Middle East Eye

Joe Biden has pursued a ‘no red lines’ policy in his support for Israel’s war in Gaza, despite it being deeply unpopular among his own voters. The growing anger in Arab and Muslim American communities in key swing states has pushed many to vow they won’t vote for him in the 2024 Presidential elections. While only making up 1% of the population - it’s where they live that could make all the difference - and it’s something the Democrats are starting to really worry about. This week on The Big Picture, we examine what poll numbers say about Biden’s foreign policy decisions, and what it says about his hopes for defeating Donald Trump.

On 27 October Elon Musk toured the scene of a Hamas attack with Israel’s prime minister himself. But why did Musk visit Israel and why did he receive a welcome fit for a head of state?

One of the lessons we learnt was that you can’t place any reliance on Israeli accounts of events.” Anthony Hurndall, whose son Tom Hurndall was shot in the head by an Israeli sniper in April 2003 while helping Palestinian children in Rafah, said that people should be cautious with believing claims that people killed by Israel were military targets in an interview with Sky News on Thursday. During the interview, Hurndall also said the attacks against Israel on 7 October were “incited by the ongoing barbarity of Israeli policies towards

“So what we want people to see and have a visual of is when they walk by each flag, they know that is the human life lost in Gaza.” White flags were planted across the University of Illinois Chicago campus in honour of the Palestinians killed in Gaza. Names were read aloud outside University Hall, with the first 88 belonging to a single Gaza family. The activists also wanted to draw attention to the school leaders' statement on the war, criticising it for not addressing 75 years of Palestinian oppression.

Lama Khater, a writer released in the sixth batch of Palestinian prisoners as part of the truce agreement, revealed that Israeli forces threatened to rape her and burn her children. Describing the harrowing conditions, she stated: "Today, male and female prisoners are enduring what can be considered forced starvation, in complete isolation." Khater describes how an Israeli solider told her that his rage would only be satisfied if he killed 50,000 children in Gaza.

Bahraini parliament member Mohammed Musa al-Balooshi criticised the presence of the American, French, and British ambassadors at the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People event, likening their show of solidarity with the Palestinian people to ”killing a victim and then mourning at their funeral.”

Speaking on Piers Morgan Uncensored on Tuesday, Dr Gabor Mate referenced a study published in 2005 about how children in Gaza are the most traumatised in the world. The Hungarian-Canadian physician and Holocaust survivor spoke about how the international community must stop its support of Israel's occupation and how many people in Israel are not aware of what is happening to the Palestinians.

Amir Avivi, a reserve general in the Israeli army, raised concerns over a less noticed aspect of the recent prisoner release, pointing out the presence of Hamas flags among the released detainees and their supporters.

Inside the Israeli-Palestinian hostage exchange: a generation of young Palestinians facing silence and abuse and Israeli hostages freed. Who are they and why were they in prison?

MEE correspondent Mohammed al-Hajjar showcases the extensive destruction of al-Rashid street in Gaza, a key tourist spot now in ruins. The footage reveals destroyed towers, hotels, restaurants, and civilian houses. Landmarks like the al-Deira, Commodore, and Grand Palace hotels, as well as the mosque on the street, have all been destroyed.

A harrowing video published by Al-Mashhad TV shows premature Palestinian babies dead in the care ward of the Al-Nasr Hospital in northern Gaza. Doctors were forced to leave the babies behind in the hospital after they were reportedly given 30 minutes to evacuate the hospital by Israeli forces and leave patients.

“Errors like these are harmful, when language is distorted or weaponised to harm marginalised and vulnerable people.” Arabic team lead for Respond Crisis Translation, Ayah Najadat, talked to Middle East Eye about how she and her team help with emergency translations in Gaza and other crisis areas and correct harmful mistranslations in media reports. One such example was when Najadat’s team corrected a video report published by the BBC about a released Palestinian prisoner which featured incorrect subtitles, distorting what she was saying. The BBC took down the video and corrected the error following the correction by Najadat’s team.

“They beat us with metal pipes until they bent” Mohammed Nazzal, a Palestinian teenager recently released from an Israeli prison, talks about how Israeli prison officers beat him, broke his hands and fingers, and denied him medical care. Soon after Nazzal was released, he was moved to the emergency room of the Ibn Sina Hospital in the city of Jenin.

