Democracy for the Arab World Now - DAWN

10/21/2026

“Three years into Israel's ongoing genocide in Gaza, the housing crisis is expanding beyond the homes that Israel destroyed. For those of us here, the remaining buildings and the severe damage they have suffered represent both a brutal memory and a present danger. The Sept. 16 collapse of the Al Saada Building in Gaza City represents the latest expression of that danger,” Hassan Herzallah writes from Gaza.

“The six-floor building collapsed after sustaining severe damage earlier in the war. Displaced families had been living inside and around the building, simply hoping to find some shelter. The collapse killed 21 of them,” Herzallah explained.

“Over 2,000 buildings and residential units remain at risk of collapse. Walls once meant to protect are today another source of fear and danger,” Hassan Herzallah continued.

“As the last few years have shown, rain and strong winds expose the fragility of both damaged buildings and temporary shelters. Displaced Palestinians, meanwhile, must continue to search for safety. Under the current conditions, they have little choice. This reality is a daily focus for those of us in the Strip.”

Years of bombardment and repeated displacement have forced hundreds of thousands of Palestinians to move and seek shelter elsewhere, often multiple times. With Israel controlling large areas of the Strip and the space available for people in Gaza increasingly limited, many families have found themse...

10/21/2026

“We’re gathering at a time of unprecedented brutality and murder, with the blanket killing of journalists at a rate never before seen in our lifetimes—or indeed, in the generations that have come before us. Over 260 journalists and media workers killed by Israel. Nearly all of them in Palestine. But also in Lebanon, in Yemen, and elsewhere,” said Sharif Abdel Kouddous of Drop Site News, speaking at DAWN’s 2026 Annual Gala & Awards Dinner.

Sharif Abdel Kouddous detailed the targeting of journalists in the region, as he introduced Ahmed Shihab-Eldin, who was presented with DAWN’s 2026 Jamal Khashoggi Defender of Justice Award, for his courageous journalism and commitment to speaking truth despite the personal consequences.

“We got here not only because Israel has not been held accountable by its backers in the U.S. and Europe, who continue to fund, arm, enable, and support Israel, but also because Western media outlets have largely abandoned their journalist colleagues in Palestine. For the most part, the coverage in the U.S. and Europe of Israel’s killing of Palestinian journalists has been at its best tepid, and at its worst complicit,” Abdel Kouddous continued.

“Amid the killing fields, we have witnessed the single most heroic act of journalism in our lifetimes. I’m speaking of those very Palestinian journalists in Gaza, who despite their press vests being turned from a shield into a bull’s eye, have continued to cover the genocide of their people, have continued to investigate, and to tell stories, and to bear witness."

"They continue to inspire us in their bravery and in their struggle for liberation, because the fight for freedom in Palestine is a fight for the freedom of us all.”

10/21/2026

“When the United States and Israel launched surprise airstrikes on Iran in February, one of the most unexpected reactions came from the European Union. Despite its track record of opposing unilateral military campaigns and espousing peace, the bloc of 27 nations refused to denounce the war of aggression against a United Nations member state, which many legal experts warn violated the U.N. Charter. That indecision has called Europe’s moral authority into question during a moment of global unease,” writes Kourosh Ziabari.

“Members of the European Parliament have lamented the EU's inability to coordinate a cohesive response to the unauthorized military campaign against Iran, pointing to the bloc's role in the gradual collapse of international law," Ziabari says.

“While Members of the European Parliament and some individual leaders have called for the rule of law to be respected, European institutions have failed to stand up for human rights collectively at this time of urgency. The result is a world haunted by unnecessary conflicts, with the assault on Iran at the epicenter.”

Read more from Ziabari on the European Union's failure to act to oppose the war on Iran: https://dawnmena.org/the-e-u-abdicated-its-moral-responsibility-by-failing-to-oppose-war-on-iran/

10/20/2026

“The bombs falling in Gaza are being guided by code written in California. This isn’t a war; it’s a joint venture of genocide.”

At DAWN’s 2026 Annual Gala & Awards Dinner in Washington, D.C., we honored Ahmed Shihab-Eldin, an Emmy-nominated journalist, presenting him with the 2026 Jamal Khashoggi Defender of Justice Award, for his courageous journalism, outspoken defense of Palestinian rights, and commitment to speaking truth despite the personal consequences.

