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Aug 8, 2016, 6:45 AM

An International Response to a Global Crisis: MOAS and the Italian Red Cross strengthen their partnership to save lives at sea

As the humanitarian migration crisis continues to intensify to worryingly critical levels, the Italian Red Cross (CRI) and the Migrant Offshore Aid Station (MOAS) have agreed to further strengthen their joint mission to save lives on the world’s most...

Jan 7, 2016, 7:30 AM

Open Letter to The Independent: Independence betrayed. Russia Today, Iran’s Al-Alam and Drone footage of Jobar

An open letter to the editor, The Independent, 23 December 2015 re: 'Drone video shows level of devastation in Damascus', Charlie Atkin. Dear Sir (/Madam) Charlie Atkin’s article, ‘Drone video shows level of devastation in Damascus: the footage was captured over the Syrian capital’s...

Jan 4, 2016, 3:04 PM

Migrant Offshore Aid Station (MOAS) rescues shipwrecked Syrians on Greek island of Agathonisi

“Nothing can prepare you for the horrific reality of what is going on. Today we came face to face with one of the youngest victims of this ongoing refugee crisis. It is a tragic reminder of the thousands of...

Sep 7, 2015, 11:00 AM

Meet MOAS: Malta’s Migrant Offshore Aid Station dedicated to search and rescue in the Mediterranean

Malta's Migrant Offshore Aid Station (MOAS) raises €1 million in two days in ‘tidal wave of humanity.’ MALTA - Search and rescue charity MOAS (Migrant Offshore Aid Station) has received more than €1 million in donations from all over the...

Mar 19, 2015, 1:44 AM

Lara’s Tongue: on Dura-Europos and the Digital Essay

Loquacious Lara, the water nymph, could not control her tongue. Unable to keep secrets she incurred the wrath of Jupiter who severed it and dispatched her to the Underworld. There she bore twins, the Lares or Watchmen. Tradition ascribes...

Feb 9, 2015, 2:48 AM

Malvolio’s Cry: Charlie Hebdo, Wikipedia and the Frontiers of Openness

“I’ll be revenged on the whole pack of you,” says Malvolio, Shakespeare’s much-despised steward, as the curtain draws near in Twelfth Night. Rejected by Olivia, object of her manservant’s desires, Malvolio is declared insane and publicly ridiculed; all the...

Jul 4, 2014, 1:02 PM

Shadows and Light: Syrians, Humanitarian Assistance and Israel

On Wednesday 3 July 2014 The Israeli YNetnews, part of Yedioth Media Group ran a story, “Jewish family secretly smuggled into Israel from Syria”. This was substantially different from the coverage in The Jerusalem Post or The Algemeiner of...

Jun 11, 2014, 2:56 PM

Damascus Days: Jobar’s beleaguered synagogue

On 28 May 2014 the United Nations cultural agency announced that it would establish a Lebanese-based observatory “to monitor and access the state of Syria’s cultural heritage” which the UN determined was “reaching the point of no return”. The decision...

May 17, 2014, 1:33 AM

Damascus Hide and Seek: Synagogues and Sotheby’s

On 17 December 2013 Sotheby’s (New York) commenced its Important Judaica sale. To be auctioned was “An Exceedingly Rare Hebrew Synagogue Carving” (Lot 93). Sotheby’s catalogue states that the object was made of Walnut and incised with seven words...

Apr 28, 2014, 9:31 PM

Ghosts of Apamea*

As the doors to Rome’s College of Vestal Virgins closed for the last time Mnemosyne, goddess of Memory, took flight. A decade before in 381 CE, immediately after the First Council of Constantinople re-affirmed the Nicene Creed and the...

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About Me

Adam Blitz is a Fellow of the Royal Anthropological Institute, London and a former Fulbright scholar. He is a member of PEN International. The views expressed in the article above are those of the author alone. Twitter @blitz_adam adam.blitz@columnist.com