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Dr Bnar Talabani, who received award for combatting Covid-19 misinformation, says British monarch showed keen interest in her background.
A doctor who arrived in the UK as a child refugee from Iraq has received a top award from King Charles III for her prominent role in combatting Covid-19 misinformation throughout the pandemic.
Dr Bnar Talabani beamed as the monarch, 74, pinned the ribbon of the Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (MBE) on her dress during a ceremony at Windsor Castle on Thursday.
She said the monarch, 74, was “really interested” to hear about her background.
The immunology scientist shared photos of their meeting on social media.
“Investiture at Windsor Castle: I met His Majesty the King who was really interested in my background as a former refugee and was utterly delightful to talk to,” she wrote.
“Really special day celebrating with my wonderful family.”
The king could be seen shaking Dr Talabani’s hand and pinning a red ribbon on her dress, in the pictures.
As congratulations poured in for the outspoken doctor, she said she felt “really overwhelmed by everyone’s kind responses”.
Dr Talabani was born in 1988 in northern Iraq to a Kurdish family.
As a toddler, she left her homeland for Iran along with her mother and younger brother to escape Saddam Hussein’s regime. Her father and grandfather remained behind to fight against the dictator.
After making their way to Syria, the Talabanis were recognised as refugees and welcomed to the UK.
Dr Talabani went on to graduate from medical school and pursue a career as a kidney and transplant hospital doctor and immunology scientist at Cardiff University.
She also works as a guide for Team Halo, a global group of scientists and healthcare professionals working to dispel misinformation about the coronavirus.
During the height of the public health crisis she made a name for herself on TikTok.
Dr Talabani used her platform on social media to reach followers, many of them young people, to challenge false and inaccurate claims about Covid.
The Lebanese Army confirmed that Cadet Officer Jana Sader has achieved a momentous milestone by becoming the nation’s first-ever fighter jet pilot. Sader finished her training course at Laughlin Air Force Base in Texas, USA, following nearly two years of demanding curriculum and flight training.
As a graduate of the Lebanese Army’s training program, Sader is now ready to embark on a new mission. The A-29 Super Tucano attack aircraft, a sophisticated and formidable aircraft utilized for a variety of missions such as close air support, aerial reconnaissance, and armed surveillance, will be her maiden deployment.
The Lebanese Army said in a Tweet, which also noted and acknowledged her accomplishment that the A-29 Super Tucano has shown to be a dependable and successful aircraft for military operations, and Sader is eager to begin her career with the aircraft.
In her response, Twitter user Leila Hatoum praised Sader for her accomplishment and recalled learning in the 1990s that women aren’t permitted to join the air force: “In the 90s, we went to the Universities and Careers Exhibition. I went to the military stand where an officer and 2 assistants were. I asked him what is needed to become a pilot officer in the Air Force and, without an explanation, told her girls aren’t allowed to serve in the airforce.”
Many others, including the Lebanese army, used Twitter to congratulate the cadet on the achievement, proving that it was cause for celebration. Sader’s new position ushers in a new era for women in Lebanon, where the integration of women into the military has been a long process. According to the Lebanese Army’s website women joined the Lebanese Army Forces for the first time “when the chance emerged in the late 80s,” during Lebanon’s 1975–1990 Civil War, when the army required fresh recruits for its different formations.
In 1991, the government passed a new resolution mandating that 10% of the troops working for the Defense Ministry be female. Female recruits must undergo the same training as male recruits, and they are not just given administrative duties, but also jobs in combat units.
Sader’s accomplishment as a fighter pilot follows that of Captain Rola Hoteit, a pilot for Middle East Airlines, the national airline of Lebanon (MEA). When Hoteit took command of her maiden solo flight to the Jordanian capital of Amman in 2010, she made history as MEA’s first female pilot.
Six of the 190 pilots employed by MEA are now female, and in 2020 Hoteit flew with an all-female crew.
The 12th edition of the Luxor African Film Festival (LAFF) kicked off on Saturday in the great southern Egyptian city of Luxor with the attendance of dozens of celebrities, filmmakers and critics.
