Thank you for this compilation, I see and appreciate the labor that went into it, particularly in providing context and summaries. Your captions and notes of sarcasm help me feel less insane.
As for your question, everyone needs to be pushing themselves just past their comfort zone to reclaim their humanity and integrity in this moment. And then rinsing and repeating, once the comfort zone is a bit wider. It’s easier to do that when we’re doing it together.
The language of never again has proven hollow. I studied linguistics, and I think a lot about how language distorts reality. The facts are all there, but how we frame language shapes what we see. People aren't human shields - they're human beings struggling to survive. There is no such thing as a targeted air strike when most of Gaza's infrastructure has been destroyed.
I’m not interested in debating the facts with people, but I am trying to ask better questions to expose cracks in logic and the distortions. So if someone shrugs off mass starvation b/c they believe Hamas is stealing food, I'd ask them if they then accept the outcome of that - the starvation of 2 million people.
Most people don’t want to sound cruel, so they hide behind language. We have the power of language to expose these cracks.
It reminds me about what happened in Srebrenica in '95 & the days leading up to the mass slaughter of over 8,000. The lying, the distortions, confusion, all meant to deflect attention from what had already been planned - a massacre hiding in plain sight. Except what's happening in Gaza is on a much more massive scale.
What haunts me now is how slow this genocide has gotten. Massacres shock & slowness dulls the senses. Deliberate starvation is slow but methodical, & it destroys every single layer of life. And to what end? So when it's time for post-conflict 'rebuilding' we can hold international conferences & use Gaza as a moral lesson for the world? Again? There are no preventative structures in place to stop this from happening in the first place. Just like Bosnia & Srebrenica - endless conferences & seminars. Memorials instead of prevention.
It's why continuing to name what is happening is vital - sustained attention on the truth b/c they are doing whatever they can to distort.
So regarding the question - what’s left is interruption. It has to hit their pockets. Hard and at once. One example - Dockworkers refusing to load weapons shipments. But it has to happen on a global, massive scale. Coordinated and organized. I have no idea how this is done.
Hi Jasper, I’ve been following you on my secondary account because I believe your work is incredibly important. But lately, I’ve found myself unable to keep reading your posts. I want to thank you, truly, for pouring your energy and soul into this work. Your weekly round-ups feel like a Sunday night reckoning with the truth, and they matter deeply. Staying informed matters. The less we see, the more Palestine fades from collective memory.
And yet… I feel like I’m at a breaking point. My heart is shattered. My soul feels frayed beyond repair. Maybe I could keep engaging if there were some sign of change—some light, some hope for justice or liberation. But if I’m honest, I don’t feel any of that right now.
I’m not even sure what I’m trying to say—only that I wonder: do you feel this too? I imagine you must. And still, you keep going. You keep showing up so the world won’t forget. How? How do you carry this? How do you keep your spirit intact while holding so much grief?
And maybe more broadly—how do any of us keep our hearts open in a world like this, without letting them completely break?
Thank you again for everything you do. I’m just trying to find my way through this weight of knowing.
Yes, absolutely, I feel this too. In fact, I was thinking after week 2 of this new roundup--'Why did I sign up for this?' I guess it just feels necessary, and like all I can do. I feel extra antsy and despairing when I can't actually report from the ground, so this is how I deal with it (until I head back). But I'd be lying if I said this was good for my mental health.
I appreciate you sharing that. Of course it takes a toll…how could it not? But your presence doesn’t go unnoticed, and your work is deeply appreciated (even if bleak).
Perhaps an idea for a future post—how you maintain your strength through all of this. Just a thought.
Thank you as always for this thorough review. It didn't make me cry today - maybe because there were some little flakes of justice floating here and there (I can't stress enough how essential sharks are for healthy ecosystems).
As for what to do... it depends how willing and vulnerable one is. From a silent, intimate BDS to a glorious rebellion against the prison guards when all else is lost, I suppose?
I march, not because it is swaying any of our politicians, but just to show the Palestinian community in my town that we stand together. I talk about the war (I don't call it a war) to my friends who don't obsess over it, because misery loves company (though funnily enough, there are more people feeling the same around me than I thought - talking is good). I muse that "they" can burn one or ten boats, but "they" can't burn all of them, and in that fantasy thousands of boats and drones loaded with aid storm the beaches and some manage to make it through (and magically no bloodbath ensues)...
More seriously, I muse about money and its allocation. There is so much to do... Challenge unlawful actions of governments, from petty attacks against freedom of speech to aiding and abetting war crimes and crimes against humanity, defend the activists who disrupt arms production and shipment, help the gathering of evidence, deliver humanitarian aid. I send dollars when and where I can, focusing on the bigger organisations - they just have more weight - and hope some of it ends up in the right pockets. I don't know that there is time or appetite to just end the kakistocracy yet, but that might be on the table at some point (plus, we're still one asteroid away from being another failed blip of life in the immensity of the cosmos, and this gives me peace, somehow).
