Jan

Downhill, Deadwood & Digital

[Howard Beckett @HowardRBeckett]

10,000 UN troops on the Lebanon 🇱🇧 border, from 50 countries, led by Ireland 🇮🇪 under threat from Israel 🇮🇱 to leave their posts.

They are refusing to go anywhere. Their role is one of peace and they are sticking to it.

On the side of humanity.

[🇧🇪 Belgium MFA @BelgiumMFA]

Belgium reaffirms its full support for @UN Secretary-General @antonioguterres in his constant efforts to achieve peace, including in the #MiddleEast.

[Amnesty International USA @amnestyusa]

The mass electronic device explosions across Lebanon and Syria in recent days bear the hallmarks of a sinister dystopian nightmare.

International humanitarian law prohibits attacks that fail to distinguish between civilians and military targets and prohibits the use of these types of booby traps.

The UN Security Council should take all the measures at its disposal to ensure the protection of civilians. An international investigation must be established to ensure justice now.

Read more about what we have to say around these tragic events here: https://t.co/MPFC8LdF1r

[Arnaud Bertrand @RnaudBertrand]

Truly extraordinarily powerful interview of Dominique de Villepin, former Prime Minister of France, on Gaza.

I can't stress enough how rare it is to hear a former French PM speak like this.

He says France "no longer has a voice on the international scene", because (among other things) of its "double-standards" and lack of action with regards to Gaza.

He calls France's internal silencing of what's happening in Gaza a "real scandal in terms of democracy", making France live in "absurdity" and resulting in it "fading away". He says that we (France and the West in general) would have many levers to stop the war - in terms of armament or economic sanctions - "but we refuse to use these levers with arguments which are absolutely unreal culturally or intellectually speaking. Saying 'we need to let Israel fight its war to the end': but what end? What is the end?".

As a consequence he says that France and the West will "foot the bill" for what's happening in terms of loss of credibility and legitimacy.

On Gaza specifically he calls it "undoubtedly the biggest historical scandal since... I don't even dare to find a reference", calling it a war "not like the others since it is civilian populations that die". He also rebukes the journalist for using the usual term "according to the Hamas-run Ministry of Health" with regards to the number of death: "There's not only the Ministry of Health from Hamas which says that there are 40,000 dead. And there are probably many more, MANY more! So from this basis let's not give the feeling that it would be a number like that, unreliable. No!"

Probably the most powerful quote of the interview, literally gave me shivers: "In Gaza bodies are torn into pieces, Hearts are in pieces! Souls are in pieces! Heads are in pieces!" ("À Gaza les corps sont en morceaux! Les coeurs sont en morceaux! Les âmes sont en morceaux! Les têtes sont en morceaux!")

He says that ""Israel has no political objective and when you have no political objective the only thing you can do is war... There is a security objective, there is an identity objective, there is a messianic madness and that explains the catastrophe that we're witnessing."

[Don Van Natta Jr. @DVNJr]

Tanned, rested and ready

[António Guterres @antonioguterres]

The extreme level of fighting and devastation in Gaza is incomprehensible and inexcusable.

Nowhere is safe. Everywhere is a potential killing zone.

It is high time for the parties to show the political courage and political will to finally reach a deal.

[Elvis Buñuelo @Mr_Considerate]

It’s never spelled out – and I think it should be – that since 1948, 95% of all casualties in Israel and Palestine have been one side of the conflict. Since October 7, that rises to 98%.

[UNRWA @UNRWA]

#Gaza has become hell on earth. Families continue to seek refuge, trying to escape war, but there is no such thing as a safe place in the Gaza Strip.

No one is safe: not civilians, not aid workers, no one has been spared. We need a #CeasefireNow.

[The Associated Press @AP]

The United Nations has called for “a clear, transparent and credible investigation” into the mass graves uncovered at two of Gaza’s major hospitals that had been raided by Israeli troops.

[Pelham @Resist_05]

When Israel bombed the first hospital in Gaza, the world wouldn’t believe it and Israel blamed a misfired rocket from Hamas…

Israel has now destroyed all 36 hospitals in Gaza including its largest medical facility the al-Shifa Hospital…

THIS IS A GENOCIDE...🇵🇸💔

[António Guterres @antonioguterres]

I can’t shake the heartbreak I witnessed while meeting with Palestine & Sudanese refugees during my Ramadan solidarity visit to Egypt & Jordan.

But I will not give up.

We must keep doing all we can to allow our common humanity to prevail in Gaza & other places around the world.

[UNRWA @UNRWA]

The death toll in #GazaStrip has now surpassed 30,000 people.

Over 70,000 people have been injured.

This is a man made disaster. People dying from bombs & strikes - even more now dying from consequences of siege imposed on #GazaStrip

Despite repeated calls, still no ceasefire.

[Gapminder @Gapminder]

There have been A LOT of extraordinary, groundbreaking developments in health this year. We have compiled some of the most amazing in our list of little known positive news from 2023: https://t.co/HfLPoE3j57 #positivenews #health

[Jan @cjancali]

@chr1stophe

[Jan @cjancali]

@inframe Ai, klinkt pijnlijk :/ Hopelijk geen grote kosten aan uzelf of de fiets.

[Jan @cjancali]

@TheGMcConnachie Any codes left? Would like one.

[Jan @cjancali]

@inframe It was so much better back when https://t.co/9GJM8N3sEl was good.