Is Raf OK? -- Installment #95
2024-04-01 -- Tel Aviv & Jerusalem
Tags: 8 Min Read; Huge Relief Area
I attended the large anti-coalition/anti-Bibi/free-the-hostages demonstration in Jerusalem last night. It's getting its own entry that will not be emailed. Click here to see it.
The weather is wonderful. The split of war and peace continues: Friends and family serving in Gaza, the West Bank and the North. Movies, art and "normal life" at home. The U.S. was at war in Iraq and Afghanistan for what, 20 years? In my circles, I don't remember feeling the "split." In the U.S. the military is experienced by its members and their families. Those are a small part of society, far from my normal circles, and wars are far far away. In Israel, every family has active duty and reserve soldiers and the front is near: 100 kilometers (60 miles) from the Knesset building to Khan Younis in Gaza, for example.
Seen at the Jerusalem Poke bar I dined at yesterday:
Jerusalem and Ramadan
I just took a train (35 minute ride) bus (20 minute ride) and walk from Jerusalem to my apartment. Between the bus and my building is the Carmel Shuk. On the walk home, I did some shopping (four stops): Zhug, lox, feta, cashews, vegetables and eggs. These last two from my regular stand in the "Arab quarter" of the shuk. A father and son have side-by-side stands selling olives, produce and eggs. Being 2:30 at the beginning of the week, the shuk was pretty dead. I was the only customer at the produce stand. Asking how things have been, I said I was just back from Jerusalem. "I haven't been to Jerusalem in 20 years," he said, "even though during Ramadan you are supposed to go to Al Aqsa. I don't like the intensity of the huge crowd, so I don't go. You know what a holy place it is, even the holiest in Islam, because it was made by Adam. David and Solomon and the Jewish prophets are our prophets also. We are all supposed to care for each other, this is from the Torah and the Qur'an. Extremists are sick people, they have an illness. We all have them, also Muslims."
He said more, but that is the gist. I bought 18 eggs, 5 cucumbers and 2 lemons. It came to US$7.90.
If You Read One Thing
Feel free to not read this entry and instead read the interview with Benny Morris in the March 29 Wall Street Journal. (PDF here.) It's a 3-4 minute read.
Background, there are “waves” in the study of history. For example, in U.S. history some of the waves are "American exceptionalism" (rah rah rah), "Peoples History" (such as Howard Zinn's); Feminist history; and in recent years a kind of "meta" / "Colonialist" perspective of "Western" history.
In the study of Israeli history, one of the big waves (not sure if it is considered "2nd wave" or "3rd wave") was the open admission among historians of sins committed by the Israeli project. Some number, within Israel and without, grabbed onto this "New History" as a basis for anti-Zionism. A leading thinker of Israeli New History, perhaps its founder, is Benny Morris.
Described by the WSJ interviewer:
Mr. Morris was once the toast of the campuses. “I was sort of a symbol on the left,” he says on his back porch. “I don’t want to say ‘icon.’ ” If he won’t, I will. Mr. Morris was foremost among the “New Historians” who shook Israel in the 1980s and seemed to triumph in the 1990s with their revisionist accounts of the Arab-Israeli conflict. His 1988 book, “The Birth of the Palestinian Refugee Problem, 1947-49,” was a landmark in Israel’s self-criticism and understanding. That same year, Mr. Morris spent 19 days in Israeli military prison for refusing to serve on reserve duty in the West Bank.
A few excerpts from the WSJ interview:
Mr. Morris stresses the costs of that Palestinian decision. [To refuse statehood in 2000 and maintain violent hostility toward Israel.] “There was never destruction like what has happened in Gaza over the past five months in any of Israel’s wars.” In 1967, “Israel conquered the West Bank with almost no houses being destroyed,” he says, “and the same applies in ’56 in the Gaza Strip, and the same applies in ’48. Israel didn’t have the firepower to cause such devastation. This is totally new.”
He doubts the scale of the suffering will move Palestinian nationalists. “Probably they’ll look back to Oct. 7 as a sort of minor victory over Zionism and disregard the [Palestinian] casualties which they paid as a result,” he says. That’s the historical pattern.
“Not only has each of their big decisions made life worse for their people, but they ensure that each time the idea of a two-state solution is proposed, less of Palestine is offered to them,” Mr. Morris says. “In 1937, Palestinians were supposed to get 70% of Palestine or more.” The Zionists were willing to work with the plan, but the Arabs rejected it and chose violence. “Then, in 1947, the Palestinians were supposed to get 45% of Palestine,” with much of Israel’s more than 50% comprising desert. The Zionists accepted the partition, and, again, the Palestinians chose violence.
“And then in the Barak-Clinton things,” in 2000, “the Palestinians were supposed to get 21%, 22% of Palestine.” Instead they launched the second intifada. “Next time,” Mr. Morris predicts, “they’ll probably get 15%. Each time they’re given less of Palestine as a result of being defeated in their efforts to get all of Palestine.”
...
If Oct. 7 pushed Israelis further away from a deal, “internationally, Oct. 7 put the two-state solution back on the table,” he observes. “It had been removed from the table. Nobody cared about it. Nobody talked about it. Now it’s back on the agenda.”Thus Mr. Morris says the massacre worked. “The terrorism told the international community that a solution must be found, otherwise this will keep going on and on.” As if to punctuate his point, the sound of distant Israeli bombing in Gaza makes its way to us. “But,” he says, “I don’t think anyone can impose a two-state solution, because the Arabs don’t want it and the Jews don’t want it.”
...