Running until 10 February, the LAFF will host screenings of over 50 films from 31 countries participating in its various competitions and parallel programs, as well as a number of talks and seminars.
During the opening, the festival’s organisers honoured Egyptian actors Mohamed Ramadan and Hala Sedky, Egyptian composer Hesham Nazih, Senegalese director Mansour Sora Wade, and Mozambican producer Pedro Pimenta.
A number of late artists were also celebrated, including Egyptian actor Salah Mansour, Algerian actress Chafia Boudraa, and Tunisian actor Hichem Rostom.
LAFF will pay tribute to Senegalese cinema and its filmmakers, as Senegal is the country guest of honour for this edition.
Under the helm of the LAFF founder, scriptwriter Sayed Fouad, the festival is hosting 10 cinema workshops in different disciplines.
Many prominent African filmmakers and actors are members of the various juries.
With 12 films competing, the long narrative and documentary film jury committee comprises Senegalese director Mansour Sora Wade, Tunisian director Sonia Chamkhi, Moroccan actress Amal Ayouch, Egyptian screenwriter Abdel-Rahim Kamal, and Egyptian producer Mohamed Hefzy.
The slogan of LAFF’s 12th edition is ‘Cinema is the Quest of Immortality’. This slogan is reflected in the festival’s poster design by Mahmoud Ismail Abou Al-Enin, which depicts boats sailing towards the sun and to the Nile’s West bank of Luxor, where funerary temples and tombs are filled with inscriptions representing ancient beliefs in eternal life after death.
With Filmmaker Azza Elhosseiny as LAFF’s co-founder and executive director, star Mahmoud Hemeida continues as the honorary president in this edition.
Since its founding, the festival has aimed “to spread awareness about the importance of cinema in Africa and the world.”
In its eleventh edition, the LAFF screened 45 films from 35 countries in the competitive segments.
The LAFF is organised by the Independent Shabab Foundation with the support of the Egyptian ministries of culture, tourism and antiquities. LAFF also takes place in cooperation with Luxor governorate, the Film Syndicate, and numerous sponsors.
Egyptian actress May Elghety makes her international debut in the British romcom‘ Due Dating’ alongside Rowland Stirling.
Egyptian actress May Elghety is making her international debut in the upcoming British film ‘Due Dating’. The romantic comedy follows the hurdle-ridden relationship between a blogger, Cole (Rowland Stirling), and a lawyer, Persia (May Elghety).
The rising actress has starred in multiple films, including ‘Clash’ (2016), ‘Grand Hotel’ (2016), ‘Taye’a’ (2018), and ‘MAMA’ (2022) which premiered at the Cairo International Film Festival. She also made her mark on a number of series including ‘High School Girls’ (2020) and ‘Every Week Has A Friday’ (2020).
Her upcoming cinematic endeavour ‘Due Dating’ is currently being filmed in the UK. The movie is written by Jade Asha, directed by Daniel Pacquette and produced by London Independent Picture.
Artists from the Middle East are showcasing their work at an exhibition titled “Perceptible Rhythms/Alternative Temporalitie” in Washington, running until April 28.
Sarah Abu Abdallah
The Saudi artist’s “Fortitude” explores issues of obscurity and value, probing the social and cultural conditions of contemporary Saudi Arabia.
Artists from the Middle East are showcasing their work at an exhibition titled “Perceptible Rhythms/Alternative Temporalitie” in Washington, running until April 28.
The leading Iranian-born artist’s “Study for a Monument” presents bronze-cast reproductions of flora native to modern Iraq whose environment has been decimated by decades of political and ecological turmoil.
Eight Tunisian women have been selected as candidates for the first Tunisian and African female astronaut project. This selection came at Telnet’s Headquarters as Tunisia celebrated Women’s day. It is as a result of a partnership in August 2021 between Tunisia and Roscosmos to launch a Tunisian female citizen to the International Space Station (ISS) in the foreseeable future. As a result, according to Telnet’s Director-General, the ISS mission will be in 2024.
