Editor, Middle East and North Africa desk, @AFP. Alum @warstudies. Views own. Journalism is not a crime.
Paris
- Tweets 26,787
- Following 7,402
- Followers 22,920
- Likes 15,154
Pinned Tweet
After two weird days as one of the few journalists inside the Four Seasons in Bahrain, I was left speechless by the Davos-esque Conflab on Palestinian Prosperousness, or “economic workshop,” hosted by Jared Kushner & co. Where do I begin? A thread.
140
1,541
2,796
FIFA president Infantino plays football with Indonesia's FA chairman (former Jakarta police chief), high-fiving & laughing with him after the Kanjuruhan disaster (caused by police/organiser failures) killed 133 people. Very distasteful while people grieve.
Potret Presiden FIFA Gianni Infantino beserta jajaran saat bermain sepak bola bersama Ketua Umum PSSI Mochamad Iriawan di Stadion Madya.
#KitaGaruda
374
7,967
14,394
BREAKING: Ukraine demands 'immediate ceasefire', Russian troop withdrawal. @AFP
50
841
6,105
A Romanian chef sheltered 20 people in his bakery and hit one of the #LondonBridge attackers on the head with a crate. This is London.
64
2,159
5,628
3 US Muslims were gunned down in cold, Islamophobic blood by a white terrorist. Where's the mainstream media outrage?
128
8,087
3,247
NYPD officer who choked #EricGarner not charged but Ramsey Orta, man who filmed incident, was ibt.uk/A006CUN
315
7,934
3,180
Big news breaking from Israel. The Joint List, Israel's Arab-majority bloc, has announced it will endorse Benny Gantz for prime minister in order to bring about the fall of Benjamin Netanyahu. Only Arab precedent for this is when they backed Rabin in '92.
109
884
1,991
What was left of the car of Syrian Kurdish politician Hevrin Khalaf, who was dragged out and killed on the road between Qamishli and Manbij by Turkish-backed forces yesterday.
She was an advocate of co-existence, Turkish media is hailing her murder as a "successful operation".
201
2,125
2,156
Here is father of 4 boys killed playing football in #Gaza today. They were not 'human shields' but innocent children.
144
3,578
1,787
While the world is fixated on coronavirus, Pakistan overturns the murder conviction of the man who masterminded the 2002 beheading of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl.
Governments want decisions like this to go unnoticed. Don't let that happen.
wsj.com/articles/pakistani-c…
76
1,397
1,606
Wow. Pro-Trump Fox News comes out in support of CNN, stands up for reporter belittled by president-elect.
Yashar Ali 🐘
59
817
1,444
Eugene Goodman, the police officer who faced down a group of Capitol rioters on his own and ushered them away from the Senate chamber, is escorting Kamala Harris today at the presidential inauguration.
(Photo cred: 1) Ashley Gilbertson (NYT) / 2) CNN)
29
280
1,126
His name is not "the Jordanian pilot". His name is Moaz al-Kasasbeh. Another victim but remember him like this.
85
1,842
1,106
6/ As the “conflab of prosperousness” as it shall now be known began, it instantly got weirder when Kushner opened with a speech that promised no politics, and then blamed the Palestinian leadership for all of the Palestinian people’s ills, which…err…made it political.
7
146
738
21/ Mnuchin also said Gaza could become like “a hot IPO”. Yeh, totally man, Palestinian prosperity is so in right now. Gazans struggle to even feed themselves and officials here were talking about it like it’s the New York Stock Exchange. You really couldn’t make it up.
15
186
698
7/ The PA is many things, and has many problems, corruption being one of them. But economists are pretty much in agreement that the Israeli occupation is the number one hindrance to Palestinian development on their path to “prosperity,” Jared’s favourite word.
11
141
704
To be clear, Qasem Soleimani is the head of Iran's elite Quds Force, who directs Tehran's operations across the Shia crescent of the Middle East (Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, Yemen).
