#Israel Scouts

[lordgodjehovahsway]

1 Samuel 26: Saul Travels To The Desert Of Ziph To Look For David

1 The Ziphites went to Saul at Gibeah and said, “Is not David hiding on the hill of Hakilah, which faces Jeshimon?”

2 So Saul went down to the Desert of Ziph, with his three thousand select Israelite troops, to search there for David. 

3 Saul made his camp beside the road on the hill of Hakilah facing Jeshimon, but David stayed in the wilderness. When he saw that Saul had followed him there, 

4 he sent out scouts and learned that Saul had definitely arrived.

5 Then David set out and went to the place where Saul had camped. He saw where Saul and Abner son of Ner, the commander of the army, had lain down. Saul was lying inside the camp, with the army encamped around him.

6 David then asked Ahimelek the Hittite and Abishai son of Zeruiah, Joab’s brother, “Who will go down into the camp with me to Saul?”

“I’ll go with you,” said Abishai.

7 So David and Abishai went to the army by night, and there was Saul, lying asleep inside the camp with his spear stuck in the ground near his head. Abner and the soldiers were lying around him.

8 Abishai said to David, “Today God has delivered your enemy into your hands. Now let me pin him to the ground with one thrust of the spear; I won’t strike him twice.”

9 But David said to Abishai, “Don’t destroy him! Who can lay a hand on the Lord’s anointed and be guiltless? 

10 As surely as the Lord lives,” he said, “the Lord himself will strike him, or his time will come and he will die, or he will go into battle and perish. 

11 But the Lord forbid that I should lay a hand on the Lord’s anointed. Now get the spear and water jug that are near his head, and let’s go.”

12 So David took the spear and water jug near Saul’s head, and they left. No one saw or knew about it, nor did anyone wake up. They were all sleeping, because the Lord had put them into a deep sleep.

13 Then David crossed over to the other side and stood on top of the hill some distance away; there was a wide space between them. 

14 He called out to the army and to Abner son of Ner, “Aren’t you going to answer me, Abner?”

Abner replied, “Who are you who calls to the king?”

15 David said, “You’re a man, aren’t you? And who is like you in Israel? Why didn’t you guard your lord the king? Someone came to destroy your lord the king. 

16 What you have done is not good. As surely as the Lord lives, you and your men must die, because you did not guard your master, the Lord’s anointed. Look around you. Where are the king’s spear and water jug that were near his head?”

17 Saul recognized David’s voice and said, “Is that your voice, David my son?”

David replied, “Yes it is, my lord the king.” 

18 And he added, “Why is my lord pursuing his servant? What have I done, and what wrong am I guilty of? 

19 Now let my lord the king listen to his servant’s words. If the Lord has incited you against me, then may he accept an offering. If, however, people have done it, may they be cursed before the Lord! They have driven me today from my share in the Lord’s inheritance and have said, ‘Go, serve other gods.’ 

20 Now do not let my blood fall to the ground far from the presence of the Lord. The king of Israel has come out to look for a flea—as one hunts a partridge in the mountains.”

21 Then Saul said, “I have sinned. Come back, David my son. Because you considered my life precious today, I will not try to harm you again. Surely I have acted like a fool and have been terribly wrong.”

22 “Here is the king’s spear,” David answered. “Let one of your young men come over and get it. 

23 The Lord rewards everyone for their righteousness and faithfulness. The Lord delivered you into my hands today, but I would not lay a hand on the Lord’s anointed. 

24 As surely as I valued your life today, so may the Lord value my life and deliver me from all trouble.”

25 Then Saul said to David, “May you be blessed, David my son; you will do great things and surely triumph.”

So David went on his way, and Saul returned home.

[sayruq]

A Girl Scout troop leader in Missouri was threatened with legal action by the organization after her troop tried to sell bracelets to raise money for Gaza, according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Nawal Abuhamdeh said that it had been the children’s idea to sell bracelets to raise money for the Palestine Children’s Relief Fund. She said that the members of her troop, including her own 10 year-old daughter, had been deeply emotionally impacted by Israel’s brutal military campaign in Gaza, which has killed more than 29,000 people, and at least 10,000 children. “I’m grieving. We are all grieving. We literally couldn’t muster the energy to sell cookies,” Abuhamdeh said. Soon after making a post about the fundraiser, Abuhamdeh said she received an email from the Girl Scouts of Eastern Missouri organization, alerting her that her troop could not support “partisan politics,” and needed to “stay neutral.” The email said that the fundraiser had violated the organization’s governing documents, and that if the troop went forward with their plan, the organization would engage legal counsel to “protect the intellectual property and other rights of the organization.”

[heritageposts]

Harris has been a staunch supporter of Israel for years. In 2017 she addressed the American Israel Public Affairs Committee’s (AIPAC) annual conference and reminded attendees that the first resolution she co-sponsored as a senator was aimed at combating “anti-Israel bias” at the United Nations. “Let me be clear about what I believe. I stand with Israel because of our shared values, which are so fundamental to the founding of both our nations,” she told the crowd. In 2018 she gave an off-the-record speech to the organization, but eventually released her comments. In that speech she claimed that she raised money for the Jewish National Fund as a Girl Scout. “Having grown up in the Bay area, I fondly remember those Jewish National Fund boxes that we would use to collect donations to plant trees for Israel,” she told the audience. “Years later, when I visited Israel for the first time, I saw the fruits of that effort and the Israeli ingenuity that has truly made a desert bloom.”

For those unfamiliar with the Jewish National Fund (JNF), they're a Zionist organization that has been instrumental in the ethnic cleansing of Palestine.

See Stop the JNF for more information on their history, the way they operate, and their decades-long campaign of greenwashing (i.e. destroying native plants, crops, and agriculture under the banner of 'making the desert bloom').

Continuing, the Mondoweiss article goes:

“The vast majority of people understand the importance of the State of Israel,” she added later. “Both in terms of its history and its present in terms of being a source of inspiration on so many issues, which I hope we will talk about, and also what it means in terms of the values of the United States and those values that are shared values with Israel, and the importance of fighting to make sure that we protect and respect a friend, one of the best friends we could possibly have.” While running for President in 2019, Harris was praised by the lobbying group Democratic Majority for Israel (DMFI) for running to the right of Obama on the Iran deal. On the campaign trail Harris told Kat Wellman, a voter affiliated with DMFI, that she would reenter the agreement but “strengthen it” by “extending the sunset provisions, including ballistic missile testing, and also increasing oversight.” “I was very impressed with her. I thought she gave an excellent speech, she gave a very detailed, responsive answer to my question,” Wellman told a local paper after the exchange. “I’m pro-Israel, so I was I was very concerned and all about making sure we limit nuclear missiles in any country that could possibly destroy us all. I thought her answer was very good.” Harris has condemned the BDS movement and claimed that is “based on the mistaken assumption that Israel is solely to blame for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.” However, she voted against an anti-BDS bill in 2019 citing First Amendment concerns.

