Dries Lesage
6.7K posts
@DriesLesage
Professor of international politics, Ghent University. UN, multilateralism, G7, BRICS, G20, Türkiye, Israel/Palestine. Partisan for human dignity and truth.
Not in line with Israel’s values and norms? That’s not true. Let´s stick to the facts. While the hundreds of Global Sumud Flotilla activists unlawfully detained by Israel are en route back to their countries, Palestinian prisoners will have to continue to endure unspeakable abuse. Israel has a long history of incarcerating Palestinians without charge or trial. Its systematic use of administrative detention – detaining Palestinians without charge or trial - is a cornerstone of Israel’s system of #apartheid. Torture and other ill-treatment of Palestinian prisoners have been a cruel reality for decades and only increased in the last 3 years. Over 9,000 Palestinian men, women, and children are currently held in Israel’s prisons. More than a 1,000 are from Gaza and subjected to enforced disappearance or held incommunicado in military facilities and denied access to lawyers or contact with their families. Amnesty International and other human rights groups have continuously documented a pattern of Israeli authorities inflicting torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment against Palestinians, including through the denial of medicine, food, clothing and sleep, continuous beating, cuffing and blindfolding, dog attacks, rape and other sexual violence, among other abuses. In yet another display of double standards, third states have remained unmoved to the repeated calls to act to bring an end to Israel’s abuses against Palestinians in custody. This must end.
Today in Deir Kanoun, South Lebanon. The first strike injures several civilians, including a child. The second strike targets the ambulance coming to rescue them. Result: 4 killed civilians including a little girl and 6 killed paramedics. Israeli horror.
Fijn interview met @jdceulaer over mijn nieuwe boek, Europa's economische veiligheid en een derde weg tussen Xi en Trump. 'Tussen macht en moraal. Europa's geo-economische ontwaking' ligt nu in alle boekhandels.
Iran and UAE clash at BRICS foreign ministers' meeting reut.rs/4uKOBpv reut.rs/4uKOBpv
"The ball is Ankara's court ... but apparently the racket is in Baku's hands, if one may stretch that metaphor." Nareg Seferian on Baku's role in Turkey-Armenia border negotiations and normalization. Watch our Armenia election preview on Recap radio: youtube.com/watch?v=d0eM81…
"Our school is destroyed, there's nothing left." - Roa’a, 12, West Bank, State of Palestine. Her dreams of graduating grade 6 were shattered when her school - a place she loved to learn and play at with her friends - was reduced to rubble by settlers and Israeli forces. There have been 99 documented education-related incidents in 2026 alone, including the killing, injury and detention of students, the demolition of schools, military use of school buildings, and denial of access. Watch and share Roa'a's story.
For the first time since the 1967 occupation, Israel is expelling an entire Palestinian neighborhood in Jerusalem. The Silwan area, located near the "Holy Basin," the Temple Mount, and al-Aqsa Mosque, is home to many archaeological and historical sites of exceptional significance. As of April 2026, approximately 1,800 residents in Silwan are under threat of expulsion, after hundreds have already been uprooted and left homeless in the past two years. In Baten al-Hawa alone, 33 families have already been expelled, and 53 additional families, including 130 children, face a similar fate. In al-Bustan, Israel has already demolished 48 homes and plans to demolish the homes of 123 more families, which will lead to the expulsion of approximately 1,450 people. The expulsion in Silwan is part of a policy of ethnic cleansing throughout the entire West Bank. Link to the full article >> btselem.org/jerusalem/2026…
We strongly condemn the demolition of an EU-funded school in the West Bank by Israeli settlers. This unlawful action deprived 40 children of their right to education, forced their entire community to flee & violates international humanitarian law. The EU demands accountability.
