{{short description|Palestinian activist and writer}} {{protection padlock|small=yes}} {{Use dmy dates|date=September 2022}} {{Infobox person | name = Mohammed el-Kurd | image = | alt = | caption = | birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1998|05|15|df=yes}} | birth_place = [[Sheikh Jarrah]], [[East Jerusalem]], [[Israeli-occupied territories|Israeli-occupied]] [[West Bank]] | native_name = محمد الكرد | native_name_lang = ar | alma_mater = {{plainlist| * [[Savannah College of Art and Design]] * [[Brooklyn College]] }} | occupation = {{hlist|Writer|poet|journalist}} | known_for = [[Israeli–Palestinian conflict|Palestinian activism]] | relatives = [[Muna el-Kurd]] (twin sister) | website = {{URL|https://www.mohammedelkurd.com/}} | notable_works = ''[[Rifqa (book)|Rifqa]]'' (2021)<br> ''[[Perfect Victims and the Politics of Appeal]]'' (2025) }} '''Mohammed el-Kurd''' ({{Langx|ar|محمد الكرد}}; born 15 May 1998) is a [[Palestinians|Palestinian]] writer, poet, and journalist who gained prominence for his descriptions of Palestinians' lives under occupation in [[East Jerusalem]] and the rest of the [[West Bank]].<ref>{{Cite web|title=Mohammed El-Kurd|url=https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/mohammed-el-kurd|access-date=26 April 2026|website=[[Poetry Foundation]]}}</ref> El-Kurd has referred to evictions as a form of [[ethnic cleansing]],<ref>{{Cite web|title=Poet Mohammed El-Kurd Detained in Sheikh Jarrah After Condemning Israeli Apartheid on U.S. TV|url=https://www.democracynow.org/2021/5/13/mohammed_el_kurd_sheikh_jarrah_jerusalem|access-date=May 16, 2021|website=[[Democracy Now!]]|archive-date=31 May 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210531113702/https://www.democracynow.org/2021/5/13/mohammed_el_kurd_sheikh_jarrah_jerusalem|url-status=live}}</ref> and has also accused [[Israel and apartheid|Israel of imposing apartheid-style]] laws and regulations on Palestinians in the occupied territories.<ref>{{Cite web|date=May 15, 2021|first=Dalia|last=Hatuqa|title=Settlement Push in East Jerusalem Neighborhood Shows Israeli 'Apartheid'|url=https://theintercept.com/2021/05/15/israel-apartheid-palestine-jerusalem/|access-date=May 16, 2021|website=[[The Intercept]]|archive-date=29 May 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210529103555/https://theintercept.com/2021/05/15/israel-apartheid-palestine-jerusalem/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|date=May 14, 2021|title=It's not a 'conflict': how to talk about Palestine|url=https://www.dazeddigital.com/politics/article/52785/1/it-is-not-a-conflict-how-to-talk-about-palestine-israel|access-date=May 16, 2021|website=[[Dazed]]|archive-date=1 June 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210601150733/https://www.dazeddigital.com/politics/article/52785/1/it-is-not-a-conflict-how-to-talk-about-palestine-israel|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="Oxford.Union.Debate"> {{citation |title=Mohammed El-Kurd, This House Believes Israel is an Apartheid State Responsible for Genocide, Part 1/8 |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j86_ELmr0XA |date=2024-12-05 }}, a debate at [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j86_ELmr0XA The Oxford Union, YouTube]. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iKdJE72j4fk Part 2/8, Jonathan Sacerdoti], [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CDWiWLya3Mg Part 3/8, Ebrahim Osman Mowafy], [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dZ62bhMFQ1Y Part 4/8, Yoseph Haddad], [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cQ9JP1dOncg Part 5/8, Miko Peled], [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y2Efkrrz5q0 Part 6/8, Mosab Hassan Yousef], [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ZCWCGebAuU Part 7/8, Susan Abulhawa], [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1rZS4tD_BWY Part 8/8, Natasha Hausdorff]. </ref>
==Biography==
=== Early life === El-Kurd was born on 15 May 1998 into a [[Islam in Palestine|Palestinian Muslim]] family in [[Sheikh Jarrah]], [[East Jerusalem]], in the [[Israeli-occupied territories|Israeli-occupied]] [[West Bank]].<ref name="HuffPost2016">{{Cite web|last=Alfred|first=Charlotte|date=29 January 2016|title=Young Palestinian Poet Brings To Life The Troubles Of Jerusalem|url=https://www.huffpost.com/entry/mohammed-al-kurd-teen-poet-jerusalem_n_569fca10e4b0875553c297aa|access-date=26 April 2026|website=[[HuffPost]]|archive-date=31 May 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210531023800/https://www.huffpost.com/entry/mohammed-al-kurd-teen-poet-jerusalem_n_569fca10e4b0875553c297aa|url-status=live}}</ref> In 2009, when he was 11, part of his family's home in Sheikh Jarrah was taken over by [[Israeli settlement|Israeli settlers]].