For the full article, which includes Kamala's response to Israel post Al-Aqsa Flood, see Mondoweiss (July 22, 2024)

[sintagma11]

Control de Calidad

Escribir para comprobar el estado y calidad del flujo de pensamiento, el interminable diálogo interno que determina la calidad de vida según Marco Aurelio por lo que hay que aprender a controlarlo, así como al cuerpo, ya que de hecho, la mente se domina dominando el cuerpo y viceversa, somo Biná y jojmá, como Boaz y Jaquin, o el Ying y el Yang.

La polaridad de las energías es un axioma que hay que interiorizar en el ejercicio de comprensión de la naturaleza de la realidad y así está consignado en el Kybalión, junto a otras seis máximas de las cuales la primer es que todo es una creación mental, elaboración perceptual impregnada de historia personal.

Ayer mientras ayudaba en el trasteo de un amigo se dañó la pantalla del celular que tenía para comunicarme y las cosas esenciales de cualquier milenial, así que lloré para desahogarme al sentirme afrentado por el Universo con tan desafortunado episodio teniendo en cuenta el paro laboral temporal en el que me encuentro, la situación particular, sintiéndome atrapado en el seno de una familia que me ha brindado un techo y un plato de comida al coste de asumir sus creencias heredadas y adquiridas, más o menos en los mismos términos según cada generación, y en esta presente, el sincretismo toma su parte como en toda la historia de la humanidad para garantizar una mínima convivencia decente, la cual observo amenazada por las energías sutiles que se perciben en pequeños actos, detalles, miradas, que delatan las reales intenciones de las personas al rededor, identificando los malos deseos producto de la insatisfacción que lleva cada quien con su propia vida, como viven amargados quieren amargar a los demás, y cuantas veces yo mismo no padecí tan triste ceguera de toxicidad.

La Consciencia siempre llega para hacer el control de calidad, y en esta oportunidad lo que trae son mensajes de urgencia, la mayoría desde el inconsciente colectivo, hablando de estar listo y preparado para cualquier tipo de emergencia mundial que pudiera sobrevenir en pleno 2023 surcado por una reactivación económica del complejo militar industrial como lo definió Eisenhower, el mismo presidente Petro habló literalmente de estar ad portas de la IIIWW Dios no lo quiera pero si así lo quiere lo menos es estar preparados, ya que como hijos suyos su orden es clara: Velad y Orad porque no sabéis el día ni la ora, Id por el mundo y haced discípulos a todas las naciones, fortalézcanse con el gran poder del Señor, pónganse toda la armadura de Dios para que puedan hacer frente a las artimañas del diablo, Porque nuestra lucha no es contra seres humanos, sino contra poderes, contra autoridades, contra potestades que dominan este mundo de tinieblas, contra fuerzas espirituales malignas en las regiones celestiales.

En tal marco la preparación que se hace por amor a mi mismo y a mi familia, es contar con un botiquín de primeros auxilios, equipo de supervivencia (linterna, pito, bengalas, navaja suiza, encendedor, vela unos 10 metros de cabuya y 2 metros de cordel, costurero con hilo y aguja. un espejo personal y unos 2 litros de agua potables). equipos de radiofrecuencia para emitir y captar con sus correspondientes complementos (2 micrófonos, consola mezcladora de 2 canales, antena, radios bidireccional intercomunicadores con 32 km de alcance) suministros suficientes para uno o dos meses, calzado adecuado para diferentes tipos de caminata: botas de caucho y tenis. Unos 5 metros cuadrados de plástico grueso, bolsa de dormir, carpa e impermeable.

Todos estos elementos así como los que componen el cuadro de mis sueños cumplidos ya están en mi presente, yo ya los tengo, -me explico- hablo desde el pasado, un instante en el inexistente tiempo que no es más que otra elaboración del sistema nervioso central, por lo que puedo, -todos pueden- modificarlo a gusto o conveniencia, para ubicarse en la línea temporal que deseen.

Espero que todos puedan lograr sus sueños, aunque bien sabemos que el sistema cultural en que vivimos está diseñado estructuralmente para que no sea así, sin embargo, el sistema cósmico en que habitamos si está diseñado para que sea así, así que depende de mi y solo de mi conectarme con el sistema cósmico, -con el cielo- para hacer descender los secretos del cielo que están disponibles para aquellos que piden.

Lo más duro es cuando subes de nivel por los secretos del cielo asignados, porque vendrá el fiscal general del cosmos, el adversario o satán como en el caso de Job a acusar de cualquier violación u omisión a la divina Ley Natural, falta o pecado cometido ante el espíritu de Amor Absoluto que es Dios, la fuente divina universal y su omnipresencia.

Es el control de calidad que le están aplicando a uno, entre Dios y el diablo, entre el ying y el Yang, Entre Boaz y Jaquin, es encontrar el Daat secreto para habitar en su justicia silenciosa seguro como castillo en fuerte.

[vicholas]

July 26, 2024

(...)With the Paris Games starting on July 26, Israel's killing of athletes and players in Gaza, along with its destruction of the enclave's sports facilities, has triggered mounting demands to disqualify Israel from the tournament as activists and spectators question the legitimacy of its participation.

Palestinian writers and sports commentators contend that Israel's Gaza onslaught, which has killed nearly 40,000 Palestinians, also represents an attempt to eliminate sports and athletic achievement.

"It's a genocide ... ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian people, and the attacks on athletes and sports in particular in the Gaza Strip are all very systematic attacks to obliterate and erase sports in the territory," Abubaker Abed, a Gaza-based sports journalist told Anadolu.

Israel's intentions go further than eliminating Gaza's current athletic capacity, according to writer and lecturer Abdaljawad Omar, who held that it was part of a concerted effort by Tel Aviv to undermine Palestinians' achievements in all areas, with sports being no exception.

"Israel systemically seeks to ensure that Palestinian accomplishments and potential in all realms remain dampened and always dwarfed by its own achievements.

"This applies to political, intellectual, economic, and literary fields, where historically, many talented and highly accomplished Palestinians have been targeted. Sports is no exception in this sense," he explained.  

The situation is "extremely worse" for athletes in Gaza, according to football journalist Abed, adding that many players have been killed in the territory.

According to the Palestinian Olympic Committee and Palestine Football Association, about 400 athletes have been killed since Oct. 7, with the football association noting that the war has claimed 245 players in that sport alone, including 69 children and 176 young men.

Some 33 scouts and 70 members of sports unions have also been killed.

