Merit Hietanen
378 posts

Merit Hietanen
@MeritSofia
Working in the humanitarian sector on #gender and #refugees. Focus on sector reform. Palestine. New book: 'The Humanitarian Parent' published with Routledge.

The @LemkinInstitute condemns Israel's terrorist attacks against Lebanese people in the past two days. Using explosive pagers and walkie-talkies, it has killed 29 Lebanese people and wounded at least 3,200, including 9-year-old Fatima Abdullah and an 11 year-old boy. While supporters of Israel claim that all victims were "terrorists," that claim does not appear to be borne out by the evidence. Certainly a 9-year-old and an 11-year-old were not "terrorists." Hezbollah, the ostensible "target" of the attacks, is not a simple "terrorist organization" engaged in criminal activity. It is also a political party and a service provider for southern Lebanon, so it includes civilian doctors, nurses, teachers, and so forth. Are they terrorists? When does "collateral damage" become the point? What we see is a genocidal state that is completely out of control and supported by a Western world that is, in large measure, too racist and Islamophobic to care. Since yesterday's attacks, Israel has declared a "new phase" in its hopeless and destructive "war." We call on all nations of moral conscience and sanity to intervene immediately to stop this slaughter of Arab peoples before the whole world is drawn down into the breathtaking moral collapse and darkness we all see before our eyes. The genocide of Palestinians must stop. Israel's intentional escalation and expansion of violence must stop. Since the UN is weak and the West is complicit, a concerted intervention for peace and justice must be made by a broad coalition from the Global South. Without such an effort, regional and global war are not far off, and the wanton slaughter of all mankind will rule the day once more.



Paediatric doctor gives powerful Gaza testimony at DNC Dr Tanya Haj-Hassan called on Democrats in power to do more to stop the bloodshed in Gaza, as she recalled harrowing stories of injured children during her time volunteering in Gaza as a paediatrician. Dr Haj-Hassan was speaking at the Democratic National Convention's first ever panel on Palestinian rights. The story of a boy who arrived with half his face blown off and later found out the rest of his family had been killed caused visible distress to other members of the panel, one of whom left in tears.


Miten media voi tuutata Israelin propagandaa Rafahin ‘traagisesta virheestä’ sen jälkeen kun Israel on tappanut 15,000 lasta Gazassa? Ymmärtääkö media että niiden pitäisi olla riippumattomia toimijoita, eikä Israelin propagandaväline?#gs.9i2i52" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">mtvuutiset.fi/artikkeli/neta…



Join author and #humanitarian specialist @MeritSofia during this #HUMGOV #webinar, with a reflection by @MaysNawayseh, and time for a Q&A! 📅 Wednesday, March 20 (16:00 - 17:00 CET) Sign up here: lnkd.in/ej2TaMXM


Samalla kun kansainvälinen tuomioistuin alkoi tutkia #Gaza'n tapahtumia kansanmurhana, monet maat vetivät tukensa pois alueen tärkeimmältä avustusjärjestöltä – tutkija ja YK-järjestön entiset työntekijät tästä kohutussa #UNRWA:ssa on kyse maailmankuvalehti.fi/2024/2/nakokul… #Gazansota


Goodbye “good humanitarian donorship”? Nine donors recklessly suspend funding for UNRWA in the hour of greatest need for Gazans under bombardment. Relieved Norway is sensible and keeps funding UNRWA, that has fired all the questioned staff, and awaits the external investigation.


The following 𝐬𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐬 have suspended Unrwa funding based on Israeli claims that 12 of the agency's 30,000 employees took part in Hamas attacks: 🇺🇸 US 🇨🇦 Canada 🇬🇧 UK 🇫🇮 Finland 🇦🇺 Australia 🇮🇹 Italy 🇳🇱 Netherlands 🇳🇴 Norway and 🇮🇪 Ireland said they would not follow suit. Switzerland said no decision till accusations are clarified. 𝐔𝐧𝐫𝐰𝐚 𝐟𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐬: • It has 30,000 employees, 13,000 of which are in Gaza. • Most of them are Palestine refugees and a small number of international staff. • In Gaza, it runs 183 schools, 22 health facilities and seven women's centres, among several other facilities. • Its schools are attended by 286,645 students in Gaza, while its medical facilities have 3.4 million average visits per year, according to UN data.

NEW: US State Department pressed on Israel’s destruction of Israa University in Gaza “You have NOTHING to say about this??” “You keep saying that you want Israel not to destroy the infrastructure, yet we are seeing almost a TOTAL destruction of ALL infrastructure...”


The Israeli military just blew up the University of Palestine in Gaza City with 315 mines. All the universities in Gaza have been damaged or destroyed. We need a full academic boycott.
