Voices Unheard

The organized suppression of pro-Palestine speech denies Palestinians the opportunity to narrate their experiences, but it also distorts our collective understanding of these narratives.

What do Susan Sarandon, Tom Cruise’s agent, and I all have in common? At first glance, very little. I was a researcher for a creative consulting firm, while Susan Sarandon is an Academy Award winning actress and Tom Cruise’s agent, Maha Dakhil, is Tom Cruise’s agent. But all three of us have incurred professional losses for one simple act: speaking up against Israel’s brutal war on Gaza, which, as of this moment, has ended over 20,000 Palestinian lives and displaced over 80% of Gaza’s population.

For nearly 14 years, I have been involved in pro-Palestine activism. Throughout these years, I have been vocal in my criticism of Israel’s institutionalized regime of apartheid, and the campaigns of unlawful military destruction that are the modus operandi of this oppressive institution. During this time, I’ve participated in public protests and teach-ins and put together fundraisers to support the work of organizations delivering aid to Palestinians. I am extremely proud of this work, especially as the chorus of support for Palestinian rights has grown multifold in the last decade. Like many others in the Palestine solidarity movement, I am also fully acquainted with the fact that activism around the issue of Palestine, especially in the United States and Europe, entails severe risks of professional and personal retribution. Over the years, I have gladly accepted such risks, because I believe they are negligible compared to the incalculable pain and suffering that Palestinians have generationally endured.

That said, we have entered an era of suppression and censorship that is far more organized and ruthless in its blacklisting, doxxing, and harassment of dissent than I have ever encountered before. I also believe that these campaigns of silencing are highly tactical and deliberate in their intent, insofar as they both rob Palestinians of the opportunity to narrate their experiences, but also stunt our collective capacity for understanding and appreciating their stories.