According to the association, Israeli forces have also detained players, including 12 in the occupied West Bank.

Israel's attacks have killed several Olympians as well. Sixty-nine have been killed during Israel's ongoing assault, says the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel, launched in 2004.  

Besides athletes, sports facilities also have not been spared. Dozens, including gyms, training halls, fields, and stadiums, have been damaged or destroyed since Oct. 7.

A total of 42 facilities have been leveled in Gaza, while seven were destroyed in the West Bank, says the Palestinian Football Association.

Abed pointed out how Israel has destroyed football schools, including the Al-Wahda Academy and the Champions Academy, which "was one of the most promising football projects" in Gaza.

He pointed out how Israel has eradicated talent in football, the most popular sport among Gaza's residents, leaving only one stadium, the Al-Dorra stadium, intact out of the enclave's 10.

Israeli forces have been seizing stadiums in Gaza and turning them into detention centers.

Human rights monitor Euro-Med highlights that the Israeli army turned the Yarmouk Stadium in Gaza City into a detention center "to hold and humiliate hundreds of Palestinians, including children, shown naked and stripped of their clothes in footage published by the Israeli media in December 2023."

A report by the group published in May indicates that facilities bulldozed and destroyed include "300 five-a-side courts, 22 swimming courts, 12 covered sports halls for basketball, volleyball, and handball, and six tennis stadiums.

"Twenty-eight sports and fitness centers have been targeted, damaged, and destroyed."  

Israel's offensive has also caused the death of prominent players in Gaza.

This includes Palestine's first-ever Olympian and flagbearer, Majed Abu Maraheel, who died due to kidney failure in a refugee camp in June.

The 61-year-old Olympic distance runner died as Israel's ongoing blockade of humanitarian assistance left many, including Maraheel, lacking medical treatment and facilities.

Maraheel had competed in the men's 10,000-meter race at the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games.

In January, the Palestinian Olympic football team's coach Hani Al-Mossader was killed in an Israeli airstrike.

The same month, Nagham Abu Samra, a karate champion who was set to participate in the Paris Olympics, died in a hospital in Egypt after succumbing to her injuries.

She had been severely wounded by an Israeli attack that left her with head injuries and led to the amputation of one of her legs.

(...)With hours left until the Paris 2024 Games' opening ceremony, experts are still questioning the International Olympic Committee's (IOC) decision to keep Israel in the tournament.

"Athletes, whether footballers ... whatever the sport is, they don't belong to political factions ... they are targeted and are illegitimate targets for Israeli forces, and this is absolutely prohibited by all international laws and all FIFA regulations," says Abed.

He argued that Israel's actions show that it lacks the Olympic values of peace, tolerance, forgiveness, love, and sportsmanship.

"So, how could Israel even participate in the Olympics?" he asked.

Russia, meanwhile, has been banned from Olympic and FIFA tournaments after it launched its war on Ukraine in 2022, noted Abed, who maintained that Moscow's actions in that conflict were mild compared to the devastation Israel has caused in Gaza.

This "disgraceful stance," he asserts, revealed the hypocrisy of the IOC, as well as the world governing body for football.

The organizers of this year's Olympics have said their decision to keep Israel in the Games while upholding the ban on Russia and Belarus is due to Moscow's annexation of Ukrainian territory, while Tel Aviv has not formally seized territory in Gaza.

Fadi Quran, senior director at US-based rights group Avaaz, said the Olympics and the IOC's current leadership will be remembered for "turning a blind eye to a country committing what the ICJ ruled is a plausible genocide, and said is apartheid."

He was referring to a preliminary ruling by the International Court of Justice that recognized genocide as a plausible risk in Gaza. Israel stands accused of genocide at the top UN court, which in its latest ruling has ordered Tel Aviv to immediately halt its operation in the southern city of Rafah, where over a million Palestinians had sought refuge from the war before it was invaded on May 6.

Quran expects that athletes will protest Israel's presence at the Olympics and fans will boycott events where the Israeli flag is raised.

"Now that the IOC has refused to ban Israel, activists across the world will take action to ensure that the Paris Olympics are branded as the 'Apartheid Olympics,' or 'War Crime Olympics'," he said.

According to Abed, it will take a decade to revive sports in the Gaza Strip.

"The war on Gaza has changed everything. The war on Gaza has killed the dreams of many."

[plounce]

researching stuff for a post about misinformation regarding girl scout cookies and man this article (10/28/23) about this palestinian-american girl scout nearly made me burst into tears

In her short 17 years on earth, Amira Ismail had never been called a baby killer.

That’s what happened one Friday this month, Amira said, on New York City’s Q58 bus, which runs through central Queens.

“This lady looked at me, and she was like: ‘You’re disgusting. You’re a baby killer. You’re an antisemite,’” Amira told me. When she talked about this incident, her signature spunk faded. “I just kept saying, ‘That’s not true,’” she said. “I was just on my way to school. I was just wearing my hijab.”

Amira was born in Queens in the years after the Sept. 11 attacks. She remembers participating as a child in demonstrations at City Hall as part of a successful movement to make Eid al-Fitr and Eid al-Adha school holidays in New York City.

But since the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas, in which an estimated 1,400 Israelis were killed and some 200 others were kidnapped, Amira, who is Palestinian American, said she has experienced for the first time the full fury of Islamophobia and racism that her older relatives and friends have told stories about all her life. Throughout the city, in fact, there has been an increase in both anti-Muslim and antisemitic attacks.

In heavily Muslim parts of Queens, she said, police officers are suddenly everywhere, asking for identification and stopping and frisking Muslim men. (New York City has stepped up its police presence around both Muslim and Jewish neighborhoods and sites within the five boroughs.) Most painful though, she said, is the sense that she and her peers are getting that Palestinian lives do not matter, as they watch the United States staunchly back Israel as it heads into war.

“It can’t go unrecognized, the thousands of Palestinians that have been murdered in the past two weeks and even more the past 75 years,” Amira said. “There’s no way you can erase that.” That does not mean she is antisemitic, she said. “How can I denounce one system of oppression without denouncing another?” she asked me. The pain in her usually buoyant voice cut through me. I had no answer for her.

Many New York City kids have a worldliness about them, a certain telltale moxie. Amira, a joyful, sneaker-wearing, self-described “Queens kid,” can seem unstoppable.

When she was just 15, Amira helped topple a major mayoral campaign in America’s largest city, writing a letter accusing the ultraprogressive candidate Dianne Morales of having violated child labor laws while purporting to champion the working class in New York.

“My life and my extremely bright future as a 15-year-old activist will not be defined by the failures and harm enabled by Dianne Morales,” Amira wrote in the 2021 letter, which went viral and helped end Ms. Morales’s campaign. “I wrote my college essay about that,” Amira told me with a slightly mischievous smile.

