| | | | | "Cleared for publication: our hearts are broken" reads a spray-painted sign I saw this week, echoing the language with which the deaths of soldiers are announced by the media. It's an apt description for the mood in Israel as it marked Memorial Day followed immediately by its 76th Independence Day, and Palestinians commemorated the Nakba. Robi Damelin, a bereaved mother, writes that since Israelis' lives were engulfed in horror on October 7, a catastrophe that has yet to end for Palestinians in Gaza, families who have lost loved ones from both sides of the conflict are coming together. Anshel Pfeffer observes that as Israel celebrates its independence, the triumph of Zionism should have long settled its meaning. But it hasn't. Etan Nechin argues that as ministers in the Netanyahu government threaten a "second Nakba" while refusing to recognize the first one happened, it's not just the Palestinians that are severed from their roots, but also Israelis. Amira Hass tells of the 1.2 million Gazans huddled in Rafah, a city that has already seen devastating bombings and shellings. Walid Omary, Al Jazeera's Jerusalem bureau chief, vows that the Netanyahu government's decision to ban the channel won't stop its coverage of both sides of the Gaza war. Flora Cassen, a history professor, shares that on Reddit, she's mostly found interesting and well-informed conversations about October 7 and the war. Until one post ticked her off. Paul James Kearns elaborates about being an Israeli-Irish journalist living in Tel Aviv and how he is forced to navigate the deteriorating, often publicly antagonistic relationship between Ireland and Israel. | |
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