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Palestine

Islamophobic attacks continue

Zohran Mamdani, Democratic Nominee for Mayor of New York City, has faced constant attacks targeting him for his faith since his campaign for Mayor started to see success.1

On the 2nd of July 2025, one day after Canada Day, a Muslim woman was swarmed in the city of Osahwa, her hijab pulled off of her as she was stomped in the head.2

Three Palestinian men were shot in Burlington Vermont for the sin of speaking Arabic and wearing keffiyehs, one of them will never walk again. 3

Six year old Wadea al-Fayoume was stabbed to death by his landlord in Plainfield Township, who yelled "You Muslims must die." 4

Happy Canada Day

Happy Canada Day everyone. Let's take the opportunity to talk about something our Prime Minister, Mark Carney said on CNN in late June 2025. He said, and I am paraphrasing slightly that we cannot have peace in the Middle East unless we have a 'Zionist, if you will, Palestinian state' that recognizes the right of Israel to 'not live in fear'.

This is so incredibly insane that I am left wondering what Canadian values even are anymore. Let's quickly analyze this.

Being Shia

Us Shia people are in the news a lot lately. What with the groups and countries that are directly resisting Israel outside of Palestine being Shia, and Zohran Mamdani, the Democratic nominee for Mayor of New York City being Shia as well. And since it's the start of the Islamic Month of Muharram, which is an incredibly important time for us. It's a good time to talk about what that means.

Time is running away

So here we are less than four months away from the launch of my book and I'm five days late in making my monthly post.

It's kind of reflective of where I find myself. It's been a very busy month for me personally but my book marketing has suffered as a result.

So instead of giving an overview of how my month went as I usually do I want to talk about why I think I haven't been focusing on getting the word out about "Under the Full and Crescent Moon".

The Horror of Israeli logic spreads even further

On the 21st of May 2025, two staff members of the Israeli embassy in Washington were gunned down in what seems to be a premediated attack in Washington D.C, the capital of the United States of America. The two were not armed, they were not combatants.

It should go without saying that causing any injury to non-combatants is horrific and an act worthy of condemnation.

There are three takeaways here though, that if not realized and acted upon will keep the situation of the world degrading further and further.

Review of If I Must Die

If you do not wish to read further then the TL;DR is:

Summary: This is a collection of short form poetry and prose by one of the many shining lights of Palestinian literature, Refaat Alareer. It feels like both a journal and journalism as it describes the reality of Palestinian life under Israeli occupation and oppression.

My conclusion: This book proves one thing more than anything else. Israel is built on myths that shatter on contact with Palestinian reality. Refaat Alareer's words, demonstrate that reality with stunning clarity and is necessary reading.

This review has been posted on other platforms with code words to avoid suppression. The version here does not.

Belated Ramadan Mubarak and early Eid Mubarak

Ramadan started a week after my last monthly post, please accept my belated congratulations for all those who celebrate the blessed month. And since Eid will be in a week from now please accept an early Eid Mubarak!

Ramadan has gone well this year, not only did all denominations start Ramadan on the same day, which is rare, but it also coincided with the month of March. This has made tracking the days of the month incredibly easy. It has also not been a particularly hard three weeks as this year the month has fallen between the long and thirsty days of summer and the shorter and far more pleasant winter fasts.

That last sentence of the paragraph is the second sentence from my novel, only slightly re-written. Think of it as a little preview six months out from launch!

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