Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Dana El Kurd

@danaelkurd.bsky.social

30K followers 1.8K following 3.1K posts

Associate Professor of Political Science • Author: Polarized & Demobilized, Legacies of Authoritarianism in Palestine • ماسكة السلم بالعرض • Profile by Molly Crabapple • Header my grandfather's publications danaelkurd.com to contact

Posts Media Videos Starter Packs

Pinned

Dana El Kurd @danaelkurd.bsky.social · Nov 14

Wow so many new people following. Maybe I need a real intro:

Hi I'm from Jerusalem & work on Palestine, authoritarianism, and US intervention in the Arab world. I'm a professor and a senior nonresident fellow at the Arab Center Washington.

I'll link a few essays, podcasts, & presentations below

29 110 860

Dana El Kurd @danaelkurd.bsky.social · 4h

Daniel Kurtzer was booed out of the American University of Cairo after a 3 hour sit in by student organizations 😬😬😬😬
And the chants were pretty straightforward for today's Egypt!

3 17

Reposted by Dana El Kurd

Chris Geidner @chrisgeidner.bsky.social · 13h

Here is the students' @idsnews.bsky.social report out of Indiana University, where the student media director was fired today. www.idsnews.com/article/2025...

LETTER FROM THE EDITORS: IU fires student media director after he refused to censor the IDS

Indiana University directed the IDS to stop printing news.

www.idsnews.com

16 180 330

Dana El Kurd @danaelkurd.bsky.social · 1d

@lizar_tistry on Instagram did an info graphic of one of my podcast episodes for @coolzonemedia.bsky.social

16 28

Reposted by Dana El Kurd

Chanda Prescod-Weinstein 🌌 @chanda.blacksky.app · 1d

“Cease” fire

www.aljazeera.com/news/liveblo...

Five Palestinians killed by Israeli forces in Gaza despite ceasefire

Israeli army confirmed it opened fire, saying a group had approached its soldiers before being targeted.

www.aljazeera.com

9 200 350

Dana El Kurd @danaelkurd.bsky.social · 1d

My piece for The Conversation was published again in French

theconversation.com/tony-blair-e...

Tony Blair est-il l’homme de la situation pour Gaza ?

L’ancien premier ministre britannique Tony Blair sera chargé de superviser l’Autorité internationale de transition pour Gaza prévue par le plan Trump.

theconversation.com

1 14

Reposted by Dana El Kurd

Robert Kelchen @robertkelchen.com · 1d

After getting zero firm commitments to this point from the first nine invitees, the Trump administration is extending its proposed compact to all colleges. Expect some red-state publics to say yes.

Trump Offers All Colleges Preferential Funding Plan Rejected by MIT

The Trump administration is inviting all US colleges to participate in a compact — initially rejected by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology — that would grant preferential federal funding in re...

www.bloomberg.com

27 170 400

Reposted by Dana El Kurd

The Nexus Project @nexusproject.bsky.social · 2d

The Trump administration is suggesting that Jewish groups critical of its foreign policy vis a vis Israel are engaging in terrorism.

This is appalling politicization of the term and gross executive overreach.

Trump’s war on the left: Inside the plan to investigate liberal groups

The threatened crackdown is a multi-agency effort with Stephen Miller playing a central role.

www.reuters.com

2 42 89

Reposted by Dana El Kurd

Prem Thakker ツ @premthakker.bsky.social · 1d

Update: After Bari Weiss was made Editor-in-Chief, CBS News is now uplifting stories from Weiss’s The Free Press.

21 65 300

Dana El Kurd @danaelkurd.bsky.social · 1d

Arab dictatorships spreading the good word all over the globe

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 2d

Trump on Egypt: "They have very little crime. Because they don't play games. That's why. Like we do in the United States with governors that have no idea what they're doing."

7 32

Reposted by Dana El Kurd

Mark Jacob @markjacob.bsky.social · 2d

Trump, speaking in the Israeli parliament, boasts about the weapons the U.S. has provided and says "you obviously used them very well."
An estimated 20,000 children have died in the war in Gaza.

93 720 1.6K

Reposted by Dana El Kurd

Nathan Kalman-Lamb @nkalamb.bsky.social · 2d

“I swear to God, they didn’t feed us. They beat us while we were naked day and night.

Until our last day, they cut us and hit us and abused us. We endured every kind of torture, emotional and physical.

We couldn’t even sleep. They told me they killed my children.”

- released Palestinian prisoner

Palestinian prisoner Shadi Abu Seed has given a harrowing account of life inside an Israeli prison after his release as part of the ceasefire deal.

“I went hungry for the past two years. I swear to God, they didn’t feed us. They kept us naked. They beat us while we were naked day and night. We were tortured,” Abu Seed said.

“Until our last day in Israeli prison, they cut us and hit us and abused us. We endured every kind of torture, emotional and physical.

“We couldn’t even sleep. They threatened us with our children. They told me they killed my children. They told us that Gaza was destroyed. I arrived here and found that everything was gone. It looked like the end of the world. Everything is different.”

