The alarming phrase from the prophet Daniel in the Hebrew Bible has been transferred by Mark to the Christian New Testament, where it is also present in Matthew and echoed by Luke. An idolatrous king institutes an abominable ritual and desolates the land through war and starvation, forcing an exodus of refugees. This seminal apocalyptic story has reacquired an unexpected urgency in the light of the annihilation of Gaza, but also of retrotopian plans to rebuild the Strip as a green city of the future and calls to erase the Al Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem, replacing it with the Third Temple. Kassabov explores what these urban visions imply for an emerging world without civilians (Semerdjian 2024, Albanese 2024). The unlikely religious angle is significant in the context of recent reappropriations of apocalyptic narratives – traditionally a weapon of the oppressed – by leading figures in the tech establishment (Klein & Taylor 2025).
Ognian Kassabov is associate professor of philosophy at Sofia University. He has published and translated variously in the history of philosophy (in particular aesthetics) from Kant onward, on literature and the politics of memory, and on the interactions between humans and nature. Ognian has also written pieces of current political commentary, including for Al Jazeera English. He is a member of KOI / Collective for Social Interventions.