First Time Here? Readers suggest starting with the expanded Gaza Explainer in #133 and #120.
Tags: 8 Min Read; Mail! Invisible Stuff!
Update: Minutes after email release on Nov 19, the section “Doublethink: Hezbollah Special Edition” was added. On Nov 20, the section “I Do Not Like This” was expanded.
I am eating crackers with homemade baba ganush. Well, home made at the nearby deli....
I'd eat lunch, but I had "unexpected jachnoon" an hour ago...
To celebrate two years in this apartment, and that I just signed on to stay another year, I hired a cleaner. Clearing out for a couple hours, I thought I'd sit in a coffee shop... but realized: I have the whole shuk and Yemenite Quarter (just across the street). There was a bench next to the central Yemenite Bakery, so I sat there and read.
The guy next to me says, "Best jachnun in the city! I die for jachnun! [means: I soooo love Jachnun.] I am buying you one," and does so.
He takes off—after I confirm it is amazing, and group #1 (of four) arrives....
The Yemenite Quarter has a lot of history. It and the shuk itself are popular tourist destinations. Tour guides bring groups through on historical and food tasting tours. This bakery, it turns out, is one of the stops.
Group after group arrived. The last from Holon, don't know their story. The first three were from Ra'anana city hall, doing a team building group activity.
They all came and sampled the lachuch (Yemenite pita), jachnun (don't know how to describe it) and a third thing that is a kind of laffa (forgive me, I forgot its name).
Anyway, I attest that the jachnun is super great. Not a taste from my childhood, but still super great.
I heard different pieces of the neighborhood's history, and saw different styles of tour guides. One packs a frozen bottle of Arak and adds a "chaser" step to each stop.
It then started to pour. I could have known it would rain (as it had earlier in the morning), but was classically in shorts and sandals. Sans umbrella.
I stayed under the overhang for awhile, then sat in a friendly cafe until she closed up for the day fifteen minutes later.
Due to the gifted jachnun, I declined her food but drank her seltzer.
Mail
Paradox of Tolerance
#152's Paradox of Tolerance triggered more mail than usual.
#1
The Paradox of Tolerance is also like what has happened here [in the recent U.S. elections]. All of us center-lefties spent all this time trying to "understand" why the right wing is so angry when they live in one of the richest, most organized countries in the world, when they couldn't give a damn about trying to "understand" us, and are only interested in spreading their beliefs across the entire population (banning books, Christianizing everything, anti-science, anti-education, women in their place, etc.). We keep trying to "understand" as they elect Donald and proceed to deconstruct this country that we grew up in. I have no idea if any of your readers are right wingers, so I don't know if you want to repost this or not. How depressing everything is....
#2
I think that you should open with the Karl Popper snippet or include it every time. It makes a huge impact in its simplicity. Ideally it should speak to everyone reading it without regard to their ‘positions’.
#3
You remind me of a discussion I had with my husband many years ago about the danger of the far right returning to Europe.
Generally, I am a very peaceful and tolerant person, not at all intolerant. But in that case I reacted "intolerantly". I said "these dangerous snakes should be drowned when they are young, at birth, before they grow up and do harm to society". My husband said to me: "it is a matter of democracy. If there is a healthy democracy, there is no room for them, so society has no reason to worry. However, you should not react intolerantly. You cannot ask for them to disappear at birth because they have different views than yours. This is intolerance. But you are not an intolerant person. I think that the solution is to always look in the direction of democracy and strive for it".Well, my friend, I still have the same opinion. But I have not yet answered το myself whether I am intolerant (at least partly) or the intolerance made me, a tolerant person, to react as an intolerant in their case, out of fear. Is this an excuse for me? I am not sure... It's probably what Karl Kopper says, that the intolerant destroy tolerance itself.
Raf's Hot Take
One of the channels I watch (for material) is overjoyed with the results of the U.S. election. (So far.) He posted clips of some of the upcoming appointees (current senators and such) speaking about October 7.
I am struck at how clearly politicians on the American right spoke about the barbarism of Hamas. It immediately brought to mind the failures of the Ivy League University presidents when they were given an opportunity to be clear. (Those college presidents were, for all intents and purposes, representatives of the American Left—someone in that room understood that looong before I did….)
Clarity of thought and word is important. In this past election one side had it. One did not.
Those Hezbollah Weapons...
In #148 there was a question about Israel using captured Hezbollah weaponry against Hezbollah:
This is not a deal of any kind, but the Ukrainian Ambassador to Israel says that Ukraine would happily accept the arms. [To avoid antagonizing Russia, which maintains a military presence in Syria, Israel, so far, has not sent arms to Ukraine.]
Dept of The Invisible
Items invisible in the Western media.
