![]() Perpetrators of violence are always portrayed as acting outside the boundaries of morality and violence itself is regularly dismissed as irrational or subject to reductive explanations: the assertion of the perpetrator’s lack of self-control, their dehumanisation (as they are usually an ‘other’), or ascribing to them sadistic psychological tendencies. We see the pattern continue: the moral dismissal of non-state perpetrators of violence – via the label ‘terrorist’ – with the Houthi rebels in Yemen and the Muslim Brotherhood (the latter, in particular, a localised and non-monolithic group which resists any easy categorisation). And we will continue to support Israel’s right to defend itself.’ ![]() So we are fully supportive of Israel’s right to defend itself from missiles landing on people’s homes and workplaces and potentially killing civilians. He declared a ‘battle between good and evil.’įormer US President Barack Obama also stated in November 2012 (about the Hamas missile strikes on Israel): ‘There’s no country on earth that would tolerate missiles raining down on its citizens from outside its borders. He then went ahead to equate ISIS (The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant) and Al-Qaeda with Hezbollah and Hamas, labelling all of these groups, despite their varied temporal and political contexts, under the umbrella term ‘terrorists’. In May 2017, US President Donald Trump spoke in Riyadh, where he called on Middle Eastern leaders to combat a crisis of ‘Islamic extremism’. In our attempts to understand violence in the Middle East, utilising the framework of queer international relations (IR) theory and Fanon’s theory of violence can be useful in placing these actors in their appropriate temporal contexts, instead of judging their actions (including violence) in isolation. ![]() By Muneerah Ab Razak In the mountains east of the Jordan River, a patrol from the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, early 1969. ![]()
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