Our Wednesday News Analysis | How Palestine has become a domestic US political issue

It is time to build on the existing solidarity among all American groups that voted against genocide in the latest elections-AFP

Arab and Muslim American voters did not remove the Democrats from office, nor did they cost Kamala Harris the Oval Office. Last week’s elections merely sent a strong message that Palestine matters, not only to Arabs and Muslims but to many other Americans as well.

The people who cost the Democrats the elections were the Democrats themselves. Their humiliating defeat on Nov. 5 was due largely to their undeniable role in the Israeli war and genocide in Gaza.

Peter Beinart put it best in his Nov. 7 op-ed in The New York Times, entitled “Democrats Ignored Gaza and Brought Down Their Party.” He wrote: “Israel’s slaughter and starvation of Palestinians — funded by US taxpayers and live-streamed on social media — has triggered one of the greatest surges in progressive activism in a generation.” Beinart correctly indicated that the core of this activism was “Black Americans and the young.”

Undeniably, for the first time in US election history, Palestine has become a domestic American political issue — a nightmare realization for those who labored to maintain US foreign policy in the Middle East as an exclusively Israeli domain.

Aside from Arab voters, Black voters and those from other minority groups who prioritized Palestine, many white Americans also felt the same way. This claim is particularly important, as it suggests that American voters are challenging the identity politics paradigm and are now thinking around common struggles, values and morality...

Read more: How Palestine has become a domestic US political issue

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WHAT ANOTHER TRUMP PRESIDENCY MEANS TO EVANGELICALS AROUND THE WORLD

Source: Christianity Today
https://www.christianitytoday.com/2024/11/trump-evangelicals-global-china-israel-nepal-uk/

Compiled by CT Editors
Published November 7, 2024

Christian leaders from Nepal to Turkey greet the US election results with joy, grief, and indifference.

Illustration by Elizabeth Kaye / Source Images: Getty

As Americans headed to the polls Tuesday, the rest of the world watched to see who would become the 47th president of the United States. The election of Donald Trump affects many evangelical communities around the world in terms of foreign policy, foreign aid, religious freedom, and cultural trends. Nevertheless, Christian leaders in some countries noted that it didn’t make a difference to them who becomes the next president of the US.

CT asked 25 evangelical leaders around the world about their reaction to another Trump presidency and its practical impact on the situation of evangelicals in their countries. The responses are broken up by region: Africa, Asia, Europe, Latin America, North America, the Middle East, and Oceania. CT will add more responses as they come in.

AFRICA

Kenya
Nelson Makanda, president, Africa International University

On behalf of many like-minded evangelicals in Kenya, I congratulate the American people for electing Trump. We hope that his election will usher in a season where orthodox Christian beliefs are not frowned upon or criminalized by American state agencies.

We also hope that American institutions operating in Africa will freely engage with African people without pushing an immoral agenda. Africa wants to honor God and the laws of nature, and we hope that America under the president-elect will be tolerant of that. Our choices and freedoms should be respected.

We hope that our cultures and people will be treated as equal partners and deserving of mutual respect.

Nigeria
James Akinyele, secretary general, Nigeria Evangelical Fellowship

In light of Nigeria’s ongoing economic and political difficulties, this US election was not debated locally nearly as much as the prior two. For evangelicals, neither candidate was an easy option. Harris was considered more level-headed, but her strong support of abortion and LGBTQ rights made many uncomfortable. Trump’s moral stances resonated with our core evangelical convictions, but his own lack of morality and perceived white supremacy created some concerns. We hope he will become more open to immigration.

Some Nigerian Christian leaders said Trump’s victory is an answer to our prayers for a US president who will defend the Christian faith in Nigeria and around the world. Others said it should be accepted as God’s will, without positive or negative judgment. But just about everyone hopes he will become less controversial in his rhetoric and personal conduct. And many are sympathetic to his desire to protect America’s global interests, without being subservient to the rest of the world...

Read more: What Another Trump Presidency Means To Evangelicals Around the World

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OPINION | MY PALESTINIAN SISTERS AND BROTHERS, WE NEED A NEW VERSION OF THE PALESTINIAN RESISTANCE

Source: Haaretz
https://www.haaretz.com/opinion/2024-11-10/ty-article-opinion/.premium/my-palestinian-sisters-and-brothers-we-need-a-new-version-of-the-palestinian-resistance/00000193-15f7-d54d-a5f7-1dff84820000?utm_source=mailchimp&utm_medium=email&utm_content=author-alert&utm_campaign=Rajaa+Natour&utm_term=20241110-15:42

By Rajaa Natour
Published November 10, 2024

The time has come to admit that Hamas has no political horizon beyond deepening the Palestinian losses and leveraging them to continue its existence and rule in Gaza

A girl in Khan Yunis in southern Gaza last week. Hamas never planned to protect the Palestinians.Credit: Hatem Khaled/Reuters

I regret having to say that the dominant Palestinian discourse silences any internal political criticism of Hamas. It argues that "now is not the time" for criticizing the movement that stands alone at the front of the struggle against the occupation.

According to this outlook, for now we must toe the line with Hamas' murderous Islamist ideology that denies the secular national Palestinian narrative that represents most Palestinians both inside and outside Gaza.

The few who have dared to criticize the movement, its actions and the consequences of October 7 on Gaza are always answered with the slogan that Hamas has emptied of all meaning: "We have the right to resist!" These words are still seen as the ultimate answer to every ethical, moral and political question undermining Hamas' superficial version of resistance. It's as if "We have the right to resist" isn't just a temporary measure but a divine commandment.

Before I discuss the shallowness of the debate on resistance caused by Hamas, it's important for me to note that I don't dispute our right as Palestinians to object to the occupation, a right that is enshrined in international law. But I do dispute the definition, meaning and methods that Hamas has forced on the Palestinian national narrative and the generations that have followed it blindly...

Read more: Opinion | My Palestinian Sisters and Brothers, We Need a New Version of the Palestinian Resistance