Perfect Victims

And the Politics of Appeal

By: Mohammed El-Kurd

Narrated by: Mohammed El-Kurd

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

Critic reviews

“Mohammed El-Kurd has written a new Discourse on Colonialism for the twenty-first century.”—Robin D. G. Kelley

So good; it’s like a conversation you don’t want ended

Engaging, thought provoking, poetic as hell, insightful, informative and so much more. Highly recommend. Long live the resistance.

The author laid out his argument in a way that was relatable and actually funny at times even though it was a serious topic.

The author was very thorough and understood to the topic completely as he lived it. At times he uses sarcasm to handle the issue and it was well done. Overall the book was wonderful and I gave it the highest marks because I enjoyed it very much.

Best reading of 2025

An illuminating and implacable book that leaves no question unasked and at the same time examines it with care, nuance and the needed spite.

Unabashed, unflinching, and INCREDIBLE

One of the best reads from one of the most powerful voices from Palestine. It redefines victimhood and taking power back from the oppressors

Incredibly told

North American colonists dehumanized the Indigeneous to justify the theft of their land. Nazis dehumanized Jews to eliminate them. Jews dehumanize Palestinians to remove them. In poetic prose the author teaches us how such things can be accomplished and how it feels to be among the dehumanized, as it is happening ... now.