#hi shekel

[andro-dino]

Mayblade Day 30 - The Future

The bridge forward

#mfb #metal fight beyblade #beyblade shogun steel #beyblade zero g #kira hayama #zyro kurogane #hi shekel #I was between this or a larger dna/btf piece #for obvious reasons #though I ended up going for this cuz I’m lazy #and also bc the way these two share the future motif is very important and special to me #and the fact that they move towards the future together is argrgrgrggr #mayblade 2023

[tarantula-hawk-wasp]

judas, must you betray me with a kiss? happy easter with some jesus christ superstar 2000 redraws

#my art #artists on tumblr #artwork #easter #jesus christ superstar #jesus christ superstar 2000 #jcs 2000 #jcs #jesus x judas #jesus christ #behind judas is a tyrian shekel which was probably the silver currency he got paid with #listen did i need to do a whole gold shattered background? no. does it detract? maybe. I dont care i was put on this earth to draw halos #and radiating lines and gilt backgrounds ok #jcs 2000 can have blond jesus rights bc hes pretty and they make his hair soooo golden in the lighting like a halo almost #i did a version with the haloes for the second one but it was too visually busy around their heads

[heybeyby]

saw people doing this so i wanted throw my hat in the ring :)

yeah i like a lot of characters

#no i’m not tagging everyone #beyblade metal saga #beyblade metal fight #mfb #shekel brainrots #idk if i should mention the fact i genuinely cried seeing julian mentally deteriorate during his match against damian. #i’m obsessed i think /lh

[earlyspringtranscendence]

finally (finally, ive been reading this for like half a year) got through the scar and jesus fucking christ. jesus christ.

#bas lag does grimdark. DARKLY. #recently read #its like i said after i finished the first one like theres lit no grimdark that compares to this #only then i started reading the scar and i was like wow this isnt that bad it seems that he's pulling all his punches #but then u get to the end of the scar and its like oh no this one's just. far more subtle about the horror. #perdido is about a whole city undergoing horror & how everyone dissapoints even you (the reader) #scar is about a single person undergoing the horror & even when everyone uses her you're still roped into like #seeing things from her perspective AKA not seeing that theyre using her AND on top of that #youre sitting here thinking 'damn at least im glad this isnt happening to shekel or tanner' and its like. #yeah. i think ur kinda meant to feel that way. all the way up until the final betrayal. and then ur like. drained #sitting here head in hands thinking fuck. thinking... what if she went with the lover. #& if ur gay ur sitting here thinking ok but iron council is about uther please please pweaseeeee #(idk what iron council is about it could be tho but i dont think so)

[reality-detective]

New rule of thumb, if the FDA is trying to ban something, it’s probably because it cures something without side effects, or it can be made/grown yourself.

Either way, neither situation will make the government any of their precious “shekels,” so they don’t want it around.

Who is Rick Simpson? 👇

Why do you think the government has marijuana listed as a schedule 1 drug, equivalent to heroin, LSD?

They don't want you to know its benefits 🤔

#pay attention #educate yourselves #educate yourself #knowledge is power #reeducate yourself #reeducate yourselves #think about it #think for yourselves #think for yourself #do your homework #do some research #do your own research #ask yourself questions #question everything #marijane #marijuana #pot #lies exposed #news #you decide

[najia-cooks]

[ID: Sweet potatoes with black, charred skin on a decorative plate. One has been opened to show bright orange flesh, sprinkled with sugar. End ID]

بطاطا حلوة مشوية / Batata hiluwa mashwiyya (Roasted sweet potatoes)

Sweet potatoes are considered a traditional and nostalgic food in Palestine—a gift from the land, a seasonal delicacy, a potentially profitable crop, "red gold." Every fall and winter, as they are grilled in taboon ovens throughout Gaza, their smell fills the air.

This recipe uses a method of preparation common in rural Palestine, which applies direct heat to char the potatoes; the black, crackly skin is then peeled off, leaving tender, steaming, sweet flesh with a roasted aroma. The peeled sweet potato is eaten on its own, or sprinkled with sugar.

The recent history of sweet potatoes in Gaza is a microcosm of Israel's economic control of the region during that time. Though they grow well in Gaza's soil, they are a risky commitment for its farmers, as the seeds or seedlings must be imported from Israel at considerable expense (about 40 shekels, or $10, per plantlet), and they need to be weeded every day and irrigated every other day. Water for irrigation is scarce in Gaza, as Israel drains and contaminates much of the supply.

Nevertheless, the crop would be a profitable one if Gazan farmers were allowed to export it. In the shmita year of 2014, for the first time since the Israeli military's deadly 51-day invasion two months prior, restrictions briefly eased to allow Gazans to export some agricultural products to Europe; the first shipment contained 30 tons of sweet potatoes. However, an estimated 90% of the sweet potato crop was at that time unsuitable for export, having been damaged by Israeli shrapnel. The Gazan Ministry of Agriculture estimated that damages of this kind cost the agricultural sector about 550 million USD during this year.

Gazan economist Maher al-Taba’a holds that Israel temporarily allowing export of a token amount of sweet potatoes “is nothing more than media propaganda which is meant to confuse international audiences" by giving the impression that the siege on Gaza was looser than it had been before the 2014 ceasefire agreement; meanwhile, the number of allowed exports had actually decreased since before the invasion occurred. Gazan farmers, in fact, were not even allowed to export produce to Palestinians in the West Bank until 2017.

The next shmita year (an agricultural sabbath during which ultra-Orthodox Jews allow their fields to lie fallow) began in September of 2021, around the same time as the beginning of the sweet potato harvest. In anticipation of the shmita year, and in keeping with the trickle of Gazan exports that had been allowed into Israel in the intervening years, many farmers had planted more than they otherwise would have. But Israel delayed accepting the imports, leading many farmers to throw away rotting produce, or to sell their produce in the local market for far lower prices than they had been expecting.

Israel's habit of closing off Gaza's exports arbitrarily and without notice recurred during the harvest season of 2022. When Israeli former MK Yaakov Litzman called on Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Oded Forer to import sweet potatoes from Gaza due to a shortage of the produce in Israel, Forer refused, citing Israeli soldiers whom Palestinian resistance fighters had taken hostage as rationale for his decision. Other officials were surprised at the linking of an agricultural matter to a political one.

Farmers had no choice but to enter the harvest season hoping that the decision would be reversed and that their time, labor, money, and scarce water resources would not go to waste. With these last-minute decisions that cause Gazan farmers to be unable to fulfill their contracts, Israel damages the future viability of Gazan exports to European markets.

Support Palestinian resistance by calling Elbit System’s (Israel’s primary weapons manufacturer) landlord and donating to Palestine Action’s bail fund.

Equipment:

A fire, wood-burning oven, gas stove, or broiler

A baking sheet

Ingredients:

Sweet potatoes. Choose a variety with red or orange skin and orange flesh, such as garnet or jewel.

Sugar, cinnamon, date syrup, or tahina, to serve.

Instructions:

1. Wash sweet potatoes. Place them at the bottom of a taboon oven, or on a baking sheet or griddle laid over a cooking fire or gas burner. You may also place them on a baking sheet or cast-iron pan inside an oven with a broiler setting.

2. Turn the gas burner on medium-high, or the broiler on low. Heat the sweet potatoes, occasionally rotating them, until their skin is blistered and blackened in multiple places and they are tender all the way through.

3. Remove potatoes and allow them to cool slightly. Slice each potato open lengthwise, or peel away its skin, and eat the interior.

Roasted sweet potatoes may be eaten on their own, or sprinkled with sugar or cinnamon-sugar, or drizzled with date syrup, tahina, chocolate sauce, etc.

#sweet potatoes #gluten free #Palestinian #cooking

[matan4il]

I've written before that the Iranian attack on Israel is pretty unprecedented, and I was thinking in terms of the history of this specific conflict, but it's actually true on a bigger scale as well.

They launched at least 331 airborne weapons that Israel has intercepted as well, more if you take into account what was intercepted by other countries. Most of the weapons were launched out of Iran itself, but some were launched by Iran's proxies from the territories of Yemen and Syria.