Thank you for this compilation, I see and appreciate the labor that went into it, particularly in providing context and summaries. Your captions and notes of sarcasm help me feel less insane.
As for your question, everyone needs to be pushing themselves just past their comfort zone to reclaim their humanity and integrity in this moment. And then rinsing and repeating, once the comfort zone is a bit wider. It’s easier to do that when we’re doing it together.
The language of never again has proven hollow. I studied linguistics, and I think a lot about how language distorts reality. The facts are all there, but how we frame language shapes what we see. People aren't human shields - they're human beings struggling to survive. There is no such thing as a targeted air strike when most of Gaza's infrastructure has been destroyed.
I’m not interested in debating the facts with people, but I am trying to ask better questions to expose cracks in logic and the distortions. So if someone shrugs off mass starvation b/c they believe Hamas is stealing food, I'd ask them if they then accept the outcome of that - the starvation of 2 million people.
Most people don’t want to sound cruel, so they hide behind language. We have the power of language to expose these cracks.
It reminds me about what happened in Srebrenica in '95 & the days leading up to the mass slaughter of over 8,000. The lying, the distortions, confusion, all meant to deflect attention from what had already been planned - a massacre hiding in plain sight. Except what's happening in Gaza is on a much more massive scale.
What haunts me now is how slow this genocide has gotten. Massacres shock & slowness dulls the senses. Deliberate starvation is slow but methodical, & it destroys every single layer of life. And to what end? So when it's time for post-conflict 'rebuilding' we can hold international conferences & use Gaza as a moral lesson for the world? Again? There are no preventative structures in place to stop this from happening in the first place. Just like Bosnia & Srebrenica - endless conferences & seminars. Memorials instead of prevention.
It's why continuing to name what is happening is vital - sustained attention on the truth b/c they are doing whatever they can to distort.
So regarding the question - what’s left is interruption. It has to hit their pockets. Hard and at once. One example - Dockworkers refusing to load weapons shipments. But it has to happen on a global, massive scale. Coordinated and organized. I have no idea how this is done.
Hi Jasper, I’ve been following you on my secondary account because I believe your work is incredibly important. But lately, I’ve found myself unable to keep reading your posts. I want to thank you, truly, for pouring your energy and soul into this work. Your weekly round-ups feel like a Sunday night reckoning with the truth, and they matter deeply. Staying informed matters. The less we see, the more Palestine fades from collective memory.
And yet… I feel like I’m at a breaking point. My heart is shattered. My soul feels frayed beyond repair. Maybe I could keep engaging if there were some sign of change—some light, some hope for justice or liberation. But if I’m honest, I don’t feel any of that right now.
I’m not even sure what I’m trying to say—only that I wonder: do you feel this too? I imagine you must. And still, you keep going. You keep showing up so the world won’t forget. How? How do you carry this? How do you keep your spirit intact while holding so much grief?
And maybe more broadly—how do any of us keep our hearts open in a world like this, without letting them completely break?
Thank you again for everything you do. I’m just trying to find my way through this weight of knowing.
Yes, absolutely, I feel this too. In fact, I was thinking after week 2 of this new roundup--'Why did I sign up for this?' I guess it just feels necessary, and like all I can do. I feel extra antsy and despairing when I can't actually report from the ground, so this is how I deal with it (until I head back). But I'd be lying if I said this was good for my mental health.
I appreciate you sharing that. Of course it takes a toll…how could it not? But your presence doesn’t go unnoticed, and your work is deeply appreciated (even if bleak).
Perhaps an idea for a future post—how you maintain your strength through all of this. Just a thought.
Please continue these informative and depressing posts.
Thank you again for this roundup. I hope your sarcasm about the Houthis being chastened is not too subtle for some people.
Thank you as always for this thorough review. It didn't make me cry today - maybe because there were some little flakes of justice floating here and there (I can't stress enough how essential sharks are for healthy ecosystems).
As for what to do... it depends how willing and vulnerable one is. From a silent, intimate BDS to a glorious rebellion against the prison guards when all else is lost, I suppose?
I march, not because it is swaying any of our politicians, but just to show the Palestinian community in my town that we stand together. I talk about the war (I don't call it a war) to my friends who don't obsess over it, because misery loves company (though funnily enough, there are more people feeling the same around me than I thought - talking is good). I muse that "they" can burn one or ten boats, but "they" can't burn all of them, and in that fantasy thousands of boats and drones loaded with aid storm the beaches and some manage to make it through (and magically no bloodbath ensues)...
More seriously, I muse about money and its allocation. There is so much to do... Challenge unlawful actions of governments, from petty attacks against freedom of speech to aiding and abetting war crimes and crimes against humanity, defend the activists who disrupt arms production and shipment, help the gathering of evidence, deliver humanitarian aid. I send dollars when and where I can, focusing on the bigger organisations - they just have more weight - and hope some of it ends up in the right pockets. I don't know that there is time or appetite to just end the kakistocracy yet, but that might be on the table at some point (plus, we're still one asteroid away from being another failed blip of life in the immensity of the cosmos, and this gives me peace, somehow).