Chris E.

If you’re in Toronto on March 30, come see “Living With Drones,” tells a story about the sounds of war, in particular the use of drones, and their devastating, traumatic impact on the residents of Gaza. Free for students! eventbrite.ca/e/living-with-…

Pakistani food is gaining popularity beyond immigrant enclaves in the United States. From new restaurants to supper clubs, a younger generation is claiming its cuisine on its own terms and boosting its visibility, writes @bysurbhigupta in @newlinesmag. newlinesmag.com/reportage/a-ne…

"In southern Lebanon, armies do not simply enter. They alter the imagination of return." Writer @nadabakri on love, occupation and the helplessness of watching war from abroad: newlinesmag.com/first-person/f…

Our Middle East & Newsletters Editor @kshaheen will be speaking at this roundtable @mcgillu today:

🚨 BREAKING: Al Jazeera Mubasher correspondent Mohammed Samir Washah has been killed in Gaza following an Israeli drone strike on his car at Al-Nabulsi roundabout, west of Gaza City. Footage shared from the scene by Drop Site contributor Mohammed Ahmed shows the vehicle engulfed in flames, indicating a direct hit. Gaza’s Government Media Office condemned the killing, stating that the number of Palestinian journalists killed by Israel has risen to 262 since the start of the genocide in Gaza. The Office called on the international community to “condemn the crimes of the occupation, deter it, and pursue it in international courts for its ongoing crimes.”

Aljazeera is an international broadcaster, with bureaus in London, Asia, Qatar, Washington, EU, Kenya, Johannesburg, like you. Nobody ever says "France-based AFP News" because you are international. Or "US-based CNN" or "UK-based BBC," or "Toronto-based Reuters." So weird.

Lebanon is under heavy Israeli assault, and the story there has not received the attention it deserves. Two pieces today in @newlinesmag: Dispatch from southern Lebanon by Jahan de Bellaigue newlinesmag.com/reportage/insi… First person by Nada Bakri newlinesmag.com/first-person/f…

Why read CBC when you can just follow the IDF Twitter page?

#Egypt #Lebanon: CPJ is alarmed by new reports about spear-phishing attacks against several Egyptian and Lebanese journalists aimed at compromising their accounts. Unidentified entities likely hired a South Asia-focused cyber espionage group to target Egyptian journalist @MostafaAlasar, Egyptian journalist and politician Ahmed Tantawy, and an unnamed Lebanese journalist. cpj.org/2026/04/egypti…

This is the largest number of Israeli airstrikes at once on Beirut since the beginning of the war. #Lebanon

Lebanese hospitals put out an urgent call for blood donations as they prepare for an influx of wounded after Israel levelled entire buildings across the country without warning. The lebanese ministry of health pleaded with people to clear the streets to that ambulances could reach the wounded.

Lebanese circulating pictures of children found in rubble of buildings struck by Israel without warning, asking if anyone recognizes them to please get in contact. The wave of Israeli strikes has plunged the country into chaos in scenes reminiscent of the pager attacks in 2024.

“The oryx, the wildlife in our country, has great value. For those who have never seen wildlife, it is vital we show them it and talk to them about it.”  @annaliesej goes to Chad to see how scimitar-horned oryxes are beginning to thrive after decades of drought and poaching. newlinesmag.com/reportage/how-…

"A leader who entered a war he did not understand, in pursuit of objectives he had not reconciled, and who now confronts a situation in which every available exit diminishes the political narrative he has staked his identity on, is a genuinely dangerous figure to place at the apex of nuclear decision-making." newlinesmag.com/argument/the-l…

#Egypt: CPJ calls on Egyptian authorities to immediately release political commentator Ahmed Douma, who was arrested on April 6 at the Supreme State Security Prosecution headquarters following a six-hour interrogation. cpj.org/2026/04/egypt-…

So we write our books and make our films knowing that anything we say—seriously or in jest, even anything we imply— can and will be used against us in the courts of law and public opinion. We talk to each other as if the sniper is standing over our shoulder. And I understand the impulse to self-censor. I know that as Palestinians our notoriety precedes us; we are guilty until proven otherwise and otherwise is often impossible. I know that I probably do not resemble myself in most people’s imaginations. But there are vast universes outside of the sniper’s gaze; worlds beyond the colonizer’s field of vision. What matters more than how we will be viewed by our enemies or our allies is how we view one another and what we inspire in one another. Is it self-respect or self-reproach? To be irreverent at the podium is to remind yourself that you are part of a collective, a scrutinized people whose psychic and affective allowances are shrinking endlessly; the working classes, the exhausted, the under-resourced, those who do not have access to Ivy Leagues or a knack for double-speak. And in that performance of irreverence, you enmesh yourself in their complexities, you make room for them in the public discourse, no matter how they articulate themselves, and you reassign the blame from the victim to the perpetrator. Otherwise, we would be punching down—we would save ourselves and ascend in our careers by throwing others under the bus. For one to be described as genteel, someone else needs to be viewed as savage.

The Supreme State Security Prosecution detained activist and writer Ahmed Douma, again, on Monday on charges of “publishing false statements, news and rumors.” The investigations touched on an article Douma wrote and published in Qatari-owned The New Arab. Douma was released from a prior prison sentence in August 2023, after serving 10 years. Since then, he has been summoned by security authorities on seven different occasions. storage.googleapis.com/madamasr/en/20…

I've written for Middle East Eye about the use of phrases such as "Iran-backed" by BBC and others, their failure to adequately source or explain the terms, and how their bias plays into the hands of the U.S. and Israel. middleeasteye.net/opinion/what-d…

@sopjap Hey Sopo! It sounds like it could be a fit for our Anchored in History section. If you wanna, email me at celkholy@newlinesmag.com

I wrote about the endlessly fascinating connection between Orthodox Christianity and Palestinian national self-determination, including its later influence on Palestinian communism, but I don’t know where to publish it because it’s so specific and historical.

We live in a simulation.

After my friend, the journalist @HasanAlzanin served for two full years at @ajmubasher risking his soul and his life to document the occupation's crimes for the sake of 'filthy' Al Jazeera, he received a phone call yesterday informing him of his dismissal without any explanation. In such an incredibly harsh time for Gazans, they should have been supported rather than abandoned. Despicable Al Jazeera must be boycotted.