1/ How do you respond to evil? That is, assuming you can even identify evil and just consider it "the cost of doing business", of course. What do you do when you realize society around you has embraced evil as its creed, that evil is being perpetrated in your name? ---> 2/ I think the basic division is between those who seek to rise above evil and those who cannot and will not. I am only referring to people who object to evil, of course. Those who embrace it, the great majority, have no dilemma and are not divided. What of the opposers?

1/ Those of you impressed with the Israeli cabinet's approval of the "occupation of Gaza" should remember Israel's "imminent" strike on Iran. Netanyahu's government can survive only through complete detachment from reality. That reality is one of deep disarray. ---> 2/ A very interesting development on Hebrew social media over the past few days has those advocating for genocide sounding more and more desperate. They recognize the "ineptitude" of the Netanyahu government. They realize Trump mistrusts Israel. They feel "victory" fading. --->

1/ Look at this generated image from a popular Israeli website. On the left is the tattooed arm of a holocaust survivor. On the right is a survivor of the Nova party, the site of Hamas' most lethal massacre. The caption says "we will not forget and we will not forgive". ---> 2/ The mayor of the town in which I live spoke at my youngest's junior high school. His message? The fourth generation of the holocaust has become the first October generation. That is the meaning of this image. We have found the way to outsmart time. --->

1/ It really is impossible to exaggerate the level of existential detachment in Israel. The crucial logic of the genocide, about which I've written extensively, is that all Israel does is born of necessity and is therefore decoid of responsiblity or consequences. ---> 2/ Thus we have discussions about whether children (Gazan, that is) can be trained as lethal mercenaries, or whether Israeli soldiers should be investigated (not tried) for "misconduct" when Israel is fighting "the most justified war it has ever fought". Genocide: yes or no? --->

1/ In "The Voyage of the Dawn Treader", the third book (original order) of CS Lewis' "The Chronicles of Narnia", the valiant crew of the "Dawn Treader" stumble upon the Island upon which dreams come true. They first meet a bedraggled, haunted man who tells them about it. ---> 2/ When the crew expresses joy and wonderment, the man shouts at them that he is talking about the island where d-r-e-a-m-s come true, not fanciful wishes. Dreams that one dreams when one is asleep come true on that island. The difference takes some time to sink in. --->

1/ The genocide continues nonchalantly. Every day there is a new "letter of protest" from various military units/branches and/or professional groups, like writer who actually mention the "disproportionate harm" to Gazans as well. But the bombs fall and the Palestinians die. ---> 2/ All of it is happening as we speak. It is not "disproprtionate". Genocide is not relational. The intent to perpetrate genocide is reflected in the systemic and continuous nature of genocidal activities. There need be no "document". Israelis are denying the present. --->

1/ 950 Israeli air force personnel signed a letter calling for an "immediate end to the fighting". Several former IAF commanders are among the signers. None of them refused to report for duty should they be called. They call for an immediate return of the hostages. ---> 2/ Not a single one of them mentions the hundreds and thousands of innocents killed each night bybtheir bombs. The most they can say is that "the war now serves political needs" and should therefore be stopped until the return of the hostages. What happens when the return? --->

1/ An often overlooked aspect of the Israeli condition is our collective faith that we are constantly in transition, a work in progress. We are rejuvenating Judaism, building a model society, achieving peace. We care little for arrival. We are perennially on the road. ---> 2/ That is also an element of our supremacy turned solipsism. Actually getting there entails an acceptance of an outside reality, one in which actions have consequences. We are always "on the verge" of reality. The mark of true supremacy is full impunity. --->

1/ What can explain continuous lethal strikes against a hospital, killing and maiming dozens in one night? For Israel, priding itself on applying "thorough intelligence" and armaments "meant to decrease damage", it is the presence of a "central terrorist". ---> 2/ What does that even mean in real words? It means that Israelis view themselves as the Scourge of God, charged with meting out absolute punishment for absolute sins. It means that killing Israelis is an absolute sin. It means that Palestinians are terrorists or nothing. --->

1/ The current Israeli all-out attack on Gaza, compounded as it is by bombings in Lebanon and Syria as well as ongoing ethnic cleansing in the West Bank, is a scathing indictment served in blood against the dominant world order. Israel is the epitome of this order. ---> 2/ This order is based on two foundations - fungibility and deniability. Fungibility is the the quality that makes things interchangeable, devoid of intrinsic value and assessed only in relation to other fungible things. The global order is based on human fungibility. --->

1/ The Ramadan Massacre and all that has followed it is, in my understanding, the gravest crime committed by Israel throughout its genocidal campaign. It is the most hollow, the most cynical, the gravest denial of humanity I have seen throughout this godless time. ---> 2/ Some of my wise friends here see a grand plan unfolding. I don't. I see a society so thoroughly dehumanized that it thinks nothing of wholesale destruction as a means of achieving its own political ends. Israel is pretending the last 2 months never took place. --->

