#Al Quds Travel

[gazamaha]

I am Maha Ashour, I currently live in the completely destroyed city of Gaza🇵🇸💔, specifically in Rafah, and I was displaced to the city of Khan Yunis.🇵🇸 I am 20 years old. My life and future have been destroyed, and my education has stopped.😭🇵🇸 I was studying at Al-Quds Open University in the Faculty of Education (Mathematics)💔. I am seriously thinking of leaving Gaza to complete my education and build my future, but I will not be able to secure the travel expenses and the educational expenses abroad. My dear sympathetic friends all over the world, with your generous donation, even if it is small, it can save my future and education and allow me to build my future outside Gaza. With my greetings and peace to you🫂💔

my campaing vetted by:

nabulsi

90-ghost

a-shade-of-blue

@ibtisam @riding-with-the-wild-hunt @vakarians-babe @7amaspayrollmanager @fairuzfakhira @fallahsart @sayruq @humanvoreture @kaapstadgirly @sar-soor @dimonds456-art @plomegranate @commissions4aid-international @nabulsi @stil-macher @soon-palestine @communitythings @palestinegenocide @vakarians-babe @ghost-and-a-half @7amaspayrollmanager @kaapstadgirly @annoyingloudmicrowavecultist @feluka @marnota @toughknit @flower-tea-fairies @the-stray-liger @riding-with-the-wild-hunt @vivisection-gf @communistchameleon @troythecatfish @the-bastard-king @4ft10tvlandfangirl

[odinsblog]

“I first started noticing the journalists dying on Instagram. I'm a journalist, I'm Arab, and I've reported on war. A big part of my community is other Arab journalists who do the same thing.

And when someone dies, news travels fast. Recently, I pulled up the list that the Committee to Protect Journalists has been keeping and looked at it for the first time. There are 95 journalists and media workers on it as of today.

Almost everyone on it is Palestinian. Scrolling through, I started to get angry. These were the people carrying the burden of documenting this whole war.

Israel is not allowing foreign journalists into Gaza, except on rare occasions with military escorts. These people's names are being buried in a giant list that keeps growing. What I want to do is lift some of them off the list for a moment and give you a glimpse of who they were and the work they made.

I'll start with Sadi Mansour. Sadi was the director of Al-Quds News Network, and he posted a 22-second video on November 18. That was a report from the war, but it also gave me a picture into his marriage.

Sadi's wearing his press vest and looks exhausted. He's explaining that cell service and the Internet keep getting cut off, and it's often impossible to text or call anyone, including his wife. So they've resorted to using handwritten letters to communicate while he's out reporting, sending them back and forth with neighbors or colleagues.

He ends the video with a picture of one of these letters from his wife. In it, she writes,

‘Me and the kids stayed up waiting for you until the morning, and you didn't come home. We were really sad.

I kept telling the kids, Look, he's coming. But you didn't show up. May God forgive you.

Come home tomorrow and eat with us. Do you want me to make you kebab or maybe kapse? Bring your friends with you, it's okay.

And give Azeez the battery to charge. What do you think about me sending you handwritten letters with messenger pigeons from now on? Ha ha ha.

I'm just kidding. I want to curse at you, but we're living in a war. Too bad.

Okay, I love you. Bye.’

A few hours after he shared that letter, Sadie and his co-worker Hassouna Saleem were at Sadie's home, when they were killed by an Israeli air strike that hit his house.

His wife and kids, who weren't there, survived.

Gaza is tiny, and the journalist community is really close. Reading the list, you can see all the connections between people. Like with Brahim Lafi.

Brahim was a photojournalist, one of the first journalists to die. He was killed while reporting on October 7. He was just 21, still new to journalism.

On his Instagram, you can see that in his posts just a few years ago, he was still practicing his photography, taking pictures of coffee cups and flowers. Then he started doing beautiful portraits and action shots. You can really feel him starting to become a journalist.

Clicking around on Instagram, I found a tribute post about Brahim from his co-worker Rushdie Sarraj. In this photo, Brahim staring intently at the back of a camera, his face lit up by the light from the viewfinder. He looks so young.

The caption reads, My assistant is gone. Brahim is gone. Rushdie himself was a beloved journalist and filmmaker.

And I know that because he's also on the list. He was killed just two weeks after Brahim. I read the tribute post to him too.

I saw this over and over again. Journalists posting tributes, who were then killed themselves soon after. And a tribute goes up for them.

And then the pattern continues.

Thank you.

Something else I saw over and over on the list, journalists later in the war who had become aware that they could be making their last reports. They'd say it at the beginning of their videos. And those were the hardest to watch, especially when it was true.

One video like that was posted by Ayat Hadduro. Ayat was a freelance journalist and video blogger. Her videos before the war covered a wide range from what I can tell, interviews about women in politics.

She even appeared in a commercial for ketchup-flavored chips. She clearly liked being in front of the camera. Once the war started, Ayat's pivoted to covering bombings and food shortages.

On November 20, she posted a video report from her home. You can hear the airstrikes hitting very close to where she is. It's scary.

‘This is likely my last video. Today, the occupation forces dropped phosphorus bombs on Beit Lahya area and frightening sound bombs. They dropped letters from the sky, ordering everyone to evacuate.

Everyone ran into the streets in the craziest way. No one knows where to go.

But everyone else has evacuated. They don't know where they're going. The situation is so scary.

What's happening is so tough, and may God have mercy on us.’

She was killed later that day.

Targeting journalists, in case you didn't know, is a war crime. So far, the Committee to Protect Journalists has found that three of the journalists on the list were explicitly targeted by the IDF, the Israeli military. Investigations by the Washington Post and Reuters, Human Rights Watch and the United Nations have also raised serious questions in these three cases.

And the Committee to Protect Journalists is investigating 10 other killings. When we reached out to the IDF for comments, they said, quote, the IDF has never, and will never, deliberately target journalists. That's the answer they always give in these situations.

Meanwhile, dozens of seasoned reporters have fled Gaza. Journalists who worked for Al Jazeera, the BBC, the New York Times, the Washington Post, Reuters, Agence France-Presse. So many media offices were demolished in Israeli airstrikes that the Committee to Protect Journalists stopped counting.

It's not just individual lives that have been destroyed. It's an entire infrastructure.

Thank you.

The name on the list that was hardest for me to look at was Issam Abdullah, because I'd crossed paths with him once. Issam was a Lebanese journalist, a video journalist for Reuters for many, many years. He had just won an award for coverage of Ukraine.

I'm Lebanese and still report there sometimes, and I'd worked with Issam a couple of summers ago. He helped me film a sort of random story in Beirut. I was interviewing this entrepreneur who had started a sperm freezing company after an accident where he spilled a tray of hot coffee on his private area, burning himself.

I know, ridiculous. It was a really silly shoot. Right after we said cut and started to rap, Issam started this whole bit about being in his late 30s, reconsidering his own sperm quality and everything he now realized he was doing to hurt it, and no one could stop laughing.

It was a really good day that felt good to remember and to remember him that way. Issam was killed by the IDF on October 13. His death was one of the three that the Committee to Protect Journalists has identified as a targeted killing.

He was fired upon by an Israeli tank while standing in an empty field on the Lebanon-Israel border with a small group of other journalists. Everyone was wearing press vests with cameras out. They were covering the Hezbollah part of this war.

A few other journalists were injured in the attack, which was captured on video. The IDF says they were responding to firing from Hezbollah, not targeting the journalists. But multiple investigations, including by Reuters, the United Nations, Amnesty International and the AFP, found no evidence of any firing from the location of the journalists before the IDF shot at them.

The journalists in the group and video footage confirmed that there was no military activity near them. I had only met Issam once, barely knew him, but it affected me so much when he died. I know that he understood the risks of his job, but somehow it still felt so random and unfair that he would be struck down like that, following the rules, wearing his press vest and helmet, and a pack of reporters on a sunny day in an open field.

I find myself thinking about him all the time. His last Instagram post was commemorating another journalist, this iconic reporter Shereen Abou Aql who had been killed by the IDF. When I first saw that post in October, I thought how ironic because a week later, Isam also was killed by the IDF.

But then, after spending time reading the list, I realized how common this had become. I still haven't finished going through the list and looking up the people on it. I keep finding things that stick with me, like the funny way this one radio host would cut off a caller who was rambling on for too long.

