Tags: 4 Min Read; No Long Form Links; Zero Video
Thanks for all the mail! The feedback is great. So are the questions.
Mail
Erez Crossing
For what its worth, Erez was a crossing for people, not cargo. It was destroyed on October 7 and was closed until May 1. Israel rebuilt the whole thing, now with a new purpose (aid delivery).
Thank you M.T.
Any explanation for the whacked google translate in #108?
The simple answer: Google translate is an LLM. As such, a training sequence uses a corpus of texts to build a model. Google's model produces this backwards result.
One layer might be: In semitic languages, much grammar lives in the vowels/nikud. However the vast majority of available text (for, Raf believes, all semitic languages) is "sans nikud." That’s an understatement. Probably over %99 of the available text is without nikud. Therefore, the model may suffer from the resulting ambiguity.
I see that I cannot look up the verb "ימח" -- I looked in three places, Jastrow (the dictionary of classical/biblical Hebrew), pealim.com and reverso
Another layer, my current Hebrew teacher elucidates: Spelling rules for Hebrew were not codified until the 1970's (and not widely adopted until even later). (Over the centuries, Jewish scholars have spilled much ink explaining the grammatical forms of words in the Old Testament and Prophets, because the lack of vowels and inconsistent spelling at times results in ambiguity.)
When spelled with contemporary standards: יימח שמו
Google Translate does better:
For a hot minute, until...
Video of Strike on a Tent, How?
How was that filmed? The camera was waiting for a bomb to fall?
"Perfect" footage means folks on the ground knew the spot was about to be bombed. In the past 1-2 months, there have been many examples of such footage. It means the IDF gave a warning first, before bombing. In other words, the IDF had intelligence that there were weapons or tunnel entrances in the place, but did not want civilian casualties. In the case of a building, the air force does a "knock on the roof" ten or more minutes before the bombing. This is a dummy bomb, that has no explosives, to scare people out of the building before the actual bomb is dropped. I don't know what the equivalent is in a tent city, but something of this nature was done. That is why someone had their camera pointed exactly there at the right time: Folks on the ground knew it was coming.
Mass Grave at Shifah Hospital?
I heard there was a mass grave? That means genocide?
It might. If certain things about it are true. For example, if most or all the bodies were killed with a bullet to the head, or butchered by machete, that could be evidence of a massacre (which itself is not genocide, but is a crime that might be part of a genocide).
A mass grave near a hospital at wartime has no intrinsic meaning. Hospitals, by their nature, are places for being cured and for dying. It is normal, in war and peace, for the dead and dying to be brought to hospitals. When access to graveyards is disrupted by war, a hospital will typically make a mass grave nearby.
Social media has made much over mass graves in Gaza. At least one of those (that I am aware of) was created for the bodies of Hamas terrorists who were killed in Israel. Their bodies were sent back to Gaza by the truckload. Over 1,000 Hamas terrorists were killed in Israel (e.g. outside Gaza). Most or all of their bodies have been returned. Many or all of them buried in mass graves in Gaza.
To say nothing of the 10,000+ Hamas and Islamic Jihad terrorists who have been killed (or died of their injuries) in the last six months of combat.
Mo Husseini's Piece
Mo Husseini's piece was really, really good. Thank you for sharing. Can we put him on the Palestinian side of negotiations?
Postmark:
Gaza
Rafah
The IDF is creating new roads in the area around Rafah. This would appear to be preparations for ground operations in Rafah.
In other news, 600 Israeli mothers with children in combat roles wrote to Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and IDF Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi saying, "…entering Rafah could be nothing less than a death trap for our soldiers."
Kerem Shalom
IDF Alert: About ten rocket launches [by Hamas/Islamic Jihad] were detected that crossed from the Rafah intersection towards Kerem Shalom. The Kerem Shalom crossing is closed at this time for the passage of trucks.
Press: At least seven people were wounded after Hamas fired ten rockets toward the Kerem Shalom area along the Israel-Gaza border on Sunday afternoon. At least one of the individuals wounded was in critical condition.\Shortly after the attack, the IDF closed the Kerem Shalom crossing located in the area, halting the entry of humanitarian aid trucks through the crossing which serves as the main entry point for aid.\
Several people received medical treatment on the spot for injuries sustained from the rocket fire, and were evacuated to hospitals for immediate medical care.\
Hamas took responsibility for the rocket fire, saying their Al-Qassam Brigades targeted the Kerem Shalom area with 114 mm short-range "Rajoum" rockets.
The more civilian suffering, the better for Hamas. So they fire rockets at the food entry point. Their own warehouses are full. Chaos is Hamas' friend. Israel will be blamed.
Famine
From the New York Times, May 5:
Cindy McCain, the director of the U.N.’s World Food Program, said there was a “full-blown famine” in northern Gaza. She said her assessment was “based on what we have seen and what we have experienced on the ground.”
…
In response on Sunday, the Israeli agency, the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories, or COGAT, said in a statement that 350 aid trucks, mostly carrying food, were entering the Gaza Strip each day. About 100 of those trucks were reaching northern Gaza, the most isolated and hard-hit area of the territory. It also said April saw a “great surge” in new aid, with more than 6,000 relief trucks entering Gaza, a 28 percent increase from the previous month.COGAT also listed several projects to improve conditions in Gaza, including opening the Israeli port of Ashdod for humanitarian aid shipments.
Relief Area
Alef
Bet
Gimmel: Finnish satirical cartoon
"As soon as Israel is destroyed, I'll go to an American university where I'll be appreciated."
Dalet
Hey
I am restarting Hebrew classes tonight. The only downside is that it’s on the other side of town. I like the walk home though: I call friends and family in the states.
A box of leftover oat matzah is on my counter. Not the amazing hand shmura kind. I’d love to find a home for it. Ping me if interested?
Stay well,
Raf
(Thank you A.K., M.T., A.M.Z., S.D.)