<ref name="HuffPost2016" /><ref name="Nation2021">{{cite magazine |last=Erakat |first=Noura |date=4 November 2021 |title=I Would Like to See 'The New York Times' Wash the Blood Off Its Hands |url=https://www.thenation.com/article/world/qa-mohammed-el-kurd/ |magazine=[[The Nation]] |access-date=26 April 2026}}</ref> The episode was the subject of the 2013 documentary film ''My Neighbourhood'', directed by [[Julia Bacha]] and [[Rebekah Wingert-Jabi]].<ref>{{Cite news|last1=Wingert-Jabi|first1=Rebekah|last2=Bacha|first2=Julia|last3=Smith|first3=Emily|date=17 March 2013|title=My Neighbourhood: a Palestinian boy's view of Israeli settlements – video|work=[[The Guardian]]|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/video/2013/mar/17/my-neighbourhood-palestinian-israeli-video|access-date=26 April 2026|archive-date=31 May 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210531021344/https://www.theguardian.com/world/video/2013/mar/17/my-neighbourhood-palestinian-israeli-video|url-status=live}}</ref>
El-Kurd wrote poetry as a teenager, sometimes in both Arabic and English, and performed in Sheikh Jarrah and elsewhere in Jerusalem.<ref name="HuffPost2016" /> In 2018, while studying writing at the [[Savannah College of Art and Design]] in [[Atlanta]], he released ''Radical Blankets'', which ''[[Mondoweiss]]'' described as a poetry and multimedia magazine.<ref name="Mondoweiss2018">{{cite web |last=Ashly |first=Jaclynn |date=11 April 2018 |title='I use my writing to speak up'–young Palestinian poet talks love and resistance |url=https://mondoweiss.net/2018/04/writing-palestinian-resistance/ |website=[[Mondoweiss]] |access-date=26 April 2026}}</ref> In 2021, while pursuing graduate study at [[Brooklyn College]] in [[New York City]], he returned to East Jerusalem to protest [[Palestinian displacement in East Jerusalem|Israel's eviction of Palestinians from their homes in East Jerusalem]], including in Sheikh Jarrah.<ref name="Vice2021">{{Cite web|last=Papadopulos|first=Barnaby|date=12 May 2021|title=This Palestinian Writer Is Going Viral for Challenging US Coverage of Israel-Palestine|url=https://www.vice.com/en/article/mohammed-el-kurd-cnn-interview-sheikh-jarrah/|access-date=26 April 2026|website=[[Vice (magazine)|Vice]]|archive-date=31 May 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210531033706/https://www.vice.com/en/article/y3dvdb/mohammed-el-kurd-cnn-interview-sheikh-jarrah|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="PoetryFoundation">{{cite web |title=Mohammed El-Kurd |url=https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/mohammed-el-kurd |website=[[Poetry Foundation]] |access-date=26 April 2026}}</ref>
=== Return to East Jerusalem (2021) === {{further|Sheikh Jarrah controversy|Palestinian displacement in East Jerusalem}}
Since his return to the [[Israeli occupation of the West Bank|Israeli-occupied West Bank]] during the [[Sheikh Jarrah controversy]], El-Kurd has documented and spoken against [[Palestinian displacement in East Jerusalem]].<ref name="Vice2021" /><ref>{{Cite web|title='We're not leaving our rightful homes': Mohammed el-Kurd speaks to MEE on Sheikh Jarrah|url=http://www.middleeasteye.net/video/were-not-leaving-our-rightful-homes-mohammed-el-kurd-speaks-mee-sheikh-jarrah|access-date=26 April 2026|website=[[Middle East Eye]]|archive-date=6 June 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210606150820/https://www.middleeasteye.net/video/were-not-leaving-our-rightful-homes-mohammed-el-kurd-speaks-mee-sheikh-jarrah|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=Palestinian poet and writer Mohammed El-Kurd on being forced out of his Sheikh Jarrah home by Israeli forces|url=https://www.msnbc.com/gibson-reiser/watch/lindsey-reiser-talks-to-mohammed-el-kurd-112012869512|access-date=26 April 2026|website=[[MSNBC]]|archive-date=26 May 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210526034103/https://www.msnbc.com/gibson-reiser/watch/lindsey-reiser-talks-to-mohammed-el-kurd-112012869512|url-status=live}}</ref> He and his twin sister, [[Muna el-Kurd]], used social media to draw attention to Israeli policies in East Jerusalem.