A tweet from reporter Al-Abdallah that quoted Sylvia Plath. It read, What ceremony of wars can patch the havoc? I'm going to keep going down the list, even though this story is over now.

Just for myself. My own way of bearing witness. Which is, in the end, all that these journalists were trying to do.”

—DANA BALLOUT, The 95. Dana sifts through a very long list—the list of journalists killed in the Israel-Hamas war, and comes back with five small fragments of the lives of the people on it. Dana is a Lebanese-American, Emmy-nominated documentary producer.

[nohagaza]

I am Niha Mahmoud. I live in Gaza, which has been completely destroyed, specifically in Rafah. I was displaced to the city of Khan Yunis. I am 19 years old. My life and future have been destroyed, and my studies have stopped. 💔

I was studying at Al-Quds Open University, Faculty of Business Administration. 🇵🇸I am seriously thinking of leaving Gaza to complete my education and build my future, but I will not be able to secure the travel expenses and the expenses of studying abroad. My dear sympathetic friends all over the world, with your generous donation, even if it is small, it can save my future. 🇵🇸💔

My future and education may be lost outside Gaza. My regards and greetings to you.

[guerillas-of-history]

The mothers of the martyrs are present at a celebration for the opening of a monument for Tulkarem's martyrs Hamza Khreyoush and Samer Shafi'i, resistance fighters of the Tulkarem Brigade - Rapid Response Group.

Members of the Jenin Brigade travelled to Tulkarem to attend the event, as well as Saraya Al-Quds' Tulkarem Brigade, Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, and Al-Qassam Brigades.

[90-ghost]

What is the first thing you will do, after you get your freedom? Tell us all something about yourself Ahmed.

First thing going to al quds to pray in Al-Aqsa Mosque .

I'm normal person lazy one I'm not social i love staying at home with my family or going out with them i know alot of people but i have just 2 friends and one of them closer to me we used to see each other every day and walk. I love swimming i live near the beach. I start working online on November 2022 and i trade Forex online since 2020 but i stopped after i start working online. I used to play football or soccer as u American say it. And i had playstation 4 used to play call of duty since 2018 . I wanted to study outside gaza after i finished High school on 2012 but it was impossible because the financial situation. Still dreaming of traveling to Europe or USA because i could find myself and discover what I'm able to do and achieve because here in gaza our life is hard and The available possibilities are few . I hope somebody could help me with that and get me a visa lol. Sometimes i think i don't know myself enough. Sorry i talked alot

[workersolidarity]

[ 📹 Scenes from the destruction wrought by an Israeli occupation airstrike which targeted a vehicle being driven by 7 foreign aid workers belonging to the World Central Kitchen, killing all inside. Among the dead included foreign citizens of Britain, Poland, and Australia, along with a dual American and Canadian citizen. The aid organization said it had coordinated the movements of its personnel with the Israeli authorities, who knew the vehicle contained humanitarian aid workers.]

🇮🇱⚔️🇵🇸 🚀🚀🚙💥 🚨

ISRAELI OCCUPATION BOMBS FOREIGN AID WORKERS, CONTINUES BOMBING ACROSS GAZA ON DAY 179 OF GENOCIDE

On the 179th day of "Israel's" ongoing war of genocide in the Gaza Strip, the Israeli occupation forces (IOF) committed a total of 7 new massacres of Palestinian families, resulting in the deaths of no less than 71 Palestinians, mostly women and children, while another 102 others were wounded over the previous 24-hours.

In the latest occupation atrocity, the Zionist army bombed the vehicle of a group of Foreign aid personnel working for the World Central Kitchen (WCK), killing 7 employees, including 6 foreigners.

"World Central Kitchen is devastated to confirm seven members of our team have been killed in an IDF strike in Gaza," the organization said in a statement on its website.

According to the World Central Kitchen, despite coordinating the organization's movements with the Israeli occupation army, a convoy including two armored cars branded with the WCK logo and one soft-skin vehicle that were carrying the WCK team while it was traveling through a "deconflicted zone" was struck by an Israeli bomb, destroying at least one of the vehicles.

WCK says the team was leaving their Deir al-Balah warehouse, in the central Gaza Strip, where their teams unloaded more than 100 tons of humanitarian food aid brought to Gaza through a maritime route, when the convoy was targeted by Zionist forces.

“This is not only an attack against WCK, this is an attack on humanitarian organizations showing up in the most dire of situations where food is being used as a weapon of war. This is unforgivable,” World Central Kitchen CEO, Erin Gore is quoted as saying.

The seven foreign aid workers killed in the Zionist strike included citizens from Australia, Poland, the United Kingdom, as well as a dual-citizen of the United States and Canada, and one Palestinian.

“I am heartbroken and appalled that we—World Central Kitchen and the world—lost beautiful lives today because of a targeted attack by the IDF. The love they had for feeding people, the determination they embodied to show that humanity rises above all, and the impact they made in countless lives will forever be remembered and cherished,” Erin Gore added.

In response to the International outcry over the atrocity, the Israeli occupation authorities said they will be “carrying out an in-depth examination at the highest levels to understand the circumstances of this tragic incident.”

The World Central Kitchen has suspended its operations in Gaza as a result of the incident.

In yet another atrocity yesterday, the Israeli occupation army bombed the Iranian consulate building in the Syrian capital of Damascus, killing several high-level Iranian officials, including 7 military advisors of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).

In response to the strike, Iranian Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei said in an announcement issued on Tuesday that the "evil Zionist regime will regret" it's crime of assasinating Iran's military advisors in Syria.

The Iranian leader said that both Brigadier General Mohammad Reza Zahedi, a commander of the IRGC’s Quds Force, and his deputy, General Mohammed Hadi Haji Rahimi were killed in the strike, which targeted the Iranian consulate in Damascus, declaring the crime was perpetrated by the "usurping and dispicable" Zionist regime.

“The evil regime will be punished by our brave men. We will make them regret this crime and other ones, by God's will," the Iranian leader added.

As Israel's crimes spread outside the occupied Palestinian territories and the Gaza Strip, and into the wider West Asian region, the bombing inside Palestine continued unabated.

In just one example, local civil defense crews recovered the bodies of six Palestinians who were killed, including two children, along with a number of wounded civilians, following a Zionist occupation airstrike targeting the Zarub family home, located in the city of Rafah, in the south of the Gaza Strip.

In another atrocity, several Palestinians were killed and a large number wounded after occupation artillery shelling targeted a number of residential buildings in the city of Khan Yunis, also in the south of Gaza, focusing artillery fire on the eastern and central parts of the city.

Meanwhile, Zionist warplanes bombed the al-Bashir Mosque, in the city of Deir al-Balah, in the central Gaza Strip, martyring a several civilians, including the death of at least one child, and wounding at least 20 others, while also dealing significant damage to neighboring residential buildings.

Similarly, Zionist fighter jets fired several missiles that slammed into two residential homes in the Al-Zaytoun neighborhood, southeast of Gaza City, while occupation artillery shelling targeted the Tal al-Hawa neighborhood, along with the Sheikh Ajlin neighborhood, martyring three civilians and wounding six others.

Over the last day, as the Zionist occupation army withdrew from the Al-Shifa Medical Complex, located in the Al-Rimal neighborhood of Gaza City, which had been the largest and most well-equipped hospital in the entire Gaza Strip, a scene of mass destruction and carnage was revealed, with hundreds of bodies littering the hospital grounds, including some bodies discovered with handcuffed wrists, having been extra-judicially executed in cold-blood.

Among the bodies recovered from Al-Shifa were doctors and healthcare personnel, along with entire Palestinian families, which the Gaza Media Office says were just a small part of the roughly 400 citizens that were killed in two weeks of fighting near the hospital.

About another 900 Palestinians were arrested or detained by Zionist forces under suspicion of belonging to Resistance groups, while the Hospital buildings themselves were nearly completely destroyed, blown to pieces and left as scorched shells by the American bombs dropped on them by the Israeli occupation army.

As a result of "Israel's" ongoing war of genocide in the Gaza Strip, the infinitely rising death toll has now exceeded 32'916 Palestinians killed, more than 25'000 of which being among women and children, while an additional 75'494 others have been wounded since the start of the current round of Zionist aggression beginning on October 7th, 2023.

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@WorkerSolidarityNews

[neodymiumcuilz]

HELP MAHA IN GAZA!!