It's like Iran killing the head of the CIA or the Mossad on foreign soil. This isn't just about Iraq.
27
378
776
5/ One guy tried to pitch to me his vertical farming business. My obvious reaction was “Great! Please continue! I will write about this instead of Palestinian prosperity & the conflab that awaits!” This was a running theme. This was a networking opp. & not about the Palestinians.
8
131
656
Back in London after Turkey handed me a permanent entry ban for "the news I wrote," I think about ISIS leader Baghdadi's brother travelling freely in and out of the country, as it's the only piece I've written about Turkey since my last visit in May 2019. thenational.ae/world/mena/ab…
63
414
735
8/ He then spoke of imagining Gaza as a tourist hub, the West Bank flourishing, & goods and people moving freely. Oh to dream! Book me a flight to Gaza now! What are the visa requirements? Yet there was still no mention of the Israeli occupation, the settlements or the blockade.
10
114
624
3/ His thing is bringing together the rich and the powerful for these conflabs of prosperousness. He sat for a long time with FIFA President Gianni Infantino. Here’s my face when I realised he was stood two feet behind me. Thanks @MehulAtLarge for the snapshot.
13
76
629
4/ There was an odd mix of people, many with no link to the conflict: billionaires, real estate developers, a 15-yo who had 40k Instagram followers & a banker who was confused as to why he was even there. Greenblatt's team couldn't say how guestlist was chosen (answer is Attias).
8
126
648
1/ The tone was set before the event. Someone close to Jared sent me a strongly-worded email about this article, because I led with Pal reaction. A 1-on-1 was dependent on a fair hearing, I was told, ie ‘less Pal views please’. I work for an Arab paper. thenational.ae/world/mena/pa…
16
168
594
"REFUGEES WELCOME". Banners draped across Germany's football stadiums this weekend. (@markito0171)
31
1,114
627
A video we all need right now.
The heartwarming moment a dog is reunited with his owner after the Beirut blast.
4
163
637
32/ This totally surreal event left me feeling like I was working in a parallel universe. Signing out from Manama, bring on the US-sponsored ‘Israeli-Palestinian Real Estate Economic Conflab of Prosperousness’ 2020 in Djibouti, where we will do it all again. See you there, Jared.
31
78
543
14/ Infantino and a FILMMAKER talked about how football could make people like Arabs more and how film could show Arabs in a better light. It was truly surreal to watch what was essentially one random TED talk after another. It had nothing to do with helping the Palestinians.
5
111
523
26/ Silly people, wondering why a 52-year creeping occupation is not mentioned once in 140 pages of consultant speak about the Palestinian economy and why it’s not succeeding. The insults to intelligence continued.
2
88
509
BREAKING: Adidas suspends partnership with Russian football federation: spokesperson. @AFP
5
56
538
Just an incredible scene.
Medical staff in Spain told a taxi driver who was taking patients free of charge to the hospital that he had to make another trip. When he arrived, they surprised him with an ovation and an envelope of money to say thank you.
"Es una sorpresa que le hemos dado a un taxista que lleva a pacientes sin cobrar al hospital.Le hemos dado un sobre con dinero y una dedicatoria.Le hemos llamado para decirle que tenía que hacer un traslado y ha sido muy emocionante. No paraba de llorar."
Gracias a el y a ellos.
7
141
602
9/ He then addressed Palestinians. “This workshop is for you!” You could hear wails of jubilation from Rafah to Nablus to East Jerusalem. “This is for us? Ya 'iilahi! Thank you so much Jared!” one resident of Beit Hanina is rumoured to have said. But no mention of EJ was allowed.
3
83
499
2/ In the lobby, I bumped into Richard Attias, the PR mogul named in the Panama Papers who tried to sue me 6 years ago over a story about his summits in West Africa. So that was a good start. He swanned around introducing VIP guests to each other as the organiser of the event.
