Hammam Farah

Israel just killed another mother and daughter from our Christian community in Gaza. Maysa and Mary Abu Dawoud had been sheltering at the Holy Family Catholic Church, but returned to their apartment when it was struck, killing them both, along with three others.

My great aunt, Elham Farah, a Palestinian Christian and Gaza’s first modern-day music teacher, was shot by Israeli soldiers and run over by a tank. Here I recount what happened, based on accounts from those who witnessed her final moments. May the perpetrators face justice.

I have family members who are Protestant. There’s a tiny Baptist church in Gaza where I attended service once. Israeli forces struck the church the day after Christmas 2023.

Walid Khalidi’s scholarship documented the Palestinian villages destroyed in 1948 and preserved an irreplaceable record of the Nakba. I once held his book “All That Remains” while lecturing on the timeline. It remains one of the most important records of our historical trauma.

As a Palestinian Christian, watching @tuckercarlson press Mike Huckabee was shocking. It wasn’t what was said, but what wasn’t said that made it so powerful. Like a man-child who never grew out of Sunday school, Huckabee struggled to force reality to fit his extremist worldview.

On the @TuckerCarlson show, our family friend Fares Abraham recounts the story of my great aunt, Elham Farah, a Palestinian Christian from Gaza. A gentle but important correction: she was still alive when the Israeli tank ran her over. Her story is not separate from the story of Gaza’s Christians. It is part of the lived reality of a small, historic community that has endured the same horrific violence, displacement, and loss as the rest of Gaza. I founded the Elham Fund in her name to provide direct cash support to Gazan families living under siege and displacement. If her story moves you, please donate to support families on the ground: elhamfund.ca

Abdallah Abdelmenaem was only 15. A member of our community. A gifted soccer player, a kind soul, the eldest sibling, and a pillar for his family during the genocide. After 20 months of confinement, he stepped out for a moment of peace on Gaza’s beach. Israeli snipers shot him as he live streamed on social media. He bled for hours at Shifa hospital—paralyzed, whispering dreams of walking again, of playing soccer. His mother ran on foot across Gaza to reach him. Doctors fought to save him with what little they had left. But Gaza is now an extermination camp—cut off from care, food, medicine, and the chance to live. Abdallah died Saturday morning. He could have survived—if the world had let Gaza breathe. Remember his name. Share his story.

🚨 BREAKING: Israeli forces struck the Holy Family Catholic Church in Gaza this morning. Multiple injuries reported, including the Parish Priest, Fr. Gabriel Romanelli. The church sustained heavy damage. One of Gaza’s last sanctuaries lies damaged again. Nowhere is safe.

Gaza’s iconic music teacher, my aunt Elham Farah. Run over alive by an Israeli tank on November 13, 2023.

Pope Francis called the Palestinian families sheltering in Gaza’s Holy Family Church every day. He stood up for them and called it “terrorism” when Israeli snipers executed Nahida and Samar Anton, and when the convent of the Sisters of Mother Teresa was bombed. His death at this time is devastating—but also deeply personal for us. I’m checking on the community and thinking about their morale, their strength and their grief today.

I can’t wait to speak with Gabor Maté about Gaza and the role of therapists in confronting Israel’s genocide and ethnic cleansing. The event is full, but join the waitlist to get the recording. eventbrite.ca/e/difficult-co…

Finding out today that my great aunt Elham was indeed still alive when she was run over by an Israeli tank. They crushed her to silence her screams. But they will never silence her music nor her legacy. May the perpetrators be found and punished for this crime.

The Israeli army is now cleansing the north of Gaza after declaring the entire area as a closed military zone. The need is more urgent than ever. Give now at elhamfund.ca

Solidarity with you, Rania. You never relented back in 2015, and still going strong in 2024.

Eighteen-year-old Lara Sayegh died today. She left the Holy Family Church with her mother to make the dangerous trek to the south. They passed an Israeli army checkpoint — through the infamous Netzarim corridor — with tanks on either side. No ambulances or medics are allowed through what civilians are calling the “trail of death”. Those who turn around are shot, and those who drop an item and bend down to pick it up are shot. Lara collapsed. In the 42 degree celsius temperature, Lara suffered a heat stroke. She was left to die. Her mother is now in a coma due to shock. Lara, who is the sister of political analyst @KhalilJeries, lost her father in December inside the church due to the lack of medical care. Now she joins him in the afterlife. ✝️ “The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord.”