Joseph Zitt's [as if in dreams] 2023-11-12
Hi. I'm Joseph Zitt. I moved from the US to Israel in 2017. This is my newsletter about more-or-less daily life in my city in the shadow of war. You can select these links to subscribe or unsubscribe. There are more links at the bottom. Here we go...
I haven't seen any Black Friday ads yet. Thanksgiving Day isn't a thing here, but we still usually have them. My family tells me that I probably won't. The day of the massacre, Saturday, October 7th, has become known as Shabbat Hashakhor, literally "Black Sabbath." So naming something for any other "Black (Weekday)" is probably off the table for a while.
Black Sabbath doesn't have the added connotations that it would elsewhere. Few other people might be hearing a metallic voice in their heads: "I AM IRON DOME!"
Watching TV later, I start to see what would have been Black Friday ads. Looks like this year, they're calling it Big November.
An opinion piece in the Washington Post describes a showing of the Taylor Swift movie here last weekend. It was indeed packed with people singing and dancing. The screening was a special event for the friends of a soldier who was missing. They showed her picture on the screen before the film. A note at the top of the piece tells us that, after the column was published, the army found her remains.
What's happening across the border now is too horrific to say much more about. There's a lot of news, propaganda, information, and disinformation out there. But it's clear that the terrorists have made one effective calculation: not caring about other people's lives, they find it easy to manipulate people who do.
One glimmer of comforting news may or may not be coming from there. Our army has announced that they have arranged with the staff of the major hospital in the city under siege to evacuate its babies. But the staff is quoted as saying that there are no such plans. We say that clear routes have been laid out for safe evacuation from the hospital. They say that no such routes exist. They say that the hospital is out of fuel. Our Prime Minister says that we offered the hospital fuel, but they refused it. They say that didn't happen.
The UAE is said to be setting up field hospitals there. A ship from France should be arriving this weekend to act as another hospital.
A newspaper profile speaks with midwives at our own hospitals, looking at how their lives have changed since the October 7th massacres. One lost her 20-year-old son that day but is still working. The mothers-to-be tell her that her story, and that she is continuing on, gives them strength.
Another article online from a few weeks ago quotes members of its site's community about how the situation is affecting them. One is a mother-to-be whose husband was off fighting. She says that she wishes she could keep the baby inside, because it might be the only place that she can protect him. I'm reminded of Kate Bush's "Breathing."
Reading the news today, I learn that the two hostages from our town, abducted at the desert rave, are a brother and sister. The family had just come back from Mexico, where they celebrated their mother's 50th birthday. This weekend, a hundred women gathered with her at a friend's house, supporting her as she waits for word and for her children's return.
An AP article from a few weeks ago had profiled their parents, along with other families of the missing. I hadn't realized, until I searched for their names online today, that they were the family from here.
At the office this afternoon, I hear someone speaking in English at the start of an international Zoom call: "As you know, a war is happening here. We sometimes hear sirens and must go to the bomb shelter in our building. So I may unexpectedly drop out of the conversation for a few minutes. God willing, I will quickly return."
The members of a local WhatsApp group post photos from a trip overseas that they took together four years ago. They wonder if they will ever have good days like that again. Most are hopeful, but not optimistic.
On my way home, I stop at the usual café for a sachlav. I start to wonder whether they have a shelter.
The building was once the local branch of a youth group. I filmed some graffiti on its walls from when I visited here in 1986. Clips of what I shot are in my current film project.
Given that the building once hosted the youth group, I suspect that there is a shelter here. I guess I'll find out if we hear sirens. If not, we'll all either run across the street to the hummus joint, or lie on the ground and cover our heads with our hands until they're done.
Today's links:
- Some of these articles may be in Hebrew. Google Translate tends to handle them pretty well.
- Opinion | At the Taylor Swift movie in Tel Aviv, we took stock of what we lost - The Washington Post
- IDF says it will help evacuate babies from Shifa Hospital tomorrow, Hamas losing control of north Gaza | The Times of Israel
- Gaza’s Main Hospital Struggles to Keep Patients Alive - The New York Times
- Mike on X: "The IDF spokesman in Arabic posts directions to civilians to allow them safe passage from the Shifa hospital, which sits atop a major Hamas HQ, and which the IDF is encircling. This contradicts what Hamas is telling the world: that it is not possible to leave the hospital.… https://t.co/qoD5EO6JyW" / X
- Netanyahu to NBC: Hostage deal possible; Shifa Hospital rejected Israeli fuel offer | The Times of Israel
- France-operated ship to serve as floating hospital off Sinai coast this weekend -- source | The Times of Israel
- UAE to establish field hospital in Gaza for medical assistance | Al Arabiya English
- Shepherding life into the world following catastrophe brings hope to Israeli midwives | The Times of Israel
- How Can I Bring a Baby Into This World After Hamas' Atrocities? - 18Forty
- Kate Bush - Breathing - Official Music Video - YouTube
- And let them return to their home: a moving evening of support for the mother of the abductees • Sharon Online
- 'Not knowing' plunges the families of Israel's missing into a limbo of pain and numbness | AP News
- Security Update: What Do I Do When I Hear a Siren? | Ministry of Tourism
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Here’s an archive of past newsletters.
You can find me via email, Bluesky, Mastodon, Facebook, and, just out of inertia, X/Twitter. There's more about me and my books, music, and films at josephzitt.com.
The newsletter’s official mailing address is 304 S. Jones Blvd #3567, Las Vegas NV 89107. (I’m in Israel, but if physical mail comes to me there, it’ll get scanned and emailed. I don’t expect that to happen much. If you want to send me physical mail, ask me for a real address.)
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L'hitraot.