Is Raf OK? -- Installment #30

2023-11-10 -- Tel Aviv & Jerusalem

Nov 10, 2023

At the moment, "chatter" seems consumed by ideology. Talking heads ranting about some flavor of Islam. And now I have to hear about Colonialism?

I am getting numb to ideological rants. (Hillary Clinton’s presentation is fresh because it focuses on events.) It is getting hard to give a fuck about ideology. So much shrillness. So little get-real-here-ness.

I just cut 350 words (you’re welcome!). About the Israel’s military response (predictable); Palestinian use of hospitals and “medics” for military purposes (I watched the videos, they’re gross); Israeli eye rolling at the Western Left (as in "You want to live under Hamas? Israel's Arabs don't....").

It’s Friday. I ain’t going to excavate anything big. Thomas Friedman's latest (PDF here) matches what I see. (As was his earlier piece.)

The internet may be made for cats but I prefer the well attached dog:

Seen

Dizengoff street on a Friday felt... normal-ish. Can I say that? Less crowded than usual but alive, not dead. No lines (nice for a guy rushing to buy lunch on the way home). The yoga studio was full. Not at capacity, but full.

Racing to the train station on a Lime scooter, I pass my florist. I don't have time to stop, but can't not. Time isn’t the only issue: When I drive, the flower stems extend waaaay past the left handlebar. Who cares? Well, when I am squeezing the wrong way through traffic sometimes they touch a car... Last week a guy honked. This week I practiced leaning the scooter over to the right.

There is a chance I will make the train. It is the last one of the day (1:45) now that the clocks fell back.

1:30 PM on Friday. Streets are full of pedestrians. Some cafes even have lines out to the sidewalk! I saw a crowd waiting at a bus stop. Very "normal" smelling.

Then a red alert. Air raid siren.

Everyone stays calm, and walks purposefully toward a building.

I duck down a side street on the scooter, park it between two cars, and head toward a gap between two buildings. A beautician with a big dog exits her salon. I ask where to go. She points to the cafe across the street. We go in. There is a stairwell at the back. Ten or fifteen folks are hanging out. Seven booms, three loud.

After a couple minutes, the cafe owner says: Stay longer. It was right overhead. There could be shrapnel falling for several minutes. I give it a couple of minutes and take a look up: