“I never expected the world will know my name [because of] a genocide of my people,” says Palestinian photojournalist Motaz Azaiza, who gained international acclaim for his work during the first 108 days of Israel’s brutal assault on Gaza. Since evacuating in January, Azaiza has brought his advocacy for Palestinian rights around the world. Democracy Now! speaks to him from Washington, D.C., where he has just wrapped up a nationwide speaking tour titled “Gaza Through My Lens” in support of UNRWA USA. “Israel is targeting our children. Israel is targeting our babies, targeting our mothers, targeting our families. I just want to show the whole world so maybe I can bring help to my people through my photography,” Azaiza says.
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AMY GOODMAN: Mona Miari and Zafer Tawil, performing this past weekend in Brooklyn at an event honoring our next guest. This is Democracy Now!, democracynow.org. I’m Amy Goodman, with Nermeen Shaikh.
NERMEEN SHAIKH: We’re joined now by the acclaimed Palestinian photographer Motaz Azaiza, who at the age of 25 has become world-known for documenting Gaza. For the first 108 days of Israel’s brutal assault on Gaza, Azaiza risked his life to show the world what was happening. In doing so, he gained over 17 million Instagram followers and emerged as one of the most prominent photojournalists in the world. Since evacuating, Azaiza has become a global advocate for Gaza. GQ Middle East magazine named Azaiza its “Man of the Year.” Time put him on its list of 100 most influential people of 2024. And he’s been nominated for the 2024 Nobel Peace Prize.
AMY GOODMAN: Motaz Azaiza is in the United States as part of a nationwide speaking tour titled “Gaza Through My Lens,” with UNRWA USA, the nonprofit that supports the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees. In moment, he’ll join us from Washington, D.C. But this is the video produced by UNRWA USA describing Motaz’s work with the agency. The clip begins with UNRWA USA’s Mara Kronenfeld, but first Laila Mokhiber.
LAILA MOKHIBER: Gaza is one of the most beautiful places in the world, and that beauty was documented by a young photographer named Motaz Azaiza for years, eager to show the world his culture, his people, its rainbows, its sunsets, its sea.
MARA KRONENFELD: Even with this blockade, there was so much life in Gaza. And we thought, “We need somebody on the ground who can show us that life and also, of course, can show us the importance of education and health and shelter assistance that UNRWA is providing to those in Gaza.”
LAILA MOKHIBER: When I eventually was looking for a photographer on the ground to capture stories, to help show the people of the United States the real stories of Palestine refugees, I convened some of Gaza’s greatest around a table at Al Deira Hotel, a place I’ll forever cherish and miss. Among us were the late Dr. Refaat Alareer and others.
MARA KRONENFELD: Laila collected many applications. One was a lovely woman named Amjad, and one was Motaz. That day that those two were selected changed us in so many ways as an organization, and, frankly, changed us each personally, as well. Seeing Motaz suffer, along with all Palestinians in Gaza, and see him — and I’ll never forget this — seeing him holding a bloodied child, a girl, and taking her, speeding, to the hospital, and he had never learned to drive before that moment.
NAHED ELRAYES: Nobody in Gaza, in all of Palestine, chooses to be a hero. This includes Motaz. Once, I asked him over ice cream, “What is the number one thing you wish the world knew about Gaza?” And this nerdy photographer, whose favorite thing was capturing people’s faces and pretty sunsets, he just had this sad look in his eye, and he said, “That we’re human.” He never wanted to be a hero. He just wanted to survive.
AMY GOODMAN: A video by UNRWA USA about our next guest, the acclaimed........