I will continue to add to this list as more ideas come to mind, but here’s what I have for now…
THE WINNERS
Palestinians – The world was reintroduced to Palestinians in the past year. A large part of the world is learning to see themselves in these people. There will be books and movies made about them. Their blood is not only filling Sectarian divisions in the Islamic world, but also a world divided by artificial nation states. In one way or another, we are all Palestinians.
Resistance – This includes people of all types—Muslims, Christians, Jewish people who are native to the region. If the steadfastness of the resistance wasn’t so strong and unrelenting, this battle would’ve been over a week after the Great Gaza Prison Break first occurred on October 7, 2024.
Independent Journalists – Ali Abunimah, Electronic Intifada, Sharmine Narwani, Max Blumenthal, Nora Barrows-Friedman, Aaron Maté, Michael Arria, Mondoweiss, Justin Podur, Middle East Eye, The New Arab, The Cradle, Sima Itayim, Jose Carillo, Marwa Osman, Rachel Blevins, Norman Finkelstein, Mouin Rabbani, Noura Erakat, Helena Cobban, and many, many, many more! It’s a thankless job being a resistance reporter because they are constantly getting banned, but having said that, getting banned is better than bombed!
Islam – After years of negative P.R. by mainstream media, I think it’s safe to say the image of Islam is changing for western audiences. This is either positive or negative, depending on your perspective. If you want to calculate the growth of Islam domestically, simply talk to a local Imam.
University students – Every race and creed of student deserves credit for once again refocusing the conversation. The students will never give up.
“Middle East” / West Asia – What was once known as the “Middle East” is being referred to as West Asia. This is a region that is making a lot of average Americans curious, but will they give up on resort-travel in exchange for “I want to learn more about these people”-type of travel? Too early to tell, sadly. I’m keeping my hopes high, expectations low.
Self-hating Jews, aka Anti-Zionists – Turns out these are the people practicing true Judaism. It will be a long and hard battle to remove portraits of Theodor Herzl and Israeli flags from from synagogues in the west, but young Jewish people are real fighters and they won’t give up. Major props to All Jewish Anti-Zionist groups out there—If Not Now, Jewish Voices for Peace, Jewdas, The American Council for Judaism and many others!
Anti-Zionists – Just like Joe Biden tells the world you don’t have to be Jewish to be Zionist, let it be known that you also don’t have to be Jewish to be Anti-Zionist! Moreover, you can be simultaneously Jewish and Anti-Zionist—believer it or not, but Jews were the first true Anti-Zionist movement after European Christian Zionists tried to convert them and then later decided to use them to clear Europe of Jews. It’s all very anti-semitic as you dig around for more information, but that shouldn’t be surprising. For those interested, Joseph Massad wrote an excellent piece that you should read for more information.
Christians and Jews living in occupied territories – Wait, what?! There are Christians in Gaza? Jewish people living in Israel who hate Zionism?! NO WAY! American Evangelicals need to be taken for a missionary tours through Gaza just so they can see how they’ve been duped back in their churches. As for the American Jews, sadly it will take more time…
Armed Resistance – Palestinian would’ve disappeared a long time ago if not for armed resistance. If people can stand their ground against threats to their family and community in Orlando, Florida, then why not in Occupied Palestine?
Telegram / TikTok (for the next few months) – There will be other ways to exchange information as basic constitutional rights are curtailed and current apps are shutdown and digital backdoors are created for law enforcement, but social media is forever a game changer when it comes to exposing state-sponsored injustice.
Green Party – “You’re going to throw away your vote?” No, I’m going to Vote Against A Genocide!
Size & weight of white supremacist masks covering the western world – Whether it is the United Nations, academia at large or every other aspect of government, it turns out that it will take more than 12 months to unmask the western world to reveal what hides underneath. The mask was created over hundreds of years, so it’s a pretty big one, to say the least…
THE LOSERS
Gaza Strip – In an ideal world, the occupying power would have some “moral clarity” (seriously beginning to hate this term), put down their arms and just go back to Moscow, Warsaw, London & Brooklyn or wherever else they came from—but that’s not how the antisemitic and white-supremacist imperialism works. They wanted to reveal their true character. The world needed to see that there are no red-lines when it comes to spending American tax payer funds. The destruction in Gaza and beyond will forever serve as a painful museum to showcase western inhumanity and injustice.