Throughout his career, Ahmed has challenged mainstream media's failures, exposing how political and corporate interests can shape coverage and silence uncomfortable truths. For him, journalism is not simply about reporting facts, but about using stories to illuminate the human condition and, in his words, “to move society forward.”

His reporting and advocacy have been uncompromising, including on Palestine. “Language matters,” he reminds us, challenging the unequal ways Palestinian and Israeli lives are portrayed in the media. He insists that genuine peace requires equality, accountability, Palestinian self-determination, and an end to occupation.

In March 2026, Ahmed was arrested in Kuwait, where he was visiting family, after sharing a news clip about events there. His 52-day detention and Kuwait’s revocation of his citizenship underscore the personal cost journalists can face for exercising their right to speak freely.

Yet his message remains one of courage, solidarity, and hope: “Do not underestimate the power of connecting with other human beings and drawing strength from there,” he says. “Because that is how change happens historically: political change, social change for any community.”

Watch this video tribute honoring Ahmed’s courage, principled journalism, and unwavering commitment to justice.

We’ll continue sharing more highlights from DAWN’s gala soon. Stay tuned.

10/19/2026

“Eight years ago Jamal Khashoggi walked into the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul to obtain a routine piece of paperwork ... A Saudi hit team killed, and with a bonesaw, dismembered his body. But, while the Saudi regime killed Jamal Khashoggi, they did not silence him. His legacy lives on, not only in DAWN, but in each and every one of you that eight years later have come together to honor his legacy and to recommit to the fight to push the envelope for human rights in the Middle East region," said Omar Shakir, DAWN’s executive director.

Shakir was speaking at DAWN's 2026 Annual Gala & Awards Dinner in Washington, D.C., held days after the eight anniversary of the October 2, 2018 murder of DAWN’s founder Jamal Khashoggi by agents of Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman inside the Istanbul consulate.

At the D.C. event, DAWN presented our 2026 Jamal Khashoggi Defender of Justice Awards to Dr. Tanya Haj-Hassan, a pediatrician who has treated and advocated for hundreds of children in Gaza, Sudan, and around the world, and Ahmed Shihab-Eldin, an Emmy-nominated journalist who was wrongfully detained and stripped of his Kuwaiti citizenship for his reporting.

10/16/2026

"This award, this honor, belongs to my pediatric colleagues in Palestine. Colleagues who embody a profound commitment to protecting life in the face of a concerted effort to destroy it,” said Dr. Tanya Haj-Hassan, speaking at DAWN’s 2026 Annual Gala & Awards Dinner in Washington, D.C., after being presented with our 2026 Jamal Khashoggi Defender of Justice Award.

A pediatric intensive care physician, Dr. Haj-Hassan has worked in Gaza’s overwhelmed hospitals, struggling, alongside Palestinian medical teams from Gaza, to save the lives of children wounded in Israeli attacks.

“Our profession asks more of us than clinical competence. It asks us to recognize the humanity of the person in front of us. To defend it when it is denied. And to refuse to become accustomed to the suffering of others. Our Palestinian colleagues embody just that. They school the rest of us. in what it means to practice medicine. They continue to practice despite circumstances designed to make practicing medicine impossible,” Haj-Hassan said.

“I accept this award with gratitude, but also with the knowledge that the people who most deserve our recognition are still working in hospitals under bombardment. Are still treating children while hungry themselves. Are still mourning their own families. Are still, in some cases, unlawfully detained.

“The spirit of this award belongs to them. And for the rest of us, it's a reminder that we have a long, long road of work ahead of us,” Dr. Tanya Haj-Hassan concluded.

Stay tuned as we continue sharing highlights from DAWN’s 2026 gala over the coming days.

10/16/2026

“Palestinians learn early that violence committed against them by Israel and its allies comes in many forms. Much of it is deadly, as the past three years of ongoing genocide in Gaza have shown. Another type of violence is administrative, arriving quietly, as a designation or line in a ledger, while outlasting the bombs that make the headlines. For Palestinians in Gaza, administrative violence may prove to be the most catastrophic in the coming years: The Board of Peace (BoP) is threatening Gaza's land registry by perfecting the architecture the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) formerly implemented in Iraq,” writes Dorghan Abusalim.

