Vanishing water

Naseer Memon

December 13, 2025 

DAWN

PLUMMETING stocks of freshwater have emerged as a global challenge. A recently released World Bank report, Continental Drying: A Threat to Our Common Future, has revealed that global freshwater reserves have declined by three per cent of the average annual freshwater supply. The situation is grimmer in dry regions where the depletion is a staggering 10pc of annual replenishment. This imbalance of the freshwater cycle means appalling consequences.

The report puts the net annual loss of global freshwater at 324 billion cubic metres, which is sufficient to meet the annual needs of 280 million people. In the midst of this worrying decline in freshwater availability, water consumption is increasing, thus aggravating the disequilibrium. Between 2000 and 2019, water consumption increased by 25pc. One-third of this additional consumption occurred in dry regions. This growing demand of water is attributed to a swelling population and irresponsible consumption.

Globally, the agriculture sector accounts for 98pc of people’s use of water. The sector is a major source of wasteful water consumption thanks to inefficient farming practices, water-thirsty crops and an archaic infrastructure particularly in the dry regions. Pakistan has been bracketed with Algeria, Cambodia, Mexico, Thailand, Tunisia, and Romania among the dry countries with the highest share of inefficient agricultural water consumption.

Large amounts of water are used for tradable commodities at the expense of local needs. In 2019, approximately 25pc of global water was allocated for export products rather than domestic use. The phenomenon is called ‘virtual water trade’, involving water-intensive products such as cereals, apparel, nutritious forage and dairy products, which carry ‘hidden’ water.


Pakistan’s water security is prone to multiple risks.

The states of California, Washington, Idaho, Utah, Arizona, Oregon and Nevada in the US are among the largest producers of alfalfa, a major forage crop for livestock. These states exported 2.8m tonnes of alfalfa, mostly to China in 2022. They consumed approximately two million acre feet of water to grow alfalfa. Australia and Spain are among the large virtual water-trading countries exporting agricultural products. Australia annually exports about 35,000 gallons of virtual water.

Pakistan has also been aspiring to bring large swaths of land under corporate farming in the Cholistan desert. Under the Green Pakistan Initiative, the project aims to attract large-scale investment in the agriculture and livestock sectors from Arab countries. A chronically inefficient water sector is barely able to meet local farm needs and a growing urban population. The proposition has met with bitter resistance from the water-scarce lower riparians that endure frequent water shortages.

Pakistan’s water security is prone to multiple climate- and human-induced risks. The country is ranked as fifth amongst the 23 most water-insecure countries in the world. Our glaciers are retreating and rainfall is scant and unreliable. Ageing infrastructure and arid climate results in 60pc conveyance losses and farm wastage. Out of 143 billion cubic metres of water available at the canal head, only 55 BCM is gainfully utilised for crops. More than 80pc of Pakistan’s water is consumed by rice, wheat, sugarcane and cotton. However, these four major crops contribute only 5pc to GDP.

Amid expanding unmet local needs, colossal volumes of water are traded virtually through Pakistan’s textile sector. Between 2020 and 2021, Pakistan produced a billion square metres of fabric. Dyeing processes for such production guzzles up to 200 tonnes of water per tonne of fabric — the quantity is enough to meet the daily water needs of over 1,000 people. In 2017, Pakistan was ranked the eighth lowest in the world on returns of water, generating only $1.4 per cubic metre of water. In contrast, Malaysia, Korea, China and Turkiye earned $55, $52.4, $21 and $13.6 per cubic metre respectively.

Pakistan need to focus on improving water productivity without resorting to controversial new dams and canals. According to a report by the Zarai Taraqiati Bank, Pakistan produced 2,868 kilograms per hectare (1,160 kg per acre) of wheat compared to 3,431 kg by India and 5,742 kg by China. Similarly, Pakistan produces 2,563 kg per hectare of rice compared to 3,962 kg by India and 4,809 kg by Bangladesh. Cotton, the key ingredient of textiles, depicts a similar pattern where Pakistan harvests 753 kg per hectare as against 1,378 kg by India and 4,937 kg by Turkiye.

Our unregulated supply-driven water consumption also allows groundwater abstraction at unsustainable proportions. Both surface and subsoil water resources are dwindling at a precarious rate that needs to be arrested immediately to avert a very serious water crisis.

The writer is a civil society professional.

nmemon2004@yahoo.com

Published in Dawn, December 13th, 2025

Rights of nature

Samir Ahmed 

December 14, 2025

DAWN

ECUADOR is a small country, tucked away in the northwestern corner of South America. In 2008, it did something potentially transformative for the Earth’s future. It enacted a new constitution which, for the first time in human history, embodied the concept of the rights of nature. Nature was granted legal personhood.

“Nature, or Pachamama, where life is reproduced and occurs, has the right to integral respect for its existence and for the maintenance and regeneration of its life-cycles, structure, functions and evolutionary processes. All persons, communities, peoples and nations can call upon public authorities to enforce the rights of nature.” (Article 71)

The rights of nature movement has been advancing for some time now, quietly in the noisy global debate around the environment. The concept is deeper, more foundational than, for example, environmental laws which seek to protect nature for the benefit of the human race. Indeed, the debate need no longer be framed purely in terms of one species. To the pragmatic argument, we can add a higher ethical and spiritual argument. Nature is sentient, it lives and so has rights like other living things. If rivers, mountains and forests have rights, they do not exist merely as resources for exploitation.

The Ecuadorian constitution has been tested in subsequent litigation. In 2021, in the Los Cedros Cloud Forest case, their constitutional court upheld the forest’s right to exist and blocked a mining project. The court held that nature’s rights take precedence over economic interests. This progress from concept to constitutional reality and subsequent validation in law is vitally important. In law, precedence is of great importance.

Ecuador has inspired other jurisdictions. New Zealand took the legislative, not the constitutional, route. Their parliament passed the Te Awa Tupua Act in 2017. The Act recognised the Whanganui river and its ecosystem as a single legal entity called Te Awa Tupua. “Te Awa Tupua is an indivisible and living whole from the mountains to the sea, incorporating all its physical and metaphysical elements.” And: “Te Awa Tupua is a legal person and has all the rights, powers, duties, and liabilities of a legal person.” (Section 14)


Nature is sentient, it lives and so has rights.

Why does any of this matter? Let us see where the world stands today in terms of the environmental crisis. It has been 10 years since the Paris Agreement. The latest progress review at COP30 in Belém, Brazil, in November 2025, was sobering. The conference, held symbolically in the largest rainforest on earth, was noteworthy for a lack of binding commitments for the future. Most notably, there was no agreement on phasing out fossil fuels in the face of opposition from oil-producing countries. What stood out was the need for stronger consensus across nations. More concrete, urgent action is needed, something more fundamental than endless tinkering at the margins.

Arguably, the idea of the rights of nature should be central to the debate. It is fundamentally about respect for nature and how to reconcile the various strains and stresses amid human progress. Significantly, the movement globally is closely identified with local communities and indigenous peoples. These communities have been severely impacted, their livelihoods threatened, in some cases extinguished. But it matters more than in purely economic terms. These people, closer to nature, more sensitive to the environment, have a mindset of coexistence, not exploitation. The New Zealand movement was driven by the native Maori community. There is a saying among them “Ko au te awa, Ko te awa ko au” — “I am the river, the river is me.”

