(FYI: Haaretz, 19, 2025: 'We're Destroying Gaza': Netanyahu, Smotrich Rush to Soothe Right's Fears Over Aid Renewal
Israel is engaged in intense, large-scale combat in Gaza… We intend to take control of the entire territory. But we must proceed in a way that prevents anyone from stopping us...
PM Netanyahu
Added: Against the Drowning Noise of Other Words, CLXXXVI: "crumbs of pita bread"
smoky twilight ...
a Gazan family of four
gazing long
at the crumbs of pita bread
soaked in overnight tea
FYI: Haaretz, May 19: One Day, Three Diaries From the Brink of Famine in Gaza, Where Even Rotten Food 'Feels Like a Victory'
The current aid blockade imposed by Israel is the longest since the war began in October 2023: No food or humanitarian supplies have entered the Gaza Strip since March 2.
And Haaretz, May 20: Opposition MK Says Israel Risks Pariah Status, 'Sane State Doesn't Kill Babies as Hobby'
Yair Golan, leader of the left-wing The Democrats party, told Israel's public broadcaster that "Israel is on the path to becoming a pariah state, like South Africa once was, if it does not return to acting like a sane country." Golan further said that "a sane state does not wage war against civilians, does not kill babies as a hobby, and does not set goals for itself like the expulsion of a population.
Added: Against the Drowning Noise of Other Words, CLXXXVII: "expanding settlements"
forested hillside
where West Bankers used to hike
row upon row of houses
FYI: The Nation, May 20 2025: The Climate Costs of Occupation
As Israel expands its settlements in the West Bank, it has destroyed forests and boosted CO2 emissions.
United Nations Resolution 2334 makes establishing settlements and expanding existing ones in occupied Palestinian territories illegal.
And The Guardian, May 21: Israeli troops fire ‘warning shots’ at 25 diplomats visiting occupied West Bank: Shots force delegation representing 31 countries, including Italy, Canada, Egypt and UK, to run for cover)
Against the Drowning Noise of Other Words, CLXXXIII: "baby's mud-stained arm"
written on the 77th anniversary of the Nakba ("the catastrophe")
smoky rubbles
a baby's mud-stained arm
gathering crows
Nakba of 1948 and Today Are Not Separate Events, but Ongoing Process of Palestinian Displacement, Replacement, Speakers Tell Panel, Urging Immediate Ceasefire in Gaza ...
The Nation, May 15, "2025:" (Israel's War on Gaza, Day 587) The Nakba Has Never Ended
In Gaza, the boundary marking past and present has become indistinct. Nineteen forty-eight is not over—it is unfolding again, and in more violent and destructive ways.
And Haaretz, May 9 2025: How Did Israelis Become So Indifferent to Children Killed in Gaza?
We must ask ourselves, how did we become so indifferent? How have our hearts become hardened to the deaths of children? Why are we silent in the best case, and even rejoicing in the worst, most horrible case? We must view this indifference as a sign that we are undergoing serious deterioration, a process that has affected our central moral nerve. This is a process that requires us to get help.
If nothing can justify what was done to us on October 7, how can it be that what we have been doing to them for more than a year and a half now – actions that have cost tens of thousands of people their lives and destroyed their lands – does seem justified to us?
Added: Against the Drowning Noise of Other Words, CLXXXIV: "grinning and finger-gunning"
smoky ruins
after smoky ruins
a soldier
grinning and finger-gunning
at the TV camera
Added: Against the Drowning Noise of Other Words, CLXXXV: "covered in blood"
covered in blood
a mother holds her dead children ...
with news on mute
this Israeli expat shouts
we won't forget; they won't escape
FYI: Haaretz, May 15: Trump's Sanctions on ICC Prosecutor Have Halted Tribunal's Work
The sanctions, that followed the arrest warrants filed for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former defense minister, will 'prevent victims from getting access to justice,' said a senior director at Human Rights Watch
The International Criminal Court's chief prosecutor, Karim Khan, has lost access to his email, and his bank accounts have been frozen.
The Hague-based court's American staffers have been told that they risk arrest if they travel to the U.S. Some non-governmental organizations have stopped working with the ICC. The leaders of one won't even reply to emails from court officials.