Now, the suicide drones? Take about 8 hours to make it from Iran to Israel. The cruise missiles? Around 4 hours. And the ballistic missiles? Those are the ones that would cause the most damage and would be the hardest to intercept, they actually leave the Earth's atmosphere, travel in outer space and re-enter right before they strike, and they move at such a speed that they make it from Iran to Israel within just 10 minutes. So imagine what it means, that Iran launched all of these weapons at different times, from different locations, but coordinated everything to make sure they'd all hit Israel at roughly the same time. That was done in order to tax our defence systems, to maximize how much would get through and succeed in hurting Israelis. Despite that, 100% of the drones were intercepted, as were 100% of the cruise missiles, and 99% of the ballistic missiles. Only one person (a 7 year old Muslim Bedouine girl, Amin al-Houssani, was injured, please keep her in your thoughts) was directly hurt (though over 60 more people were indirectly harmed).

Defence systems usually aim for a success rate of between 80 to 90% interceptions, so the fact that this MASSIVE and UNPRECEDENTED attack was launched, designed to penetrate all of the defence systems that could be employed against it for maximal damage, yet Israel and the coalition that came together (including Arab countries) to stop Iran's attack managed to make sure that less than 1% got in? Unbelievable. The attack was unprecedented, and so was the defence. I can tell you, even some of the Israelis who worked on developing our defence systems for years felt the success rate had actually exceeded their expectations. That said, the attack was bigger than anyone in Israel thought it would be, too.

Just to really drive home what a ballistic missile is like, this is just the engine carrying part of this ballistic missile, which was intercepted over the Dead Sea (Iran launched at least 110 at Israel, 99% of which were successfully intercepted):

But even intercepted airborne weapons cause damage. Little Amina was hit by debris from an interception. I'm sharing a vid, cut from the news (it's just for visuals, so I didn't translate it), which shows one of the few hits inside Israel (filmed by Israeli Muslim Arab Bedouins, you can hear one of them calling in panic to his friend, Ramadan), and then the debris that the IDF collected and removed by trucks, to give you an idea of the size of these pieces of weapons, falling from the sky, after they had flown across 1,600 kilometers (~1000 miles):

Bottom line, it's no surprise that the Israeli Chief of Staff made it clear that there will be an Israeli response. We don't know yet what kind of a response it would be, or when it will take place, but there will be one. This kind of attack from Iran just can't be met with silence. If it were, that would imply acceptance of the massive and unprecedented nature of the attack, which in themselves constitute evidence that Iran very much did intend to cause Israel real damage.

That means if Israel accepts the attack with a shrug of, "hey, we inetrcepted it, and it only cost us 5 billion shekels, so we can just look the other way," then next time? Iran will launch an even bigger attack, to try and get past this remarkable defence. And there will be a next Iranian attack, no matter what excuse they use in order to launch it.

In related news, the Iranian-funded terrorist organization Hezbollah has launched two attack drones at Israel today, which did not set off the warning alarms, crashed in Israeli territory, caused a fire, and wounded at least 3 people.

Meanwhile, this is a reminder that while the Islamist regime of Iran has had a lot of victims since its inception in 1979, no one has suffered at its hands more than the Iranian People. It's no wonder that there are signs of Israel support in Iran, even under that oppressive dictatorship. Here's a graffiti seen in Tehran:

(for all of my updates and ask replies regarding Israel, click here)

#israel #antisemitism #israeli #israel news #israel under attack #israel under fire #terrorism #anti terrorism #hamas #antisemitic #antisemites #jews #jew #judaism #jumblr #frumblr #jewish #israelunderattack #iran

[girlactionfigure]

Rafah, southern Gaza Strip: The arrival of the massive aid trucks in the Gaza Strip in recent days created a surge in the markets.

A Gazan merchant presents his wares: one hundred thousand cans.

The price: half a shekel per box.

Ask him why so cheap?

Answer: So that the people will take it (and enjoy the cheap prices - AA).

To an outsider, it seems that the Palestinian national interest is at the top of the merchant's mind... but... he forgot to mention that all the boxes he is now selling for only half a shekel due to the overflow in the markets, came as free humanitarian aid to the people of Gaza and should not cost even half a shekel...

