Btw, it's 1:13 am here! [Gaza lit with flares, buildings rocked by explosions]: photo by Dima Eleiwa, 29 July 2014
32 Give ear, O ye heavens, and I will speak; and hear, O earth, the words of my mouth.
2 My
doctrine shall drop as the rain, my speech shall distil as the dew, as
the small rain upon the tender herb, and as the showers upon the grass:
3 Because I will publish the name of the Lord: ascribe ye greatness unto our God.
4 He is the Rock, his work is perfect: for all his ways are judgment: a God of truth and without iniquity, just and right is he.
5 They have corrupted themselves, their spot is not the spot of his children: they are a perverse and crooked generation.
6 Do ye thus requite the Lord, O foolish people and unwise? is not he thy father that hath bought thee? hath he not made thee, and established thee?
7 Remember
the days of old, consider the years of many generations: ask thy
father, and he will shew thee; thy elders, and they will tell thee.
8 When
the Most High divided to the nations their inheritance, when he
separated the sons of Adam, he set the bounds of the people according to
the number of the children of Israel.
9 For the Lord's portion is his people; Jacob is the lot of his inheritance.
10 He
found him in a desert land, and in the waste howling wilderness; he led
him about, he instructed him, he kept him as the apple of his eye.
11 As an eagle stirreth up her nest, fluttereth over her young, spreadeth abroad her wings, taketh them, beareth them on her wings:
12 So the Lord alone did lead him, and there was no strange god with him.
13 He
made him ride on the high places of the earth, that he might eat the
increase of the fields; and he made him to suck honey out of the rock,
and oil out of the flinty rock;
14 Butter
of kine, and milk of sheep, with fat of lambs, and rams of the breed of
Bashan, and goats, with the fat of kidneys of wheat; and thou didst
drink the pure blood of the grape.
15 But
Jeshurun waxed fat, and kicked: thou art waxen fat, thou art grown
thick, thou art covered with fatness; then he forsook God which made
him, and lightly esteemed the Rock of his salvation.
16 They provoked him to jealousy with strange gods, with abominations provoked they him to anger.
17 They
sacrificed unto devils, not to God; to gods whom they knew not, to new
gods that came newly up, whom your fathers feared not.
18 Of the Rock that begat thee thou art unmindful, and hast forgotten God that formed thee.
19 And when the Lord saw it, he abhorred them, because of the provoking of his sons, and of his daughters.
20 And
he said, I will hide my face from them, I will see what their end shall
be: for they are a very froward generation, children in whom is no
faith.
21 They
have moved me to jealousy with that which is not God; they have
provoked me to anger with their vanities: and I will move them to
jealousy with those which are not a people; I will provoke them to anger
with a foolish nation.
22 For
a fire is kindled in mine anger, and shall burn unto the lowest hell,
and shall consume the earth with her increase, and set on fire the
foundations of the mountains.
23 I will heap mischiefs upon them; I will spend mine arrows upon them.
24 They
shall be burnt with hunger, and devoured with burning heat, and with
bitter destruction: I will also send the teeth of beasts upon them, with
the poison of serpents of the dust.
25 The
sword without, and terror within, shall destroy both the young man and
the virgin, the suckling also with the man of gray hairs.
26 I said, I would scatter them into corners, I would make the remembrance of them to cease from among men:
27 Were
it not that I feared the wrath of the enemy, lest their adversaries
should behave themselves strangely, and lest they should say, Our hand
is high, and the Lord hath not done all this.
28 For they are a nation void of counsel, neither is there any understanding in them.
29 O that they were wise, that they understood this, that they would consider their latter end!
30 How should one chase a thousand, and two put ten thousand to flight, except their Rock had sold them, and the Lord had shut them up?
31 For their rock is not as our Rock, even our enemies themselves being judges.
32 For
their vine is of the vine of Sodom, and of the fields of Gomorrah:
their grapes are grapes of gall, their clusters are bitter:
33 Their wine is the poison of dragons, and the cruel venom of asps.
34 Is not this laid up in store with me, and sealed up among my treasures?
35 To
me belongeth vengeance and recompence; their foot shall slide in due
time: for the day of their calamity is at hand, and the things that
shall come upon them make haste.
36 For the Lord
shall judge his people, and repent himself for his servants, when he
seeth that their power is gone, and there is none shut up, or left.
37 And he shall say, Where are their gods, their rock in whom they trusted,
38 Which
did eat the fat of their sacrifices, and drank the wine of their drink
offerings? let them rise up and help you, and be your protection.
