... and they were amazing!
Congolese music is always a good idea!
Jazz à la Villette 2025 | Festival du 28 août au 7 septembre
27/08/2025
Zeyne - Hilwa
Zeyne - Hilwa | زين - حلوة
Palestinian-Jordanian artist Zeyne this summer unveils her latest single, “Hilwa,” a soul-stirring anthem of self-love, generational strength, and cultural pride.
The track was eleased via MDLBEAST Records in partnership with her own imprint, Scarab Records.
And the singer is herself praised for her role as one of the most innovative and important voices in the Arab music scene today.
"The time has come for Europe to speak with one voice on Gaza."
European Commissioner for Humanitarian Aid Hadja Lahbib called on Thursday for the 27 member states to have "the political courage to find a strong voice" on the war in Gaza, as member states are divided over the stance to adopt towards Israel.
"We are at a turning point and the time has come for the EU to act in a manner that lives up to its international stature," she said in an interview with several journalists, including AFP.
"The time has come for Europe to speak with one voice on Gaza."
"What is happening there haunts me and should haunt us all. Because it is a tragedy and we will be judged by history and by our grandchildren," she added. "We cannot stand by and simply watch innocent civilians, aid workers, and journalists being killed and starving."
EU foreign ministers are scheduled to meet in Copenhagen on Friday and Saturday for an informal meeting where the situation in Gaza will be discussed, but no decision is expected.
The United Nations and non-governmental organizations regularly denounce the catastrophic humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip, a territory under siege and bombardment by Israel for nearly two years, where more than two million Palestinians live.
In Gaza, "we are talking about a famine in the 21st century, the first ever seen in the Middle East," Ms. Lahbib stressed. "What is particularly shocking and sad is that this is a famine we could have avoided if we had been allowed to provide our humanitarian aid."
EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas announced in July that she had reached an agreement with Israel to allow greater access to international humanitarian aid.
This agreement has only been "partially" implemented, Ms. Lahbib added, for whom even if "some progress" has been made, it remains very insufficient.
26/08/2025
UN call for justice in the Gaza war crimes
UN says Israeli probes into Gaza killings must ‘yield results’
Geneva, Aug 26, 2025 (AFP) - The UN insisted Tuesday that Israel must not only investigate alleged unlawful killings in Gaza like the hospital strike that killed 20 people, including journalists, the previous day, but also ensure those probes yield results.
"There needs to be justice," United Nations rights office spokesman Thameen Al-Kheetan told reporters in Geneva, adding that the large number of media workers killed in the Gaza war "raises many, many questions about the targeting of journalists".
His comments came after an Israeli strike on the Nasser Hospital in the southern Gaza town of Khan Yunis on Monday killed at least 20 people, including five journalists, sparking an international outcry.
Reuters, the Associated Press and Al Jazeera all issued statements mourning their slain contributors, while the Israeli military said it would investigate the incident.
"The Israeli authorities have, in the past, announced investigations in such killings," Kheetan said.
"It's of course the responsibility of Israel, as the occupying power, to investigate -- but these investigations need to yield results," he said.
"We haven't seen results or accountability measures yet. We have yet to see the results of these investigations, and we call for accountability and justice."
Kheetan said at least 247 Palestinian journalists have been killed in Gaza since the war was triggered by militant group Hamas's unprecedented attack on Israel on October 7, 2023.
"These journalists are the eyes and the ears of the whole world and they must be protected," he said.
Asked if Monday's attack could amount to a so-called "double-tap" strike, in which an initial strike is followed by a second hitting rescue workers and other civilians, Kheetan said this needed to be investigated.
"We can say that the Israeli military reportedly launched multiple air strikes on the Nasser Medical Complex, and there were two air strikes in a short period of time," he said.
"We know that one of the five journalists appears to have been killed in the first air strike while three others, including the woman journalist, appear to have been killed in the second air strike," he added, describing this as "a shock" and "unacceptable".
"This incident and the killing of all civilians, including journalists, must be thoroughly and independently investigated, and justice must follow."
