This Brave New World, CIV
written in response to both
UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell's plea for ceasefire remarks on October 30 at UN Security Council on humanitarian situation in Gaza:
...more than 420 children are being killed or injured in Gaza every day – a number which should shake each of us to our core...
and the central text of Rabbinic Judaism, "Talmud," Sanhedrin 37a: Whoever saves a single life is considered by scripture to have saved the whole world.
grinding sound of tanks ...
Never Again, Never Again
for everyone
FYI: This haiku is a sequel to the concluding tanka below of my tanka sequence, "Covering the War," which was first published in NeverEnding Story, October 20, 2023
Never Again
a promise, a slogan,
a bumper sticker ...
now a rallying cry
for more chaos and carnage
And Haaretz, November 6: "No Winners in War:" 35 Israeli Jewish and Arab Rights Groups Call for Ceasefire, Hostage Deal, Political Solution to Conflict.
An open letter signed by the groups also called on Israel to curb the rampant settler violence in the West Bank and stop the persecution of Palestinian citizens of Israel and of those who express solidarity with the residents of Gaza and oppose the war
Added: This Brave New World, CV
dusty twilight
a boy limps
amid the rubble
Added: This Brave New World, CVI
Haiku Version:
once surrounded
by fences and checkpoints, streets now
pockmarked with craters
Tanka Version:
plumes of smoke
above rubble-lined streets
once a maze
of fences, checkpoints
and daily humiliation
FYI: CNN, November 7: Gaza becoming a ‘graveyard for children,’ UN chief warns as calls for ceasefire intensify
Gaza is “becoming a graveyard for children,” the United Nations chief warned on Monday as the death toll rises and calls grow around the world for a ceasefire, one month into Israel’s assault on Hamas - the militant group that runs the enclave.
“The nightmare in Gaza is more than a humanitarian crisis. It is a crisis of humanity,” UN Secretary-General António Guterres told reporters in New York, adding that the need for a ceasefire is becoming “more urgent with every passing hour.”
“The parties to the conflict – and, indeed, the international community – face an immediate and fundamental responsibility: to stop this inhuman collective suffering and dramatically expand humanitarian aid to Gaza,” he said.
And Der Spiegel, June 11, 2023: Interview with a Palestinian and an Israeli
"How Do You Take Revenge for a Dead Child? By Killing Other People’s Children?"
Palestinian Bassam Aramin and Israeli Rami Elhanan have each lost a daughter in the Middle East conflict. Instead of succumbing to bitterness, they have joined hands to work for peace. How did they manage to overcome hatred?
Added: This Brave New World, CVII
written in response to Associated Press, Nov. 14: Tens of thousands of supporters of Israel rally in Washington, crying "never again"
a wavy sea
of American flags mixed
with Israeli flags ...
at the corner an old man cries
Never Again for everyone
Added:
GOP debate ...
thank you for speaking nonsense
while I'm interrupting
FYI: USA Today, Nov.8: Third Republican debate was a dull stinker. Maybe a dragon would have helped?
Sadly, none of those important things happened and Americans were left watching four children (Ron DeSantis, Vivek Ramaswamy, Tim Scott, Chris Christie) and one adult (Nikki Haley) holler and flail about in a manner entirely suitable for people who will never, ever, ever be president.
