The NYT view of "what it means to be Israeli today: “tensions," "inequities,” “divisions,” “unrest,” “fury,” “ambivalence,” “illegitimacy,” “alienation,” “injustice,” “discrimination,” “bias,” “abuse,” misfortune, “slums” & “shabby” “tired” “garish” towns. camera.org/article/ny-tim…
2/ Israel is consistently ranked among the very happiest in the world. It is home to what Time Out says is the "funnest" city in the world.
No wonder the guy in Time Out's photo looks so sad. #SadSadIsrael
3/ A few years ago I had the misfortune of randomly stumbling upon this parade of sadness in the Druze town of Dalyat al Karmel. #SadSadIsrael
4/ One Friday afternoon, I stumbled upon these strangers sitting on a hill overlooking Jerusalem's Old City walls, strumming and singing classic songs about the city. I took them up on their invitation to sit with them, and snapped a pic of their tears of sadness. #SadSadIsarel
5/ Even the graffiti in Israel is sad. #SadSadIsrael
7/ Was paging through an old family album, and confirmed that the abject misery documented by the NYT preceded our generation. #SadSadIsrael@nytimes
8/ Here is #SadSadIsrael's place at the top of the World Happiness Index.
(Considering how miserable they made Israel appear, I shudder to think how the @nytimes would capture the zeitgeist of the 137 countries ranked lower than Israel. The streets would be flooded with tears.)
But in Israel, the sun's rays contain harmful UV radiation. Probably has something to do with their nuclear research. (Right, @nytimes?) @SadSadIsrael.
It also says they recognize this isn't one piece" by the NYT.
This week it called Abu Nidal, bombers of synagogues, a "liberation group."
It blamed "rabbis" for forcing AOC's vote.
It described someone who who admitted to being an antisemite as just anti-Israel.
What do you call an organization that massacred Jews in synagogues, that slaughtered airline passengers from around the world, and that is listed as a terror org by the EU, US, UK, Japan, and Canada?
To the NYT, it's a "Palestinian liberation group."
Vis-a-vis the most important question, this difference doesn't matter at all.
I'm even a bit astonished that anyone would think it does make a substantive difference (other than the incidental points mentioned by @ariehkovler in the replies).
2 If this was an act motivated by antisemitism (as it appears to be), it wouldn't matter if they rubbed chicken sausage all over the walls believing it to be pork sausage. Or if they smashed a loaf of Wonder Bread, thinking it was a challah, thinking that was a sacred object.
If you think there are other reasons why this isn't what it seems to be—false flag, the detergent fell off the shelf, a philosemitic attempt to clean the scroll gone wrong—then make that case. Anything is possible. But "it wasn't a real Torah" doesn't cut it. At all.
1/ "Iron Dome" means "Preventing Hamas rockets from hitting their Jewish, civilian targets." For clarity, let's replace the proper noun in some of these tweets. E.g.
"Preventing rockets from hitting their Jewish, civilian target perpetuates conflict & injustice."
2/ "Beth Miller, Jewish Voice for Peace Action’s Government Affairs Manager, told Jewish Currents, that preventing Hamas rockets from hitting their Jewish, civilian targets would not be included. 'No progressive should support this.'"
3/
"I'm glad funding for Israel preventing Hamas rockets from hitting their Jewish, civilian targets got removed from the NDAA!"
For the sake of clarity, let's put aside anything about the debt ceiling and note:
1) Israel's Iron Dome is a defensive anti-rocket system that saves innocent lives by SHOOTING WAR CRIMES OUT OF THE AIR.
2) As a bonus, the ability to shoot down Hamas's indiscriminate rockets often lessens the need for, or intensity of, an Israeli response to those attacks. The calculations are very different if a random rocket gets shot down vs if a Hamas rocket lands kills a family.
3) This part is mind-reading, but I'll do it: Those certain House "progressives" who made news today in relation to the Iron Dome are opposed to Israel having that ability. If they could push a button and make the Iron Dome systems disappear, they would. That's gross and immoral