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Monica Marks

@monicamarks.bsky.social

9.8K followers 680 following 2.4K posts

Prof of Middle East Politics at NYU Abu Dhabi. Tunisia, Turkey, Gulf. PhD St Antony's College, Oxford. Rhodes, Fulbright, Harvard WCFIA. 14 years writing on Tunisia. Religion & democracy. Tango & bizarre travel enthusiast. Perpetually craving Istanbul.

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Monica Marks @monicamarks.bsky.social · 25d

For TIME Magazine, I wrote about the shaky future of the Abraham Accords after Israel bombed Qatar. The attack crossed a Rubicon, shocking leaders across the GCC.

It’s a long piece (by TIME standards!) based on 5+ years of watching the Accords in rich detail from the UAE.

time.com/7318734/futu...

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Monica Marks @monicamarks.bsky.social · 1d

The 18 yr-old Palestinian w autism whom Israel released was captured by the IDF while trying to reach aid:
www.gettyimages.ae/detail/video...

Acc to Israel’s military, only 1/4 of the thousands of Palestinians it detained in Gaza were classified as fighters.
www.theguardian.com/world/2025/o...

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Monica Marks @monicamarks.bsky.social · 1d

Horrifying story. This deserves international coverage, as does Israel releasing an 18 year-old Palestinian with autism today.

Israel has banned released Palestinians from talking w/ media. It’s also stopped Palestinians from celebrating released prisoners in the West Bank.

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Monica Marks @monicamarks.bsky.social · 2d

That this would be the outcome was clear from mid-October 2023, since Israel went into Gaza blinded by fury & with no “day after” plan.

This blessed day should have come much sooner, with more hostages like Goldberg-Polin & tens of thousands of innocent Palestinians still alive.

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Monica Marks @monicamarks.bsky.social · 2d

Every heart should soar to see Israeli captives home w/ their families. Oct. 7, 2023 was an atrocity.

*And* we must recall that, of the ~2000 Palestinians released in exchange, many were innocent captives of Israel, which prohibits them from speaking to media once released

@johnlyndon.bsky.social

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Monica Marks @monicamarks.bsky.social · 2d

This, today & every day.

Overjoyed for the hostages coming home—both the Israelis abducted from their homes in horrific circumstances on Oct 7 & the many innocent Palestinian civilians captured by Israel after Oct. 7 to be used as bargaining chips in an exchange like today’s.

@amidar.bsky.social

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Monica Marks @monicamarks.bsky.social · 3d

He’s not. Hamas had the agency to give them up sooner & remove a key plank of Bibi’s argument.

Monica Marks @monicamarks.bsky.social · 3d

Never met a trip to South Africa that I didn’t love. Murals in Maboneng, Johannesburg today ❤️

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Monica Marks @monicamarks.bsky.social · 3d

Anyone in Johannesburg, South Africa should see this play immediately at Theatre On the Square. 🎭🇿🇦

Sarajevo, written by & starring Aimee Mica Komorowsky, is better than virtually every acclaimed play I’ve seen in NYC & London.

It’s the single bravest thing I’ve seen on stage, period.

Monica Marks @monicamarks.bsky.social · 4d

The Israeli journalist & writer Amir Tibon survived the Oct. 7 massacre. His analysis here is spot-on.

Hamas’ failure to understand that the Israeli hostages were, for Netanyahu, not a bargaining chip to end the war, but an excuse to prolong it, lengthened conflict.

www.haaretz.com/israel-news/...

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Monica Marks @monicamarks.bsky.social · 4d

I encourage everyone to read Yehuda Cohen’s op-ed from yesterday’s Independent: “My hostage son is coming home: here’s why I want Netanyahu gone”

Cohen identifies 4 reasons why Trump forced a ceasefire deal when he did & calls for a 2SS & trial for Netanyahu:

www.independent.co.uk/independentp...

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Monica Marks @monicamarks.bsky.social · 4d

Victims of Oct. 7, including Israeli hostages’ families, have been at the heart of ceasefire advocacy. They have key insights about why this didn’t end sooner & why Trump forced a ceasefire when he did.

