Palestinian Twin Activists Named by Times as Top 100 Most Influential People of 2021

The El-Kurd twins, Muna and Muhammed El-Kurd, of Jerusalem, Palestine have been named as the top 100 most influential people of 2021 by Times Magazine. The Times Magazine nominate 100 people every year as the top 100 most influential people for that year, and for this year, they nominated the twin activists who are highlighting the Palestinian cause to end the forceful occupation over Palestine and the injustice caused due to the occupation.

Both Muna and Muhammed El-Kurd, came into the spotlight back in May this year, when they documented their peaceful and lawful resistance of the Jewish colonizers, known as ‘settlers’, of taking over their homes forcefully in Sheikh Jarrah, an area in east Jerusalem. With this nomination, the Western media now acknowledges some of the injustices done by the occupiers to the Palestinian people, although the Western media bias largely still remain.

Their social media savviness of the twins and their experience of talking to the mainstream media have enabled their Palestinian voices, and the voices of the people of Palestine, to be heard by the international community. Muhammad El-Kurd’s Instagram has over 700K followers, while Muna El-Kurd has over 1.6 million Instagram followers.

Setting the Terms Straight

In particular, Muhammad El-Kurd interview with CNN over the forced displacement of his family and other Palestinians from their homes have highlighted the Western media bias against the Palestinians.

“It’s not an eviction, its forced ethnic displacement.”

He rightly pointed out that an eviction implies that the Israeli settlers were the landlords, when in fact they do not own the land, and that East Jerusalem has been recognized by international law as an occupied territory. Watch the full interview below.

Soon after this interview, Muhammad el-Kurd was taken into detention but was later released.

Started Young

Ten years ago they were just young kids. At 13 years old, they were already taking interviews with the mainstream media, highlighting their plight of their homes taken away by the settlers.

In a media interview ten years ago, the twins only spoke in Arabic. Now, both twins can speak English, and Muhammad, being the more fluent one in English, have taken on various interviews with the global media. Muna, have mainly spoken to the Arabic language media. Both have large social media presence, which have helped to highlight the plight of the Palestinians.

The twins have continued to highlight the Palestinian cause to the international community, especially on the injustices faced by the Palestinians living under an occupier, a colonizer. To be updated on their plights and other Palestinians, follow their Instagram profiles.

Farah I, Writer & Researcher

Farah Ishak is a Content Writer at Halalop. She grew up in the United Kingdom where she obtained her Bachelor’s degree in Management. Later, she completed her MBA and held senior-level positions in Malaysian based MNC. She left the corporate world to be with her young kids. She is passionate about issues concerning Muslim women, Startups and Muslim businesses in general.