All the selected women are fighter pilots who graduated from the Borj Al-Amri Aviation School. Furthermore, they are Tunisian Air Force Corps members and have extensive experience in several challenging missions as a result. This is because the selection process requires strict conditions in terms of scientific, physiological and physical demands.
Among those names are: Hala Awassa, Ibtihal Youssef, Wafa El-Baldi-El-Yomna Dalali, Olfa Lajnef, Rahma Trabelsi, Hind Safferi and Malika Mabrouk.
During the unveiling, the current occupants of the ISS sent a message to the Tunisian candidates, expressing their support for the project and their expectations to welcome the first Tunisian astronaut in her upcoming mission. The female candidates also expressed their willingness to take up this historic challenge, raise the Tunisian national flag on the ISS and contribute to scientific advances in the service of humanity.
The candidates will subsequently undergo extensive physical and medical tests in Tunisia and abroad, from which two of the candidates will further travel to Russia. The candidates who travel to Russia will then undergo specific space-related training at one of the Russian Space agency’s training centres. This training will last for a year, after which will come the mission to the International Space Station.
Mohamed Frikha noted that all the candidates are the pride of the Tunisian woman and represent her in the best way. He added that their candidacy for this mission is a testament to their courage and willingness to honour the country and make history in a field as complicated as Space. Frikha also added that the astronauts will handle a scientific mission in Physics and Medicine and that the mission will contribute to the service of humanity. Finally, Frikha stated that the project received the support and encouragement of Tunisia at the highest level.
Tunisia is a party to and has ratified the Agreement on the Rescue of Astronauts, the Return of Astronauts and the Return of Objects Launched into Outer Space (Rescue and Return Agreement). The country is also a party to the Outer Space Treaty and the Liability Convention.
In a remote area in the Valley of Jordan, schoolgirls planned for their future debunking the stereotypical roles that society prescribed for women.
In a remote area in the Valley of Jordan, schoolgirls planned for their future debunking the stereotypical roles that society prescribed for women. Some of the girls dreamt of being “spokesperson” of the government. It was the first time Jordan had a government’s spokesperson. And she was a woman: Asma Khader.
The many times in which Khader have inspired women and girls are the moments she recalls with a warm smile. “Girls start to see that their role is not being wives only. They can be ministers and official spokespersons and get involved in politics,” says Khader. In 2003, she was the State’s Minister and the government’s spokesperson. “I was on the TV and the radio everyday talking to the public,” says Khader. She remembers holding press conferences every Monday’s morning in a public space where anyone could attend.
In a region where women could be trapped in the midst of stereotypes, cultural ones and those implied by outsiders, political and social empowerment are necessities when dealing with women’s rights advocacy. It’s a continuous battle in which women celebrate victories and overcome challenges and obstacles. With her dark short hair and formal attire, Khader is one of the warriors in this battle. A mother of three daughters and one son and a grandmother, she raised her kids on principal: gender equality. “The only son was not getting the privilege to enjoy being the only boy,” laughs Khader.
In the midst of busy Amman, Khader is in her office working tirelessly. She had to stop practicing law because of her current position as Commissioner and Vice President at the Independent Election Commission. She helped to launch, established and led several organizations promoting human rights and freedom of expression. I have visited and witnessed the works of two of them: Al-Mizan Legal Group and Sisterhood Is Global Institute Jordan. Both of the groups are nationally active and have a great impact on people’s lives. I have met several active members of SIGI in the different chapters in cities and towns all working together on women’s rights issues.
Born in 1952, Khader has been a pioneer of women and girls’ rights advocacy since her childhood. She was the eldest of her siblings. In most Arab communities, it’s a tradition to identify parents by the name of their eldest child. For several years, Khader’s parents were known to be “Abu Asma” and “Umm Asma,” Asma’s father and Asma’s mother, until a change happened.
