Is Raf OK? -- Installment #63
2024-01-01 -- Corfu & Tel Aviv
Tags: 4 Min Read; Vids are all military
Many in North America and Israel observe: The Gaza dialog/perception in each place is on completely different pages.
Is. It. Ever.
Israel: Dealing with:
Massive trauma. The physical trauma of October 7, but also several layers of "existential" trauma: What did we do wrong? How could we let ourselves down so severely? How did we let the rot in Gaza get so deep (c.f. #62 in which a Gazan discusses how UNWRA itself is staffed with Hamas members).
A "Never Again" commitment: October 7 happened. Hamas did it. Destroy Hamas, it won't happen again. (I am presenting the operative social math. I am not saying it adds up.)
Not to mention the 100+ hostages: An ongoing slow tear in Israel's conscience.
On the ground here, Gaza details are hidden behind the military mission. Yes, segments of the Israeli press detail the destruction. But for the vast majority here, there isn't room in the psyche to manage the pain of others.
"News" is pictures and action. For the past three months? Gaza. During these same months, Hamas launched many thousands of rockets at Israel. They come and go in minutes. There isn't anything for the news because cameras don't capture the rockets’ intent. Available photos are from Gaza: A place where bombs reach the ground. Hamas uses civilians, mosques and apartment buildings as tanks. Tanks "protect" with metal armor. Civilians "protect" with their skin. Civilian destruction is also "photogenic" in a way a blown up tank is not.
One or two hundred thousand displaced Israelis, who can't go home, because of those rockets? Since they don't have to line up for soup they don't make the Western news. Given the massive civilian retreat, from perhaps 100+ square miles of Israel, the rockets can be called success?
Tunnels
The tunnels, to me, symbolize Hamas' cruelty toward Gazans at two levels: They embody the theft of hundreds of millions of dollars (in funds and building materials) intended for Gazans; and, The contempt for Gazan life Hamas shows in denying access to civilians.
Find Them In Mosques
The IDF spokesman publishes documentation of a Hamas tunnel shaft inside a mosque in Bani Suheila in the Khan Yunis subdistrict in the southern Gaza Strip. 30 seconds.
And In Kharibat Khuza'a
IDF Spokesman: Maneuvering forces are fighting with high intensity in the Kharibat Khuza'a area, where terrorists set out to attack Nir Oz on October 7. Tunnel shafts have been located. (The location on the attached map is marked in yellow, video is 1 minute of combat footage).
Gaza City
(This relates to the tunnel complex I mentioned in #61)
IDF spokesman: This is what it looks like to capture and detonate the tunnel route in Gaza City used by Yahya Sinwar and senior members of the Hamas General Staff. The tunnel had a shaft with an elevator that reached Yahya Sinwar's hiding place. 20 seconds.
Relief Area
Alef
This ain't a joke...
Bet
Also not a joke, from Israeli news. (And rather a big deal in this conservative corner of the planet.)
Gimmel
Also not a joke. Hamas is formidable. Three months of war, and they launched hundreds rockets at Israel exactly at midnight on New Years. I was at a New Years Eve party in Jaffa (big party at a big hotel). I was distracted (not telling why). I saw everyone go out of the hall but I didn’t know why at the time. I did hear two big booms from the anti-missile system.
Caption: Top: New York. Bottom: Israel. (The straight rockets shooting from right to left are rockets from Gaza, the curved contrails on the left are the anti-missile interceptors. Photo is a simulation/montage.)
Dalet
After a lovely family week in Corfu, I am back in Tel Aviv with one of my kids. It is sunny. The food is amazing. So are the people. Last night at the Jaffa Hotel was perhaps the best New Years Eve party of my life: Multi-dimensional, serious, heavy, loud, loony, and loving. It was a fund raiser to support Israeli children orphaned on October 7. The Mayor of Tel Aviv spoke. It was organized by a friend who is the father of a teen who escaped the Nova festival.
Not “perhaps.” It was the best.
Stay well,
Raf
(Thank you A.K. and M.N. for content, A.K. for feedback and A.K. and A.F. for a great New Year event.)