Iranian & Hezbollah Doublethink
Dima Sadek, Lebanese Shia journalist and a prominent critic of Hezbollah, confronts Hezbollah leaders who speak of "victories" with reality.
I have posted other clips like this. One of them asked Hezbollah: What does defeat look like? We know what victory looks like, but what does defeat look like?
I have been thinking about these terms vis-a-vis Gaza. The people of Gaza are defeated—long ago already, but Hamas and Islamic Jihad choose not to surrender, so the war goes on and on. Heck, I don't think you can see this in America, but Hamas is still launching rockets from Gaza! (Typically from within humanitarian zones.) Hezbollah launched 100 rockets yesterday!
Sitting in that cafe, waiting out the rain, the radio was on. When you listen to the radio, you hear the Red Alerts from everywhere in the country. (In the car a week ago, we turned off the radio because they were non-stop.)
When folks in the West talk about stopping the war, I never hear them say that the rockets, or threat of rockets, will also stop.
Doublethink: Gaza Edition
Gaza social media channels claim: On appx November 17, in East Khan Yunis and East Rafah, a Hamas force killed 5 thieves and wounded many more in “an operation against the robbers of the aid trucks,” .
This is the second or third such event in the past handful of days. If I read between the lines:
Hamas tries to create the appearance that it is fighting those who harm aid distribution, but the only people hijacking aid are Hamas people.
It was asked:
What force in the Gaza Strip can rob 109 trucks in one night as happened two days ago?
A Gazan wrote on Facebook:
Let's say that in order to take control of each aid truck, you need three people. If they managed to rob 109 trucks, they would need at least a battalion.
And who can hide such a quantity of goods in Gaza? What did Gaza turn into?
The Bermuda Triangle?
Only one actor pulls all the strings: Hamas
There are huge bread lines in Gaza these past days. But lots (lots) of flour is entering Gaza. What is happening?
This video shows bakery workers packing up bread for sale on the black market while people are lined up outside the bakery:
(The flour enters Gaza as free of charge food aid, so the bakery need not charge much... but with the Hamas-created shortage, the black market thrives and Hamas profits.)
And then on Monday, November 18, Hamas killed more than 23 people in their fight against "thieves." Gazan social media says this included firing an RPG at a car full of people. Is this a sign that Gazans are starting to take food distribution away from Hamas?
(By Raf's count, there are over 50 deaths in this matter in the past handful of days.)
The New York Times writes several times a week about the violence of the Israeli Army. They have also written that Hamas uses violence to maintain power. (PDF here.) For Gazans over the past 15 years, this has been a consistent source of barbarism.
Events of the past few days show that the Gazan population remains under Hamas’ guns. Literally.
Doublethink: Hezbollah Special Edition
On November 18, a Hezbollah missile made a direct hit on a house in an Arab-Israeli town, killing one and wounding many.
Video below: What do the supporters of the Shiite axis do when Hezbollah misses and hits Arab cities in Israel?
Change the names of the cities so that they fit the narrative.
For example, this is what is written on the video below:
أضرار كبيرة في الكرمئيل
Great damage in Karmiel [a Jewish Israeli town]
In reality, this is a video filmed in Shafr'am—an Arab Israeli town.... which became the "new Karmiel" to maintain Hezbollah's narrative.
Hezbollah, Hamas and Iranian missiles have killed many Arabs and Palestinians in Gaza, the West Bank and Israel. The above is notable as a direct hit on an occupied building (a rare event in this war), but it is another day in the life of the rockets.
Postmark: Beirut
In an unusual move, Hezbollah announces the deaths of four of its media operatives who were killed alongside their commander—Mohammad Afif, the head of Hezbollah's PR department—and has published martyrdom posters for the four.
Note that the martyrdom posters of the four members of Hezbollah's PR department feature the original font and correct colors. These are not "off-brand" posters, "locally made" by various Hezbollah supporters—they were officially released through Hezbollah's main PR office.
The members of Hezbollah's PR department became a report on Hezbollah's official PR channel.
Good News Dept
New initiative adds Druze history to Israeli school curriculum
The Israeli Education Ministry announced on Monday its plan to introduce a new junior high school course that focuses on the history of the Druze community in Israel.
The course “Druze Society: History, Heritage, and Culture” is designed for grades 7-9. It aims to help younger generations gain a deeper understanding of the Druze community’s history, traditions, and partnership with the State of Israel.
Peace Work On The Ground
I was introduced to the Groundwork podcast:
Groundwork is a podcast about activists working in Israel and Palestine. Each week, we’ll talk to activists working on the ground everyday demanding justice, peace, and equality for all, ending the occupation, and stopping bloodshed. Join hosts Sally Abed, of Standing Together, and activist and comedian, Noam Shuster, as we return for a third season.
It isn't all war out there. There are peaceniks doing peace work every single day. (Another example of how media distorts reality.)
