Video: "A Good Ending" by Yoni Bloch & Barak Feldman יוני בלוך - סוף טוב
Context and discussion - 2025-01-20 -- Tel Aviv
This video is part of entry #161. It is about the 2025 music video: יוני בלוך - סוף טוב
Yoni Bloch is one of my favorite Israeli artists! My favorite Yoni Bloch album... Maybe It's Me, which has one track sung by his kid.
I added English subtitles and context explanations... it may take a few views or pauses to get it all.
Context Please?
Notice anything, er, missing from this video?
The hard work of progress.
But you know, vision is a good thing. Without a destination, do you have a chance of getting there?
In the language of the 7 Habits: Begin with the End In Mind.
I first saw this clip in a right-leaning channel. I thought: What else is new. No mention of Arabs or Palestinians. Completely Jewish-Israeli-centric. Classic Israeli-centric slant.
But after working out the imagery in the video, I feel there is more going on. The message might be, "The energy wasted on internal fights could be used productively." It could be "Focus on what matters for everyone, not personal (or ideological) agendas like how the supreme court works."
Or peace.
I think the video without the context is... cute but light on meaning. That is why I think the context should be, to the degree feasible, in the video itself, in subtitles.
That probably means pausing the clip a number of times or rewatching it.
This post is to add the rest that doesn't fit in subtitles.
Sof Tov: A Good End/Ending
Israeli expression. The full expression: סוף טוב הכול טוב which means: All’s well that ends well.
Green Buses
December 19, 2024
Syria: Rebels prepare the infamous green buses to bring back the 2,000 Assad soldiers who fled to Iraq after the fall of the regime.
These green buses were used by the Assad regime to exile the rebels themselves from the provinces that the regime captured from the rebels in recent years.
How Great You Are Coming Home / Shut Down Nation
(There is imagery of this at a much much larger demonstration.)
WELCOME BACK (at 0:51)
This is Habima Square, where there has been a huge BRING THEM HOME on the building for the entire war. The square in front has been the site of many demonstrations against the war. Here it is recast as WELCOME BACK.
Below: The actual look of Habima Theatre for the past year+
Extending the Israel Trail
Israel has a lot of hiking trails. Day and overnight hikes are a huge pastime, with kids starting the activity in their early teens. Extending the Israel Trail to neighboring countries is not insanely farfetched. In the 1960's and 70's, hikers and motorcycle travelers traversed great swaths of the region including Afghanistan, Iraq, Iran and Syria. All the way through the 1990's Jewish refugees made their way on foot to Israel (from Ethiopia and Yemen, for example). Before 1948, many came to Israel overland through Turkey and Lebanon.
Bruno’s Show in the Park (1:20)
Bruno Mars was to play a concert at HaYarkon Park on October 7, 2023. It was cancelled “in light of the security situation.” (You can just make out the text at the ticketing site below.)
Now It's Allowed (1:31)
That's Yoni Bloch, who is singing this song.
Developing World Children Watching TV (2:00 on)
Instead of "guys with guns" and destruction, what if the news coming out of this region was warm and positive? What "knock on" effects might that have?
IDF Release from Service (2:10 on)
I think/hope this is a reminder to the political right: Think about the cost of conflict--your family's personal cost. Example: Folks on the Right like to trumpet the move of the U.S. Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. I have never heard anyone acknowledge the practical cost this imposed on their children: Their soldier children, dealing with Palestinian riots triggered by the embassy move, fired several thousand bullets, killing around forty and injuring hundreds.
This is a real cost, for essentially all Israeli families.
Everyone Goes To The Beach (2:19)
It is at Rabin Park, for Yitzhak Rabin, the Prime Minister who made the most progress toward regional peace. (The Abraham Accords have economic benefits, but no "peace dividend" for Israel. Nothing like the huge steps forward achieved by Begin and then Rabin, who made large steps toward demilitarization and regional normalization.)
Israeli Ministry of Defense (2:23)
Located in Tel Aviv, the tower building you see here is the logo on IDF communications.
Red Train (at 2:41)
The signature look of Israel Railways. %90 of the train system looks like this. (The new electric trains have a completely different look... the branding image in this video may not age well as the system is electrified.)
(Thank you A.K., E.D.)