This symbiosis of humankind and na­­ture is integral to most folklores and many of the major religions. The Quran, for example, places nature at the heart of creation: “And we have spread out the earth and have set upon it firm mountains and have caused it to bring out plants of all beauteous kinds.” (50:7) And: “Surely, in the creation of the heavens and the earth … there are signs for men of understanding.”(3:190). Further, the Quran speaks of our species as steward, khalifa, charged with protecting and preserving nature: “For He it is who has appointed you vicegerent over the earth… .” (6:165)

Regardless of religious belief, we would do well to ponder further, if only to understand the critical co-dependence. It is a cliché that there exists an existential threat. It manifests itself increasingly in climate change, every year bringing worse news. Future action must be grounded in fundamental change in our thinking on our relationship with nature. Progress will not be easy or quick. The example of Ecuador is startling in its irony — it remains a country substantially dependent on oil extraction and mining.

The writer is a member of the Economic Advisory Group.

eag.org.pk

Published in Dawn, December 14th, 2025

Gagging the media

Editorial 

December 14, 2025 

DAWN


WHILE some within the state may think that punishing outlets that refuse to toe the line may snuff out critical voices, in the modern age this is next to impossible. In fact, targeting mainstream voices — for example banning advertisements to the Dawn Media Group — will only hurt credible outlets, with unverified gossip and fake news filling the void.

For the last several months, the Dawn Media Group has been subjected to an unannounced ban on government ads. While the newspaper had been enduring this for 13 months, the restrictions have now been extended to the group’s TV and radio outlets.

Pakistan’s leading media bodies have called out this targeting of Dawn.

On Friday, the Council of Newspaper Editors said the ad ban was akin to “financially crippling the organisation”, while the All Pakistan Newspapers Society said that the step had been taken to “force the media group to change its editorial policy”. A Joint Action Committee of media bodies, including the PFUJ, has issued a similar statement.

This is not the first time this group has been facing the state’s wrath. The so-called Dawn Leaks saga springs to mind.

It must be asked why Dawn is being singled out, and at whose behest ads have been stopped.

Government ads are a major source of revenue for Pakistani publications. Instead of giving Dawn its due share, certain dummy publications are patronised to please influential backers of the government.


These funds are not coming out of the coffers of any political party or institution; this is the taxpayers’ money, and the public’s right to know is being denied by throttling independent media voices. The outcome of this would be managed news, where no one dares to question the powerful.

To err is human, but this paper has always striven to uphold the highest standards of journalism, and the values its founder, the Quaid, has bequeathed it. Dawn must not be silenced.

Published in Dawn, December 14th, 2025

Opinion

Kurdistan region 2035: Hybrid gas-solar power at Iraq’s geopolitical crossroads

December 12, 2025 

Middle East Monitor

The Kawergosk Refinery is a major oil processing facility in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq. [Photo by Reza/Getty Images]

by Dr Kamran Yeganegi

Introduction

The Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KRI) sits at a hard geopolitical junction. Baghdad seeks tighter federal control over energy, a trend reinforced by recent court rulings and budget mechanisms, according to Iraqi government statements and federal decisions. Turkey holds decisive leverage over northern export and transit routes, while Persian Gulf (also known as the Arabian Gulf) states increasingly project influence through clean-energy investment. In this environment, electricity does not behave as a neutral public service; it functions as leverage.

For years, the KRI’s power system has amplified political vulnerability. Gas shortages have repeatedly translated into power cuts, particularly during peak summer demand, according to data from Iraq’s Ministry of Electricity and parliamentary energy committee briefings. When supply tightens or rules change, households absorb the shock first, businesses follow, and political costs land on Erbil’s institutions.

A hybrid gas–solar strategy offers more than a green upgrade. By widening energy options, it can reduce exposure to external pressure. Solar generation can shave daytime peaks and lower fuel dependence, while modern gas capacity stabilises the grid after sunset. Paired with storage, smarter grid management and credible regulation, hybridisation allows the KRI to move from chronic crisis management toward energy resilience.

By 2035, the question is not whether the KRI will add renewables, but whether it can use hybridisation to rebalance relations with Baghdad, Ankara and Gulf investors. The coming decade will determine whether the region emerges as a more stable energy actor in northern Iraq or remains trapped between politics and power cuts.

Why energy has become the Kurdistan Region’s biggest political battlefield

Energy has become one of the most effective tools of pressure on the Kurdistan Region. What appears technical—generation, fuel supply or grid stability—often carries political intent. Control over electricity increasingly shapes budgets, negotiations and public trust.

Baghdad has steadily centralised energy governance. Court rulings against independent oil exports, tighter contract oversight and conditional budget transfers push Erbil toward compliance. Electricity plays a central role in this strategy. Federal authorities can tighten or relax support to the northern grid, turning kilowatts into bargaining chips. When supply falters, political costs fall not on Baghdad, but on households and businesses in the KRI.

Turkey reinforces this imbalance from the north. Ankara’s control over export corridors and its role in regional gas transit give it disproportionate influence over the KRI’s economic options, a reality highlighted in regional energy transit assessments. Cooperation enables flows and revenue; tension introduces delay and uncertainty. This asymmetry leaves Erbil dependent on a single route that both empowers and constrains it.

From the south, Gulf states enter through clean-energy diplomacy. Investments in solar, grid infrastructure and energy-transition projects project influence without troops or pipelines, as reflected in public investment announcements by Gulf energy firms operating in Iraq. This engagement brings opportunity but also competition, intersecting with Iran’s role as a gas supplier and layering Iraq’s energy system with rival geopolitical agendas.

In this triangular environment—Baghdad, Ankara and the Gulf—electricity ceases to be neutral. Gas shortages translate into political constraint, infrastructure weakness into negotiation disadvantage and public frustration into institutional risk. The KRI’s energy system does not merely respond to politics; it absorbs and amplifies it.

How the hybrid gas–solar model can rebalance power dynamics in the KRI

A hybrid gas–solar system alters the logic of dependence. It does not promise autonomy, but it reduces exposure to disruption and political constraint. Regional energy planning documents and publicly available policy assessments indicate that locally governed generation could significantly reduce exposure to politically induced supply disruptions.

Gas shortages have long exposed the KRI’s grid to disputes beyond Erbil’s control. Disruptions linked to federal infrastructure, contractual uncertainty or regional geopolitics quickly cascade into power cuts. Solar energy changes that equation. Locally generated electricity, governed within the region, limits the scope for external actors to manipulate supply during periods of tension. Even partial substitution reshapes risk.

Hybridisation also improves negotiation dynamics. When the grid relies less on single channels, pressure loses immediacy, a pattern noted in regional energy security assessments. Budget talks with Baghdad, transit discussions with Ankara and negotiations with Gulf investors all shift tone when electricity becomes more predictable. Diversification does not remove politics, but it reduces the cost of refusal.

Investor confidence follows resilience. A balanced energy mix signals institutional credibility and long-term planning. Hybrid infrastructure—paired with clearer regulation—can turn energy from a liability into a strategic asset that attracts capital rather than deters it.

