Lisa Hasselfield

Traveller, Cat Lover

[Avi Lewis @avilewis]

It’s a relief to hear the Prime Minister express some moral outrage over Ben-Gvir’s brutish behaviour, outrage which has been missing during Israel’s attack on Iran, bombardment of Lebanon and ongoing genocide in Gaza.

But strong words must be followed by strong action. Sanctioning individual ministers is not enough when this cruelty is mirrored in Israeli state policy. Close the loophole on arms sales, cancel the free trade agreement and use every tool in Canada’s diplomatic arsenal to end Israel’s impunity.

[Moustafa Bayoumi @moustafabayoumi.bsky.social @BayoumiMoustafa]

ICE’s surveillance app is a techno-authoritarian nightmare, I write. The app, Mobile Fortify, lets agents obtain vast amounts of information on anyone by scanning their face.

https://t.co/lqMLrwrs8X

[Craig Mokhiber @CraigMokhiber]

Once again, the U.S. has withdrawn from a long list of UN agencies, and is trying to establish a new mafia commission (“board of peace”) to replace it. But the biggest obstacle to the UN carrying out its normative mission is not too little US engagement, but rather too much US engagement. The US, under both Republican & Democratic administrations, has long actively
obstructed the UN’s objectives for peace, global security, self-determination of peoples, human rights, climate action, global development, multilateral diplomacy, and international law. If other states would step up to fill the financial gaps left by US withdrawal, and band together to counter US threats, bullying, bribes, imperialism, and hegemony, then the UN might actually begin to make progress toward its most important objectives. This is not crisis. It’s opportunity.

[Breaking911 @Breaking911]

A photographer in southern Spain captured what is believed to be the first-ever white Iberian lynx, a leucistic big cat so rare it seems almost mythical. Already one of the world’s rarest cats, the Iberian lynx was pulled back from the brink of extinction after its population fell below 100 two decades ago.

[Ori Goldberg @ori_goldberg]

From Israel's ambassador to the UN calling @FranceskAlbs "a witch" to Israel's leading comedy sketch show portraying @ZohranKMamdani as a closet jihadi, Israel is having a meltdown.

The foundations of our world - self-victimization, supremacy, impunity, entitlement - are cracking. It is a horrible thing to realize, but after having killed so many Palestinians ao flippantly we don't even consider it a "triumph".

More than a 100 Palestinians in 24 hours? Nearly 50 were children? Well, they "violated" an agreement we've been violating daily. They are "in breach". We can kill as many of them as we want in retalliation. It doesn't really matter how many die. It's the principle, isn't it?

Dead in the water. Empty, hollow, unable to tell fact from fiction and id from superego. Our PM is allowed to visit an American HQ on Israeli soil after begging for a week. He emerges and says: "we are taking care of all security matters". "We" are most certainly not. Our life is but the negative image of their death.

[Avi Lewis @avilewis]

ICYMI: Last month, I condemned Carney's callousness on Gaza.

As Israel violates the "ceasefire", Canada must impose a real arms embargo and use every tool to end Israel's impunity.

Watch to the end.

[Brent Bellamy @brent_bellamy]

These drone shots that TSN uses for Winnipeg Jets games are beautiful.

[Craig Mokhiber @CraigMokhiber]

The deep immorality, cruelty, corruption, and lawlessness of our governments and official institutions have drawn a dark shadow over humanity. But this is where we find light. The Global Sumud Flotilla sails for Palestine, for humanity, and for all of us. #BreakTheSiege #GlobalSumudFlotilla

[Mouin Rabbani @MouinRabbani]

I was interviewed by @owenjonesjourno to discuss Israel's endgame, as well as recent developments including the assassination of Anas al-Sharif.
Thanks for the invitation and conversation!
https://t.co/LI0tztL8Gi

[Rachel Gilmore @atRachelGilmore]

After Israel slaughtered several Al Jazeera journalists, I asked the foreign affairs minister's office whether Canada intends to take action.

Their response made me, as a journalist, feel sick.

They pointed me to a tweet repost. One with a grammatical error.

It didn't even name Israel:

[Ryan Grim @ryangrim]

The IDF has repeatedly told international media after these massacres they will investigate the circumstances. Haaretz investigated and was able to confirm direct orders to shoot at unarmed civilians seeking aid.

