Monday, August 4, 2025

I saw many atrocities as a senior aid official in Gaza. Now Israeli authorities are trying to silence us. Devastated hospitals, mass graves, bodies eaten by dogs in the street. After speaking out, I discovered my visa will not be renewed

Palestinians after a limited aid distribution in Gaza City, 1 August 2025. Photograph: Anadolu/Getty Images

Devastated hospitals, mass graves, bodies eaten by dogs in the street. After speaking out, I discovered my visa will not be renewed

Jonathan Whittall is head of office at the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in the occupied Palestinian territory. He writes here in a personal capacity

Gaza has been held under water for 22 months, allowed to gasp for air only when Israeli authorities have succumbed to political pressure from those with more leverage than international law itself. After months of relentless bombardment, forced displacement and deprivation, the impact of Israel’s collective punishment of Gaza’s people has never been more devastating.

I have been part of coordinating humanitarian efforts in Gaza since October 2023. Whatever lifesaving aid has entered since then has been the exception, not the rule. More than a year after the international court of justice (ICJ) ordered Israel to “take all measures within its power” to prevent acts of genocide – and despite all our warnings – we are still witnessing starvation, insufficient access to water, a sanitation crisis and a crumbling health system against a backdrop of ongoing violence that is resulting in scores of Palestinians being killed daily, including children.

Powerless to change this, we humanitarians have resorted to using our voices – alongside those of Palestinian journalists who risk everything – to describe the appalling, inhuman conditions in Gaza. Speaking out, as I’m doing now, in the face of deliberate, preventable suffering is part of our role to promote respect for international law.

But doing so comes at a price. After I held a press briefing in Gaza on 22 June in which I described how starving civilians were being shot while trying to reach food – what I called “conditions created to kill” – the Israeli minister of foreign affairs announced in a post on X that my visa would not been renewed. The Israeli permanent representative to the UN followed up at the security council announcing that I would be expected to leave by 29 July.

This silencing is part of a broader pattern. International NGOs face increasingly restrictive registration requirements, including clauses that prohibit certain criticism of Israel. Palestinian NGOs that, against the odds, continue to save lives daily are cut off from the resources they need to operate. UN agencies are increasingly being issued only six, three or one-month visas based on whether they are considered “good, bad or ugly”. The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (Unwra) has been targeted through legislation, its international staff barred from entry and its operations slowly suffocated.

These reprisals cannot erase the reality we’ve witnessed – day in, day out – not just in Gaza but in the West Bank too... READ MORE https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/aug/03/gaza-aid-israel-authorities-hospitals

AS ALWAYS PLEASE GO TO THE LINK TO READ GOOD ARTICLES (or quotes) IN FULL: HELP SHAPE ALGORITHMS (and conversations) THAT EMPOWER DECENCY, DIGNITY, JUSTICE & PEACE... and hopefully Palestine, or at least fair and just laws and policies]

Vanessa Redgrave (age 88) bangs a pot for Gaza at the Lambeth Town Hall in London... Sharing it on social media, photographer Misan Harriman wrote: "I burst into tears when I saw this image of our national treasure, Vanessa Redgrave, still fighting for us to recognise the humanity of Palestinians 46 years after her Oscars speech. She has endured so much for this cause, but she still shows her solidarity in London today!"

2025: Vanessa Redgrave (age 88) bangs a pot for Gaza at the Lambeth Town Hall in London.

In 1977, Redgrave produced the film The Palestinian. Zionist groups tried to shut down the film. She won the Oscar for her role in Julia that year, and told the Academy, "In the last few weeks you have stood firm and you have refused to be intimidated by the threat of a small bunch of Zionist hoodlums, whose behaviour is an insult to the stature of Jews all over the world, and to their great and heroic record of struggle against fascism and oppression."

The following year, the Jewish Defence League bombed the Doheny Plaza theatre in Los Angeles, where The Palestinian was to be screened.

In a 2018 interview, Redgrave stood by her acceptance speech (which included the "Zionist hoodlums" remark) during the 1978 Academy Awards ceremony.

Vanessa Redgrave, 1978 Oscar ceremony. She won for the film Julia. She starred in the title role as a woman murdered by the Nazi German regime in the years prior to World War II for her anti-Fascist activism.

