1/ Netanyahu would not have hurried to comply with an "instruction" from Trump to make a deal had the deal not suited him to a T. Netanyahu is the clearest distillation of Israeli public opinion. The deal was always a political decision. The politics are shifting. ---> 2/ Israelis have grown tired of "the war". Despite empty boasts about endless "triumphs", Israel has not improved its national security. In fact, Israel has indentured its future to a forever war. That and the documented failures cannot bode well. --->

1/ It is an amazing thing. The mood in Israel is shifting slightly. It is clear the "war" is failing. And still, Palestinians don't exist. Some rejoice when Palestinians die. They are a minority. The rest of us invest all of our energy in denying Palestinian existence. ---> 2/ As time passes this has become our defining national challenge. It isn't just the "removal" of Palestinians from Gaza or from the West Bank for "settlement". Most of us think they are limited, noisy fanatics. Israeliness is founded on silent repression. --->

1/ Watch Israel to get a sense of a world ruled by Trump and Musk. Several things stand out:
1. Human life is meaningless in its most basic form. There is no right to life. If your life gets in the way of "bigger" agendas, your life is forefit. ---> 2/ 2. There is no follow-through. Bombastic statements are made. Actions are taken. Nothing is secured, decided, guaranteed. Israel nabs 10 KMs of Syria; we destroy 40 villages in Lebanon; we build a fort in the middle of Gaza. Is there an endgame? No, despite appearances. --->

1/ I believe that the passage of time shapes human actions and experiences. When I began to write about the genocide of the Gazans, the genocide performed by Israel, I was angry and upset. I wanted to prevent injustice and to persuade my countrymen that they wrong. ---> 2/ I explained, reasoned, cajoled. I knew I was a part of the whole. I wanted to use any leverage I may have as a part of that whole in order to do good. I was very critical but I still spoke of "mistakes" that could be "averted". I could envision a "resolution". --->

1/ Read an interview with the principal of Tel Aviv's high school for the arts, known as "Talma Yelin". The school was the cradle of many an artistic career, from painting to rock music. It is not overtly political but artists, even budding ones, often lean left. ---> 2/ The principal says it clearly. He does not allow teachers to speak about the genocide other than when discussing the tribulations of the Israeli side. Any attempt to suggest that Palestinians are suffering as well (not more, of course) is incendiary. --->

1/ An "explanation" is now emerging for Israel's frenzied annihilation of the Gaza Strip over the past several ideas. Apparently, Israeli authorities have decided to destroy "Hamas governability" with an emphasis on the "units robbing humanitarian assistance". ---> 2/ The biblical dimensions of the apocalypse Israel has unleashed on Gaza help bring to mind the story of Naboth the Jezreelite and king Ahab of Israel. Naboth had a vineyard that bordered the royal palace. The king wanted his land in order to expand the palace. --->

1/ The images from Gaza over the past week have been, perhaps, more horrific than any produced this year. I think it had to do with the harsh weather, cold and wet and stormy, that pounded the "humanitarian areas". One expects humility on Israel's part before nature. ---> 2/ One is wrong. There is no humility left. The bloodlust so evident on social media is the last, rasping croak of a crumbling society. We have lost all sense of ourselves as humans. We are "Jews", at once particular and transcending history in the same breath. --->

1/ There is one explanation for the fact that Israelis vehemently oppose Netanyahu while refusing to call for an end to the forever war Israel is waging under his leadership. That explanation is that Israelis support the forever war and, effectively, support Netanyahu. ---> 2/ This dissociation, a hallmark of our murderous solipsism, grows deeper. We are amazed as we begin to be ostracized. An Israeli barred from a bowls championship; an Israeli tennis player whose match is stopped because of protests... Why is this happening? --->

1/ I could write for an entire lifetime about how deeply Palestinians have been dehumanized by Israeli society and I would not exhaust the subject. Our current murderous solipsism takes this dehumanization to a new level. For us, Palestinians simply don't exist as human. ---> 2/ One of Israel's leading commentators, Amos Harel, writes in Haaretz today that "awaiting a hostage deal, Israel's actions in northern Gaza are stalled". Israel is not "stalled". Israel has been bombing northern Gaza so hard the bombings are heard in Tel Aviv. --->

1/ Israelis rant about the "poison machine", Netanyahu's carefully crafted social media apparatus for disseminating perjorative muck about anyone perceived as an opponent. Israelis remain mum about the most immediate of realities - the genocide and desolation of Gaza. ---> 2/ The "poison machine" certainly exists. Netanyahu is obssessed with his media coverage and with besmirching any potential threat. Still, its real usefulness (for Netanyahu as well) is in casting Israel as a society on the verge of civil war. That is, simply, not true. --->

