I stumbled across these tweets - and had no idea that Israel was under any kind of attack. I'd glanced through the news earlier this evening, and seen nothing. Not until accidentally finding these tweets.
One thing that stands out is the idea of, every 30 minutes having to take cover. This reminds me of one of the Battlestar Galactica episodes in which the Cylons would attack every 33 minutes, forcing the fleet to make an emergency jump every 33 minutes. The thing is that, being machines, the Cylons could keep up the pace on and on and on, while the humans were getting tired and eventually would fail at something.
But this is not a fictional TV show, but real life, and the Palestinians aren't evil robots, they are human beings. The analogy was this concept of having to endure an attack so frequently, that it has to sap at you.
As someone living in a very calm and peaceful place, I find it hard to fathom what it must be like to live in Israel or for that matter the Palestinian territories. On either side of this conflict life must be very tense for those living through these experiences.
Sometimes I start ranting about how Israel's treatment of the Palestinians is just inflaming the Middle East tensions. On the other hand, I'm not living there, I don't know what it is like to be an Israeli in the Middle East, nor do I know what it's like to be a Palestinian in that same context. As an outsider I only see so much, the people living there have a different perspective.
The other thing which stands out is - this is the official IDF twitter account sending out messages saying that the people should be afraid, messages meant to put fear into peoples hearts. Read these messages after taking a step back to get some perspective. This is an arm of the Government, the Israeli Military, telling us to be afraid. Is this the best highest sort of communication that should come from a Government official? To be afraid? Shouldn't the Government official be attempting to offer reassurances, and useful advice?
One thing that stands out is the idea of, every 30 minutes having to take cover. This reminds me of one of the Battlestar Galactica episodes in which the Cylons would attack every 33 minutes, forcing the fleet to make an emergency jump every 33 minutes. The thing is that, being machines, the Cylons could keep up the pace on and on and on, while the humans were getting tired and eventually would fail at something.
But this is not a fictional TV show, but real life, and the Palestinians aren't evil robots, they are human beings. The analogy was this concept of having to endure an attack so frequently, that it has to sap at you.
As someone living in a very calm and peaceful place, I find it hard to fathom what it must be like to live in Israel or for that matter the Palestinian territories. On either side of this conflict life must be very tense for those living through these experiences.
Sometimes I start ranting about how Israel's treatment of the Palestinians is just inflaming the Middle East tensions. On the other hand, I'm not living there, I don't know what it is like to be an Israeli in the Middle East, nor do I know what it's like to be a Palestinian in that same context. As an outsider I only see so much, the people living there have a different perspective.
The other thing which stands out is - this is the official IDF twitter account sending out messages saying that the people should be afraid, messages meant to put fear into peoples hearts. Read these messages after taking a step back to get some perspective. This is an arm of the Government, the Israeli Military, telling us to be afraid. Is this the best highest sort of communication that should come from a Government official? To be afraid? Shouldn't the Government official be attempting to offer reassurances, and useful advice?
Sat Mar 10 10:49:19 +0000 2012
#IsraelUnderFire
Sat Mar 10 08:48:09 +0000 2012
#Gaza #IsraelUnderFire
Sat Mar 10 21:02:33 +0000 2012
#israelunderfire
Sat Mar 10 16:55:42 +0000 2012
#15seconds #IsraelUnderFire
Thanks David. Unbelievable.
ReplyDeleteI was all set to leave a comment but it grew :-) A friendly blog post answer appears here:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.israellycool.com/2012/04/03/clearing-something-up-about-the-idf-spokespersons-role/
POLITICS IS
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