Abu Ali

#Israel #October 7 #Israel/HamasWar #“free Aid”

[secular-jew]

A Dose of Clarity on the Palestinian Storyline

~~ By Valerie Sobel

Whenever Western media, Western governments, Israel, or anyone draws an intentional disconnect between the Palestinians and Hamas, a myriad of lies and warped presumptions are activated.

The political correctness machine, invented by liberals but operated by everyone today with respect to the current war in the Middle East guarantees 100% detachment of the poor Palestinian and his cause from terrorist Hamas. But the cost of this on-going theatre is egregious intellectual corruption; a complete reversal of truth and entire revision of Middle East history.

If Hamas is, indeed, a rogue terrorist regime under which the poor Palestinian is suffering, are we to erase all irrefutable knowledge and evidence of the following?

1. Palestinians elected Hamas as their ruling government in the year 2007 by an overwhelming majority. In their charter, Hamas boldly states aspirations to wipe Israel of the face of the earth in not one but 36 separate articles.

2. Before Hamas, Palestinians produced one Yasser Arafat who founded the art of terrorism and airplane highjacking. No amount of concessions and negotiation with this father of terrorism, for decades, convinced the Palestinians to adopt a two-state solution for peaceful co-existence.

3. Before Yasser Arafat, Palestinians produced another leader, Mohammed Amin al-Husseini, the Mufti of Jerusalem who actively worked against the UN’s two-state solution platform of 1948, led the 1920 Nebi Musa riots against the Jews in the very Jewish Palestine, and established himself as an ally in Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany. During World War II he collaborated with both Italy and Germany by making propagandistic radio broadcasts and by aiding the Nazis recruit 25,000 Bosnian Muslims for the Waffen-SS. The more Jews killed the better for this Palestinian also. On meeting Adolf Hitler, he demanded Hitler opposes the establishment of a Jewish national home in Jewish Palestine.

4. Since the failed Oslo Accords of the 1990s, more 2400 Israelis have been killed or wounded in terror attacks by the Palestinians.

5. Beside popular Hamas membership, Islamic Jihad, The Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), Fatah, Tanzim and Muslim Brotherhood -all made up of “innocent” Palestinian citizenry.

6. Palestinian children, from nursery age are systematically taught to regard Jews as the infidel enemy who took their land. Schools employ maps where Israel doesn’t exist. Children are instructed to kill Jews, join ISIS and Hamas for the glory of Islam. This is proudly exhibited to the world as a moral duty for young Palestinians.

7. Palestinian children are also reared for martyrdom by their parents and families. Islam’s promise of eternal life with 72 virgins and the favour of Allah is the goal of life, not life itself. Highest honor is given to families of martyrs who execute Jews.

8. Palestinian families are paid a monthly stipend for life by the Palestinian Authority when a family member is martyred in the duty of slaughtering Jews. It is estimated out of 2000 Gazan terrorists who came into Israel on October 7th to behead, burn alive and kidnap - one half (1000!) were Palestinian citizens who were promised 17,000 shekels and up for broken limbs, rapes and savage killings. For every person kidnapped, they were promised an apartment.

9. Kibbutz Kfar Azza was entirely penetrated and terrorized by scores of Palestinians on foot, on bicycle and motorcycle for the job of massacring babies, children and anything that moved. This was documented in vivid color by a CNN reporter, Hassan Eslaiah.

10. Maps of Sderot police station (first venue of slaughter), homes, businesses and everything inside, including what the family dog looks like and where the safe rooms are….information all meticulously collected by 20,000 regular Palestinians entering Israel on permits to work daily. Without these details provided by everyday Palestinians allowed to enter Israel on goodwill, Hamas had no way to execute the massacres.

11. For as long as the Palestinians have invented themselves as Palestinians to illegitimately lay claim to Jewish ancestral land Romans called Philistine…they have publicly cheered and celebrated every Jewish death. Whether it’s candy distribution or singing and dancing or setting the Israeli flags on fire. The elation at Jewish suffering is generational and feverish and has nothing to do with Hamas origins.

12. Palestinians are first and foremost Sharia Law Muslims of the Quaran. They are no different than the 22 Arab states surrounding Israel that share no love loss for Israel simply because it exists. For Islamic law, the very existence of Israel is diametrically opposite to Quran’s instruction of slaying Jews “wherever you can find them”. Or Qurans’s 177 instructional statements that Jews are “descendants of apes and pigs” and must be slayed.

