Is Raf OK? -- Installment #67
2024-01-08 -- Tel Aviv
Tags: 5 Min; Some Vids
I've been in Israel 14+ months and was just at the Old City for the first time yesterday.
Thoughts
Language Language Language....
Speaking to a leader in American politics, I said:
The view from here is far from what the media and certain "progressive" folks articulate. Three bullet points:
First: hostages. There are still 136 hostages in Gaza. How many are alive is unknown, because Hamas will not let the Red Cross visit. This is a burning issue in Israel. If they were uniformed soldiers, that would be horrible enough. Remember, in Hamas ideology, every Israeli is a soldier, whether they are three years old or ninety three. Jewish or Muslim. To Israeli ears, forgetting to mention the hostages is forgetting to talk about Israel. You can ask for a ceasefire, like this: Free the hostages and make a cease fire.
The second is being realistic about the numbers. Unfortunately, the New York Times and others are sloppy. Hamas has run Gaza for 15+ years. They control everything. It is the Hamas health department that says how many have been killed and injured. Hamas militants are included in the counts. So even if you choose to reference those numbers, be clear that the number is provided by Hamas, and that about half of that number is believed to be Hamas fighters.
Lastly, let us thank Senator Bernie Sanders, Representative Pramila Jayapal and others for clearly saying: "Hamas must be removed."{1} They don't say how. I haven't heard them say the U.S. Marines are going to Gaza. Hamas isn't going to walk away. The only people stepping up to remove Hamas is the Israeli Army. Progressive voices recognize that Hamas is a problem. Removing Hamas is hard.
The Israeli numbers as of today:
Dead: 879 citizens & 510 soldiers: 1,389 total
Hostages: 121 returned to Israel; 37 soldiers; 136 remaining in captivity
Question: The Next Massacre of Jews: Imminent?
Why is Israel accused of "genocide?" Palestinians suffer. At the hands of Israel. At the hands of Hamas. At the hands of Egypt. Even, indirectly, at the hands of UNWRA. But the term “genocide” isn’t bandied about because Palestinians are being killed en masse. Their population grows every year. The term is used to normalize it. As it is what Hamas-Isis/Hezbollah intend to do to Israel. The intentions are clear in their charters, in their educational material and in their actions.
The Palestinian topic has been (troublingly) near the surface of American politics for decades. Leading presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy was assassinated in 1968 by a Palestinian man, specifically because of Kennedy's position vis-a-vis Israel. If, as mentioned in #64, Israel/Palestine splits the American Left to enable the rise of fascism in the U.S., the tragedy will be complete: The assassination of Robert Kennedy allowed the rise of Nixon, the first of the series of warmongering, race-baiting, deficit-inflating, institution-bashing Republican presidents.
(A reason behind Israel's desire to eliminate Hamas is that it turned Gaza into Hamas/Isis-stan. Children's TV glorifies child martyrs, puppet demonstrate a Palestinian child stabbing a U.S. President to death, the works.)
When I see young American Jews uncomfortable with their identity, rabid Jew hatred on the American far-left and far-right and the formidable instrument of destruction that is Hamas, is it OK to ask if this is 1938 Act Two?
It Ain't Cookies and Milk
Internal Israeli political divisions are coming back into focus, with demonstrations calling for elections.
From Gaza
Perhaps not in the Western news: Hamas continues to fire dozens, and sometimes hundreds, of rockets into Israel every day. Three armored divisions of the Israeli Army have been in Gaza for nearly three months, and Hamas still launches rockets. Even from areas that have been "secured" by the IDF for many weeks.
North Gaza
The IDF spokesman publishes documentation from a launch site uncovered by forces from the Nahal Brigade in Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip, from where a launch was made last week towards Ashkelon.
Raf commentary: This is in North Gaza, which has been controlled by the IDF for several weeks. That there are still active rocket launchers is challenging to accept. It is probably a testament to the pervasive tunnel network.
All Those Rockets: From Where?
IDF Spokesperson: The largest weapons production site found since the beginning of the war; the IDF took control of an underground missile manufacturing site used to produce long-range missiles capable of reaching northern Israel.
In recent weeks, the 36th Division has been operating in Bureij in the central Gaza Strip, a dense civilian area used by Hamas terrorists to manufacture large quantities of weapons used by the terrorist organization during the October 7 massacre.
What a factory. Forges. Tools, Equipment. Located in one of the densest civilian spots in all of Gaza. The “Hamas way.”
Here is a Hamas-published video of how they dig up water pipes to turn them into rockets (this clip published on the IDF Youtube channel):
Rockets: A National Pastime
Residents of Gaza, including children, celebrating a rocket launch barrage towards concentrations of the civilian population in central Israel tonight. Launching weapons of this kind at population concentrations is considered a war crime according to international law.
Relief Area
Alef - An unexpected match!
Bet
I have a new piece of art for my apartment wall! Host an artist for a week, get a painted canvas. It’s super!
Thank you all for the emails of news, questions, observations, appreciation, criticism and content. Much of what appears here is inspired by your comments.
Stay well,
Raf
(Thank you A.K.)
{1} Senator Sanders wrote this in his piece in the New York Times a couple of months ago. Representative Jayapal said it in an interview on television news recently. I read and saw the statements.