Within the first 100 days of its war on Gaza, the Israeli military systematically destroyed every single university on the strip. International human rights monitors have found significant evidence that Palestinian scholars and intellectual figures have been targeted by Israeli strikes. The Israeli military has decimated Gaza’s education system and its infrastructure. This week on Deconstructed, Natasha Lennard, a columnist for The Intercept, fills in for Ryan Grim and speaks with Dr. Ahmed Alhussaina, the vice president of Israa University, one of Gaza’s most celebrated institutions of higher education and research. At the start of the war, Israel turned the university into military barracks, and later destroyed it in a massive, controlled explosion. In mid-November, Alhussaina fled Gaza; he has been able to escape to Egypt with his direct family members. Israel’s current war has killed 102 of his relatives. Alhussaina told Lennard about academic life in Gaza before October 7, the unending terror and desperation for Palestinians since the war began, and his hopes for the future of Palestinian intellectual life.
Transcript coming soon.
Contact the author:
Latest Stories
Israel’s War on Gaza
Meta Considering Increased Censorship of the Word “Zionist”
“I think it may actually harm the fight against antisemitism,” said the head of a Palestinian digital rights group briefed on the potential change.
Israel’s War on Gaza
A Palestinian Aid Worker Describes a Harrowing 18-Day Siege Inside a Gaza Hospital
Israeli forces have surrounded Al-Amal Hospital in Khan Yunis for more than two weeks, deepening an already dire humanitarian crisis.
Israel’s War on Gaza
Prosecutors Drop Charges Against Northwestern Students for Pro-Palestine School Paper Parody
The parent company of the Daily Northwestern backed down after days of backlash and promises to boycott from students, faculty, and alumni.