In the past two years, Amira has become a veteran organizer. Last weekend, she joined an antiwar protest. First, though, she’ll have to work on earning her latest Girl Scout badge, this one for photography. That will mean satisfying her mother, Abier Rayan, who happens to be Troop 4179’s leader. “She’s tough,” Amira assured me.

At a meeting of the Muslim Girl Scouts of Astoria last week, a young woman bounded into the room, asking whether her fellow scouts had secured tickets to an Olivia Rodrigo concert. “She’s the Taylor Swift of our generation,” the scout turned to me to explain.

A group of younger girls recited the Girl Scout Law:

“I will do my best to be honest and fair, friendly and helpful, considerate and caring, courageous and strong, and responsible for what I say and do, and to respect myself and others, respect authority, use resources wisely, make the world a better place and be a sister to every Girl Scout.”

Amira’s mother carefully inspected the work of some of the younger scouts; she wore a blue Girl Scouts U.S.A. vest, filled with colorful badges, and a hot-pink hijab. “It’s no conflict at all,” Ms. Rayan told me of Islam and the Girl Scouts. “You want a strong Muslim American girl.”

At the Girl Scouts meeting, Amira and her friends discussed their plans to protest the war in Gaza. “Protests are where you let go of your anger,” Amira told me.

Amira’s mother was born in Egypt. In 1948, Ms. Rayan told me, her grandfather lost his home and land in Jaffa to the state of Israel. At the Girl Scout meeting, Ms. Rayan was still waiting for word that relatives in Gaza were safe.

“There’s been no communication,” she said. When I asked about Amira, Ms. Rayan’s eyes brightened. “I’m really proud of her,” she said. “You have to be strong. You don’t know where you’re going to be tomorrow.”

By Monday, word had reached Ms. Rayan that her relatives had been killed as Israel bombed Gaza City. When I asked whom she had lost, Ms. Rayan replied: “All of them. There’s no one left.” Thousands of Palestinians are estimated to have been killed by Israeli airstrikes in Gaza in recent weeks. ... Ms. Rayan said those killed in her family included six cousins and their children, who were as young as 2. Other relatives living abroad told her the cousins died beneath the rubble of their home.

As Ms. Rayan spoke, I saw Amira’s young face. I wondered how long this bright, spirited Queens kid could keep her fire for what I believe John Lewis would have called “good trouble” in a world that seems hellbent on snuffing it out. I worried about how she would finish her college applications.

“I have a lot of angry emotions at the ones in charge,” Amira told me days ago, speaking for so many human beings around the world in this dark time.

I thought about what I had seen over that weekend in Brooklyn, where thousands gathered in the Bay Ridge neighborhood, the home of many Arab Americans, to protest the war. In this part of the city, people of many backgrounds carried Palestinian flags through the street. Large groups of police officers gathered on every corner, watching them go by.

The crowd was large but quiet when Amira waded in, picked up her megaphone and called for Palestinian liberation. In an instant, thousands of New Yorkers repeated after her, filling the Brooklyn street with their voices. My prayer is that Amira’s generation of leaders will leave a better world than the one it has been given.

i believe she recently got her gold award (which, if youve never been in girl scouts, is really difficult - way more difficult than eagle scout awards), or is almost done with it. i hope she's doing okay.

this article (no paywall) about muslim and palestinian girl scout troops in socal also almost made me cry (it's like 2am). i really really hope all these kids are doing alright. god. they and their families all deserve so much better

[antisemitism-eu]

The innocent civilians Israel killed yesterday

Out of 36 people who were killed by the pager/walkie-talkie attacks - 34 were Hezbollah fighters.

One was a kid in Hezbollah's scouts (think Hitler Jugend)

And one was a girl. The lone "innocent victim".

(She was an innocent victim because someone in her life let her hold a pager that is only given to military commanders.)

That means Israel had a success rate of 99.97%

And still that's not enough.

And that's assuming you believe Hezbollah. According to some claims, Hezbollah lost many more commanders, which means that Israel's success rate is even higher.

But even if it would be 99.999999999999999999999%

Israel will be condemended.

If you're sharp-eyed - you will notice a few kids in the picture. There's a 16yo and 19yo who are both SOLDIERS.

When you quote Hamas figures about how Israel is killing children, remember that a significant number of those children were holding guns while they were killed

Does the UN or US democrats care about Hezbollah giving weapons to young kids and sending them to the battlefield? Of course not.

Banning weapons is only a thing in the US. If those same weapons can kill Jews? Why would anybody be against it?

Because there are important things: encouraging the genocide and ethnic cleansing of Jews.

And there are non-important things: child soldiers, using hospitals as military HQ, civil wars that kill millions, teaching your children to kill Jews, famine and floods etc. etc. etc.

[girlactionfigure]

This is the story of Staff Sergeant Nitai Metodi, of blessed memory.  

Nitai, the son of Lara and Lior, and the older brother of Shai and Niv, grew up in Ashkelon. He loved his city, was a counselor in the Scouts movement, and spent every free moment with his family and friends.  

Nitai was a person with a heart of gold, full of charm and charisma. He did everything with a smile, always showing care and sensitivity to those around him.  

He served as a combat soldier in the Nahal Orev unit and was discharged from regular service.  

On October 7th, Nitai was on his long-awaited trip to Australia. However, without hesitation, he searched for the first flight back to Israel and immediately returned to join the reserves, to defend the country he loved so much and to fight alongside his team.  

On August 23rd, after months of intense combat, Nitai fell in Gaza at just 23 years old. A whole life was ahead of him, but he gave his life for our country.  

May his memory be a blessing. A hero of Israel 🇮🇱🕯  

May we be worthy.

[somecluelessidiot]

Bit of a deviation from the stuff I normally post, but I just wanted to address what the fuck is happening with our world right now??

The last five years have honestly just felt like a fever dream. Like, if I woke up right now and found out that none of that actually happened, I'd be a bit concerned for what my brain came up with, but I wouldn't question it one bit.

I mean, there's been COVID (obviously), the election of The Tangerine, the wildfires all over the world (from Australia to LA), the Russia-Ukraine war, the fact that TikTok was banned only to be fixed a few hours later (don't come at me for this, I know), Elon Musk threatening to invade the UK to save us from our 'tyrannical government' (we don't want his help, btw), the fact that both Musk and Trump were allowed at the Notre Dam reopening, too many of the world leaders supporting Trump, Putin sending a submarine with a nuke too close to the UK, the implosion of the Titanic scout submarine (rip 🕊), the Palestine-Israel war, and probably so many more things that I can't think of off the top of my head.

It's just absolutely insane. This generation has to be cursed or something because wtf?

2025 was supposed to be a good year?? That's not going too well so far, is it?