5
86
457
12/ There was a normalisation effort happening, too. A rabbi was unashamed to say why he & others from the US/Israel were there. “We’re here to break the stereotypes & to normalise contacts”. Trump’s team allowed Israeli journos into Jared’s speech, but no Pal journalists were.
3
120
467
What a brave woman.
Swedish activist #ElinErsson single-handedly holds up a plane to halt the deportation of a 52-year-old Afghan asylum seeker by refusing to sit down until he was removed.
Even better, she succeeded. Humanity is still alive.
StanceGrounded
47
194
484
23/ To end it all, Kushner thanked Blair for his efforts on making “the world a better place,” making it hard not to laugh out loud and wonder “where in Zeus’ beard am I?”
6
85
435
BREAKING: International Judo Federation suspends Putin as honorary president. @AFP
27
132
505
Trump says US has killed Baghdadi's successor.
Unclear if he's referring to Abu Hassan Al Muhajir, spokesperson killed in northern Syria this week, Abdullah Qardash, reportedly appointed to be his successor, or someone else.
Just confirmed that Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi’s number one replacement has been terminated by American troops. Most likely would have taken the top spot - Now he is also Dead!
66
119
504
13/ The big names included Tony Blair, deeply unpopular with Palestinians, & Infantino, President of Fifa, which protects Israel’s settlement teams against its own rulebook. At least Blair mentioned two-state solution, but I don’t even want to know how much he was paid to attend.
4
107
441
24/ He then gave a huddle to the media, a final PR gambit of optimism. He said the English-language document had been downloaded 500,000 times. If true, barely any Palestinians will have since..well..they speak Arabic, Jared. Again, this document and workshop was not for them.
2
74
427
18/ Steven Mnuchin thanked “Palestinian business leaders” for attending, insulting the intelligence of everybody watching. Mainstream business leaders outright rejected the event & the business delegation led by a pro-settler guy on the fringes of Palestinian society.
5
92
435
17/ Back to the event, one panel host said “the Arabs have always been bad at selling their own propaganda,” in front of an audience littered with Arabs! Myself and others' mouths were left agape. I could go on for days about the panels, but see @glcarlstrom’s thread for more.
2
82
434
BREAKING: World Athletics bans Russian athletes from all competitions: federation. @AFP
6
92
442
19/ Their token Palestinian was Ashraf Jabari, a guy who works with settlers in Hebron & is supported by David Friedman, US ambassador to Israel and settlement donor. He came with 19 others who didn’t want to speak in case they ended up in a ditch back at home for being here.
7
85
418
Apparently a train has been painted the colours of the Palestinian flag in Antwerp, Belgium, in solidarity with #Gaza
18
1,038
483
10/ Panelists appeared to know little about the Palestinians. Like the document, they did not dare steer towards the occupation, but rather from it, guided by British moderator Nik Gowing who only God knows how much he was paid. One banker spoke of “Ramawi” when he meant Rawabi.
3
87
392
Masks in Hong Kong: mandatory, but illegal at the same time 😷
Good day HK watchers.
Courts have decided.
HK gov won final appeal to defend its mask ban in all public assemblies, and its wide powers in colonial-era emergency ordinance.
HK Journalists Association lost legal challenge to police’s failure to facilitate journalistic works.
33
497
501
29/ One member of the US delegation told me, proudly, that this was the biggest meeting on the conflict in years. It seemed like they were happy to just to appear to be doing something, whether it has any credibility or not, or if it fails totally or not, doesn't seem to matter.
4
66
382
25/ The usually unflappable, made-of-stone, ivy league princeling became agitated when asked why the doc never says "occupation". He said “people just have to listen” & “they have to be more thoughtful” about politics being excluded. Ok, so reading it is not good enough?
3
60
378
Wow. Iranian sources tell the BBC that at least 210 people have died of #coronavirus in the country.
