Is Raf OK? -- Installment #179
2025-06-03 -- Santa Rosa & New York City
First Time Here? Readers suggest starting with the expanded Gaza Explainer in #133 and #120.
Top Ten IsRafOK Entries: #85; #123; #128; #140; #144; #154; #161; #162; #164; #171
Tags: 7 Min Read; Travelogue
On the road east after weeks traversing North America. California is, as ever, nice-and-stuck-in-time (my old neighborhood looks the same as it did when I was twelve--and they complain about the cost of rent?). Small town synagogues keep the doors locked during services and have armed security in front (violence against Jews is now inspired by agitation on the far left—how the fuck?).
In one gathering, I met a member of the Sonoma County Commission on Human Rights who, after years of service, was stripped of his voting rights on the Commission after a member of the far left asked him if he was Jewish—what the fuck?
I heard/read two items of interest recently: Rachel Polin Goldberg's speech at the Y.U. commencement (she starts about 6:00 in) and Careless People, an important book and reminder of the destructive role Facebook (specifically) plays in global politics. On the plus side of the ledger is a book one of my kids turned me on to, Klein’s Abundance (which I see as an intent-action disconnect similar to what Michael Shellenberger describes vis-a-vis the environment).
The disconnect that Klein and Shellenberger discuss is that advocates for a cause frequently make personal choices that run against their stated goals. For example, “lawn sign liberals” (with signs that say “We Believe in Kindness” or “Black Lives Matter”) who, via votes or advocacy, pursue zoning rules that limit housing supply, which directly (unambiguously) increases homelessness (which particularly impacts ethic groups relatively lower on the socioeconomic ladder).
I find this parallel to the Palestinian advocacy that has taken over the American Far Left and American campuses: Their actions are not calls for peace nor are they supporting groups, on any side, who are doing the hard work of peacebuilding. And by making hard liners (e.g. Hamas and the ayatollahs in Iran) believe that these Americans are “on their side” (or at least share the same adversary), extremism is fed and peace is pushed further away.
Catching up on the Middle-East-facing feeds I troll for this blog, the simple truths captured by Careless People (which is about Facebook) jump out: Hamas hates the alternate food distribution system recently stood up by the Israeli government, starts pushing agitprop on social media (including reports of shootings at food distribution points, which has now been documented as the act of Hamas itself!), and CNN and the BBC headline these messages.
The problem, as I see it, isn’t CNN or the BBC. There will always be incompetent and biased journalism. The problem is that social media is unregulated. What gets likes will be promulgated.
It isn’t about truth. (And, I expect, never will be.)
War is terrible. We avoid it for a reason. The creation and amplification of fake news has real implications. One of them: It split the American Left (resulting in today's corrupt governance in the U.S.) and now actively inspires antisemitic violence in the U.S.
The crazier part of this is that the incompetence Israel’s war effort is directly attributable to Israeli leadership (why is Israel-controlled food distribution being set up 600 days in?) and Facebook itself was founded and lead by a team of American Jews. Know what both groups (the Israeli government and Facebook leadership) have in common?
Self serving, actively careless agendas.
For the upside of what is possible and in reach, see Rachel Polin Goldberg's speech, Apocalypse Never, and Abundance. (I find these sources quite positive.)
Mail
How do you live with the danger in Israel?
Which danger do you refer to?
I lived in Seattle for 25 years. A large freeway, I-5 runs through the middle of town. People drive on it all the time, often twice a day to work. I-5 is one of the most dangerous highways in the U.S., and traffic fatalities in Washington State have been rising sharply.
How do you define danger?
I don't own a car. But my girlfriend does. She still laughs when I take my daypack with me, because I don't want to leave my laptop in the car. Not only has her car never been broken into, but she doesn't have a friend or family member whose has.
The streets are safe at night for people, too.
Terrorism, a kind of "non random" violence happens sometimes. In Seattle there is a steady stream of random violence.
What should I worry about more?
Isn't it stressful?
Just don't read the news. Poof! No stress.
Same as in the U.S.
Dept of The Invisible
Items invisible in the Western media. (Now combined with the Postmark concept, to help consolidate topics by locale.)
Region
Israel: Star Wars...
The IDF reports the data on interceptions by laser systems during the war: Over 35 Hezbollah UAVs launched from Lebanon were intercepted using lasers, out of nearly 1,000 UAVs intercepted on all fronts by various means.
Awesome? Yes.
Useful? Kind of. It reportedly has a range of only 5-10km.
Full post (in Hebrew, includes video footage). Additional content (in Hebrew).
Israel: A Demonstration May 29
The light at the end of the war.
Israel: Recent Polling Data
The Surge Continues
The Democrats the third largest party, based on recent polls.
(The Democrats are the new incarnation of Labor + Meretz)
More detail:
Syria
After six months of shutdown, the Syrian Stock Exchange officially resumed its activities this morning, under the new regime.
Did you know Syria had a stock exchange?
Iran: June 2
During the Iranian Minister of Transportation's speech at the Eco Transportation Conference being held in Tehran in the presence of senior international officials, a power outage occurred.
The upside down reality of an oil exporting country that is short on energy.
Gaza
May 25:
The military wing of the Islamic Jihad released footage of an IED being planted against IDF forces in the Shuja'iya area in eastern Gaza City.
