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gothhabiba · 10 months

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loving your falafel research saga and just wanted to ask - something I remember hearing about falafel is that while Israeli culture definitely appropriated it, the concept of serving it in pita bread with salads, tahini etc. is a specifically Israeli twist on the dish. I wonder if you found/know anything about that?

The short answer is: it's not impossible, but I don't think there's any way to tell for sure. The long answer is:

The most prominent claim I've heard of this nature is specifically that Yemeni Jews (who had immigrated to Israel under 'right of return' laws and were Israeli citizens) invented the concept of serving falafel in "pita" bread in the 1930s—perhaps after they (in addition to Jews from Morocco or Syria) had brought falafel over and introduced it to Palestinians in the first place.

"Mizrahim brought falafel to Palestine"

This latter claim, which is purely nonsense (again... no such thing as Moroccan falafel!)—and which Joel Denker (linked above) repeats with no source or evidence—was able to arise because it was often Mizrahim who introduced Israelis to Palestinian food. Mizrahi falafel sellers in the early 20th century might run licensed falafel stands, or carry tins full of hot falafel on their backs and go from door to door selling them (see Shaul Stampfer on a Yemeni man doing this, "Bagel and Falafel: Two Iconic Jewish Foods and One Modern Jewish Identity," in Jews and their Foodways, p. 183; this Arabic source mentions a 1985 Arabic novel in which a falafel seller uses such a tin; Yael Raviv writes that "Running falafel stands had been popular with Yemenite immigrants to Palestine as early as the 1920s and ’30s," "Falafel: A National Icon," Gastronomica 3.3 (2003), p. 22).

On Mizrahi preparation of Palestinian food, Dafna Hirsch writes:

As Sami Zubaida notes, Middle Eastern foodways, while far from homogeneous, are nevertheless describable in a vocabulary and set of idioms that are “often comprehensible, if not familiar, to the socially diverse parties” [...]. Thus, for the Jews who arrived in Palestine from the Middle East, Palestinian Arab foods and foodways were “comprehensible, if not familiar,” even if some of the dishes were previously unknown to most of them. [...] They found nothing extraordinary or exotic in the consumption, preparation, and selling of foods from the Palestinian Arab kitchen. Therefore, it was often Mizrahi Jews who mediated local foods to Ashkenazi consumers, as street food vendors and restaurant owners. ("Urban Food Venues as Contact Zones between Arabs and Jews during the British Mandate Period," in Making Levantine Cuisine: Modern Foodways of the Eastern Mediterranean, p. 101).

Raviv concurs and furnishes a possible mechanism for this borrowing:

Other Mizrahi Jewish vendors sold falafel, which by the late 1930s had become quite prevalent and popular on the streets of Tel Aviv. [...] Tel Aviv had eight licensed Mizrahi falafel vendors by 1941 and others who sold falafel without a license. [FN: The Tel Aviv municipality granted vending license to people who could not make their living in any other way as a form of welfare.] Many of the vendors were of Yemenite origins, although falafel was unknown in Yemen. [FN: Many of the immigrants from Yemen arrived in Palestine via Egypt, so it is possible that they learned to prepare it there and then adjusted the recipe to the Palestinian version, which was made from chickpeas and not from fava beans (ṭaʿmiya). Shmuel Yefet, an Israeli falafel maker, tells about his father, Yosef Ben Aharon Yefet, who arrived in Palestine from Aden [Yemen] in the early 1920s and then traveled to Port Said in 1939. There he became acquainted with ṭaʿmiya, learned to prepare it, and then went back to Palestine and opened a falafel shop in Tel Aviv [youtube video].]*

But why claim that Yemeni Jews invented falafel (or at least that they had introduced it from Yemen), even though its adoption from Palestinian Arabs in the early days of the second Aliya, aka the 1920s (before Mizrahim had begun to immigrate in larger numbers; see Raviv, p. 20) was within living memory at this point (i.e. the 1950s)? Raviv notes that an increasing (I mean, actually she says new, which... lol) negative attitude towards Arabs in the wake of the Nakba (I mean... she says "War of Independence") created a new sense of urgency around de-Arabizing "Israeli" culture (p. 22). Its association with Mizrahi sellers allowed falafel to "be linked to Jewish immigrants who had come from the Middle East and Africa" and thus to "shed its Arab association in favor of an overarching Israeli identification" (p. 21).