<ref>{{Cite web|title=How East Jerusalem flashpoint Sheikh Jarrah got its own hashtag|url=https://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/how-east-jerusalem-flashpoint-sheikh-jarrah-got-its-own-hashtag/46624826|access-date=26 April 2026|website=[[Swissinfo]]|archive-date=17 May 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210517191207/https://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/how-east-jerusalem-flashpoint-sheikh-jarrah-got-its-own-hashtag/46624826|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref name="Tripodos">{{cite journal |last=Saba |first=Claudia |title=Mainstreaming Anti-colonial Discourse on Palestine: Mohammed El-Kurd's Discursive Interventions |journal=Tripodos |date=2021 |issue=51 |pages=49–67 |doi=10.51698/tripodos.2021.51p49-67 |s2cid=246367115 |url=http://www.tripodos.com/index.php/Facultat_Comunicacio_Blanquerna/article/view/950 |language=en |issn=2340-5007 |doi-access=free |access-date=25 April 2022 |archive-date=28 January 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220128132024/http://www.tripodos.com/index.php/Facultat_Comunicacio_Blanquerna/article/view/950 |url-status=live}}</ref> A 2021 article in ''Tripodos'' said Muna's posts were usually in Arabic, while Mohammed often posted in English for a Western audience.<ref name="Tripodos" />
On 6 June 2021, Mohammed and Muna were both detained by [[Israel Police]];<ref>{{Cite news|title=Israel arrests Palestinian activist Muna el-Kurd in East Jerusalem|work=[[BBC News]]|date=June 6, 2021|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-57376550|access-date=June 6, 2021|archive-date=7 June 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210607090408/https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-57376550|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=Israeli police detain Palestinian activist twins from East Jerusalem's Sheikh Jarrah|url=https://indianexpress.com/article/world/israeli-police-detain-palestinian-activist-twins-from-east-jerusalems-sheikh-jarrah-7346877/|access-date=June 6, 2021|work=[[The Indian Express]]|date=June 6, 2021|agency=[[Reuters]]|archive-date=7 June 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210607055820/https://indianexpress.com/article/world/israeli-police-detain-palestinian-activist-twins-from-east-jerusalems-sheikh-jarrah-7346877/|url-status=live}}</ref> they were released later that same day after being held for several hours.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Israel releases Sheikh Jarrah activists after hours-long arrests|url=https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/6/6/israeli-police-arrest-sheikh-jarrah-activist-muna-al-kurd|access-date=June 6, 2021|website=[[Al Jazeera English|Al Jazeera News]]|archive-date=7 June 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210607105611/https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/6/6/israeli-police-arrest-sheikh-jarrah-activist-muna-al-kurd|url-status=live}}</ref> During the [[2021 Israel–Palestine crisis]], Mohammed appeared on American television channels including [[CNN]], [[MSNBC]], and [[CBS News (streaming service)|CBSN]].<ref name=Tripodos />
In 2021, Mohammed and Muna were named to the [[Time 100|''Time'' 100]] list of the world's most influential people.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Sheikh Jarrah's El-Kurd twins make ''TIME'' top 100 list|url=https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/9/15/sheikh-jarrah-el-kurd-twins-on-time-100-most-influential-list|access-date=16 September 2021|website=[[Al Jazeera English|Al Jazeera]]|archive-date=17 September 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210917133743/https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/9/15/sheikh-jarrah-el-kurd-twins-on-time-100-most-influential-list|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite magazine|title=Muna and Mohammed El-Kurd: The 100 Most Influential People of 2021|url=https://time.com/collection/100-most-influential-people-2021/6096098/muna-mohammed-el-kurd/|access-date=16 September 2021|magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]]|archive-date=17 September 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210917063555/https://time.com/collection/100-most-influential-people-2021/6096098/muna-mohammed-el-kurd/|url-status=live}}</ref>
==Education== El-Kurd earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from the [[Savannah College of Art and Design]] and a Master of Fine Arts degree in creative writing from [[Brooklyn College]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Mohammed El-Kurd |url=https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/mohammed-el-kurd |website=[[Poetry Foundation]] |access-date=26 April 2026}}</ref>
=== Influences === El-Kurd has cited [[Aimé Césaire]], [[Frantz Fanon]], [[Rashid Hussein]], [[Amal Dunqul]], and [[Suheir Hammad]] among writers who have influenced him and whom he admires.<ref>{{Cite AV media |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FXcqfLsraJI |title=Perfect Victims: Mohammed El-Kurd & Robin D.G. Kelley |date=2025-02-11 |last=Haymarket Books |access-date=2026-03-24 |via=YouTube}}</ref>