The IDF refusal to actually investigate is precisely why the ICC exists, to investigate war crimes when a state demonstrates it is unwilling to do so.

[UNICEF @UNICEF]

“If the current more than 100-day blockade on fuel coming into Gaza does not end, children will begin to die of thirst.” - @1james_elder

Gaza’s taps are running dry as fuel crisis deepens daily struggle for families: https://t.co/9Klr5BwfZt

[Doctors Without Borders / Médecins Sans Frontières @MSF_canada]

International Humanitarian Law must be respected. No exceptions.

Because when war has no limits, civilians pay the price.

As #G7 president, Canada must stand up for the humanitarian principles all G7 governments have committed to upholding.

📣 Retweet this if you agree.

[Avi Lewis @avilewis]

My father Stephen Lewis is spectacularly uninterested in social media, so I’m posting this myself (though he has read it and is prepared to suffer the indignity of all I'm about to reveal).

When he was Canada’s ambassador to the UN from 1984-88, Dad was truly shocked by the regularity of open, vitriolic antisemitism in the cocktail parties and ambassadorial receptions that surround that crucial but flawed institution.

For this reason (among others) he’s always been the one in our family with the deepest atavistic fear of antisemitism. He was sympathetic to the idea of Israel as a refuge longer than the rest of us.

This is no longer the case. Like so many Jews who for decades adopted the dominant narratives of Zionism, he can no longer defend the current actions of the state of Israel.

He now regards Israel as a rogue state, committing genocide and other crimes against humankind, which ought to be opposed by every tool and tactic in Canada's diplomatic arsenal.

To return to the personal, seven years ago my Dad was diagnosed with a vicious cancer and was given as little as 3 months to live. It’s a sublime understatement to say that he’s a fighter - but he has persevered in life with a tenacity familiar from his political, diplomatic and humanitarian pursuits.

Which brings us to this morning, when at 87 years old, he spent an hour standing at the side of the road in his old riding of Scarborough West. Standing up as a Jew against genocide. Standing up for justice for Palestine. Standing up on the right side of history, where the vast majority of humanity currently stands.

I’ve never been prouder, never more humble before the stubborn principle and insistent moral clarity of the guy I’m so lucky to call Dad.

People of Canada: don’t stop talking about Palestine.
Starvation as collective punishment can never be forgiven.
Burning and burying children alive can never be defended.
Stand up against genocide until we make it stop!

Thanks Dad.

And special thanks to @CharlieAngusNDP for shining his spotlight on Ted Schmidt and the other excellent folks who gather every Thursday at 8 am at the corner of Victoria Park and Kingston Road in Scarborough.

[Tom Mills @ta_mills]

Watch this. This is the utter horror Israel is inflicting on Palestinians, in full view of the world, with the support of our government.

[Craig Mokhiber @CraigMokhiber]

People vs. Monsters: The Gaza Tribunal convenes in Sarajevo (Ezgi Basaran) @ezgibasaran
https://t.co/8VUnoJMTel

[Owen Jones @owenjonesjourno]

Suddenly, something is shifting.

Israel's apologists have realised that a reckoning is coming.

They understand that they're not going to get away with this abomination.

And they are absolutely right 👇

https://t.co/k9dNOAvVYV

[Annie O’D ❤️‍🔥 Hockey & Fashion @sweetannieod]

Nah I lost it when he and Hellebuyck wouldn’t let go 💔🥺

[Francesca Albanese, UN Special Rapporteur oPt @FranceskAlbs]

Israel has NO RIGHT to plan Gaza’s future. The occupation is ILLEGAL. The ICJ ordered Israel to end it, pay reparations. Instead—Israel plans the post-genocide. Unbothered. Unchecked. The world? Silent. Diplomacy has never felt so insignificant and cruel. https://t.co/L2tOqY4W7C

[Philippe Lazzarini @UNLazzarini]

How many more Palestinian lives will be wiped off from their homeland by bombardments, hunger or lack of medical care?

More than 250 Palestinians in #Gaza have been reported killed in the last two days alone.

These are lives.
These are human beings.
They cannot just be reduced to numbers.

Atrocities are becoming a new norm, under our watch, making the unbearable bearable with indifference.
Is this our new “humanity”?

Like @omarelakkad says: “One day…., everyone will have always been against this”.
That day will however be too late and will stain our consciousness for generations to come.