1/ Israel continues to implode. The latest development is a law allowing for the "administrative detention" of Israeli citizens with no need for evidence, just as we've been "detaining" Palestinians since we began. Certain that we are alone, we turn inward for more violence. ---> 2/ I am firm believer in the importance of time. Time ameliorates and time exacerbates. We deny the passage of time. We want a present continuous, one where every "strike" stands alone (just as we do!), nothing accrues and no action has consequences. --->

1/ I have a theory for why Iran "folded" in Syria. The theory is that it was never a monolith called "Iran" that was invested in Syria but rather one of the factions fighting for control of the IRI since its creation - the Revolutionary Guards (IRGC). ---> 2/ Iran fled from Syria because the enemies of the IRGC inside Iran, who currently hold some measure of executive power, saw an opportunity to deliver a decisive blow to their domestic foes. The IRGC doctrine had failed. Iran wanted as little to do with it as possible.

1/ Brief cameo from my hospital bad. Watch Israel. We have no reason to interfere in Syria except a demonstration of our "might". We bomb and incur, kill and hit "targets". That is all we do. That is our security. Syria is evolving in real time. We reject evolution. ---> 2/ Netanyahu tells hostage families that Assad's fall may "hasten a deal". What a crock. IDF Chief of Staff Halevy announces we are at war in Syria. With whom? For what? Israeli media describes Abu Muhammad Al-Jolani, HTA leader, as a Jihadi and his forces as ISIS. Lies.

1/ Israel is shocked to hear that our newly appointed military attachè to Belgium, Col. Moshe Tetro, who served as coordinator of IDF civilian-related activities in Gaza, may be investigated for war crimes. He authorized and denied food entry into Gaza. ---> 2/ He was also the one who spoke with Gazan hospital administrators to inform them their hospitals will be destroyed and that they must "evacuate" within hours. These are the crimes for which arrest warrants were issued against our PM and former defense minister. --->

1/ Minor medical dramas (all is well; everything's dramatic when you have cancer) have prevented me from writing for the past few days. Still the downtime involved in being a patient (endless waiting for the healthy ones looking after you) gave me some pause for thinking. ---> 2/ I am repeatedly asked why I stay in Israel. I am also repeatedly told that no one cares what is happening in Israel and to Israelis. The logic is similar - Israel is evil. It is a criminal state. All that matters is that it be stopped and brought to justice. --->

1/ When asked what the mood in Israel is regarding the ceasefire in Lebanon and whether this is a ploy or an actual attempt to generate stability, my answer remains: Israel is a failing state. We're not smart enough for ploys. We don't know what stability means. ---> 2/ The protests against Netanyahu are returning to the streets tomorrow (Saturday) night. They are protests against Netanyahu, not against the war. Most of the good people (sincerely) protesting will say that Netanyahu is promoting a settlement/occupation strategy. --->

1/ I don't know what to make of the ceasefire in Lebanon other than the immediate relief that comes with even some cessation of violence. Time will tell if this is an Israeli ploy. I doubt Israel is capable of many ploys at this stage of the game. I do know something else. ---> 2/ The ceasefire is a means of continuing Israel's genocide against the Palestinian people. I am happy for my countrymen no longer bombed in the north of Israel. I am happy for the Lebanese no longer slaughtered in their thousands. This only exacerbates the genocide. --->

1/ Is the "detachment of fronts", the separation of Lebanon and Gaza, a ceasefire with Lebanon as the genocide in Gaza continues, an Israeli victory? To some extent, it is. Israel has forced Hizballah to accept this. I think that it is also proof of Israel's failure. ---> 2/ Why? First, because it refutes Israel's grand conspiracy - all of this is an Iranian plan to destroy us. Hizballah notified Iran about the ceasefire. Hamas acted alone on October 7th, 2023. There was no Iranian orchestration. Leave the "ring of fire" to Johnny Cash. --->

1/ Following its enabling of Israel's genocide, the redemption of the world lies in the mendacity that lies at the core of this genocide. The lie that some lives are more meaningful than others is exposed by how cheap and riddled with death Israeli lives have become. ---> 2/ No need to pity us. We are reaping the death we have sown. But it is important to state clearly that Israel is as weak as it has ever been and it is growing weaker. I've written this previously, but anyone who thinks Israel is triumphant is sorely mistaken. --->

1/ Israel is now applying its genocidal strategies in Lebanon. It destroys and kills indiscriminately. It erases any and all signs of habitation. It spins a narrative of "targeted assassinations", also known as "the destruction of ... (fill in organization)". ---> 2/ The genocidal strategies are the genocide. That is, Israel can and will deny any coherent plan to physically wipe out any "group" of people, as per the definition of genocide. Israel wants carte blanche, the ability to kill with no limitiations other than self-set ones. --->

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? --->