The technologies enabling a hybrid energy future in the KRI

Hybrid energy only matters politically if technology delivers predictability and control. In the KRI, four elements determine whether hybridisation strengthens agency or remains symbolic.

Solar power provides the most immediate dividend. High irradiation allows rapid deployment and local governance of generation, according to regional energy planning assessments. Daytime solar output reduces peak pressure on gas-fired plants and lowers vulnerability to politically induced shortages.

Gas remains essential but redefined. Modern, flexible gas capacity stabilises the grid when solar output falls. When gas plants function as stabilisers rather than sole providers, their political sensitivity declines. The problem is not gas dependence itself, but exclusive dependence.

Storage marks the line between symbolism and strategy. It reduces evening shortages—the moments when public frustration peaks and political pressure escalates, as widely reported during recent summer power crises in northern Iraq. Batteries do not merely store electricity; they store stability.

Finally, grid management matters as much as generation. Smarter monitoring, forecasting and control improve reliability in a system strained by institutional fragmentation, limiting the space for crisis narratives that external actors can exploit.

Geopolitical implications of a hybrid energy architecture in the KRI

A more resilient energy system reshapes political relationships even when formal power structures remain unchanged. For Erbil, hybridisation does not resolve disputes with Baghdad, but it alters the context in which they unfold. Federal leverage increasingly operates through legal rulings, budget mechanisms and regulatory oversight, as reflected in public statements by Iraqi officials and federal court decisions.

Turkey’s influence also recalibrates. A region less reliant on energy exports to survive fiscally gains room to resist pressure when interests diverge. At the same time, electricity trade and grid cooperation shift the relationship toward conditional interdependence.

Iran’s position weakens more subtly. Gas exports have long provided Tehran with indirect influence over Iraq’s power system, a dynamic acknowledged by Iraqi officials and regional analysts. As solar generation and storage expand, exposure to supply fluctuations declines.

The Gulf states enter as quieter power brokers. Clean-energy investment allows them to shape infrastructure rather than rhetoric, diversifying the KRI’s partnerships while embedding it more deeply in regional competition.

Hybrid energy does not neutralise geopolitics; it redistributes it. By lowering vulnerability, the KRI gains agency. By widening partnerships, it complicates external constraint.

Conclusion

The Kurdistan Region of Iraq is approaching a decisive moment. Energy choices made today will shape grid stability, political leverage and social trust over the next decade. Hybrid gas–solar power represents less a technological fix than a strategic recalibration.

Hybridisation does not promise independence from Baghdad, Ankara or regional power politics. It offers something more practical: room to manoeuvre. By reducing exposure to fuel disruptions, transit pressure and single-channel dependency, the KRI can move from reactive crisis management to more predictable governance.

By 2035, the region will either consolidate a more resilient energy position that supports stability and integration, or remain vulnerable to power cuts that shape politics. Hybrid energy is not a panacea, but it provides the foundation upon which any credible future stability must rest.


The views expressed in this article belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Middle East Monitor.

Opinion...

Iran’s shadow diplomacy: The art of winning without showing

December 14, 2025 

Middle East Monitor

People continue their daily life under the shadow of the ceasefire reached with Israel, in Tehran, Iran, on July 15, 2025. [Fatemeh Bahrami – Anadolu Agency]

by Jasim Al-Azzawi


As the conflict escalates between Israel and Iran to an unprecedented degree, with Iran and Israeli missiles clashing in June 2025, representing the most tangible military conflict ever witnessed between these two nations, it will be argued that the actual might that Iran poses doesn’t lie within what we can witness, but instead within what they have worked hard to hide. As everyone focuses on watching ballistic missiles traveling across Middle Eastern skies, it will be realised that Iran’s most potent weapon remains invisible.

Iran has baffled its enemies for several decades. It has been at once isolated and indispensable, weak yet resilient. According to the Middle East Council on Global Affairs’s Hamidreza Azizi, “this seeming contradiction embodies a foreign policy paradigm which aims ‘to compensate for material weakness through strategic ambiguity and indirect power projection.’” Iran’s most significant foreign policy skill would be aptly termed shadow diplomacy—determining an outcome without occupying the chair.
Strategy through absence

“The Iranian leadership seems increasingly confident operating below the threshold of outright warfare,” warned CIA Director William Burns at the start of 2024. As Burns said, Iran prefers escalation through “partners, proxies, and deniability” rather than direct confrontation. It is often most influential precisely where it remains least visible.

The implications of this strategy are evident in Ardavan Khoshnood’s research on the Iran Experts Initiative (IEI), an undercover influence operation set up approximately in 2014 to nurture Iran-compliant analysts within Western think tanks, news media, and policy circles. Internal communications were uncovered, showing regular interactions between government representatives and foreign-based scholars who, as Khoshnood describes, “regularly defended Iran’s strategic intentions within influential Western platforms”. The goal here was not persuasion but normalisation.

Alex Vatanka, a Middle East Institute expert, places it within an overall strategy conducted by Iran: “It would appear that Tehran uses stories as much as it uses missiles. Influencing perceptions of Iran within capitals like Washington, Brussels, or London constitutes a form of deterrence”.

A proxy ecosystem: Power without presence

Iran’s shadow diplomacy takes its most deadly form through its regional proxies. “They fund them, they train them, they equip them,” testified Lt. Gen. J.B. Vowell, former commanding general of US forces operating against ISIS. “Those missiles in Yemen don’t appear by accident.”

Instead, Iran fosters dependence. The Quds Force, an arm of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps, has replaced traditional diplomatic efforts with “an ecosystem of armed clients whose survival depends on Tehran”. Hezbollah, Lebanon; militias within Iraq; and Houthis, Yemen—the list goes on and represents Iran’s expanding influence as it removes itself from any possible retaliation.

Iran-backed militias within Iraq and Syria have conducted a total of 160 attacks against US forces since 7 October 2023. Nevertheless, Iran continues to deny controlling these attacks. Ray Takeyh, a Council on Foreign Relations expert, describes Iran’s calculation: “Iran supports these attacks but refuses to leave its fingerprints on them. It’s an ambiguous strategy—and very effective”.

The drone attack on Tower 22 in January 2024, which took the lives of three US soldiers, illustrated the power and risk associated with this drone model. Analyses carried out by US intelligence suggested that, as much as an Iran-backed Iraqi militia had conducted the attack, escalation levels were a source of alarm among Iran’s political leaders. Once shadow power is unleashed, it can be tough to control.

Winning in the shadows

The secret to Iran’s success is that it capitalizes on a blind spot within Western thinking. It believes that, for power to exist, it must be visible. As Azizi writes, “The Islamic Republic has learned to make itself at home with prolonged instability. It often considers crises ‘not problems to be solved, but environments to be managed’.
Four cornerstones define this strategy:

First, proxy projection rather than direct confrontation. Proxy projection enables Iran to deter and punish without going to war.

Second, control via networks and narratives. The IEI showed how Tehran embeds its worldview inside Western debate without a formal diplomatic presence.

Third, crisis exploitation rather than resolution. “Iran is not in a hurry to end regional tensions,” Vatanka notes. “Time usually works in its favor”.

