Astrid

Philosophy MA. Interested in morality of belief. Unethically food oriented. Dabbling with stories. Even likes walks without a dog. She/her. #FreePalestine

[Astrid @EllenaPellena]

My friend Mohamed is taking care of his three young children. His beloved Rania died after the birth of baby Nusrat, her body weakened during the famine. He is suffering from a painful and dangerous injury from a bombing early on in the genocide. https://t.co/ygo5ijVqSM

[Drop Site @DropSiteNews]

A website dedicated to securing the release of Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya has been launched. It includes information about his life, the latest updates on his case, and a timer tracking how long he has been held in Israeli torture prisons.

➡️ https://t.co/4s3faruFlb

[Astrid @EllenaPellena]

Openly bragging about the genocidal intent in Lebanon.

[Clash Report @clashreport]

Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz on Lebanon:

I said that Southern Lebanon would become Gaza. We would apply the Rafah model.

We would destroy everything there. We would deal with them in exactly that way.

And that is what we did.

The infrastructure has been destroyed. Homes in 24 villages along the border—villages that had existed for hundreds of years and were used by Hezbollah as military outposts against Israel—have been demolished.

The army systematically flattened the villages with bulldozers and explosives. Ninety percent of the houses are gone. Between 15,000 and 20,000 homes have been destroyed.

[Glenn Greenwald @ggreenwald]

Israeli settlers, in general, are the worst scum on earth. They have become so psychotic that Israelis pretend to denounce them, but it's the US-funded IDF which protects and enables them.

If they do this to a US Congressman (with US arms), imagine what they do to Palestinians:

[courtneybonneauimages @cbonneauimages]

Genocide is defined under Article II of the 1948 UN Genocide Convention as any act committed with the intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial, or religious group. One of the five acts is “deliberately imposing destructive life conditions.”

Look at these photos of what is left of Khiam and Debbine. Remember that more than 65 towns and villages in Lebanon are still under Israeli occupation and are still undergoing daily illegal civilian home and infrastructure demolition.

These are acts of genocide.

[Martin Shaw @martinshawx]

Many, myself included, have focused on the inadequacy of Andy Burnham’s statement about Gaza.

But the headline is ‘LABOUR GOT GAZA WRONG’.

We must repeat that incessantly—and make sure it has *much* bigger consequences than Burnham intends.

[Astrid @EllenaPellena]

@AyoCaesar @LeftieStats Oh come on now. You didn't just mean he used a lot of words; it signified something positive. Whereas if fact, it might be true that this is more than he's said before but there is nothing in there that shows a willingness to break with the govt line in a significant way.

[Martin Shaw @martinshawx]

It is for every state that has signed the Genocide Convention to make its own determination. It’s a political decision, the need for which was triggered at least 30 months ago when the ICJ warned of a plausible risk of genocide in Gaza.

Totally unimpressive that Burnham hasn’t moved an inch from Starmer’s manifestly incoherent and immoral position on this issue.

[Aaron Bastani @AaronBastani]

Watch this from 6:20.

Piers Morgan asks @s_m_marandi if he will condemn chants. Marandi responds saying Morgan has repeatedly invited on a woman who said the largest part of his body that will remain is his little finger.

Why won’t Morgan condemn that?

[Astrid @EllenaPellena]

@AyoCaesar @LeftieStats That is not an obvious meaning of substantive? Normally you'd think it to mean: having a firm basis in reality and so important, meaningful, or considerable.

[UN Special Procedures @UN_SPExperts]

#Israel must immediately release Palestinian Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya and all the health & care workers arbitrarily detained: UN experts. The practice of medicine is not a crime.

https://t.co/HnXguxzClj

[Amnesty International USA @amnestyusa]

Today we issued an emergency appeal to U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, asking him to secure the immediate and unconditional release of Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya, a prominent Palestinian pediatrician who is facing an imminent threat to his life while in Israeli detention. https://t.co/bqMIq7O8lv

[Astrid @EllenaPellena]

This is very moving. https://t.co/9bdC2tVdeg

[Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya د.حسام أبو صفية @HussamAbuSafiya]

—
🚨 New Legal Development: Critical Questions Remain Unanswered in the State’s Response Regarding Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya.

The Israeli authorities have submitted their response to the High Court regarding the petition seeking the release of 14 detained Palestinian doctors from Gaza, including my father, Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya.

While the State says he has undergone several medical examinations since being transferred to the underground “Rakefet” detention facility, it does not explain why these examinations were necessary, what they revealed, or respond to most of the serious allegations documented by his lawyer, including visible injuries, the deterioration of his condition, and allegations of repeated beatings.

His lawyer’s request for a second visit also remains unanswered, while access to his medical records and an independent medical examination continues to be denied.

At the same time, the State has asked the Court to dismiss the petition without a hearing, while 14 Palestinian doctors from Gaza remain detained without charge or trial.

The key questions remain unanswered, and transparency and accountability are more urgent than ever.

[Astrid @EllenaPellena]

This is yet another inconveivably cruel and inhuman killing of good people just because they can get away with it and they want to smother all that is good in Palestine. It is heartbreaking.