==Career== In addition to his work in poetry and creative nonfiction, El-Kurd has worked as a journalist and editor. He is ''[[The Nation]]''{{'s}} first Palestine correspondent.<ref>{{cite web |title=Mohammed El-Kurd |url=https://www.thenation.com/authors/mohammed-el-kurd/ |website=[[The Nation]] |access-date=26 April 2026}}</ref> In 2023, ''[[Mondoweiss]]'' announced that he had joined its staff as culture editor; the publication later listed him as editor-at-large on its masthead.<ref>{{cite web |date=11 September 2023 |title=Mohammed El-Kurd and Raeda Taha on Palestinian identity, martyrdom, and revolutionary honesty |url=https://mondoweiss.net/2023/09/mohammed-el-kurd-and-raeda-taha-on-palestinian-identity-martyrdom-and-revolutionary-honesty/ |website=[[Mondoweiss]] |access-date=26 April 2026}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=About Mondoweiss |url=https://mondoweiss.net/about-mondoweiss/ |website=[[Mondoweiss]] |access-date=26 April 2026}}</ref>
===Writing and spoken-word=== His debut poetry collection, ''[[Rifqa (book)|Rifqa]]'', was published by [[Haymarket Books]] in 2021.<ref>{{cite web |title=Rifqa |url=https://www.haymarketbooks.org/books/1744-rifqa |website=[[Haymarket Books]] |access-date=26 April 2026}}</ref> Reviews and critical essays have described ''Rifqa'' as concerned with family memory, dispossession, occupation, resistance, and humor.<ref>{{cite web |last=Farah |first=Summer |date=6 August 2021 |title=“I Write an Attempt”: On Mohammed El-Kurd’s “Rifqa” |url=https://lareviewofbooks.org/article/i-write-an-attempt-on-mohammed-el-kurds-rifqa/ |website=[[Los Angeles Review of Books]] |access-date=26 April 2026}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last=Bajwa |first=Nameera |title=On Rifqa by Mohammed el-Kurd |url=https://www.poetryproject.org/publications/newsletter/275-winter-2024/on-rifqa-by-mohammed-el-kurd |website=[[The Poetry Project]] |access-date=26 April 2026}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last=Radfar |first=India Hixon |date=15 October 2021 |title=Poetry: Mohammed El-Kurd’s Rifqa Reviewed |url=https://themarkaz.org/poetry-mohammed-el-kurds-rifqa-reviewed/ |website=[[The Markaz Review]] |access-date=26 April 2026}}</ref>
In 2019, El-Kurd and oud musician [[Clarissa Bitar]] released the spoken-word album ''Bellydancing on Wounds'' through Rosewater Records.<ref>{{cite web |last=Winston |first=Joshua |date=4 April 2019 |title=Record Review: Mohammed El-Kurd & Clarissa Bitar |url=https://creativeloafing.com/content-424947-record-review-mohammed-el-kurd-clarissa |website=[[Creative Loafing]] |access-date=26 April 2026}}</ref> His nonfiction book ''[[Perfect Victims and the Politics of Appeal|Perfect Victims: And the Politics of Appeal]]'' was published by Haymarket Books in 2025.<ref>{{cite web |title=Perfect Victims |url=https://www.haymarketbooks.org/books/2499-perfect-victims |website=[[Haymarket Books]] |access-date=26 April 2026}}</ref> Reviews described the book as examining dehumanization and the expectation that Palestinians appeal to outside audiences to prove their humanity.<ref>{{cite web |last=Farah |first=Summer |date=21 February 2025 |title=Review: Perfect Victims: And the Politics of Appeal by Mohammed El-Kurd |url=https://mizna.org/mizna-online/review-perfect-victims/ |website=[[Mizna]] |access-date=26 April 2026}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last=Jahshan |first=Elias |date=26 February 2025 |title='Dignify our dead, our living, our occupied': The exploitation of Palestinian suffering amid Western and Zionist narratives in Mohammed El-Kurd's Perfect Victims |url=https://www.newarab.com/features/mohammed-el-kurds-perfect-victims-and-politics-appeal |website=[[The New Arab]] |access-date=26 April 2026}}</ref>
==Views==
===Israel–Palestine conflict generally===
[[File:2 Pro-Palestine Events (Summer 2021, Cbus) qIMG 8810 (51323280608) (cropped).jpg|thumb|Pro-Palestinian protester in San Francisco quoting el-Kurd]]
El-Kurd is noted for "unapologetically" speaking out against Israeli oppression of Palestinians in East Jerusalem, the West Bank, and Gaza, both about the specific, immediate threat to, and constant stress for families like his of eviction, but also all forms of oppression.<ref name=jac2021/>
El-Kurd blames the "Zionist project" – and multinational political, diplomatic, and economic support for it – for the displacement, subjugation, and statelessness of the Palestinian people,<ref name=jac2021/> sometimes mentioning the Palestinians displaced from their homes during the [[Nakba]] that started in December 1947, a count he places at 750,000, stating that Zionist militia massacred them and forcibly removed them.<ref name=jac2024/>
