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Hussain Abdul-Hussain

@hahussain

Nov 18

Some friends asked why I consider Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) to be Shia when its leadership insist that they are Sunni. My response is in this 🧵:
My argument: “Whereas Hamas is an ally of Islamist Iran, PIJ is Iran’s proxy. In contrast to the overwhelming Sunni majority among Palestinians, PIJ is mostly Shia, which hampers its ability to recruit. However, PIJ has emerged as Hamas’s junior partner. As Israel’s campaign to decimate Hamas nears its end, it makes sense that the Jewish state is now eradicating the smaller remaining Palestinian terrorist group.” — Hussain Abdul-Hussain, Research Fellow

fdd.org/analysis/2024/…

1/ Despite Iran’s enormous resources behind it, PIJ’s membership is barely 1,500, compared to its competitor and less-resourced Hamas at 25,000. The Palestinian Muslim population is almost 100 percent Sunni and antagonistic to Shia. Converts are socially shamed and even bullied. This has hampered PIJ’s recruitment. Even if PIJ claims to be Sunni, it should be seen like Syria’s Alawites and Yemen’s Zeydis, both non-Shia who are often as depicted as Shia because of their alliance with their Iran.

2/ PIJ founder Fathi Shiqaqi’s book argues that Khomeini and his brand of Islamism was “the solution” in Palestine (annihilation of Israel, creation of Islamist Palestine). Shiqaqi was not yet Iran’s guy, hence Tehran set up Hezbollah Palestine, which couldn’t recruit and withered away. Shiqaqai internalized the lesson: Never announced PIJ’s Shiism. Yet many PIJ leaders were openly Shia. In 2014, the Shia PIJ leaders defected and created Sabrin movement, under Hisham Salem. The logo was borrowed from Iran’s Pasdaran and Lebanon’s Hezbollah.

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Hussain Abdul-Hussain

@hahussain

Oct 2

1- #Lebanon oligarchs met today (pic, from Left: Sunni PM Makati, Shia Speaker Berri, Druze leader Jumblatt) understood that #Israel killing of Nasrallah has changed domestic balance substantially, are now congregating to boost state, fill the gap. This 🧵highlights 2 changes:

https://x.com/almodononline/status/1841501912190878175

2- The fist measurable change is that state/oligarchs, who until last week insisted Lebanon ceasefire with Israel could not be untied form a Gaza ceasefire, have since Nasrallah's death dropped Gaza condition and are seeking unconditional Lebanese ceasefire with Israel, promising to revive UN mechanism -- Resolution 1701 that never worked under Nasrallah -- for that purpose.

Leftover Hezbollah still insist that ceasefire be tied to Gaza, so now you can see the divergence between the Lebanese oligarchs/state with the Iran-backed militia.

The oligarchs/state cannot be taken for their word. They should be tested by first enforcing UN 1701: Ordering what's left of Hezbollah to surrender its arms to Lebanese Army, then Israel will agree to the 1949 Truce between the two sides.

https://x.com/almodononline/status/1841501912190878175

https://x.com/thisislebnews/status/1841504303879463106

2- Nasrallah was holding up election of Lebanon president and formation of new cabinet. Now that Nasrallah is gone, state/oligarchs said they plan to "elect a consensus president.

https://x.com/thisislebnews/status/1841504303879463106

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Hussain Abdul-Hussain

@hahussain

Jun 16

Saw a heated debate over the Kufiyya, with an Iraqi arguing this was her national heritage and Palestinians denying appropriation and calling her a Zionist sellout. Before the idea of Palestine was born as an independent Arab country in 1964, Palestinians never referred to themselves as Palestinians, but as Arabs of Palestine, perceiving of Palestine as another Arab province that should join the greater Arab nation. Hence, without a national character, it did not make sense to use a specific emblem or symbol (the Palestinian flag is the Hashemite 1916 Great Arab Revolt flag, Jordan uses an almost identical variation of it).
But if you don't believe me, look at the picture of Arabs of Palestine in 1919 demanding they join the Hashemite Arab kingdom of Faisal in Damascus. Show me a single Arab of Palestine wearing a Kufiyyah:

This is a similar conference held in Haifa in 1920. Banners in background read Palestine is Arab (they don't say sovereign or independent). Again, show me a single Arab of Palestine wearing a Kufiyyah:

This is yet another similar conference, held in Jerusalem in 1921. One more time, point out the Arab of Palestine wearing a Kufiyyah:

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Hussain Abdul-Hussain

@hahussain

Apr 26

Al-Jazeera, the mouthpiece of political Islam (Islamism), celebrates encampments and protests at U.S. college campuses as the beginning of a transformation in "American political culture."

