Against the Drowning Noise of Other Words, CCCVIII: "smoky clouds"
inspired by the Israeli award-winning documentary, NAZA (a Hebrew acronym for the "military term, collateral damage" ), which purports to reveal "the SYSTEMS behind Israel's calculated mass killing of Palestinian civilians in Gaza"
where tents were
a tornado-twist
of smoky clouds
FYI: Haaretz, September 17, 2026: Netanyahu Vows to Revoke Israeli Citizenship Over Alleged IDF 'Defamation' in Response to 'NAZA' Film
Netanyahu said that he would also work to increase twentyfold the amount of damages people can sue for defamation against IDF soldiers: 'We will hit them both in the pocket and in citizenship, because they have no place among us'
This collision between state narrative and systemic exposure brings me back to the words of US Senator Hiram Johnson in 1918: “The first casualty, when war comes, is truth.”
For more detailed responses, see "Special Feature" post, "Selected Poems for Reflections on Israeli 'Gaza Genocide Documentary, NAZA'"
And
FYI: +972 Magazine, September 10, 2026: NAZA: Exposing Israel’s killing machine in Gaza written by Directors Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor
Over the past three years, we conducted night-time interviews on the rooftops of Tel Aviv with 24 Israeli soldiers who played an active role in Israel’s onslaught on Gaza. Most of them were intelligence officers, working behind screens and participating remotely in the mass killing of Palestinians.
Their testimonies form the basis of “NAZA,” a new documentary we directed ...
This is a film about a system. It focuses on orders, policies, and patterns of operation, not deviations from them. The conclusion that we draw from the testimonies is clear: The mass killing of Palestinian civilians in Gaza was not a “tragic byproduct” of a war against Hamas, as it is commonly portrayed in Israel, but a premeditated, calculated, and intentional act. This is why a UN commission, the world’s leading human rights groups, and Palestinian, Israeli, and international scholars have described it as a genocide.
Added: Against the Drowning Noise of Other Words, CCCIX: "attack drone"
in smoky twilight
a mule-drawn flatboard wagon
with wounded Gazans ...
an attack drone flying past
silences everything below
Added: Against the Drowning Noise of Other Words, CCCX: "Yom Kippur"
after the shofar's long blast
the Ark's curtain pulls closed ...
forty miles away
smoke column after column
climbing without end in Gaza
FYI: The final, absolute closure of Yom Kippur is signaled by a single, long blast of the shofar (the Tekiah Gedolah). This blast formally brings the fast to an end, representing the final "click" of the lock. Only after this blast is the physical curtain of the Ark pulled closed, and the community transitions into the evening service and Havdalah
Added: Against the Drowning Noise of Other Words, CCCXI: "wordbombs"
row upon row
of nearly empty seats
beneath harsh lights
the war criminal's wordbombs
echo back from walls to strike him
Added: Against the Drowning Noise of Other Words, CCCXII: "smoke-smeared crescent"
smoke-smeared crescent
shoo, shoo, shoo
piercing scream after scream
Added: Against the Drowning Noise of Other Words, CCCXIII: "Christ's thorns dripping blood"
glass shards
in half-broken window frames —
by a Gazan home
fractured autumn moonlight
on Christ's thorns dripping blood
FYI: "Euphorbia milii, the Christ's 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...It thrives in bright light, requires minimal watering, and is highly drought-tolerant, making it easy to care for."
Added: Against the Drowning Noise of Other Words, CCCXIV: "rows of small white coffins"
on the blood-dried square
rows of small white coffins
in pixels—
this weight of something
I cannot name inside me
FYI: This is a sequel to Against the Drowning Noise of Other Words, CXCIX: 'white coffin"
the white coffin
a gray-haired man balances
on one hand ...
a child born after the war started
and buried before it ends