That means Tehran has been hiding nearly seven times the true scale of the virus. The current official death toll in Iran stands at 34.
bbc.com/persian/iran-5167696…
35
347
388
28/ Both sides weren’t here, zero pledges, no big decisions, rare mentions of the realities, it was totally shaped to the pro-Israeli message the US team wanted to deliver (the PA is awful) to create a new framing of the conflict & to blame the Pals more for rejecting a non-plan.
3
80
378
30/ All that this conflab of prosperousness told us is that the Palestinians have the ability to prosper if allowed to, ignoring the main reason why they can't. We already knew that, but the Trump administration is patting itself on the back for telling us all.
2
64
365
11/ The panels were half-empty when a big speaker wasn’t on, when this was meant to be devoted to talking about helping the Palestinian people. And many of those in attendance here hadn’t even read the 140-page document. It was released just three days before the conflab started.
74
356
Green Berets speak out on the US' Syria withdrawal.
“They trusted us and we broke that trust,” one Army officer who worked with the Kurds said. “It’s a stain on the American conscience.”
“I’m ashamed,” said another who had also served in northern Syria.
nytimes.com/2019/10/13/world…
17
194
401
The Financial Times calls for the impeachment of Trump to prevent him from causing more carnage.
ft.com/content/c7af1bca-3d0a…
8
85
371
NYC #Trump fan: "You're an Arab. A f*cking loser. A sand nigger. Trump is president, so kiss your visa goodbye." nitter.app/ShaunKing/status/80047…
168
677
359
16/ He told me to keep Gianni out of the politics. “If this was being held in Palestine, he would've been there too.” Yes, the Occupied Economic Nablus Conflab 2020, I can see it now. The interview wasn’t granted. Pal officials told me Fifa’s ethics committee should investigate.
1
54
355
15/ I requested an interview with Infantino because the Palestinians feel he was taking sides by attending. His slick media guy told me he would need to see the questions first and I would even have to BRIEF Infantino about what I was going to ask him before I started recording.
4
61
349
20/ Even Jabari, for all of his cooperation with settlers & the Trump administration, said the occupation needs to be lifted for Palestinian business to thrive, while being pushed on the PA being terrible and awful, an apparent U-turn that nearly made Gowing choke and keel over.
57
343
22/ “Oh yeh, we could so be a hot IPO,” a 22-year Gazan purportedly said. “Give me some shares in that! We’re about to rocket to the moon and we’re not talking Katushyas, babay!” There was, of course, no mention that thousands of Gazans protested the conflab of prosperousness.
2
50
334
Tony Blair quitting as Middle East Peace Envoy. Let us all hope the region doesn't descend into radical extremism, occupation and civil war.
39
647
370
27/ The only people giddy with optimism here were Kushner, Greenblatt and Hook (who told me he likes the design of ‘The Nation’), businessmen who stood to gain, rabbis on a normalisation mission & Israeli journalists as it was their first time being allowed into the country.
60
299
BREAKING: US troops fire shots in air at Kabul airport as crowd mobs tarmac: witness. (@AFP)
17
154
370
ISIS destroys facade of Roman amphitheater in #Palmyra. @Newsweek has obtained satellite images of the destruction. newsweek.com/isis-destroys-f…
7
269
336
Was going to praise CNN for leading with #ChapelHillShooting coverage until I saw they gave airtime to killer's wife.
31
583
304
31/ I have a feeling there will be another one of these conflabs of prosperousness after they roll out the political portion, which Greenblatt said Trump hasn't read and is dozens of pages long. After what I witnessed, there's no chance it will call for a Pal state on 1967 lines.
5
44
264
This is massive. Comey asked for more resources to widen investigation into Trump team's Russia links. Days later: fired.
17
218
275
I tendered my resignation at Newsweek today. I've had a good run of three years. Cover stories. Award nominations. Reporting trips. Made friends for life. Worked with great editors/reporters. Hopefully I can continue my work elsewhere. Please send any openings to do that my way.
37
83
303
The view of the #Gaza protest taking place in London right now. Taken from roof of the BBC. (@pjbodenham)
39
719
285
I refuse to watch the James Foley video. You should too. If you do, you should not put it in front of other's eyes.