[babehog]

pker on osrs named "IDFcommander" screwed up their attempt at killing me so badly I had time to say "zionist lol" and still get away completely unscathed. 3v1 and he said israel ftw after freezing and killing my scout 😂tbh more embarrassing than the pker that I saw dying to venenatis while trying to kill me LOL

[southernsolarpunk]

Hey check this out

I was making a zine (solarpunk ofc) and decided to use a bunch of old National Geographic magazines to cut up and use in a scrappy diy scrapbook fashion and of course I started reading them. This one in particular:

It caught my eye because it’s from September 1980 & talks about the Middle East. My brain wonders if they mention Palestine and they do! I copied the text for accessibility, but I put pictures at the end of the original pages.

“Jerusalem: reunited or occupied? The question has divided the city's 400,000 Jews and 100,000 Arabs since Israel annexed East Jerusalem in 1967.

BEIRUT, JANUARY 1975. Armed soldiers lead me through labyrinthine back streets, up a dark stairway to a midnight rendez-vous. Only a bare bulb lights the temporary command post; Yasir Arafat, chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization, seldom dares spend two days in the same place. “Our argument is not with the Jews” He tells me. "We are both Semites. They have lived with us for centuries. Our enemies are the Zionist colonizers and their backers who insist Palestine belongs to them exclusively.

We Arabs claim deep roots there too."

Two decades ago Palestinians were to be found in United Nations Relief Agency camps at places like Gaza and Jericho, in a forlorn and pitiable state. While Palestinian spokesmen pressed their case in world cap-itals, the loudest voice the world heard was that of terrorists, with whom the word Palestinian came to be associated. Jordan fought a war to curb them. The disintegration of Lebanon was due in part to the thousands of refugees within its borders.

Prospects for peace brightened, however, when President Anwar Sadat of Egypt, most powerful of the Arab countries, made his historic trip to Israel in November 1977. A year later Sadat and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin signed the Camp David accords, a framework for the return of the occupied Sinai Peninsula to Egypt.

The former enemies established diplomatic relations and opened mail, telephone, and airline communications.

The Camp David accords also addressed the all-important Palestinian question but left it vague. Sadat insists that any lasting peace depends on an eventual Palestinian homeland in the Israeli-occupied West Bank and Gaza. Israel agrees to limited autonomy for those regions, but, fearful of a new and hostile Palestinian state suddenly planted on its borders, insists that Israeli troops must maintain security there.

Crowded Rashidiyah refugee camp, set among orange groves south of the ancient Phoenician port of Tyre in Lebanon, lies on the front lines. Frequent pounding by Israeli military jets and warships seeking PLO targets has war-hardened its population, some 13,700 Palestinians.

At the schoolyard I watched a solemn flag raising. Uniformed ashbal, or lion cubs, stood rigid as color guards briskly ran up the green-white-and-black Palestinian flag.

Ranging in age from 8 to 12, they might have been Cub Scouts— except for the loaded rifles they held at present arms. Behind them stood two rows of girls, zaharat, or little flowers. Same age, same weapons.

Over lunch of flat bread, hummus, yo-gurt, and chicken I commented to my hosts, a group of combat-ready fedayeen, that 30 years of bitter war had settled nothing nor gained the Palestinians one inch of their homeland. Was there no peaceful way to press their cause?

"Yes, and we are doing it. Finally, after 30 years, most countries in the United Nations recognize that we too have rights in Palestine. But we feel that until your country stops its unconditional aid to Israel, we have two choices: to fight, or to face an unmarked grave in exile."

AFTER CROSSING the Allenby Bridge from Amman, I drove across the fertile Jordan Valley through Arab Jericho and past some of the controversial new Jewish settlements: Mitzpe Jericho, Tomer, Maale Adumim, Shilat. Then as I climbed through the steep stony hills to Jerusalem, I saw that it too had changed. A ring of high-rise apartments and offices was growing inexorably around the occupied Arab side of the walled town. Within the wall, too, scores of Arab houses had been leveled during extensive reconstruction.

"Already 64 settlements have been built on the West Bank," said a Christian Palestinian agriculturist working for an American church group in Jerusalem. "And another 10 are planned," he said. Unfolding a copy of the master plan prepared in 1978 by the World Zionist Organization, he read: "Real-izing our right to Eretz-Israel... with or without peace, we will have to learn to live with the minorities...

The Israeli Government has reaffirmed the policy. In Prime Minister Menachem Begin's words: "Settlement is an inherent and inalienable right. It is an integral part of our national security."

"Security" is a word deeply etched into the Israeli psyche. The country has lived for 30 years as an armed camp, always on guard against PLO raids and terrorist bombings.

Whenever such incidents occur, the response is quick: even greater retaliation.

In Jerusalem I met with David Eppel, an English-language broadcaster for the Voice of Israel. "We must continue to build this country. Israel is our lawful home, our des-tiny. We have the determination, and an immense pool of talent, to see it through." His cosmopolitan friends a city plan-ner, a psychology professor, an author gathered for coffee and conversation at David's modern apartment on Jerusalem's Leib Yaffe Road.

Amia Lieblich's book, Tin Soldiers on Jerusalem Beach, studies the debilitating effects almost constant war has had on life in the Jewish state, a nation still surrounded by enemies. As she and her husband kindly drove me to my hotel in Arab Jerusalem afterward, some of that national apprehension surfaced in the writer herself.

"We don't often come over to this part of town," she said. "Especially at night."

I DROVE OUT of the Old City in the dark of morning and arrived a few hours later at the nearly finished Israeli frontier post, whence a shuttle bus bounced me through no-man's-land to the Egyptian ter-minal. As a result of the Egyptian-Israeli treaty, it was possible for the first time since 1948 to travel overland from Jerusalem to Cairo. An Egyptian customs man opened my bags on a card table set up in the sand. I took a battered taxi into nearby El Arish, to a sleepy bank that took 45 minutes to convert dollars into Egyptian pounds, Then 1 hired a Mercedes for the

200-mile run across the northern Sinai des-ert, the Suez Canal, and the Nile Delta. By sundown Cairo was mine.

Despite official government optimism, I found many in Cairo worried that President Sadat's bold diplomatic gestures might fail.

The city was noticeably tense as Israel officially opened its new embassy on Mohi el-Din Abu el-Ez Street in Cairo's Dukki quarter. Black-uniformed Egyptian troops guarded the chancery and nearby intersections as the Star of David flew for the first time in an Arab capital. Across town, police with fixed bayonets were posted every ten feet around the American Embassy. Others were posted at the TV station and the larger hotels. Protests were scattered, mostly peaceful. None disturbed the cadence of the city.

