The endless news cycle of death
I saw something really bonkers that grabbed my attention yesterday and I thought I would share it with you, having to do with Netanyahu’s connection to Jeffrey Epstein. But every time I sat down to write about it, there was more news that distracted me. That kept happening, and became so overwhelming that I thought I would just try to collect the news and then get to that other thing later.
But wait! Stop the presses! Even as I have been compiling the list of today’s news, Israel just BOMBED QATAR. In order to kill Hamas leaders. In order to absolutely and completely sabotage ceasefire/hostage talks. Okay, so maybe there is more than one REALLY BONKERS thing happening right now. I can’t even comment on this because it is just happening. We just bombed Qatar….. That has never happened, and wow that can really screw up some things…. We need to see how the dust will clear on this, but OMG….
Clearly we are so inundated by big, crazy, violent things happening all the time that it is nearly impossible to keep up.
Getting back to the list of today’s news pre-Qatar attack:
Terrorist shooting attack in Jerusalem yesterday left 6 dead and many injured.
Immodest dead woman. The six dead were all haredi, five men and one women named Sarita Mendelson, and the haredi press printed photos of all the men and not the women. Because, you know, the dead woman’s face would be immodest.
The killing machine. In response, Israel is promising that "A mighty hurricane will hit the skies of Gaza City today, and the roofs of the terror towers will shake," as Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz wrote on X. Israel has ordered one million Palestinians to leave Gaza immediately.
West Bank violence. Israeli forces also carried out violent raids across the occupied West Bank, killing two 14-year-old Palestinian boys and wounding others. FYI, our podcast this week addresses the crushing issue of settler violence.
Building demolitions. Israel has meanwhile been knocking down tall residential towers in Gaza City, with only minutes’ notice, causing immense destruction and devastation.
More death in Gaza. Hospitals in Gaza report that 52 people died yesterday, mostly from the building demolitions.
Israel is killing families. A whole family was killed in Sheikh Radwan, according to Adi Argov’s The Daily File. Over 2000 families — 2000 ENTIRE FAMILIES — have been wiped out in Gaza by the IDF since Oct 7.
Israel is also killing hostages. Einat Zangauker, mother of hostage Matan Zangauker, said today, “I’m absolutely terrified. It’s possible that right at this moment the Prime Minister killed my son.”
Soldiers killed. Four IDF soldiers were killed in Gaza, bringing the total number of IDF soldiers killed so far since Oct 7 2023 to 904.
Rockets launched. Hamas launched rockets into Israel.
More rockets launched. And the Houtis launched rockets into Israel, and actually hit an airbase.
All of which reminds us that nothing about this “war” has done anything to make Israelis safer in any way. Still terror attacks. Still rocket attacks. Still Houti strikes. Two years of IDF killing and destroying and displacing and maiming Palestinians, and it has had zero affect on stopping terror. What the hell are we doing?
Oh yeah, sticking with the same terrible solutions that don’t have any positive impacts but have millions and millions of negative ones — for all of us. For Israelis, for Palestinians, for Jews around the world, and for humanity in general. But mostly terrible for Palestinians…. IDK….We keep doing this same bloody thing…. It is THE definition of insanity. Or totally corrupt politics…..Soldier suicides. Another IDF soldier took his own life today, on the day of his wedding. Depression and PTSD are not just about what people have witnessed but often more importantly in this context, what they were forced to do, as Udi Kagan said in his viral video on the subject.
Syria attack. Israel also struck the vicinity of Syria’s central Homs city, the coastal city of Latakia, and the historic city of Palmyra, Syrian state-affiliated media says.
Flotilla attack. One of the flotilla boats working to reach Gaza by sea was struck by a drone at a port in Tunisia Monday night, but all six passengers and crew are safe.
Spain cancels Smotrich and Ben Gvir. Spain is barring National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich from entering the country, Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares announced.
Trump says the end of the war is imminent. Or something. It was something between a promise and a trumpesque macho, grandiose threat. hard to know for sure. Imagine a world in which the greatest source of optimism is coming from trump.
Bonkers.
Bonkers and bloody…
I will hopefully get to that whole Epstein-Netanyahu connection in my next post.Stay tuned…
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