13. Every sign of millions of Palestinians on the streets of Europe and America today that reads “from the river to the sea” is from the Palestinian charter of driving Israel into annihilation. Every mouth that utters it is calling for the explicit desire for Jewish extermination.

What’s happening today is simple; this is a religious war. It is NOT terrorism. It is certainly no land dispute. It is Jihad in the name of Allah. And every government of the western world knows it.

So why the continued farce of separating and detaching the Palestinians and their “cause” from known history, from Hamas, from Islamic Jihad, from Fatah, from PLO, from Tanzim and PFLP, all Palestinian groups aiming at Israel’s annhialation?

Because an admission of truth will, perish the thought:

a) Delegitimize the UN at its core

b) Force European nations and the US to admit utter failure of decades of foreign policies

c) Force a myriad of civilized countries to quit financial aid to the Palestinians, hence admitting billions of dollars of taxpayer theft.

d) Elucidate the fallacy and fraud of that two-state solution, which was invented by the west (prior to the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948) in order to appease the 22 Arab states. But more importantly…

e) Will immediately unite the Arab world, including nuclear Iran, in a war against the west. This very real and justified fear of Islam and its 2 billion followers who believe in the supremacy of the sword, in beheadings, rapes, massacres and annihilation of western civilization in the name of Allah is palpable. This very basic of human emotions, fear, is the catalyst for every lie, for all the theatre, for all the fraud around the fabricated Palestinian victimhood. It will continue to the end of time until Islam’s demographical strength reaches a critical mass for the destruction of an entire society of Judeo-Christian culture. And then, and only then, truth will be allowed, Islamophobia will be understood not as racial discrimination but as a rational fear rooted in evidence and posing an immediate threat to our existence. And finally, that survival-of-the-fittest meter will begin ticking.

As for Israel and the Jewish plight - the sacrificial lamb, the Jews will continue to repeat “Never Again!”through every atrocity, every raging antisemitic-crime statistic, every American campus pro-Hamas rally with “Kill The Jews” signs, every Jihad war, every Palestinian stabbing and every missile launched at Tel Aviv…until the end of time. Mindlessly parroting something that has never been true, because there is simply no other hope.

Until the west finds its balls against Islam, nothing changes. Western governments’ and media’s established theatre of lies and fraud narratives for the Palestinians and their cause …IS the very manifestation of real justified Islamophobia. Until the west feels an immediate threat to its survival, no matter how many times Israel screams “You’re next!”, nothing changes.

#secular-jew #israel #jewish #judaism #israeli #jerusalem #diaspora #secular jew #secularjew #islam #Hamas #Palestinians #hamas is isis #10 7 23 #hamas war crimes #hamas war #antisemitism #jihad #jihadis #jihadi #Gaza #hostages #no ceasefire

[officialyourdailyinspiration]

Non-Christian: The morals imposed by god in the Bible are neither perfect nor unchanging. Unless you believe the forced marriage of a rape victim to her rapist is moral.

Response: Here is the passage in question:

“If a man find a damsel that is a virgin, which is not betrothed, and lay hold on her, and lie with her, and they be found; Then the man that lay with her shall give unto the damsel's father fifty shekels of silver, and she shall be his wife; because he hath humbled her, he may not put her away all his days." - Deuteronomy 22:28-29

Let us explore the text, which some have interpreted as a command for a rape victim to marry her rapist. This interpretation, however, requires closer scrutiny, particularly with regards to the context and the original Hebrew language of the passage.

The Hebrew word used in verse 28 is "taphas", which translates to "seize" or "lay hold". While this word has been used in various contexts in the Bible, it does not inherently imply violence or force. To conclude that this means 'rape', a term signifying a violent act devoid of consent, would be a leap in translation that isn't supported by the original language.

Further light is shed on the matter when we look at similar passages in the Bible, notably Exodus 22:16-17. Here, we find a similar situation to Deuteronomy 22:28-29, where a man sleeps with a virgin who is not betrothed. There is no hint of force or violence here. The prescribed consequence is an obligatory payment and potential marriage, which can be refused by the woman's father. Moreover, Jewish law or halakha, of that time gives both the woman and the man the right to refuse this betrothal, even though the man is still obliged to make the payment. This law aims to safeguard the woman's welfare.

