Olga Kavran

A believer in the importance of international justice. Founding Director, IUSTICOM - the first NGO dedicated to communicating justice.

[Olga Kavran @OlgaKavran]

https://t.co/igvl3onncf is an online info center and #memorial to honor the victims and survivors of the #Beirut blast and the beautiful souls who helped them and who helped rebuild #Beirut. It aims at supporting the #victims in their fight for #justice and #accountability.

[Chris Anderson @TEDchris]

With a certain amount of trepidation, I'm posting this open letter to @elonmusk, someone I have admired, but who, right now, is causing me concern. I know I'm not alone in thinking these thoughts. Please like or repost if you're willing... And Elon, if you're listening, please know this is offered in a constructive spirit.

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Dear Elon,

A thought hit me this morning.

On top of all your achievements in technology and entrepreneurship, you have become this century's single most influential writer.  You have more than 200 million followers on a powerful platform that you yourself control. And the words that you write flow well beyond just those followers into almost every user of X and far beyond courtesy of extensive media coverage.   This makes Rupert Murdoch at his prime seem inconsequential.

It must feel exhilarating. You made a huge gamble buying Twitter and it seems to have paid off spectacularly to the point that you can use it to massively impact the world, including changing governments.  You believe that X can largely replace most mainstream media. It is the new platform for citizen journalism, and you are citizen number 1.  You don’t need the hassle of editors and fact-checkers. Every single thing you post garners millions of likes and reposts. In a heartbeat you can change the global conversation.  No one in history has had this much power.

So there’s a lot at stake here, and, as it happens, journalism is something I care deeply about. I began my career as a journalist because I believed that good journalism was essential for the healthy functioning of democracy. Today I am worried — quite deeply worried, actually — that in your triumphant seizing of the global conversation, some of the core tenets of journalism are being forgotten. Without them, I think your efforts to make X the respected home of citizen journalism will fail.

There are numerous journalistic principles that matter — Grok can summarize them quite nicely. But there’s one in particular that’s been troubling me. It’s the fairness doctrine. The one that says that before you publish savagely critical claims about an individual, or an institution, you reach out to them for their side of the story. After all, just possibly, you may have missed a key fact or two that would change how people assess what has happened. Just possibly your sources were motivated to cause damage to that individual. Just possibly there’s an alternative explanation of what happened.

So, for example, when you tell hundreds of millions of people that someone should be hanged or jailed for outrageous crimes against humanity, just possibly you should first sound out what those who know those people really well would say about them. Some of your recent posts could literally get someone killed. Do you really want to risk that? How is it possible that you can do this at the very same time that you’re calling on people to make X more positive, more beautiful?  You say you want to maximize un-regretted user-seconds on X.  By far the simplest way you could do this, Elon, is simply to thoughtfully edit what you yourself post.

I get that from your eyes the issues you are championing are unbelievably important and worthy of extreme efforts. But the way you are presenting them is not citizen journalism. It's playground bullying. It’s crass and it’s cruel, and it’s therefore not nearly as effective as it could be.  You’re hearing the cheers of your most loyal followers, but missing the fact you’re making yourself a laughing stock among many who you really want on your side. Long-term that’s going to damage X, your other businesses, and indeed your long-term dreams for humanity.  No one wants to follow a playground bully to Mars.

I miss the old Elon. You can be funny, interesting, insightful and inspiring. You've fought incredibly hard for what you've built. And you may feel you're entitled to do whatever the hell you want with it. But I also know that you understand the danger of holding too tightly to the ring of power, how it can distort someone's judgement and turn them ugly.

I’m hoping you can loosen that ring just a little. For the love of humanity that you profess, I really urge you to embrace the fairness doctrine and showcase a better face of X.

Thanks for listening.

Chris

[Omar Alshogre | عمر الشغري @omarAlshogre]

مية وردة

[Mark Kersten || @markkersten.bsky.social @MarkKersten]

Trump is good news for genocidal crooks in Palestine.

[Alex Rowell @alexjrowell]

After destroying a house in south Lebanon's Khiam, Israeli soldiers filmed themselves inside with its piano.

Seeing the footage, a young woman recognised it as her piano, posted a video of her playing it, which is now being widely shared on Lebanese social media.

[FT Weekend @ftweekend]

More than 1 mn people have been displaced in Lebanon. Youmna Melhem Chamieh puts into words the struggle to write about her country: https://t.co/PN6fJwy8WS

[Philippe Lazzarini @UNLazzarini]

Children & their education are not featured in any discussions when “experts “ or politicians talk about replacing @UNRWA .

Why?

Because in the absence of a functioning state, there is no alternative.

Until October last year, @UNRWA provided learning to over 300,000 boys & girls in #Gaza, making half of the school children cohort.
They are now losing a second year of education.

In the #WestBank, nearly 50,000 children go to our schools.

