The viral Instagrammer who rewards acts of kindness in Lebanon

The World Sucks (TWS) — a Lebanese social video channel devoted to documenting acts of kindness — was created just over a year ago. (Screenshot: YouTube)
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Updated 26 February 2021
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The viral Instagrammer who rewards acts of kindness in Lebanon

  • A Beirut-based viral video channel has built a massive following by filming and rewarding everyday acts of charity
  • Cab drivers and restaurant owners are stunned when their small acts of generosity are rewarded instantly with cash 

DUBAI: No good deed goes unpunished, it is said. But thanks to one Beirut philanthropist, some good deeds end up being not only rewarded but also recorded.

The World Sucks (TWS) — a Lebanese social video channel devoted to documenting acts of kindness — was created just over a year ago to motivate the beneficiaries to pay it forward and give back to the community.

“As much as you try to help, you will never be able to solve all the problems,” the founder of TWS, who prefers to remain anonymous, told Arab News. “But a way to get close to that goal was to make videos to motivate people to either pay for someone’s food or offer them a free ride.”

In one of the channel’s earliest videos, the founder begs local cab drivers for a free ride, claiming to have no money. As a reward for their kindness, drivers who took pity on the “penniless” passenger were handed a large sum of cash — and their pleasant surprise caught on camera.




As a reward for their kindness, drivers who took pity on a “penniless” passenger were handed a large sum of cash. (Screenshot: YouTube)

“It was really fun,” he said, recalling the adrenaline rush of that first encounter. “I couldn’t sleep all night thinking about what happened.”

The first six videos were paid for out of the founder’s own pocket. But as the channel’s popularity grew, clocking up at least 31,600 Instagram followers and 5,200 YouTube subscribers, donations soon began flooding in, allowing TWS to go bigger and bolder.

“We always try to find different people to surprise, sometimes taxi drivers, sometimes cart vendors or random people,” the founder said.

“We then shifted to target hard-working or under-appreciated individuals, because times got really tough in Lebanon with the financial situation and the lockdowns due to the coronavirus pandemic.”




Although the channel began as a hobby, its creator, who is self-employed, says he has no plans to stop making videos. (Screenshot: YouTube)

To date, TWS has published 43 videos, all recorded in the past year. There are now plans to boost output from once a month to once a week.

Although the channel began as a hobby, its creator, who is self-employed, says he has no plans to stop making videos, which have earned a big following across the region and especially among the Lebanese diaspora.

“Doing it is a lot of fun,” he said. “People always send messages thanking me and we meet so many interesting people.”

When the channel first went viral, it was averaging monthly donations totaling around $500. Today, this has soared to $1,886, donated by 68 loyal contributors.

By May 2020, TWS had raised $15,000 from various non-governmental organizations to help the homeless.




When the channel first went viral, it was averaging monthly donations totaling around $500. Today, this has soared to $1,886, donated by 68 loyal contributors. (AFP/File Photo)

“The videos aren’t done to help someone specific but to remind people that there are people like these in every village and region,” the founder said. “Go down to the street and pay him directly — that’s the beauty.”

As word has spread of TWS’ philanthropy, local NGOs have also become beneficiaries of the resulting publicity. For instance, Beit El-Baraka, a charity which cares for the elderly, received donations worth $5,000 after reposting one of TWS’ videos. “They’re so ethical, they wanted to give us the money, but we asked them to spend it themselves,” the channel’s founder said.

“People in Lebanon are good. They deserve it because they work hard. People think 2020 was a hard year, but in Lebanon we wish we could have had the year others had. This isn’t just linked to what’s happening in Lebanon, but it’s a way to give back to the community.”

For TWS, copycats are welcome. The team behind it wants to start a chain reaction of kindness, the logic being that donating money to someone in need is a short-term solution, while offering someone a free service could be life changing.




By May 2020, TWS had raised $15,000 from various non-governmental organizations to help the homeless. (AFP/File Photo)

After rewarding the kindly taxi drivers of Beirut, the channel began looking at local restaurants. Posing as a hungry beggar, the channel’s founder asked one local eatery for free food. He says it was one of the hardest things he has ever had to do.

The owner’s selfless act quickly paid off when the TWS team returned the following day and bought the restaurant’s entire stock. Additionally, the publicity generated by TWS’s Instagram page led to a flood of new customers. “He’s a good person and he deserves to grow,” the channel’s founder said.

The COVID-19 pandemic made an already desperate situation for millions of Lebanese even harder. And just when they thought things had reached rock bottom, the Aug. 4 Beirut port blast leveled a whole city district.