Hellp everyone!! This campaign is for our friend @gazamaha4 who has reached out to me asking for help, help in rebuilding her life ruined by the destruction. Please listen to her message;

"I am Maha Ashour. I currently live in the completely destroyed city of Gaza, specifically in Rafah, and I was displaced to the city of Khan Yunis. I am 20 years old. My life and future have been destroyed, and my education has stopped. I was studying at Al-Quds Open University in the Faculty of Education (Mathematics). I am seriously thinking of leaving Gaza to complete my education and build my future, but I will not be able to secure the travel expenses and the educational expenses abroad.My dear sympathetic friends all over the world, with your generous donation, even if it is small, it can save my future and education and allow me to build my future outside Gaza. With my greetings and peace to you."

If you are able to please spread her message, please do so. Visit her account @gazamaha4 and interact with the account and posts, share her campaign, reblog, please use your account and voice to bring attention to her and her campaign!!

The people of Gaza have not stopped suffering and still require your attention. They are displaced amidst the rubble, and cannot afford the most basic necessities, like food, water, shelter, education, clothes, health care. Even a loaf of bread can be up to $330!! They need urgent funds to survive. Be a light in the darkness, be a kind person here;

ONLY 4% OF GOAL REACHED. HELP @gazamaha4

Thank you for having humanity.

[gazamaha9]

I am Maha Ashour, I currently live in the completely destroyed city of Gaza🇵🇸💔, specifically in Rafah, and I was displaced to the city of Khan Yunis.🇵🇸 I am 20 years old. My life and future have been destroyed, and my education has stopped.😭🇵🇸 I was studying at Al-Quds Open University in the Faculty of Education (Mathematics)💔. I am seriously thinking of leaving Gaza to complete my education and build my future, but I will not be able to secure the travel expenses and the educational expenses abroad. My dear sympathetic friends all over the world, with your generous donation, even if it is small, it can save my future and education and allow me to build my future outside Gaza. With my greetings and peace to you🫂💔

[lordzannis]

I’m here to support @suad-khaled, a mother who is facing unimaginable challenges and needs our help. She has been through so much strife, and now it’s our turn to lend a hand.

$70,000 goal

Suad, a Palestinian mother from Gaza, fights every day to survive with her 6-month-old son Khaled. What was once a situation of hope has turned into an endless struggle. She has lost all hope of leaving Gaza due to the difficulties of travel, and her daily life is filled with challenges. Baby formula is unavailable in the market, and when she finds fruits or vegetables, she can only afford to buy enough for one day’s meal for her son. The flour they rely on for their food is infested with bugs and is unsafe, but they have no other option. Khaled suffers from breathing issues that have been ongoing for some time, and he urgently needs daily nebulizer treatments, but the circumstances make it hard to provide them. Suad needs your help, and so does her son, in these incredibly hard times.

How can you help?

Share this story: Posting it on your profile could make a world of difference for Suad and Khaled.

Donate: Any amount, no matter how small, can have a significant impact.

Spread the word: If you can’t help financially, sharing this story with others can help them get the word out. In these challenging times, every share, every word of support can take them one step closer to hope.

Let's stand with Suad in her battle against overwhelming circumstances and give Khaled hope for a better tomorrow. Please, don't leave them alone. Every bit of support, no matter how small, can make a difference.

verified by Nabulsi, El-Shab Hussien, and NorthGazaUpdate, 90-ghost, and She's on the vetted list on 279 line.

Give her and others like her a gift on Gofundmes and Chuffed. $49,130/$70,000 goal.

€125,227/€150,000 goal 83% https://gofund.me/a61d4a69

Urgent Appeal: Help Abdullah Al-Saghir and His Family Rebuild Their Lives

Abdullah Al-Saghir, a 10-year-old boy from Khan Yunis, has been forced to grow up too quickly. He says, "I did not say the child because I was deprived of my childhood." His story is one of immense loss and resilience:

Abdullah lost his father when he was just 7 years old.

He and his family of 8 were displaced from their "big, beautiful house" to a tent after their home was reduced to rubble.

His brother Sharif, newly married, lost the house he had worked so hard to build.

Another brother, Ashraf, saw his promising academic future disrupted when his university was demolished.

Despite these hardships, Abdullah and his family maintain hope for a better future. They are seeking support to rebuild what has been destroyed in their lives.

Is #8 on Vetted Gaza Fundraiser List .

$2,600/$100,000 goal

#10 on Vetted Gaza Fundraiser List

€40,892/€90,000 goal

#12 on Vetted Gaza Fundraiser List

$36,218/$60,000 goal 60%

#13 on Vetted Gaza Fundraiser List

$39,472/$70,000 goal 56%

#17 on Vetted Gaza Fundraiser List

Support the Awad Family's Journey to Safety and Haneen Awad's Family

$985 / $50,000 goal $5,799 /$50,000 goal

#19 on Vetted Gaza Fundraiser List

$29,085/$50,000 goal. 58%

Urgent Appeal for Help: Ahlam from Gaza Needs Your Support

Ahlam is a 54-year-old woman from Gaza who is facing a dire situation. She suffers from kidney failure and endures extremely difficult living conditions due to the ongoing war. Having lost everything, Ahlam is in critical need of medical attention but has been hampered by a severe lack of healthcare resources and overcrowded hospitals. She has nearly lost her life on multiple occasions and is now in urgent need of a lifesaving operation that costs 300 euros. Ahlam’s husband also suffers from heart disease, leaving the family without a source of income and food. Ahlam is reaching out for help as she does not want to lose her life. Your support can make a profound difference.

How You Can Help:

Donate: Any contribution, no matter how small, can help Ahlam afford the operation she desperately needs to survive.

Spread the Word: Sharing Ahlam’s story can increase awareness and encourage others to support her in this critical time.

Show Compassion: Every act of kindness counts. Your generosity could be the lifeline that Ahlam and her family need.

$1,858/$50,000

Verified: @90-ghost, she got a chuffed account but they needed to Paypal in the meantime, still does put money in each account.

her name is Mai, and her father is Falah. Her family is in desperate need of donations, as her father is in critical condition, and they must continue surviving.

Mai needs to raise $100 for her family. PayPal is the fastest way for her to receive money, so she has asked me to use my PayPal in order to raise money for her.

They need money for medical expenses, basic necessities, and evacuation funds. Please share and donate what you can to help her family. https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/burnpygmalion

€10,110/€20,000 goal for gfm

Ahlam Ramadan, a 53-year-old mother from Gaza, has been enduring the horrors of war for over 12 months. The conflict has not only taken her home but has rendered life nearly unlivable. Ahlam has been suffering from kidney failure for 11 long years, and providing the necessary treatment has become increasingly impossible in her current circumstances. She requires dialysis four times a week to survive, but due to the ongoing conflict and the closure of crossing points, accessing medical care is a pipe dream. Ahlam's health is deteriorating rapidly, and she urgently needs to travel for treatment. Her situation is desperate. Ahlam is the matriarch of a large family—she has 9 daughters and 1 son, and together they have welcomed 22 grandchildren into the world, many of whom were born during the war. Despite having six daughters married and her son also having a family, the entire clan has faced unimaginable hardships. They have been displaced from their home more than 10 times, and now they find themselves crammed into a tent, where the conditions are unbearable. With more than 30 people living in this tiny space, they suffer from intense heat, the constant threat of dangerous insects and snakes, and the lack of basic necessities. The situation is not only a struggle for survival but also a fight against the deteriorating health of Ahlam.€10,110/€20,000 goal

Please share Ahlam’s story within your networks. Raising awareness is crucial to garnering the support she needs. Encourage your friends, family, and community to get involved. The more voices we have, the stronger our impact will be.

Your assistance can provide Ahlam with the treatment she desperately needs and improve the living conditions for her and her family. Every donation, no matter how small, can make a tremendous difference.

Tawfeek and his family (his wife and two children, Mazen and Manal) are trapped in Gaza with very low funds. They are living in a tent. Prices are very high due to the war, and his children need a lot of care, especially his son, who is injured. In addition to this, his GoFundMe funds were stolen by his cousin.

Tawfeek and his family urgently need funds for healthcare and other basic necessities. Please donate if you are able.

https://www.spotfund.com/story/dd517642-dd52-4b48-8ef9-5e392596f43e?source=s&share_location=c&SFID=f62pdqsc&referral_id=64b131b7-275a-42f2-b997-a3669b37b0c0

$1,470/$20,000 goal

another link is https://www.gofundme.com/f/we-are-a-family-from-northern-gaza-we-are-facing-famine?attribution_id=sl:d230dea8-be96-4954-b7d2-386f205679ff €1,042/€50,000 goal

https://chuffed.org/project/nofal $13,914/$30,000 Goal.

