Orla Kearney

[Orla Kearney @orliekearney]

@hicasamadim 9

[Tony Connelly @tconnellyRTE]

NEW: Member states who opposed the Dutch proposal to review EU trade ties with Israel:

Germany
Hungary
Italy
Czechia
Croatia
Cyprus
Lithuania
Greece
Bulgaria

[Izz Cafe @CafeIzzIE]

We are so excited to finally launch our Izzpresso Maker perfect for summer outings, life in the go and more! Compatible with our Izzpresso pods or ground coffee. Get yours today at https://t.co/4pDdrXfbAb or instore while stock lasts 🇵🇸

[Marc Botenga MEP @BotengaM]

Israel apparently has enough planes for genocide, but not to fight wildfires.

So Europe will save trees, while Israeli bombs will continue to burn the children of Palestine.

[BladeoftheSun @BladeoftheS]

At the end of Louis Theroux's documentary he has to hide from the IDF as they are hunting Palestinians and he suspects they might kill him too.

Theroux says, "Can we ring the Police."

And the Palestinian laughs, there is no one who will protect them from Israel.

[Embassy of the State of Palestine to Ireland @IrePalestine]

Irish woman, Mary Evers, is making headlines in Palestine.

Her embroidery project honours Gaza martyrs.

“When a number becomes a name, everything changes.”

Black threads depict men's names, red for women, and green for children🇵🇸

More than 200 people from around the world are contributing to this striking project.

https://t.co/QbQlK3EkKN

https://t.co/0Rpx23nnBJ

[The Irish Politics Newsletter @IrishPoliticsNL]

What a time to be alive. Nationalists and Unionists unite in the one thing they have in common. Racism.

[Elaine Farrell Photography @_EFarrellPhoto]

My spot at Design Bank, Miltown Malbay. Opens Saturday 29th of June for 3 weeks, one of which is Willie Clancy Week. Please come along and support the eclectic and innovative creatives of Co. Clare. A retweet would be very much appreciated. x

[Elaine Farrell Photography @_EFarrellPhoto]

Bedlam at the #cliffsofmoher #stormisha Rts always appreciated. 🐣

[The Bee Guy @the_beeguy]

As always, many people asking us about #bumblebees at the moment - WHY THEY’RE SEEING THEM ON THE GROUND - so here’s a thread to explain what they’re up to.
Please #retweet.
Every #queen that survives means a new colony that gets to exist & produce new queen #bees for next year!
1/9

[Arnaud Bertrand @RnaudBertrand]

Another masterful interview on Gaza of Dominique De Villepin, former Prime Minister of France, who IMHO is the best diplomat the West has produced in decades.

Again I believe that his words are so important and so rare among Western leaders today, that I decided to translate it in full (the bold parts are emphasis Villepin himself made when speaking):

"The Israeli government, Benjamin Netanyahu, failed on October 7th and failed doubly. Firstly, in its ability to ensure the protection of the Israeli people by allowing massacres that are an abomination to occur. He bears direct responsibility for what happened. And his second failure is having encouraged a policy of occupation and colonization, which continues at this moment in the West Bank and constitutes another threat to Israel if a second front in the West Bank were to open.

Force does not ensure the security of a people! This is what all Israelis must understand today. And what is important is that since October 7th, the Israeli government's choice has been to escalate the use of force. You know, neither force nor vengeance ensures peace and security. What ensures peace and security is justice! And justice is not being served today.

The rationale of the Israeli government for the bombings happening today is flawed, and the whole international community can see it. The principle is: "we target terrorists, and unfortunately, there are also civilian populations," what is euphemistically called in military language "collateral damage." It must be understood that this collateral damage is not accidental. That is to say, it is perfectly predictable and fully accepted.

[Host: "But once again, the responsibility is not solely Israeli."]

But once more, let's stop asking about responsibility; let's look at the reality of what's happening on the ground! Assigning fault, allow me to tell you, we will leave to historians. What we want is to stop this violence, to stop these massacres. Israel is putting itself in danger, even more today, with this type of warfare and these types of strikes.

We are essentially dealing with a policy of vengeance from the Netanyahu government. Israel has the right to self-defense, but self-defense does not give an indiscriminate right to kill civilian populations. When you target an ambulance, you can always imagine that there was a terrorist in one of the ambulances, or not. But the result is that there are children, women who die. Every child, every woman killed, that's more terrorists. Therefore, Israel's objective, what Israel achieves, is exactly the opposite of what they wish. So, it is essential today to change this logic and return to a strategy that is sound.