===Israel–Gaza War=== El-Kurd has stated that characterizing the "[[Gaza war|Israel–Hamas war]]" by that name does not accurately reflect what is happening on the ground because it ignores the antecedents (before October 7, 2023) of the current conflict, such a:<ref name=jac2024>{{cite news |last1=Denvir |first1=Daniel |title=Mohammed el-Kurd: We Must Be Willing to Sacrifice to End Israel's War |url=https://jacobin.com/2024/01/mohammed-el-kurd-israel-hamas-gaza-occupation |access-date=22 January 2024 |work=jacobin.com |date=10 January 2024 |archive-date=22 January 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240122221738/https://jacobin.com/2024/01/mohammed-el-kurd-israel-hamas-gaza-occupation |url-status=live }}</ref> * the 16-year Israeli and Egyptian land, air, and water [[Blockade of the Gaza Strip]] (which El-Kurd calls ''besieged'') * Israeli control of "every aspect of life in the Gaza Strip", including pharmaceuticals, food, water, travel, and freedom of movement
El-Kurd has spoken of racist remarks by Israeli officials, such as [[Itamar Ben-Gvir]], or remarks he characterizes as "genocidal". El-Kurd states that paying attention to such remarks is "the very answer to everything" in understanding the Gaza situation in 2023–4.<ref name=jac2024/>
===Devaluation of Palestinian lives=== ====Condescending attitudes in Western media and discourse==== El-Kurd has said that [[suicide bombings]], [[Aircraft hijacking|plane hijackings]] and the [[October 7 attacks]] have received so much attention because the victims, who are Europeans, Israelis, and Americans, are "seen as people". He has said that, in contrast, the Western media regards Palestinian deaths as "quotidian" and "business as usual". El-Kurd said that Palestinians who speak out about their experience as "victims of Zionism" are called antisemitic or hateful, or "at best ... angry, passionate and driven by emotion".<ref name=jac2024/>
====Occupation structures that devalue Palestinians' lives==== El-Kurd has stated that for Palestinians, "every corner" of life is filled with challenges and obstacles. He maintains that Israeli state structures are designed to oppress Palestinians, to make them want to leave, or to force them to leave.<ref name=jac2021/>
El-Kurd notes that occupation does not only mean that Palestinians carry a different-colored ID, that their freedom of movement is restricted, and that their land is constantly at risk of theft, but also that they "live a life that is devalued every few years", as he describes it.<ref name=jac2024/>
====Persistence of Western colonialism==== El-Kurd characterizes some tools of the Israeli state as techniques of colonization, such as isolating Palestinian villages by declaring the land around them to be national parks. He maintains that Israel continues to actively colonize Palestine and that there are still many regimes around the world propagating colonialism, adapting to an increasingly progressive world by making itself less obvious than what he calls the explicit colonization that Israel carries out.<ref name=jac2021/>
===Shifting the attitude of Palestinians=== ====Palestinian realization of self-worth==== El-Kurd speaks of a Palestinian reality in East Jerusalem where oppression (evictions, demolitions) is hierarchical and normalized, muzzling and gaslighting Palestinian residents. He personally has questioned whether he would have the energy to fight back against oppression, as is characteristic of Palestinians, sometimes being "exhausted" from lifelong oppression. Breaking through and deciding to fight back, he described, was a moment of understanding the psychological warfare as a turning point to the realization that he was worthy (of housing, in this case) at the most basic level.<ref name=jac2021/>
He describes a Palestinian realization of worth – despite burnout and exhaustion continuing to be realities – regarding the right to five things:<ref name=jac2021/> *worthy of housing *worthy of dignity *worthy to be able to rebel *worthy to be able to advocate *worthy of liberation
====Palestinian unity against the Occupation==== In 2021, El-Kurd stated that much of the Zionist project has involved:<ref name=jac2021>{{cite news |title=Mohammed el-Kurd's Unabashed Fury Against Israeli Apartheid |url=https://jacobin.com/2021/11/israel-palestine-occupation-settlements-sheikh-jarrah |access-date=22 January 2024 |work=jacobin.com |date=11 September 2021 |archive-date=22 January 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240122221739/https://jacobin.com/2021/11/israel-palestine-occupation-settlements-sheikh-jarrah |url-status=live }}</ref> * Dismantling and fragmenting Palestinian unity * Overthrowing the fabric of Palestinian societies * Creating disparate realities between Palestinians living in Israel proper (Israeli Arabs), East Jerusalem, the West Bank east of the Separation Barrier, and in the Gaza Strip.