Islamism has a goal far beyond Gaza: Undermining Western "political culture," especially liberty, equality, and to a much lesser extent democracy (as in election).

The paragraph below is from the book Caliphate, authored by the father of Islamism, Lebanese Rashid Rida (d. 1935), in which he argued that an Islamist government should be free of Western laws and tradition, i.e. "political culture."

In the graph below, from the book Why We Hate the Jews, authored by top Islamist militant agitator Sayyid Qutb (d. 1966), the Egyptian firebrand argues that a Muslim Umma (nation) has special characteristics (political culture) that forbid it from integrating with other nations that do not endorse the Muslim social code and Islamic ideology.

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Hussain Abdul-Hussain

@hahussain

Apr 23

I was once a student at the American University of Beirut (@AUB_Lebanon), and I was fascinated by pro-Palestine activists who had been in my shoes decades earlier. I read every word in the university archives, learnt the history, and was determined on mimicking it. I helped revive the student publication after a 22-year hiatus (forced to shut down by #Lebanon civil war), and I became its editor-in-chief for four years. I ran for election and served on student government twice, was one of the most active student organizers on campus. I had a feeling that Palestine was the victim, totally in the right, and everybody else -- #Israel, US, the establishment, my parents -- were in the wrong.

My obsession saw me chase the activists that I idolized, and I managed to sit with many of them (they were my parents age by then, the age of the grandparents of today's college students). To my dismay, most of them had changed and moved on, or, as one of them put it to me, "we matured." I too matured, eventually, but only after realizing -- through personal experience -- that Palestine does not exist, not because of Israelis, but because of Palestinians.

Below is a quick story about the tumultuous AUB events in the 1970s:

In 1971, the AUB student Council held a sit in that was coupled with a coup-like student takeover of university buildings. Headed by Economics MA student Maher Masri, the council even appointed a student as a Dean of Arts and Sciences. The students demanded that AUB walk back a tuition increase, but also to have a say in all university affairs, including budget and received US aid. Some students proposed to change the name of the university to take out the word American, given America's support of Israel and all the other abominations that evil America had presumably committed.
AUB canceled the school year in 1971. Below, you see a picture of the campus's main gate, with a sit in, and "unfinished year." Students could not graduate or finish their degrees that year. The other picture captures student "siege" of faculty and administration, and the female students preparing food for the male students holding the siege.

Before the 1971 student takeover of AUB, students had joined a conference that saw the participation of a list of "revolutionary student organizations" from around the world. Solidarity against White Man, America, colonialism was at its peak.
So much global solidarity that a year later, terrorists from the Japanese Red Army landed in the Ben-Gurion Airport and opened fire from their rifles, killing 26 civilians, 17 of them Christian pilgrims from Puerto Rico. In Beirut, I met the main perpetrator Kozo Okamoto and a family member of the army's founder.

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Hussain Abdul-Hussain

@hahussain

Jan 3, 2023

I hesitated before stepping into this minefield.
THREAD
1/ Reaction focused on 2 points: Extremism associated with Ben Gvir and possible change in status quo (can cause war). Additionally, many Arabs were angry over Jewish access to what they believe is Muslim religious compound.

2/ Extremism or not of Ben Gvir is not the issue. Arabs get angry at all Jews — deemed extremist or moderate — who walk through this compound, call these walks “storming” of compound, describe Jews as “settlers.”

3/ Change of status quo means permanent demolition/building of structures in this disputed area. It does not include access of non-Muslims. Questions thus becomes: Why are non-Muslims not allowed access into the compound?

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