At Last: The Role of Ambiguity as a Resource. As a Gulf security expert so aptly summarized an Iranian strength: “You can rarely prove its hand, even when you feel its grip.”

The changing landscape

The Israeli attacks against Iran conducted in June 2025 weakened its air defense systems, production facilities for missiles, and nuclear infrastructure. Both Hamas and Hezbollah were struck hard by the loss of leadership, and with the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s government at the end of 2024, Iran’s overland route to the Mediterranean Sea began to unwind. On paper, it would appear that an Iranian axis of resistance has never looked weaker.

Nevertheless, Iran adjusts. The Persian Gulf States increasingly acknowledge Iran as “a permanent geopolitical fact” and prefer coexistence and not confrontation. Saudi-Iranian talks on détente and Emirati-Iranian economic outreach are a consequence of this shift.

By turning towards the East, Iran expands its buffer zone. Through partnerships with Russia and China, it receives political and economic support to maintain its shadow operations despite pressure.

The costs of invisibility

Shadow diplomacy is a source of leverage, but it comes at a high cost. Iran’s shadow wars have brought about irreversibility and displaced millions. A 2024 United States Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing on “Tehran’s Shadow Army” illustrates bipartisan discontent regarding Iran’s shadow warfare.

The then US Special Representative for Iran, Brian Hook, argued that with oil revenues abridged due to sanctions, Iran suffered because: “Funding to proxies dried up.”

However, it seems that conventional diplomacy offers little reason for Iran to comply. Years and years of isolation have made it a master of sneak diplomacy.

As summarised by Azizi: “Since Iran cannot be at the table, it will learn to arrange the chairs”.

Conclusion: The power of the unseen

In an increasingly tense scenario involving the United States, Israel, and Iran, it has become imperative to make sense of the shadow politics of Tehran. It’s no crystal-ball gazing, but a strategy perfected over several decades that aims to influence without being seen.

Iran does not appear regularly.

It rarely needs to.

And in an exhausted region, amid obvious wars, invisibility remains a permanent advantage for Tehran, at least while it still matters.

The views expressed in this article belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Middle East Monitor.

‘Depraved Response to a Depraved Act’: Netanyahu Blames Attack on Australia Recognizing Palestine

“This is an atrocious downplaying of real antisemitism at a time when rampant Jew hatred is killing people,” said an American congressional candidate and school shooting survivor.

Health workers move a man on a stretcher to an ambulance after a shooting at Bondi Beach in Sydney, Australia on December 14, 2025.
(Photo by Saeed Khan/AFP via Getty Images)

Jessica Corbett
Dec 14, 2025
COMMON DREAMS

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was swiftly criticized around the world on Sunday for trying to connect a deadly shooting that targeted a Hanukkah celebration at Bondi Beach in Sydney to the Australian government’s decision to recognize Palestinian statehood.

Netanyahu referenced a letter he sent to Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese in August, after Albanese and Foreign Affairs Minister Penny Wong announced the decision, which followed similar moves from Canada, France, and the United Kingdom, amid Israel’s assault on the Gaza Strip, which has been widely condemned as genocide.




New Low for Fetterman: Senator Privately Urged Pardon for Netanyahu



UN Condemns ‘Brazen’ Israeli Killing of Surrendering Palestinians in West Bank

As Netanyahu noted, he wrote to Albanese: “Your call for a Palestinian state pours fuel on the antisemitic fire. It rewards Hamas terrorists. It emboldens those who menace Australian Jews and encourages the Jew hatred now stalking your streets.”

The Israeli leader shared a video and transcript of his commentary on the social media platform X, where Jasper Nathaniel, who reports on the illegally occupied West Bank, called it a “depraved response to a depraved act.”

“Obviously massacring unarmed men, women, and children at a Hanukkah celebration is antisemitic terror,” Nathaniel added in a separate thread. “Just like massacring unarmed men, women, and children in Gaza and the West Bank is anti-Palestinian terror. There are no moral exceptions regarding the slaughter of civilians.”

Electronic Intifada director Ali Abunimah said, “Basically Netanyahu is saying that Australia got what it had coming for not supporting his genocide in Gaza even more than it already does.”

Avi Meyerstein, founder of the Washington, DC-based Alliance for Middle East Peace, declared: “This is absurd. Calling to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict with peace, security, and self-determination for all, recognizing Israel and Palestine both, is a call to reduce the flames and put everyone on a path toward a better future.”

Cameron Kasky, who survived the 2018 mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida and is now running for Congress as a Democrat in New York, also blasted Netanyahu over his comments, saying that “this is an atrocious downplaying of real antisemitism at a time when rampant Jew hatred is killing people.”

The death toll in Australia has risen to 16, including one of at least two gunmen, and dozens more people were injured in the attack. A bystander who wrestled a gun away from one of the shooters has been identified by Australian media as Ahmed al Ahmed, a 43-year-old fruit shop owner and father. His cousin said that he was shot twice and had to get surgery.

Even Netanyahu recognized that in Australia, “we saw an action of a brave man—turns out a Muslim brave man, and I salute him—that stopped one of these terrorists from killing innocent Jews,” but the Israeli leader then doubled down on what he called Albanese’s “weakness.”

Responding to Netanyahu, Assal Rad, a fellow at the Arab Center Washington, DC, said that “blaming Palestinian statehood, while committing genocide against them, is just another reminder that you want to erase Palestinians from existence.”

“If you condemn the horrific, antisemitic attack in Bondi Beach while still defending genocide in Gaza, you’re not actually outraged by the killing of innocent people,” Rad also said. “It’s not hard to condemn both, unless you think some lives are more valuable than others.”

Israel's Netanyahu accuses Australian PM of fuelling antisemitism

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks at the plenum of the Knesset, Israel's parliament, in Jerusalem, Nov 10, 2025.
PHOTO: Reuters file

December 14, 2025 

JERUSALEM — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu condemned Sunday's (Dec 14) deadly shooting at a Jewish holiday celebration in Sydney and said he had warned his Australian counterpart that the country's support for Palestinian statehood would fuel antisemitism.

Gunmen opened fire during an event marking the first night of Hanukkah at Sydney's Bondi Beach, killing at least 11 people in what Australian officials described as a targeted antisemitic attack. One of the suspected gunmen was also killed.

Netanyahu said the shooting was "cold blooded murder".

He added that in August he had told Prime Minister Anthony Albanese in a letter that the Australian government's policies were promoting and encouraging antisemitism in Australia.

"I wrote: 'Your call for a Palestinian state pours fuel on the antisemitic fire. It rewards Hamas terrorists. It emboldens those who menace Australian Jews and encourages the Jew hatred now stalking your streets'," Netanyahu said in a speech.

Albanese said on August 11 that Australia would recognise a Palestinian state at September's UN General Assembly, a move that followed similar announcements by France, Britain and Canada.

In his speech, Netanyahu accused Albanese's government of "doing nothing to stop the spread of antisemitism in Australia".

"You let the disease spread and the result is the horrific attacks on Jews we saw today," he added.