“I was shocked when everybody started to call my parents Abu Sameer and Umm Sameer after my brother was born,” says Khader and she chuckles. “They were known as Abu Asma and Umm Asma because I was the first child and then my sister and my sister. After three children, the boy was born. And in one second everybody started calling them Abu Sameer and Umm Sameer.” It was a matter of a name, but had deep meaning of discrimination against girls.
The spark of activism was ignited focusing on gender roles in childhood. “I started to prefer going out and playing with children: with boys mainly,” says Khader. Soon, her father noticed her rebellious spirit. He was supportive and backed her activism. Khader mentions that when he noticed her passion in defending girls’ rights at a young age he told her: “You should be sure that I love you and I am proud of you. And I am sure you will be a good citizen, a good person in the society.”
“My father was a very open minded person, very educated, a believer in women and men, and a fighter against discrimination,” reiterating the importance of her father’s support in her life. “My mother was worried but she didn’t prevent me from being active. As a mother I can understand why she was worried all the time.”
Khader’s journey began. At a time when it was rare for women to be involved in politics, Khader took to the streets with her male colleagues protesting against Israeli’s airstrikes on a small village in Khalil near Hebron. She was only 13-years-old chanting while being carried on the shoulders of other protestors. She encouraged her colleagues from the girls’ school to join the demonstration.
That was her early engagement in public life. However, she was active in school, helping and defending other students. “And I think that was the root of my profession later, to be a lawyer,” mentions Khader.
While being in high school, Khader was also active in helping Palestinian refugees. Arts fill Khader’s office, accompanied by her memories. As a member of the Palestinian Women Union, in the late 1960s, Khader travelled to other countries to present Palestine in Folklore activities such as arts and traditional Dabkeh dance, and exhibiting handmade crafts made by women, especially those of the refugee camps.
Surrounded by crowds of people, mainly women, Khader announced: “We are not presenting women as victims.” Khader is one of the three judges of Manara Award for Gender Equality in Jordan, Lebanon and Palestine. She is representing her home country, Jordan.
As she entered the room, women and few men gathered around to greet her and I was one of them. A woman journalist sitting beside me was pleased to see Khader on a seat close to us. “Your excellency, this is my article,” said the journalist while flipping the pages of a magazine to show her the piece.
Despite being occupied with the event, Khader got engaged in a conversation with the journalist. During the event Khader listened to comments and questions, and answered in a professional manner. Being in a non-governmental event and listening to Khader took my imagination to a time when I was not in Jordan: when she was a government’s official having to answer the public.
The challenge that most activists go throw is making their voice heard through the official channels. Having an official who was an activist could change the equation. It meant having reforms and changes within. Lobbying is something that women’s rights groups in several countries spend a lot of time and energy on. Similarly, in Jordan, a constitutional monarchy, in which non-governmental organizations, opposition and other groups have a chance to demand changes through the existing channels. At times, it is necessary to work with the government in order to achieve rights, gender equality in particular.
Being in a leading position, Khader used her role as a government official and minister to work for gender equality. “When you are in a position where you can impact a decision, it’s very important,” says Khader speaking of her experience in the government. For instance, she was able to push to have shelters, by law, in order to protect vulnerable women. In addition to that, health insurance law was introduced that entitles working women to have the right in including their families in their health insurance plans. Khader also had a stance against death penalty that was frozen until 2014. She was also able to give licenses to independent media organizations, and thus enhancing freedom of expression condition in the country.
“It’s very important to see how problems and achievements and challenges are from the different points of view,” says Khader. “I realize that if there is good lobbying — a group who are really preparing their case well — then the ministries will discuss it and take it seriously. This was also an empowering experience: to be more active in civil society later and to know how to deal with issues and to be more effective.”
Khader graduated from Damascus University with a law degree in the early 1970s. At that time, there was no faculty of law in Jordan, and therefore, Khader had to travel to Syria. When she returned after successfully graduating, her father died. “It was a sudden death before me being a lawyer,” says Khader and her eyes are tearful. I look around to find a framed letter on her desk. “He wrote this letter to me.”
“I have always pictured you a lawyer…defending the oppressed, and serving the motherland with awareness…I wish you success and prosperity,” Khader’s father wrote. While the father didn’t see his daughter a lawyer, he was certain that she would be and that she would defend human rights. He was right with what he pictured for her.
A life filled with activism and Khader talks with pride about every battle she fought. Taking serious risks is not a choice, but is a necessity in some campaigns such as the one against what’s known as honour crimes. For instance, Khader mentions incidents in which she was threatened that her daughters would be “raped.” Her daughters were safe and she wasn’t deterred from continuing in her work despite the threats.
“Everybody now is fighting honour crimes in the country and the laws were changed and the special court was established and efforts happened,” says Khader. This would not have happened if women’s rights activists and advocates, like Khader, stopped due to threats and obstacles facing them. “Everybody now from the leadership of the country to many officials of the country to even the public opinion [have a stance against honour crimes],” says Khader. “After 20, 30 years, they are changed. So sometimes, it is a long process.”
Based on decades of experience, Khader has advice: to not lose hope if the process is taking a long time. “Reaching leading positions is not easy and is not going to happen smoothly without hard work and seriousness and knowledge based approach to challenge all the obstacles and being ready to spend years after some of the demands, some of the rights and some of the dreams, and some of the achievements you are trying to reach,” insists Khader.
Yusur is a journalist currently working in Jordan. She is board member of Canadian Voice of Women for Peace. This Project was carried out with the aid of a grant from the International Development Research Centre (IDRC), Ottawa, Canada.
A small ring around the main artery may cure patients with leaking heart valves. Researchers have documented its effect on animals and they hope they will make it possible to use the technology on humans.
A leaking heart valve – or in technical terms, aortic insufficiency – is a condition in which the valve between the left ventricle of the heart and the main artery cannot close completely. The disease can have varying levels of severity and can be caused by congenital malformations or calcification, among other things.
Mariam Noor has developed a small ring that seems to be able to cure leaking heart valves. This can change the way we do cardiovascular surgery. Photo: Lars Kruse, AU Foto.
When the aortic valve leaks, some of the blood returns to the heart, which means the heart has to work harder. In the worst cases, this can lead to heart failure, and this is why it’s important to treat the condition. Doctors usually treat the condition by repairing the diseased heart valve or replacing it with an artificial valve.
Both involve a risk of complications, and therefore engineers from Aarhus University have been working for several years to develop new surgical technology for heart patients.
“A prosthetic heart valve is an effective form of treatment, but it’s also a relatively complicated surgical procedure that brings with it a number of risks and complications in the long term. Now we have found a solution that can make it easier to treat patiens,” says Mariam Noor, a PhD student at the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Aarhus University and the Department of Cardiothoracic and Vascular Surgery at Aarhus University Hospital.
Ring prevents blood from returning to the heart
Mariam Noor has spent the last three years designing and developing a ring that can give patients with aortic insufficiency good treatment results, and she has invented something that may have impact on the world of surgery.
“Instead of replacing the defective valve, my treatment concept is to enclose it in the main artery so it prevents blood from returning to the heart. I’ve developed a new type of ring that tightens around the aortic root to prevent this,” she says.
In fact, for several years now, cardiologists have been using a type of ring to stabilise the function of the heart valves, but this has not been without its disadvantages.
The traditional ring is round and relatively rigid, and this limits its operation. Furthermore, placing the ring in the body is a challenge because surgeons have to cut the aorta and remove the coronary arteries.
The new ring developed by Mariam Noor is made of an elastic material that can mould itself to the body’s tissue. It also has an opening, which makes it easy to place it correctly.
“The surgical procedure is significantly less invasive, and with the help of diagnostic imaging and 3D printing, we can adjust the ring’s rigidity and strength to the individual patient’s anatomy. This gives us some fantastic options, and the technology has been promising during animal trials,” says Mariam Noor.
Lots of physics in the main artery
Mariam Noor has especially focused on the material properties and design of the ring in order to better retain the dynamics in the cardiovascular system.
“I look at surgical issues through the lens of an engineer, because there’s a lot of physics and mathematics in our cardiovascular system. My approach has been to understand how the aorta works and then transfer this knowledge to design a ring that can recreate normal anatomical conditions in patients,” she says.
The ring consists of a silicone core surrounded by suture-like material. In order to document the effect, in collaboration with her colleagues, Mariam Noor has, carried out her experiments in a heart simulator, whereby it is possible to control the pump function, temperature and flow.
“We can simulate the action of the heart in a very precise environment that closely resembles the human body. This means we can closely study what happens with the ring in the frequency area of every, single heartbeat. It’s been interesting, and we have obtained an incredibly detailed knowledge base to continue working with,” she says.
The researchers have subsequently carried out a costly study to see how the ring expands in the body when the heart pumps, and Mariam Noor was positively surprised.
“We looked at the geometric pattern of the main artery in a pig with a ring and in a pig without it, and we could see that we can actually preserve the natural dynamics. These results look really promising,” she says.
She emphasises that there are a few years’ of clinical approval procedures ahead before the heart ring can benefit patients. (source: Aarhus University)
Mariam Noor has developed a small ring that seems to be able to cure leaking heart valves. This can change the way we do cardiovascular surgery. Photo: Lars Kruse, AU Foto.
Moussa Abadi and his French wife Odette hid hundreds of children from the Nazis in homes, convents and orphanages across southern France.
A group of Jewish boys hidden at the Don Bosco school in Nice pictured with their teacher in September 1943. Memorial de la Shoah/Coll.Serge Klarsfeld
Andree Poch-Karsenti was not even three years old when her parents were rounded up at their home in the southern French city of Nice, on a quiet street above the Mediterranean Sea.
She escaped the clutches of the Gestapo, playing obliviously with her neighbour Jacques on the other side of the street.
Her parents and aunts would not survive the war, after being sent to concentration camps in Drancy and then Auschwitz.
But thanks to a clandestine network set up by a brave Jewish couple — a French doctor and a Syrian man from Damascus — Andree avoided the Gestapo.
Moussa Abadi was born to a religious family in the Jewish Quarter of Damascus in 1910. He attended a school run by French priests, which would fuel his eventual move to Paris in the 1920s.
When the Nazis invaded Paris in 1940, Moussa fled south, leaving the capital on a bike with one change of clothes.
He arrived in Nice, later to be occupied by the Italians, where thousands of Jewish families sought refuge. Damascus urged him to return home but he refused.
Moussa Abadi at his office in Nice in 1947. Memorial de la Shoah/Coll.Odette Abadi
One day, under a “postcard-blue sky”, Moussa saw a young Jewish woman being beaten to death by a French policeman on the seafront promenade.
While the Nazis ruled the north, the Italians kept the Jewish population relatively safe ― for a time.
But Moussa knew the Germans could push south. Even under the French authorities, round-ups in early 1942 sent thousands of Jewish families to their deaths.
Moussa later met an Italian priest who told him of Jewish children being massacred by the Nazis.
These two encounters pushed him to take the biggest risk of his life, alongside the woman who would later become his wife, Odette Rosenstock.
Odette Abadi pictured in 1947 or 1948. Memorial de la Shoah / Collection Odette Abadi.
Andree was one of the hundreds of children who were hidden by Moussa and Odette as part of the Marcel Network, established by the couple in 1943 after the German invasion of Nice.
Within a year, they saved 527 Jewish children with the aid of local families, Christian clergy and children’s homes. Many of them would be later honoured by Israel as one of the “Righteous Among the Nations” for their bravery.
Andree is now 82, and lives near Paris. But for decades, she knew nothing of the couple who helped her escape the Nazis.
“I knew that I was hidden with the Rous [family] and that my parents were deported, but I didn’t know the rest of the story. No one had spoken to me about it,” she tells The National.
Andree was taken in by her neighbours, the Rous, and hidden in a mountain village until the spring of 1944, when the Gestapo arrived to take on resistance members.
She was then taken back to Nice and put in a children’s home by Odette and Moussa.