US Senator and Chairman of the Intelligence Committee Mark Warner stated in an interview with MSNBC: “Israel has been losing the hearts and minds of people not only in the region but around the world.“ He urged Israel to release the Palestinian Authority's funds, which have been withheld since October 7th, to prevent “chaos at an unprecedented level and the start of a second front in this war.“ He also expressed his concerns about how Israel plans to continue its war against Hamas in the south of Gaza while having instructed over a million Palestinians from the north to move south.

“Our main focus right now is and our hope is to reach a sustainable truce that would lead to further negotiations and eventually to an end to this iteration of violence and this war.” In a press conference in Doha on Tuesday, the spokesperson of Qatar’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Majed al Ansari, discussed the future of the extended truce between Israel and Palestine and said that the main objective is to put an end to the war.

"Not a single Palestinian generation has been saved from the scourge of war". The Palestinian ambassador to UN Riyad Mansour, called on the international community to make the truce in Gaza into a permanent ceasefire. During his address to the UN, Mansour criticised the organisation for failing to deliver peace in Palestine.

r Ghassan Abu Sittah who returned from Gaza to the UK described a “desperate” situation in the besieged strip as low medical supplies forced doctors to use washing up liquid and vinegar to help patients. Speaking to Middle East Eye in London, Abu Sittah said the “sheer colossal number of seven to eight thousand wounded and around 7,000 children killed in only 40 days is just breathtaking.” Abu Sittah teared up when recalling some of the child patients he operated on. “The wounds sustained by many of my patients showed markings that are similar to the ones inflicted by the use of white phosphorus and other incendiary weaponry,” he said.

Nufouth Hammad, who was jailed at the age of 14 and sentenced to 12 years in prison, arrived home on 27 November, reuniting with her family. Hammad was released in the fourth batch of Palestinian prisoners. The release is part of a temporary truce deal through which at least 33 Palestinian women and children were released.

Cynthia Nixon - Tony, Emmy, and Grammy award-winning actor - joined by a group of activists and state legislators, launched a hunger strike at the White House in Washington, D.C., on 27 November, demanding a permanent ceasefire in Gaza. Nixon mentioned that more civilians have been killed in Gaza than in "20 years of war in Afghanistan by the U.S. and U.S, allies". She explained that for years, the Palestinian cause has been one that many have looked away from, and although "what's happening now is horrifying, at least it is making it impossible for people to look away anymore"

“You have awakened the humanity of the world after its slumber.” Qatar’s Minister of State for International Cooperation, Lolwa Al Khater, entered Gaza on Sunday through the Rafah crossing. During her visit she addressed the people of Gaza on behalf of Qatar in a message she shared to X, formerly Twitter, acknowledging their resilience.

Dr Ghassan Abu Sitta speaks about his first-hand experience in Gaza at a conference in London organised by the International Centre of Justice for Palestinians on Monday.

“They warned us that if we showed any celebration at home, we would be arrested again.” Khalil Al-Zama’ara, who was imprisoned for two years, reunited with his family in Hebron after being released on Sunday on the third day of the prisoner swap deal between Hamas and Israel. Israel agreed to release 150 Palestinian women and children prisoners from its jails in exchange for Hamas releasing 50 of the hostages taken captive on 7 October. According to the Palestinian Prisoners Club, more than 250 Palestinian children under the age of 18 are currently detained in Israeli prisons.

Drone footage reveals extensive destruction in the al-Zahra neighbourhood in Gaza after seven weeks of the war.

"Hamas treated them well." Alon Ben David, a Senior defence correspondent for Israeli Channel 13 described the conditions of the captives recently released by Hamas saying the hostages were treated well by Hamas and they were not subjected to torture or ill-treatment. Ben David said Hamas also attempted to provide the hostages with medication and food daily.

Saleh Abdulfatah Abu al-Aish arrived in the West Bank one day before the 7th of October to run errands. He lost his family in an Israeli airstrike on their three-story building, which killed 25 of his family members. Despite this tragedy, he joined thousands of Palestinians in the square to celebrate the release of Palestinian prisoners from Israeli prisons.