AMEJA invites you to its latest panel, Lebanon in Focus, on Thursday, April 23 at 6:00 p.m. at NYU’s Kevorkian Center.
As Lebanon confronts overlapping political, economic, and social crises, it now faces the accelerating impact of a wider regional war set in motion by the February 2026 U.S.-Israeli strikes on Iran and deepened by ongoing Israeli military operations in Lebanon. In the months since, intensified Israeli-airstrikes and large-scale displacement of civilians have deepened instability and placed Lebanon at the center of a wider geopolitical confrontation.
Drawing on expertise in investigative reporting, storytelling, and political analysis, the panel will place Lebanon’s current moment within a deeper historical and regional frame. The conversation will explore how narratives are shaped, through media, memory, and power, while also attending to the textures of everyday life and the broader global forces that continue to influence how Lebanon is seen and understood.
- Zahra Hankir is a Lebanese-British journalist who writes about the intersection of politics, culture, and society, particularly in the broader Middle East. She is the editor of "Our Women on the Ground", an award-winning anthology highlighting Arab women journalists and is editing "Let It Be a Tale: Palestinian Journalists on Survival and Resistance", due for publication by Penguin Books in early 2027.
- Afeef Nessouli is a journalist working for The Intercept and host of “__ With Afeef Nessouli.” His reporting focuses on politics, the Middle East, and queer stories around the world. Afeef lived through the 2006 Lebanon war and went to prison in Beirut for covering Palestine in 2011.
- Mohamad Bazzi is Director of the Kevorkian Center for Near Eastern Studies and an associate professor of journalism at New York University. Before joining NYU, he was the Middle East bureau chief at Newsday from 2003 to 2008, where he established bureaus in Baghdad and Beirut.
Please RSVP in advance, as seating is limited!
