arabist (@arabist) profile picture

The personal account of Issandr Amrani, author of The Arabist blog. Mostly MENA politics and culture. Usual caveats apply. Also at @arabist@mastodon.social

All over the place
Joined December 2007
Photo by arabist (@arabist)Photo by arabist (@arabist)Photo by arabist (@arabist)Photo by arabist (@arabist)Photo by arabist (@arabist)Photo by arabist (@arabist)Photo by arabist (@arabist)Photo by arabist (@arabist)Photo by arabist (@arabist)Photo by arabist (@arabist)
Dear friends and readers of Mada, We have been silent over the past two days, in shock at what happened in court on Tuesday but also in an attempt to organize ourselves for what looks like it will be an ongoing battle.
6
187
20
447
36,380
Just looking at some numbers from this election in comparison to the last one in Israel. 4 years ago, the combined votes that went to parties representing Palestinian citizens of Israel was around 500,000 total votes. This time, close to 830,000! About 1 million more total votes were cast in this election compared to the previous one. The vote increase to the PCI parties made up some 33% of that increase.
2
1
23
2,475
And presumably he votes in either Illinois or Michigan (having ties to both), so possibly for Abdul El Sayed if it's the latter.
The first head of state to vote in another country's election
747
Over the past few months, a team of IISS analysts led by @HTAlhasan and myself has produced this rigorous and comprehensive analysis of the impact of the US-Israel war on Iran on the Gulf states. It is available to read and download for free on the IISS website. Very proud of being part of an excellent team of analysts, editors, designers and communicators.
Over the past two decades, successive crises have reinforced the global significance of the Gulf states. The latest IISS Strategic Dossier examines the multifaceted implications of the 2026 United States–Israel war with Iran for the foreign policies and defence and economic priorities of the Gulf states. FREE TO READ | Find out more: go.iiss.org/4eAdMW6 IISS Manama Dialogue    30 October–1 November 2026 #IISS_MD26 | Go.iiss.org/MD26
10
29
2,384
"Preferential Democracy"
Israel is a preferential democracy. And figuring out how to integrate 2 million Palestinian citizens is critical to a Jewish democratic state. The JL may be bridge too far Gadi. Though look at Bibi’s buddies - Smotrich and Ben Gvir.
3
53
1
403
9,067
arabist retweeted
It's notable that the foremost point in this pre-emptive apologia for the Eisenkot bloc's refusal to form coalition with the Arab parties is that the Arab parties demand equal citizenship and object to the 2018 Nation-State Law, which definitively put Israel's Jewish status above its democratic status. In the seminal 2021 Human Rights Watch report finding that the Israeli occupation amounted to apartheid, the Nation-State Law was exhibit number one in the case that Israel was committing a crime against humanity by acting to maintain the domination of Jewish Israelis over Palestinians.
I see Matt is still biting off more than he can chew. I'll lay out the positions of the Joint List that make it an unacceptable coalition partner to Zionist parties -- and since Matt knows neither Hebrew nor Arabic, I'll translate where relevant to English. 🧵
15
113
4
468
23,972
One of my favorite roles he played.
3
730
What a heartbreaking week it has been. Sir Patrick Stewart was a friend, a colleague, and a magnificent actor. From the stage to the bridge of the Enterprise, he brought intelligence, grace, and a deep sense of humanity to everything he did. Captain Picard stood for the best of us, and so did the man who played him. I was filled with affection and admiration for him and his work. My heart goes out to Sunny and his family. He will be deeply missed.
2,433
25,061
803
183,810
2,548,922
Patrick Stewart's entire body of work, but as Picard in particular, is something that connects the person I am today with who I was as a kid. It collapses time for me. I still have the same awe and fascination with his performance and belief that it represents the best of us.
81
788
21
6,647
139,703
You can’t make this up. Minouche Shafik, the former @Columbia president who caved to hostile politicians in a disastrous hearing, called the NYPD onto her own campus, had students arrested by the hundreds, then resigned in disgrace, is now in charge of @LSEnews new forum for “democratic debate.” Will she call the police on the debaters too? lse.ac.uk/news/latest-news-f…
31
693
35
2,563
177,796
What a rich and interesting life, will miss him.