Stampfer again:

On the one hand (with regard to immigrants from Eastern Europe), [falafel] underscored the break between immediate past East European Jewish foods and the new “Oriental” world of Eretz Israel.** At the same time, this food could be seen as a link with an (idealized) past. Among the Jewish public in Eretz Israel, Yemenite falafel was regarded as the most original and tastiest version. This is a bit odd, as falafel—whether in or out of a pita—was not a traditional Yemenite food, neither among Muslims nor among Jews. To understand the ascription of falafel to Yemenite Jews, it is necessary to consider their image. Yemenite Jews were widely regarded in the mid-20th century as the most faithful transmitters of a form of Jewish life that was closest to the biblical world—and if not the biblical world, at least the world of the Second Temple, which marked the last period of autonomous Jewish life in Eretz Israel. In this sense, eating “Yemenite” could be regarded as an act of bodily identification with the Zionist claim to the land of Israel. (p. 189)

So, when it's undeniable that a food is "Arab" or "Oriental" in origin, Zionists will often attribute it to Yemen, Syria, Morocco, Turkey, &c.—and especially to Jewish communities within these regions—because it cannot be permitted that Palestinians have a specific culture that differentiates them in any way from other "Arabs." A culinary culture based in the foodstuffs cultivated from this particular area of land would mean a tie and a claim to the land, which Zionist logic cannot allow Palestinians to possess. This is why you'll hear Zionists correct people who say "Palestinians" to say "Arab" instead, or suggest that Palestinians should just scooch over into other "Arab" countries because it would make no difference to them. Raviv's conclusion that the attribution of falafel to Yemeni immigrants is an effort to detach it from its "Arab" origins isn't quite right—it is an attempt to detach it, and thus Palestinians themselves, from Palestinian roots.

"Yemeni Jews first put falafel in 'pita'"

As for this claim, it's often attributed to Gil Marks: "Jews didn’t invent falafel. They didn’t invent hummus. They didn’t invent pita. But what they did invent was the sandwich. Putting it all together.” (Hilariously, the author of the interview follows this up with "With each story, I wanted to ask, but how do you know that?")

Another author (signed "Philologos") speculates (after, by the way, falsely claiming that "falafel" is the plural of the Arabic "filfil" "pepper," and that falafel is always brown, not green, inside?!):

Yet while falafel balls are undoubtedly Arab in origin, too, it may well be that the idea of serving them as a street-corner food in pita bread, to which all kinds of extras can be added, ranging from sour pickles to whole salads, initially was a product of Jewish entrepreneurship.

Shaul Stampfer cites both of these articles as further reading on the "novelty of the combination of pita, falafel balls, and salad" (FN 76, p. 198)—but neither of them cites any evidence! They're both just some guy saying something!

Marks had, however, elaborated a little bit in his 2010 Encyclopedia of Jewish Food:

Falafel was enjoyed in salads as part of a mezze (appetizer assortment) or as a snack by itself. An early Middle Eastern fast food, falafel was commonly sold wrapped in paper, but not served in the familiar pita sandwich until Yemenites in Israel introduced the concept. [...] Yemenite immigrants in Israel, who had made a chickpea version in Yemen, took up falafel making as a business and transformed this ancient treat into the Israeli iconic national food. Most importantly, Israelis wanted a portable fast food and began eating the falafel tucked into a pita topped with the ubiquitous Israeli salad (cucumber-and-tomato salad).

He references one of the pieces that Lillian Cornfeld (columnist for the English-language, Jerusalem-based newspaper Palestine Post) wrote about "filafel":

An article from October 19, 1939 concluded with a description of the common preparation style of the most popular street food, 'There is first half a pita (Arab loaf), slit open and filled with five filafels, a few fried chips and sometimes even a little salad,' the first written record of serving falafel in pita. [Marks doesn't tell you the title or page—it's "Seaside Temptations: Juveniles' Fare at Tel Aviv," p. 4.]

You will first of all notice that Marks gives us the "falafel from Yemen" story. I also notice that he calls Salat al-bundura "Israeli salad" (in its entry he does not claim that European Jewish immigrants invented it, but neither does he attribute it to Palestinian influence: the dish was originally "Turkish coban salatsi"). His encyclopedia also elsewhere contains Zionist claims such as "wild za'atar was declared a protected plant in Israel" "[d]ue to overexploitation" because of how much of the plant "Arab families consume[d]," and that Israeli cultivation of the crop yielded "superior" plants (entry for "Za'atar")—a narrative of "Arab" mismanagement, and Israeli improvement, of land used to justify settler-colonialism. He writes that Palestinians who accuse "the Jews" of theft in claiming falafel are "creat[ing] a controversy" and that "food and culture cannot be stolen," with no reflection on the context of settler-colonialism and literal, physical theft that lies behind said "controversy." This isn't relevant except that it makes me sceptical of Marks's motivations in general.