“Led by former George W. Bush administration senior official Paul Bremer, the CPA came to embody America's failed interventionist and reconstruction efforts. At the heart of that failure was the CPA's architecture, anchored by three key instruments: immunity outside Iraqi courts, weak legislative oversight and sovereign functions transferred to private hands. This architecture is being rebuilt within and by the BoP in Gaza, and where land is concerned, the Board is going further,” Abusalim says.

“Land titles would be registered on a blockchain. In this digital ledger, entries can be made but not edited once added to the system. Private land deeds and records, alongside the land the BoP defines as ‘public,’ would go into a Land Trust, be registered into the digital ledger, get tokenized and be open for investment and trading on secondary digital markets. In effect, a family's deed would become a tradable share, like swapping a house for stock in a real estate fund that strangers can buy and sell,” Dorgham Abusalim writes.

Read more about why Abusalim says, “No, I do not want a blockchain entry standing in for the deed my father and grandfather held before him and, no, I do not want the BoP anywhere near my title, land or property.”:

Palestinians learn early that violence committed against them by Israel and its allies comes in many forms. Much of it is deadly, as the past three years of ongoing genocide in Gaza have shown. Another type of violence is administrative, arriving quietly, as a designation or line in a ledger, while....

10/15/2026

“Rather than separating external security threats from domestic political dissent, Bahrain, Kuwait and the UAE have increasingly blurred the two to tighten the screws holding their repressive systems together through the false narrative of insidious intent within their Shia populations," writes Simon Mabon.

"As the war continues, the distinction between legitimate security concerns and the collective suspicion of Shia citizens is again becoming increasingly blurred, reflecting a long history," Mabon says.

"Gulf leaders have continued to use citizenship revocation as a mechanism of control. .. Beyond citizenship revocation, the war has also worsened widespread restrictions on freedom of expression and civil society," Mabon says.

Read more from Simon Mabon about Gulf states’ increased sectarian repression targeting their Shia populations: https://dawnmena.org/how-the-war-with-iran-is-fueling-a-new-wave-of-sectarian-repression-in-the-gulf/

10/15/2026

“Leading up to this year's annual United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) meetings in New York City in September, the United States withheld Sudanese army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan's visa. The United Arab Emirates' delegation, meanwhile, attended without issue, despite its leading role in fueling Sudan's civil war. The development represents a repeated failure of the global order: one willing to perform leverage over a dictator's travel plans while leaving untouched a wealthy state with influence that actively keeps the war profitable at the expense of Sudanese lives,” writes Ahmed Ismat.

“Burhan has been Sudan's de facto leader since 2019, and his Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) has been in active conflict against General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo's ("Hemedti") paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) since April 2023.”

“The UAE has the most direct role in the war, bankrolling the RSF. It is the buyer of last resort for Sudan's gold and is a logistics hub for the weapons and fighters moving into Darfur in support of the RSF,” Ismat says.

Leading up to this year's annual United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) meetings in New York City in September, the United States withheld Sudanese army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan's visa. The United Arab Emirates’ delegation, meanwhile, attended without issue, despite its leading role in fueling...

10/14/2026

“As Saudi Arabia pushes to rally domestic and regional support for its war against the Houthi Movement, also known as Ansar Allah, in Yemen, the kingdom has increasingly relied upon religious messaging that often veers into sectarian rhetoric. It increasingly emphasizes its military intervention in Yemen as an effort to protect the Muslim holy sites in Mecca and Medina from alleged Houthi attacks, portraying the Yemeni group as an enemy of Islam. In doing so, Riyadh fans the flames of further conflict in a region already beset by violence,” writes Ali Harb.

“This kind of religious rhetoric risks inflaming sectarian sentiment that has been one of the driving forces for violence in recent decades, killing thousands of people across the region. At a particularly fraught moment for the region, the use of old tropes surrounding Islam's various sects will only animate that violence further,” Harb says.

Read more from Ali Harb on Saudi leaders' use of sectarian rhetoric targeting the Houthis:

As Saudi Arabia pushes to rally domestic and regional support for its war against the Houthi Movement, also known as Ansar Allah, in Yemen, the kingdom has increasingly relied upon religious messaging that often veers into sectarian rhetoric. It increasingly emphasizes its military intervention in Y...