Egypt at #Paris #Paralympics2024: 2 Golds on one day thanks to Mohamed El-Minyawi and Rehab Radwan

At last, Egypt has secured medals at the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games, achieving a remarkable feat by winning two gold medals in weightlifting on the same day.

Our Paralympians Mohamed El-Minyawi and Rehab Radwan

Egyptian weightlifting champion Mohamed El-Minyawi claimed gold in the men’s 59kg weightlifting category. 

El-Minyawi after knowing that he did it 

This is the 25-year-old's first-ever Paralympic appearance.

El-Minyawi with Egypt's flag

El-Minyawi lifted 194kg on his first attempt, 198kg on his second, and 201 kg on his final lift to seal his victory.

Thursday Rants and Rave: #S02EP02 What we really know about Reem Hamed “Special episode”

Hello and welcome back to a special episode of the Thursday Rants and Rave Podcast.

It's been a year since I last posted an episode.

I wasn’t able to publish any since then because, just a month after that solitary episode, we witnessed a genocide unfolding before our eyes—a genocide that still hasn’t ended. I found it impossible to write or search for episodes while the war on Gaza was ongoing.

I tried to shift my focus to Gaza-related content for the podcast, but I'll be honest—I couldn’t complete it. It wasn't due to procrastination, but rather burnout. I feel a sense of shame admitting this, especially knowing that I’m safe in Egypt, unlike the Palestinians in Gaza.

Nevertheless, I'm back to podcasting because I feel it's necessary to release this specific episode. Something happened last week that compelled me to return to podcasting in Arabic, in an attempt to clarify certain issues and prevent another wave of misinformation. “Shout out to dear fellow blogger and podcaster Israa El-Sakaa who you should follow her podcast if you understand Arabic”

Tonight's episode is not a rant but rather a factual discussion. I believe it’s crucial to clarify some points about an incident that took place in Paris two weeks ago.

Here is what I said in Arabic, it is not a rant.

A young Egyptian PhD student named Reem Hamed passed away in Paris on August 22nd, and now many Egyptians and Arabs believe she was killed.

Here’s what we really know about the late Reem Hamed—may Allah bless her soul and bring patience to her family, especially her mother.

Reem Hamed in a photo from February 2021 "Hamed's FB account"

Reem passed away on the evening of Thursday, August 22, 2024, in Paris circumstances that remain unclear, according to her family and the Egyptian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates stated that it is closely monitoring the ongoing investigations into the death of the Egyptian researcher, Reem Hamed.

The ministry noted that, upon being notified of Hamed's death, the Egyptian Consulate General in Paris immediately contacted French authorities to seek information about the investigation.

The assassinations of The Two Ismails : Ismail Al-Ghoul’s (Al-Rifi and Al-Shawa too) assassination

Three weeks ago, I got the news in Cairo on my mobile phone before it was aired on Al-Jazeera.

A notification popped up on my iPhone screen, making me rush to tune back into the Al-Jazeera TV channel after having turned it off.

The TV had been on since early morning, as the whole family was following the news of Ismail Haniyah’s assassination in Tehran. No one expected anything significant to happen on the same day.

"Al-Jazeera correspondent in North Gaza Ismail Al-Ghoul is killed in an Israeli airstrike," read the notification, which had come directly from one of the on-ground Gaza Telegram groups.

I quickly turned on Al-Jazeera's Arabic channel and found the presenter, Rola Ibrahim, speaking live with guests from Tehran and the West Bank about the impact of Haniyah’s assassination on the war in Gaza.

Ismail Al-Ghoul and Ramy El-Rifi 

Meanwhile, the news spread rapidly on social media, with reporters and photographers sharing updates online. Al Jazeera correspondent Anas Al-Sherif confirmed the news on Twitter.

#عاجل | استشهاد أخي وحبيبي مراسل #الجزيرة إسماعيل الغول والمصور رامي الريفي بقصف إسرائيلي استهدفهما في مدينة غزة pic.twitter.com/1ImGMLAOhn

— أنس الشريف Anas Al-Sharif (@AnasAlSharif0) July 31, 2024

“**Breaking News**: My brother and beloved Al Jazeera correspondent Ismail Al-Ghoul, along with photographer Rami Al-Rifi, were martyred in an Israeli airstrike that targeted them in Gaza City,” 

Kodak Agfa Presents: August’s Super blue Moon

Kodak Agfa is back with a supermoon photo.

It is super blue moon but I could not make it blue because it is blue per se

It is August’s Super Blue Moon that the world witnessed on Monday.

What is the Super Blue Moon? “Chat-GPT answer”

A superblue moon is a rare astronomical event that occurs when two unusual lunar phenomena align: a supermoon and a blue moon.