39 See
now that I, even I, am he, and there is no god with me: I kill, and I
make alive; I wound, and I heal: neither is there any that can deliver
out of my hand.
40 For I lift up my hand to heaven, and say, I live for ever.
41 If
I whet my glittering sword, and mine hand take hold on judgment; I will
render vengeance to mine enemies, and will reward them that hate me.
42 I
will make mine arrows drunk with blood, and my sword shall devour
flesh; and that with the blood of the slain and of the captives, from
the beginning of revenges upon the enemy.
43 Rejoice,
O ye nations, with his people: for he will avenge the blood of his
servants, and will render vengeance to his adversaries, and will be
merciful unto his land, and to his people.
44 And Moses came and spake all the words of this song in the ears of the people, he, and Hoshea the son of Nun.
45 And Moses made an end of speaking all these words to all Israel:
46 And
he said unto them, Set your hearts unto all the words which I testify
among you this day, which ye shall command your children to observe to
do, all the words of this law.
47 For
it is not a vain thing for you; because it is your life: and through
this thing ye shall prolong your days in the land, whither ye go over
Jordan to possess it.
48 And the Lord spake unto Moses that selfsame day, saying,
49 Get
thee up into this mountain Abarim, unto mount Nebo, which is in the
land of Moab, that is over against Jericho; and behold the land of
Canaan, which I give unto the children of Israel for a possession:
50 And
die in the mount whither thou goest up, and be gathered unto thy
people; as Aaron thy brother died in mount Hor, and was gathered unto
his people:
51 Because
ye trespassed against me among the children of Israel at the waters of
MeribahKadesh, in the wilderness of Zin; because ye sanctified me not in
the midst of the children of Israel.
52 Yet thou shalt see the land before thee; but thou shalt not go thither unto the land which I give the children of Israel.
Deuteronomy 32 (KJV)
The night lit by Israeli flares, air filled with smoke of explosions: photo by Dima Eleiwa, 29 July 2014
Is Gaza being bombed into oblivion tonight while you all press RETWEET on your cellphones?: photo by Hanine, 29 July 2014
Suha Najjar took this photo from her home in Gaza tonight. Absolutely chilling: photo by Suha Najjar, image by Ghazala Irshad via Twitter, 29 July 2014
An explosion rocks the media complex that houses the offices of Hamas-run al-Aqsa TV and radio as well as other Arab channels: photo by AP, 29 July 2014
Definitely the worst night ever! it is the most barbaric and terrifying night ever!: photo by Nadia AbuShaban, 29 July 2014
Gaza night sky tonight: photo by Imtiaz Tyab, 29 July 2014
Israeli flares lighting up the skies over Gaza. Missile strikes inevitably follow. This tiny strip is being pounded: photo by Imtiaz Tyab, 28 July 2014
on Deuteronomy
It seems quite likely that Deuteronomy is the one book of the Hexateuch that existed in essentially its present fashion before the Exile.
At least, Deuteronomy, or part of it, is usually identified with "the book of the law" discovered in the Temple in 621 B.C. during the reign of King Josiah:
2 Kings 22:8. And Hilkiah the high priest said unto Shaphan the scribe, I have found the book of the law in the house of the Lord . . .
This came at a time when there had been periodic strife between the temporal and spiritual power in the kingdom and when there had been two recent reigns that were disastrous for the Yahvists. On the other hand, there was now an impressionable young king on the throne, Josiah.
Perhaps it occurred to some among the priesthood to prepare an organized exposition of the laws which, in Yahvist eyes, ought to govern the king and the people, writing into it a clear spiritual supremacy. This writing, as "the book of the law", was then providentially "discovered" and brought to the king. The doctrine, placed in the mouth of Moses, treated as of great antiquity, and put forward most eloquently, was bound to impress the king.
It
did, and the priestly plan succeeded in full. Until then, Yahvism had
been a minority sect, often persecuted and sometimes in danger of being
wiped out altogether. Now, for the first time, it assumed an ascendancy,
and, thanks to the enthusiastic co-operation of Josiah, it was made the official religion of the land.
There was backsliding after Josiah's death, but Yahvism had been made powerful enough to meet the challenge of the Exile,
which followed soon after. The Yahvist priests, during the Exile, as
they edited the old traditions and codified the laws, incorporated Deuteronomy virtually intact into the Hexateuch.