Journalists in Occupied Territories – 126 journalists killed (“123 Palestinian journalists and media workers and three Lebanese journalists” – Committee to Protect Journalists)
Israeli Citizens – Compare the state of Israeli citizens—those that still remain in Israel. Israel is probably the most dangerous place for Jewish people on the planet.
Photo and video libraries inside our phones – If you aren’t able to visit the museum referenced above, don’t worry because we’re carrying digitized bits and pieces of it inside our phones. If you’re ever feeling bad about losing that special job, your child getting cancer or your house burning down, make sure to do a scroll through downloaded social media photos after October 7, 2024. It will make you appreciate the life you have.
Israeli Military – Not only have they lost respect with their own citizens but everyone in the region now understands they are very weak. Their bases were taken over by guys riding on motorcycles and pickup trucks.
Mainstream Western Journalists, Columbia School of Journalism – I feel dirty and shameful thinking about this stuff…
The word “Terrorist” – Theirs & ours, depending on your perspective. Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah was murdered by not a sniper bullet to the head or a large bomb, but rather 164,000 pounds of American-made bunker buster bombs. Once this occurred, the media spotlight was instantly shined on the usage of the word “terrorist.” How can one person’s terrorist be another person’s father figure, political leader and mentor? People are scratching their heads.
Academic Institutions – There are no more universities in Gaza. Israel bombed them. All 12 of them. IDF soldiers burned everything—all the books, desks, lecture halls. Sometimes the Israeli soldiers even filmed TikTok videos of blowing up an entire university campus. The same IDF soldiers are now bombing all remaining grade schools in Gaza—yes, the ones inside which displaced people are taking refuge. For a part of the world that prides itself on knowledge and civilization, western-funded Israeli military is certainly doing a horrible job in showing it. As for American academic institutions, it turns out they are actually more like financial institutions that launder billions to an arms industry that strengthens an apartheid occupation of millions of people. Not only that, but these once-prized American institutions also stand by the side as their own tuition-paying students get beaten and arrested by local police while protesting a genocide.
Sectarianism – I read something interesting recently; to paraphrase, all the blood that is being spilled by the resistance is going into filling the colonial-inflicted wounds of sectarianism. Long story short, it was a bad year for creating divisions, but sadly, those people creating the divisions will never give up. All occupations feed on division of native populations.
Judaism – I personally blame a very anti-semetic west for wounding Judaism. All this time the world thought that the people in the west known for the holocaust, had suddenly cured themselves of their anti-Semitic twitch. Surprise, surprise. The religion has been co-opted by a militant group that is funded by one of the richest nations in the history of the world. All precious Judaic symbols of love have been stolen—stamped on the uniforms of soldiers, the sides of tanks and sprawling buildings of military and apartheid institutions used to kill and destroy another people.
Zionism – Sigh…
Evangelicals – Double sigh…
US Taxpayers – Will they ever learn? “US spent a record $17.9bn on military aid to Israel since last October 7.” (New Arab)
“The West” – Sigh…
Nation state – Turns out if you’re not white, European, or a nuclear power, you don’t really matter to the nation state project.
United Nations – Sigh…
“Western” institutions – Sigh…
Two party system – Americans are learning that two party system isn’t codified inside the constitutions. It can be different. It will be different.
Mainstream media – Sigh…
Friends who refuse to see the genocide – If you’ve spent the past 6 months trying to get the point across that a genocide isn’t a good thing, then it’s perfectly alright to not text back when there’s a dinner invite.
Powerlessness of people living in western democracies – That might be changing, but judging by the zombies attending Democratic / Republican National Conventions, it will be a slow change…
Western electronic devices – After the use of Motorolla pagers and walkie-talkies as terrorizing exploding devices, killed hundreds and maimed thousands of people in Lebanon, I will call peak devise sales for western manufacturers.
Faisaling.com 
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