32
614
256
Where to begin with this tweet?
- His Sec of Defense is called Mark Esper, not Esperanto.
- Clashes continue in northern Syria.
- All US soldiers from Syria are being moved to western Iraq to fight ISIS (which he says is defeated), not back to the US.
- And, finally, what oil?!
16
101
200
#Syria:
Unemployment:
2010: 15%
2015: 58%
Life expectancy:
2010: 80
2015: 55
Population:
2010: 21.5m
2015: 18m
25
626
236
BREAKING: Poland refuses to play 2022 World Cup play-off against Russia: Polish federation. @AFP
6
51
241
A beautiful collection of New York Times images from around the world of a #Ramadan like no other.
My favourite: this chap praying on the banks of Dal Lake in Srinagar, Kashmir, captured by @ahmermkhan.
nytimes.com/2020/04/25/world…
4
38
252
Britain in one video from the #OneLoveManchester concert
Toby Earle 🇺🇦 @tobyontv.bsky.social
4
105
235
Relief and freedom after ISIS in Manbij: Cutting beards, burning niqabs & smoking. This is why the Iraqis and Kurds are liberating #Mosul.
1
138
223
Robert De Niro's scathing takedown of #Trump: "I'd like to punch him in the face." nitter.app/PapaWoooooody/status/7…
9
208
221
John F. Kennedy: "Life is never easy. There is work to be done and obligations to be met — obligations to truth, to justice, and to liberty."
Barack Obama: "We are the ones we've been waiting for. We are the change that we seek."
Donald J. Trump: "GET ME A COKE PLEASE!"
20
71
200
#Jerusalem's Christian leaders plea with Trump: Do not change the status of our ancient city. Full letter published by @Newsweek here. newsweek.com/jerusalems-chri…
19
137
199
Israel's @btselem says 70% of those killed in #Gaza were civilians killed in their residences: jpost.com/Arab-Israeli-Confl…
42
579
205
Oh, and Trump appears to have totally made up the quote he used from Mark "Esperanto" in that lie-filled tweet. See below from a journalist travelling with Esper en route to Afghanistan.
I’m not sure who Trump is referring to, but I’m travelling with Defense Secretary Esper and cant recall the quote Trump is using. While speaking with us Enroute to Afghanistan, Esper also made no mention of new areas being resettled with Kurds or oil.
14
104
181
My new office view in Hong Kong is pretty average.
ⓘ Official sources stated that this is false and misleading.
10
235
BREAKING: Ukraine army secures Kharkiv, expelling Russian troops: governor. @AFP
3
17
225
Forget #KingAbdullah, RIP Egyptian wife, mother & peaceful activist Shaimaa El-Sabagh shot dead today. Shame on Sisi.
22
467
191
Contact in Beirut:
"What I have seen, what I have heard, it is beyond description. I have survived civil war, I have survived the Israeli invasion. This is by far the worst of the worst."
3
83
218
BREAKING: Russia says wants to reach agreement with Ukraine: negotiator. @AFP
7
51
220
BREAKING: Palestinian health officials confirm first #Gaza death from Israeli fire on march against US embassy move. More than 20 wounded.
10
154
176
Benny Gantz rejects Benjamin Netanyahu's offer of a unity government, saying that he will not enter into any coalition led by an Israeli premier facing corruption charges. Bibi, looking increasingly desperate, says he is "surprised and disappointed". Oh I'm sure you are, Bibi.
4
62
146
Seven-year-old @AlabedBana, famous for her dispatches from besieged eastern #Aleppo, leaves the city safely europe.newsweek.com/seven-ye…
8
95
184
It's a Merry Christmas from Palestinians in Ramallah dressed as Santa, dancing the dabke to jingle bells nitter.app/Satar_Gaza/status/8118…
5
203
172
Here are a few of arrested Getty photographer Scott Olson's iconic shots from the #Ferguson unrest.
18
398
166