Albanese convened a meeting of the country's national security council on Sunday and condemned the attack, saying the evil that was unleashed was "beyond comprehension".

"This is a targeted attack on Jewish Australians on the first day of Hanukkah, which should be a day of joy, a celebration of faith," he said.

Sunday's shootings were the most serious of a string of antisemitic attacks on synagogues, buildings and cars in Australia since the beginning of Israel's war in Gaza in October 2023.

'Start rounding them up!' Conservative commentator blames mass shooting on peace activists

Alexander Willis
December 14, 2025

RAW STORY



Middle East Forum Chief Strategist Jim Hanson appears on Fox News'

 "Fox & Friends," Dec. 14, 2025. (Screengrab / Fox News)

Conservative commentator and U.S. Army veteran Jim Hanson took to Fox News Sunday to lay blame for the deadly mass shooting in Australia targeting its Jewish community on critics of Israel’s military siege on Gaza.

On Sunday, at least 11 people were killed and at least 29 injured after two gunmen opened fire at an event on Bondi Beach celebrating the start of the Jewish holiday Hanukkah, according to BBC.

Hanson, the chief strategist at the U.S.-based conservative think tank Middle East Forum, blamed the attack, in part, on “groups” that he accused of spreading “lies” about Israel’s siege on Gaza, which has killed at least 70,000 people, the majority of them women and children, though other analyses suggest the death toll to be much higher.

“The idea you can secure any large group of people in a country like Australia, the United States or others is just not possible; we have to get them left of the attack before they do it, infiltrate their networks, find their funders and start rounding them up and putting them away!” Hanson said, appearing on Fox News’ “Fox & Friends.”

“We can't stop an event like this, but we can stop the groups we're now allowing to go ahead and use the Gaza genocide and the Gaza famine – and other lies like that – to generate outrage and cause these types of horrific events.”

Despite Hanson’s assertion that accusations of genocide were false, a United Nations commission found in September that Israel’s actions in Gaza did constitute genocide, as have a litany of other international organizations such as Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and the International Association of Genocide Scholars.

Hanson’s dismissal of claims of famine in Gaza have also been similarly rebuked by leading human rights organizations and bodies.

Nevertheless, Hanson continued to lay blame for the attack on such groups, declaring there to be an immediate threat of what he called the “red-green axis,” which he described as a coalition of “Islamist movements” and “the leftist revolutionary movement.”

“To undermine western culture… events like this are designed to do that,” Hanson said. “They're designed to strike fear, they're designed to ruin our ability to enjoy the wonderful culture we've built in the hopes of rising up and bringing what they have, which is an Islamist culture that's destructive, and a leftist-communist-style culture which is equally destructive.”

Gunmen kill at least 11 during Jewish celebration at Sydney’s Bondi Beach

Two gunmen opened fire at a Jewish holiday event at Sydney’s Bondi Beach on Sunday evening, killing at least 11 people and injuring nearly 30 others in what Australian authorities have declared a terrorist attack.

Issued on: 14/12/2025 

Police walk on a street after a shooting incident at Bondi Beach in Sydney on December 14, 2025. Australian police said two people were in custody following reports of multiple gunshots on December 14 at Sydney's famed Bondi Beach, urging the public to take shelter. AFP - DAVID GRAY

Police said one attacker was shot dead at the scene and the second was arrested in critical condition. Among the injured were two police officers.

Hundreds had gathered for Chanukah by the Sea, marking the first night of the Jewish festival of Hanukkah, when the attackers struck shortly after 6:45 pm local time.

New South Wales Police Commissioner Mal Lanyon said the shooting was “targeted at Sydney’s Jewish community” and confirmed that an improvised explosive device had been found in one of the suspects’ vehicles. “The death toll remains fluid,” he said, as emergency crews continued to treat victims at nearby hospitals.

One of those killed was identified as Rabbi Eli Schlanger, assistant rabbi at Chabad of Bondi and a key organiser of the Hanukkah event. Chabad, an Orthodox Jewish outreach movement, said he had worked in the coastal suburb for more than 18 years.

Videos broadcast on Australian television appeared to show a bystander tackling and disarming one of the gunmen before police intervened.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese described the massacre as “an act of evil antisemitism and terrorism that has struck the heart of our nation.” Speaking in Canberra, he said the country “must stand united against hate and violence” and pledged that authorities would “eradicate” such extremism.

The attack comes amid a sharp rise in antisemitic incidents in Australia following the 2023 Hamas assault on Israel. Reported cases of harassment, vandalism and physical attacks against Jewish people have more than tripled in the past year, according to government figures.

Australia’s Jewish population, estimated at about 117,000, is concentrated largely in Sydney and Melbourne. In recent months, synagogues, Jewish schools and businesses in both cities have faced security threats and acts of vandalism.

Israel’s President Isaac Herzog said the country’s “heart misses a beat” in solidarity with the victims, urging Australia to “fight against the enormous wave of antisemitism” affecting its Jewish communities.

Gun violence remains rare in Australia following sweeping firearm controls introduced after the 1996 Port Arthur massacre, which killed 35 people. Sunday’s mass shooting is the country’s deadliest in nearly three decades.

(With newswires)

Australia talks about ‘hero’ Ahmed al Ahmed who was injured while bravely disarming gunman in Sydney attac

December 14, 2025 

Middle East Monitor

Ahmed al Ahmed [x]


Australian media reported that the individual, who intervened in a shooting attack on a beach in Sydney and disarmed one of the suspects, was a man named Ahmed al Ahmed, Anadolu reports.

According to a report published on News.com.au, video footage captured the moment during the attack at Sydney’s Bondi Beach when a man approached one of the attackers from behind, grabbed the shotgun from his hands, and neutralized him.

“News.com.au can confirm the hero has been named as 43-year-old Ahmed al Ahmed, a Sydney local who owns a fruit shop in Sutherland,” the report said.

The 43-year-old Ahmed al Ahmed, who saved many lives, was reportedly shot in two places during the attack and was taken to the hospital for treatment.

Speaking to 7News from the hospital, Ahmed’s cousin, Mustafa, said his cousin would undergo surgery tonight.

Mustafa added that Ahmed al Ahmed, a father of two, had no experience with firearms.

Mustafa said that Ahmed’s condition was good, saying: “We hope he will be okay — he is a hero.”

He added that he had not yet been able to speak with Ahmed and that doctors are expected to allow a visit within a few hours.

As details of Ahmed al Ahmed’s intervention became a major focus of Australian media and public discussion, footage of the incident was widely shared on social media.

The Sydney Morning Herald referred to Ahmed as “a hero who saved many lives.”

New South Wales Premier Chris Minns praised Ahmed, saying: “It’s the most unbelievable scene I’ve ever seen. A man walking up to a gunman who had fired on the community and single-handedly disarming him, putting his own life at risk to save the lives of countless other people.”

“That man is a genuine hero, and I’ve got no doubt that there are many, many people alive tonight as a result of his bravery,” he added.
– Armed attack in Australia

An armed attack took place at Bondi Beach in Sydney, in the Australian state of New South Wales (NSW).

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese stated at a press conference that the attack was directed at Jewish Australians.

The attack left 11 people dead and 29 others injured, including two police officers.