In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to: Johns Hopkins Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center Fund    alzresearch.org/giving/ Alzheimer’s Foundation of America Caregiver Resources     alzfdn.org/donate/ Photo Credit: Tommy Garcia
3
595
🇫🇷 🇮🇱 🤖 “Une gigantesque campagne d’influence, particulièrement bien financée, court depuis trois ans et diffuse, en toute illégalité, des discours racistes et islamophobes. Plusieurs indices situent de manière convaincante son origine dans le secteur privé israélien.” lemonde.fr/pixels/article/20… “De par son ampleur et sa durée, cette opération constitue « l’une des plus grandes campagnes d’influence et de désinformation jamais documentée.” (…) L’Hexagone est, ces derniers mois, le pays le plus visé : on y recense 120 millions de vues en trois ans. Pourquoi ? Une analyse historique des publicités poussées par les commanditaires suggère qu’à plusieurs reprises ils ont souhaité s’aligner sur le calendrier électoral. En 2024, « les publicités visant la France se sont concentrées sur les mois précédant les élections européennes », notent les chercheurs. En Allemagne, en 2026, ces mêmes achats publicitaires se sont subitement arrêtés juste avant l’élection régionale en Saxe-Anhalt, qui a vu la victoire du parti d’extrême droite Alternative für Deutschland. « Cette campagne est toujours active dans des pays à l’approche d’élections importantes en 2027, dont la France et l’Italie, écrivent les chercheurs. Sa promotion constante de messages antimusulmans et anti-immigration suggère qu’elle peut avoir pour but d’influencer le climat politique en amont. » (…) Une adresse IP localisée en Israël Qui a réellement payé pour ces milliers de publicités, qui ont coûté des millions d’euros ? (…) L’analyse sur le long terme des campagnes montre que plusieurs semblent conçues pour bénéficier à Israël.” (…) Le calendrier d’autres campagnes suggère un intérêt pour le gouvernement de Benyamin Nétanyahou. En novembre 2024, une série de publicités faisant la promotion du premier ministre hongrois d’alors, Viktor Orban, ont été mises en ligne le jour où la Cour pénale internationale a émis un mandat contre M. Nétanyahou, juste avant que M. Orban ne l’invite à se rendre en Hongrie. Plusieurs indices pointent de manière convaincante en direction du secteur privé de l’Etat hébreu comme principal suspect derrière cette opération. Cette dernière avait aussi un volet ciblant Wikipédia, et avait recours à des faux nez qui masquaient leur véritable adresse IP pour modifier l’encyclopédie en ligne. Or, à la suite d’un problème technique, la véritable adresse IP d’un de ces éditeurs est brièvement apparue, et indiquait une localisation en Israël.” (..) Ces métadonnées indiquent que les monteurs des vidéos travaillaient sur le fuseau horaire israélien, et comportaient même les pseudonymes de plusieurs créateurs, dont un certain « ShukiD ». Le pseudonyme est bien connu dans les milieux politiques israéliens : il s’agit d’un créateur de vidéos qui a collaboré à de multiples campagnes, par exemple pour Moshe Kahlon, l’ancien ministre des finances de M. Nétanyahou.”
105
1,728
147
3,476
300,928
Wild
Veteran Israeli actress says she's 'NO LONGER PROUD TO BE ISRAELI' — then realizes she’s LIVE ON AIR and recoils in SHOCK Chelli Goldenberg ends the interview, blames the hosts for not flagging that they were live and later returns to APOLOGIZE for her remarks
2
16
91
5,155
Les révélations d'aujourd'hui sur la profondeur de la désinformation israélienne en France et en Europe sont graves. 390 millions d'euros, c'est le budget *annuel* de com des autorités israéliennes en 2026 👉🏼 Or une partie aurait été dépensée sur nos réseaux sociaux en France pour promouvoir des contenus faisant croire à la théorie du grand remplacement et à la haine anti-musulmans. Allons nous défendre notre souveraineté numérique et notre cohésion sociale seulement lorsque ces attaques proviennent de Russie, de Chine ou de Daesh? @lemondefr a couvert ici: lemonde.fr/pixels/article/20… Rapport détaillé ici👇🏼
Huge news! For 3 years @SohanDsouza & I have investigated a covert paid ad campaign pushing anti-Muslim, anti-migrant & anti-Qatar hate speech across Europe, Lebanon & the US. Today we publish Manufacturing the “Great Replacement”: 533M recorded exposures in 30 countries. 1/25
5
4
702
Netanyahu alleges foreign funding of get out the vote efforts among Palestinian Citizens of Israel. Of course, he never takes foreign funding. Especially not from American casino magnates.
3
533
Christine Lagarde reminds me of the actor Allison Janney, who played White House press secretary CJ Craig in “The West Wing” and currently POTUS in “The Diplomat”
1,023
Tibi, who is famous for saying Israel is democratic for Jews and Jewish for Palestinian citizens, just tweeted the effective results of the election as it’s looking: “It’s Bibi or Tibi” - repurposing Netanyahu’s racist campaigning
או ביבי או טיבי..
3
32
228
10,572
My new book is available for pre-order. The book looks at the Sisi's model of state capitalism, where I argue that this is an economic model where surplus values in Egypt are in a process of continuous pillaging , backed by mass state violence. bloomsbury.com/us/militarize…
5
36
3
163
6,130
And what a wonderful job the team behind Equator has done!
Happy birthday to @Equatormag, one year old today. Quit your establishment job and start something better — you won’t regret it! equator.org/join
4
18
1,600