After the Exile, Yahvism, the minority sect, had become Judaism, the national religion of the people. Through its daughter religions, Christianity and Islam, Yahvism came to dominate the religious life of well over a billion people in the time that has passed since then. If Deuteronomy is dwelt with briefly in this book because it is not primarily concerned with history, that does not mean it may not be the most important part of the Bible in some ways, or even the most important piece of writing in the world.
After the Exile, Yahvism, the minority sect, had become Judaism, the national religion of the people. Through its daughter religions, Christianity and Islam, Yahvism came to dominate the religious life of well over a billion people in the time that has passed since then. If Deuteronomy is dwelt with briefly in this book because it is not primarily concerned with history, that does not mean it may not be the most important part of the Bible in some ways, or even the most important piece of writing in the world.
Isaac Asimov: from Asimov's Guide to the Bible, 1968
Gaza getting attacked this morning...: image by Falasteen via Twitter, 29 July 2014
Al-Amin Mohammad mosque, targeted 3 hours ago: photo by Ahmad Al-karirri, 29 July 2014
#GazaUnderAttack | Soldiers leaked information about targeting Gaza’s civilians
July 29, 2014
An Israeli 155mm artillery cannon fires from a base in southern Israel into the Gaza Strip: photo by Jim Hollander / EPA, 29 July 2014
(via Occupied Palestine)
Holding his coin. These are the israeli targets -- children killers: photo by Dr Bassel Abuwarda, 29 July 2014
Carta al director Javier Bardem sobre la masacre en Gaza
El Diario, 25 July 2014
En el horror que está sucediendo en Gaza NO cabe la
equidistancia ni la neutralidad. Es una guerra de ocupación y de
exterminio contra un pueblo sin medios, confinado en un territorio
mínimo, sin agua y donde hospitales, ambulancias y niños son blancos y
presuntos terroristas. Difícil de entender e imposible de justificar. Y
vergonzosa la postura de la comunidad internacional occidental de
permitir tal genocidio.
No entiendo esta barbarie que
los horribles antecedentes del pueblo judío hacen aún más cruelmente
incomprensibles. Solo las alianzas geopolíticas, esa máscara hipócrita
de los negocios -- por ejemplo, la venta de armas -- explican la posición
vergonzosa de EEUU, la UE y España.
Sé que los de
siempre deslegitimarán mi derecho a la opinión con temas personales, por
eso quiero aclarar los siguientes puntos:
Sí, mi
hijo nació en un hospital judío porque tengo gente muy querida y
cercana que es judía y porque ser judío no es sinónimo de apoyar esta
masacre, igual que ser hebreo no es lo mismo que ser sionista, y ser
palestino no es ser un terrorista de Hamas. Eso es tan absurdo como
decir que ser alemán te emparenta con el nazismo.
Sí,
trabajo también en USA donde tengo amigos y conocidos hebreos que
rechazan tales intervenciones y políticas de agresión. "No se puede
invocar la autodefensa mientras se asesina a niños", me decía uno de
ellos por teléfono ayer mismo. Y también otros con los que discuto
abiertamente sobre nuestras encontradas posturas.
Sí, soy europeo y me avergüenza una comunidad que dice representarme con su silencio y su nula vergüenza.
Sí, vivo en España pagando mis impuestos y no quiero que mi dinero
financie políticas que apoyen esta barbarie y el negocio armamentístico
con otros países que se enriquecen matando a niños inocentes.
Sí, estoy indignado, avergonzado y
dolido por tanta injusticia y asesinato de seres humanos. Esos niños
son nuestros hijos. Es el horror. Ojalá que haya compasión en los
corazones de los que matan y desaparezca este veneno asesino que solo
crea más odio y violencia. Que aquellos israelíes y palestinos que solo
sueñan con paz y convivencia puedan un día compartir su solución.
Israel has murdered 224 Palestinian children in 20 days. An epic crime against humanity: photo by Dr Bassel Abuwarda, 29 July 2014
Genocide
In
the horror happening right now in Gaza there is NO place for
distance or neutrality. It's a war of occupation and extermination waged
against a people with no means, confined in a minimum territory, with
no water, and where hospitals, ambulances, and children are targets and
presumed to be terrorists. It's hard to understand and impossible to
justify. And it's disgraceful that western countries are permitting such
genocide.
I can't understand this barbarism, even more cruel and
incomprehensible considering all of the horrible things the Jewish
people have gone through in the past. Only geopolitical alliances, that
hypocritical mask of business -- for example, the sale of weapons -- the
shameful position taken by the U.S., the E.U. and Spain.