Authorities announced that one suspect was killed, while another injured suspect was taken into custody.

Representatives of Australia’s Muslim community condemned the attack and expressed solidarity with the victims and their families.

'Absolute legend': Observers hail 'hard as nails' man who wrestled gun from mass shooter

Alexander Willis
December 14, 2025

RAW STORY

A still from Fox News shows the aftermath of Australia's deadly mass shooting, Dec. 14, 2025. (Screengrab / Fox News)

The mass shooting in Australia Sunday was thwarted, in part, by what appears to be a man wrestling the suspected gunman to the ground and taking his firearm, a video of which has gone viral on social media and garnered praise from thousands

“Absolute legend,” wrote Jonah Goldberg, editor-in-chief of The Dispatch, in a social media post Sunday on X.

“Extraordinary heroism from a bystander,” wrote another, Marc Polymeropoulos, a retired CIA senior officer, in a social media post on X Sunday. “An instinctive need to act. Saved numerous lives.”

Sunday’s deadly shooting was perpetrated by two gunmen according to multiple news outlets, and took place on Australia’s Bondi Beach during an event celebrating the start of Hanukkah. The shooting, which many have labeled to be a direct attack on Australia’s Jewish community, killed at least 12 people and injured at least 29.

Video quickly circulated on social media of a man charging and tackling one of the gunmen, and wrestling their firearm out of their hands. The Australian reported that the man had been identified as a 43-year-old fruit-shop owner, and that he was shot twice – in the hand and in the shoulder – and is currently undergoing surgery.

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has already given what appears to be a nod to the bystander in praising Australians who had “run towards danger in order to help others.”

A relative of the man told Australia’s Seven News that the man had no experience with firearms, something that left many shocked.“Really expected to hear he had a military background,” wrote X user “festiveSG,” who’s followed by former President Barack Obama
and has amassed more than 6,400 followers. “Bro just hard as f------ nails.”

The Shift: Clinton doubles down on the claim that young people are being duped on Israel

By Michael Arria 

 December 11, 2025 

MONDOWEISS

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu meets Democratic Presidential Candidate Hillary Clinton in New York in September 2016. (Photo: Kobi Gideon/GPO)


In last week’s newsletter, I wrote about recent comments made by Hillary Clinton.

“Smart, well-educated, young people from our own country, from around the world, where were they getting their information?” Clinton told the audience at a conference hosted by Israel Hayom. “They were getting their information from social media, particularly TikTok.”

“That is where they were learning about what happened on October 7th, what happened in the days, weeks, and months to follow,” she continued. “That’s a serious problem. It’s a serious problem for democracy, whether it’s Israel or the United States, and it’s a serious problem for our young people.”

The former Secretary of State faced immediate backlash over the remarks and, at the Doha Forum in Qatar on Sunday, Foreign Policy’s Ravi Argawal asked Clinton if she had reflected on them at all.

Argawal pointed out that many young Americans were getting their information about Gaza from “very reputable sources in the media, including Palestinian journalists.” Why would that information be inaccurate, he asked Clinton?

“I’m not saying it is inaccurate,” she responded. “What I am saying … I’ve had many many conversations with many smart young people … in talking with them about their views — they were certainly entitled to those views base on the information they had — but they did not always know why they said they said.”

Clinton went on to claim that young people don’t know what “from the river to the sea” means.

“And we’re not going to get there if people, you know, when they say ‘from the river to the sea’ and you say ‘what river and what sea’ and they don’t know, which has personally happened in conversations that I’ve had, I just, you know, but this is a larger issue because even on other matters in this class that I teach, we are not doing a good job teaching history,” she said. “We’re not giving young people the kind of context that I think they need to be decision makers.”

Clinton didn’t stop there. She went on to imply that there has been an oversized focus on Gaza, while other human rights abuses have been ignored.

“I’m angry about all of the excessive use of force,” she explained. “I’m angry about what happened on October 7th in Israel and what happened in Gaza. I’m angry about what Russia is doing in Ukraine. I’m angry about Sudan. I’m angry about the eastern Congo.”

“I mean, I think we should be all looking at the tragedies and the conflicts that are bringing about so much suffering and be dealing with them,” Clinton continued. “That’s why the national security strategy is not to my liking because I think the United States has an important role in trying to resolve these conflicts and alleviate the suffering and give people a chance to have peaceful, prosperous lives. That should be our goal. That is in America’s interest. I don’t care where in the world you are.”

This framing is obviously problematic. For starters, it envisions the United States as a neutral party that periodically intervenes to assist beleaguered populations. That’s clearly nonsense, but it’s especially ridiculous to roll with this narrative on this issue, as the United States gives Israel billions in weapons every year, and has politically supported the country throughout the genocide.

On some level, Clinton seems to be in denial. If you’re looking for an Israel supporter who has actually come to terms with the country’s diminishing reputation, look to J Street president Jeremy Ben-Ami.

Ben-Ami recently published a post titled “How Can I Get My Kids to Love Israel,” where he cautions parents against inundating their children with pro-Israel talking points. This will scare them off, he warns.

“Teach the painful history – not only the heroism,” writes the Ben-Ami. “Acknowledge Gaza, occupation, settlement expansion – not as footnotes, but central realities. And give them responsibility, not propaganda.”

“Love built on mythology breaks. Love built on honesty and moral obligation endures,” he continues. “If we want our children to love Israel, we should encourage them to wrestle with it – not demand they worship it.”

Ben-Ami and liberal Zionists like him have clear reasons to be concerned, whereas figures like Clinton have yet to realize the walls are closing in.
Jasmine Crockett

On Monday, Jasmine Crockett announced that she will run for the Senate.

In recent months, the Texas Congress member has made headlines and faced a barrage of right-wing backlash over her criticisms of Trump.

She addressed the president during her announcement event in Dallas.

“Trump, I know you’re watching, so let me tell you directly,” she declared. “You’re not entitled to a damn thing in Texas. You better get to work because I’m coming for you.”

Texas state Rep. James Talarico, who made headlines for challenging GOP redistricting efforts in the state, is also running in the primary.

As Drop Site News reporter Ryan Grim points out in a social media post, Crockett’s rhetoric and viral moments might lead people to believe that she is running on a Bernie/Squad platform, but her actual record is pretty moderate.

She’s also a vocal supporter of Israel.

Last year, she was asked about Americans concerned about their taxes funding a genocide.

Crockett said she didn’t believe most people voted on foreign policy issues, but she added this: “If the United States says, ‘we will throw away our 75-plus year relationship with Israel because we don’t like their leader…we set a precedent for certain allies throwing us away.”

Another clip from last year is circulating. In it, Crockett stresses a distinction between Israelis and Netanyahu before celebrating Israel’s 2024 attack on Lebanon, which she says was calculated and intended for terrorists.

In the past, this kind of stuff very rarely came up in races, but I think it’s safe to say we will see Crockett, and all future candidates, face more questions on these issues.

Opinion

New U.S. military funding bill includes measure to oppose global arms embargoes on Israel

The 2026 National Defense Authorization Act includes a U.S. commitment to counter arms embargoes on Israel as the country's isolation deepens due to the Gaza genocide.

