First Time Here? Readers suggest starting with #120.
Tags: 5 Min Read; “Must Watch” 9 Min Video
Updates: In #126 the section "The North of Israel Just Now" was accidentally published without its intended photo gallery. This has been fixed.
Speaking of the Umbilicus exhibit, here is its physical context (more photos here):
Drew Binsky
I was introduced to the work of Drew Binsky, who has traveled to every country in the world. He said something that I think of a lot vis-a-vis how "my fellow Americans" view my life in Tel Aviv:
Never judge a country based on news reports.
He goes on to say, "The media has a bias where it usually talks about negative things," and gives this example:
Iran: The people love America, absolutely love it. He had such a good time he is applying for a visa to go back for a third time. (And during Ramadan 80% of people do not fast. In other words, the "Islamic Republic of Iran" describes the rulers, not the population of the big cities.)
He also discusses the affect war has. Using Ukraine as an example (but it applies everywhere), he notes that actual shooting is in a few places far away. The larger effect of war is the universal anxiety it triggers: Worry that the shooting will come to your street.
Watch One Thing: Yuval Harari (author of Sapiens and Homo Deus): July 1, 2024
We tried to make peace in the past, and we weren't very good at it. So what? We haven't been very good at making war either, but that hasn't stopped us from doing it over and over...
Nine minutes. Hebrew with English & Arabic subs.
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Week of Goodness
Antisemitism (from Raf’s inbox)
I have to tell you that I have not encountered any anti-Israel or antisemitic comments, even though I have been wearing a Magen David since 10/7 (except while sleeping, swimming or at the beach - everybody in Michigan City already knows I'm Jewish and therefore I don't need to fly the flag). I will tell you that my neighbors are Ethopian Christians. One of their sons just got his PhD in public health, and they invited me for lunch and graduation cake. While speaking to the graduate, I indicated that I had gone to school in Israel (I don't remember how it came up). His response was "I did a summer of school in Israel in Beer Sheva a few years ago. Best summer of my life!" — S.D.
Stanford Faculty Report: Anti-zionism is Antisemitism
The report by Stanford's internal "Subcommittee on Antisemitism and Anti-Israeli Bias" is 148 pages long. I haven't read it. I read Alon Tal's summary.
Some snippets:
In April 2024, the Anti-Defamation League issued a report card ranking the level of antisemitism on disparate US college campuses. Stanford University initially received an “F” – although the ADL recently raised it to a “D.”
...the [Stanford] committee refused to decouple antisemitism and anti-Israeli bias. Citing a recent Pew survey that found that “82% of Jewish adults in the United States care about Israel as an essential or important part of what being Jewish means to them,” the committee consciously conflates anti-Israeli bias with antisemitism. It acknowledges the legitimacy of criticizing Israel – along with the fact that many in the Stanford Jewish community are openly critical of Israeli government policies. Yet, the report sees a priori nullification of Jewish nationalism or “Zionism” and eradication of the Jewish state as fundamentally illegitimate. Indeed, readers learn that Stanford pro-Palestinian protesters frequently use the term “Zio” as a pejorative reference to all Jews who don’t preemptively renounce their ancestral ties to Israel.
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Gaza
I mentioned before the Doctors without Borders doctor who was also an armed militant. The same is true for "ministers" in the Gaza government: They are part of the Hamas military organization.
Example of the day:
Part 1, July 7, 2024: The Civil Defense in Gaza reports that it retrieved 4 dead as a result of an IDF attack on the "al-Aaiyla al-Mukadasa" school in the west of Gaza City.
Part 2, July 7, 2024: Palestinian social media channels report: The engineer Ihab al-Ghussein, who is in charge of the Ministry of Labor in Gaza on behalf of Hamas, was killed in an Israeli attack in the west of Gaza City. [This references the same attack as Part 1 above.]
Part 3, July 7, 2024: Hamas confirms in an official announcement [on their social media channels] the death of "the commander, the martyr and the engineer Ihab al-Ghussein, who was in charge of the Ministry of Labor in Gaza". [Hamas very rarely confirms specific casualties--unlike Hezbollah which glorifies them, announcing today its 365th casualty. This is a clear message that this was an important member of the Hamas military leadership.]
The the IDF spokesperson references this attack (shortly after the above posts from Gazans):
A short while ago, based on IDF and ISA intelligence, the IAF struck a complex inside of which terrorists were operating and hiding in the area of a school building in Gaza City.
Simultaneously, the IDF struck a Hamas weapons manufacturing facility embedded by the terrorist organization in the area of the school.
Prior to the strike, numerous steps were taken in order to mitigate the risk of harming civilians, including the use of precise aerial surveillance and additional intelligence.
The Hamas terrorist organization systematically violates international law, exploiting civilian structures and population as human shields for its terror attacks against the State of Israel.
Jabalia (Northern Gaza Strip)
Fatah-identified social media: About 20 Hamas masked men kidnapped the social activist Amin Abed from Jabaliya in the north of the Gaza Strip and broke his arms and legs after he posted on Facebook in favor of ending the war and against Hamas's stupid way of conducting the war.
(I will spare you the clips of Amin Abed with casts on all limbs.)
Gaza City, Shejaia Neighborhood
The use of drones in combat:
Two of the many arms caches found in ordinary homes and apartments:
Jerusalem
Demonstrations by the ultra-Orthodox against conscription.
We would rather die than be drafted to the army.
Hamas Casualty Rate
In #126 the perspective of a militarist was quoted. (I call him that because he seems to see military action as the solution to a variety of problems.) A day or two later, Defense Minister Gallant announced at the Knesset that the IDF has eliminated more than 14 thousand terrorists in the Gaza Strip since October 7. (For context, Gallant noted that the IDF killed or wounded about 60% of Hamas terrorists.)
Gallant’s numbers differ from Abu Ali’s, but not materially: Both perspectives conclude that %40-60 of armed Hamas members are still in action.
Relief for Context
And its sailors have all fallen asleep
(The star of David is sinking because we don't have leadership)
Relief Area
Alef
Bet: Classic Elders of Zion
Gimmel: Drew Binsky!
Who has travelled to every country on earth (and who met the last Jew in Afghanistan). His four minute clip on Jerusalem (in English).
Dalet
A popular video yesterday: smuggling hashish and opium from Afghanistan to Pakistan using a slingshot. (30 seconds, no words)
Hey
I just stopped at the falafel place around the corner in Baka. It's a genuine hole in the wall. A kiosk with a roll up window. Hardly a real building. Things cost less in Jerusalem. You can walk up and ask for five falafel balls, just the balls, no pita or salad, and pay five shekels (US$1.30). They'll squirt amba or tehina on if you ask. Makes a great snack or hors d'oeuvre. You get ‘em in a small paper sack.
I started eating and thought the bag seemed full. I asked for five. Paid for five. He gave me seven.
Hot and tasty.
Stay well,
Raf
(Thank you A.K., S.D., M.T.)