[Drop Site @DropSiteNews]

⚠️The Egyptian Relief Committee in Gaza had been organizing public screenings of World Cup matches for displaced families across the Strip. About an hour before today’s Egypt-Argentina match, Israel killed the committee’s public relations director in a strike on his vehicle. Two others, including a child, were also killed.

[Khaled Elgindy @elgindy_]

As 🇪🇬 v 🇦🇷 match got underway, Israel assassinated Mohammed Al-
Wahidi, PR director of the Egyptian Committee for Aid to Gaza in Gaza City—because Israel is a rogue state that enjoys absolute impunity for any and all crimes. https://t.co/0T5BsoXUbn

[Prem Thakker @prem_thakker]

My gosh.
Yesterday, Egypt Coach Hossam Hassan asked FIFA to use its "soft power" to help Palestinians.
Today, just as the Egypt-Argentina match began, Israel killed Mohammed al-Wahidi, of the Egyptian Relief Committee in Gaza — which also organized Gaza screenings of the matches.

[Saul Staniforth @SaulStaniforth]

Dr Derek Summerfield: "1,700 health professionals have been killed in Gaza.. a number are in prison.. they wanted to make an example of [Dr Hussam Abu Safiya].. he has clearly been under torture & starvation.. Israel has impunity, impunity is the key to understand these things"

[Elijah J. Magnier 🇪🇺 @ejmalrai]

Two explosions in Damascus during Emmanuel Macron’s visit to Syria raise the first and most important intelligence question: cui bono — who benefits?

The facts are striking. Macron’s visit was not routine. It was the first visit by a major Western leader to Syria since the fall of Bashar al-Assad, and the first visit by a French president to Damascus since Nicolas Sarkozy’s visit in January 2009. Macron arrived in Damascus on 6 July 2026 as the first major Western leader to visit Syria under its new leadership, headed by President Ahmad al-Sharaa.

The explosions therefore carried an obvious political message: Syria is not safe, Damascus cannot guarantee the security of visiting leaders, and the rehabilitation of the new Syrian state should be questioned. Two improvised explosive devices detonated near the hotel where Macron was staying, wounding at least 18 people, including four police officers. Syrian authorities said the blasts occurred outside the security perimeter and did not directly threaten Macron’s accommodation or the official visit.

This timing matters. Macron’s visit came as Donald Trump was speaking positively of Ahmad al-Sharaa and preparing to meet him on the sidelines of the NATO summit in Ankara. Al-Sharaa was expected to attend the summit and meet Trump there, giving Syria’s new leadership unprecedented Western visibility and legitimacy.

That diplomatic opening is not neutral. Syria’s improving relationship with Washington creates pressure on Israel. If Damascus becomes a recognised U.S. partner, Israel’s continued occupation of Syrian territory and its security demands become harder to justify indefinitely. A U.S.-backed security arrangement would almost certainly raise the question of Israeli withdrawal from areas seized after Assad’s fall — a step benjamin netanyahu has resisted, preferring permanent security zones and operational freedom.

The regional context adds another layer. Syria’s foreign minister, Asaad al-Shibani, has signalled openness to meeting Hezbollah if Syrian interests require it, while Reuters reported that Syria’s new government under al-Sharaa has emerged as a U.S. ally and has largely stayed out of the regional war between the U.S., Israel and Iran. This is precisely the kind of balancing act Israel views with suspicion: a Damascus aligned with Washington, open to Arab and Western rehabilitation, but unwilling to become an Israeli security subcontractor.

From an Israeli perspective, the new Syria creates a strategic dilemma. If al-Sharaa is accepted in Paris, Washington and Ankara, Israel loses the ability to frame Damascus solely as a jihadist threat. If he is welcomed by Trump and NATO leaders, the argument for endless Israeli control of Syrian territory weakens. If Syria engages Lebanon, Hezbollah or even Iran through political channels, Israel faces the emergence of a Syrian government that is not obedient, not isolated, and not easily dismissed.

This does not prove Israeli responsibility for the Damascus explosions. Attribution requires evidence: perpetrators, networks, communications, financing, explosives, arrests or intelligence confirmation. None of that has yet been made public. It remains unknown whether the explosions were linked to Macron’s visit, and that no group had claimed responsibility.

But the political logic is unavoidable. Whoever carried out the attack, the message served those who want to block Syria’s diplomatic rehabilitation, embarrass al-Sharaa, frighten Western leaders away from Damascus, keep Syria away from Hezbollah and Iran and preserve the argument that the Syrian state remains too unstable to be trusted. In that sense, Israel is one of the actors with a clear strategic interest in the damage done by the explosions, even if operational responsibility remains unproven.

The more precise conclusion is therefore this: the Damascus explosions should not be treated merely as a local security incident. They were a political signal delivered at the exact moment Syria was trying to re-enter the international arena. The attack weakened the image of state control, challenged Macron’s visit, complicated Trump’s opening to al-Sharaa and served the interests of those who fear a U.S.-backed Syrian recovery. The question is not only who planted the devices. The question is who needed Damascus to look unsafe on the day Syria was being normalised.

[Astrid @EllenaPellena]

@flying_rodent They'll spin it as a job creating plan for young people with limited opportunities. It doesn't matter that it won't, they're just going to magic up some numbers. It'll be patriotic, investing in 'our forces', our boys and girls blah blah.