He concluded that the collective protests against expulsion in his home neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah showed unprecedented unity among the different groups, overcoming the delusions that separation had created.<ref name=jac2021/>
===Activism unconstrained by perceived respectability=== El-Kurd argues that activists should move beyond messages that are generally perceived as respectable in Western society and media, to deliver fully truthful messages about Palestine-Israel and other conflicts. Respectability, he states, is dressing a certain way, expressing healing a certain way, speaking only on certain topics with "respectable" vocabulary and qualifiers. Disregarding respectability manifests itself in various ways, including:<ref>{{cite news |last1=Axtman |first1=Kristen |title=Mohammed El-Kurd discusses respectability politics |url=https://dailynorthwestern.com/2023/05/01/campus/mohammed-el-kurd-discusses-respectability-politics-during-arab-american-heritage-month/ |access-date=24 January 2024 |work=The Daily Northwestern |date=1 May 2023 |archive-date=24 January 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240124004526/https://dailynorthwestern.com/2023/05/01/campus/mohammed-el-kurd-discusses-respectability-politics-during-arab-american-heritage-month/ |url-status=live }}</ref> * '''Topics''': Activists should advocate for sanctions against Israel, and call out Israeli expansion and Zionism, which he calls a racist ideology. *'''Vocabulary''': mainstream Western news outlets camouflage the intensity of violence that Israeli forces inflict on Palestinians, e.g., using the phrase “forced eviction” instead of “ethnic cleansing.” *'''"Flattening" humanization''': those who empathize with Palestinians and humanize them may inadvertently "flatten" Palestinians' reality, i.e., fail to encapsulate the entire scope of Palestinians' humanity, by, for example, portraying them as helpless victims. El-Kurd is known for his willingness to tell the blunt reality of Palestinian existence in its full spectrum, including disdain, rage, hatred, joy, revolution, and fear, and encourages pro-Palestinian activists to do the same.
===Shifting the narrative in global media=== El-Kurd has stated that the first step in achieving reparations of changing realities on the ground is to get people to understand "the correct" narrative and "on the right side of history", a grassroots narrative from Palestinian "street culture", not a narrative coöpted by Palestinians who are the elite or who have ties to U.S., Israeli institutions or the Palestinian Authority, which he says is corrupt and a "co-pilot of the Israeli occupation".<ref name=jac2021/>
El-Kurd challenges Western media that regularly ask Palestinian guests to denounce violent protests or attacks by Hamas and other groups, characterizing these questions as inciting, bigoted and disrespectful. To one such question from a CNN anchor, El-Kurd responded: "Do you support the violent dispossession of me and my family?" He said that the incident was an example that Palestinians will no longer accept "racism and misrepresentation" on Western television, and that, like him, they "really don't take shit" any longer.<ref name=jac2021/>
==Accusations of antisemitism== === Poem with metaphor "harvest[ing] organs of the martyred" === A poem titled "Rifqa",<ref>{{cite book |last1=Mohammed |first1=El-Kurd |title=Rifqa |date=2021 |publisher=Haymarket |isbn=978-1642596601 |url=https://www.haymarketbooks.org/books/1744-rifqa |access-date=12 January 2024 |archive-date=12 January 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240112214240/https://www.haymarketbooks.org/books/1744-rifqa |url-status=live }}</ref> in the eponymous 2021 book, contains a line in which "they" (i.e., Israelis) "harvest organs of the martyred, [and] feed their warriors our own."