Is Raf OK? -- Installment #134
2024-08-12 -- Tel Aviv, NYC & Seattle
First Time Here? Readers suggest starting with #120.
Tags: 4 Min Read; Lots from Gaza
I was at a small club last night in NYC. At the table next to us a group of perhaps eight was discussing Palestine, Two State Solution and related topics. I heard very little. None appeared to have first hand exposure.
The evening's MC, a trans woman from Portland, Oregon, closed the event's introduction with "Free Palestine."
I have no idea what she meant, and imagine she doesn't either.
Is uneducated extremism preferable to apathy?
Good News Dept
A new Drag Nightclub opened in Tel Aviv. (PDF here) I got to know that Tel Aviv's Play Hotel is a queer friendly hotel.
Learn something every day!
Postmark
Khan Younis: Peace through Nicotine?
High demand for the "cigarette announcements" that the IDF dropped over the Mawasi area in Khan Yunis.
Gazans report that the IDF dropped flyers on Mawasi in Khan Yunis that read:
- "Smoking is dangerous, but Hamas is more"
- "Hamas is burning Gaza"
as well as an actual cigarette to smoke and a contact phone number "for those who want more..."A prominent Gazan wrote online that the number of calls received by the number published by the IDF on the announcement was enormous.
The callers from Gaza asked when cigarette flyers will be dropped in the north of the Gaza Strip and when in Deir al-Balah in the center of the Gaza Strip...
Abu Khader from Deir al-Balakh
The reaction of Abu Khader from Deir al-Balakh to the cigarette announcements 👆 that the IDF dropped yesterday in Mawasi in Khan Yunis:
"The IDF dropped flyers in Mawasi and said:
What do you prefer, nicotine or leaders (of Hamas)?
I choose the Hamas leaders... we no longer want nicotine... from the day you stopped (bringing) the nicotine to Gaza... you gave us health... breathing became better... we stopped the nicotine...
We want peace... oh my god is imma (Hebrew for mother, a nickname for Israel) .... we want peace... we are tired... we don't want nicotine.... we want peace... mother... mother..."
Peace through nicotine... Ya heard it here first.
Gaza: Hamas Military Wing
(As of August 12) A month and five days have passed since the last appearance of Abu Obaida, the spokesman for the military wing of Hamas.
Since his last appearance, Muhammad Deif, Rafa'a Salameh (Major General of Khan Yunis), Ismail Haniyeh, and the Hezbollah Chief of Staff Fuad Shukr were all eliminated... and Yahya Sinwar was appointed the big boss.
It would be appropriate for Abu Obaida to issue at least a tweet...
Where did he go? His friends are “worried”...
Khan Younis: 'Bnei Suhila' neighborhood
Another day, another rocket factory found and blown up. (It is probably not making the Western news that Hamas continues to fire several rocket salvos a week into Israel from Gaza. They fire from within the humanitarian zone and often next to or on top of UNRWA facilities or schools.)
During the operation, the forces of Battalion 603 and the Yahalom unit located, investigated and destroyed an underground route at a depth of tens of meters. In the route, several underground lathes were located that were used as a Hamas production workshop and a site where there were three rooms used by the terrorists to store and manufacture weapons.
Each clip below is under 40 seconds.
Ever see a huge excavator dig itself in deep? How else do you get 75+ feet down?
Central Gaza
Another week, another 3km of tunnel destroyed...
Gaza ...
Paper Trail
Palestinian channels report that this morning the IDF dropped leaflets in Gaza offering a cash reward and complete confidentiality to anyone who provides information on senior Hamas officials.
The leaflet also stated that the elimination of the Hamas movement is inevitable.
Social Media
Save us from Hamas before you save us from the Jews!
A video you won't see on Al Jazeera. A displaced Gazan, during today's evacuation from eastern Khan Yunis:
I call on the whole world.... Save us from Hamas before you save us from the Jews. Save us from Hamas before you save us from the Jews.
They (Hamas) trade in our blood... And every time we end up being displaced... Look... Our women and children are on the street...
(I call on) the Arab nation, the Islamic nation, the human morality - save us from Hamas before you save us from the Jews... Save us from Hamas before you save us from the Jews...
IDF Spokesperson
Raf aside: On the subject of warfare: Has there been a war that complied with International Law? (In the last 20 years? In the last 50?)
יחיא סנוואר, אדריכל הטבח ב-7 באוקטובר, היום בו חמאס טבח באופן אכזרי בישראלים חפים מפשע והוביל למלחמה זו, והאיש שמונה בשבוע שעבר ל"מנהיג הפוליטי" של חמאס, הצהיר בעצמו כי: ׳כמות הרוגים עזתיים גבוהה יותר, משרתת את מטרות המלחמה של חמאס׳.
ישראל רואה בפגיעה באזרחים טרגדיה, וחמאס רואה בפגיעה באזרחים אסטרטגיה.
Yahya Sanwar, the architect of the massacre on October 7 ... and the man who was appointed last week as the "political leader" of Hamas, declared himself that: "A higher number of Gazan deaths serves the purposes of the war of Hamas.
Israel considers harming civilians a tragedy, and Hamas considers harming civilians a strategy.
Raf commentary: Whatever the label, it's horrible. The war against Hamas, from an Israeli perspective, may be "just" but it is not "good."
This may also be true for Gazans.
For jihadists like Hamas and Islamic Jihad… all war is just and good.
Keeping It American - Thanks Superman!
Relief Area
Alef: From Reddit
And one of the discussions, in Hebrew:
זאת רק פרסומת גדולה לפיצה הר סיני 😜
This is just a big promo for Har Sinai Pizza [Mount Sinai Pizza]כן ולא... עמדתי לפני "פיצה הר סיני" חיכיתי לפיצה שלי... וחשבתי : אולי זה מעניין את הקוראים של סובסטק כי הם שואלים כל הזמן: איך אתם? איך אתם שורדים את המצב? וצילמתי !וידאו... מצטער שלא הייתי בפיצריה שאתם אוהבים
Yes and no. I was standing in front of Har Sinai Pizza waiting for my pizza, and thought that this street scene might be interesting to all the folks on this substack because they are always asking how is it going in Israel due to the situation? So I made the video. Sorry I wasn't standing in front of your favorite pizza place!אח שלי עם עברית כמו של איראני, תהנה מהפיצה
Brother, the Jews are like the Iranians: They both love pizza.
Bet
(It was FCK HMS... it has evolved...)
Gimmel
Dalet: What is your Zionist agenda today?
Hey: Bohemian Rapsody... in Yiddish...
Vav
(BTS, aka Bangtan Boys, is a South Korean Boy Band -- example clip)
Zayin
Lebanon if there will be a war:
Thousands dead
Economy wrecked
Infrastructure destroyed
No electricity
Nasrallah (head of Hizbollah) says:
Nah, I'd win
I am travelling this week and into next. Posts may be infrequent.
To Peace,
Raf
(Thank you A.K., M.T.)