It wasn’t until 1995 that fate would bring them together, when her brother came across a list of children hidden during the war.
Odette was looking for them. Andree called Odette and found the couple living not far from her home in Vincennes.
“They were an extraordinary couple, who led an extraordinary life,” she says.
“They could have gone into hiding but they decided to risk their lives to save children condemned to death. They are courage personified.”
The couple would meet with some of the hidden children later in life, gathering at restaurants in Paris and meeting their grandchildren.
On rare occasions, they would invite them to their modest apartment in the 12th arrondissement.
Odette, a French doctor from Paris, had met Moussa in 1939. After fleeing to Nice, she began working at a clinic for Jewish children on the Boulevard Dubouchage, where she would tell families: “If the Germans come, we can hide your children.”
They had no money and no connections. Both Jewish, they were at risk of deportation and death.
“Every morning when I drank my coffee with Odette, I didn’t know whether I would find her safe that evening, or even whether I would be alive,” Moussa later wrote.
He met the Bishop of Nice, Paul Remond, imploring him to help save children from the Nazis.
The bishop gave Moussa an office in his home, on the ground floor so he could escape if and when the Germans came.
It was here that Moussa made thousands of fake documents, baptism certificates and ration cards. In the garden, he buried files that would help reunite the children with their families at the end of the war.
Odette enlisted the help of local children’s homes and Protestant priests near the synagogue on Rue Dubouchage, who appealed to local families for help.
Armand and Eve Herscovici, hidden by the Marcel Network, pictured in 1943 or 1944. Memorial de la Shoah / Collection Odette Abadi
Children were taken to a “depersonalisation” house where they learnt their new identities, drummed into them before they were sent into hiding.
Some of them were so small they couldn’t speak French or understand why their names had changed.
Some children hidden together would take turns sleeping, terrified they would reveal their real identities as they slept.
“We had to teach them 10 times,” Odette recalled in an interview.
“They carried secrets that were too heavy for children,” Moussa said.
Daniel Czerwona-Jagoda was one child hidden by the network, placed in a convent at the age of five.
When the war ended, his father searched Nice for weeks by bike, looking for his son at each convent in the city.
He finally found his son thanks to a Polish nun.
“Yes, Daniel is here, but his name is now Daniel Blanchi,” she told him.
Now 84, Daniel wrote poetry later in life and signed it with three surnames — Czerwona-Jagoda, Blanchi and Chervonaz. The last he chose as an adult, fearing another war may break out.
“Odette and Moussa, I was really touched by what they did,” his daughter Sarah told The National.
She paid tribute to the couple and her father in a show inspired by his life and childhood memories, where “small children had to act like grown-ups. Little, by little, they had to change who they were because their lives were on the line”.
Despite his experience, her father has taught her to be positive, that you must always move forward, but his experience has stayed with him.
“There were little flashes,” Sarah says. “If we had to be quiet, we had to be completely quiet and still. It was as if it could endanger the whole family, that there might be a knock at the door.
“But there was always a reason, never a complaint. It was never negative.”
‘You owe us nothing’
The Catholic church gave Odette and Moussa false titles to allow them to escape arrest and visit children hidden across the diocese.
Odette would call on the children, posing as a social worker, while Moussa remained at the bishop’s office making documents.
Only two children hidden by the network were arrested, after their hiding place was betrayed.
Odette saw them on a bus, and was shooed away by one of the children when she realised they were surrounded by plain-clothes police.
She was arrested two days later and deported to Auschwitz.
As a doctor, she worked at the camp clinic and was privy to many horrors out of reach of other inmates, trying to save sick prisoners from being chosen by Josef Mengele, who was known as the “Angel of Death” for his experiments on prisoners.
Odette was later sent to Bergen-Belsen until the liberation.
Moussa was left in Nice to run the network alone, also evading capture by the Nazis. He started going to Catholic Mass at a different church every few hours to try to stay under the radar.
After the war, Odette would confess she fared better than Moussa, saying it was sometimes harder for those who were not deported.
Moussa and Odette told almost no one of their heroic efforts that earned them several of France’s highest honours.
