Is Raf OK? -- Installment #94

2024-03-27 -- Tel Aviv

Mar 27, 2024

Tags: 3 Min Read (yeah!); Jumbo Relief Area (yeah!)

Yeah, I wasn't going to post so soon. A driver is how big the Relief Area gets. Once it hits a certain size, it's time to post!

A lot of conversations over the past days have been about the depressing/shitty time this is. I am taking some solace from Stein’s Law: If something cannot go on forever, it will stop. Israel won't stay at this level of combat mode forever. Bibi also will eventually step aside (with age if nothing else).

Mail Bag...

About #93:

So, over all, #93 was very depressing, which fits the times.

Yup. It ain't pretty seeing Israeli leadership being adversarial rather than collaborative with the country's primary ally (the U.S.). Bibi has always been adversarial, with everyone and everything: Palestinians and Presidents. Even within his own party (until it split in ~2018 and became a pure Cult of Personality). Israelis kept voting for the guy. The guy who incited violence against Yitzhak Rabin (even lead a mock funeral for Rabin a few months before he was murdered). That was in 1995 and Israelis kept voting for him!

(It’s like Israelis forget: Generals, Defense Ministers and spy chiefs are from a very very small pool… they are the same no matter who is Prime Minister. It’s like Israelis haven’t seen their own documentary about security: The Gatekeepers. [In fact, a shockingly small percentage of Israelis have seen it.])

It seems reasonable to say Bibi prefers enemies over friends. (Friends tell you the truth....) He blames every security official for October 7 and has never taken responsibility for anything negative. It isn't pretty.

Jerusalem, March 21, 2024: You are the chief. You are to blame.

A year ago… (2 Min, in Hebrew (sorry, didn't have time to add subs). It is coverage of the spontaneous protests Bibi triggered when he dismissed Minister of Defense Gallant):

The below Eretz Nehederet clip is satire... that is, for all intents and purposes, the simple truth. (Also appears in prior post. 1 min. Hebrew w English subs by Raf)

From Gaza

Gazans speaking out against Hamas (from Arabic social media)

Shifah Part 1: Why is Israel Back At Shifah?

Because the IDF keeps finding weapons and explosives (not to mention terrorists and Hamas officers). In this clip from March 25 The IDF finds find weapons stashed next to the MRI room and report similar finds in the maternity area (1 min, in Hebrew)

Shifah Part 2: Interviews with Gazan Terrorists Captured by the IDF

Hamas Officer Captured at Shifah Hospital

(2 Min, Arabic with English subs by Raf)

Islamic Jihad Operative Captured at Shifah Hospital

(2 Min, Arabic with English subs by Raf)

From the North

In the last couple of days, Hezbollah announced its 250, 251 and 252nd deaths. The IDF is dropping bombs across the length and breadth of Lebanon and swathes of Syria. Some of the clips show big secondary explosions, indicating the presence of munitions.

Antisemitism: Not Quite What We Think?

New data challenges assumptions about campus antisemitism: ‘People have such strong dispositions of what the data should say,’ said researcher Eitan Hersh

The full article summarizing Eitan Hersh’s work is short and has three charts that display a reality counter to what the News portrays. Two of those charts are reproduced here. I believe this data shows that the "River to the sea" group is very small yet very loud. The data reflects old fashioned antisemitism far more alive on the political right than on the left. This is consistent with historical “norms” and may be cause for relief. (Maybe?) It is, to my eyes, consistent with the summary my friend Karen Treiger wrote of Dinnerstein’s book on American Antisemitism.