Is Raf OK? -- Installment #118

2024-05-27 -- Tel Aviv

May 27, 2024

Update 2024-05-28: The sequence of captions on the Hebrew cartoon was incorrect. This has been fixed. (Thank you M.T.)

Tags: 4 Min Read; Videos

If we believe what someone does (not what they say), the behavior of Israeli leadership is: The hostages are "as dead" and not a priority. A state of war is a value in and of itself. Severing relations with Western countries is a positive.

Gross.

"No Jews, No News..."

That tag line surfaces a lot in Israeli and Jewish groups who ask "What is with all the Western protests and antisemitism? What goes on in Gaza is bad, but there is bad all over. Why do bombs in Gaza trigger protests and tie up social media when much much larger catastrophes, including those with American weapons, go unmentioned?

A response is often: "No Jews, No News."

A friend mentioned a book to me: Anti-Judaism by David Nirenberg. Her summary:

His thesis is that the world's obsession with Jews and Judaism goes back to ancient Egypt and has become an idea present in the world amplified by Christian theology and Muslim writings in the Koran - where Judaism is equal to worldy matter, material objects - and the letter of the law, rather than spiritual pursuits. It's a very scholarly and fascinating read. Not a light novel. A super interesting thesis.

Here is a more in depth review (PDF here). Two excerpts:

Marx described Judaism not as a religion, but as the pursuit of money and property, which, in turn, produced “an attitude of spiritual slavery and alienation from the world.” To the degree that Christians pursue property, they too are “Jews,” and, therefore, to truly emancipate Jews and others from their political and existential bondage, capitalism—that is to say, Judaism—must be overcome. Until then, Marx says, Christian society “will continue to produce Judaism out of its own entrails.”

And:

Anti-Judaism should not be understood as some archaic or irrational closet in the vast edifices of Western thought. It was rather one of the basic tools with which that edifice was constructed.

Thank you K.T.

It's Personal...

The mind games never end. A follow on to "It's Personal" in #107:

On Twitter, Hamas affiliated channels publish a list of the Twitter accounts associated with the families of the hostages. The purpose? Kick off a storm on Twitter to harrass the families to demonstrate and agitate more (put more pressure on the Israeli government).
Then, in the middle of Saturday night, Hamas announces that one or more IDF soldiers were taken hostage during tunnel warfare in Jabalia.
Hamas announces this live on Al Jazeera and shows a video of a body in a non-IDF uniform being dragged by an operative of the military wing of Hamas who is wearing flip flops on his feet.
Later in the video, the military wing of Hamas presented weapons, allegedly belonging to the force they were fighting against.
(The weapon shown in the video is Czech Scorpion Evo - which is not an IDF weapon.)
This statement (by a senior Hamas spokesman, Abu Obaida) is received with joy among the Palestinians in Gaza, the West Bank, as well as in Lebanon, Yemen and other places with a high concentration of "Zionist fans". In Lebanon, crowds went out for joyous processions. Fireworks were set off.
About ten minutes after Abu Obaida's statement, the IDF announced on its feeds: There is no incident of kidnapping a soldier.
But that announcement didn't stop street demonstrations in Nahr al-Bared, a-Rashidiya, Ain al-Hilweh, Jalil and Shatila... Sample videos below.

Wonderland?

From the Front…

IDF In Jabalia

Announced finding weapons, rockets and more at a school. Also multiple rocket launch sites were found and destroyed.

Hamas is Formidable

The military wing of Hamas accepts responsibility for launching rockets towards Tel Aviv.

Here are the areas of Israel that were targeted (air raid alarms went off in all these places):

Unbelievable, right?

Seven+ months of combat operations and the enemy can still launch rockets at civilian areas. Raf considers this exhibit "n" in the "Blockade? What blockade? [of Gaza]" and exhibit "m" in the "Peace in Gaza Will Not Come From the IDF." It is exhibit "o" in the "Instead of Engaging the Gaza Problem, Bibi Planted Rocket Seeds."

Bibi achieves a remarkable percentage of his goals. Security has been his slogan, not his goal. (Clean laundry is an actual goal, for example.)

Gaza Food Supply

A Gazan writes on Facebook:
For 7 months "our guys" and another Arab country, without mentioning names, controlled the [Rafah] crossing:
One egg was sold for 6 NIS. A kilo of sugar for 80 NIS. A bag of Nescafe for 5 NIS.
For two weeks, the criminal Netanyahu controls the [Rafah] crossing: 10 eggs cost 10 NIS A kilo of sugar costs 6 NIS. And Nescafe - 10 bags for 10 NIS.

Another perspective:

Gazans against reopening the Rafah crossing. (?? That is even a thing?)
A Gazan journalist, not afraid to show his face, explains that coordination between Hamas and Egypt at the Rafah crossing led to high prices in the Gaza Strip.
He adds that through the Kerem Shalom crossing [which Hamas has been shooting rockets at since it opened, trying to keep it closed] goods enter from Israel and help lower prices to unforeseen levels, not seen since the beginning of the war.

Israeli Politics

Enough already! Tell us the plan for the Day After or we'll blow up the Coalition!
Why is he laughing?
You still don't understand?
This is the day after...

(Bibi laughs at their lack of comprehension...)