Nofal is a photographer who needs money

for his family in urgent need of medical care.

Perks

Small PrintMuseum-quality Giclée Fine Art Print of your selected photograph from a curated set by Ibrahim Nofal. Printed on 100% Cotton Rag paper, using archival pigment inks to preserve vibrancy for decades. • Sizes: 6x4" (10x15 cm) - 7x5" (18x13 cm)Est. Delivery Date: 2-4 weeks14 to claim Donate $25

Medium PrintMuseum-quality Giclée Fine Art Print of your selected photograph from a curated set by Ibrahim Nofal. Printed on 100% Cotton Rag paper, using archival pigment inks to preserve vibrancy for decades. • Sizes: 12x8" (30x20 cm) - 12x9" (~30x23 cm)Est. Delivery Date: 2-4 weeks to claim Unlimited Donate $50

Large PrintMuseum-quality Giclée Fine Art Print of your selected photograph from a curated set by Ibrahim Nofal. Printed on 100% Cotton Rag paper, using archival pigment inks to preserve vibrancy for decades. • Sizes: 16x12" (40x30 cm) - 18x12" (45x30 cm)Est. Delivery Date: 2-4 weeks to claim Donate $100

XL Print + Complete Set of 10 Small PrintsMuseum-quality Giclée Fine Art Print of your selected photograph from a curated set by Ibrahim Nofal. Printed on 100% Cotton Rag paper, using archival pigment inks to preserve vibrancy for decades.

• Sizes: 24x18" (60x45 cm) - 30x20" (75x50 cm) • Also included is the complete collection of 10 photographs in postcard-size.Est. Delivery Date: 2-4 weeks5 claimedUnlimitedDonate $250

https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-me-save-cats-from-starvation-and-death

€952 /€20,000 goal, it has been 24 days without funds.

https://www.tumblr.com/cats-gaza-mohamed/769599544169283584/hungry-cats-in-gaza-due-to-the-war-and-the-rise-in?source=share

https://www.tumblr.com/familyfaten/766559643115962368?source=share

Help Faten's Family Rebuild and Find Safety

How You Can Help:

Donate: Your contribution can help this family leave Gaza and pursue their education.

Conversion Rates:

$10 = 107 NOK

$50 = 535 NOK

$100 = 1,070 NOK

$200 = 2,140 NOK

Current Status:

kr115,369 NOK raised / kr1M goal

https://www.tumblr.com/samahahmd/772553670954024960?source=share

Urgent Appeal for Help: Samah Zakaria's Story

Hello everyone, my name is Samah Zakaria, and I am a 34-year-old mother from Gaza. I was living in Egypt with my husband when I came to Gaza to visit my family just two months before the outbreak of war. Unfortunately, I have been unable to return to Egypt with my twin children, who are now two years old, as I was detained here due to the escalating conflict and the high costs associated with travel coordination. My family and I are living a very difficult life in Gaza. We have been forced to flee multiple times, and we are currently staying in tents. Every day is a struggle to meet our most basic needs. Water, food, and warmth are scarce, and I am heartbroken that I cannot provide for my children. When I came to Gaza, I wasn’t able to bring many belongings, and I had to purchase basic clothing for my children, but prices have skyrocketed. The situation is dire, and I am desperate to return to my husband, who is waiting for us in Egypt. However, our financial circumstances make this nearly impossible.

How You Can Help:

Donate: Your generosity can help provide essential support for Samah and her children, assisting with their immediate needs for food, clothing, and shelter.

Share: Please share Samah's story to raise awareness and encourage others to support her in her time of need.

Engage: Show your solidarity by commenting and interacting with this message, helping to inspire hope and action for Samah and her family.

I trust in your kindness and generosity in helping them survive this challenging situation and reunite with my husband. Thank you for your support! Their Goal was $30,000 in gfm but gfm was like bye!, now it is Chuffed.

0/$30,000.

$1,018/$50,000 goal

nader1990

✅ Vetted by@90-ghostvetted link

✅ Vetted by@bilal-salah0vetted link

✅ Vetted by@felukavetted link

✅ Vetted by@pocketsizedquasar-3vetted link

✅ Vetted by@thatsonehellofabirdvetted link

https://www.gofundme.com/f/ymhrnt-help-my-family-in-gaza

$2,110/$30,000 goal.

sharif Al Amoudi:

https://www.tumblr.com/shareeffamily/762996061483745280/please-please-look-at-my-donation-campaign-and?source=share

His family escaped from Gaza but are UNEMPLOYED in Egypt!

Follow @shareeffamily , reblog daily

AND, this family had to START OVER their fundraiser with nothing again‼️‼️‼️

They had thousands before! Please consistently help them raise money for treatment 🙏🏼.

€3,538/€50,000 goal (initial amount of funds) €60

$40,078/$62.5K goal

Support the Awad Family's Journey to Safety.

@ahmad-ashi vetted campaign:

https://chuffed.org/project/help-ahmed-alashi

$500/ $5,000 goal

Ahmed Alashi is a 24-year-old living in Gaza, trying to take care of his mother. He recently lost his father during the airstrikes on his city. He's a bright, kind, and caring man, with plans for his life and future beyond this war. His mother, 68, is sick and needs his care. Finding a job in Gaza is nearly impossible. He is relying on you for help. He, like all of you, needs food, clean water, housing, medicine, and clothing. We have talked extensively over Tumblr and Telegram. He is ever-patient and has not lost hope. The US dollar carries much more value in Gaza, and donating is important!

https://www.tumblr.com/hashembadr

. Many survivors are still at risk of more serious health effects due to being deprived of food, shelter, and medical care for so long. However, with swift action and support for Ghazans, you can help them heal and avoid more suffering.

One person you can help is Suham Bader. Suham's arm was injured over a year ago, but she was not able to receive treatment for it as her family was forced to flee their home. Without medical treatment, her bone fused incorrectly. During a year of suffering through cold and pain, Suham's condition has kept getting worse. Her parents and her uncle @hashembadr are very worried for her. If Suham does not receive surgery soon, she will lose her arm entirely.

£50,000 goal for @hashembadr . so far is: £7,252

Urgent Appeal: Help Ahmed Mahmoud and His Family in Gaza

Ahmed Mahmoud, a 34-year-old father of four from Gaza, is reaching out for urgent assistance. His family has lost their home due to the ongoing conflict and are now living in a tent, facing displacement, fear, and hunger.

Ahmed's story:Father of four children Lost their home and have been displaced multiple times Currently living in a tent Struggling to provide basic necessities for his family

Ahmed's plea: "I want my children to live a dignified life. I ask you to help me save them from this hell."

Current progress: €1,638 raised of €20,000 goal

Your support can make a significant difference in providing essential needs for Ahmed's family. Every contribution, no matter how small, brings them closer to safety and stability.

Please consider donating and sharing Ahmed's story to help this family in their time of great need. Thank you for your compassion and generosity.

-----------------------

Emergency Relief for Alaa's Family in Gaza

$94/ $15,000 goal

Message from Alaa: My name is Alaa, I'm 32 years old. I'm married and this is my family: My husband, Mohammed is 35 years old, and our children: Hala, 12 years old Amir, 8 years old Sham 4 years The first time I heard the sound of bombs in Gaza was in 2008. I was a 16-year-old girl, filled with terror, never knowing that this fear would become a constant part of my life.

Today, I hear those same sounds, but now with my young children by my side, who scream every time the missiles roar. I have lived for 16 years under the weight of bombardment and fear, but the most painful moments are not the sounds of the bombs – they are the cries of my children as they experience the same terror I once felt. We are enduring incredibly difficult days in Gaza. As parents, our hearts are heavy with the constant fear and responsibility of keeping our children safe, even though there is no true safe place here.

The relentless displacement, moving from one shelter to another, hoping each time to protect our family, has left us exhausted and desperate. Since the war began, we have been displaced five times, searching for somewhere we can shield our children from the horror of bombs. 

But each place we arrive at seems to bring new dangers. Water is scarce and often polluted, and diseases spread quickly in the crowded, unsanitary conditions. Our little girl, Sham, contracted a painful intestinal worm infection due to the severe water contamination. Amir, our son, suffers from severe insect allergies.