Moussa went on to become a renowned theatre radio critic and wrote two books on Jewish life in a Damascene ghetto, while Odette rose up the ranks in medicine and later worked at a school for deaf children.
They refused to speak publicly until they were in their 80s, when the stirrings of Holocaust denial began in France.
“When we meet hidden children again, the question they ask most often is, ‘How can we thank you?’” Moussa told the French Senate in 1995.
“My response will be brief. You have nothing to thank us for, because you owe us nothing. It is we who are in your debt.”
Odette Abadi, left, Moussa Abadi and friend Betty Saville in Paris in 1994. Memorial de la Shoah / Collection Odette Abadi
Moussa kept in contact with his family from Syria, visiting his cousin in Argentina where he confided in some family members of his wartime past but swore them to secrecy.
“I felt as impressed in the way one would if they spoke to Clark Kent. He was a superhero, a real superhero,” his cousin’s grandson Carlos told The National.
“They only spoke about it because they felt they had to. He wanted to take it with him to his grave.”
Moussa’s health declined in the last years of his life, until he was almost blind. He died of stomach cancer in 1997.
Odette spent the last two years of her life collecting all of the documents, finishing the transcription of a book he dictated to her as his eyesight failed.
She died by suicide in 1999, writing that she had died along with Moussa.
“They were a couple of the kind we don’t see today,“ says Andree. “They loved each other. She did everything she could so his memory would endure. She always put him first.”
Andree now runs the “Friends and Children of Abadi” association, which serves to tell the story of the Marcel Network.
“Because Odette and Moussa had never said anything, no one knew about them. We want to continue their memory and that of the Holocaust. As long as I’m able, this is what I will do.”
Unanimous vote ‘opens new chapter in Kingdom’s evolving history’.
Saudi Arabia will chair UNESCO’s World Heritage Committee following a unanimous decision at the organization’s headquarters in Paris.
The committee will be chaired by Princess Haifa bint Abdulaziz Al-Mogrin, the Kingdom’s permanent representative to UNESCO, and chairperson of the organization’s programs and external relations committee.
The Paris meeting also agreed that Saudi Arabia will host the committee’s 45th session, which will be held in Riyadh from Sept. 10-25.
The selection was approved during the 18th session of the World Heritage Committee, which was held in the presence of all member states of the committee.
Princess Haifa tweeted: “In completion of the Kingdom’s prominent role in supporting and preserving human heritage, I am proud today of accrediting Saudi Arabia as chairman of the UNESCO World Heritage Committee, and for hosting of the 45th session of the World Heritage Committee for the first time in September.”
The permanent delegation of the Kingdom to UNESCO tweeted: “Saudi Arabia is home to 6 millennial world heritage sites and 11 intangible heritage elements, Saudi Arabia will proudly host the 45th session of UNESCO’s World Heritage Committee in September— it’s a new chapter in our evolving history.”
The decision is the culmination of efforts led by the Kingdom in UNESCO, in light of unlimited support to the cultural sector by King Salman and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, as well as the support and directives of Culture Minister Prince Badr bin Abdullah bin Farhan.
Princess Haifa praised the decision and said that it is simply the result of the Kingdom’s prominent role in supporting heritage, and its extended endeavors toward documenting human heritage alongside the member states of the committee, as well as achieving the goals of UNESCO in general, and the goals of the World Heritage Committee in particular.
The UNESCO World Heritage Committee, composed of representatives of 21 states elected by the General Assembly, examines the proposals of states wishing to place their sites on the World Heritage List, assists experts to report on the sites, and provides the final assessment of the decision of the proposed sites on the list.
The Kingdom has two other members of UNESCO’s main committees, as well as its membership in the World Heritage Committee: membership of the Executive Council and membership of the Intergovernmental Committee for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage, which highlights the Kingdom’s role as a pivotal and international center of action in the organization’s decision-making.
source/content: arabnews.com (headline edited)
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Madain Saleh became Saudi Arabia’s first UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2008. (SPA)