By Mitchell Plitnick 

 December 10, 2025 

MONDOWEISS

Israeli Air Force (IAF) F-35I “Adir” stealth multi-role fighter jet (Photo: IDF Spokesperson’s Unit)


Congress unveiled their 2026 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) on Monday. This bill is the culmination of a lengthy process in both chambers and a reconciliation conference so that both the House and Senate can vote on the whole bill and send it to the president for his signature.

It comes as little surprise, based on the recently released National Security Strategy, that the Middle East doesn’t take up an inordinate amount of space in the NDAA. But it’s there, and Israel is, of course, a primary feature.

In fact, there’s an entire section devoted to what we will give to Israel. Most of that is merely business as usual, renewing and expanding defense and research cooperation between the United States and Israel. Still, we should keep in mind that, aside from some missile defense funding, this “business as usual” means funds in addition to the aid that Israel gets under the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) signed under Barack Obama in 2016, which amounts to $3.8 billion annually.

But there is one provision clearly meant to address Israel’s growing isolation: a commitment by the United States to fill any gaps in Israel’s arsenal and weapons capabilities created by any other country’s decision to stop selling all or some weapons to Israel.

Such assurances not only undercut the growing international efforts to cut arms from Israel as it carries out a genocide in Gaza, but also opens a potential backdoor for increasing weapons and aid to Israel as support for the country is dropping across the political spectrum.

What the U.S. is committing to

This part of the NDAA would require the Secretary of Defense to conduct an ongoing assessment at least once every six months on “the scope, nature, and impact on Israel’s defense capabilities of current and emerging arms embargoes, sanctions, restrictions, or limitations imposed by foreign countries or by international organizations; the resulting gaps or vulnerabilities in Israel’s security posture against shared regional adversaries… and its ability to maintain its qualitative military edge (QME).” The Defense Secretary is then required to report on these assessments annually to Congress.

This requires the United States to ensure that Israel is protected against a decision by any country or any potential United Nations decision to stop selling it weapons regardless of what crimes it might commit. It is a public declaration that, should Israel repeat or amplify its crimes in Gaza, it can do so with even greater impunity than it did before.

It’s important to note that many national and international laws govern the sale of weapons to human rights abusers. Barring weapons sales is a key legal tool to discourage large-scale human rights violations. It is also a tool of first resort in diplomacy; when a state is not swayed by mere arguments, suspension of certain weapon sales is often the first method used to apply genuine pressure, before enacting trade sanctions that impact the populace rather than just the military.

The first part of the provision in the NDAA involves tracking any potential effects that the cessation of a particular sale of weapons to Israel might have. It also demands that the United States monitor any potential diminishing of Israel’s Qualitative Military Edge (QME), which is the ability of Israel to fight off any combination of nations in the Mideast that might attack it. Guaranteeing that QME is already U.S. law.

So, what does the NDAA say we need to do if the Secretary of Defense finds that decisions to stop selling certain weapons to Israel have left a gap in Israel’s dominance over the region?

The bill lays out four options. Two of them are simply enhancing cooperation in research, development, training, logistics, and such. The other two are more substantive.

The first of these is a sort of internal review, seeking any regulations that might be eased to grant Israel even more weaponry than it already gets. It involves examining any limitations on what Israel can purchase from, or be provided by, the United States, as well as identifying items that can address the gaps left by other countries.

The second, more concerning option is spelled out as: “leveraging United States industrial base capacity to provide substitute defensive capabilities.” In other words, this would mean contracting with American defense corporations to manufacture the equipment Israel has been deprived of or a reasonable substitute for it, depending on the specific need.

What effect would this provision have?

As with so many things regarding the United States’ relationship with Israel, the wording of the bill creates an elasticity that can be used to the advantage of whoever is making decisions.

There is nothing in the bill that defines a “gap” that needs to be filled or at what point Israel would be considered to have seen a diminishment in its QME. So, potentially, this provision could open the door to a significant increase in the quality and quantity of aid the U.S. sends to Israel, using a perceived shortcoming as a pretext.

In the wake of the ongoing Gaza genocide, several countries forbade some arms sales to Israel. Those states included Japan, Canada, France, Italy, and Spain. Such actions were limited and had hardly any impact on Israel’s military capabilities. But even this was enough to motivate the provision in the NDAA.

Perhaps more importantly, stalwart sellers of weaponry to Israel like the United Kingdom and Germany enacted symbolic or temporary suspensions of select equipment and licenses to Israel. Germany quickly reversed its limited embargo after just over two months, citing the bogus “ceasefire.” The UK license suspension was never even fully implemented and represented a small, mostly meaningless, portion of the hundreds of licenses they issue to Israel.

Still, the UK and Germany are Israel’s most important European allies when it comes to arms sales, and there remains political pressure in both countries to end arms sales to Israel over the Gaza genocide. That they even considered making such empty gestures clearly concerned Israel and the U.S.

This American guarantee means that any impact that social movements in those countries, and others in Europe, could have had if they succeeded is now moot. This is likely to diminish enthusiasm for such movements in Europe, though they will certainly continue their work.

Collaboration on drones and AI

The loose wording of the guarantee of Israel’s military dominance is particularly troubling, considering the NDAA’s emphasis, throughout the document, on drone technology.

In describing the intended enhancement of cooperation in research with Israel, the NDAA strongly emphasizes “unmanned aerial systems,” treating this as a high priority. In other parts of the document, considerable attention is also paid to drone technology, both in developing it for American use and countering its use by potential rivals.

In 2025, there was no funding for such specific research collaboration with Israel. In this NDAA, $70 million is earmarked for that work. While that is a small amount in a bill that envisions spending upwards of $900 billion, it is likely only the beginning.

We can count on the Trump administration working overtime to expand collaboration between the government and the private sector. Drone technology is certainly an area where that will happen, given Trump’s dream of a “Golden Dome” defense system over all of the United States.

The NDAA utilizes collaboration with Israel to open a door to a massive expansion of work in that direction, far exceeding the paltry $70 million requested here. Drones will be seen as a key threat to both Israel and the United States, as it is one area in which Iran is a particularly significant player. And of course, China is a global leader in drone technology.

This could be one major direction the U.S. could take, using aid to Israel as a lever to push Congress for increased funding. The annual reports the Defense Secretary must make regarding gaps in Israel’s defense or slippage in its QME are required by the NDAA to be unclassified. That will add considerable political weight to any request for such funding the White House might make.

Artificial Intelligence is a virtual obsession with Trump, and it is not only a major area of research for militaries around the world, but it overlaps a great deal with drone technology. That will surely be a big component of the work this NDAA envisions in partnership with Israel.

This open door in the NDAA becomes much harder to keep track of when we consider the potential strategy, which I discussed here at Mondoweiss recently, where Israel and its lobbyists in Washington would ask for a significant increase in annual aid and justify it by diverting a large portion of that aid into public-private sector collaboration. This NDAA opens the door for funds to flow widely to such enterprises.

Thus, the provisions in the new NDAA have the potential not only to blunt the already scant European efforts to stop arming Israel as it pursues genocidal and apartheid policies, but it also to greatly broaden U.S. aid to Israel and make that aid harder to fully keep track of.