He wakes up crying with swelling from insect bites, unable to escape the pests that surround us. And our daughter, Hala, has a chest allergy that worsens with every strike, as the air fills with the smell of gunpowder, making it nearly impossible for her to breathe without a Ventolin inhaler. They should be in school, learning and laughing like other children.

They deserve clean water, healthy food, and a warm, safe bed, just like they had before October 7. Now, we rely entirely on donations to provide even the most basic supplies and food for our children, as my husband lost his job due to the war. With no income, we can’t meet our family’s needs alone.

We urgently need your support to help us survive this nightmare and give our children a small piece of the childhood they deserve. I ask you to help me get out of Gaza so we can start over, so that my husband can look for work, so that we can have a simple house to live in, and so that my children can return to their simple, happy lives. These donations will help my family with our expenses during the war and provide for my family's needs.

These donations will ease the difficulties we are suffering during the war due to my husband losing his job. Every donation, no matter how small, brings us one step closer to ensuring our safety. If financial constraints prevent you from contributing, consider sharing this campaign within your network.

[normal-thoughts-official]

Why Joe and Nicky deserve to win the sun and moon showdown, and if they don't I'll end up in the INTERPOL Most Wanted list

A not at all dramatic essay

(Plain text version here)

1. Not only do they canonically use moon imagery to refer to each other, but their context adds new symbolism to that metaphor that other duos don't have

If you haven't seen TOG and aren't familiar with the van speech, well, I recommend that you do, but I'll transcribe it for your convenience:

"He's not my 'boyfriend'. This man is more to me than you can dream. He's the moon when I'm lost in darkness and warmth when I shiver in cold. And his kiss still thrills me even after a millennium. His heart overflows with the kindness of which this world is not worthy of. I love this man beyond measure and reason, he's not my 'boyfriend'. He's all and he's more"

Yeah, pretty long way of saying "actually we're husbands", but let's focus on the "he's the moon when I'm lost in darkness" bit. That bit alone is already insanely romantic and enough to make us fans go rabid with this tournament, but there is an extra layer of romanticism to it, because Mr Yusuf al-Kaysani (aka Joe) is Muslim, and in Islam, the moon represents the guidance of Allah through life, the calendar is based on the moon cycles, and the brightness of the moon is compared to both the face of the Prophet Muhammad and the first batch of souls to enter Paradise. Therefore, the moon, in Joe's culture, is intrinsecally linked with the divine, guidance, holiness, and time

So, when Joe compares Nicky to the moon, he's not only saying that he brings light into a dark world; he is saying that he is the very guiding light that leads him to a blessed life, that he is the foundation through which the world and time can be understood, and that his beauty and holiness is comparable to that of the souls of Heaven themselves

Which is all already enough for me to bite through wood, but the specific relationship between the moon and the understanding of time in Joe's culture is also particularly meaningful for Joe and Nicky, because Joe and Nicky are two of the 5 people who are immortal in the entire world. And one of the core themes of the movie is how that sense of timelessness leads them to isolation, and a constant state of loss. There is a deep melancholy that permeates their entire existence due to the fact that time as we know it no longer makes sense to them, and they live outside of it, skirting around eras and history. So, by comparing Nicky to the very body that marked the passage of time for Joe, he is saying that Nicky is what helps him make sense of the impossible, that he is the constant in Joe's eternity, that he brings meaning to their confusing and sometimes alienating existence

But wait! There's more!

Because Joe and Nicky met in al-Quds (also known as Jerusalem) in the year 493 AH (also known as 1099 CE in the Gregorian Calendar) and had to travel together across the desert for a long time, which means that, for the first few years of their life together, they were in fact relying on the moon to guide them in their path. So they both have a deep intrinsic understanding of how the moon is a compass, the most reliable thing in uncertainty. And the moon has been guiding their steps, their relationship, since their paths were first joined. And they weren't separated since

Like. Listen, I'm sure Star Trek is great and its fans are lovely, and I salute the Star Trek fandom for everything it did for fandom history in general, but you cannot tell me that Spirk has this much baggage associated with the sunmoon symbolism. It just doesn't. If this were a hand touching tournament, no one would have as much symbolism linked to it than y'all, but when it comes to being the sun and moon, no one is doing it like Joe and Nicky

2. The most appealing aspect of the SunMoon dynamic is how they need to defeat all odds to be with each other, and Joe and Nicky have that in spades

"Oh I don't think that's the most ap-" IRRELEVANT. I'll talk about the other ones too. Just keep reading, okay? /joking

As you might know, Joe and Nicky met on opposite sides of a battlefield. They killed each other. (Many times). And what happened then?

They ressurrected and became immortal. That alone is already impossible, but it gets better - even for the rules of immortality in their universe, Joe and Nicky are still an impossibility that has never happened before or since

Because in The Old Guard, immortality is extremely rare. There have only ever been 7 immortals in the entire history of humanity. There are usually several millennia between the appearance of one immortal and the next one. Other than them, the shortest time gap between one immortal appearing and the next was 800 years. But Joe and Nicky became immortal at the same time, on the same day. Their very existence bends the rules of an universe that already bends the rules of the universe they lived in beforehand anyway. Joe and Nicky being together defies the very fabric of time, and if that isn't some sun and moon shit, I don't know what is

But it's not just some destiny shit either. Joe and Nicky were also not supposed to be together by other standards. For starters, they were on opposite sides of a war. Nicky was a fucking priest, and he joined the goddamn actual honest to god crusades. He was hateful and ignorant and awful, and when he chose Joe, he left behind everything he knew before him. All his certainties, his beliefs, his faith, his family, everything he had ever been taught. I'm also gonna go ahead and say that that ties into the whole "the sun is what makes the moon shine" metaphor - because everything that defines Nicky as he is now is the direct result of how meeting Joe changed him

And listen, listen to me. I'm not saying that he stopped being a bigot for Joe, because if he did, I doubt Joe would want him. He did it because it was the right thing to do, and he was wrong and ignorant and indoctrinated by the church. But he still had to make the choice to turn his back to all that, and that plain and simply would not have happened if he hadn't met Joe. It was Nicky's own effort, but meeting Joe was the catalyst

Joe, similarly, had to overcome a lifetime's worth of (well earned) resentment and hatred for what Nicky did. Joe forgiving Nicky at all is already nearly an impossibility (and he would be well within his right to never do that), but he didn't just forgive Nicky, he fell in love with him. And he chose him, well aware of how bloody and terrible his past was, and despite the fact that there is no way he wasn't deeply conflicted about what he felt for Nicky after everything the Christians put him through. I cannot even begin to imagine how hard this process must have been for Joe, and it was one he didn't have to go through at all - which means that he chose to

And that's not even taking into account the very personal resentments between the two of them, because they weren't just on opposing armies, they literally and personally killed each other. Several times over. And yet, impossibly, against all logic, against everything they had ever felt and believed in prior to each other, against possibly their own desires, they fell in love. They fell in love and have been hopelessly devoted to each other every since

And THEN, on top of all that at the beginning of their relationship, they lived as an interracial, interfaith*, gay couple, through what were undoubtedly the worst times in humanity's history to be either of those things. For 900 years, they had to love each other in secret and with varying degrees of risk associated with ever being found out as a couple, or even with being associated with each other at all to begin with

(*It is debatable what their current relationship with their respective original faiths is, since it isn't mentioned in the movie. But even if both of them had turned their back on their religions, they are still culturally Christian and culturally Muslim, and that makes a difference. Personally, though, I don't think either of them turned their backs on their religions, although I do believe Nicky turned his back to the Catholic Church as an institution for obvious reasons)

That's not even counting all the incredibly traumatic shit that they went through ever since (which I won't mention in detail because it's spoilers and also this is long enough already) and that would definitely break a couple with a less unbreakable bond. Through centuries and centuries of pain and regret, they have chosen nothing and no one but each other, first and foremost, no matter what that meant.