25/08/2025
Gaza: Journalists 'targeted' in Israeli strike, acc. to RSF
Israel - Hamas war
RSF says journalists 'targeted' in Israeli strike on Gaza hospital
Israeli strikes on a hospital complex in Gaza killed 20 people, including five Palestinian journalists in what the French NGO Reporters without Borders called a "deliberate" attack.
Issued on:
Strikes hit Nasser Hospital in Khan Yunis, a large medical complex in the south of Gaza that is a known gathering place for displaced journalists, according to the press freedom group Reporters without borders (RSF).
Hossam al-Masri, a freelance photographer for the Reuters news agency died in a first drone strike on the hospital Monday morning. A second strike, eight minute later, killed three other journalists who had arrived at the scene to cover rescue efforts.
They included Mariam Abu Daqqa, a freelance journalist for the Associated Press news agency; Moaz Abu Taha, a correspondent for the American broadcasting network NBC; and Mohamad Salama, a photojournalist for Al Jazeera.
Freelance journalist Ahmad Abu Aziz died soon after of injuries. Freelance photographer Hatem Khaled was wounded in the second strike, according to Reuters, as was Palestine TV journalist Jamal Bemdah, according to RSF.
RSF said the journalists were "deliberately targeted" and called for an emergency UN Security Council meeting to ensure the protection of journalists in Gaza and "that concrete measures are taken to end impunity for crimes against journalists, protect Palestinian journalists, and open access to the Gaza Strip to all reporters".
Shocking indifference
The United Nations insisted that journalists and hospitals should never be targeted. "The killing of journalists in Gaza should shock the world – not into stunned silence but into action, demanding accountability and justice," UN rights office spokeswoman Ravina Shamdasani said in a statement.
The head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees Philippe Lazzarini described the strike as "silencing the last remaining voices reporting about children dying silently amid famine", adding on social media platform X: "The world's indifference and inaction is shocking."
Following the strike, the Israel-based Foreign Press Association called for an "immediate explanation" from the military and prime minister's office. "We call on Israel once and for all to halt its abhorrent practice of targeting journalists," the group said in a statement.
The Israeli foreign ministry said on X that troops carried out a strike in the area around the hospital, which has targeted several times since the start of the war. The military said will conduct an "initial inquiry as soon as possible", the ministry said, adding that it "regrets any harm to uninvolved individuals and does not target journalists as such".
Media restrictions
Earlier this month an Israeli air strike killed four Al Jazeera staff and two freelancers outside Al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City.
The Israeli military alleged that one of those killed, Anas al-Sharif, headed a Hamas "terrorist cell" and was "responsible for advancing rocket attacks" against Israelis. The Committee to protect journalists and RSF slammed that strike, saying journalists should never be targeted in war.
According to the CPJ and other media watchdogs, over 200 journalists have been killed in nearly two years of war in Gaza between Israel and Hamas, many of them while exercising their profession.
However, media restrictions in Gaza and difficulties in accessing many areas mean AFP is unable to independently verify the tolls and details provided by the civil defence agency or the Israeli military.
(with newswires)
Nos collaborateurs à Gaza sont toujours en danger de mort, nous supplions la France de les évacuer
Paris, le 25 août 2025
Nos collaborateurs à Gaza sont toujours en danger de mort, nous supplions la France de les évacuer
Fin
mai dernier, nous avions publié avec les sociétés de journalistes d’une
vingtaine de médias français un appel à évacuer nos collaborateurs
gazaouis et leurs familles. Depuis, une poignée d’entre eux seulement a
pu quitter l’enclave assiégée.
Entre-temps, l’ONU a officiellement déclaré l’état de famine à Gaza le 22 août. Elle concerne un demi-million de personnes.
Cet
été, Israël a délibérément ciblé et tué cinq journalistes d’Al Jazeera
et un reporter indépendant, les accusant sans en apporter la preuve de «
terrorisme ». Lundi 25 août, la chaîne qatarienne mais aussi Associated Press, Reuters et NBC ont appris, « dévastés » et « choqués », la mort de cinq de leurs collaborateurs, tués par une frappe israélienne sur un hôpital du sud de Gaza.