More pertinent is the fact that this quote doesn't actually suggest that this falafel vendor was Yemeni (or otherwise) Jewish, nor does it suggest that he was the first one to prepare falafel in pitas with "fried chips," "sometimes even a little salad," and "Tehina, a local mayonnaise made with sesame oil" (Cornfeld, p. 4). I think it likely that this food had been sold for a while before it was described in published writing. The idea that this preparation is "Israeli" in origin must be false, since this was before the state of "Israel" existed—that it was first created by Yemeni Jewish falafel vendors is possible, but again, I've never seen any direct evidence for it, or anyone giving a clear reason for why they believe it to be the case, and the political reasons that people have for believing this narrative make me wary of it. There were Palestinian Arab falafel vendors at this time as well.

"Chickpea falafel is a Jewish invention"

There is also a claim that falafel originated in Egypt, where it was made with fava beans; spread to the Levant, including Palestine, where it was made with a combination of fava beans and chickpeas; but that Jewish immigration to Israel caused the origin of the chickpea-only falafal currently eaten in Palestine, because a lot of Jewish people have G6PD deficiencies or favism (inherited enzymatic deficiencies making fava beans anywhere from unpleasant to dangerous to eat)—or that Jewish populations in Yemen had already been making chickpea-only falafel, and this was the falafel which they brought with them to Palestine.

As far as I can tell, this claim comes from Joan Nathan's 2001 The Foods of Israel:

Zadok explained that at the time of the establishment of the state, falafel—the name of which probably comes from the word pilpel (pepper)—was made in two ways: either as it is in Egypt today, from crushed, soaked fava beans or fava beans combined with chickpeas, spices, and bulgur; or, as Yemenite Jews and the Arabs of Jerusalem did, from chickpeas alone. But favism, an inherited enzymatic deficiency occurring among some Jews—mainly those of Kurdish and Iraqi ancestry, many of whom came to Israel during the mid 1900s—proved potentially lethal, so all falafel makers in Israel ultimately stopped using fava beans, and chickpea falafel became an Israeli dish.

Gil Marks's 2010 Encyclopedia of Jewish Food echoes (but does not cite):

Middle Eastern Jews have been eating falafel for centuries, the pareve fritter being ideal in a kosher diet. However, many Jews inherited G6PD deficiency or its more severe form, favism; these hereditary enzymatic deficiencies are triggered by items like fava beans and can prove fatal. Accordingly, Middle Eastern Jews overwhelmingly favored chickpeas solo in their falafel. (Entry for "Falafel")

The "centuries" thing is consistent with the fact that Marks believes falafel to be of Medieval origin, a claim which most scholars I've read on the subject don't believe (no documentary evidence, + oil was expensive so it seems unlikely that people were deep frying anything). And, again, this claim is speculation with no documentary evidence to support it.

As for the specific modern toppings including the Yemeni hot sauce سَحاوِق / סְחוּג (saHawiq / "zhug"), Baghdadi mango pickle عنبة / עמבה ('anba), and Moroccan هريسة / חריסה ("harissa"), it seems likely that these were introduced by Mizrahim given their place of origin.

*You might be interested to know that, despite their Jewishness mediating this borrowing, Mizrahim were during the Mandate years largely ethnically segregated from Eastern European Zionists, who were pushing to create a "new" European-Israeli Judaism separate from what they viewed as the indolence and ignorance of "Oriental" Jewishness (Hirsch p. 101).

This was evidenced in part by Europeans' attitudes towards the "Oriental" diet. Ari Ariel, summarizing Yael Raviv's Falafel Nation, writes:

Although all immigrants were thought to require culinary education as an aspect of their absorption into the new national culture, Middle Eastern Jews, who began to immigrate in increasing numbers after 1948, provoked greater anxiety on the part of the state than did their Ashkenazi co-religionists. Israeli politicians and ideologues spoke of the dangers of Levantization and stereotyped Jews from the Middle East and North Africa as primitive, lazy, and ignorant. In keeping with this Orientalism, the state pressured Middle Easterners to change their foodways and organized cooking demonstrations in transit camps and new housing developments. (Book review, Israel Studies Review 31.2 (2016), p. 169.)

See also Esther Meir-Glitzenstein, "Longing for the Aromas of Baghdad: Food, Emigration, and Transformation in the Lives of Iraqi Jews in Israel in the 1950s," in Jews and their Foodways:

[...] [T]he Israeli establishment was set on “educating” the new immigrants not only in matters of health and hygiene, [77] but also in the realm of nutrition. A concerted propaganda effort was launched by well-baby clinics, kindergartens, schools, health clinics, and various organizations such as the Women’s International Zionist Organization (WIZO) and the Organization of Working Mothers in order to promote the consumption of milk and dairy products, in particular. [78] (These had a marginal place in Iraqi cuisine, consumed mainly by children.) Arab and North African cuisines were criticized for being not sufficiently nutritious, whereas the Israeli diet was touted as ideal, as it was western and modern. […] [T]he assault on traditional Middle Eastern cuisines reflected cultural arrogance yet another attempt to transform immigrants into “new Jews” in accordance with the Zionist ethos. Thus, European table manners were presented as the norm. Eating with the hands was equated with primitive behavior, and use of a fork and knife became the hallmark of modernity and progress. (pp. 100-101)

[77. On health matters, see Davidovich and Shvarts, “Health and Hegemony,” 150–179; Sahlav Stoller-Liss, “ ‘Mothers Birth the Nation’: The Social Construction of Zionist Motherhood in Wartime in Israeli Parents’ Manuals,” Nashim 6 (Fall 2003), 104–118.]