Nicky even brings it up in the comics:

[ID: Joe and Nicky touching foreheads with their eyes closed. Nicky is holding Joe's chin and he says, "why is it so difficult, Joe? We've been afforded more time than any lovers I can name. And still, every moment we scrape together feels precious. Something always happens-" End ID]

(From the Tales Through Time one-shot series. I generally think the comics are meh and the movie is where it's at, but I do recommend reading this one. It is set before the movie happens so there are no spoilers)

There has never been a time where being together was easy, and yet, Joe and Nicky chose each other no matter what. They chose each other even when it meant being separated and getting only scraps of time together in secret. If that isn't some sun and moon shit, I don't know what is

3. They complement each other

And not in the dumb stereotypical "the sunshine one and the grumpy one" way either. For starters, Joe isn't bubbly, and Nicky isn't grumpy. No, they have two characteristics that I think represent the sun and moon way better than that anyway - Joe is an extremely intense person, and Nicky, an extremely cool headed one

Joe doesn't feel anything by halves, and despite the fact that he has lived through several lifetimes, it still seems as if everything he goes through is happening for the first time. Every time Nicky or another one of the family dies, Joe looks just as desperate as he would a millennium ago, despite the fact that he's had centuries to get used to the fact that they die and then come back to life. He's the only one who's that affected by it (obviously none of them enjoy seeing each other die, but the rest seem to have accepted to some degree that it's a part of their lives, or at least gotten used to it). He has experienced so many horrible things, yet he is still as affected and disgusted by it every time, going as far as lashing out sometimes. When he's angry, no one is able to hold him back from yelling at the person he's angry at (not even Nicky). Similarly, not even an actual van full of armed homophobic guards is able to stop him from simply dropping a passionate speech about how important Nicky is to him, complete with getting misty-eyed and kissing him at the end (and I'm not even bringing up the fact that both of them have their hands and their feet tied)

To me, that is the most sun-coded possible trait, because the sun is intense, hard to ignore, and quite literally burning. The intensity with which Joe feels also feels like it could burn, but it's also what makes him so warm and loving

Nicky is also a pretty intense person, but, unlike Joe, he is super cool headed about it. For starters, Nicky is a sniper; he is capable of staying still for hours at a time, observing, figuring out the best time to strike. That demands an amount of control over himself, his feelings, even his instincts, that is admirable. But he's not just like that on a mission; Nicky is very careful with what he says, when he speaks, what he lets other people see of him. His expressions are all subtle, contained, and even when he is in a state of murderous rage, he doesn't lash out. He doesn't lose control. The same way that the moon and the sun share their brightness, Joe and Nicky share their intensity, but Nicky is able to subdue it while Joe burns with it and lets that be his strength

Where Joe is expansive and wears his heart on his sleeve, Nicky is cautious and guarded. Where Joe gets lost in his own feelings and loses sight of what they need to do, Nicky keeps their heads straight and reminds him of what they need to do. Like the moon that guides one through the desert

They're different and complementary, but also intrinsecally tied to each other. They have the same spark where it matters, but present it in different, complementary ways. They are a part of each other, but they're also themselves first and foremost. That's what the sun and moon are all about

Sun and moon imagery has been the staple of the Joenicky fandom since day fucking 1, and for good reasons

VOTE JOE AND NICKY IN THE SUN AND MOON DUO SHOWDOWN

[realtimefanduboutofcontext]

The journalists of Palestine

You may have heard a couple of names floating around social media - and I do mean ONLY social media - who have been vital to getting the facts about the genocide in Palestine right now. Let me highlight them for you.

Artwork by Ram Reyes @oversettext

Bisan Owda (she/her)

Bisan is the one you're probably familiar with. She's a young filmmaker who has worked with the UN on gender equality and climate change, and most recently this genocide. Her focus is social media. She called the strike, and is why we're all here.

Twitter - Instagram - TikTok

Motaz Azaiza (he/him)

Motaz is a photographer best known for capturing life in the Gaza Strip. He works for the UNRWA. His photo titled "Seeing Her Through My Camera" (depicting a girl being picked up from rubble) was named one of TIME's top 10 photos of 2023.

Twitter - Instagram

Plestia Alaqad (she/her)

Plestia is a citizen journalist and travel blogger, formerly an HR professional. She has been posting video diaries from Gaza - and even from Egypt as she had to flee in November. Her work has been a reminder of how beautiful Gaza can be.

Twitter - Instagram - TikTok

Wael Al-Dahdouh (he/him)

Wael is a journalist for Al Jazeera and the chief of its bureau in Gaza City since 2004. He has worked for the Palestinian newspaper Al-Quds, and is a journalism veteran. Most of his family was sadly killed by Israeli strikes.

Twitter - Facebook - Instagram

As I've said before, mainstream media outlets have been avoiding the reporting of Palestinian journalists, or filtered their own biases through the Israeli army. It's important to listen to, and uplift voices from Gaza, no matter how uncomfortable it may get. Let them be heard.

[mariacallous]

It’s telling that the first question I saw raised in the media after Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi was killed when his helicopter crashed in the country’s mountainous northeast on his return from Azerbaijan in May was whether the United States had a hand in it. In that same regard, among the questions raised concerning Russian President Vladimir Putin’s recent travel to Pyongyang, apart from its impact on the simmering tensions across Asia, was what opportunities his willingness to venture farther from the Kremlin offers. Namely, should the United States and its allies seek to depose Putin by enabling a coup in his absence, or assassinating him during such travels? The answer lies in assessing the risk versus gain.

What would be gained by killing Putin? If the bar was juxtaposing the status quo with the consequences of Putin’s violent removal, would Russia’s threat to the United States and its allies be degraded? Would Russian troops withdraw from Ukraine and cease posing a threat to NATO allies in the Baltics and Eastern Europe? Or might Russian intentions become even more hostile and less predictable? Despite Putin’s obsession with intrigue, denial and deception, and smoke and mirrors, he’s fairly predictable. Indeed, the United States, with Britain leaning in the same direction, was the exception among its NATO allies, not to mention Ukraine itself, in forecasting with high confidence Putin’s plans to attack.

Would the United States do it? The record shows that the U.S. sanctioned violence in sponsoring the overthrow of democratically elected antagonist regimes in Iran in 1953 and Chile in 1973, while the Church committee investigations documented multiple CIA attempts to assassinate Cuba’s Fidel Castro.

More recently, the United States made no pretense in concealing its hand in killing Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Quds Force Commander Qassem Suleimani in January 2020, an action that historic precedent would suggest was an act of war. Since 9/11, U.S. counterterrorism strategy has in practice been predicated on assassination. The mantra “find, fix, finish” is the other euphemism for preemptively hunting down and killing terrorists abroad before they might strike the U.S. homeland.

Left: Iranians tear up a U.S. flag during a demonstration following the killing of Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Quds Force Gen. Qassem Suleimani, in Tehran on Jan. 3, 2020. Atta Kenare/AFP via Getty Images   Right: The statue of Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein is toppled at al-Fardous square in Baghdad, Iraq, on April 9, 2003. Wathiq Khuzaie /Getty Images

While these episodes collectively demonstrate the U.S. government’s willingness to undertake consequential, lethal actions in the name of national security, when separated from transnational terrorist targets, only the strike against Suleimani occurred while he was abroad. Operations to depose Mohammad Mosaddegh in Iran, Salvador Allende in Chile, and Castro in Cuba depended rather on internal elements to facilitate the plots.

Apart from these episodes and a possible hand in others,  U.S. governments have arguably favored the status quo of a predictable adversary. Regime change has not worked out well for U.S. interests. The overthrow of Saddam Hussein in Iraq was no small factor in bringing about the Arab Spring, with effects that continue to reverberate across the Middle East as reflected by unresolved civil wars in Libya, Syria, and Yemen, as well as ongoing political instability in Egypt and Tunisia.

The U.S. occupation of Iraq also facilitated the rise of the Islamic State. And the Taliban ultimately outlasted the United States in Afghanistan by returning to power despite 20 years of American blood and treasure, and they now give sanctuary to insurgent groups threatening Pakistan, Iran, its Central Asian neighbors, and China.

The inclination to accept the known status quo is further strengthened when that country is armed with nuclear weapons. As regards Russia, even under the most ideal circumstances in which the U.S. government could remove Putin and conceal its hand in doing so, how confident is Washington that a stable and less hostile leadership would succeed him?

In Russia, like most autocracies, power rests with those who control the nation’s instruments of power—primarily the guns, but likewise the money, infrastructure, natural resources, connections, and knowledge of where the skeletons are to be found. That power is currently concentrated within a small circle of septuagenarians, almost all of whom have long ties to Putin, the Cold War-era KGB, and St. Petersburg. The Russian Armed Forces might have the numbers in terms of troops and tools, but under Putin, as it was in Soviet days, they are kept on a tight leash and closely monitored, with little discretionary authority for drawing weapons or coming out of their garrisons.

