Update: The Alef entry in Relief below updated 2024-05-30 with a new Caveat.
Update: In #118 the Hebrew cartoon had its captions out of order. Raf was reading it left to right! (Silly boy.) The words are correct, but not the sequence! This has been fixed. (Thank you M.T.)
Tags: 3 Min Read
This will be short. I am under the weather (Covid, actually--my first bout). Here is the "live by the shuk" Covid diagnostic method:
Noon: Passing by the shuk, taste the tomatoes and buy a couple pounds of ‘em because they are tasty.
6 PM: Make a tomato salad with those tomatoes and notice that I can't taste them or the lemon juice I just squeezed on 'em
Notice that I sense nothing when I smell the cut lemon
Conclude: Well, I have been running a low fever for 24-36 hours and my nose has been running. That plus no smell or taste = Covid, right?
My math does not fully convince my dear girlfriend. So I take a test.
(What do I win? g)
Amos Oz Speaking in 2015
3 Min. Hebrew w English subs by Raf.
Postmark
Gaza
Sources affiliated with Fatah: Hamas is eliminating [read: killing] anyone who dares to go against it in the Gaza Strip and publicly claims that it eliminated those people on the charge of "theft".
Attacking [read: killing] "thieves" is met with tolerance (and even encouragement) by large sections of the Gaza public. This is also the case with the videos that are distributed from time to time in which alleged "thieves" are seen after being shot by Hamas masked men and left to wallow in their blood.
A Kurdish orthopedist who spent some days working in Gaza hospitals also saw and met with Hamas leaders in those hospitals. (16 min, turn on English subtitles in YouTube settings).
Rafah
The Fire and the Deadly Attack
Summary: Israel used a small munition in a targeted strike on militants just outside the tent city. Hamas stored ammunition there (unavoidable because every place in Gaza has Hamas munitions). The Hamas ammunition went up and started the fire. (Secondary explosions visible in the video.)
The "Philadelphia Axis"
This is the corridor on the Gaza side of the Gaza-Egypt border. Rafah sits on it. The IDF says they now control it. Dozens of tunnels have been found. It is unclear so far (based on the feeds I see) how many of these tunnels cross to Egypt.
The Rafah crossing, and this border generally, is considered Hamas’ "oxygen supply." (The problem of the Hamas-Egypt joint corruption is not just that it has extorted the populace of Gaza for 15+ years... it is also that there are powerful people in Egypt and Sinai who were making tens and hundreds of millions on that corridor... and they want it back.... But I won't beat that horse today.)
Tehran
YouTube has closed the account of the Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Relief Area
Alef: Antisemitism on Twitter and Wikipedia
Caveat: This meme is used on the web to promote Nazi ideology and antisemitic conspiracy theories. It is used here because it is now also being used to say: There is so much antisemitism on Twitter, that you spend a few hours there and this is what it will do to you. (Thank you M.T.)
Bet
Ben Gvir flipped in his car
התהפך ברכבו
במקום
התהפך בקברו
Turning over in his car
(Instead of)
Turning over in his grave
As a result of my fever I missed a cool event and class.
Oh well.
Stay well,
Raf
(Thank you A.K., M.T.)