds maintenance workers, janitors, agricultural workers, and construction workers. A large and rapid deportation program would increase the costs of the products and services connected to these industries. In Texas, the construction industry is expressing alarm about how Trump’s plans will devastate their ability to build homes and other infrastructure.

Because unauthorized immigrants are also a significant part of our caregiving economy, the deportation from 2008 to 2014 disrupted this sector. Economists have found that the loss of childcare workers led to a reduction in the number of college-educated mothers with young children in the paid labor force.

Legal Immigrants and the US Economy

Although the Trump campaign has spoken loudly about curtailing unauthorized immigration, there is reason to believe that the new administration will reduce authorized immigration to an equal or even greater degree than unauthorized immigration. As the libertarian Cato Institute has pointed out, the first Trump administration significantly reduced legal immigration but largely failed to reduce unauthorized immigration.

People may have a stereotype of immigrant workers as low-wage workers, but immigrant workers can be found throughout the economy. For example, many immigrants work as nurses, computer programmers, educators, and architects. There is also a higher rate of entrepreneurship among immigrants than among the US-born. Almost half of the 500 largest companies in the United States were founded by immigrants or their children. Losing these workers and entrepreneurs will have a negative effect on the U.S. economy.

The Immigration System is Broken – Politics Prevent Potential Solutions

Millions of people are waiting years to enter the United States legally. This gummed-up system is one of the factors causing people to pursue unauthorized immigration. There is bipartisan acknowledgement that the US immigration system is broken and needs to be fixed, but political gamesmanship continues to stymie reform. A 2007 bipartisan effort was blocked in the Senate. A 2013 bipartisan effort was blocked by Republican Speaker of the House John Boehner. In 2024, another bipartisan effort was killed by Donald Trump, who sought to campaign on the issue.

Donald Trump has assured his voters that he intends to carry out the xenophobic anti-immigrant policies he espoused as a candidate. He has not said that he will pursue the comprehensive immigration reform needed to fix the broken system and to strengthen the US economy.

This first appeared on CERP.

Algernon Austin, a senior research fellow at the Center for Economic and Policy Research, has conducted research and writing on issues of race and racial inequality for over 20 years. His primary focus has been on the intersection of race and the economy.