Observation: The bomb is carried on a stretcher. (Was it brought to the site in an ambulance?)
May 26:
Hamas calls on Gaza residents not to accept food from the new Israeli aid mechanism that began operating today
In response, Fatah affiliated channels post:
Hamas had no problem receiving $30 million a month from the "occupation," but it calls "traitors" hungry people who want to take food to survive... [The photo is the suitcases of cash the Netanyahu government sent monthly to Hamas starting in 2018.]
Another System?
There is now a Gazan-local non-Hamas militia helping with food distribution and even securing areas the IDF is not present in. It is run by Abu Shabaab, who is part of a clan that is also active in the Sinai, in cooperation with the Egyptuin military.
The presence of this militia appears material because Hamas is now publishing propaganda of ambushes against this group and even put Abu Shabaab on a "most wanted" poster.
Food Supply
Below: Photo of Gazans taking over a flour warehouse (one of a number of such events in the past week)
A Gazan from the Bader family raises questions about the break-in at the flour warehouses May 28 in the center of the Strip:
يعني المخازن مليانه بالطحين واحنا بنموت من الجوع
The warehouses were full of flour while we were starving?
Yup.
May 30:
Gazans thank the U.S. for the food they received at distribution points.
From the video above:
Hamas tells us not to go to the Americans. May the Americans be blessed—they give us flour and food.
Osama Hamdan [a senior Hamas official] is in Qatar—he’s full and goes to sleep with air conditioning… and he tells us to stand firm…
Osama Hamdan, come here, sit with us, starve with us, die with us.
Osama Hamdan, we want the war to stop. Those who are negotiating on our behalf have no idea what we’re going through. They’re eating kebab and lamb and have no sense of what’s happening to the starving people of Gaza."
Meanwhile, the reports of IDF shooting at Gazans at food distribution points have been documented as false. These reports originated on Hamas channels and were amplified by Al Jazeera.
The IDF spokesperson on claims of deaths from IDF gunfire this morning at the food distribution complex in Rafah:
IDF: Drone Footage Shows: Gunmen in Gaza Shooting at Gazan Civilians Going to Collect Humanitarian Aid.
It is Hamas shooting at Gazans, not the IDF. Hamas has been doing a full court press against the new aid distribution system. The official feed of the Palestinian Ministry of Health in Gaza also promotes Hamas' narrative regarding food distribution centers.
Hamas channels are publishing this content daily, including casualty counts (that appear to be from events elsewhere in Gaza). They appear to be doing this because CNN and other western media are repeating it.
Hamas Tunnels
Another day, another several hundred meters found and destroyed. I had heard that the tunnels were around %50 destroyed--after a year and a half of war. Soldiers home for the weekend have the understanding only a third have been destroyed.
Full article (in Hebrew).
Part 2: The May 13 IDF Attack on the European Hospital Complex
Per Palestinian reports, no civilians were harmed in this attack and the hospital was not damaged and remained in operation before, during and after the attack. (Although, based on prior Gaza Ministry of Health behavior, the dead Hamas leaders in the tunnel were probably counted in the death toll for the day.)
The IDF spokesperson publishes a visualization of the underground complex beneath the European Hospital in Khan Yunis, where Muhammad Sinwar, Muhammad Shabanah, and Mahdi Quara were killed. [The two Muhammads were two of the top three wanted Hamas leaders at the time.]
June 1: Tunnel between Qarara and Bani Suheila, northeast of Khan Yunis
Another day, another few hundred meters of tunnel...
Relief Area
Alef: From Palestinian channels
Netanyahu setting Gaza on fire, with American support, while Arab rulers throw money at the US and him...
Bet: The Real World or the Virtual?
This wandered around social media, described as being seen at Harvard
We do not speak Arabic
And we do not care about Palestine.
But someone on TikTok
Told us to be here
And hold up this sign.
The question Raf asks: Does it matter if this was ever at Harvard, or anywhere in the physical world? In the physical world it would be seen by 500 people. 2,000? In the virtual world, half a million, a million?
Which location has a larger impact on society's consciousness, the physical world or the virtual?
Gimmel
The Houthi in-house cartoonist has fun at the expense of Israeli soccer fans--the game was stopped due to a red alert caused by a Houthi missile launch.
Dalet
Motto of the Babylon Bee, "Fake news you can trust."
Hey (from Facebook)
Vav
Zayin - Non Fiction
Or, as Bill Maher says: Modern progressivism has strong illiberal aspects: Censorship, cancel-culture and enforced ideological conformance chief among them.
Chet
Tet (actual campaign ad)
Yair Golan (on right): Fighting for the country
Bibi (on left): Fighting for himself
Planning a building a secure alternative.
The Democrats
Under the leadership of: Yair Golan
Yod
Question: "What is the difference between the Six Day War and the Six Hundred Day War?"
Answer: Two Zeros
(Bibi and Minister of Defense Katz)
Yeah, not the best Relief Section. I tried!
(Well, I trolled <g>.)
It's hard to laugh.
But I hold with Rachel Polin Goldberg and Michael Shellenberger, Ezra Klein and others: Most of the issues we face are the result of human decisions. And most of those are our own decisions. We can decide, and act, otherwise.
I find that comforting.
There is force majeure and force humaine. Which would I rather confront?
To peace,
Raf
(Thank you A.K., M.T., M.R.)