Gaza Poet, Writer, Refaat Alareer Killed In Targeted Strike With 6 Family Members; Had Angered Bari Weiss, Max Blumenthal Accuses Weiss Of "Inspiring" Death Threats And IDF Targeting

"…they knew precisely the school where he was located.."

Beloved Palestinian writer, poet, and teacher Refaat Alareer, founder of the Gaza based organization “We Are Not Numbers,” has been killed in an Israeli airstrike along with six members of his family. He was known for his lifelong devotion to encouraging story telling and writing, including the book Gaza Writes Back, featuring writing from young Palestinians.

According to the Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor, Alareer had gotten direct death threats from an Israeli officer, knew he was a target, and had re-located to his sister’s home, and killed there by a surgical strike.

Max Blumenthal wrote a blistering account, here:

And here is his tribute to Akareer, published in The Grayzone.

[As for mockery, (see Blumenthal’s Tweet,) there have been waves of Tik Tok trends with Israelis, including children, grotesquely mocking Palestinians, so let’s BE FAIR.]

There had been many calls for Alareer’s death, according to his friend and one time student, interviewed here, and the BBC, in its headline about his murder, icily called him “controversial.”

In his last interview, he spoke very openly about the near certainty of being killed. “There is no way out,” he said.

This was Alareer’s most well known poem, “If I Must Die:”

And here is a TED talk he gave about story telling, and family.

Voices of Gaza’s children.

One country voted against a ceasefire in Gaza.