Jew World Order

Born in the UK to Palestinian parents, Nancy Mansour^* is the co-founder of Existence is Resistance (EIR), a radical grassroots movement dedicated to the liberation of Palestine. Known for her boundless passion and fierce irreverence, Mansour (AKA Harrabic Tubman) has been on the forefront of cultural resistance against ongoing Israeli Apartheid for more than a decade. Mansour is a well-known presence in the community, working tirelessly at most US-based Palestinian solidarity events with tables loaded with EIR gear designed by artist-organizer Kyle Goen. 

Mansour has led numerous hip-hop tours to Palestine with U.S. and UK artists, including such iconic figures as Shadia Mansour (Mansour’s sister), Lowkey, M1 of Dead Prez, Abby Martin, Stalley, and many more. In 2017, Mansour was leading a delegation in Bethlehem when she spotted late-night comedian Conan O’Brien filming at the Apartheid Wall. Without a moment’s hesitation, she engaged him in an impromptu interview, part of which was aired on his show. 

It’s been these kinds of direct, unfiltered actions that have put Mansour on the map as an unapologetically radical voice in the movement. Inspired by Black Liberation, global anti-colonial movements, as well as the legacy of Palestinian resistance, she has recently taken on the role as the first Executive Director of Eyewitness Palestine (formerly Interfaith Peace-Builders), bringing organizing and executive experience to the position.

On Friday, November 17, amid the most unspeakable Israeli atrocities on the historical record—I was able to have a conversation with Mansour about the horror that is unfolding and the state of the international solidarity efforts. We were able to conduct this interview via WhatsApp. 

Kim Jensen: Good morning, Nancy. Thanks for taking the time to talk.

Nancy Mansour: Good morning. You’re welcome.

These are awful times. It’s horrifying. The atrocities at Al-Shifa’ hospital are happening as we speak. How are you holding up?

That’s a hard question to answer. Whenever I feel like I’m going to collapse (which is every five minutes if I’m looking at the videos and images coming out of Palestine), I remind myself what a privilege it is to only be on the receiving end of the media. It’s a privilege to say I am Palestinian. I remind myself that Palestinians on the ground don’t have the privilege to not “see” the violence and atrocities, that we literally are the middlemen right now, and if we cannot pick ourselves up to report, share, organize, and act, we are contributing to the genocide unfolding before our eyes.

I know how heartbroken and exhausted you are. You’ve been dedicated to reporting, sharing, organizing, and acting on behalf of the Palestinian people for decades. I have seen you working so hard and with so much love for so long. After many years as the visionary and co-founder of EIR, you were just hired as the new Executive Director of Eyewitness Palestine. 

Yes, and it’s a huge honor. Eyewitness Palestine went through a chrysalis period, and then I was hired in June 2023. I want to acknowledge the entire Board not just for their continued support but because there would be no Eyewitness Palestine if they had not held it together for over six months prior to my coming on board. They did so much personally and put so much into EP to keep it running. They are a truly noble and dedicated (and fun) board to work with. Big shout out to them!

What is the mission of the organization?

Eyewitness Palestine is a transformational education program that inspires and trains participants to be accountable, lifelong social justice advocates in the Palestine solidarity movement and within their communities. Experiencing anything in life first-hand enables you to speak from the heart. It’s hard to unsee injustice and apartheid. It’s harder, as a human, to not speak out when you’ve had a personal experience with something.

That has been an important part of your with EIR–organizing tours for hip-hop artists to perform and offer workshops to Palestinian youth in the Occupied territories–as a form of cultural exchange. Do you believe that long-term work has made a difference in terms of building solidarity?

It most definitely has had a positive effect. It built lifelong relationships between our past delegates and Palestinians on the ground. We recently mourned the loss of a young brother, Rasmi Arafat, we watched grow up in Balata Camp (West Bank), who was a key part of our delegations. He was murdered with a single explosive bullet to the hip. At least 75% of the people we have taken with EIR were familiar with him and posted about him. How many Palestinians are murdered (even before this most recent spike) on a daily basis, and no one blinks an eye? Who will tell their stories? 

Within our trips we would have workshops focused on the Black Liberation Movement, this not only was educational for the young Palestinians we worked with but also built solidarity beyond our trips. There are murals of George Floyd all over Palestine (Bethlehem and Silwan, to name a couple of places). 