Welcoming ever larger delegations of tourists and businessmen from Europe and the U.S., Cairo was busier than ever-and more crowded. Despite a building boom, many Egyptians migrating from the countryside, perhaps 10,000 a month, still find housing only by squatting among tombs at the City of the Dead, the huge old cemetery on the southeast side of the capital.

Even with the new elevated highway and wider bridge across the Nile, half-hour traffic standstills are common. Commuters arrive at Ramses Station riding even the roofs of trains, then cram buses until axles break.

Cairo smog, a corrosive blend of diesel fumes and hot dust from surrounding des-erts, rivals tear gas.

Despite the rampant blessings of prog-ress, Cairo can still charm. In the medieval Khan el-Khalili bazaar near Cairo's thousand-year-old Al-Azhar University, I sought out Ahmad Saadullah's sidewalk café. I found that 30 piasters (45 cents) still brings hot tea, a tall water pipe primed with tobacco and glowing charcoal, and the latest gossip. The turbaned gentleman on the carpeted bench opposite was unusually talk-ative; we dispensed with weather and the high cost of living and got right to politics:

"Of course I am behind President Sadat, but he is taking a great risk. The Israelis have not fully responded. If Sadat fails, no other Arab leader will dare try for peace again for a generation."

Across town at the weekly Akhbar El-Yom newspaper, one of the largest and most widely read in the Middle East, chief editor Abdel-Hamid Abdel-Ghani drove home that same point.

"What worries me most is that President Sadat's agreement with Israel has isolated Egypt from our brother nations," he told me. "When Saudi Arabia broke with us, it was a heavy loss. The Saudis are our close neighbors. Now they have canceled pledges for hundreds of millions in development aid to Egypt. Some 200,000 Egyptians-teach-ers, doctors, engineers live and work in the kingdom.

"And Saudi Arabia, guardian of the holy cities of Mecca and Medina, remains for Muslim Egypt a spiritual homeland."

This magazine was published before my mom was born, and yet the sentiments have basically unchanged. An interesting look at the past, and more proof this didn’t start October 7th. (But imagine my followers already knew that)

[sayruq]

On Monday, April 15, the Palestinian Football Association announced that three children from the Al-Wahda Sports Academy had been killed during Israeli raids in Deir al-Balah, located in the heart of the Gaza Strip. “We announce the martyrdom of players Sami Bilal Abu Issa and Muhammad Bilal Abu Issa,” Al Wahda Academy announced on its Facebook account, which followed up by announcing the death of Adam Ramez Nabhan in another Israeli bombing. “Our hearts break for their loss.” The three children—the youngest of whom was was four years old, with the other two aged six—are among the hundreds of Palestinian athletes who have been killed since the war broke out between Israel and Hamas on October 7, 2023. Later that same day, the PFA revealed that at least 182 athletes and sports officials had been killed amid Israel’s destruction of Gaza, including no less than 28 children. An overwhelming number of the athletes killed were members of Gaza’s once vibrant football ecosystem. Among the notable names is Hani Al-Masdar, a former player and manager of the Olympic team, and Mohammed Barakat, Gaza’s first centurion of goals and a former national team player known as the “Legend of Khan Younis.” Israel has also destroyed or partially dozens of football facilities in Palestine since the start of the war. These include all of Gaza’s professional football stadiums, as well as the PFA headquarters, which was also targeted by Israeli airstrikes. Meanwhile, smaller facilities and dirt pitches have been transformed into makeshift refugee camps, field hospitals, and mass graves.

You can find the entire list of athletes murdered or injured by Israel in link above

[eretzyisrael]

by Seth J. Frantzman

IN GAZA meanwhile, the commander assesses that Hamas is largely defeated. It’s no longer an organized fighting force. 

“They are running and hiding. They don’t wear uniforms. They are wearing civilian clothes. They are carrying out a guerrilla type of war,” he says. Hamas uses human shields and is afraid of fighting at night. It conducts small hit-and-run attacks but mostly flees and hides in schools and civilian areas. “They know we don’t bomb schools and hospitals and refugee camps. They hide in the tents. We see them in the tents. We see them sending women to check us and study us,” the commander says. What he means is that Hamas uses civilians, such as women, as scouts to monitor the IDF so the Hamas terrorists can then attack. The colonel recalls one incident near a school in Bureij in central Gaza, which is south of Netzarim, where Hamas fired an anti-tank missile from the vicinity of a school. Hamas had also placed improvised explosive devices.

The war has changed. Hamas can’t carry out combined attacks with numerous men. They don’t function as a fighting force, and they have fewer munitions and a different arsenal from October 2023. “Now they just put an IED [improvised explosive device] and go back, and they have snipers who are looking for our forces. They send [civilian] people to us to get us to expose our soldiers, and then shoot at us.”

IN NETZARIM, the corridor borders areas such as Nuseirat and Bureij, towns that are built around old refugee camps. This area has never been conquered by the IDF, and Hamas has resources in these areas. The 14th Brigade was responsible for securing the road where humanitarian trucks – around 30-35 a day – would pass. The soldiers would help escort and protect the trucks, the officer says. 

“We took them [trucks] inside to a point where we let them go on by themselves.” 

When the aid trucks leave the area controlled by the IDF, they are stopped by Hamas, who move some of them to specific Hamas-controlled warehouses from where the terror group then controls the aid.

“We saw the Hamas people come after it [trucks] with white Toyota trucks – the same ones they used on Oct. 7–  and taking things from the warehouse. I can say that the Netzarim Corridor is the one that gives us an opportunity to provide food in these areas; and second, over and over, Hamas use the humanitarian aid, which the IDF escorts, to support their fighters. They shoot their own people.”

This sounds like a vicious cycle and similar to the cycle of clearing areas again and again from Hamas, which the IDF chief of staff describes as a “Sisyphean task.” 

Hamas also tries to infiltrate the humanitarian convoys. The 14th Armored saw Hamas seeking to use humanitarian cover to move from northern Gaza to the south and vice versa. They use the cover of every humanitarian element. For instance, they sought to exploit the pause in fighting linked to the vaccination campaign that began in September. 

The officer says that Hamas even tried to use medical convoys to move from north to south. “The bottom line is that Hamas makes use of the humanitarian efforts that Israel and the IDF are making... This comes at the expense of the people. As I said, they jump on trucks and steal food... We were in Netzarim for two months, and from day one we saw Hamas even in UN cars, driving UN cars.” Hamas would even try to use the cover of United Nations-backed convoys, putting their people into the convoy.

