From 20 years ago , this video made history in the Middle East

On that day from 20 years ago, a photographer caught on camera a crime against humanity and it changed the world as we know it.

A freelance photographer and videographer caught in Gaza how the Israeli occupation forces opened their fire on a civilian and his son killing the 12-years-old boy despite the pleas of his father.

The last moments of Mohamed El-Dorra where his father
tried to protect him "AFP"

Freelance reporter caught Talal Abu Rahma those 26 minutes and were first aired on France 2 , the rest was history.

Despite Israeli occupation forces admitted at first that their soldiers opened the fire by and apologized for it , some Israeli media outlets had the audacity to claim that Mohamed El-Dorra were still alive which is untrue.

Mohamed El-Dorra passed away and was buried. It is a fact. 

Coronavirus on the Nile : Remembering Egypt’s fallen heroes from Healthcare sector

This post is dedicated to Egypt’s fallen heroes from the healthcare sector who died due to Coronavirus in the past seven and a half months

The list below is the result of the hard work and documentation of young aspiring Egyptian journalist  Moatez Weza

Healthcare works protecting us 
by Doaa Al-Adl 

I have been planning for this post for three months now but it would not have seen the light if it were not for  Moatez

Moatez; commonly known among his friends as Weza is originally a Sports journalist in Egypt’s Filgoal which actually produced many of Egypt’s finest journalists whether in sports or in general. I am quite biased because some of my colleagues were graduates of this important news website

Weza is probably from the few journalists in Egypt who followed the news of coronavirus since it re-surfaced in its new version in Wuhan, China. His thread on Twitter on the virus, I believe is an archive for the whole crisis in Arabic till last month when he stopped covering it.

It is an exhausting mission for a one-man who was doing the job perfectly. 

I only took his original list and added to it the names of the Healthcare victims, mostly from doctors because their information was easier to find till Mid September.

This list will be updated. 

Coronavirus on the Nile : COVID-19 in September "Live Updated"

It is past mid-September and Egypt has not reached “no coronavirus patient” phase yet as promised by Egyptian officials yet.

Simply, this won’t happen any time soon and as in other countries, the virus has not vanished but governments and people try their best to curb its spread especially in the fall when schools and universities are back on campus mostly.

Up till now the official numbers of new coronavirus cases in Egypt are stable and they are not alarming.

Unofficially, the ghost of coronavirus is still there and there are cases mostly treated at home successfully but those who are unlucky go for treatment in hospitals in a very late stage with a small chance of making it out.

On the other hand, publicly it seems that there is no coronavirus at all.

A health worker taking a swab at coronavirus drive-through checkpoint
in Cairo "AP

Last week, I took a small vacation in the North Coast with my family where if it were not for those daily updates, I would not have known that there are still coronavirus cases in the world. The people forgot all about it. They forgot all about social distancing and the importance of wearing masks.

Regionally, it seems that the coronavirus is making a comeback in several countries whether in Iraq or Jordan or the Gulf where the poor migrants are still the primary victims of the virus and its spread.

Lebanon is witnessing an increase in the case considering we got hundreds of thousands with no home and a medical sector that is suffering economically.

Several countries in the region have opened the door for the public for clinical trials of coronavirus vaccines in cooperation with other countries above them China like in Egypt, UAE and Bahrain.

Anyhow enough of the talk here is our live blog widget for all coronavirus updates for the upcoming fortnight

Bahrain normalizes officially relations with Israel and some Bahrainis reject it “They do exist”

On Friday, Current US president-bigger-than-life Donald Trump announced that the Kingdom of Bahrain and Israel agree to Peace.

Another HISTORIC breakthrough today! Our two GREAT friends Israel and the Kingdom of Bahrain agree to a Peace Deal – the second Arab country to make peace with Israel in 30 days!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 11, 2020

“The second Arab country to make peace with Israel in 30 days” Trump tweeted proudly on his very active Twitter account referring to the decision of UAE to normalize relations with Israel a couple of weeks earlier.

This is a miscomputation here because once again like in case of UAE,  Bahrain and Israel were not in a war and they had unofficial relations with Israel for years.

It is a normalization agreement to have official diplomatic relations between Israel and Bahrain.

As a crooked businessman, Trump and his cronies are trying to re-brand that so-called achievement in order to make it bigger than its true size in a cheap way.

Coronavirus on the Nile : A look into 7 months of COVID-19 in Egypt in graph

Another monthly post as part of the COVID-19.

This time it is a quick look into COVID-19 numbers in Egypt after seven months.

I started doing those posts last month when we hit the six months benchmark and actually I found them useful.

They are all based on official numbers released by the Egyptian Health Ministry.

An Egyptian young man wearing mask in front of the Great Pyramid 
of Giza due to COVID-19 "Reuters" 

These are the total numbers of Daily Coronavirus cases, fully recovered patients and fatalities for 7 months.

Coronavirus on the Nile: Egypt’s COVID-19 August numbers in Graph

This is the time of our monthly post about the coronavirus pandemic and its numbers in graphs.

Here is our August post based on the official numbers released daily by the Egyptian Health Ministry. 

It is quite interesting.

First, if July witnessed a decline in the daily coronavirus cases, August witnessed an increase that is not alarming in the daily coronavirus cases.

Coronavirus cases in Egypt: Daily infection cases in August 2020
Infogram

This increase worries everybody whether the officials or the few concerned citizens.

August witnessed the huge escape of the Egyptian upper and upper Middle class to the North coast.

August also witnessed in its beginning fewer people in the streets without masks but when the official numbers began to increase some people returned to wear masks. They are still a minority sadly enough.

Egyptian wearing masks on a hot summer day in Cairo "Reuters"

It is like in any other country in the world after ending the coronavirus lockdown.

#ABZ to criminal court and more sexual predators exposed in Egypt’s hot #Metoo Summer

This is a follow-up post for the return of #Metoo in Egypt published in July

I won’t speak about Fairmont case because it needs a separate post and God knows I am working on it.

Now to the latest news when it comes to the #Metoo movement.

Last Tuesday Egypt’s Prosecutor General referred Ahmed Bassam Zaki aka ABZ, the alleged serial rapist to criminal court for a number of charges including on charges of sexual assault of minors, blackmail and sexual harassment.

According to the Public prosecution’s statement, ABZ is accused of sexually assaulting three girls under the age of 18 years old and blackmailing them, along with another girl, to divulge matters that will harm their honour, while demanding they continue having sex with him.

Honour here means their reputation as females in society.

Believe Women from a #Metoo protest in 2017 "AFP"

ABZ is accused of sexually harassing two of the victims and of taking photos of one of the victims while kissing her, without her consent in a private location.

He is also accused of using telecommunication devices and social media networks in committing crimes, and of possessing cannabis with the intention of consuming it.

The cannabis was found during his arrest.

All this started with an Instagram account called “Assault Police” reporting anonymously about ABZ and his history.