[78. On propaganda for drinking milk and eating dairy products, see Mor Dvorkin, “Mif’alei hahazanah haḥinukhit bishnot ha’aliyah hagedolah: mekorot umeafyenim” (seminar paper, Ben-Gurion University, 2010).]

**On the desire to shed "old, European" "Jewish" identity and take on a "new, Oriental" "Hebrew" one, and the contradictory impulses to use Palestinian Arabs as models in this endeavour and to claim that they needed to be "corrected," see:

Itamar Even-Zohar, "The Emergence of a Native Hebrew Culture in Palestine, 1882—1948"

Dafna Hirsch, "We Are Here to Bring the West, Not Only to Ourselves": Zionist Occidentalism and the Discourse of Hygiene in Mandate Palestine"

Ofra Tene, "'The New Immigrant Must Not Only Learn, He Must Also Forget': The Making of Eretz Israeli Ashkenazi Cuisine."

#sorry for this but you should've known better than to ask me about falafel at this stage in my life #falafel research saga #food research #citation #culinary Zionism

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attheexactlyrighttimeandplace · 11 months

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There are on social media some very disturbing and graphic videos of the children of Gaza who have been injured during the relentless and inhumane bombing campaign, that Israel's war criminal regime has been waging for ten days now

But despite the necessity to look at them to understand the full extent of the crimes committed by Zionist Jews and their Western accomplices who support them, to understand what genocide means, I don't think this is how we should remember Palestinians, especially the children. They're much more than mutilated bodies.

This video filmed by Mohammed Sami, who worked at Al-Ahli Baptist Hospital few few hours before the attack summarizes their lives nicely.

About this time spent together with the children, Mohammed wrote:

I will never forget the look and sound of their laughter at this moment. We are all trying to be okay.

Mohammed was confirmed dead, we do not know the fate of the children and other workers in this video, although it is likely that they did not survive given the number of victims: more than 800 dead, but it It is still right to them that they spent their last hours in a form of peace with a feeling of hope and the will to live.

He wrote a few hours before the attack on his Instagram in Arabic (I used Google for the translation, my Arabic is not strong enough):

Peace to Gaza, peace, peace Peace be upon all sad eyes Her tears overflow with sorrow and pride Peace, peace, peace to Gaza Today during my stay at the Arab National Hospital (Baptist) I saw families and their children in a state of fear and psychological pressure due to the continuous bombing of the Gaza Strip I tried to relieve them of this fear and panic by requesting assistance from a team of civilian volunteers inside the hospital to change this state for them into a state of playing, laughing, screaming loudly, and letting go of themselves. It is like trying to provide psychological first aid for the children and families by preparing a designated, safe place for play and entertainment. What I did today was an attempt with simple means through which I was able to unload everyone inside the hospital and transfer them to a condition perhaps much better than they were in.. I will never forget the look and sound of their laughter at this moment. We are all trying to be okay.

They were Muslims, so here is a dua for them and for us to help us cope with this tragedy:

Those who, when an affliction visits them, say, ‘Indeed we belong to Allah, and to Him do we indeed return.’

الَّذينَ إِذا أَصابَتهُم مُصيبَةٌ قالوا إِنّا لِلَّهِ وَإِنّا إِلَيهِ راجِعونَ

#politics #history #anti genocide #antiracism #anti colonialism #anti colonization #anti apartheid #anti ethnic cleansing #anti jewish supremacy #anti western imperialism #palestinian lives matter #palestine #middle east #indigenous people #from the river to the sea #palestine will be free #ghassan kanafani

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good-old-gossip · 5 months

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The Israeli military heavily bombed Rafah early on Monday before ordering some residents to leave parts of the border town ahead of a planned ground assault.

At least 22 Palestinians, including eight children, were killed in air strikes that hit 11 homes across Rafah, according to the Palestinian news agency Wafa.

The Israeli military also dropped flyers ordering residents to leave the eastern areas of the city near the fence that separates the Gaza Strip and Israel.

It said the military was “about to operate with force against the terror organisations in the area”.

It also warned residents from approaching the fence with Israel and the border with Egypt.

The Israeli military heavily bombed Rafah early on Monday before ordering some residents to leave parts of the border town ahead of a planned ground assault.