The three organizations most capable of moving on Putin and the Kremlin are the Federal Security Service, or FSB; the Rosgvardia, or National Guard; and the Presidential Security Service within the Federal Protective Service, or FSO. The FSB is Russia’s internal security and intelligence arm through which Putin governs given its relatively massive and ubiquitous presence across all the country’s institutions. The FSB enforces Putin’s rule, monitors dissent, intimidates, punishes, and liaises with organized crime. The Rosgvardia is Putin’s brute force. It was established in 2016 from among the interior ministry’s militias variously responsible for internal order and border security to be Putin’s long red line against protests, uprisings, and armed organized coup attempts.

Alexander Bortnikov leads the FSB, having succeeded Nikolai Patrushev, who followed Putin and has served since as one of his chief lieutenants. Until recently, Patrushev served as Russian Security Council chief and was most likely the Kremlin’s no. 2, and might still be, despite having been made a presidential advisor for shipping. Bortnikov, like Patrushev, shares Putin’s world view, paranoia for the West, political philosophy, and glorification of the old Soviet empire.

Bortnikov is considered by Kremlinologists to be Putin’s most relied-upon and trusted subordinate, and in turn, the individual best positioned to overthrow him, should he desire. While Bortnikov maintains a relatively low profile, limited glimpses suggest some degree of humility and contained ambition, although uncorroborated rumors suggest health issues. His deputy, Sergei Borisovich Korolev, some 10 years younger, is regarded as effective, similarly ruthless, but perhaps too ambitious and ostentatious in his relationships with Russian organized crime. It’s likely that Putin sees a bright future for Korolev but has enough reservation to justify more seasoning and evaluation before having him succeed Bortnikov.

The roughly 300,000-strong Rosgvardia is commanded by longtime former Putin bodyguard Viktor Zolotov. Likewise a part of Putin’s septuagenarian St. Petersburg crowd, with extensive past ties to organized crime, Zolotov emerged somewhat from the shadows following then-Wagner Group leader Yevgeny Prigozhin’s June 2023 revolt. Zolotov claimed credit for protecting Moscow and mused publicly at how his organization would likely grow and secure more resources to facilitate its critical responsibilities.

Zolotov might not be as educated or sophisticated as Putin’s traditional siloviki associates, all former Cold War-era KGB veterans, but making his way up the ladder as he did from a St. Petersburg street thug, he’s not averse to using force to achieve his aims.

Little is publicly known concerning Zolotov’s politics apart from loyalty to his boss, but there’s no evidence he might offer a progressive alternative less hostile to the West. As Putin has done for all of those in his inner circle to secure their loyalty, Zolotov’s family members have been awarded land, gifts, and key posts. Patrushev’s son, for example, is now a deputy prime minister.

The FSO includes the Presidential Security Service, some 50,000 troops, and is responsible for Putin’s close physical protection. Little is known about its director, Dmitry Viktorovich Kochnev, now 60, whose mysterious official bio indicates that he was born in Moscow, served in the military from 1982 to 1984, and then went into “the security agencies of the USSR and the Russian Federation” from 1984 to 2002, after which time he was officially assigned to the FSO.

If Kochnev wanted Putin dead, he’s had plenty of time to pursue that goal, but he is unlikely to have the means and network to go further on his own in seizing power. Kochnev would still need the FSB and the Rosgvardia to accomplish the mission so would likely be an accomplice, but he would not be at the forefront of such a plot.

There are likewise a handful of others close to Putin who might influence his succession, or be the face of it, such as Igor Sechin, former deputy prime minister and current Rosneft CEO; former KGB Col. Gen. Sergei Ivanov, also a former defense minister and first deputy prime minister; and former KGB Col. Gen. Viktor Ivanov, who also had a stint as the Federal Narcotics Service director. All are known to be ideologically in line with the Russian leader and seek a restored empire unwilling to subscribe to a world order and rules created by the West that they believe aim to keep Moscow weak and subservient.

If Putin were assassinated abroad, regardless of the evidence, the old guard would likely accuse the United States and use it as a lightning rod to consolidate power and rally the public. And sharing Putin’s paranoia over the West’s existential threat, the risk is credible that they would retaliate militarily, directly, and with uncertain restraint. Believing themselves insecure, they would likewise crack down at home in an indiscriminately ruthless manner that might unleash long-contained revolutionary vigor among the population, which would throw a large, nuclear-armed power into chaos.

But could the United States do it if it wanted to? History shows that foreign leaders are not immune to assassination, as we were reminded when Slovakian Prime Minister Robert Fico survived being shot at close range by a disgruntled citizen in May. Unlike in the movies, however, assassinations are complicated, particularly against well-protected and deliberately unpredictable targets in foreign environments over which one has no control.

According to leaked documents and the account of Gleb Karakulov, a former engineer and FSO captain, Putin is paranoid concerning his safety and health. Karakulov’s observations, Putin’s limited travel, and his proclivity to cloister himself from direct contact with but a small number of insiders for his safety makes him a hard target. Scrupulous care for his movements includes the intense vetting, quarantining, and close monitoring of those involved with his transportation and his personal routine as well as in securing the cars, trains, and planes he uses. Who can forget the flurry of photos and memes surrounding the 15-foot-long table Putin used when conducting personal meetings during the COVID-19 pandemic?

For any such operation to succeed, close target reconnaissance and good intelligence are required to determine patterns and vulnerabilities on which to construct a plan. But while foreign head-of-state visits follow certain protocols and have predictable events, there are no long-term patterns within which to easily identify vulnerabilities. Other considerations include a means to infiltrate and exfiltrate the various members executing the operation as well as their tools. North Korea is not an easy place to visit let alone operate in for a foreign intelligence service to clandestinely steal secrets or conduct an observable action such as an assassination.

There are certainly additional risks when Putin or any foreign leader ventures beyond the layered, redundant, and tested security protocols enjoyed in their home cocoons. Visiting dignitaries must rely on the host government for a variety of resources and needs too numerous and costly to pack, and when doing so would offend the locals. And that extends to perimeter and route security, emergency medical support, and infrastructure integrity.

The threat to a foreign leader’s communications security, habits, health information, and that of their entourage is higher while in transit abroad—and therefore an attractive intelligence target. The multiple moving pieces and complicated logistics associated with such visits produce information that must be shared with the host governments and span agendas, itineraries, dietary requirements, flight and cargo manifests, communication frequencies, telephone numbers, email addresses, travelers’ biographic details, and weapons, to name a few.

In the era of ubiquitous technical surveillance, as the Israelis learned firsthand when Mossad agents assassinated Hamas official Mahmoud al-Mabhouh in 2010, going undetected in any city is no small feat. Mabhouh’s killing was largely captured on CCTV. The Dubai investigation identified as many as 28 operatives who were involved, almost all of whom were revealed through technical means or the leads they generated.

Still, whoever assassinated Lebanese Hezbollah’s notorious international operations chief, Imad Mughniyah, in Damascus in February 2008 and al Qaeda deputy Abu Muhammad al-Masri in Tehran in 2020 managed to mount complex attacks in highly restrictive police states. Of course, neither moved about with a protective detail, let alone that which would surround a head of state.

Israel managed to assassinate Iran’s top nuclear scientist, Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, in November 2020 in Iran despite a protective detail—although it was an operation that might have been taken from a science fiction movie involving automated robotic machines guns controlled from afar.

Then again, even with the best-laid plans for protecting Putin, one weak link could be the Russian leader’s self-imposed vulnerability, depending on the aging and problematic Soviet-designed Ilyushin Il-96 series jets he uses, as he did in recent travels to North Korea and Vietnam. Even if Russia builds and updates the replacement parts, there is long-term structural fatigue and limitations when trying to reconfigure so old an airframe design.

While there’s arguably an element of Putin’s pride in wishing to use Russian equipment, I suspect his inclination is driven more by paranoia for what adversaries might implant on his transport that prevents him from adopting newer Western aircraft, as his country’s commercial airlines have.

There are also significant bureaucratic hurdles to lethal operations. For the moment, at least, the U.S. practice of covert action is dictated by the rule of law. These are primarily executive orders rather than public laws, like EO 12333, which ironically forbids assassination, and the various presidential memos issued by Barack Obama in 2013, Donald Trump in 2017, and Joe Biden in 2022 guiding the use of “direct action,” the euphemism for drone strikes and other kinetic operations, against terrorist targets outside of conflict zones. But while the United States killed Suleimani as a terrorist who fit these guidelines, killing foreign leaders based on credible intelligence reflecting their ongoing efforts to do harm to the United States would reasonably still meet the legal bar for preemptive self-defense.