Three days before the Lebanese government ordered lockdown measures to contain the coronavirus outbreak, the channel’s founder carried out an experiment. He approached 10 cab drivers for a free ride and 10 bakeries for free food. Although they all faced closures and a significant loss of business in the weeks ahead, every single one of them said yes.




The COVID-19 pandemic made an already desperate situation for millions of Lebanese even harder. And just when they thought things had reached rock bottom, the Aug. 4 Beirut port blast leveled a whole city district. (AFP/File Photo)

“It was unbelievable that before lockdown in a crisis, people are really there for each other, especially after the explosion,” he told Arab News.

“Lebanon deserves your help. The people here are good people. Maybe in most countries of the world people won’t offer free goods or services, but the beauty about Lebanon is that generosity.”

Most donations are paid in dollars from abroad to ensure no money is lost when converted to Lebanese pounds, the local currency which went into free fall last year. Monthly donors earn the title of “patron,” while those who wish to contribute from within Lebanon itself are advised instead to create their own community projects.

For others, watching, “liking” and subscribing is enough to help spread the good word. For its beneficiaries, the format is much more than wholesome online entertainment — it is a blessing.




A Lebanese youth waves a national flag in front of burning tyres blocking the Beirut-Tripoli highway in the coastal town of Ghazir, north of the port city of Junieh, during continuing anti-government protests across Lebanon on November 13, 2019. (AFP/File Photo)

“The surprise factor makes such a difference in somebody’s life or day and sometimes people experience a massive change in their life after that,” the founder said.

“Surprising them while giving them the money makes it an unforgettable experience for them.”

The element of surprise is one of the main reasons the channel’s founder wishes to remain anonymous. If he becomes too well recognized, the people TWS is trying to help will not be so easily fooled, spoiling the magic.

He also prefers to remain anonymous to maintain neutrality, in a society divided along confessional lines where one’s name can give away one’s religious or political background. “There is no room for politics nor gain on this page,” the founder said.

But above all, anonymity is an act of humility in a culture where “showing off” one’s charity is frowned upon.

“My sole aim and purpose,” he said, “is to give back to humanity.”

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Twitter: @CalineMalek


UN says most flour delivered in Gaza looted or taken by starving people

Updated 10 June 2025
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UN says most flour delivered in Gaza looted or taken by starving people

  • Experts warn Gaza is at risk of famine, with the rate of young children suffering acute malnutrition nearly tripling
  • According to World Food Programme guidelines, 4,600 metric tons of flour would provide roughly eight days’ worth of bread for Gaza’s 2 million residents, based on a standard daily ration of 300 grams per person

UNITED NATIONS: The United Nations said on Monday that it has only been able to bring minimal flour into Gaza since Israel lifted an aid blockade three weeks ago and that has mostly been looted by armed gangs or taken by starving Palestinians.
The organization has transported 4,600 metric tons of wheat flour into Gaza via the Kerem Shalom crossing, the only entry point Israel allows it to use, Deputy UN spokesperson Fahan Haq told reporters.
Haq said aid groups in Gaza estimate that between 8,000 and 10,000 metric tons of wheat flour were needed to give each family in Gaza a bag of flour and “ease the pressure on markets and reduce desperation.”

HIGHLIGHTS

• US-backed GHF says has given out total 11.4 million meals

• UN calls for more supplies to be let into Gaza

• Gazans at risk of famine

“Most of it was taken by desperate, starving people before the supplies reached their destinations. In some cases, the supplies were looted by armed gangs,” Haq said.
According to World Food Programme guidelines, 4,600 metric tons of flour would provide roughly eight days’ worth of bread for Gaza’s 2 million residents, based on a standard daily ration of 300 grams per person.
Haq called for Israel to let in far more aid via multiple crossings and routes.
The UN has mostly delivered flour along with limited medical and nutrition items since Israel lifted the 11-week blockade in mid-May. Experts warn Gaza is at risk of famine, with the rate of young children suffering acute malnutrition nearly tripling.
Israel and the United States want the UN to work through the controversial new Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, but the UN has refused, questioning its neutrality and accusing the distribution model of militarizing aid and forcing displacement.
Israel and the United States have accused Hamas of stealing aid from the UN-led operations, which the militants deny.
The GHF uses private US security and logistics firms to operate. It began operations in Gaza on May 26 and said on Monday so far it has given out 11.4 million meals.
Israel makes the UN offload aid on the Palestinian side of the Kerem Shalom crossing, where it then has to be picked by the UN and aid groups already in Gaza. The UN has accused Israel of regularly denying access requests.

 


Trump says Iran is involved in Gaza hostage negotiations

Updated 10 June 2025
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Trump says Iran is involved in Gaza hostage negotiations

  • Under the proposal 28 Israeli hostages — alive and dead — would be released in the first week, in exchange for the release of 1,236 Palestinian prisoners and the remains of 180 dead Palestinians
  • The United States and Iran are also separately trying to negotiate a deal on Tehran’s nuclear program

WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump said on Monday Iran is involved in negotiations aimed at arranging a ceasefire-for-hostages deal between Israel and Hamas.
“Gaza right now is in the midst of a massive negotiation between us and Hamas and Israel, and Iran actually is involved, and we’ll see what’s going to happen with Gaza. We want to get the hostages back,” Trump told reporters during an event in the White House State Dining Room.
Trump did not elaborate and the White House did not immediately respond to a request for details of Iran’s involvement. Iran’s mission to the United Nations in New York did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The United States has proposed a 60-day ceasefire between Israel and Hamas. Israel said it would abide by the terms but Hamas thus far has rejected the plan.
Under the proposal 28 Israeli hostages — alive and dead — would be released in the first week, in exchange for the release of 1,236 Palestinian prisoners and the remains of 180 dead Palestinians.
The United States and Iran are also separately trying to negotiate a deal on Tehran’s nuclear program.
 

 


Gaza’s Al-Amal hospital ‘virtually out of service’: WHO

Updated 10 June 2025
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Gaza’s Al-Amal hospital ‘virtually out of service’: WHO

  • The WHO said June 5 that Al-Nasser and Al-Amal hospitals were unable to fully treat the wounded that continue to pour in because of serious shortages of medicines and medical supplies after two months of total blockade

GENEVA: The Al-Amal Hospital in Gaza, one of the few still operating in the Palestinian territory, is now “virtually out of service” due to intense military activity, the head of the WHO said Monday.
“Access to the hospital is obstructed, preventing new patients from reaching care, and leading to more preventable deaths,” the World Health Organization’s director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus posted on X.
Tedros said two emergency medical teams — one local, the other international — “are still doing their best to serve the remaining patients with the limited medical supplies left on the premises.”
“With the closure of Al-Amal, Nasser Medical Complex is now the only remaining hospital with an intensive care unit in Khan Younis,” he said.
The WHO said June 5 that Al-Nasser and Al-Amal hospitals were unable to fully treat the wounded that continue to pour in because of serious shortages of medicines and medical supplies after two months of total blockade.
Israeli authorities have recently allowed in some humanitarian aid, but way less than what is needed.
Nearly 20 months of relentless war, triggered by Hamas’ October 7, 2023 attacks on Israel, has created one of the most serious humanitarian crises in the world, with civilians exhausted by bombardments, forced displacement and hunger.
 

 


Gaza-bound aid boat with Greta Thunberg on board arrives in Israel after its seizure

Updated 10 June 2025
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Gaza-bound aid boat with Greta Thunberg on board arrives in Israel after its seizure

  • The Freedom Flotilla Coalition, which organized the voyage, said the activists were “kidnapped by Israeli forces” while trying to deliver desperately needed aid
  • “I urge all my friends, family and comrades to put pressure on the Swedish government to release me and the others as soon as possible,” Thunberg said in a prerecorded message released after the ship was halted

