It goes without saying that a regional war compounding the existing situation in the Middle East has upturned our lives. On a personal level, one of our team has been displaced from his home in southern Lebanon, with his wife and young children. Images of death and destruction continue to fill our screens and feeds, and we are struggling to focus on our work.
The Israeli invasion of Lebanon began with what can only be described as a terrorist attack on Beirut; the air strikes which killed Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah resulted in the total destruction of three residential buildings in a densely populated residential neighbourhood, potentially killing hundreds of civilians - a clear war crime. It's especially poignant that the strike was ordered by Netanyahu - who awaits an ICC warrant - from New York an hour after addressing the United Nations, illustrating the total irrelevance and apathy of the organisation.
We shed no tears for Hassan Nasrallah, a war criminal, or Hezbollah, itself a terrorist organisation responsible for the massacre of tens of thousands of Syrians over the last decade in an intervention to prop up Bashar al-Assad, the butcher of Syria. We mourn their victims, who will not see Nasrallah held to account for his crimes in this world, as well as the victims of this latest acts of Israeli aggression.
We note the incessant gaslighting, in the media's use of terms such as "limited ground operation" - language reminiscent of Russia's during the invasion of Ukraine, despite the Israeli press openly calling it an invasion. We also remember the days of the Ukraine invasion, and the slips revealing that western support to Ukraine was about "civilised" people with "blue eyes and blond hair", unlike us. Meanwhile, the annihilation of Gaza, and particularly Jabalia - which is blockaded and pounded relentlessly - bears every resemblance to the fall of Aleppo in 2016. Like Aleppo, doomsday-like images and visuals make their way to our screens in between final farewell messages from its residents, who the world has failed, expecting imminent death.
We watch Anthony Blinken's sanctimonious speech about values at the UN , discussions on working together to advance peace and safeguard human rights, whilst his spokesperson smirks, deflects and lies. His government now appears to be sheltering a person responsible for the commission of a terrorist attack, after the disappearance in the US of a man wanted by Norwegian authorities in connection with the Israeli pager attack which maimed hundreds including young children in Lebanon last month.
We watch as Biden staffers promote the Israeli invasion of Lebanon and European Islamophobes celebrate its "liberation" in the name of Arab Christians, speaking of an opportunity to "reshape the Middle East" in language reminiscent of the US invasion of Iraq two decades ago, whilst Trump's family nod approvingly.
All the while, we are fully aware that the breakdown of law and the total failure of the international system to contain or deter this violence (if they were ever designed to do so) only serves to further erode norms against international aggression, making the whole world less safe. It also contributes to the vicious self-reinforcing cycle of triangle of terrorism, tyranny, foreign attack and occupation that our region is captive to - Hezbollah, though would develop into something different, emerged in the context of resistance to Israeli occupation; more occupation and violence is a futile exercise which will never destroy the idea of armed resistance nor convince our region's peoples to accept indignity and oppression.
It has become so clear that the world assigns so little value to Arab and brown lives, and sees us as less worthy of existence than others. In the face of this blatant injustice we can only find solace and safety in our own communities; we lean on each other, more clearly aware than ever before of who we can never trust again. Our communities will survive, will rebuild our power, and will build a better, safer, fairer world. Countless millions of us have promised our lives to this, and will never give up.