It said the military was “about to operate with force against the terror organisations in the area”. It also warned residents from approaching the fence with Israel and the border with Egypt.

On Sunday, Hamas killed four Israeli soldiers and seriously wounded others after launching rockets at a military site in Israel east of Rafah.

The escalation comes as mediators push for a ceasefire and a prisoner swap deal.

A Hamas delegation left Cairo on Sunday for further consultations with the group’s leadership in Doha after two days of negotiations with Egyptian and Qatari mediators.

CIA director William Burns, who was also in Cairo over the weekend, flew to Qatar on Sunday night to continue pushing for a deal. He is expected to fly to Israel on Tuesday.

Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant claimed in a phone call with US Secretary of Defence Lloyd Austin that Israel made “many efforts” to reach an agreement, his office said on Monday. He added that Hamas’ “refusal” has left Israel with “no choice” but to operate in Rafah.

Meanwhile, Hamas accuses Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of obstructing a deal.

The Palestinian group has insisted any potential deal must include a permanent end to the war while Israel is seeking only a temporary pause. Sami Abu Zuhri, a senior member of Hamas, told Reuters the Israeli ejection orders from Rafah were a “dangerous escalation that will have consequences”.

The United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees, Unrwa, warned an Israeli offensive in Rafah would have “devastating” consequences and lead to more civilian suffering and deaths.

In a post on X, the agency announced it would not evacuate the city, insisting it "will maintain a presence in Rafah as long as possible" and will continue "providing lifesaving aid to people”.

Unrwa previously complied with Israeli orders to leave northern Gaza, a decision that was criticised by Palestinians who accused it of abandoning people who rely on its services.

Petra De Sutter, deputy prime minister of Belgium, said on X the ejection orders and the announced invasion "will lead to massacre".

She added that Belgium was working on further sanctions against Israel.

Israeli leaders have threatened an offensive in Rafah for months despite widespread opposition by world leaders and humanitarian organisations.

The US, a staunch ally of Israel, has repeatedly said it does not support a massive Israeli assault in Rafah that does not take into account the safety of civilians.

Rafah had become overcrowded with civilians who fled Israeli bombardment in other parts of the Gaza Strip in recent months.

There are an estimated 1.4 million people taking shelter in makeshift tents in the small town. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Friday said Israel has not yet presented a plan to protect civilians in Rafah, saying a major military operation there would cause damage “beyond what's acceptable”.

Jens Laerke, spokesperson for the UN humanitarian office, also on Friday said an Israeli offensive there “could be a slaughter of civilians”.

He warned the humanitarian operation in the entire coastal enclave will suffer an “incredible blow” because they are run primarily out of Rafah, which has the only Palestinian land crossing not directly controlled by Israel.

The seven-month Israeli assault on Gaza has already devastated the Palestinian enclave and caused a humanitarian crisis.

The Israeli military has killed at least 34,600 Palestinians, the majority of them children and women, while a siege on the coastal enclave has left it on the brink of famine.

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murderousink23 · 2 years

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02/06/2023 is Tu B'Shevat 🌳🇮🇱, Sami National Day 🇳🇴, National Lame Duck Day 🦆🇺🇲, National Frozen Yogurt Day 🍦🇺🇲, Ice Cream for Breakfast Day 🍨🇬🇧, National Sickie Day 🤒🇬🇧, International Day of Zero Tolerance to Female Genital Mutilation 🇺🇳

#tu bishvat #sami national day #national lame duck day #national frozen yogurt day #ice cream for breakfast day #national sickie day #international day of zero tolerance to female genital mutilation

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workersolidarity · 2 months

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[ 📹 Scenes from the carnage wrought by the Israeli occupation army on the Palestinian citizens of the town of Beit Lahiya, in the northern Gaza Strip, as the occupation army continues its genocide, ongoing for more than 9 months now. 📈 The current death toll in Gaza now exceeds 39'175 Palestinians killed, while another 90'403 others have been wounded since October 7th, 2023. ]

🇮🇱⚔️🇵🇸 🚀🏘️💥🚑 🚨

GAZA GENOCIDE DAY 294: ISRAELI OCCUPATION SEEKS LAST MINUTE CHANGES TO TRUCE AND HOSTAGE EXCHANGE PROPOSAL, 9 OUT OF 10 PALESTINIANS IN GAZA NOW DISPLACED, UN SECURTY COUNCIL TO MEET OVER GAZA HUMANITARIAN CATASTROPHE, BIDEN CLAIMS INTEREST IN SOLVING HUMANITARIAN CRISES IN GAZA, GENOCIDE CONTINUES UNABATED

On 294th day of the Israeli occupation's ongoing special genocide operation in the Gaza Strip, the Israeli occupation forces (IOF) committed a total of 3 new massacres of Palestinian families, resulting in the deaths of no less than 30 Palestinian civilians, mostly women and children, while another 146 others were wounded over the previous 24-hours.