A supermoon happens when the full moon coincides with its closest approach to Earth in its elliptical orbit, making the moon appear larger and brighter in the night sky.

A blue moon refers to the second full moon in a single calendar month, an occurrence that is infrequent due to the lunar cycle being about 29.5 days long.

When these two events occur together, it's called a super blue moon—a striking sight that captures the imagination, as it combines the rarity of a blue moon with the enhanced visual impact of a supermoon.

At the same time the Super Blue Moon was covering the skies and photographers around the globe, the ongoing genocide in Gaza did stop at night. More children and civilians were killed.

The Palestinians in Gaza did not have the time to enjoy looking to the moon despite most of them being technically without a proper roof.

The ceasefire agreement seemed to be like a “blue moon” as we are hearing reports that Donald Trump asking Netanyahu to reject and sabotage technically any ceasefire deal or any deal by Biden/Harris administration, so the Democrats won’t achieve a bonus.

But at the same time here we are having a blue moon, there is still a hope.

Paris 2024 Olympics: Egypt got silver and gold medals at the last moment thanks to Sarah Samir and Ahmed El-Gendy "Updated"

Saturday began with a horrific massacre by the Israeli army, which killed nearly 100 civilians in a school that had been turned into a refuge, all under the pretext of targeting a Hamas base. The Israeli army released a list of the victims' names, claiming they were Hamas members.

However, it was later revealed that these individuals were civilians, some of whom worked in Gaza's government bodies, while others had family members affiliated with Hamas and Fatah.

Videos and photos of human remains gathered in plastic bags serve as a stark reminder to millions of Arabs, including Egyptians, of their perceived vulnerability despite their numbers and strength. It is disheartening to note that out of 13 OPEC members, 8 are Muslim-majority countries including 7 Arab countries.

This tragedy has been dubbed "The Dawn Massacre" in Arabic social media or “Al-Tabaeen school attack” in international media.

It is dubbed “Dawn Massacre” in Arabic because many of the victims, mostly men and boys, were preparing for the Dawn prayer early in the morning. The scenes were deeply distressing, and the massacre will haunt us forever.

Yet, as the day drew to a close, a small glimmer of hope emerged for millions of Egyptians.

Despite the backdrop of such dire events, Egypt secured two medals at the Paris 2024 Olympics—one gold and one silver. We got the three medals: bronze, silver and gold. 

Though it might seem trivial to mention Olympic medals in the context of a massacre and ongoing conflict, this post serves as a brief mental escape from the flood of bad news.

It began with Sarah Samir, the Egyptian woman weightlifter who revived the country’s old legacy in the Olympics.

Sarah Samir in her weightlifting attempt at the Paris 2024 Olympics

Samir got a silver medal in the women's 81kg event. 

The assassination of the two Ismails: Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran ‘Part-1’

“What a day !!”

Renowned Egyptian TV host Mahmoud Saad said it late Wednesday when he opened a live-streaming discussion about yet another long bloody day in the Gaza war that has taken a very heavy toll on all of us as Arab people.

In a livestream watched by hundreds of thousands, Saad discussed the two major events that defined the day and made it a particularly heavy one.

The major event was the assassination of Ismail Haniyeh, the head of Hamas’ political bureau in the heart of Iran’s Tehran in the early hours of Wednesday.

Haniyeh was in Tehran to attend the swearing-in ceremony of the new Iranian President on Tuesday.

Haniyeh's last photo at an exhibition in Tehran dedicated to Al-Quds and
and the Dome of the Rock on Tuesday. 

What happened was like a practical Israeli declaration of war against Israel killing any chance of a ceasefire.

Ismail Haniyeh is not part of Al-Kassam, the military branch of Hamas. Already many experts believe that Yahia Senwar and Mohamed El-Deif are more powerful than him and they are the ones who gave the orders currently to the Political office

Ismail Haniyeh was playing two roles, Hamas’ top negotiator as well as its top spokesperson. He was the top negotiator of Hamas and Palestinian factions in the current ceasefire talks mediated by Egypt, Qatar and the US.

I won’t say anything more than what the Qatari Prime Minister and Foreign Minister said on Wednesday Mohamed Abdel Rahman Al-Thani.

Paris 2024 Olympics: Egypt Wins First Bronze Medal in Epee, Bringing Hope in a Crucial Time

Egypt Scored its First Medal in the Paris 2024 Olympics

Fencer Mohamed El-Sayed won Egypt's first medal in the Paris 2024 Olympics, securing the bronze in the Men's Épée Individual event with a hard-fought 8-7 victory over Tibor Andrasfi of Hungary.

Mohamed El-Sayed as he knew that he won the Bronze medal 

Photos of the 21-year-old celebrating Cristiano Ronaldo’s famous "Siu" celebration at the Grand Palais in Paris went viral, bringing a breath of fresh air to many Egyptians.