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Perfect Victims

And the Politics of Appeal

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Perfect Victims

By: Mohammed El-Kurd
Narrated by: Mohammed El-Kurd
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About this listen

Perfect Victims is an urgent affirmation of the Palestinian condition of resistance and refusal―an ode to the steadfastness of a nation.

Palestine is a microcosm of the world: on fire, stubborn, fragmented, dignified. While a settler colonial state continues to inflict devastating violence, fundamental truths are deliberately obscured—the perpetrators are coddled while the victims are blamed and placed on trial.

Why must Palestinians prove their humanity? And what are the implications of such an infuriatingly impossible task? With fearless prose and lyrical precision, Mohammed El-Kurd refuses a life spent in cross-examination. Rather than asking the oppressed to perform a perfect victimhood, El-Kurd asks friends and foes alike to look Palestinians in the eye, forgoing both deference and condemnation.

How we see Palestine reveals how we see each other; how we see everything else. Masterfully combining candid testimony, history, and reportage, Perfect Victims presents a powerfully simple demand: dignity for the Palestinian.

©2025 Mohammed El-Kurd (P)2025 Tantor Media Freedom & Security Israel & Palestine Middle East Politics & Government

Critic Reviews

“Mohammed El-Kurd has written a new Discourse on Colonialism for the twenty-first century.”—Robin D. G. Kelley
All stars
Most relevant
amazing examination of the Palestinian experience as victims and witnesses. perfectly summed up the wicked scrutiny and impossible standards that Palestinians must uphold to be believed. wonderfully told but heartbreaking.

amazing

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A must read! A powerful testimony for Mohammed. It’s more special to be read by him too.

Powerful, sincere, and very much needed

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narration was brilliant. the authors emotion stops short of pulling you into the traume so you can retain perspective. First time I've heard articulated so well why replying to propoganda is a focus, a necessity and a waste of time

it seems obvious except for those its not

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