After over a year, saying goodbye to my profile pic. I will always cherish the little bird (and what it represented)

Join me and make a gift to Professor Nilüfer Çağatay Memorial Scholarship @IAFFE (+meet me in Bluesky!)

Tomorrow I will bring to the Senate floor a series of votes to block the sale of offensive weapons to Israel:

You want to blame someone? Blame Biden’s ego, and blame the DNC for treating an incumbent like a monarch, until the very last minute.

ANADOLU'NUN AKDENİZ’E AÇILAN KAPISI “ALİ KESİĞİ” • Derebucak Pınarbaşı Mahallesinden Antalya güzergahına doğru ilerlerken, günümüzde su tahliye kanalı olarak kullanılan Ali Kesiği rastlanır. +++++

🧵 HILO sobre los destrozos que está causando la DANA en Valencia y alrededores y que por algún motivo los medios no están sacando

1. As of this week, @USDOT’s automatic refunds rule is in full effect. If an airline cancels or significantly changes your flight and you don’t rebook, you’re entitled to an automatic refund. If you buy in-flight wifi and it doesn’t work, you’re entitled to an automatic refund.

Yaklaşık 10 yıldır - yerleri deterjanlı suyla değil, sirkeli suyla silerim -yumuşatıcı asla kullanmam -çamaşırlarımı bir çeşit bitkiyle yıkarım (burada soap berries diye geçiyor). Resmini ekledim. Sanırım Türkiye'de de var, adı sabun cevizi olarak geçiyor. Defalarca kullabiliyorum. Çamaşırlar mis gibi ve yumuşacık çıkıyor... Daha birçok kimsenin yapmadığı 'doğayı ve kendimizi koruma' alışkanlıklarımın bugün bir arkadaşla konuşurken pek de bilinmediği farkettim. 'Ne kadar deterjan o kadar temizlik' süper yanlış bir yaklaşım. Bu farkındalık için paylaşımlarımı artırmaya karar verdim. Ne kadar çok allerjik reaksiyon ve cilt rahatsızlıklarınızın iyileştiğini görecekiniz.

Israel is destroying residential buildings in Beirut in the middle of the day, unashamed, and unrestrained. From Gaza to Beirut, this is the world Western leaders have decided we now live in – impunity without consequences, brutality without justice.

After a rich and moving visit to #Portugal recently, I felt compelled to address the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Portugal @PauloRangel_pt, in an open letter. I thank all the wonderful Portuguese people who welcome me and inspired me to write this letter, which @Publico kindly published. Obrigada. **English Translation**: Dear Minister Rangel, I was honored to be invited to Portugal recently, in my capacity as the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories occupied since 1967. As a visitor to your country, I was impressed by the compassion of the Portuguese people, and the sensitivity and widespread empathy for the Gaza crisis, prompting principled action from us all. While invitations by the @ISCTEIUL and University of Coimbra brought me to Portugal, my visit became an opportunity for in-depth discussions with scholars, parliamentarians, citizens, students, journalists, unionists, and government officials. Had I met you, Honorble Minister, I would have certainly raised my concerns for the catastrophic situation in Palestine/Israel, for the Palestinians, the Israelis, and recalled Portugal’s international obligations regarding Israel’s 57-year occupation of what remains of historical Palestine - the Gaza Strip and West Bank, including east Jerusalem - as well as the implications of one year of genocide in Gaza. In a global climate where debate is increasingly stifled and the position of political leadership globally, though particularly in the West, is strikingly discordant with the reality to which most people are bearing witness, the lectures of an international lawyer have become spaces for shedding tears of collective grief. Portugal was no exception. We are being told the ongoing reality in Gaza is a war and humanitarian crisis, when truly it is, as a Portuguese Parliamentarian put it, a crisis of humanity, and a genocide. More so, it is unfolding in real time, broadcast to the world by its most immediate and vulnerable victims, and, in this way, it is an indictment of us all: for our inability to stop it, despite the norms and laws we enact for ourselves, despite our insistence on peace-oriented rhetoric, and despite our collective might. The stark reality of Palestine illustrates how international practices often perpetuate injustice, international law notwithstanding. After the shocking events of October 7, 2023, it was October 9, 2024 that marked one year since the beginning of the darkest chapter in the region’s history. As I outlined in my report to the UN Human Rights Council in March 2024, Israel has intentionally distorted international humanitarian law to camouflage and legitimize its genocidal violence. Now, a year of scorched-earth assault has led to the calculated destruction of Gaza. The human, material, and environmental cost is unfathomable, with over 90% of Gaza’s population displaced, over 40,000 deaths, hundreds of family lines erased, a population starved, a decimated health system, and perpetual cultural and physical erasure of a people from their land. The overwhelming scale of the Israeli assault on Gaza, and the conditions of life it has inflicted, reveal an intent to physically destroy Palestinians as a group, reinforcing my earlier findings that there are reasonable grounds to believe this is genocide. This devastation is metastasizing to the West Bank, with the clear replication of patterns of conduct indicative of a serious risk of genocide, and is also engulfing the broader region, Lebanon most especially. In today's catastrophic landscape, the focus must be to honor international obligations. Ending the genocide first; then ending the occupation, colonization and halting annexation to secure Palestinian existence in what remains of their homeland; and finally ending the apartheid regime. These are the three imperatives that should guide us all. They are mandated by international law, as confirmed by the International Court of Justice in its recent Advisory Opinion. While most western countries sit idle and even support Israel, a small number have become more vocal. Portugal is cautiously one of them: calling for measures on arms exports, closing its airspace and deflagging the MV Kathrin. Yet, at the time of genocide, more is urgently needed. This ongoing genocide is doubtlessly the consequence of the exceptional status afforded to Israel. Upholding international law demands states take a different approach: the right to self-determination must be the sine qua non condition for any meaningful peace agreement. In this regard, as the State of Palestine exists, its recognition is an act of political coherence and rhetorical consistency. So too the violence and underpinning violations of international law must cease, with the legally enshrined political and economic countermeasures to induce it. Portugal would be a welcome voice alongside South Africa’s before the @CIJ_ICJ. Together with other UN experts, I have repeatedly called for an arms embargo, urging states to cease all military-security trade with Israel and impose comprehensive sanctions. Full compliance with the Court’s recent rulings, including its pointed observations to all state parties regarding their erga omnes obligations under the Genocide Convention in Nicaragua v. Germany, reinforce this. I urge the Portuguese government to follow these steps. I wish to underscore, Honorable Minister, that this is not just a moral duty; it is a non-derogable obligation to which Portugal is bound by law. Indeed, while in Portugal, I learned more about its unique history, having cast off the chains of dictatorship through antifascist resistance, which is a testament to the principle that “no one is free until everyone is free”. This legacy underpins your remarkable Constitution, to which I respectfully draw your attention now. Article 7 demands the defense of human rights and the right of peoples to self-determination and compels Portugal to reject imperialism, colonialism, and all forms of oppression and aggression. The Portuguese people made clear to me the special responsibility they see in their government to fight against the colonial amnesia that still haunts Western societies. In this the 50th year since the Carnation Revolution, the Government of Portugal can do more, lest it betray the very values that once guided its own struggle. Thank you for your consideration on this most pressing matter. Yours sincerely, Franncesca Albanese Francesca Albanese