When it comes to killing Putin or any prominent adversary, the biggest challenge is not necessarily if it can be done, but whether it should be done. Openly killing Suleimani posed risks, of course, but ultimately, Iran is not an existential threat. Its retaliation could have been more costly, had Tehran chosen escalation, but still manageable.

Russia, on the other hand, as Putin frequently reminds the West in his saber-rattling speeches threatening nuclear war, is another matter. What happens if you fail? As The Wire’s Omar Little said, paraphrasing Ralph Waldo Emerson, “When you come at the king, you best not miss.”

[athena5898]

CENTRAL GAZA (PrR)(Quds) — The child Hanan, whose mother was martyred and whose legs were amputated when the occupation bombed their home in Deir al-Balah. Her family appeals for permission to travel abroad for treatment.

[tittyinfinity]

Video on Reddit:

Prominent Palestinian prisoner Israa Jaabis makes a statement upon her long-overdue release. by u/iwasasin inPalestine

(Screencap)

The video is not translated, however, this is a comment from the OP:

On the day of the accident, October 11, 2015, one day before the final submission of her project for the Special Education module. Israa’ drove from Jericho to Al-Quds in a small car that was overflowing with household items. She was moving to Jerusalem with her son, Mu’tasim, and, by transporting some of the small furniture, she had hoped to save on moving expenses. One of the items that Israa’ carried with her was a propane tank for the kitchen. It would have been too expensive to buy a brand new one in Jerusalem. As she was leaving Jericho, the engine of her car died twice. Young people in the town warned her to turn around and find another form of transportation, but she did not heed their advice. She needed to get to Jerusalem to her new job at a nursing home. Each time her car died, the engine emitted a burning smell. After travelling a couple of kilometers outside the Israeli Al-Za’ayem military checkpoint, near the illegal Jewish settlement of Ma’ale Adumim and a short distance east of Al-Quds, Israa’s car died again. No soldiers or army vehicles were in sight. A while later, a retired Israeli police officer passed by her stalled car. He parked his car in front of hers and asked for her ID as she desperately tried to restart the car. “There is a strong smell in the car,” she told him, trying to exit the car, but he insisted that she stay inside while he examined her papers. She tried to open the windows, but they, too, were affected by the electrical failure. Again, she tried to exit the car, opening the door, but the officer rushed over and slammed it shut, crushing her hand. She yelled “Allahu Akbar ’alaiku” (God is greater than you are), chastising him several times for not allowing her to escape. She urged him to let her out as fire ignited in the front part of the car. He refused. He stood there, watching her burn inside. The airbag deployed, completely trapping her inside the blazing car. The police officer who stopped her claimed that she was trying to use the propane tank to blow up the car. His testimony was the only one considered in the Israeli court, and Israa’ was branded a ‘terrorist.’ She was sentenced to 11 years in prison. While serving her term at HaSharon prison inside Israel, she was repeatedly denied much needed medical attention causing her to lose fingers and her health to deteriorate significantly.

[anglocatholicboyo]

Pro-Israeli individuals would have us believe that as Queer people we ought to side with Israel concerning its doings in the Palestinian territories, because Israel has Gay rights and Palestine does not.

I would not doubt that Israel has more robust protections for Queer people, but this does not even begin to justify the evil which Israel commits against Arabs within and without its borders.

I will never allow the Israeli Armed Forces to white-knight for me; to 'claim' me in this way.

What sort of monstrous assertion is it, that I ought to side with oppressors over the oppressed, just because the oppressors like me more? It seems that some are forgetting the message one of the most important stories to have ever come out of Palestine; here, I'll retell it for you, updated for modern audiences:

"A Palestinian was going down from Al-Quds to Ariha, when he was attacked by robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead. An Iaraeli Knesset member happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. So too, a British Army General, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. But a Queer person, as they traveled, came where the man was; and when they saw him, they took pity on him. They went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then they took the man in their own car, brought him to a hotel and took care of him."

[argaman01]

Jerusalems in the United States - New York State

I reposted a blog earlier today about how Jewish Voice for Peace had at some point had people recite "Next Year in Al-Quds" instead of "Next Year in Jerusalem" during a Passover seder. Someone then commented that they could have said "Next Year in Jerusalem New York," and in fact, there is a Jerusalem, New York, and it's not very far from me. (I live in Ithaca)

The New York Jerusalem is in Yates County, right on Keuka Lake. (In the map below, it's enclosed by the dotted red line).

From a history of the town published in 1892:

"Jerusalem is practically and substantially the mother of towns in Yates County.  The district, sometimes called township, of Jerusalem, was organized in 1789 as one of the subdivisions of Ontario County, and included with its limits all that is now Milo, Benton and Torrey, as well as its own original territory.  On the erection of Stueben County in 1796, the region or district called Bluff Point, or so much of it as lies south of the south line of township seven, was made a part of the new formation; but in 1814 an act of the Legislature annexed Bluff Point to Jerusalem, and to which it has since belonged.   

"In 1803 the town of Jerusalem was definitely erected, embracing township seven, second range, and so much of township seven, first range, as lay westward of Lake Keuka and lot No. 37.  At or about the same time the other territory that had previously formed a part of the district of Jerusalem was organized into a town and called Vernon, after Snell and finally Benton."

The Public Universal Friend

Portrait of the Public Universal Friend, from 1812, unknown painter. Source: Yates County Historical Society

A famous resident of the town (famous then, not now), was the Public Universal Friend:

"The Public Universal Friend, Jemima WILKINSON, was of course a pioneer of this town, the same as she had been in the locality and settlement on Seneca Lake.  In 1790 she first came to the Genesee country and four years later she established herself permanently in the town of Jerusalem."

The Public Universal Friend was born as Jemima Wilkinson in 1752 to a Quaker family in Rhode Island. Jemima was transformed into the Public Universal Friend after "a night of fevered dreams" on October 10, 1776.

Jemima took on a new identity after the fever. "'Reborn' in their place was the Public Universal Friend, neither male nor female. According to the Friend, Jemima’s soul had passed into heaven, and God had reanimated their body with the spirit of the Friend sent to spread the Quaker gospel. From then on, the Friend began to gather followers and travel as a preacher."

The Friend lived as nonbinary person: "The Public Universal Friend dressed in a way that blended masculinity and femininity, and this drew much attention. Their clothing included a cravat and robe like traditional ministers and clergymen wore, as well as the kind of hat typically worn by Quaker men. They also didn’t wear the traditional bonnet or head covering women were expected to wear. The Public Universal Friend’s gender presentation caused curiosity and anger, and it was a radical challenge to the status quo that the Friend was not willing to be bound by the customs of the community." 

How did the Friend come to settle in Jerusalem, New York? After their transformation, the Friend gathered a following, and they decided to create a settlement in western New York, called Jerusalem.

The Friend's house, where they lived until dying in 1819. (Photo from the National Park Service).

Sources

Yates County, New York, History of the Town of Jerusalem: https://web.archive.org/web/20050125071905/http://www.usgennet.org/usa/ny/county/yates/jerusalem/jeruhistory.htm

New York Public Library, January 13, 2023: https://www.nypl.org/blog/2023/02/16/who-was-public-universal-friend-living-outside-gender-binary-revolutionary-times

Washington Post, January 5, 2020: https://www.washingtonpost.com/history/2020/01/05/long-before-theythem-pronouns-genderless-prophet-drew-hundreds-followers/

National Park Service: https://www.nps.gov/places/the-friend-s-home-jemima-wilkinson-house.htm

Life Story: The Public Universal Friend: https://wams.nyhistory.org/settler-colonialism-and-revolution/settler-colonialism/public-universal-friend/

Jerusalem and the Society of Universal Friends: http://upstatehistorical.org/items/show/75

More information about the Friend

The Public Universal Friend: Jemima Wilkinson and Religious Enthusiasm in Revolutionary America, by Paul B. Moyer (Cornell University Press, 2015).

"'Indescribable Being': Theological Performances of Genderlessness in the Society of the Publick Universal Friend, 1776–1819," by Scott Larson, Early American Studies 12:3 (2014) 576-600. (Special issue: Beyond the Boundaries: Critical Approaches to Sex and Gender in Early America). JSTOR link: https://www.jstor.org/stable/24474871