BRITANNICA: Her political activities were not without repercussions: she was loudly booed at the 1978 Academy Awards ceremony when, during her acceptance speech, she referred to those who had objected to her nomination because of her support for Palestinian causes as “Zionist hoodlums.” Jewish organizations also protested when she was cast as Holocaust survivor Fania Fenelon in Playing for Time. There is little doubt that Redgrave’s political views affected her career, although public resentment waned in the 1990s, when she played character roles in popular films such as Mission: Impossible (1996) and Deep Impact (1998). https://www.britannica.com/art/history-of-film

MSN: Vanessa Redgrave, 88, praised for attending protest

Vanessa Redgrave has been praised for turning up to a protest addressing the ongoing starvation crisis in Gaza.

In recent weeks, there has been increased international attention on the suffering of civilians in Gaza, with photos of starving Palestinians, including babies, emerging.

With aid agencies issuing stark warnings about the desperate situation on the ground, there’s been a public outcry for intervention in the conflict, which is about to enter its third year.

Although Israel has denied any responsibility for what experts have now called a famine, it controls the flow of all aid into the enclave and has been blamed by agencies, including Doctors Without Borders and Oxfam International, for ‘restrictions, delays and fragmentation’ for ‘chaos, starvation and death’.

Over the weekend, more protests occurred across the world calling for action, including in London, where Redgrave, a long-time supporter of Palestine, was spotted.

On Friday evening, the pots and pans for Palestine protest was held at the Lambeth Town Hall in Brixton, with attendees asked to ‘bang pots and pans to echo the hunger faced by Palestinians trapped under blockade’.

The demonstration, organised by Lambeth and Southwark for Palestine and West Norwood 4 Palestine, was part of a UK-wide day of action, with the acclaimed actress photographed taking part.

Photos taken at the event show the 88-year-old in a wheelchair holding a spoon and pan.

Sharing it on social media, photographer Misan Harriman wrote: ‘I burst into tears when I saw this image of our national treasure, Vanessa Redgrave, still fighting for us to recognise the humanity of Palestinians 46 years after her Oscars speech. She has endured so much for this cause, but she still shows her solidarity in London today! READ MORE https://www.msn.com/en-au/news/other/vanessa-redgrave-88-praised-for-attending-protest/ar-AA1JPw4R

Sunday, August 3, 2025

For 80 years, the United Nations has served as the essential, one-of-a-kind meeting ground to advance peace, prosperity and human rights. Amid the profound challenges facing our world today, these solutions and global solidarity are needed more than ever.

Global Goals

@GlobalGoalsUN

For 80 years, the @UN has served as the essential, one-of-a-kind meeting ground to advance peace, prosperity and human rights. Amid the profound challenges facing our world today, these solutions and global solidarity are needed more than ever.

The United Nations emblem.

This year marks the 80th anniversary of the United Nations.

Born out of the ashes of the Second World War, the organization was the result of a global commitment to “save succeeding generations from the scourge of war.”

The founding of the UN also signaled a commitment to an entirely new level of international cooperation grounded in international law and the UN Charter.

Eight decades later, one can draw a direct line between the creation of the United Nations and the prevention of a third world war.

Today, the United Nations remains the essential, one-of-a-kind meeting ground to advance peace, prosperity and human rights.

The UN works tirelessly to support countries as they tackle poverty, hunger and disease, while also supporting people in need during times of conflict and disaster.

The organization has advanced justice and fairness through international law and respect for human rights, while also pushing for peace through dialogue, debate, diplomacy and consensus-building.

Multilateral cooperation is the beating heart of the United Nations, but multilateralism is only as strong as each and every country’s commitment to it.

And because we believe in the singular value and purpose of the United Nations, we always strive to improve the institution and the way we work.

Amid the profound challenges facing our world today, global solidarity and solutions are needed more than ever

Adapted from the remarks of United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres to the Security Council on 18 February 2025.

The United Nations Charter was drafted during the United Nations Conference on International Organization, which began on April 25, 1945, and it was signed on June 26, 1945. It officially came into force on October 24, 1945.

The United Nations Charter.

On June 26, 1945, in San Francisco, the United Nations was formally established with the signing of the UN Charter.

The United Nations was established after World War II in an attempt to maintain international peace and security and to achieve cooperation among nations on economic, social, and humanitarian problems.

Find the full text of the UN Charter, or read about the history of its making. Listen to a reading of the Preamble. https://www.un.org/en/about-us/un-charter