<ref name=convo>{{cite news |last1=Muller |first1=Denis |title=Are calls to cancel two Palestinian writers from Adelaide Writers' Week justified? |url=https://theconversation.com/are-calls-to-cancel-two-palestinian-writers-from-adelaide-writers-week-justified-200165 |access-date=11 October 2023 |work=The Conversation |date=17 February 2023 |language=en |archive-date=13 October 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231013001056/https://theconversation.com/are-calls-to-cancel-two-palestinian-writers-from-adelaide-writers-week-justified-200165 |url-status=live }}</ref> The poem contains a footnote referring the reader to the [[2009 Aftonbladet Israel controversy]] about Israeli doctors allegedly harvesting organs from Palestinian and some Israeli corpses without the permission of their families. El-Kurd said, "It's a metaphor, it's not something I literally believe. I'm just now realizing that they actually think, or are pretending to think for purposes of exaggeration, that I actually believe Israelis eat Palestinian organs.... At first it was comical, but now it seems very sinister. The line is about the practice of withholding Palestinian bodies and [...] exploiting the bodies in ways that have been documented and are widely discussed."<ref>{{cite news |last1=Hussain |first1=Murtaza |date=29 April 2022 |title=Palestinian Poem Sets Off Antisemitism Fight at Georgetown |work=The Intercept |url=https://theintercept.com/2022/04/29/palestine-poem-antisemitism-adl-mohammed-el-kurd/ |access-date=11 October 2023 |archive-date=10 October 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231010155104/https://theintercept.com/2022/04/29/palestine-poem-antisemitism-adl-mohammed-el-kurd/ |url-status=live }}</ref> He spoke at a [[Harvard University]] event titled "Confronting State Violence" in October 2022 at which he told of his experience with "violence that is systematically, institutionally sponsored". More than 30 people protested his attendance by showing Israel’s flag and waving posters.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Lu |first1=Vivi |last2=Teichholtz |first2=Leah |title=Student Groups Host Event with Palestinian Activist Mohammed El-Kurd, Drawing Protest from Pro-Israel Students |url=https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2022/10/25/psc-speaker-protest/ |access-date=11 October 2023 |work=Harvard Crimson |date=October 25, 2022 |archive-date=13 October 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231013001057/https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2022/10/25/psc-speaker-protest/ |url-status=live }}</ref> The [[Anti-Defamation League]] called for [[Georgetown Law School]] to cancel an invitation for him to speak at the university in 2022.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Hussain |first=Murtaza |date=2022-04-29 |title=Palestinian Poem Sets Off Antisemitism Fight at Georgetown |url=https://theintercept.com/2022/04/29/palestine-poem-antisemitism-adl-mohammed-el-kurd/ |access-date=2024-04-16 |website=The Intercept |language=en-US}}</ref>
=== London speech mentioning de-Zionization and massacres=== El-Kurd's speech on 14 January 2024 at the [[Palestine Solidarity Campaign]] "March for Palestine" demonstration in London was widely criticized as [[Antisemitism|antisemitic]] for its mention of de-zionization as well as the mention of "massacres as the status quo",<ref name=":2" /> with British MP [[Robert Jenrick]] calling for the arresting and deporting of individuals who make such remarks.<ref name=":2" />
El-Kurd stated: "Zionism is apartheid, it's genocide, it's murder. It's a racist ideology, rooted in settler expansion and racist domination. We must root it out of the world. We must de-Zionize because Zionism is a death cult".<ref name=":2">{{Cite news |date=2024-01-15 |title=Met investigating El-Kurd over 'normalize the massacres' remarks |url=https://www.jns.org/met-investigating-el-kurd-over-normalize-the-massacres-remarks/ |archive-date=17 January 2024 |access-date=2024-01-21 |work=[[Jewish News Syndicate|JNS]] |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240117235957/https://www.jns.org/met-investigating-el-kurd-over-normalize-the-massacres-remarks/ |url-status=live }}</ref> He described [[Hamas]] militants killed by Israel as "[[Martyrdom in Palestinian society|martyrs]]", which could potentially violate UK and Israeli laws.<ref name=":2" />
