1/ Time doesn't pass in Gaza anymore. That is another one of Israel's innovations in the field of genocide. Nothing matters in Gaza. There is nothing to keep, nothing for which to strive. Everyone is a casualty. Even survival is no longer a goal. You do, or you don't. --->
2/ Israel's genocide prides itself on its inefficiency. After all, we say, had we wanted to kill them all we would have just killed them all. But don't even pretend anymore. We don't cite "Hamas acitivists" as the reason for destroying whole families. We have at it. --->
3/ It doesn't matter. We kill 50, 60, 70 Palestinians a day. Sometimes more. It doesn't matter. They are already dead. They were never truly alive. Their deaths are a known outcome of our lives. We don't want to stop. We think we can't. We've come this far, right? --->
4/ But we don't know where we're going. To be more accurate, we're not going anywhere. We are here and now. Everywhere we are is here and now. We have no past. We certainly have no future. All we have is the always-growing wreaking of destruction and death. Here and now. --->
5/ This is the mark we leave on humanity, the lesson to be learned. Nothing is more criminal than the willful detachment from any and all context. We denied time to embrace death. Nothing is more murderous than solipsism.
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1/ I've been accused of being overly gloomy because I have cancer. I don't think that's true, because having cancer is a full-time job so there's no time for gloom. But I'll concede so I can try and think what may be worth fighting for in the collective heart of darkness. --->
2/ I am thinking of the world more than of Israel. Israel must be chastened. It must pay for its actions. It must alter itself radically, build itself anew on justice and equality. But what of the world? What world can prevent a new, improved genocide? --->
3/ The first order of the day is clarity. I disagree with the Netanyahus of the world (Trump, Urban, Wilders) on every aspect of any policy they have ever articulated. I am their enemy to the death because obfuscation strikes me as their means and their end. --->
1/ In light of recent scandals in Netanayhu's office (changing time stamps from minutes on October 7th, 2023 to make the PM appear "out of the loop", leaking fake news to the foreign press), Israelis have resumed conversations about the man himself. --->
2/ The latest debate: Should we ensure his political and personal survival (save his coalition and cut him a plea bargain and even refrain from investigsting the events of 7.10.23) in exchange for him retiring after a determined period of time. --->
3/ This suggestion, mind you, comes from the Israeli left. It is not some "national unity" compromise. This is a partisan solution. It reflects, more than anything, the obliviousness of Israeli society to anything but itself. We are each cast in a grand drama. --->
1/ I've been struck by hiccups. I was warned about numerous harsh side effects I might expect after the first round of chemotherapy. They have not yet materialized (I'm sure they will), but the hiccups nearly drove me insane for two days. A tad ridiculous, but there I go. --->
2/ My hiccups reverberate life outside my personal circumstances. A disease can have enormous manifestations (like tumors). It can also have more minute expressions, like hiccups. Both are reflections of the disease. Israel is profoundly sick and it shows both ways. --->
3/ The genocide, the ethnic cleansing, the countless ways and means of demeaning and abusing, these crimes are the result of our terminal disease - supremacy and the sense of impunity that accompanies it. This major disease has been hollowing us out for decades. --->
1/ Trump's victory and the machinations of transition renew the vigor of the punditry. We can now speak again of "the great game", "superpower competition" and "grand strategy". It is all about "visions" and "future scenarios". This is part of the illusion. --->
2/ When we think of genocide we also think in "grand" terms. This can be grandiosity in scope, in planning and in execution. Israel's genocide in Gaza is anything but "grand". It is a neverending bloodletting. Worlds are built on Palestinians dying one by one. --->
3/ The new order rests on foundations of erasure. Whole families disappear, one bombing at a time. Palestinian memory and community are intentionally eradicated, in physical and mental space both. The campaign against UNRWA is only one example. --->
1/ Everything Israel says and does at the moment is a lie or a scam. It is that simple. Israel lies about aid entering northern Gaza and about the safety of "humanitarian zones". Israel is hoping to scam Trump into supporting an annexation of the West Bank. --->
2/ Israel claims to have pulverized Hizballah. But Hizballah keeps pummeling Israel from north to center, easily penetrating Israel's famous air defenses. Our new defense minister says now is the time to lift Iran's "threat of destruction". Another lie/scam. --->
3/ Israel can destroy Iran, not vice versa. Israel has hundreds of nuclear weapons deliverable on various platforms. Iran does not. Iran and Israel enemies but the true power relations are reversed. The lie about the Iranian destruction of Israel may be the grandest one. --->
1/ Humbled by all the love and support I've received here. To show you how much I love you all, I'm getting right back in the saddle. A thought about the importance of chaos in the perpetuation of war and genocide. --->
2/ Israel is in a state of chaos at the moment. It is very clear that there is not even a pretense of "war" in Gaza. There is just genocide and a mini-occupation. Israeli reserve soldiers are airing thoughts of refusing to appear for scheduled tours of duty in Gaza. --->
3/ Which is separate from Lebanon, of course! In Lebanon it is about "security" and bringing the inhabitants of the north back home! Israel is bombed and attacked every day. The north has normalized a reality of war. But as long as it's about security, the sky's the limit. --->