[randomrory69]

WELCOME TO MY LIL PAGE!!! :D

Im a small she/them artist, you can call me Rory, Roar, kiddo, buddy and kitto. I honestly prefer all names :D they were given to me by my followers themselves XD I'm asexual and pansexual, and most of the times I usually post game-related posts and animations (rarely-) I also post oc art and character design ideas :) I may repost memes and other shitpost stuff that makes me giggle and I love art requests and overall I'm just a silly lil person, the main reason I post on this app is due to my low storage lel. Please dont be shy to ask me anything!! Especially about my ocs, I am a certified yapper!!!

And before that, my DNI list. Seriously please don't interact. I can, and will block you:

Z00philes, p3dos, Mvrrsu1ters, MAPs, N$fw/adult/K!nk (mature content) accounts, proships, dark ships, comships. I'm sorry but I cannot support these as coping mechanisms, if you're into that stuff please keep it to yourself. Haters, rude people, drama-causers, Anti-furry/therians and Homophobes/transphobes. I also do not support AI "artists".

Now leaving that, if you're still in any of those categories and reading I suggest you leave and ignore me and go in with your day please. Anyways..

Uhh and stuff I like: random stuff, gay gay gay, coconut water (yummy) insects and buggies (I love moths btw oh and MY BIG BRO HAS A PET STICKBUGHER DID YOU KNOW DID YOU KNOW) evil kitty, cat, cattos, kittens, meow meow, eating fish curry, spicy ramen, peach ring gummies and sour stuff, especially nuclear and very unhealthy radioactive ahh gummi candy, making bracelets, kandi and diy stuff, mfs with a good fashion sense, goth, scene, decora, lolita mfs, and I also like it when people dont ignore me and actually try to include in in conversations and social interactions and make me feel like an alive person haha OH OH AND I LOVE SHARKS, I LOVE JELLYFISHOS, I LOV CLOWFISHOS, mmmmMAN I love fishies fish are cool I wana be a marine biologist when I grow up yay! OHH YEAHHH and I like biting and chewing things, I like theatre and acting, I like jello, I like my friends! I like my siblings, ouh and I'm unironically into cringe brainrot. Like I mean, using the phases a middle schooler would idk guys it's just so sigma.. And I LIKE A LOTTA STUFF AND I OBVIOUSLY LOVEEEEEEE MUSIC!!!

ouh and stuff I dislike: people who try to constantly convert me to christanity (I'm talking about you noah I know you're seeing this you filthy stalker), sigma moai and wine emoji mfs who think it's funni to disrespect wamen (I'M ON TO YOUUU >:P) people who hate therians and furries, or cosplayers (they r so cool why r u being mean) zoophiles, racists, paraphiles and JUST PEOPLE WHO ARE MEAN LIKE STOP REAL LIFE IS BAD ALREADY WHY ARE YOU RUINING OTHER PEOPLE'S LIVES ONLINE TOO!!! and oh, I hate fatherless jokes, I used to laugh at them untill one day my annoying ahh classmate said that to my friend, and I literally found out her dad died, I hate insensitive jerks but honestly I'm kinda bad too. I mean, nobodys good! I bet everyone's secretly a bit of a jerk from the inside, sorry for the weird ass rant- ahaa- also I don't like onions and tomatoes. I don't think that was important. But whatever. (Holy yappington CALM DOWN) oh ye and mfs who support Israel and Russia like nuh uh what the sigma is wrong w/ u... :(

ALSO, ARTISTS I LISTEN TO YIPEPEPE my music taste is VERY random ok don't judge me.

1. Alex G (My 2nd fav!! <3)

2. Mitski

3. Marina

4.Dresden dolls

5.Femtanyl

6.MOTHER

7.Stomach Book

8.Sodikken

9.Jimmy Urine

10.The stupendium

11.Tally hall

12.Lemon Demon

13. Miracle Musicals

14. Will wood and the tapeworms

15. Melanie Martinez (I don't support her)

16. Literally every single vocaloid, but for now mainly MARETU, Gumi, Masa works design, kasane teto, and ghost and pals

17.TV Girl

18.Mac DeMarco

19.Eyedress

20. Tyler The Creator

21.Rio Romeo

22.Mother Mother

23.Jack Stauber

24.Tame Impala

25. Dazey and the scouts

26.McCafferty

27.Gigi Perez

28.The Neighbourhood

29. Arctic Monkeys

30.Every single breakcore artist (I'm not kidding)

31. Sewerslvt

32. Rebzyyx

33.Machine Girl

34.Odecore artists, Odetari, 6arelyhuman (I don't support them either) Lumi Athena etc.

35. Radiohead

36. AND EVERY SINGLE MUSIC ARTIST THAT USED TO MAKE FANDOM RELATED SONGS IN YOUR CHILDHOOD. Cg5, the living tombstone, dagames, or30, JT music, Griffinila, ck9C, and welp, more. I used to be a gacha undertale, batim, fnaf, tattletail, insert every single mascot horror game here and baldi kid. Yeah. You can kinda tell.

Oh, and my all time favourite artist for now is mindless self indulgence!!!! :> ofc i dont support em either :(( I just like the music

38. Ouhh, and alsooo Adrienne Keller/Big Thief!!

NOW THAT'S DONE-..

Also, content warning(s)!

- I may post gore art, body horror, creepy and disturbing analog horror art and about sensitive topics related to violence and much darker things! Mainly about my OC's very traumatized ahh and edgy sad backstories.. Or even ventposts.

- most of the times I use flashing lights, triggering themes and VERY bright colours (like, REALLY!!) in my colourscheme.

- But overall if there's something else even more messed up, I'll always keep in mind to tag that in my posts or use a content Label so don't worry!! ^_^

-Oh, and I will warn you that I am a very unserious goofy and freaky deaky person and I may very much use bad werds. If that triggers you, sorry. don't tell my mom pls...

-I MAY OR MAY NOT POST NS/W (well, kinda. It'll just be plain artistic nude art, not straight up... uhh.. Yknow.) ART IN THE FUTURE FOR ANATOMY PRACTICE. I WILL USE CONTENT LABELS BUT I DON'T WANT TO JUMPSCARE ANYONE SO I'M JUST SAYING. Other than that I am COMPLETELY A SFW ARTIST 😭 I mean dawg I'm a minor whar

So now that's that, here are some rules regarding my art cuz I'm a damn nerd 🤓🤡👆

Please don't try to remove my watermarks and repost my art. Most of the times I don't even use a watermark (cuz I'm lazy..) but when I do, it's gonna quite literally be impossible to remove it since I use noise, ai blockers, and hide it in like 60 morbillion small places disguised as minor details.. (MUEHEHEH.. GOOD LUCK WITH THAT!!!)

Please don't give me art requests of weird stuff.. Oh, and sometimes, (SOMETIMES.. OKAY- NOT ALL TIMES-) I can even draw your ocs and fav characters for FREE!!1!1 cuz I don't have a job and uhh I'm just bored yeah.