All of this is happening at a time when Israel knows its time as a political force in domestic American politics is waning. This is a way of ensuring American support despite its unpopularity with the American people.

Canadian Pro-Palestinian influencer Dr. Nahla Al-Sarraj fired following Zionist smear campaign

Dr. Nahla Al-Sarraj gained hundreds of thousands of social media followers by discussing the Gaza genocide. She was fired after a pressure campaign from Israel lobby groups that she believes aimed to silence her. Despite this, she remains unbowed.

By Asma Barakat 

 December 13, 2025 
MONDOWEISS

Dr. Nahla Al-Sarraj


For Syrian-Canadian psychiatry resident, Dr. Nahla Al-Sarraj, November 13 started off as any other day. That was, until the afternoon rolled around and she sat down for a Zoom meeting with one of her employers. The call was framed as a contract review, but ended up in Dr. Al-Sarraj’s termination due to the year-and-a-half-long digital smear campaign run against her by Israel supporters.

Dr. Al-Sarraj, who is in her last year of residency in Ontario, Canada, is also a content creator with over half a million followers on TikTok and Instagram. She made her social media debut back in 2020-2021, where she began creating and sharing content about mental health, therapy, and healing. Eventually, Dr. Al-Sarraj went on to use the platform she had built to fiercely advocate for Palestinian rights when Israel’s genocide in Gaza began in October 2023.

Since beginning her pro-Palestinian activism, Dr. Al-Sarraj has been a target of a brutal Zionist hate campaign. From that moment on, she has faced a barrage of constant harassment, including a mass campaign to report her to her medical college, which triggered the university to open an investigation against her.

That case was eventually dropped due to the illegitimate nature of the claims. Yet, the damage was already done. Dr. Al-Sarraj was subject to an investigation by police because of false accusations of committing a hate crime, which Zionists claimed she was perpetuating in standing up for the mass slaughter of Palestinians. In an interview with Mondoweiss, Dr. Al-Sarraj describes the unjust probes against her as “numerous attempts at silencing [her].”

Dr. Al-Sarraj explained that the root of this most recent injustice can be traced back to the summer of 2024, when Canadian Zionist, Dahlia Kurtz, doxxed the medical resident, endangering her safety and livelihood. Kurtz shared personal details of Dr. Al-Sarraj’s workplace, program, and entire legal name, prompting thousands of her followers to submit complaints to the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario, the regulatory body for medical doctors in Ontario, Canada.

Kurtz’s campaign was further fueled by the pro-Israel media site Honest Reporting Canada. The character assassination that spiraled out of this calculated social media attack, according to Dr. Al-Sarraj, is what led to her online presence being wiped out. “I don’t even exist when you search me anymore. All you see is [social media content] written by Zionists. My name, my identity, my voice is gone.”

Dr. Al-Sarraj says she felt trepidation about obtaining jobs due to the continued harassment of Zionists, and always made it a point to alert new employers about her social media content during the hiring process.

She said, “I did kind of worry about this happening. … So in this job, at the very beginning, I was transparent. I said, “Hey, look, I’m under investigation by the [medical] college. I do social media. I do talk about Palestine, is that okay?” They said, “Yes,” they greenlit me, and continued hiring me.”

Dr. Al-Sarraj explained that even after signing her contract, having completed the onboarding process, and the necessary checks required for the position, she still had worries. When news of the termination came, it confirmed all of her suspicions and fears. “I had that possibility in my mind, like, I might lose this. And then I did. That day was really, really rough.”

Still, she explains the defamation of character was not the toughest aspect to deal with. Dr. Al-Sarraj shares what the most difficult part of this entire ordeal was, “What hurt wasn’t from the attacks, I knew that was going to happen. And it was, certainly, very, very disturbing. The hurt that is the most painful is the one of being told by numerous organizations, law firms, and even Palestinian organizations that ‘We can’t help you.’ That was really hard.”

“I knew about the risk, but I didn’t know how little people could actually help me when it came to this. I think that was the scariest part for me. It’s like, okay, this happened. Here’s who I’m going to contact, and I’m going to reach out for the support. I’m going to have people cushion my fall and help me. But there was no one there.”

Regardless of the lack of support and the seemingly never-ending hate, Dr. Al-Sarraj is unwaivering in her support for Palestinian liberation as it is an integral part of her identity, “I’m Muslim. So my belief system is that I’m not doing it for people, right? It’s my part of my faith and my belief about justice,” she affirmed.

When asked what she would say to the individuals who decided to terminate her, Dr. Al-Sarraj challenged the concept of power versus justice. “Power does not equal correctness or rightness or justice. You can have all the power in the world and you’re still wrong. You are wrong. You are wrong for what you did to me. You are wrong for what you do to anyone like me, anyone in a position like me.”

Dr. Al-Sarraj brought attention to the current anti-Palestinian bias in the medical field, a topic that remains largely overlooked. “I got fired because of Zionism, and I’m not afraid to admit that.”

She continues, “[They] are essentially robbing a community of a physician that would be exceptional and that would be loved and be a gift and a treasure for that community.”

The wrongful termination of Dr. Al-Sarraj is just one example in a disturbing trend.

Earlier this year, the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) released a special report titled “Terminated: Employment Discrimination at the Core of Islamophobia and Anti-Palestinian Racism,” which reveals a surging crisis in employment discrimination across the country, largely sparked by efforts to prevent employees from displaying signs of Palestinian culture or sympathy with Palestinians.”

Throughout 2024, “CAIR received 1,329 complaints of employment discrimination, making it not only higher than education-related concerns but also the highest reported category to CAIR offices for the first time in the organization’s 30-year history.”

In Canada, where Dr. Al-Sarraj is based, the Arab Canadian Lawyers Association (ACLA) released a report in 2022 on anti-Palestinian racism (APR). The document cites that, “The ACLA is aware of situations, for example, where job candidates or employees are questioned about their views on Palestine; have been denied opportunities or declined opportunities because of their views.”

A significant detail presented by the ACLA’s report is the high-level targeting of racialized women. Their findings state, “It is important to note that racialized advocates, especially racialized women, bear the brunt of the targeting of advocates. … The precarious nature of the positions of employments held by racialized advocates are exploited to instill fear over their job security or advancement. This leaves them feeling further isolated, vulnerable and unsupported.”

After everything, Dr. Al-Sarraj is adamant that she does not want people “to feel discouraged in showing up [for Palestine].” “I just hope that activists don’t read my story and feel discouraged in their activism, especially those in medicine like me,” she says.

“I think for activists, I want you to know that … your heart and your loyalty is to the movement. It’s not to people. It’s not to an individual. It’s to liberation. It’s to justice. It’s to those core values.”

For Dr. Al-Sarraj, this job was meant to serve as a “moonlighting job,” a common stepping stone for resident doctors to gain more experience and advance their careers. However, she has not allowed this momentary setback to dim her budding career in medicine. “I will always be successful. I will always have the career that I worked hard for.”

Still, she remains positive and undefeatable in times of hardship, “I think even though we can be a little bit sad and we can feel all these emotions and feel devastated and frustrated, the sun is going to shine. It will always shine.”