A Palestinian diplomat and academic, with a doctorate in economics and a specialist in political economy, he was appointed head of the Palestinian mission to the United Kingdom in October 2018, known for his statements challenging Western media bias towards Israel.

Birth and upbringing

Hussam Saeed Zomlot was born in 1973 in the Shaboura refugee camp in the Rafah governorate, Gaza Strip, and his parents were displaced from the village of Simsim in southern Palestine in the western Negev region, 19 kilometers northeast of Gaza City.

Asylum, the suffering of displacement and living in the camp were key factors in shaping Zamlout's political orientation in later stages of his life.

Study and scientific training

Hussam Zomlot studied at Bir Zeit University in Ramallah, majoring in economics and political science, and presented a paper entitled "Labor Economics in the West Bank and Gaza".

In 2000, he completed his Master's degree in Development Studies at the London School of Economics and Political Sciences, focusing on development aid in light of collapsed states. He then received his PhD in International Political Economy from the University of London in 2007.

Functions and responsibilities

He was Professor of Public Policy at Birzeit University, co-founded and chaired the School of Law and Public Administration, and held a number of teaching and research positions at Harvard University and the University of London.

His professional experience includes working as an economist at the United Nations and an economic researcher at the London School of Economics and the Palestine Institute for Policy Research.

He served as the official spokesman for the Palestinian delegation in 2011, was appointed ambassador-at-large to the State of Palestine, served as director of the Palestinian National Liberation Movement (Fatah) Commission for Foreign Affairs, and then became advisor on strategic affairs to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in 2015, before being elected a member of Fatah's Revolutionary Council in 2016.

In 2017, Zomlot was appointed Palestinian Authority ambassador to the United States, then was forced to cut off his job there due to the closure of the PLO office in Washington by the administration of former US President Donald Trump. In 2018, Zomlot was appointed head of the Palestinian mission to the United Kingdom.

Political experience

Zomlot rose to political prominence during his university studies in Bir Zeit, becoming a representative of Fatah's student organization, nicknamed "Al-Shabiba," during the first intifada. In 1999, he was elected President of the General Union of Palestinian Students in Britain, while studying in London.

In 2018, he denounced the US administration's decision to close the Palestinian mission office in Washington, accusing the Palestinian leadership of refusing to talk to the US president's administration at the time, which led to his expulsion and the cancellation of his and his family's residency.

At the beginning of 2023, Zomlot was subjected to an Israeli-American incitement campaign following a television interview in which he refused to condemn an operation carried out by the Palestinian resistance in Jerusalem following the massacre committed by the Israeli occupation in Jenin.

In October 2023, specifically during the battle of the Al-Aqsa flood, which was launched by the Palestinian resistance in the Gaza Strip against Israel, he was hosted on several Western channels and media outlets and was keen during his interviews to expose the duplicity of Western media, which does not talk about Israeli crimes and seeks in return to demonize the Palestinian resistance.

On the BBC satellite channel, when asked if he condemned what the Palestinian resistance did in Operation Al-Aqsa Flood, he refused to answer the question, considering it a "wrong question" and not the essence of the issue, and denounced the Western media's equating between the executioner and the victim and between the Israeli occupation and its Palestinian victims.

On CNN, journalist Christian Amanpour asked him whether he condemned the "Al-Aqsa Flood" operation. He denounced the blindness of the international community and the Western media to Israel's massacres and war crimes, and called for the application of international law and accountability of the occupation for its crimes against the Palestinians.

The move was praised by many and considered to destroy the attempts of the Western media to frame the issue and impose its point of view on everyone.