First Time Here? Readers suggest starting with #120.
Tags: 5 Min Read; Lots of Factoids; Relief!
Update: Relief Area Bet was updated with proper translation!
Dept: This Blog Has A Life Of Its Own: How to find this blog? Ask a search engine:
is raf ok
Traveling around the States, folks sometimes drop their jaws (when they see me). I tell them: "Don't worry. Ask the internet: Is Raf OK — It will tell you!
Dept: Too Much To Know: The IDF keeps announcing yet another missing soldier now understood (eight months later) to have been killed on October 7 and his body held by Hamas ever since.
Dept: Never Thought I'd See: Germany to require new citizens to acknowledge Israel's right to exist.
Dept: Sounds Like Justice? The International Women's Media Foundation's 2024 Courage in Journalism Award for Palestinian journalist Maha Hussaini was rescinded on Thursday after social media posts condoning armed action against Israel were unearthed.
Dept: Antisemitism On The American Left: I don't like AIPAC. I think AIPAC is part of the problem. I also don't like the rank antisemitism in American Progressive politics that I witnessed as a Seattle resident and again among some members of the Congressional "Squad." I'd “like to like” Jamaal Bowman. Yet, if I were on a podium shouting about “African money advocating against me,” I'd be called out. Representative Bowman used antisemitic tropes about Jews and money. And was defeated. [I further agree with Bill Maher that the political far right is far more dangerous—to Jews, America and the world—than the far left. Maher’s joke still lands: “I’m old enough to remember when it was the conservatives who hated the Jews, ok?”]
Dept: The No Famine Famine
It's a mouthful: The The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) Famine Review Committee (FRC) concludes: "...available evidence does not indicate that Famine is currently occurring [in Gaza]."
Postmark
Gaza -- From Social Media
Above: "Hot goods" entered the Strip today through trucks that passed through Kerem Shalom: watermelons on their way to Abu Kader with nicotine.
Next time check them better at the crossing. This watermelon is worth more than 15 thousand NIS in Gaza...
Above: From the smuggled watermelon 👆 straight to the market of Nuseirat in the center of the Strip. The price: 1600-2000 NIS per box. (US$400-530 per box!)
(Raf thinks: Another missed opportunity by Israel. Hamas controlled and taxed tobacco products for 15 years. This is Israel’s chance to make friends with Gazan smokers by allowing import of tax free cigarettes.)
In other Hamas related news:
Above: Gaza sources: Hamas operatives murdered an activist from the Association for the Protection of Women's and Children's Rights after he took several photos in the area of Bani Suheila in eastern Khan Yunis.
According to these sources, Abd el Aziz Baraka, a member of the Aisha Association for the Protection of Women and Children (an NGO apparently with foreign funding) and an English teacher by profession, was kidnapped by Hamas operatives to one of the schools in Khan Yunis, where he was beaten to death.
Shifah Hospital
Is covered with scaffolding. Major repair and restoration work is in progress.
The "David" Crossing
The report by the Gaza News Agency, according to which Gazan children with cancer are expected to soon leave the Strip for medical treatment abroad via the Kerem Shalom crossing [a crossing into Israel], made waves among Gazans online. In their eyes, this is a significant change. From now on, the exit from the Strip does not depend on Hamas or Egypt [which both blockade Gazans inside Gaza -Raf], but entirely on Israel. They even found an nickname - "David's Crossing" after a new road that was reportedly paved near the Rafah Crossing.
One vlogger, Abu Khader of Deir al-Balah, was so moved by the matter that he made two videos on the subject. He is excited by the news that Gazans will be able to leave the Strip without "coordination" [with Hamas and Egypt -Raf] which costs US$5,000 and points out hopefully that soon all Gazans, not just the sick, will be able to leave the Strip through the "David Crossing" at no cost at all. "Open the crossing" he begs. And he's not the only one...
Arabic Language News
The Middle East ain't black and white... (No matter what the U.S. campus protesters say....)
The "Arabic Post" reports that 37 Egyptian companies obtained a kosher certificate and they export 206 different food products to Israel, including frozen fruits and vegetables.
25 Moroccan companies export 113 products to Israel. And there is also one company from Saudi Arabia and one from Tunisia...
Why is this important? Because the Israeli economy is one of the strongest in the region (which benefits the entire region). This observation:
The Turkish lira is at an all-time low against the dollar - almost 33 Turkish lira to one dollar.
Prompts the question: Is this a result of Turkey's economic embargo against Israel (Erdogan's "Gaza war protest")?
Mind Twisters Part 2...
IDF: The IDF eliminated a significant Islamic Jihad terrorist
Earlier today (Tuesday), an IAF aircraft directed by IDF intelligence struck and eliminated the terrorist Fadi Al-Wadiya, who served as a significant operative in the Islamic Jihad terrorist organization.
As part of his role, Fadi Al-Wadiya developed and advanced the terrorist organization's rocket array and was a central figure in the terrorist organization's knowledge of electronics and chemistry.
And... regarding this very same event:
Both the Palestinian Ministry of Health and the Doctors Without Borders organization, of which Fadi was a member, published messages of mourning for his death. The Palestinian Ministry of Health says that Fadi was an expert in the field of natural treatment and was killed during his work as a result of an Israeli attack.
The Doctors Without Borders organization condemned the killing of the "physiological therapist" who worked in its ranks and even published pictures of him in a white coat...
A medical staff member and also... a terrorist operative who develops weapons for the Islamic Jihad - which is considered a terrorist organization in all Western countries.
A person can be both.... There are photos of this Islamic Jihad terrorist, released by the IDF, wearing a Doctors Without Borders uniform.
Leaked IDF Video
Above: Tuesday in Tel a-Sultan area in western Rafah (Gaza Strip) – an Israeli tank fires at a booby-trapped Palestinian house, which explodes with force.
The percentage of homes and buildings that are booby trapped is high. From available information over %10 while some soldiers with field experience claim over a third. The percentage of houses and apartment buildings that have tunnel entrances is higher than that in many areas.
Hezbollah's Rate of Attacks
Per Abu Ali Express:
June 25: 5 attacks
June 24: 4 attacks
June 23: 6 attacks
June 22: 5 attacks
June 21: 6 attacks
June 20: 5 attacks - The last Hezbollah operative was killed.
June 19: 9 attacks
June 18: 7 attacks
June 17: No attacks - Eid al-Adha
June 16: No attacks - Eid al-Adha
June 15: 3 attacks - Eve of Eid al-Adha
June 14: 18 attacks
June 13: 12 attacks
June 12: 19 attacks - Beginning of the response to the assassination of senior Hezbollah operative Taleb Abdullah.
June 11: 10 attacks
Pre-Relief Area
Would Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin Agree?
A Deeper Truth?
Relief Area
Alef
Bet
(The bottom package is an Israeli knockoff that is called “Kef kef” — Fun Fun in Hebrew. A review.)
Gimmel
Dalet
(The Oketz division trains dogs for roles in combat situations.)
Hey
I head back to Tel Aviv soon. My dear step-mom, Mary Michael, died a few days ago. Her illness brought me to the West Coast.
She had a great run.
Stay well,
Raf
(Thank you A.K.)