It should be noted that as a result of the constant Israeli bombardment of Gaza's healthcare system, infrastructure, residential and commercial buildings, local paramedic and civil defense crews are unable to recover countless hundreds, even thousands of victims who remain trapped under the rubble, or whose bodies remain strewn across the streets of Gaza.

This leaves the official death toll vastly undercounted as Gaza's healthcare officials are unable to accurately tally those killed and maimed in this genocide, which must be kept in mind when considering the scale of the mass murder.

The Hamas resistance movement has rejected changes sought by the Zionist entity to a truce and hostage exchange agreement currently being negotiated.

According to reporting by Reuters, a western official, along with a Palestinian and two Egyptian sources all told the newswire agency that the Israeli occupation is "seeking changes" to a truce and hostage exchange plan for the Gaza Strip, which is complicating a final agreement that many were hoping would put an end to 9 months of slaughter and genocide in the Palestinian enclave, where more than 129'000 Palestinians have been killed or wounded.

The Zionist entity is demanding that displaced Palestinian civilians be screened before returning to their homes in the north of Gaza at the start of any ceasefire agreement, which runs counter to the current and previous iterations of the plan which called for allowing Palestinians to freely return to their homes.

An anonymous western official told Reuters that the Israeli negotiators "want a vetting mechanism for civilian populations returning to the north of Gaza, where they fear these populations could support” the Hamas resistance group, which remains entrenched in the Strip despite Israeli and western reporting claiming otherwise.

The Palestinian resistance rejected the changes out-of-hand, according to Palestinian and Egyptian sources, this despite a senior Israeli official claiming that Hamas has not yet seen the latest proposals, which the official said would be publicized "in the coming hours."

"The messages from Hamas are bizarre because we haven't sent it yet, nobody has read it yet. Even the negotiators haven't got it yet. They will read it before transferring it to Hamas for their reaction," the Israeli official told Reuters.

According to Egyptian sources, the Israeli occupation is also demanding they be allowed to retain control over Gaza's border with Egypt, which Cairo dismissed out-of-hand as "outside a framework" for a final deal which could be acceptable to both sides.

In the meantime, a senior official of the Hamas resistance movement, Sami Abu Zuhri, told Reuters that "Netanyahu is still stalling. There is no change in his stance so far."

Yesterday, during a press conference, White House National Security Council spokesperson, John Kirby, claimed that "We are closer now [to a final deal] than we've been before."

In a statement issued by the White House on Thursday about the meeting between US President Joe Biden and occupation Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Biden stressed the "need to close the remaining gaps, finalize the deal as soon as possible, bring the hostages home, and reach a durable end to the war in Gaza."

According to the statement, the US President also "raised the humanitarian crises in Gaza, the need to remove any obstacles to the flow of aid and restoring basic services for those in need, and the critical importance of protecting civilian lives during military operations."

The self-described "Zionist" US President also reaffirmed "the United States' ironclad commitment to Israel's security against all threats from Iran and its proxies, including Hamas, Hezbollah and the Houthis."

In other news on Friday, July 26th, the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) will meet today to discuss the dire humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip.

According to reporting in the Palestinian media, the UNSC is holding a brief session at the request of Algeria, China and Russia covering the "situation in the Middle East, including the Palestinian issue"

Reporting states that the UNSC will meet to hear a briefing from the Commissioner-General of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine (UNRWA), Philippe Lazzarini, in addition to another briefing from the Humanitarian Coordinator, Deputy Special Coordinator and Resident Coordinator for the Office of the United Nations Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, Mahunnad Hadi.

In more news on Friday, the UNRWA published a post to the social media platform X, stating that "9 out of 10 people have been forcibly displaced in the Gaza Strip."

The UNRWA went on to say that "families seek shelter where they can; overcrowded schools, destroyed buildings, makeshift tents on the sand or amid piles of trash."

"None of these places are safe. People have nowhere left to go," the Palestinian refugee organization concluded, adding that the Gaza Strip needs a "Ceasefire now."

Meanwhile, the Israeli occupation's genocide continued into the end of the week, with the occupation army slaughtering civilians, flattening the little remaining housing in the enclave, and causing massive destruction to public infrastructure.

On Thursday evening, the Israeli occupation forces (IOF) renewed its airstrikes and artillery shelling of the Khan Yunis Governate.

Local sources reported that at least one Palestinian citizen was killed, and several others wounded, after occupation artillery detatchments shelled the town of Bani Suhaila, east of Khan Yunis, in the southern Gaza Strip.

Local residents also recovered the bodies of several martyrs from under the rubble of homes, bombed into dust by the occupation army, in the town of Bani Suhaila.