Hostages, everything must be done to secure their release. But let's not forget: the Palestinian people are also taken hostage, by Hamas and by Israel. And Hamas, we all know, cares little for the Palestinian people. So telling Hamas: "we will not lift the siege, we will not have a humanitarian truce until the hostages are released," is a dialogue of the deaf.

Benjamin Netanyahu is waging a war to do everything so that the political solution does not come to the table. And this is where the international community, Europe, the United States, must tell Benjamin Netanyahu that this war is not acceptable. It is not acceptable because it leads us directly [to escalation] - because we can see it well, from Hamas we will move to Iran, from Iran we will move to other targets, and we then enter into the logic of a clash of civilizations. When Mr. Benjamin Netanyahu says that on one side there is the people of light and on the other the people of darkness, we can see the kind of spiral we are getting into.

All the wars that have been going on for the past twenty years are wars that begin and do not end. These are frozen conflicts. We know how to start a war; we do not know how to end it. And Mr. Benjamin Netanyahu could control Gaza, it would change nothing. There will continue to be terrorist attacks, Israelis will continue to live in fear. We must get out of this. The second reason why this is yesterday's war is that the war against terrorism has never been won anywhere. Force is not the answer, once again. Vengeance is not the answer. The answer is justice, and that is what all the peoples of the world, all those who today watch what is happening, call for justice.

Today the direction we must follow is to prevent Benjamin Netanyahu from continuing his suicidal logic that will make Israel a besieged state. They can besiege Gaza, but they will be besieged. And do not think that tomorrow we will again have a pacified discourse with Saudi Arabia, with the Arab states that will normalize the situation: no! The wounds of history are awakening.

Israel's interest is to have a responsible state at its side. And this responsible state, let's stop splitting hairs, must clearly be the West Bank, all of the West Bank. It must be Gaza, with access between the two territories, and East Jerusalem. The problem, and this is the whole point of Benjamin Netanyahu's escalation, is that Benjamin Netanyahu does not want it. And the policy of separation must be dignified. That is, it must confer to the Palestinians a state where they can live, a viable state, a true state, which can build itself and which will be all the more at peace...

[Host: "Does that mean that the settlements in the West Bank have to be removed?"]

Well, when we left Algeria, there were a million French who left Algeria. Today there are 500,000 Israelis colonizing the West Bank, and there are 200,000 in East Jerusalem.

[Host: "They must leave the West Bank?"]

Yes. Yes, that is history, that is responsibility, that is the price! I tell you solemnly, it is the price of security for Israel! And all those who today consider that it will never be enough are pursuing the worst policy."

Credit to @caissesdegreve who took these extracts from the original interview which can be found here: https://t.co/hRuGw6CbuA

[James Cotter @sirjamesofcots]

Jesus. The most painted man in history. And dudes loved painting him as a baby. I present to you, the most bizarre Baby Jesuses in art history (I could find in 5 minutes):

1: Male Pattern Baldness & Soul Patch Jesus.
Seen here ordering 2 Budweisers.

[A.A.Milne @A_AMilne]

‘Daffodowndilly’
She wore her yellow sun-bonnet,
She wore her greenest gown;
She turned to the south wind
And curtsied up and down.
She turned to the sunlight
And shook her yellow head,
And whispered to her neighbour
“Winter is dead.”
~A.A.Milne #spring #daffodil #SpringEquinox

[Spaghetti Monster (™) 🐳 🤡 ✌️ 🏴‍☠️ @flyingspghetti]

"Years ago, anthropologist Margaret Mead was asked by a student what she considered to be the first sign of civilization in a culture. The student expected Mead to talk about fishhooks or clay pots or grinding stones.

[Caitriona @trionacheile]

From 1929 to 1967 Irish primary children sat the Primary Cert exam. A great source for giving primary students an insight into the kind of work their great grandparents were doing in primary school. This is the Maths exam from 1957. Ye have 1 hour - no calculators!

[Orla Kearney @orliekearney]

@AskAIB How do I get help regarding transactions on my current account? I need more information about a transaction.

[Elaine Farrell Photography @_EFarrellPhoto]

Fabulous Atlantic scenes yesterday in west Clare, Ireland. #coclare #ireland #stormseason Rts always appreciated.

[Sean O' Riordan @seanorphoto]

The Burren - above and below. Take 50 seconds out of your evening to get lost in the magic landscape of the Burren. I shot this video in some rare conditions. Hope you enjoy, RT appreciated as always @Danny_mac_10 @CarlowWeather @visitBurren

[TG4 @TG4TV]

🎶ORO SÉ DO BHEATHA 'BHAILE

[Science girl @sciencegirl]

Spectacular time lapse of the the Eurasian blue tit (Cyanistes caeruleus),

From finding and inspecting her new home to raising a family