Christian presence in Gaza

 

Since many decades, Israel and his allies have set up a false narrative about Palestine's people, due to the fact that they have been comparing Palestinians with Muslims. And since October 7, they have done the same. In other words, they have not mentioned that the ongoing brutal war in the Middle East has massacred Palestinian Muslims as well as Palestinian Christians who live in the Gaza Strip. To sum up, while the leaders of many Christian countries continue to be silent, Israel's government is threatening the Christian presence in the holy land.

In this context, Western powers want us to support Israel's politicians, who are the same people who agree on killing unarmed journalists, nurses, doctors and children. They are the people who remember international law and war crimes only when the victims are Israelis. 

Let's wait and see if they will lie again and again.

I took the above picture of the Christmas tree in my neighborhood.  

The shortest day of the year

 

2023'S Winter solstice is around the corner, as on December 22 the Northern  hemisphere will be furthest away from the sun. It will be the shortest day of the year.

The picture above shows the Bay of Naples (South Italy) on a cloudy morning in late Autumn. It was taken by my sister, who lives there.

That old medieval tower was built five centuries ago to protect against the threat of invasion by Arabs and turks. I saw it while I was on the rooftop of building located in the historic centre of the town.

The tower was surrounded completely by residential buildings two centuries after  it had been built. 

 Enjoy the shortest day of the year ❗

Never again

 

I know I have bored you since October 7th, due to the fact that I sometimes speak about Gaza's  massacre. But I am sorry to hear that the United States' government vetoes Security Council draft resolution that would have demanded a humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza.

I have never heard of collective punishment of innocent people, as we see in Gaza. And, in this context, the EU should have been arguing for the protection of civilians in Gaza. On the contrary, while a genocidal war is going on, the EU president, Von Der Leyen, says: "Europe stands with Israel". But who gives her the right to speak for the citizens of Europe? We, Europeans, stand for justice for the people of Palestine. We disagree on  Israel airstrike, open declaration of siege, and fuel, electricity and water left. Not to mention of killing of children, women, journalists, nurses and doctors!

As mentioned by the Australian senator, Lidia Thorpe, at every genocide the world cries "never again". 

On the wrong side of history

Israel's crimes against humanity still continue in Gaza. But is the hitting of hospitals and ambulance convoys still illegal under the International law? And while Westerners and many Middle East countries are turning a blind eye on the massacre in Gaza, the ICC  continues to lose credibility. On the contrary, If Russia, China or Iran were to do the same atrocities as we see in the Israel-Palestine conflict, they would be prosecuted by ICC. 

In the meanwhile, Palestinian death toll in Gaza since October 7th had passed 15,500 including 6,500 children. And the death toll of Palestinian journalists has rised to 73. 

As mentioned by the Turkish president recently, this time the so-called civilized world's societies are on the wrong side of history in the Israeli genocide of Palestinian people who live in Gaza.

The 1st day of the twelveth month of the year

Today, on a cloudy morning, I saw a lovely children playground located close to a residential neighborhood in the southern outskirt of the town. 

It reminds me that  neighborhoods like that don't exist anymore in Gaza City.

 I also took a few pictures that show the sea in late Autumn.

The lanscape was pleasant and the weather was almost too good. I could see just a touch of grey clouds in the sky.

Those small wooden stilt houses are mainly used from June to October.  Situated on the sea and close to the shore, they are romantic vacation places.

The two following pictures are less romantic than the previous ones, as they show illegal waste dumping on a area surrounding the industrial district (North side of the town), due to the fact that  many construction and landscaping contractors don't use athorized methods. Typical of third world!

Unfortunately, there is still a lack of public awareness regarding the environmental, health and economic danger of illegal waste dumping.

Have a nice weekend 💦

Plogging

 

Yesterday I noticed streets and alleys were so clean in the early evening, while I was enjoyed a walk through  Civitavecchia's historical neighborhood.  And I also saw someone who was picking up trashing and litter while walking. A few minutes later it was easy to see that there were two women who were not employed to collect urban waste. I have heard of garbage collectors,  who pick up and transport waste to disposal sites or recycling centers in the morning, but not in the early evening. 

After I had asked her why she was collecting waste in the early evening, she said that it was not her job. She specified it was a new sustainable initiative which combines walking with caring of urban environment. Obviously,  she wore gloves and had a bag to collect litter along her route. 

The term "plogging" is a combination of picking up litter while jogging.

The 3rd and the 4th pictures have nothing to do with plogging. They give two different perspectives of the parich church located in the octagonal square of San Lorenzo Nuovo, which is a small village (149 km North from Rome).

With its 2,000 inhabitants, San Lorenzo Nuovo lies close to the lake Bolsena in Central Italy.

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Nice weekend to all the members of our blogging community!

Southern corridor

 

A political leader's first duty is the welfare, progress and protection of his/her people and country he/she serves. That's why last month Hungary's prime minister, Viktor Orban, apparently issued a warning to his NATO allied. He said that Hungary would "go to war if energy supply were attacked". 

In 2022 Germany faced energy crisis after Nord Stream pipelines were attacked. And U.S. journalist Seymour Hersh accused Washington of orchestrating the attack on the two pipelines . 

As it is known, Nord Stream 1 and 2 were built to deliver Russian gas to some EU countries via Germany. And despite last year a few world powers worked togheter on blowing up the Nord Stream pipelines, Hungary and Serbia, which are two landlocked countries, can still purchase natural gas from the Caspian basin through the Azerbaijan, Türkiye (Trans Anatolian pipeline) and Bulgaria. 

In this perspective, the Hungarian prime minister made recently it very clear that if anybody would like to do the same thing with the Southern Corridor, as it was done with the Nord Stream, his country "will consider it as a reason for war". 

Hungary is a true independent and sovereign country, not like Vassal states. 

The two above pictures were taken by my daughters in 2019 while they were visiting the capital of Hungary, Budapest.

Have a nice weekend!