Here’s some excellent analysis from Oct. 7 survivors Yehuda Cohen & Amir Tibon (links below) 🧵⬇️

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Monica Marks @monicamarks.bsky.social · 5d

This is very comparable to how autocratizers have taken over media landscapes in other countries whose democracy scores have plummeted over the past 15 years (acc to all reliable indices like Polity, V-Dem, & Freedom House), including Turkey.

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Reposted by Monica Marks

Joshua Krasna @jkrasna.bsky.social · 5d

Quoted here:
themedialine.org/top-stories/...

How Washington and the Gulf Cleared a Path to a Fragile Gaza Truce - The Media Line

Exactly two years after Hamas launched a surprise […]

themedialine.org

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Reposted by Monica Marks

Jonathan M. Katz @katz.theracket.news · 6d

Even a pause in the killing and displacement would be good and I share the cautious optimism that this could end this phase of the catastrophe. But it is wild that people are treating this as if it’s the negotiated end of the Russo-Japanese War, or even Camp David 1978.

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Reposted by Monica Marks

Joel S. @joelhs.bsky.social · 6d

This is a person who is still taken seriously and published in left-wing spaces.

To be clear: No, most Israeli Jews are not descended from Polish Jews. And even for the minority who are, it would obviously not be safe for them all to go there now, given the Polish government.

Tweet from Axel Folio, PhD: "To Poland where they are from"

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Monica Marks @monicamarks.bsky.social · 6d

You really can’t make this stuff up

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Monica Marks @monicamarks.bsky.social · 6d

Correct. And humans are on the committee, like all committees. There are better reasons why he won’t get it tomorrow that I mentioned!

Monica Marks @monicamarks.bsky.social · 6d

I get why some are saying this.

But delaying the Nobel Peace Prize to manipulate one famously egotistical president into doing the right thing for the wrong reasons would set a crazy precedent & make the Nobel look unserious.

Trump can implement the full deal & wait a year.

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Monica Marks @monicamarks.bsky.social · 6d

And it could embolden Trump to continue thwarting peacemaking in numerous other ways (eg: his war on multilateral institutions, like the UN & ICC/ICJ; his erosion of democratic institutions that can preserve peaceful pluralism in the US where political violence is rising, etc.).

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Monica Marks @monicamarks.bsky.social · 6d

Trump must, at least, ensure that this deal sticks to be considered seriously for next year’s Nobel Peace Prize.

Rewarding him now would be premature. It would remove the incentive to make the deal stick—let alone to secure a true peace that ends the occupation & secures a 2SS.

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Monica Marks @monicamarks.bsky.social · 6d

No fiercely independent committee likes a bully.

Some members of the Nobel committee might also feel that US deserves no special award for halting what UN experts recently concluded is a genocide, when it’s been Israel’s key enabler. Trump presided over 8 months of this horror.

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Monica Marks @monicamarks.bsky.social · 6d

But the Nobel Committee will want to wait & see if Trump has the focus & fortitude to implement all phases of this agreement.

That will be much harder. If Trump does—and especially if he pushes Israel to end the occupation & realise a 2SS—he could win the Nobel in coming years.

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Monica Marks @monicamarks.bsky.social · 6d

The committee will be glad, as all peace-minded people are, for Phase 1 of this ceasefire deal.

Trump deserves plaudits for that & it’s more than Biden ever did during this. Obama had no reason to win the Nobel, but hadn’t done Trump’s damage to democracy & peace institutions.

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Monica Marks @monicamarks.bsky.social · 6d

The Nobel committee also knows that President Trump is autocratising the US by assaulting checks & balances, that he’s launched extralegal ops against Venezuelan entities, that his war on illegal migrants is cruel, & that he’s harshly violated pro-🇵🇸 activists’ speech in the US.

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Monica Marks @monicamarks.bsky.social · 6d

The Nobel committee is not ignorant of the fact that Trump has waged an unprecedented full-front assault on multilateral institutions vital to peace-making now & in the future.

These include the UN, the ICJ & the ICC.

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