5 400 660

Reposted by Dana El Kurd

Rida Abu Rass @aburass.bsky.social · 2d

Israeli forces detained 14 Palestinians in the West Bank town of Deir Istiya early this morning, the day of the Israel-Hamas hostage-detainee swap.

1 27 31

Reposted by Dana El Kurd

Dalia Dassa Kaye @dassakaye.bsky.social · 2d

Hard not to see Trump’s continued embrace of Netanyahu as a political boost that likely outweighed his reservations about the deal, especially if he doesn’t think a serious peace process with the Palestinians will go anywhere.

The Jerusalem Post @thejerusalempost.bsky.social · 2d

US President Donald Trump, during his Monday address to the Knesset in Jerusalem, called on President Isaac Herzog to issue Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu a pardon, resulting in widespread applause and chants of "Bibi" throughout the Knesset plenum.

www.jpost.com/israel-news/...

Trump calls on Herzog to pardon PM Netanyahu during Knesset speech

"Cigars and champagne, who the hell cares about that?" the US leader added. "Alright, enough controversy for the day, I don't think it's that controversial."

www.jpost.com

1 4 24

Dana El Kurd @danaelkurd.bsky.social · 2d

Expert on ceasefire agreements writes on the threat of a strangle contract in Gaza

theconversation.com/the-gaza-cea...

The Gaza ceasefire deal could be a ‘strangle contract’, with Israel holding all the cards

These types of ceasefires are highly coercive agreements that enable the more powerful party to force the weaker party to agree to whatever they want.

theconversation.com

15 35

Dana El Kurd @danaelkurd.bsky.social · 2d

Gave an interview to Lindro, an Italian outlet

www.lindro.eu/2025/10/13/g...

Gaza: Tony Blair, un lobbista dalla memoria corta come ‘governatore’? - L’Indro - Analisi e approfondimenti di geopolitica, geoeconomia, politica estera e internazionale

Cosa c’è dietro al coinvolgimento dell’ex Premier britannico, Tony Blair, nel piano di Trump una tregua a Gaza tra Israele e Hamas?

www.lindro.eu

1 5

Reposted by Dana El Kurd

Diana B. Greenwald @dbgreenwald.bsky.social · 2d

Israel raided prisoner family homes across five districts in the West Bank. www.middleeasteye.net/news/west-ba...

Israel raids homes of West Bank prisoners set to be released in deal

Families of captive Palestinians threatened not to celebrate release of family members following ceasefire deal

www.middleeasteye.net

7 130 190

Dana El Kurd @danaelkurd.bsky.social · 3d

"...there is a deadlock of imagination in the global north, and a deadlock in the possibility of action in the global south.”

www.theguardian.com/world/2025/o...

‘I deserve to heal’: freed British-Egyptian activist Alaa Abd el-Fattah on his prison ordeal and next steps

The campaigner, who spent more than a decade in an Egyptian ‘vortex of incarceration’, wants to join his son in the UK while he reflects on the fight for freedom

www.theguardian.com

10 33

Reposted by Dana El Kurd

Brendel @brendelbored.bsky.social · 4d

I like how the news will be like “while the President claiming Portland was ruled by a giant skeleton named Mr Nibbles is not strictly true, it does speak to the anxiety of many Americans”

140 2.4K 12K

Dana El Kurd @danaelkurd.bsky.social · 4d

American universities have lost the plot

Miriam Posner @miriamposner.com · 4d

Found this just incredibly depressing, more than anything.

An easel sign reads, “UCLA
ATTENTION
No events are permitted in this area today. Per Policy 852, this location is NOT designated for public expression activities.
Individuals participating in an event or a public expression activity in this area are subject to discipline and/or arrest.
Scan for policy information.”

3 14 100

Reposted by Dana El Kurd

Wesley Morgan @wesleymorgan.bsky.social · 4d

Today's ceasefire withdrawal leaves the IDF in control of a large proportion of Gaza's former urban areas (outlined in white)—all of Rafah; most of Khan Younis; Beit Hanoun; and Gaza City's Shejaiya neighborhood.

Areas where we know nearly all buildings have been demolished are shaded black.

1 24 31

Dana El Kurd @danaelkurd.bsky.social · 4d

He was assistant TO the professor

a man in a suit and tie is touching his face .

ALT: a man in a suit and tie is touching his face .

media.tenor.com

Dana El Kurd @danaelkurd.bsky.social · 4d

I received a hate email from a doctor in south Carolina who claims an academic affiliation with McGill University, seemingly because he studied there 20 years ago. He signed his letter "assistant professor (ret.)"

4 1 24

Dana El Kurd @danaelkurd.bsky.social · 4d

Hi everyone this is a joke.

Dana El Kurd @danaelkurd.bsky.social · 4d

Maybe it'll be different this time

1 1

Dana El Kurd @danaelkurd.bsky.social · 4d

Listen I am a free thinker

1 2