Is Raf OK? -- Installment #77
2024-02-13 -- Tel Aviv
Tags: 5 Min Read; Some Videos
Summer like weather. Warm and sunny. Ate at an amazing falafel/shwarma bar “The Magician” — pics below. Tip: Get one of the Plate options and share it. Perfect for two (or even three) people. Substitute the rice for a larger salad....
Elisheva Goldberg wrote recently What The Israeli Public Doesn't See referring to the destruction and suffering in Gaza. I have referred to this some number of times (as have writers in Haaretz).
Since Western media focuses on Gaza (since Oct 7), that is where perspective lands (let’s not touch bot-manipulated Social Media).
I am not sure "lack of focus" is a crime: The Israeli public doesn't see/Israeli media doesn't show destruction in Gaza. A reaction: Does Al Jezeera focus on Kibbutz Beeri or other towns destroyed by Hamas?
No, forget that angle. Israel is held to a different standard. No point fighting that. So let's use this perspective: War.
Israelis both know what is happening in Gaza and simultaneously don't want to dwell on it. They know because they are doing it. Everyone has friends and family members who are directly involved as soldiers and reservists. Further, every Israeli looks at her city or town and says: I know what this place would look like if Hamas or Hezbollah weren't being held back by the IDF. This thought is concrete (not abstract) and predates October 7. Beirut during Lebanon's civil war, Syria during its more recent civil war, WWII Europe. These topics are/were on the news and taught in school.
The sin of Gaza's destruction is the decades of active neglect it has suffered, leaving its populace as the tools and shields of a corrupt, violent organization that is evenhandedly genocidal toward Palestinians and Israelis. (Not sure if you caught the details of the recent rescue of two Israeli hostages in Rafah — The IDF made a daring raid in which two soldiers were killed and two injured. The hostages were held captive by… a “normal” family in a second floor apartment. — This is the narrative of both Israelis and Hamas.)
FWIW recent intelligence discoveries in Gaza (detailed below) document a number of Gazan "journalists" as active members of Hamas (often with documented military training). Given the "CNN Strategy" of Hamas, that makes sense. I estimate this status applies to every Gazan “journalist.” (In Communist states, there were no non-Party journalists… why should Hamas-stan differ?)
Quote Of The Day
...contrary to accusations that only expensively educated U.S. college students could possibly believe, Israeli soldiers do not deliberately kill innocent civilians going about their business
Edward N. Luttwak writing in Tablet. (Note: Tablet is not a publication I like. Some of the writers, and at least one of the editors, hold strange conspiracy theories and promote twisted interpretations of history. I cite its content narrowly!)
Un-Fun Facts
October 7 is Whose Birthday?
The Western "Far Left" Supports Russia's Invasion of Ukraine?
The North American Far Left—the ones chanting "From the River to the Sea," closing freeways, and doing civil disobedience related to the Gaza war—is influenced (disturbingly?) by a number of media personalities who have also been anti-Ukraine/ pro-Russian invasion. "Journalists," activists and academics such as Norman Finkelstein, Glenn Greenwald, Gabor Maté, Aaron Maté, Max Blumenthal, Katie Halper and others.
I reviewed all the folks above. From Raf's chair, the success of such actors counts as a successful long term manipulation that starts at the Lubyanka (KGB/FSB): The language and symbols used by today’s influencers uses the vocabulary and imagery that Soviet propaganda propagated.
Given that the MAGA movement/Trump is also pro-Putin (and has stalled aid to both Ukraine and Israel since October) is the remaining “middle” of American politics large enough to resist the pressure coming from both sides?
State Department Report: The Kremlin & Antisemitism
An excerpt from a recent U.S. State Department report: How Successive Occupants of the Kremlin Have Used Antisemitism to Spread Disinformation and Propaganda
In an attempt to defend its unjustifiable neo-imperial war against Ukraine to the international community and domestic audiences, today’s Russia often deploys antisemitism as its rhetoric of choice. The Kremlin falsely portrays Ukraine and its supporters as Nazis, antisemites and “Russophobes,” demonizes Ukraine’s Jewish president Volodymyr Zelenskyy, accuses Jews of being the worst Nazis, and manipulates the history of the Holocaust for political purposes. The Kremlin’s propagandists weaponize antisemitism, attempting to silence Jews in Russia who oppose the war. According to new U.S. government information, Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) has provided funding and direct tasking to push content online which has often been featured alongside antisemitic content. Even as it spreads disinformation about Russia fighting alleged Ukrainian and Western Nazis, the Kremlin cynically deploys openly antisemitic, neo-Nazi groups, such as Task Force Rusich, to wage its war against Ukraine.
(How the worm turns... The U.S. State Department, historically antisemitic, researching antisemitism...)
Tunnels: Joint IDF and ISA announcement:
A significant underground Hamas intelligence asset and weapons inside offices—These findings were found within UNRWA facilities
Following ISA intelligence, the forces arrived at a tunnel shaft near an UNRWA school. The shaft led to an underground terror tunnel that served as a significant asset of Hamas' military intelligence and passed under the building that serves as UNRWA's main headquarters in the Gaza Strip.
The tunnel is 700 meters long and 18 meters deep and contained several blast doors. A wide variety of intelligence assets were seized during the operation. The newly-found intelligence will allow the forces to operate against additional Hamas targets. The dismantling of the tunnel weakens Hamas' intelligence capabilities.
The forces located electrical infrastructure inside the tunnel connected to UNRWA's main headquarters, under which the underground tunnel was located, indicating that UNRWA's facilities supplied the tunnel with electricity.
Following these findings and based on preliminary ISA intelligence, the forces conducted a targeted raid on UNRWA’s central headquarters, which contains offices for various humanitarian and international organizations. Large quantities of weapons were found inside the rooms of the building, including rifles, ammunition, grenades and explosives. Intelligence and documents discovered in the offices of UNRWA officials confirmed that the offices had in fact also been used by Hamas terrorists.
This video opens with the title: UNRWA School: Documenting tunnels of terror under UNRWA buildings. In the tunnels: A data center with a large bank of batteries for backup power. Near the end, two scooters are visible, the tunnel was so long. At the end is footage when the tunnels are blown up (ventilation points are exposed). 2 minutes
The Superbowl Antisemitism Ad
In case you missed it
I am not sure what to think when Superbowl ads become a space to talk about Jews. Oh, right. The discussion is about the world, not Jews. (I keep forgetting.)
Relief Area
Alef Starbucks...
Bet
Today, antisemitism roils Eurovision. Turns out, Eretz Nehederet knows why and published it years ago. 3 min. Hebrew with English subs.
Gimmel: Israeli Journalist Avishai Greenzeig Reports
An amazing story from Rafah: A few hours ago, Hamas reported more than 100 dead in an IDF attack in Rafah. After strenuous medical treatment by the Hamas medical teams, the number dropped to 48 dead. Gaza has the best medical services in the world.
(File under: Hamas and much Gaza originating content are lies.)
It was a two-museum day: “Dialog in the Dark” — a museum that is completely dark. Small groups are taken through by a blind guide. And the Holon Design Museum: Wow! More about that in the next post. For now, the Wikipedia page and the museum home page. (Holon ain’t what it used to be… well, it is still some of that, but also much more!)
Stay well,
Raf
(Thank you A.K.)