JERUSALEM: A Gaza-bound aid boat carrying Greta Thunberg and other activists arrived at an Israeli port Monday after Israeli forces stopped and detained them — enforcing a longstanding blockade of the Palestinian territory that has been tightened during the Israel-Hamas war.
The boat, accompanied by Israel’s navy, arrived in Ashdod in the evening, according to Israel’s Foreign Ministry. It published a photo on social media of Thunberg after disembarking.
The 12 activists were undergoing medical checks to ensure they are in good health, the ministry said. They were expected to be held at a detention facility in Ramle before being deported, according to Adalah, a legal rights group representing them.
The activists had set out to protest Israel’s military campaign in Gaza, which is among the deadliest and most destructive since World War II, and its restrictions on the entry of humanitarian aid. Both have put the territory of around 2 million Palestinians at risk of famine.
The Freedom Flotilla Coalition, which organized the voyage, said the activists were “kidnapped by Israeli forces” while trying to deliver desperately needed aid.
“The ship was unlawfully boarded, its unarmed civilian crew abducted and its life-saving cargo — including baby formula, food and medical supplies — confiscated,” it said in a statement.
It said the ship was seized in international waters about 200 kilometers (120 miles) from Gaza, and Adalah asserted that Israel had “no legal authority” to take it over.
Israel’s Foreign Ministry portrayed the voyage as a public relations stunt, saying on social media that “the ‘selfie yacht’ of the ‘celebrities’ is safely making its way to the shores of Israel.”
It said the activists would return to their home countries and the aid would be sent to Gaza through established channels. It circulated footage of what appeared to be Israeli military personnel handing out sandwiches and water to the activists, who were wearing life vests.
Israel says boat was carrying minimal aid
Israeli officials said the flotilla carried what amounted to less than a truckload of aid.
“This wasn’t humanitarian aid. It’s Instagram activism,” Israeli government spokesperson David Mencer said. “Meanwhile, Israel has delivered over 1,200 truckloads in the last two weeks. So who’s really feeding Gaza and who’s really feeding their own ego? Greta was not bringing aid, she was bringing herself.”
After its 2½-month total blockade aimed at pressuring Hamas, Israel started allowing some basic aid into Gaza last month, but humanitarian workers and experts have warned of famine unless the blockade is lifted and Israel ends its military offensive. About 600 trucks of aid entered daily during the ceasefire that Israel ended in March.
An attempt last month by Freedom Flotilla to reach Gaza by sea failed after two drones attacked the vessel in international waters off Malta, organizers said. The group blamed Israel for the attack, which damaged the ship’s front section.
Rights group questions Israel’s seizure
The Madleen set sail from Sicily a week ago. Along the way, it stopped on Thursday to rescue four migrants who had jumped overboard to avoid being detained by Libya’a coast guard.
“I urge all my friends, family and comrades to put pressure on the Swedish government to release me and the others as soon as possible,” Thunberg said in a prerecorded message released after the ship was halted.
Adalah, the rights group, said in a statement that “the arrest of the unarmed activists, who operated in a civilian manner to provide humanitarian aid, amounts to a serious breach of international law.”
Rima Hassan, a French member of the European Parliament who is of Palestinian descent, was among those on board. She has been barred from entering Israel because of her opposition to Israeli policies toward the Palestinians.
She was among six French citizens on board. French President Emmanuel Macron called for consular protection and the repatriation of the French citizens.
“Most of all, France calls for a ceasefire as quickly as possible and the lifting of the humanitarian blockade. This is a scandal, unacceptable, that is playing out in Gaza. What’s been happening since early March is a disgrace, a disgrace,” Macron said
Next week, Macron co-hosts a conference at the UN on a two-state solution and recently said France should move toward recognizing a Palestinian state.
Swedish Foreign Minister Maria Malmer Stenergard said the crew and passengers were aware of the risks, Swedish news agency TT reported. Stenergard said the ministry’s assessment is that no one was in danger and there was no need for consular support.
An 18-year blockade on Gaza
Israel and Egypt have imposed varying degrees of a blockade on Gaza since Hamas seized power from rival Palestinian forces in 2007. Israel says the blockade is needed to prevent Hamas from importing arms, while critics say it amounts to collective punishment of Gaza’s Palestinian population.
Israel sealed off Gaza from all aid in the early days of the war ignited by the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, but later relented under US pressure. In early March, shortly before Israel ended a ceasefire with Hamas, the country again blocked all imports, including food, fuel and medicine.
Hamas-led militants killed around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, in the Oct. 7 attack and abducted 251 hostages. Most have been released in ceasefire agreements or other deals. Hamas still holds 55 hostages, more than half believed to be dead.
Israel’s military campaign has killed more than 54,000 Palestinians, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, which doesn’t distinguish between civilians and combatants but has said that women and children make up most of the dead.
The war has destroyed vast areas of Gaza and displaced around 90 percent of the population, leaving people almost completely dependent on international aid.
Efforts to broker another truce have been deadlocked for months. Hamas says it will only release the remaining hostages in exchange for a lasting ceasefire and an Israeli withdrawal. Israel has vowed to continue the war until all the captives are returned and Hamas is defeated, or disarmed and exiled.

 


Israeli military calls on civilians to flee three Yemeni ports

Updated 10 June 2025
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Israeli military calls on civilians to flee three Yemeni ports

  • Israel has staged several attacks on Yemen after missiles were fired. The Houthis say their attacks are to support Palestinians in Gaza

JERUSALEM: The Israeli military on Monday called on civilians to leave three Yemen ports as it prepares strikes against installations held by Houthi rebels who have fired missiles at Israel.
“Because of the use of maritime ports by the Houthi terrorist regime, we call on all people present” in the ports of Ras Issa, Hodeida and Salif “to evacuate them immediately for their own security,” Col. Avichay Adraee, an Israeli army spokesman, posted in Arabic on X and Telegram.
Israel has staged several attacks on Yemen after missiles were fired. The Houthis say their attacks are to support Palestinians in Gaza.