PLEASE PLEASE PLEAAAASEEEEE GIVE ME CREDITS IF YOU USE MY ART AS YOUR PFP OR HEADER IMAGE!!

And I guess that's all.. Idk.

THANK YOU FOR READING MY YAPPOLOGY, I LOVE YOU!!! 🩶���� BYE BYE :3

[mintaikkcorpse]

I was listening to the song Army Dreamers and, even though I do too much of it, it got me thinking.

The song is about the mother's of the soldiers who have died in war. It's such a bitter sweet song, with song reffering to the boy as "Mommy's hero", and it being sang like a lullabye. The mother is proud of her son for dying valiantly, but she is so heartbroken because that's her baby. The choices he had in life were taken away from him once that bullet shot through his body. And he hadn't even made it to his 20th birthday. He was still a teenager.

While my heart goes out to these mothers, I always just feel so angry at the fact that it's happening. The US has so much military propaganda, and I hate it. We're shown what heroes people in the military are, and how they risk their lives for our country everyday. I fell victim to this too! In my girl scouts when I was in 3rd grade, a soldier came in and I was so interested in how many things could be used as weapons.

But, this is the US. We're one of the most powerful countries in the world. What are we defending from? 9 times out of 10, we don't need to be protected from other countries; other countries need to be protected from us. We go kill in Vietnam bcuz of communism in a country that's across the world from us, we split the Koreas and cause a war, we bomb the middle east and kill civilians all for oil. We're helping Israel in a GENOCIDE just bcuz Isarael can aid us or some shit. Tell me; is having oil or a tiny bit more power worth the lives of millions? So many people are dying because of our military, and this propaganda is making it worse.

But the terrible thing is that we need this propaganda, or else we'll have draft. Ik that in other countries, drafts are seen as noble thing bcuz larger countries can come and attack snd they need all the defense they can get. But even then, I'm still against the draft. Civilians shouldn't have to be put in war. IL thar many civilians who aren't soldiers are facing thr horrors of war, but they shouldn't. I'm against the draft, and I'm so, so thankful my country doesn't have it. But, people are realizing the militaries propaganda, and they don't want to go bomb middle eastern countries anymore, because they are realizing how horrifying that is. And once people stop, then they're going to force people to bomb those countries. They're going to force these people into a war just so capitalism can thrive. No matter the option, it's going to end with people dying.

The military preys on poor people. I know this, because I come from a military background. My grandpa and his brother were in the army. Only reason my Poppy (grandpa) didn't fight in Vietnam was because he was in college to become a doctor.

His brother didn't need to go. He wasn't drafted, but he offered to go because he was older, already in the military, and he believed that he could teach the younger soldiers.

And 2 days before he was meant to come back, he was shot by a Vietnamese soldier.

Yes, I know he offered to go. I never met him, but I believe he is a good person for wanting to go because he wanted to teach the other soldiers. But everytime I think about it, I see the tears of my Poppy whenever he sees a picture of his brother. I see the tears of my Poppy whenever younger me would ask him about it. He has dementia, but his brother dying is something he remembers, and it pains my fucking soul.

It wasn't the soldier's fault. It's war. Times are scary. He was doing his job. I don't know who he was, and do not at all hate for him it, and neitber does my Poppy. I hope he's doing well now, and I hope that he is okay after what happened.

It was the fault of the US government for fighting an unesecary fucking war and sacrificing so, so many people to do so.

My heart still goes out to the mother's of their little army dreamers. But I want their grief to become anger, at the fact that our government would exploit it's citizens like this, just to fight in their useless capitalist and xenophobic wars

Sorry, I was just listening to the song and got flashbacks while crying and I dont have a journal (as you can clearly tell from the shit i post. I really need to get one, lmao). Just had to vent

[the-garbanzo-annex-jr]

by Ruth Wisse

Hamas recently beat the competition with a demonstration of savagery unlike the earlier improvised pogroms in Europe to which it has been compared. October’s slaughters were plotted with crucial input from Gazans employed in Israeli homes they had scouted and mapped for the purpose, making this the first military campaign designed to culminate in acts of beheading, torture, and rape of predetermined victims. As attempts to destroy Israel through conventional warfare had only made Israel militarily stronger, the new tactics aimed at destroying the Jews’ will to remain among antagonists sworn never to leave them in peace. More than to intimidate, these attacks were made to demoralize.

Survivor-witnesses describe new refinements of psychological warfare. Hamas murdered parents and children in each other’s presence so as to sharpen the survivors’ agony. They took hostages—not, as others do, for eventual exchange—but to taunt the country with images of prisoners’ suffering, and fear that many would never be returned. Every Jewish value—respect for women, honoring the human being who was made in the image of God—was gleefully defiled.

As for the Jews living in nearby Gaza, many of them self-described Jewish “peaceniks,” they had prided themselves on the medical help and hospitality they extended to their Gazan neighbors, persuaded that cooperation was obviously to everyone’s benefit. The terrorists exploited the Jews’ desire for peace as a means of entrapment and further opportunity for torment. By attacking on a Jewish holiday and a secular festival, they intended to destroy the Israelis’ joy in life. Anyone reading Dan Senor and Saul Singer’s exhilarating book about the collective strengths that constitute The Genius of Israel will recognize how Hamas turned precisely those virtues into weapons of torture to tear the Jewish people apart.

October’s slaughters were plotted with crucial input from Gazans employed in Israeli homes they had scouted and mapped for the purpose, making this the first military campaign designed to culminate in acts of beheading, torture, and rape of predetermined victims.

Nor does this exhaust their inventiveness. The Arabs’ strategy of martyring generations of their own people in the cause of eliminating Israel dates back to the 1947 refusal of Arab leaders to accept the partition of Palestine into two states—in order to keep Arabs perpetually homeless. Arabs were to remain permanently displaced as evidence of Israel’s “occupation” while Israel integrated the over 800,000 Jewish refugees from Arab lands and granted participatory citizenship to over 2 million Arabs who chose to remain in its boundaries.

Taking this tactic of martyring their fellow Arabs to a new level, Hamas turned Gaza into suicide central. Above ground, residents were allowed to conduct a quasi-normal life, knowing that, below ground, every school, every hospital, and many private homes were booby-trapped for the Israelis whom their leaders would lure into their cities. The IDF continues to uncover a tremendous amount of infrastructure built over years, confirming Hamas’ intention of invading and killing Israelis en masse. In the words of one of its soldiers “[It] is clear they expected us to arrive and laid plans to exact a cost in the form of IDF casualties.” The attack of Oct. 7 had to be monstrous enough to provoke Israel into full-scale war in the hope of rescuing the hostages and destroying the terrorists—a plan that would also ensure the collateral death of as many Gazans as possible to attract Western sympathy.