Ahmed Fouad Alkhatib

Writer, think tank fellow, activist.

Who is Ahmed Fouad Alkhatib?

Whether through his pen or by direct action, Ahmed Fouad Alkhatib’s activism has seen him spend his life campaigning for the people of Gaza. In 2015, he founded the non-profit Project Unified Assistance, through which his team has worked to establish a humanitarian airport in the Gaza Strip. His work has been published in The Atlantic, The Jewish Chronicle, The Times Of Israel, Haaretz, and Newsweek, and he acts as Resident Senior Fellow at the think tank The Atlantic Council.

So why did we invite him on?

Ahmed’s story is a fascinating one. Born and raised in Gaza, he witnessed significant violence in his early life, including a traumatic airstrike during his youth that killed his friends, spurring his desire to leave Gaza and seek a different future.

On paper, he is a prime candidate for the radicalisation so often threatened by mainstream media. And yet, he isn’t. That’s what we wanted to explore.

What did he have to say?

Ahmed has personal reasons to be embittered by the conflict – in our interview, he reveals he has lost 32 family members in 3 separate airstrikes. But despite everything, he speaks openly about his hope for peace and reconciliation.

Describing himself as “pro-Palestine, anti-Hamas, anti-occupation”, Ahmed offers a nuanced perspective that extends an offer of forgiveness to both sides. To some, ‘pro-Palestine’ is a blue-fringed dog whistle for ‘pro-Hamas’. Ahmed explains why that isn’t true, not even in Gaza.

During our discussion, Ahmed was keen to correct the widespread belief that Hamas enjoys total, unyielding support from their subjects. In reality, as their martyrdom tactics are becoming more widely understood, the pro-Hamas sentiment in Gaza is vanishing.

“[Their support] is absolutely in the toilet … if you’re standing in a dirty, disgusting line to use a bathroom, if your kid has a cold and you can’t get him a painkiller, if you’re having to pay a thousand dollars for a pack of cigarettes … if you’ve been displaced, you’re really not going to sit there and say ‘Wow, Hamas is great, they really had a strategy.”

But what about the commentators? The Ta-Nehisi Coates of the world. Those with no skin in the game. Ahmed doesn’t mince words: