WORLD - The African Mirror

Aug

23

2025

Will we ever return? Facing down Israel’s invasion of Gaza City

WORLD

A few days ago, I stood by the window of our destroyed home in Gaza City and watched with deep sorrow as buyers carried away the last of our remaining furniture. We purchased it during the ceasefire earlier this year when we thought this war was over and we could resume our lives. Now, we have decided to start selling it for cheap rather than leave it behind to be destroyed by the Israeli army, which is poised to invade and take full control of the city. This story was originally published by The New Humanitarian.By Rasha Abou Jalal Already,…

Aug

23

2025

By SARA LUTERMAN

What it means to have a woman in a wheelchair featured on U.S. currency

WORLD

THE late disability justice co-founder and activist Stacey Park Milbern is the latest pioneering woman to receive her own quarter from the U.S. Mint. Milbern is the first woman in a wheelchair featured on U.S. currency and the first person whose wheelchair is actually shown. This story was originally reported by Sara Luterman of The 19th. Meet Sara and read more of her reporting on gender, politics and policy. On August 13, nearly 100 disability advocates, family and friends gathered at the Smithsonian National Museum of American History to celebrate the quarter’s release. “Stacey is not the first wheelchair user…

Aug

22

2025

By RAN PORAT

With eyes on re-election, Netanyahu’s fights with world leaders aim to distract from many political problems

WORLD

AS the longest-serving Israeli prime minister (17 years), Benjamin Netanyahu is famous for his political wizardry and survival skills. But he is also a highly controversial figure with questionable moral standards and a legacy. His latest term in office, beginning in late 2022, has been particularly challenging, thanks to the far-right radical elements of his governing coalition and the unprecedented national disaster Israel experienced at the hands of Hamas on October 7 2023. Yet, Netanyahu has managed to neutralise almost all immediate domestic threats to his power. At times, he has done this by manoeuvring rivals and partners into postponing…

Aug

22

2025

By ANNA BATTA

Even if Trump succeeds in bringing Putin and Zelenskyy together, don’t expect wonders − their only previous face-to-face encounter ended in failure

WORLD

DONALD Trump has raised the prospect of direct talks between Presidents Vladimir Putin of Russia and Volodymyr Zelenskyy of Ukraine, in what would be the first such encounter in more than three years of war between the two countries. In a social media post on Aug. 18, 2025, the U.S. president announced that he had begun “the arrangements for a meeting, at a location to be determined.” Whether the proposed meeting goes ahead, given the animosity between the two men, remains to be seen. Previous speculation earlier in 2025 that Putin and Zelenskyy might engage in face-to-face talks led nowhere.…

Aug

21

2025

By The African Mirror

UN condemns Israeli Minister’s taunting of Palestinian prisoner Barghouti

WORLD

THE United Nations Human Rights Office has condemned Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir for verbally confronting Palestinian leader Marwan Barghouti in his prison cell and posting video footage of the encounter online. The footage shows Ben-Gvir "berating and taunting Palestinian leader Marwan Barghouthi face-to-face inside an Israeli jail", according to UN Human Rights spokesperson Thameen Al-Kheetan. "The minister's behaviour and the publication of the footage constitute an attack on Barghouthi's dignity," Al-Kheetan said in a statement. The UN official emphasised that "international law requires that all those in detention be treated humanely, with dignity, and their human rights respected…

Aug

21

2025

By SONIA MYCAK

Zelensky leaves Washington with Trump’s security guarantees, but are they enough?

WORLD

THE last time Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky visited the White House earlier this year, he was berated by Donald Trump. On Monday, he returned with European leaders by his side. He emerged with some signs of progress on a peace deal to end Russia’s war against Ukraine. The presence of the European leaders no doubt had a great impact on the meeting. Following Trump’s recent summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska, there was concern that he was aligning the United States with Russia's position by supporting Putin’s maximalist demands. We see from Trump’s statements over the last couple…

Aug

20

2025

By STEFAN WOLFF

Transatlantic unity at the White House disguises lack of progress towards just peace for Ukraine

WORLD

AT a high-stakes meeting at the White House on August 18, the US president, Donald Trump, and his Ukrainian counterpart, Volodymyr Zelensky, tried to hammer out the broad contours of a potential peace agreement with Russia. The tone of their encounter was in marked contrast to their last joint press conference in Washington back in February, which ended with Zelensky’s humiliation by Trump and his vice president, J.D. Vance. The outcomes of the presidential get-together and the subsequent, expanded meeting with leaders of the European coalition of the willing were also a much more professional affair than Trump’s summit with…

Aug

20

2025

By The African Mirror

UN reports deadly conditions in Gaza as displacement orders continue

WORLD

THE United Nations Human Rights Office has documented severe humanitarian conditions in Gaza, where Palestinians face deadly risks while seeking basic necessities amid ongoing displacement orders and restricted aid access. "The Israeli military has also continued to issue displacement orders for Palestinians, including those in Gaza City, telling them to move to the Al Mawasi area, even as strikes on this area continue. On 16 and 17 August, we recorded five attacks on tents of internally displaced people in Al Mawasi, killing at least nine people," Al-Kheetan said. "Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians displaced to Al Mawasi have little or…

Aug

20

2025

By ADNAN MANSOUR AZZAM

Sweet mulberries and the bitter uprooting of Syria’s Druze

WORLD

AS a filmmaker, I see the world through the details that come into focus – or that become blurry – in my camera’s viewfinder. So when violence broke out a month ago in my home of Sweida, a province in southern Syria, I couldn’t help but see it all unfold through that same lens. I was in Sweida’s main city when clashes between Bedouin and Druze forces broke out in mid-July, so I was spared the worst of the violence that took over the countryside and turned sectarian, claiming the lives of hundreds of people – possibly more than 1,000…

Aug

19

2025

By SARA OSCAR and CHERINE FAHD

Images from Gaza have shocked the world – but the ‘spectacle of suffering’ is a double-edged sword

WORLD

THE power of the war photograph is that it won’t let you look away. And nowhere is this proving truer than in Gaza. One recent example portrayed a skeletal boy, Muhammad Zakariya Ayyoub al-Matouq, held in his mother’s arms. Palestinian photographer Ahmed al-Arini captured the boy and his mother in the iconic pose of the Madonna and child. Photographs coming out of Gaza since October 2023 have communicated the severity of the destruction: collapsed buildings, bodies in shrouds, dead and maimed children, and bombed-out hospitals and shelters. There have also been viral AI-generated images, such as All Eyes on Rafah.…