Concluding the speech, El-Kurd stated "Our day will come, but we must not be complacent. Our day will come but we must normalize massacres as the status-quo",<ref name=":2" /> which some interpreted as a reference to the [[2023 Hamas-led attack on Israel]] in which 1,200 people were killed.<ref name=":2" /> At first, the activist responded to reports of the controversy by stating "Lots of ppl reporting this speech to the police. Idgaf. Zionism is indefensible".<ref name="Police">{{cite news|url=https://www.lbc.co.uk/news/met-police-assessing-man-speech-massacres-status-quo/|title=Police 'looking into' video of activist telling pro-Palestine crowd in London 'massacres should become status quo'|newspaper=LBC|first=Kieran|last=Kelly|date=14 January 2024|access-date=25 January 2024|archive-date=24 January 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240124052842/https://www.lbc.co.uk/news/met-police-assessing-man-speech-massacres-status-quo/|url-status=live}}</ref> However, El-Kurd, whose native language is [[Palestinian Arabic|Arabic]], later clarified multiple times on [[X (social network)|X]] that he had misspoken, by forgetting to negate the verb in the sentence:<ref>{{cite web |title=Post by Mohammed El-Kurd |url=https://x.com/m7mdkurd/status/1746310077131202607?s=20 |website=X (formerly Twitter) |access-date=21 January 2024}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=El-Kurd |first1=Mohammed |title=Tweet from Mohammed El-Kurd (@m7mdkurd), X (formerly Twitter) |url=https://twitter.com/m7mdkurd/status/1746565322927169919 |website=X (formerly Twitter) |publisher=X (formerly Twitter) |access-date=21 January 2024 |date=14 January 2023 |quote=It is clear from the context of my speech on 13 January 2024 that I denounce massacres, murder, and genocide and that the closing of my speech was to state "we should NOT normalise massacres." I was also clearly referring to the massacres perpetrated by Israel against the Palestinian people. I reject the bad faith attempts to slander me as someone who would encourage or promote unlawful violence. I don't want to waste more time on this matter, because we all should be focusing on the horrors in Gaza.}}</ref> <blockquote>It is clear from the context of my speech on 13 January 2024 that I denounce massacres, murder, and genocide and that the closing of my speech was to state "we should NOT normalise massacres." I was also clearly referring to the massacres perpetrated by Israel against the Palestinian people. I reject the bad faith attempts to slander me as someone who would encourage or promote unlawful violence. I don't want to waste more time on this matter, because we all should be focusing on the horrors in Gaza</blockquote> He further stated that he was "obviously not an idiot" and "would never" call for violence.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.foxnews.com/world/london-police-respond-speaker-pro-palestinian-event-calls-normalize-massacres|title=London police respond after speaker at pro-Palestinian event calls to 'normalize massacres'|newspaper=Fox News|date=14 January 2024|first=Stephen|last=Sorace|access-date=25 January 2024|archive-date=19 January 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240119012457/https://www.foxnews.com/world/london-police-respond-speaker-pro-palestinian-event-calls-normalize-massacres|url-status=live}}</ref>
London's [[Metropolitan Police]] launched a formal investigation.<ref name=":2" /><ref name="Police"/> El-Kurd later said on social media that the police had interviewed him and then dropped the case.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://twitter.com/m7mdkurd/status/1749088737533821215?t=_Kg7k-iqHJXucCKL1roHZA&s=19|title=Post by Mohammed El-Kurd|website=X (formerly Twitter)|publisher=X (formerly Twitter)|quote=I was investigated by Britain's counterterrorism police, which succumbed to political pressure from top Israeli propagandists, diplomats, lobby-affiliated British government officials, and countless right-wing media outlets, who demanded I be arrested and charged over a recent anti-zionist speech I gave in London. The interrogation, which I attended with counsel, proved to be a great waste of time and public funds, and the police promptly closed the case and pursued no further action. If anything, it was a mere inconvenience.|date=21 January 2024|first=Mohammed|last=El-Kurd|access-date=25 January 2024}}</ref>
==Works== * El-Kurd, Mohammed (2021). ''[[Rifqa (book)|Rifqa]]''. [[Haymarket Books]]. {{ISBN|9781642595864}}. * Foreword to Aranguren, Teresa, and Sandra Barrilaro, eds. (2024). ''Against Erasure: A Photographic Memory of Palestine Before the Nakba''. [[Haymarket Books]]. {{ISBN|9781642599800}}. * El-Kurd, Mohammed (2025). ''[[Perfect Victims and the Politics of Appeal|Perfect Victims: And the Politics of Appeal]]''. [[Haymarket Books]]. {{ISBN|9798888903155}}.
== References == <references />
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