Alex Shams
@alexshams_
Writer, PhD of Anthropology from U of Chicago. Editor @ajammc. Based in CDMX; Previously, in Tehran and the West Bank. Bylines @latimes @nymag @chicagotribune
For my latest article, I interviewed six Iranians who were part of the Woman Life Freedom protests. We talked about how Iran has changed, how the movement's evolved, and what international solidarity got right (and what it got wrong). Full article here: nymag.com/intelligencer/…
"Sectarian tensions serve to break the potential for democratic spaces, or movements from below. Suweida is a target because for many years it has been (and continues to be) a symbol of popular resistance against the Assad regime." newarab.com/opinion/syria-…
"There is no case since WW2 of starvation that has been so minutely designed and controlled" Famine expert Alex de Waal on Israel deliberately starving an entire civilian population
Why the American School of Overseas Research might be legally liable for complicity w genocide as per @FranceskAlbs's new report Despite 2 years of genocide, ASOR continues to fund work in Israel. Take this seemingly innocent post 1/ 🧵
Gabbi Graber, a 2024 Stevan B. Dana Fieldwork Scholarship recipient, excavated at Tel Burna in the Shephelah hills of Israel. Drawing from personal reflections and field experience, read her exciting fieldwork report here: buff.ly/wOGxuIH
Go to Gaza @BernieSanders. Demand access to Israel’s killing fields. That’s what Senator Ted Kennedy did in 1971 — he went to the border of East Pakistan to expose the genocide in Bangladesh. The time for words is over. Go there. History will remember who showed up.
130 people were killed and more than 1,000 wounded in Gaza this weekend. People are starving. Many were shot by the Israeli military while simply trying to get food. This is completely insane and unacceptable. No more U.S. military aid to Israel.
University managers in the US are rushing forward to kowtow to to repressive government initiatives even before they are initiated. And all those free speech and cancel culture warriors are silent because here it is pro-Palestine speech that is being silenced.
Remember when Harvard tried to convince people they were the defenders of academic freedom against Trump's repression? “If universities are not willing to stand up for what is core to their mission, I don’t know what they’re doing. What’s the point?” theguardian.com/education/2025…
Very sophisticated spyware—comparable to Pegasus—has been found on Iranians' phones, including dissidents & tech workers. The culprit is unknown, but as with Stuxnet, once cyberweapons are unleashed, they don’t stay contained. They spread—and get used by whoever’s capable.
The attacks mark the first known example of such highly advanced cyber-espionage tools being used both inside Iran and against Iranians living abroad. It’s not clear who was behind the attacks. bloomberg.com/news/articles/…
Remember when Harvard tried to convince people they were the defenders of academic freedom against Trump's repression? “If universities are not willing to stand up for what is core to their mission, I don’t know what they’re doing. What’s the point?” theguardian.com/education/2025…
In the past month, NYT has published 32 articles that mention Mamdani/"globalize the intifada", 13 on Israel's fake "aid" agency that's killed 800+, 5 on Israel's starvation campaign & 2 that mention Gaza child amputees. I argue this is objectively insane columnblog.com/p/child-ampute…
Only congresswoman who seems to know about the ethnic cleansing of the Golan Heights.
The Israeli government's rogue bombing of Syria must end. The same occupying power that ethnically cleansed Syrian Druze from the Golan is no protector.
Biden’s Team Lied About Gaza. It’s Time to Hold Them Accountable. My piece in @ForeignPolicy foreignpolicy.com/2025/07/18/bid…
The Houthis register a major victory from their blockade of Israel to protest the Gaza genocide: "Israel's Eilat port will halt operations after failing to pay its debts following a steep drop in revenue caused by Houthi attacks in the Red Sea." middleeasteye.net/news/israel-ei…
There should be delegations carrying food and medicine entering Gaza every single day. If the Pope can force Netanyahu to let a delegation in with one phone call, he should be on the phone every day. People are being starved and slaughtered.
Greek Orthodox Patriarch Theophilos III of Jerusalem and All Palestine enters Gaza Friday July 18, 2025
So what now? Israel just gets to bomb regional capitals whenever it wants?
Imagine being this child Day and night for two years The absolute horror
You can see her cover her ears and start running as soon as she hears the sound of an incoming Israeli strike. Palestinian children have become so used to bombs falling from the sky because the world has normalized their slaughter.
"The Israeli military censor is preventing publication of Iranian missile impacts. 'It’s hard not to suspect that the real reason is propaganda and preserving public spirit. The truth is, we were also deterred,' said Israeli journalist Raviv Drucker." middleeasteye.net/news/israel-co…
After mismanaging the MTA for 10+ years as Governor, Andrew Cuomo would now like to mismanage it as Mayor.
.@andrewcuomo repeats that he would propose the city takes over the management of the MTA, which is run by the state. "The MTA is too big to be able to manage the transit authority, effectively, let the mayor, manage the New York City Transit Authority," he says.
Israel is unhinged They got away with it in Gaza, so then they did it in Beirut, Sanaa, Tehran, and Damascus No accountability breeds impunity and violence
There is no Iranian influence in Syria today. Yet, Israel just bombed Damascus. The new Syria, led by a frmr AlQaeda leader, has shamefully done everything to appease Israel. But only complete emasculation is acceptable to Israel. Such is the reality of Israeli hegemony.
Meanwhile, when I was applying to jobs at mainstream media outlets like the @nytimes (long before I knew better, forgive me) they’d routinely ask, explicitly, how I’d ensure that my biases as a Palestinian-American wouldn’t interfere with my ability to report objectively.
EXPOSED: A new dossier from @wawog_now reveals material and ideological ties between Israel and journalists, editors, and executives of The New York Times. Whether serving in the IOF or taking money from pro-Israel consultancies, the staff at the Times is compromised.