Depuis fin juillet, le gouvernement français a suspendu les évacuations de Palestiniens de Gaza vers la France, sans exception.
Nos
collègues gazaouis sont nos voix et nos oreilles depuis plus de 18
mois. Sans eux nous ne pourrions pas témoigner de l’ampleur de la
tragédie humanitaire qui se joue actuellement au Proche-Orient. Ce sont
nos collègues et nos amis.
Nous
refusons qu’ils viennent s’ajouter à la liste des plus de 200
journalistes palestiniens qui ont péri depuis l’attaque terroriste du 7
octobre 2023 et le début de l’offensive israélienne. Nous supplions la
France de reprendre les évacuations et de les accueillir. Et nous
demandons à nouveau à la communauté internationale qu’elle exige
d’Israël d’ouvrir Gaza à la presse étrangère.
- La Société des Journalistes de RFI
24/08/2025
22/08/2025
Senegal vs the United States in the case of Gaza
New post:
International justice: Senegal vs the United States in the case of Gaza
I took a few days off for a break, and found lots of joy and strength. Now, it's time to face these dark times again, by focusing on more places of strength.
International justice: Senegal vs the United States in the case of Gaza
I took a few days off for a break, and found lots of joy and strength. Now, it's time to face these dark times again, by focusing on more places of strength.
-
Israeli historian Yuval Noah Harari on Gaza horrors as a “spiritual catastrophe” for Judaism itself
"What is happening right now in Israel could basically, I think, destroy, void 2000 years of Jewish thinking and culture and existence."
Israeli historian Yuval Noah Harari warned that if Israel continues on its present path such a trajectory would bring a “spiritual catastrophe” for Judaism itself.
Speaking during a conversation shared on the Unholy Podcast, he said the worst-case scenario could see an ethnic cleansing campaign in Gaza and the West Bank, the expulsion of millions of Palestinians, the disintegration of Israeli democracy and the rise of a greater Israel built on Jewish supremacy.
Harari compared the moment to the fall of the Second Temple in 70 CE, calling it one of the most significant turning points in Jewish history.
He said the danger is that this new reality would redefine Judaism worldwide, leaving Jews everywhere forced to grapple with an identity rooted in “the worship of power and violence” instead of values developed over two millennia.
Famine in Gaza City
Famine confirmed in Gaza City for first time, UN-backed body says
Famine in Gaza City means "deaths will increase exponentially", UN-backed organisation warns
Famine has been confirmed in Gaza City for the first time, a UN-backed body responsible for monitoring food security says.
The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) has raised its classification to Phase 5, the highest and worst level of its acute food insecurity scale.
The full report's key highlights:
• The Famine Review Committee (FRC) has determined that Famine (IPC Phase 5) is currently occurring in Gaza Governorate. Furthermore, the FRC projects Famine (IPC Phase 5) thresholds to be crossed in Deir al-Balah and Khan Younis Governorates in the coming weeks.
• As this Famine is entirely man-made, it can be halted and reversed. The time for debate and hesitation has passed, starvation is present and is rapidly spreading. There should be no doubt in anyone’s mind that an immediate, at-scale response is needed. Any further delay—even by days—will result in a totally unacceptable escalation of Famine-related mortality.
• If a ceasefire is not implemented to allow humanitarian aid to reach everyone in the Gaza Strip, and if essential food supplies, and basic health, nutrition, and WASH services are not restored immediately, avoidable deaths will increase exponentially
-
UPDATE:
UN rights chief Volker Turk said "it is a war crime to use starvation as a method of warfare", minutes after famine was declared in the Gaza Strip on Friday.
Turk said the resulting deaths "may also amount to the war crime of wilful killing", while UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said, "we cannot allow this situation to continue with impunity."
Guterres also called for "an immediate ceasefire, the immediate release of all hostages, and full, unfettered humanitarian access."
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)