Thread by @ori_goldberg

1/ Things are shifting here. The Palestinians are still far from anyone's mind. Very few are calling for an end to the genocide or even an end to "the war". Palestinian lives and deaths are meaningless to us in our murderous solipsism. But our own deaths are something else. --->

2/ The six hostages found dead today drove home a point that has eluded us so far. It isn't that Hamas is an existential threat; we suddenly understand that we are our own existential threat. The coin has dropped that our behavior pver the past 11 months is lethal for us. --->

3/ Three of the six who died could have been released in the deal that Israel has obstructed for months. They likely died because Israeli forces were attacking with the knowledge that hostages were nearby. They were not old "kibbutzniks" but young people of all persuasions. --->

4/ They died minutes before the IDF arrived, proving that "military pressure" was killing the hostages and not saving them. And they died after 11 months of implosion, on the first day of school, when it suddenly seemed unreal to realize that things were only getting worse. --->

5/ The chief of our national confederacy of unions has announced a general strike for tomorrow. He stated that "a hostage deal" is being delayed for "political reasons" and this must be protested. This is a big deal because he is known for his timidity. --->

6/ He is a bellweather for the broad Israeli consensus, much broader than the leaders of the protests against Netanyahu. This is the first national institution to take sides against the government's policy. The government seems to be committed. No one knows. --->

7/ Things to remember:
1. This is still all about us. The shared illusion is that we are within our rights to continue the slaughter in Gaza and in the West Bank.
2. Regardless, many of us previously full of righteous indignation are now full of fear. --->

8/ We realize that we are the ones killing ourselves. That is where our darkness has been pierced.
3. This is not about redemption. We have long lost any moral standing we may have thought we had. We carry out and support a genocide. We remain alone in our world. --->

9/ We may be beginning to realize we cannot do this forever with impunity. We have gotten a glimpse of our own finitude. I can only pray that this brings hope to our victims, a breath of life to countermand our death.