We are seeing folks we took twelve years ago in the streets protesting, involved in direct action, and speaking out with absolutely no fear. These trips equipped them with the hard truth, and there’s no taking that away from them. It removes the “fear” element that we see many influential and non-influential folks falling victim to and staying quiet in the event of doxxing.

I am so sorry for your loss of Rasmi. My deepest condolences. As we’re faced with these genocidal attacks that are clearly designed to break all forms of Palestinian resistance, you say that the solidarity has grown stronger. One of the main aspects of your role in Eyewitness Palestine is to facilitate solidarity delegations. With the intensification of violence and vigilante killings as well as an atmosphere of repression inside 1948, have you had to cancel plans?

Solidarity has definitely grown and spread to places and people we never imagined would speak out. We sadly did have to postpone all of our 2023 fall delegations which included an Olive Harvest delegation and an Indigenous Artists delegation. The Olive Harvest delegation had secured a grant from which we managed to deliver 25 handheld olive harvesting machines to a farming cooperative in southern Nablus that distributed them to farmers in five villages, including Burin, Madama, and Huwwara. However, with that said, we have mobilized and temporarily shifted to a humanitarian effort that largely focuses on Gaza.

That is so frustrating and unfair that you’ve had to cancel powerful experiences like that. I hope that you’ll be able to re-launch them. What campaigns can you tell us about specifically?

We will definitely resume our regular delegations when we can and in whichever manner makes sense, once we have a better idea of what the aftermath will look like. We are working on various projects with other organizations as well as hosting webinars that feature both Palestinians here in the U.S. and, when available, Palestinians on the ground in Gaza, West Bank, and ‘48. We have a huge medical convoy we have been working on with many partners across the movement that we will begin to implement once we can guarantee entry into and/or access to the wounded in/from Gaza.

It’s amazing how quickly you’ve been able to pivot your work, in the face of this horrific, unspeakable genocidal attack. You work with numerous organizations and communities on the ground in Palestine. How are they doing? What kinds of things are they telling you about current conditions? 

We don’t have a choice, like I said, everything we do, from waking up in our warm beds to brushing our teeth, is a privilege. We are hearing about Gazans with cancer being dragged out of Makkased Hospital in Jerusalem, where they had permits to receive treatment, and dumped at Qalandia checkpoint in Ramallah. We hear from recently released Palestinian prisoners that prisoners are being made to sit in trash dumpsters for hours on end, blindfolded, beaten badly, and urinated on by Israeli prison guards.

We are hearing from our farmer friends that they are being shot at by armed, violent settlers when trying to harvest. A Palestinian taxi driver, Issa Ali al-Qadi, 66 years old was shot in the head by an Israeli soldier as he drove by an orphanage charity the IDF was raiding last week in Al Khalil (Hebron). Our friends and families are telling us they are terrified to speak Arabic in ‘48 for fear of being lynched. Anyone there who remotely shows any solidarity with their brothers and sisters in Gaza or the West Bank is arrested, beaten, and charged with a counterterrorism law, which Israel’s parliament recently amended, adding the “consumption of terrorist materials.” That means liking or even viewing anything to do with Gaza that shows any sympathy is punishable by a year of jail time. The bill was approved by a 13-4 majority in the Knesset. Democracy what?

The brutality of these stories reminds me of the level of intense terror that Palestinians experienced during the first Nakba. As someone who has been so involved for so long, and with so much purpose, what are you asking readers to do in the coming days and weeks?

I want to tell people to keep sharing the real news: the videos coming out of Palestine. We have highlighted some of those journalists/reporters on our Instagram page @eyewitnesspalestine. I also ask people to keep speaking to family and friends that may not fully understand the history. Watch documentaries like Born in Gaza with them. Each one teach one. Pressure your local and state representatives to start calling for an end to U.S. funding for Israel and start redirecting our billions of tax dollars that are given to Israel for their military annually back into America to benefit Americans.

I ask people to really sit with themselves and think deeply about what rebuilding Gaza means, especially with the unimaginable amount of destruction the occupying forces have caused. Think about the families torn apart. Think about all the parents of those children lost. Think about the children of the parents lost. Entire families wiped off the civil registry. I ask every human being on this earth to think about Palestinians, their continued struggle for freedom and to do whatever in their power to support them.

Do you have any events and programs that people can immediately plug into?

We have been producing educational webinars and other online events that we would love people to join. Please sign up at our website to receive our newsletters, updates, and upcoming events. 

Thank you so much for everything you do. 

^*Author’s Note: I am lucky to have known Nancy since she was a child; she is my niece through marriage. 

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