UNRWA is the only UN agency that directly provides education in UN schools.
Our schools are the only education system in the region that includes a Human Rights programme and that follows United Nations standards and values.

Dismantling UNRWA in the absence of a viable alternative will deprive Palestinian children of learning in the foreseeable future.

Without learning, children slip into hopelesness, poverty & radicalization.

Without learning, children fall prey into exploitation including joining armed groups.

Without learning, this region will remain unstable & volatile.

Without UNRWA, the fate of millions of people will hang by the thread.

Instead of focusing on banning UNRWA or finding alternatives, the focus should be on reaching an agreement to end this conflict.

This is the only way to prioritize the return to school for hundreds of thousands of children, currently living in the rubble.

It’s time to prioritize children and their future.

[United Nations Geneva @UNGeneva]

With the support of 187 countries, the opposition of 2 (United States of America and Israel), and the abstention of Moldova, the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution on the need to end the US economic, commercial & financial blockade on #Cuba. https://t.co/4SxbGzJvds

[Philippe Lazzarini @UNLazzarini]

🛑 Following the adoption of bills by the Knesset against @UNRWA aimed at preventing it to operate in the occupied Palestinian Territory, I wrote to the President of the General Assembly.

These bills will not terminate the refugee status of the Palestinians, which exists independently of UNRWA’s service provision. They will severely harm their lives and future.

Today, even as we look into the faces of children in #Gaza, some of whom we know will die tomorrow, the rules-based international order is crumbling in a repetition of the horrors that led to the establishment of the United Nations, and in violation of commitments to prevent their recurrence.

I urge Member States to take action to support UNRWA commensurate with the gravity of the situation and risks.

Read the full letter here👇
@UN_PGA

https://t.co/4RBBV7yJvl

[UN News @UN_News_Centre]

In #Lebanon, more than 2,000 people have died and 800,000 have been forced to flee in recent weeks as shelling continues.

@UNIFIL_ Spokesperson briefed reporters in NY from Beirut, pointing out that statistics cannot convey the human toll of the conflict.

[Beirut Urban Lab @BeirutUrbanLab]

Mapping Israel’s terror on South Beirut

99 “evacuation orders” for over 150 buildings in a month have targeted residential and commercial urban neighborhoods.

Read More on -https://t.co/4NmnlsoJEI

[Alonso Gurmendi @Alonso_GD]

What a force of nature. Bravo @FranceskAlbs !

[Jan Egeland @NRC_Egeland]

Norway says Israel’s banning of UNRWA is illegal under international law and takes the case to the International Court of Justice.
“No-one should be above international law. Israel is obligated to enable relief for civilians in areas they occupy”. https://t.co/TecMdc86GN

[Ihab Hassan @IhabHassane]

🚨 Dangerous development:

Israeli Settlers in the West Bank are preparing for war against Palestinians. The so-called Samaria Regional Council, led by Yossi Dagan, has purchased advanced sniper rifles, including Gilboa DMR rifles, along with thousands of other weapons.

Yossi Dagan stated, "We do everything we can to be as prepared as possible for any scenario."

The rifles were purchased from an Israeli company managed by officers in the IDF.

[louis charbonneau @loucharbon]

🚨🧵 @hrw reacts to #Israel’s latest move against @UNRWA: “The Israeli parliament's appalling decision to ban UNRWA from areas under Israeli control is not only unjustified but risks expanding Israeli authorities’ use of starvation as a weapon of war in #Gaza, a war crime.” 1/x

[Philippe Dam @philippe_dam]

#Syria is NOT safe for returns.

The only reason why some Syrians have crossed back into #Syria is because #Lebanon has become even less safe for them.

@HRW has documented multiple cases of repression, persecution, detention & death of returnees 👇👇

https://t.co/AkzkTMFecV

[Mairav Zonszein מרב זונשיין @MairavZ]

If It Looks Like Ethnic Cleansing, It Probably Is ⁦@haaretzcom⁩ https://t.co/3IsAD9EtjV

[Josep Borrell Fontelles @JosepBorrellF]

The images from Beit Lahiya in #Gaza are horrifying. At least 100 people have been killed in another IDF attack.

The principles of proportionality and protection of civilians continue to be brutally disregarded.

We will not stop condemning this and calling for accountability.

[Alonso Gurmendi @Alonso_GD]

They saw all your videos going to beaches in Tel Aviv and were surprised you did not see the apartheid, so now they really want you to see the apartheid

[Zeina Khodr @ZeinakhodrAljaz]

#Lebanon #Baalbeck

[Kim Ghattas @KimGhattas]

Deeply moving conversation with @LubnanBaalbaki, director of Lebanon's Philharmonic Orchestra about watching family home blown up by Israeli army in his village of Adeysseh, on border, 'like watching your parents die a second time..." In Arabic with subtitles. @Daraj_media