I Do Not Like This
I don't like AIPAC and have said so. What I like less? Normalization of antisemitism.
AIPAC gets called out by the far left. Fine. It is odd that they don't seem to call out any other lobbying group, but OK. Maybe they care about the Middle East more than they care about, say, the mining industry, the defense industry, Big Oil or agribusiness (enormous lobbies that put AIPAC in the shade).
Responding to AOC’s post above, here is what Jeremy Slevin, a senior adviser Sen. Bernie Sanders, wrote on Twitter:
"Weird to have a whole discourse about 'special interest groups' that completely leaves out corporate and industry lobbies – by far the most influential 'groups' in the Democratic Party,"
Here is what Jewish Council for Public Affairs CEO Amy Spitalnick said about AOC’s quote:
"There is a critical conversation to be had about AIPAC. But so singularly focusing on them here – when there are a number of special interest groups that operate the same way – plays into dangerous tropes."
But AOC et al care about the Middle East, you'd think that sometimes (half the time?) they might call out AIPAC's big sister, with nearly twice as many members (like 5 million)... and that is CUFI.
You know CUFI, right?
Christians United For Israel.
They are huge. And they push for the same things AIPAC does.
So they would obviously be called out by folks calling out AIPAC, right?
Wrong.
I have seen AIPAC protested up and down the line. Critical books. Posters on the streets of Manhattan. Tweets like the one above.
I have yet to see anyone call out CUFI.
It ain't gall and it ain’t ignorance. It's just antisemitism.
Relief Area
Alef: How We Used to Laugh
There was a time when we could make fun of everyone. In what ways are current sensitivities steps forward? Backward? (Sideways?)
Bet: איני שקרן! כלל וכלל לא -- I am not a liar
(Above is what Bibi says about himself, for years.)
Just before the most recent election (late 2022), this interview happened:
The hard part (for me) is internalizing that politics has more in common with sports than with “the marketplace of ideas.” Milton and Mill were far smarter than the vast majority of voters. Those thinkers, like many of us, are afflicted by the Dunning Kruger Effect. (Raf sometimes wonders: Does the Dunning Kruger Effect explain everything?)
Bibi was first recommended for corruption prosecution in the late 1990’s, but “law and order” voters kept voting for him. In the U.S. a convicted felon ran against a prosecutor.
It ain’t about honesty, integrity, “values” or policy. And it sure as hell isn’t about security, physical safety or “law and order.”
It’s the color of the team’s jersey and the announcer at the stadium.
Values and policies happen. Oh yes. That is also being decided by those in power (but not considered in deciding who to root for).
That is where the joke is on everyone.
It’s this:
Gimmel: Question on the Driver’s License Exam
A new driver is going 55 km/hr in a private car and arrives at the Kametz intersection. How should he act?
[ ] He must continue straight, because that's what the road sign says. A driver is allowed to kill people if that's what the sign says, unless a policeman is there directing otherwise.
[ ] He must turn left, because it is better to kill a proportionally smaller number of people.
[ ] He must continue straight, because the number of the fifth diagonal is greater than 46 and therefore there will be no time to stop.
[ ] He must turn left, because with relatively fewer people being harmed, there is a lower chance of killing His Majesty Bibi.
Dalet
A miracle! The empty bus hit by falling shrapnel [from intercepting a Hezbollah rocket today] in Bnei Brak [an ultra orthodox neighborhood] was going to take draftees to the induction center.
[The new Minister of Defense announced that another seven thousand draft notices will be sent shortly. This is a joke on the religious who do not want to be drafted.]
Closing Thoughts
I close with something I put together for my kids.
Read
”Losing an election does not mean that you were wrong and they were right. It means you lost an election. I grew up in Mississippi watching my parents back candidates opposed to segregation. When those candidates lost, and they did for a long time, my parents didn't question if they were on the right side. They didn't ask themselves if the majority who supported segregation had proven the justness of their cause by winning.”Recalled
My parents were Vietnam War resisters. They participated in demonstrations against the war for several years. Individually, as a couple, with babies in backpacks, with kids in strollers. For years.
They advocated for Soviet Jews to be freed. For war toys to be de emphasized. For the rights of women. And more. It’s life, not a phase.
I grew up in the shadow of the Cold War. The U.S. President at the time openly joked about launching a nuclear barrage [understood to be a civilization-ending event]. I volunteered and worked for SANE/FREEZE (Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban) and was active in Citizen Diplomacy (which was also the topic of my senior project in college).Seen
(This applies to all leaders who are married either to themselves or their ideologies rather than their people. This is similar to how people—smart, hardworking people—lived under Soviet regimes during the Cold War.)
To Peace,
Raf
(Thank you A.K., M.T., S.D., M.P, S.F.Z., K.T., E.C.)