This Brave New World, CXXXII
written in response to Issa's "Hell haiku (motto of Czeslaw Milosz," whom the Swedish Academy called in its 1980 Nobel Prize citation a writer who "voices man's exposed condition in a world of severe conflicts."
this world of rockets
this world of missile flashes ...
yet a Christ thorn plant
FYI: Issa's Hell haiku is included in Czesław Miłosz's free verse poem, titled "Reading the Japanese Poet Issa (1762–1826)," (functioning like a poetic commentary/reflection on three of Issa 's haiku)
In this world
we walk on the roof of Hell
gazing at flowers
And "the Christ thorn, also known as the crown of thorns, is a pretty succulent plant that can bloom almost year-round, even indoors. According to a religious legend, the crown of thorns worn by Jesus Christ at the crucifixion was made from the stems of this plant, therefore its common name."
And Haaretz, Dec. 25: How Israeli Media Became a Wartime Government Propaganda Arm: After criticism of those in power in the initial days after the Hamas attack of October 7, the news channels have since devoted themselves to national morale, exclusively relying on official military statements and completely ignoring Palestinian casualties
Journalist Ben Caspit, considered to be in the political center and as a left-wing counterpoint to Amit Segal on Channel 12 and Yinon Magal on the right-wing Channel 14, described in a tweet the suffering in Gaza being ignored as a moral necessity: "Why should we turn our attention [to Gaza]? They've earned that hell fairly, and I don't have a milligram of empathy."
Haaretz, Dec. 28: The Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry said 21,320 Palestinians have been killed since the beginning of the war and 55,603 wounded. The ministry also said the number of displaced people in the Strip has reached 1.9 million.
Added:This Brave New World, CXXXIII
Dissent
for 18-year-old Israeli PEACE activist Tal Mitnick who refused to enlist in the IDF and was sentenced to 30 days in prison, and whose prison sentence will be extended past the initial 30 days if he again refuses to enlist.
[decades-long
inhuman occupation compressed]
to one-day attacks
reponding with the red glow
of missiles in Gaza's night sky
scream after scream,
the sound of tanks and fireballs
lingering
long after they stop, yet don't stop ...
his refusal to enlist
FYI: Haaretz, Analysis, Dec. 27: Two Gaza Wars: Why the Gulf Between Israelis and Outsiders Is So Vast, and Jarring
Notions like 'we tried peace' and 'this isn't the time,' along with a compressed range of history that begins on October 7, are pushing Israelis – and Palestinians – away from a political solution to the Gaza war
In our December 2022 joint Israeli-Palestinian survey, 37 percent of Israeli Jews already preferred Israeli annexation without equal rights, over 34 percent who chose a two-state solution.
I dared to use the C-word ("context"): "Zooming out, the long-term context of the conflict is increasingly indefensible. Yet Israel's argument for the war depends on immediate justifications and ignores the context.
And Time Magazine, Dec. 27: Israeli Teen Who Refused to Enlist in the IDF Is Sentenced to 30 Days in Prison
“I believe that slaughter cannot solve slaughter,” said Tal Mitnick before he walked into Tel HaShomer military base, according to a video posted on the X account of Mesarvot, an organization that connects young Israelis who do not want to serve in the state military. “The criminal attack on Gaza won’t solve the atrocious slaughter that Hamas executed. Violence won’t solve violence. And that is why I refuse.”
A group of people gathered in solidarity with Mitnick before he entered the military base where he was set to be arrested on Tuesday. His prison sentence may be extended past the initial 30 days if he again refuses to enlist.
On the seventh of october, Israeli society experienced a trauma the likes of which was not known in the history of the country…After the terrorist attack, a revenge campaign began not only against Hamas, but against all Palestinian people,” said Mitnick in a statement shared by The Intercept journalist Prem Thakker. “I refuse to believe that more violence will bring security, I refuse to take part in a war of revenge.
Added:This Brave New World, CXXXIV
this cold night
turned into an orange day ...
Gazan newborn's blank stare
