Is Raf OK? -- Installment #83
2024-02-27 -- Tel Aviv
Tags: 5 Min Read; Video Clips
Correction: The video in #82: "Crisis not to waste" was reported not to play outside Israel. This should be fixed.
How does voting work?
If you are a resident (all citizens and all permanent residents), your address is registered as part of your state ID card (this is normal in, to my knowledge, all Western countries except the U.S., which has separation of powers...). There is no "register to vote" aspect. If you are a citizen or permanent resident, you can show up and vote.
About a week prior to election day, you get an SMS that tells you: When Election day falls, the address of your polling place and your ballot box number. You go. Outside the polling place is a party atmosphere where the political parties are handing out cards to remind you which chit corresponds to their party.
In the building (a religious high school for girls, in my case), each ballot box is in a dedicated room. There is staff at every corner directing you to your room. Only one voter is allowed in the room at a time. Where I voted, there seemed to be ten or fifteen rooms, each clearly signed with its number (which you know from the SMS). You go into the room, four election staffers are at the table. Hand over your ID card and they give you (in this election) two envelopes: Yellow for Mayor and white for City Council. For Mayor you vote for a person, there are four candidates in Tel Aviv today. In the booth you grab a yellow slip with the name of the candidate you are voting for and put it in the envelope. For council you select from about a dozen slips (one for each party running) and put it in the envelope. Seal the envelopes, drop in the ballot box (which is watched by the four staffers), collect your ID card, and you are done.
No one offered an "I've voted" sticker.
:-(
On the streets it is a holiday atmosphere. Schools, universities and workplaces are closed. The shuk is packed. Families wander about. The bakery a block from my place today. (1 min)
We Get Mail...
Responding to #82 from the U.S.:
As for whether people are starting to think of a massacre of Jews, I'm starting to thing of getting a gun. It goes against everything I believe in, except my own murder, of course. My sister already got a FOID (Firearm Owner's Identification) card. I only have a canister of mace at the moment. May be time to change my beliefs after all.
Have We Seen It All Yet?
Gratz College launches ‘first-of-its-kind’ master’s degree in antisemitism studies.
Good thing?
Good News Dept: Tuition Now Free @ Albert Einstein College of Medicine
$1 Billion Donation Will Provide Free Tuition at a Bronx Medical School (PDF Here)
From The Front
Words of a Commander
2 Min, Hebrew with English subs
Tunnels
IDF Spokesperson: A 10 Kilometer-Long Terror Tunnel Passing Underneath a Hospital and a University: IDF Troops Located an Underground Tunnel Network Connecting the North and South of the Gaza Strip
The terror tunnel network connects the Turkish hospital bordering the central camps to the Israa University building in the south of Gaza City and reaches as far as the Zeitoun area.
This tunnel network is used by Hamas terrorists to move between different brigades in the Gaza Strip, including the Central Brigade to the Gaza City Brigade - among them the Nuseirat, Sabra and Zeitoun battalions.
Inside the tunnels, the troops located rooms including toilets, storage facilities for weapons and combat equipment, a branching tunnel shaft network, as well as the bodies of terrorists left in the tunnel.
The Turkish hospital and the route of the tunnel revealed this evening by the IDF spokesperson
Here in the video you can see that the Hamas tunnels passed under the Turkish Tika hospital.
This hospital is located in the south of Gaza City, close to where the settlement of Netzer is located.
The hospital was established with full Turkish government funding ($40 million for construction and $10 million for equipment). Its establishment was completed in 2017 and it was operated for the first time in 2019 - 2020 with the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic and with Turkish funding (the Turkish Ministry of Health financed the operation of the hospital).
On October 30, 2023, the Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a strong condemnation of Israel for the fact that the modern hospital was damaged as a result of an Israeli attack - all this while a main transportation artery in the "Gaza metro" passes under the Turkish hospital.
Hospitals...
Why is the IDF in hospitals? Because that is where Hamas is… Many rules have changed… because Hamas shattered them all.
IDF: During the last week, the precise and limited operation against the Hamas terrorist organization at the Nasser Hospital was concluded
Approximately 200 terror suspects were detained in the hospital and additional findings indicating terrorist activity in the area were discovered; Operations to supply the hospital with humanitarian aid continued, led by the Commando Brigade and the Coordination and Liaison Administration for Gaza
During the last week, the precise operation of the 98th Division and Shayetet 13 against the Hamas terrorist organization in the area of the Nasser Hospital was concluded. During the operational activity, boxes of sealed medicines were found in the hospital with the names of Israeli hostages on them, large quantities of weapons were found, and about 200 terrorists and suspects in terrorist activities were detained.
The operational activity was conducted to ensure minimal disruption to the hospital’s ongoing activities and without harming patients and medical staff. Furthermore, the soldiers of the division provided an alternative generator that allowed the hospital to continue functioning and treating patients, while all the vital systems of the hospital continued to operate on an Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS) throughout the operational activity. In addition, officers from the Coordination and Liaison Administration for Gaza coordinated the entry of professional officials to examine the electricity problem in the hospital.
Last week, the hospital received a supply of hundreds of food portions, including water, food, medical equipment and baby formula. Coordination was carried out with the international community to bring in a fuel tank to keep the hospital’s generators functioning.
As part of the effort to protect the patients, officers from the Coordination and Liaison Administration for Gaza coordinated, at the request of the hospital staff and in cooperation with the international community, the transfer of several critically ill patients to other hospitals in the area.
Before the soldiers exited the hospital, the area was cleaned and an additional food shipment was delivered to the hospital.
The IDF will continue to operate in accordance with international law against the Hamas terrorist organization, which systematically operates from hospitals and civilian infrastructure.
Relief Area
Alef
An interesting day on all fronts.
Stay well,
Raf
(Thank you A.K.)