Is Raf OK? -- Installment #90

2024-03-17 -- Tel Aviv

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Tags: 5-10 Min Read; Compilation of Excerpts

The story of the killed reservist in #89 updated to reflect a source closer to the event.

Ramadan has begun. There continue to be conflicting reports out of Gaza: Social media posts out of Gaza with photos of large break fast dinners (albeit in tent cities) and stocked meat and vegetable markets next to warnings in mainstream media from “do good NGOs” about famine risk.

Is it the speed of media that forces the duality on everyone? The duality of: Part of Gaza has food, part doesn’t. Tel Aviv is “normal life,” Gaza is tent cities. NGOs support the needy, NGOs enable violence.

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Jake Sullivan, US National Security Advisor: Summarizes in One Minute

Bernard-Henri Levy Writes: Stop the War in Gaza

A 2-3 minute read (PDF in English; The original in French). A couple of excerpts:

Never mind that it was the IDF itself that, in the humanitarian convoy drama, initiated the investigation concluding (an uncommon thing in a “genocidal” army!) that it shared responsibility for accidental civilian deaths.

Never mind that the U.S. would later manage to kill five Palestinian civilians with an airdrop, not because anyone intended to do so but because it is difficult to operate humanitarian missions in a war zone.
...
I see no mobilizations on campus when an Arab state, Syria, kills not just thousands, but hundreds of thousands of civilians, backed by Iran, which promises even greater massacres against Jews and anyone in the region who dares to oppose it.
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Or to expect the international community, and even Hamas’ sponsoring countries, to demand of the aggressor two very simple things that would immediately end this atrocious war and the suffering it causes: Liberate the Israeli hostages who are still alive; and lay down their arms, recognizing, in one way or another, defeat.

Who has the courage to demand this?

Who cares enough about the fate of Israelis and Gazans alike to force the aggressor to stop its monstrous blackmail, instead of telling the victims to submit?

Does anyone care about peace and justice enough to demand an end to this war, in the only way it can actually end—with the defeat of Hamas?

To do this, simply change the program and, instead of “Free Palestine,” think “Peace now.”

"Israel Has No Choice but to Fight On"

3 Min read: Bret Stephens published a Q&A style overview of the situation in Gaza and addresses its criticisms. (PDF here.)

Some of the questions engaged:

How can you possibly justify the destruction and suffering?

But it isn’t Hamas’s bombs, missiles or artillery that have leveled Gaza. It’s Israel’s.

Because Biden has leverage on Israel, he should use it.

Israelis are mostly doing fine now. It’s Palestinians who are dying.

Anshel Pfeffer Excerpt from Haaretz, 14.03.2024

(Emphasis added by Raf.)

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How many wars are being fought right now in Gaza? From the Israeli perspective, at least three.

There's the "official" war that was started by Hamas when it attacked Israel on October 7. The war with the triple objective of ending Hamas' rule in Gaza, destroying its military capabilities and rescuing the hostages. That's the war that the overwhelming majority of Israelis are fighting and still support.

Many Israelis believe they are fighting a broader war as well, one that is a continuation of a much longer conflict that began with the Palestinians' rejection of Jews' right to live in this land. The aims of the war are not well-defined. For most Israelis it is still a war of defense with the aim of deterring the Palestinians from continuing to harbor any illusions about Israel's permanence in the region. But for many, especially on the far right, it's an opportunity to deliver a debilitating second Nakba. They seek to cast Palestinians as Nazis who must be eradicated.

And then there's the war that some religious Israelis are fighting, which is part of the divine redemption of the people of Israel. A war that will end not only when the enemy is vanquished and banished from the land but when the temporary secular governments of Israel are replaced by the law of the Torah.

Likewise, Palestinians are fighting at least three wars.

There are those who religiously believe in eradicating Jews, as laid out in the original Hamas charter, who not only support the October 7 attack but glory in the scenes of savagery livestreamed that day by its perpetrators. It's a precursor of what they want to see happen again and again.

Then there are many Palestinians who don't identify with all of Hamas' Islamist ideology but justify the massacre (while trying to deny it even was one) as a legitimate response to Israeli oppression and occupation. Israel had to be taught a lesson.

Finally, there are Palestinians who to various degrees blame Israel, and Hamas as well, for bringing Israel's rage down on them and yearn for some kind of peaceful solution.

If this seems to you all too neat and ordered, you're right. Most Israelis and Palestinians don't belong to just one group. Many of us at various times are fighting in more than one war, consciously and subconsciously. And even when we consciously don't want to be fighting one of our wars, we cannot divorce ourselves from those who are, or from responsibility for their actions.

There is nothing unique about this. War cannot mean the same thing for every member of the nation engaged in it. How could it? The foot soldier, the general and the politician all have different aspirations that can be affected differently by the war's outcome. Diverse sections and classes of society hope the war will either entrench or enhance their status. In the end, we have to pay the price for all the wars, including those we opposed.
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Relief Area

Alef: Why must I continue to exist & ruin their lives?

Bet: Why Are Jews Neurotic?

Gimmel

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The war drags on. I estimate the longer the war lasts the better for the Mullahs of Iran (an “enemy over the horizon” is a foundation of fascistic politics). Demonstrations in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem against the Israeli government and for an immediate hostage deal are ongoing, but are nowhere near the size of the pre-war demonstrations against the Judicial coup (I think less than half the size).

90 seconds from Tel Aviv. Shuk Lewinsky. The afternoon before shabbat (March 15). The guy is singing “We are a strong people, we are a strong people, and we will be victorious.” His truck says “I am a street artist/performer.” It is possibly political (from the right wing “together/united we will win” camp). It is possibly Israeli schtick. Or both.

Stay well,

Raf

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(Thank you A.K.)