The real conflict “boils down to whether the Jews were right and had the right to come here and settle here and establish a sovereign state,” he says. “It’s not so much about Israeli behavior at any given point in time.”Mr. Morris made his name exposing the dark side of Israel’s founding, but at the end of the day, “I’m a Zionist—I use the word,” he says. “I believe that the Jews had a right to establish a state here. The Arabs had a right because they were indigenous here, and the Jews had a right because they were here many, many years before the Arabs and always looked to this land as theirs.”
He puts Israel in context: “The Arabs had Arabia, and then another 24 states which emerged afterward. And the Jews have this little sliver of territory which used to belong to us. There’s something fair about that,” no matter how often it is denounced as a world-historical injustice.
Mr. Morris will criticize the Palestinians in moral terms, but he isn’t sure he knows what’s in their interest better than they do. When I ask what a true friend of the Palestinians would advise, he is conflicted. “A true friend might say, ‘Stop killing Israelis and you’ll get a deal and you’ll get the West Bank,’ ” he says. “But maybe a true friend, another one, would say, ‘The West Bank isn’t really enough for the Palestinians. The Jews stole Palestine from you. Just fight on, lose as many people as you can, kill as many Israelis as you can. You’ll ultimately get the rest.’ ”
When I ask what a true friend of Israel would say right now, Mr. Morris doesn’t hesitate. “Finish off Hamas,” he replies.
Even if one has problems with Israel—occupation, settlements?
“Get rid of Hamas.”
Eretz Nehederet, "We Are The World" parody... "We don't need the world"
I'm not putting this in the Relief Area because it is unfunny and not an exaggeration. (U.S. comedy doesn't need writers to make Tr*mp funny, same here about the current cabinet.)
4 Min, Hebrew w English subs and context by Raf [VIDEO PULLED BY YOUTUBE because the TV station lodged a copyright complaint—sorry! — If you know anyone at Eretz Nehederet, I’d love to be in touch with them to discuss collaboration.]
Wait, I found a copy still up on Twitter!
Oct 7
Some Hamas fighters dressed as IDF on Oct 7th
Geneva convention? For Hamas it is the Geneva checklist: Use enemy's uniforms; Hospitals as military bases; Schools as rocket launch sites; Apartment buildings as weapons storage and tunnel entrances; Take civilian hostages; Deny Red Cross access to prisoners; Launch rockets at civilian areas; Never surrender...
Battle at Al Shifa Continues
(Yes, it allegedly ended in the past 24 hours, stay tuned.)
We are some weeks into this. The latest:
The Israeli army said in a joint statement with the Shin Bet security service that IDF troops killed three senior Hamas members in Gaza's Al-Shifa Hospital compound.
and, dated March 28, 2024:
IDF Spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari says senior Hamas commander Raad Thabet was eliminated by troops of the Navy’s Shayetet 13 commando unit at Gaza City’s Shifa Hospital earlier today.
Thabet was head of human resources and supply for the terror group and is considered among the top 10 most senior Hamas military commanders, according to Hagari.
He says Thabet was killed by the Navy commandos and other troops while attempting to run with two other operatives into the hospital area, in what appeared to be part of an attack against the forces.
In another area of Shifa Hospital, at the maternity ward, Hagari says troops of the Nahal Brigade’s recon unit encountered and killed three gunmen in a firefight.
He says the identities of the gunmen will be released to the public once the military verifies them.
Troops have detained more than 900 terror suspects at Shifa Hospital amid the ongoing raid. Hagari says that so far, 513 of them are confirmed to be members of terror groups, and the military believes that many of the others are terror operatives as well.
Another 350 people were identified as patients and medical staff, he says.
Hostages
From Haaretz in the past few days:
About a month ago, the families of the hostages were told that among the 90 Israelis, 20 were in life-threatening condition. Now it is estimated that only 60 or 70 hostages are still alive. "I hope I'm mistaken, but the number may even be lower," a source familiar with the details told me. ... The defense chiefs are united vis-à-vis Netanyahu. They believe that the release of the hostages is a supreme moral injunction and a matter of national security, and also vital to achieve the war aims and improve Israel's strategic position in the region. This is the case even if there are differences of nuance between Alon and Shin Bet chief Bar, who will definitely be resigning after the war because of the intelligence failures before October 7. For Barnea, responsibility for the failure is very marginal.
Whatever the case, defense officials believe that if this time too the deal on the table isn't implemented, and it turns out that Netanyahu is to blame rather than an inflexible Hamas, the defense establishment's anger at the prime minister will intensify.
Gaza Food Supply
Reports on all channels (Arabic language feeds, Israeli news) discuss how Hamas has made announcements across Gaza cutting food prices to low prices. (Yes, the aid is supposed to be distributed for free. Yes, Hamas has always taxed everything coming into Gaza, why should it stop now?)
The subtext: Supply is plentiful.
Relief Area
Alef: American Rules of Military Engagement...
Bet: This Happened To Me Twice...
My mother and grandfather have blue eyes...
Gimmel: Whodunnit?
On a street in my old Seattle neighborhood. Did Raf do it?
Dalet: Use Em Now...
נעלי בית שצריך לגמור להשתמש בהן לפני פסח
Slippers which must be used before Pesach
Hey: Israel accused of using Gazans as Human Shields
If I were an IDF soldier, the last thing I'd use as a shield is a Palestinian. Hamas doesn't give a rat's ass about their own civilians, why would hiding behind Gazans stop Hamas from shooting?
If nothing else is clear...
Vav
Zayin
Passover approaches. Spring has arrived. It is time to wash my windows (the rain dirties them).
Stay well,
Raf
(Thank you A.K., M.T., D.K.)