en-US Sun, 11 May 2025 07:35:09 -0700 60 144 41 /images/layout/goodreads_logo_144.jpg Review5554595849 Sun, 11 May 2025 07:35:09 -0700 /review/show/5554595849 Intissar gave 3 stars to Happy All the Time (Paperback) by Laurie Colwin
bookshelves: fiction
]]> Review7557913516 Sat, 10 May 2025 08:57:32 -0700 /review/show/7557913516 Intissar gave 2 stars to Gaza Faces History (Paperback) by Enzo Traverso
bookshelves: palestine, non-fiction
Despite his reputation as a leading scholar of European Jewish history, Enzo Traverso is characterized by a notable density that complicates engagement with his arguments.

One of history’s most egregious atrocities occurred in the Congo, where over 10 million Congolese people perished under conditions of extreme brutality. Yet, contemporary discourse in 2025 continues to frame the Holocaust as the most catastrophic pogrom in history, second only to the ongoing genocide in Gaza. There is no dispute that Adolf Hitler was a criminal, a tyrannical, supremacist leader at that. However, this raises a critical question: were the Allied powers, who positioned themselves in opposition to Hitler, morally superior? Like Nazi Germany, these nations also engaged in imperial domination, territorial occupation, and exploitation under the guise of the "civilizing missions." Why, then, focus on Hitler while neglecting the systemic violence perpetrated by the Allied powers? (This point will be revisited later.)

Mass media are known to both govern minds and systematically shape public perception to serve elite interests. As noted in the text under review, Western media—including many reputedly serious newspapers—published false stories of pregnant women disemboweled, dozens of children beheaded, and babies thrown into ovens by Hamas fighters. TV reporters announced in grave, indignant tones that they had seen terrible images of atrocities that they would not broadcast so as to avoid upsetting their viewers. These inventions put out by the Israeli army were immediately accepted as evidence—Joe Biden, Anthony Blinken, and ministers from European nations repeated them in their speeches—only to be retracted grudgingly a few weeks later. This raises pressing questions about media ownership and narrative control. Given the well-documented influence of Jewish intellectuals and financiers in the development of journalism and mass media, one must interrogate whether this control has been leveraged to construct historical narratives that legitimize the establishment of the State of Israel.

Circling back to Nazi Germany. if Jewish figures laid the foundation of media institutions in Europe, does this not suggest their ability to influence dominant historical narratives, including those surrounding the Holocaust in order to move a lot closer to the goal of establishing a Jewish Ethno State? That much is pretty obvious, but we tend to sweep it under the rug. There are German Jews who proved that the Holocaust was an Agent Provocateur event. However, such voices, like that of Roger Garaudy, the French Jewish historian, have been systematically suppressed through censorship and book bans. It is deemed imperative at this point in time to reject drawing any analogies to the Holocaust or depicting it as the "worst pogrom after the war in Gaza."

Regarding the condemnation of the October 7 attacks, which have been framed as a terrorist act resulting in the deaths of hundreds of Israeli civilians, it is necessary to interrogate the inconsistencies in the official narrative. The Israeli forces spokesman claimed that they were responsible for these casualties, but we still pin them on Hamas and repeat the same narrative from October 7 like broken records.

Furthermore, the assertion that Hamas fighters engaged in systematic sexual violence remains unsubstantiated by credible evidence, rendering such accusations speculative at best. Equally problematic is the portrayal of Palestinian Resistance as extremist and claiming that the killing of their extended families is nothing but the backdrop of their extremism.

I'm sick and tired of detailing in length how Hamas what a number of Westerners think it is, so I'll just keep it short by stating, Glory to the resistance!

2 stars for effort. ]]> Review6640317098 Sun, 04 May 2025 15:40:02 -0700 /review/show/6640317098 Intissar gave 2 stars to What Does Israel Fear From Palestine? (Paperback) by Raja Shehadeh
bookshelves: palestine, non-fiction
Wish I’d known the author was all about ‘both sides,� and ‘Hamas committed a terrorist act on October 7� kinda guy before getting my hands on his work.

What if this war should end, not by a ceasefire or a truce, as in other wars with Hamas, but with a comprehensive resolution to the century-old conflict between the Palestinian and Israeli people?

The book is informative up to a point (hence the two stars), but it loses credibility when the author retreats into wishy-washy, non-confrontational diplomacy. A two-state solution is antithetical to the cause. It's an illusory solution. You can't detail the Oslo Accords and the limitations they resulted in, and rattle away about co-existing with your oppressors. You can’t play peacemaker after being lynched, looted, terrorized, blown apart, raped, amputated, tortured, caged, and mutilated, then turn around and preach a two-fucking-state solution. It's unfathomable to me how the brain could still conjure up a dual-state framework after all we've witnessed.

Because of the gruesome behaviour of some Hamas members,the entire Palestinian nation was condemned and in the eyes of most Israelis lost its right to exist.

Last time I checked, the Israeli Defense Minister admitted to employing the Hannibal Directive on October 7� the Zionist regime implemented it on its people to wage a war against Hamas to annex Gaza. Regardless, without their dirty laundry hung out for the world to see, the conclusion is self-evident: we're dealing with a colonial project backed by an elite state Intelligence, enforced by militarized checkpoints permitting no movement whatsoever. Not even a fly crosses their checkpoints. BUT! Somehow, on October 7, they were left unattended. Hm!!!

Bro’s got brain diarrhea. Everything he stands for is a little illogical. I’m taking the rest of his books off the shelf. I can’t handle any more of him.

Free Palestine from the river to the sea. ]]> ReadStatus9385631204 Sun, 04 May 2025 07:46:59 -0700 /review/show/7541959536 Intissar wants to read Black Women Writers at Work by Claudia Tate
]]> ReadStatus9385569029 Sun, 04 May 2025 07:28:39 -0700 /review/show/7541917718 Intissar wants to read Blood in My Eye by George L. Jackson
]]> Review7528801537 Tue, 29 Apr 2025 10:19:10 -0700 /review/show/7528801537 Intissar gave 2 stars to What Kind of Woman: Poems (Paperback) by Kate Baer
bookshelves: poetry, feminism
]]> Review7517690819 Fri, 25 Apr 2025 07:23:24 -0700 /review/show/7517690819 Intissar gave 4 stars to المرأة بين الأصول والتقاليد (Unknown Binding) by حسن الترابي
bookshelves: feminism, islam, non-fiction
]]> Review6844027484 Thu, 24 Apr 2025 13:58:40 -0700 /review/show/6844027484 Intissar gave 5 stars to Black No More (Paperback) by George S. Schuyler
bookshelves: fiction, historical-fiction, amazing-writing
]]> Review7512727304 Wed, 23 Apr 2025 11:00:10 -0700 /review/show/7512727304 Intissar gave 4 stars to The Souls Journey After Death (Kindle Edition) by ابن قيم الجوزية
bookshelves: islam, non-fiction
]]> Review7511363636 Tue, 22 Apr 2025 21:38:39 -0700 /review/show/7511363636 Intissar gave 4 stars to قضية تحرير المرأة (Paperback) by محمد قطب
bookshelves: non-fiction, islam, feminism
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