1/ Even outrage pales before the Ramadan massacre. Its egregiousness comes from its lackadaisical execution and logic - "what choice did we have?" For Israelis, weakness is the only strength, the trump card that assures permanent vindication. Death is life. ---> 2/ The words of the prophet Isaiah come to mind:
"Woe to those who call evil good
    and good evil,
who put darkness for light
    and light for darkness,
who put bitter for sweet
    and sweet for bitter." (Isaiah 5:20)

Woe to those who call choice necessity. --->

1/ No rest for the wicked. Just spoke on @AJEnglish (up anyway). I don't think this is a resumption of the war. I think this is a copycat version of Trump's attack in Yemen. I also think that it is an attempt to stall mass protests and new investigations against Netanyahu. ---> 2/ The blatant disregard for Palestinian lives is a crime against humanity. It also demonstrates Israel's severely limited options. Israel has been fantasizing about ethnic cleansing. Now it resumes its failed genocide. This is political manipulation aimed domestically. --->

1/ We are continuing to spiral down the historical drain. Today it is vituperative rants against the UNHRC report on Israel's sexual and reproductive crimes during the pat year and a half in Gaza. No one even tries to deny the specific crimes ascribed to Israel. ---> 2/ The denial is directed at the notion that said crimes could be considered crimes against humanity because clear intent can be established. Israel claims it has a right to "destroy Hamas". Bystanders who get caught in the crossfire? That is, indeed, unfortunate. --->

1/ Yet another reason that makes me certain Israel is on the verge of complete irrelevance has to do with the number of radical "plans" innundating the Israeli public from every institution of government and control. Everyone is shirking their responsibilities. ---> 2/ For example, the IDF has announced that for the next 5 years draftees (compulsory drafts, remember) will complete 17 days at their post and 3-4 days at home. Otherwise, "Israel will
not be able to prevent Hamas and Hizballah from becoming terrorism monsters (for real)". --->

1/ Trump is not just "corrupt". Netanyahu is not simply pursuing a "greater Israel". This state of affairs does not boil down to "ulterior forces" or "the grand game". The grand game itself was and remains corrupt. The new evil simply doesn't care. ---> 2/ When you look at Trump and list all those to whom he is beholden in an attempt to predict his actions, I think you are missing the point. The same goes for Netanyahu. In their minds, their very presence is its reward, true greatness for Israel and the US. --->

1/ There are two very different ways to consider Israel at the moment. The first is as a bird of prey poised to strike. Israel continues to kill Palestinians, to bomb its neighbors without provocation and to obstruct a deal in Gaza. It seems self-explanatory, right? ---> 2/ The second is to see Israel as besieged and teetering. It isn't "the world" that is besieging us. It is reality. When we bomb in Syria and in Lebanon, we are not preparing for occupation. We are displaying our lack of faith in our ability to defend our own borders. --->

1/ Israel's bluff is being called from Gaza to Beirut, by way of Damascus and Riyadh. In inverse order: the rollout of the Arab plan for Gaza will force Israel to choose an actual path forward. I'm betting on Netanyahu frowning for a bit and then accepting the plan. ---> 2/ Syrians have begun to notice Israel's presence on their southern border. Damascus is allowing the protest to grow organically without picking a fight. When the time comes (soon) the new leadership will seek international support for Israeli withdrawal. --->

1/ I doubt the evil stunt Hamas pulled with the Bibas family will disrupt the release of Palestinians and Israelis on Saturday. I am inundated with Israeli social media calls for the eradication of the Palestinians. I am not impressed. Nothing has essentially changed. ---> 2/ Making the Palestinians disappear was always the Israeli fantasy. We killed and cleansed them in 1948. In 1967 we realized we didn't have to physically drive them out - we could repress every aspect of their being, subjugating them and dehumanizing them. --->

1/ The return of the dead hostages marks Israel's complete divestment of any responsibility it may hold for anything that has happened in Gaza since 7.10.23. Israel always needs an excuse, proof that it is superior to the "animals" on the other side. We have it now. ---> 2/ The poor Bibas family, taken criminally by Hamas and killed criminally be unrestrained bombing (justified by most Israelis), are the "proof". "Only animals kidnap children", we cry as thousands of Palestinian children lie beneath the rubble we've left of Gaza. --->

1/ There's no reason to trust Israel further than it can be thrown, but there is good reason to observe it closely. Israel is floundering. Netanyahu allows his underlings, from the frothing settler at Finance to the braying fool at Defense, to spout off at the mouth. ---> 2/ He, however, commits to the "Trump Plan" with the full knowledge that there is no Trump plan. Meanwhile, as Arab leaders struggle to formulate a plan of their own, the Israel-Hamas agreement continues to happen. Everyone is waiting for the maligned Qataris to take charge. --->