Earlier in the day, a Zionist drone bombed the Sheikh Nasser neighborhood of Khan Yunis, killing two Palestinians and wounding a third, while two more citizens were killed as a result of the bullets of Zionist soldiers east of the city.

Occupation soldiers also opened fire in the Al-Shakoush area, northwest of the city of Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip, leading to the death of one citizen.

Additionally, sources with the Nasser medical complex in Khan Yunis stated that the bodies of at least 32 Palestinians from various areas of southern Gaza arrived at the hospital over the day on Thursday.

At the same time, IOF warplanes and artillery forces detonated and destroyed a multitude of residential buildings in the town of Al-Qarara, north of Khan Yunis, while occupation artillery shelling targeted the Sheikh Nasser neighborhood of Khan Yunis, as well as other areas of the city, and also shelled several areas of Rafah City.

The Palestinian Red Crescent Society (PRCS) is also reporting that the Israeli occupation army targeted an ambulance with live bullets as it evacuated a wounded Palestinian from Khan Yunis on Thursday.

In the meantime, occupation fighter jets bombed a gathering of Palestinian in the vicinity of the Al-Kuwaiti roundabout in the Al-Zaytoun neighborhood, southeast of Gaza City, resulting in several deaths, and the wounding of a number of civilians, who were taken to Al-Ahli Baptist Hospital in the city.

Simultaneously, Zionist artillery detatchments stationed north of Beit Lahiya shelled various areas of the northern Gaza Strip, including the towns of Beit Lahiya and Beit Hanoun, while Israeli aircraft launched several raids on the Al-Nuseirat Refugee Camp, in the central Gaza Strip, and also shelled areas east and south of the Al-Bureij Camp.

The occupation's genocide of Palestinians continued into Friday, when Zionist warplanes launched two separate attacks on residential homes, with one of the homes belonging to the Al-Banna family, on Al-Sahaba Street, in the Al-Sahaba neighborhood, east of Gaza City, resulting in the deaths of 5 civilians, and wounding a number of others.

Occupation fighter jets also bombed a residential apartment in the Al-Daraj neighborhood, east of Gaza City, injuring several Palestinian civilians, including women and children.

Additionally, IOF soldiers detonated a number of residential buildings in the Al-Mughraqa area, north of the Central Gaza Governate.

The occupation army went on to bomb a residential house belonging to the Yassin family in the Al-Nadim area of the Al-Zaytoun neighborhood, southeast of Gaza City, while occupation artillery shelling targeted the Tal al-Hawa and Al-Zaytoun neighborhoods of the city, coinciding with heavy machine gun fire.

Another civilian was wounded after Zionist artillery forces shelled near the Al-Imam Mosque in the Al-Sabra neighborhood, south of Gaza City, after which, the victim was transported to Al-Ahli Baptist Hospital in the city.

Elsewhere, several explosions were heard coming from the Shuhada Junction in Gaza City, coinciding with gunfire from Zionist soldiers, while occupation gunboats fired artillery shells towards the Al-Shati Refugee Camp, west of the city.

In another Israeli atrocity, IOF warplanes bombed a residential home in the Al-Baraksat area, north of the city of Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip, killing a young child, while another citizen was killed after an occupation drone strike targeted the Al-Alam roundabout, west of the city.

Civil Defense and rescue crews also managed to recover the bodies of 6 Palestinians from Salah al-Din Street, east of Khan Yunis, in the southern Gaza Strip.

Occupation fighter jets went on to bomb a civilian residence belonging to the Abu Daqqa family in the town of Abasan Al-Kabira, east of Khan Yunis, killing two women and wounding several others.

Zionist warplanes also bombed one of the Ain Jalut Towers, south of the Nuseirat Camp, in the central Gaza Strip, as well as bombing in the vicinity of Al-Awda School, east of Khan Yunis, while occupation artillery shelling and gunfire hammered the area.

Bombing and shelling by the Israeli occupation army also continued to pummel the Bani Suhaila area, east of Khan Yunis, while rescue crews and civil defense managed to recover three dead bodies from the Al-Farabi School in the town.

As a result of the Israeli occupation's ongoing war of extermination in the Gaza Strip, the infinitely rising death toll now exceeds 39'175 Palestinians killed, including at least 10'300 women and over 15'700 children, while another 90'403 others have been wounded since the start of the current round of Zionist aggression, beginning with the events of October 7th, 2023.

This brings the total number of casualties to well over 129'578, or the equivalent of 5.63% of Gaza's 2.3 million residents.

July 26th, 2024.

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@WorkerSolidarityNews

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mdzs-fics · 6 months

Text

ridiculous future bullshit by sami

Future Fic 19 works 61K words

While rereading through works related to Author sami's And Time Is But A Paper Moon, reviewed here and here and here, I remembered reading the ridiculous future bullshit series. Through 19 short works of fiction, Author sami creates a reasonable facsimile of what the future looks like if six Immortals survive into the 21st century, forming the Five Nations.

