MEI/FMEP 2024 Congressional Briefing Series: The Gaza Catastrophe
How We Got Here
Listen to this webinar as a podcast
Recorded on April 19, 2024
Featuring: Mkhaimar Abusada (Al-Azhar University of Gaza) & Mairav Zonszein (International Crisis Group)
This session assessed the current situation on the ground in Gaza, how we got here, including the events of October 7, as well as conditions in the West Bank, along the Israel-Lebanon border, and broader regional dynamics.
For more information on the 2024 Congressional Briefing Series, including additional webinars, please visit: https://fmep.org/the-gaza-catastrophe-a-private-briefing-for-congress/
Participant Biographies
Mkhaimar Abusada is an expert on Palestinian political attitudes and associate professor at Al-Azhar University of Gaza and formerly chaired the university’s political science department. He has authored one book, and many academic articles in local and internationally recognized academic journals. He has also written for Project Syndicate, the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, and Washington Institute for Near East Policy. He received his PhD from the University of Missouri-Columbia in 1996.
Mairav Zonszein is Senior Analyst on Israel-Palestine at the International Crisis Group. As journalist and commentator, Mairav has covered Israeli politics and U.S. foreign policy for over a decade. Her work has appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, The New York Review of Books, Foreign Policy, The Guardian, The Columbia Journalism Review, The Nation, The American Prospect, VICE, The Intercept, and more. She is a founding editor of +972 Magazine and a contributor to Jewish Currents. She has an MA in Nationalism Studies from the Central European University in Budapest.
Resources
- “Why Israel-Iran War Is a Lifeline for Netanyahu,” Foreign Policy, April 15, 2024. [LINK]
- +972 Magazine: “‘Lavender’: The AI machine directing Israel’s bombing spree in Gaza” https://www.972mag.com/lavender-ai-israeli-army-gaza/
- Human Rights Watch, “West Bank: Israel Responsible for Rising Settler Violence,” April 17, 2024 https://www.hrw.org/news/2024/04/17/west-bank-israel-responsible-rising-settler-violence
- Q&A with Mairav Zonszein, International Crisis Group, “Settler Violence Rises in the West Bank during the Gaza War,” November 6, 2023 https://www.crisisgroup.org/middle-east-north-africa/east-mediterranean-mena/israelpalestine/settler-violence-rises-west-bank-gaza-war