I know that as usual certain people will discredit my right to express my opinion with personal attacks, which is why I would like to clarify the following points:
I know that as usual certain people will discredit my right to express my opinion with personal attacks, which is why I would like to clarify the following points:
Yes, my son was born in a Jewish hospital because I
have very dear close friends who are Jewish and because being Jewish
does not automatically mean you support this massacre, just like being
Hebrew does not mean you are a Zionist, just like being Palestinian does
not automatically make you a Hamas terrorist. That's just as absurd as
saying that being German makes you Nazi.
Yes, I also work in the U.S. where I have a lot of Jewish friends and acquaintances who reject such interventions and the politics of aggression. "You can't call it self-defense while you're murdering children," one of them said on the phone to me yesterday. And others with whom I openly debate our conflicting positions.
Yes, I'm European and I'm ashamed of the European Community that claims to represent me with its silence and its utter shamelessness.
Yes, I live in Spain and I pay my taxes and I don't want my money to finance policies that support this barbarism and the arms industry along with other countries that get rich murdering innocent children.
Yes, I'm outraged, ashamed and hurt by all of this injustice and human beings getting killed. Those children are our children. It's horrendous. I can only hope that those who kill will find it in their hearts to show compassion and be cured of this murderous poison which only breeds more hate and violence. That those Israelis and Palestinians who only dream of peace and coexistence can some day find a solution together.
Yes, I also work in the U.S. where I have a lot of Jewish friends and acquaintances who reject such interventions and the politics of aggression. "You can't call it self-defense while you're murdering children," one of them said on the phone to me yesterday. And others with whom I openly debate our conflicting positions.
Yes, I'm European and I'm ashamed of the European Community that claims to represent me with its silence and its utter shamelessness.
Yes, I live in Spain and I pay my taxes and I don't want my money to finance policies that support this barbarism and the arms industry along with other countries that get rich murdering innocent children.
Yes, I'm outraged, ashamed and hurt by all of this injustice and human beings getting killed. Those children are our children. It's horrendous. I can only hope that those who kill will find it in their hearts to show compassion and be cured of this murderous poison which only breeds more hate and violence. That those Israelis and Palestinians who only dream of peace and coexistence can some day find a solution together.
Javier Bardem
I've never seen such heavy bombardments before.
100% i am going to DIE,
said GOODBYE to everyone: photo by Dr Basel Abuwarda, 29 July 2014
I've never seen such heavy bombardments before.
100% i am going to DIE,
said GOODBYE to everyone: photo by Dr Basel Abuwarda, 29 July 2014
The Law of Deuteronomy is one of the oldest killer apps in the book.
ReplyDeleteMeanwhile... real world, real time, real awful reality.
Palestine TV live feed
I don't know about you (obviously, because I know you're not watching it, still have a nice day!), but watching those people on the infinitely sorrowful live feed frantically sift through the smoking ashen rubble in the grim search for bodies, I wondered -- hamburg berlin tokyo dresden towers open fire and all that -- what happens if... oh no it can't be true...
ReplyDeleteMany thanks, Tom, for this composition of poetry, photojournalism, reporting and commentary. I look at Suha Najjar's photograph of the missile striking outside her window with a child on the couch beneath it and think of the words from Deuteronomy, "their spot is not the spot of his children."
ReplyDelete-David
When this most recent massacre started, I was reading a book about T.E. Lawrence and the birth of the modern Middle East. I haven't been able to finish it. I mean, watching this, it's obvious it never ends.
ReplyDeleteMany thanks, David and Nora.
ReplyDeleteWrenching night... one has to wonder whether that child in the photo got much sleep -- or, for that matter, survived the night.
Nora, the story of Lawrence may offer parabolic understanding of the background of the present tragedy. The most noble of representatives of the western Imperial "policy" that would ultimately leave the "cradle of civilization" a ruin.
And meanwhile, as much as everyone would like the news to go away... the night's all out barrage on the already devastated and suffering Gaza resulted in at least 110 more deaths, mostly civilians as usual, and untold further casualties.
20m ago
ReplyDeleteThe Guardian’s Mona Mahmood (@monamood) has spoken on the telephone with Hani Sawaf, a resident of Shuja’iya. “It was the most strenuous night we ever endured in Gaza yesterday,” Hani tells Mona:
The shelling penetrated almost all the districts in the city... there is scarcely a spot left unturned in Shuja‘iya. In fact, the warplanes are hitting previous crushed areas. The Israeli army incursion on our district has blown up the majority of the houses and levelled them to the ground.