Note: Author sami tells us "So this is the actual first-ish entry in the ridiculous future bullshit series, which of course means it is still the purest trash, it's bullshit and any complaints will still be met with you were warned."

Let's take a quick look at a few of the tales.

Now Showing: Hanguang-Jun And The Yiling Patriarch

Wei Wuxian rubs his nose. "Look, I'm guessing you're okay with your movie being, like… complete bullshit, right?"

"They are okay with that. They are so very fucking okay with that," Steve snaps.

"Okay." Wei Wuxian grins, and Dennis suddenly absolutely believes that he is talking to a trickster god. "You don't want to put Sandu Shengshou in this movie, trust me. And if you make this about sh- Jiang Yanli's actual marriage, then she might cry, and then Sandu Shengshou and I will have to raze this place to the fucking ground and salt the earth on which it stood, nobody wants that kind of hassle. But you can have a poor girl named Mo Fan - she has a terrible family, make it a bit like Cinderella, that was an okay movie."

Wei Wuxian has seen Cinderella.

Dennis notices that a sparkly princess crown has fallen out of Wei Wuxian's shopping bags.

"Mo Fan," he croaks. "Got it. Cinderella."

Wei Wuxian nods earnestly. "And a handsome prince named Jin Guangyao meets her and falls in love with her. He's in town to… try and help the villagers rebuild after the famine that drew the monsters there," he says. "Because he's just a really good guy. You can say it sends messages about how not all heroes are stabby fighters."

In which an animated movie Hanguang-Jun and the Yiling Patriarch is discussed with its Producer while the poor, ignored Five Nations consultant recognizes the two Immortals in the Producer's office.

Let's just say the original premise featuring "the story of Hanguang-Jun, a noble prince, who defeats the monsters terrorising the city of Yiling with the help of the grizzled old Yiling Patriarch, and in the process falls in love with a local maiden, Princess Lotus Blossom." is not appreciated.

Flick of the Wrist

Dernier is famous. He's been on television in sixteen countries. She's bound to be impressed.

He skips actually attending the afternoon session in favour of writing and then recording a long YouTube video about the Symposium. He titles it Inside the Top Secret Medical Conference You've Never Heard Of, and uploads it with a smirk. That'll show them for not actually inviting him.

In which a Famous Medical Researcher attends a Symposium held by Wen Qing. Once.

Lan Zhan's University Days (JAFFY)

Ziyuan gives him a look. "Last I checked, you weren't in charge of the computer science department, shushu, and this is what I have to do if I want to pass."

Jiang Ying scowls. "We'll see about that," he says darkly. He leaves the room briefly and comes back with a laptop of his own. It looks like it was probably sleek and expensive once, but now it's covered with glitter stickers. He sets it on the table and turns it on; when he clears away the windows he did have up, Jordan thinks she sees a browser tab open to YouTube frozen on a still frame of a Hanguang-Jun and the Yiling Patriarch fanvid.

Jiang Ying really seems to like that movie. He wears Hanguang-Jun and the Yiling Patriarch t-shirts at least once a week.

"You run Suibian?" Peter, one of the other students, sounds impressed. Jordan has heard of it - it's an open-source operating system, which is apparently important. Her sister is Very Into Computers, and talks about it a lot, apparently it's way better than other operating systems. Ava keeps trying to get Jordan to let her install it on her computer.

"I wrote Suibian," Jiang Ying says absently, typing rapidly.

"Holy shit," Peter breathes. "You're Axian?" He pronounces it Axe-ian.

"A-Xian," Jiang Ying corrects, still typing. "But you can't call me that, stick to Jiang Ying. I wrote it for my brother and sister, they needed something with actual security for their… work."

"Why does the source code say my sword is always at your service?" Peter asks eagerly. "Everyone has so many theories about that. Do you play D&D?"

"I don't. It says that because for them, it is. Hush now, do your work, I'm busy," Jiang Ying says, tossing a smile over his shoulder. Text is scrolling rapidly through several terminal windows.

In which Lan Zhan goes to veterinary school and the entire class is adopted for the semester after failing their first exam because Students Were Distracted.

Characters encountered here are met again and again in other tales. Some characters become more important than others.

And there are kittens.

The stories are not canon and are definitely not to be taken too seriously. Still … they are an exceptionally enjoyable read.

And yes, I enjoy YouTube "The Untamed" themed crack videos as well.

#mdzs fic recs #mo dao zu shi #mdzs #the untamed #Wei Wuxian #Lan Zhan #Jiang Cheng #Jiang Yanli #Lan Huan #Wen Qing #Lan Sizhui #and a large number of OCs

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