A residential compound with nine or ten stories would be totally demolished, though it held many families. I know families who were put to death together, and some of them their bodies are still under the wreckage of their houses. All what we are dealing with now is bodies and blood, you do not know when is your turn.
One of the most fundamental problems we have now is how to recover the bodies of the massacres committed against Shuja‘iya district. It is a densely populated area, houses are built close to each other as if they are one unit. Lots of bodies are still under the debris of their houses, no one dares to look for them because of the nonstop shooting...
“Our house which is partly damaged does not have any power at all, especially after the power grid was hit today,” Hani says:
The power company stated that it might need a year to repair the damage and provide us with power gain. I rely on a small generator I keep at home but my storage of fuel is running out rapidly. I still have few bottles of drinking water and can’t think of going anywhere to get more. The water comes every few days and we use it extensively to wash dishes and clothes. We are living on some vegetables I grabbed during the ceasefire from the market which is entirely deserted now.
1h 28m ago
“The power plant is finished,” says director Mohammed al-Sharif. The Guardian’s Harriet Sherwood in Jerusalem reports:
Amnesty International said the crippling of the power station amounted to “collective punishment of Palestinians”. The strike on the plant will worsen already severe problems with Gaza’s water supply, sewage treatment and power supplies to medical facilities.
“We need at least one year to repair the power plant, the turbines, the fuel tanks and the control room,” said Fathi Sheik Khalil of the Gaza energy authority. “Everything was burned.” He said crew members who had been trapped by the fire for several hours were evacuated.
Gaza City officials said damage to the power station could paralyse pumps, and urged residents to ration water.
3h 8m ago
Israel’s attack on the Gaza power plant on Tuesday is likely to fuel speculation that the enclave’s civilian infrastructure is being deliberately targeted, Guardian Middle East editor Ian Black (@ian_black) writes:
The Israeli army has said previously that it does not target critical non-military facilities, insisting that it is seeking to destroy terrorist targets such as tunnels, and rockets that are fired into Israel. It did not immediately comment on the power station shelling, reportedly by tanks. It was “simply not known” what had happened, one official told the Guardian. [...]
The scale of Gaza’s humanitarian crisis has already alarmed human rights organisations. Last week, Israeli NGOs warned that more than half of Gaza’s 1.2 million people were now affected by a lack of adequate access to water and sanitation services, with raw sewage spilling on to the streets from damaged pipes. Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians are without power. Hundreds of thousands more face severe shortages.
In the top comment I linked to the Palestinian tv live feed. It was down for a while. Now it's back up. Night again in Gaza now, and those still alive are very busy dealing with the dead. The scenes from al-Shifa are terrible beyond any words. To watch this and think that what you are seeing is something "political" would be to admit willing detachment from the human race.
ReplyDeleteWho would want to admit that.
5.15pm ET
ReplyDeleteThe Guardian’s Mona Mahmood (@monamood) has spoken on the telephone with Hani Sawaf, a resident of Shuja’iya. “It was the most strenuous night we ever endured in Gaza yesterday,” Hani tells Mona:
The shelling penetrated almost all the districts in the city... there is scarcely a spot left unturned in Shuja‘iya. In fact, the warplanes are hitting previous crushed areas. The Israeli army incursion on our district has blown up the majority of the houses and levelled them to the ground.
A residential compound with nine or ten stories would be totally demolished, though it held many families. I know families who were put to death together, and some of them their bodies are still under the wreckage of their houses. All what we are dealing with now is bodies and blood, you do not know when is your turn.
One of the most fundamental problems we have now is how to recover the bodies of the massacres committed against Shuja‘iya district. It is a densely populated area, houses are built close to each other as if they are one unit. Lots of bodies are still under the debris of their houses, no one dares to look for them because of the nonstop shooting...
“Our house which is partly damaged does not have any power at all, especially after the power grid was hit today,” Hani says:
The power company stated that it might need a year to repair the damage and provide us with power again. I rely on a small generator I keep at home but my storage of fuel is running out rapidly. I still have few bottles of drinking water and can’t think of going anywhere to get more. The water comes every few days and we use it extensively to wash dishes and clothes. We are living on some vegetables I grabbed during the ceasefire from the market which is entirely deserted now.