In the context of Deuteronomy 22, different punishments are laid out for different types of sexual offenses. The severity of the punishment varies based on the severity of the transgression. Just before the verses in question, the Bible addresses the issue of rape (22:25-27) and prescribes the death penalty for the rapist. This difference in punishments between rape and the scenario where the man must pay the father fifty shekels of silver in 22:28-29 shows us that the Bible clearly distinguishes between the two situations.

We can sum up these points as follows:

— 1. The scenario in Exodus 22:16–17, which lacks any indication of violence, helps us understand the similar situation in Deuteronomy 22:28–29.

— 2. The passage immediately before Deuteronomy 22:28–29 directly addresses rape and prescribes a death penalty, indicating a clear difference between these offenses.

— 3. The phrase "and they are discovered" in Deuteronomy 22:28 implies that both parties share responsibility, suggesting a consensual act rather than a violent one. Different Hebrew verbs are used to describe the actions in these two situations, further differentiating the actions.

— 4. So, this passage does not seem to be referring to rape but more likely to a situation of seduction or consensual relations outside of marriage, insisting that the man involved must take responsibility and provide for the woman.

These laws were designed not to oppress or subjugate women, but rather to protect them. In a society where women could face serious financial and social consequences from sexual relations outside of marriage, these laws offered a measure of security and protection.

So, with all this in mind, it's clear that Deuteronomy 22:28-29 is not a command for a rape victim to marry her rapist. Instead, it should be seen as a testament to God's protective love and justice, seeking to safeguard the welfare of His people in a challenging world.

[rebirthgarments]

Hi friends! We have a couple of updates to share. 

Firstly, Seraj needs more than $3,300 to pull off his final Ramadan project before Eid. He wants to distribute it on the last day of Ramadan, which is in 3 days, so we need to get to $20k ASAP! 

contribute at bit.ly/serajfund

The financial situation in Rah Fah continues to decline, with intermediaries taking a 15-17% cut when people get cash out. He is so hopeful that this project will work out! Helping others and bringing smiles to faces–especially those of children–is clearly one of Seraj’s passions. 

Here are the project details, all thought up by Seraj himself. He has amazing ideas! 125-130 cash envelopes containing either 50 or 100 shekels each. Seraj will distribute them based on how large each family is. Seraj will also make 40 envelopes for kids, each containing 20 shekels. 

Currently, Seraj’s plan is to distribute his envelopes on the last day of Ramadan, before Eid al-Fitr. Last time he tried to print something, the printer had no electricity. He has a plan this time for checking in early to make sure he has a chance to print. 

Working with Seraj on his mutual aid projects has been such a tangible reminder that we reject the notion of charity (which is very rooted in the white savior complex and pity of Black and Brown folx), and even allyship (not enough action)  instead are partners and collaborators with Seraj self directing, leading us, and constantly motivating us to to get to the next goal so he can achieve his vision! 

 Because Seraj and his family have managed to survive, he’s been able to give back. No NGOs or governments, just a 21-year-old young man helping as many of his neighbors as he can. In his words, “This is my duty, sisters, as long as I can help! Why don't I do that!”

Seraj is genuinely a superstar to everyone on our team. His generosity is humbling to us. We have so much to learn from Pale-eh -steinians. 

Secondly, we have a date for our upcoming virtual dance party! Mark your calendars for Monday, April 29th in the evening (Pacific time). Sky is hosting this event to hype up our virtual auction for Seraj. Follow Sky on Instagram for more details @rebirthgarments or @radicalvisibilitycollective

If you’d still like to contribute items to the auction, go to bit.ly/fundraiserforseraj ! Seraj’s Support Soirée would like to offer an item or service for every budget. And we encourage a wide variety of dough-nation types! While many of them will be creative objects, they do not have to be.

Some examples:

a book you love or wrote

a framed photograph

a massage (local area bidders only)

a meditation session

a piñata

a tarot reading

a t-shirt you love or designed

stickers

a virtual lesson on social media marketing

visual art

a virtual dance lesson

Your items will be listed this week on Give Butter! (stay tuned for details!) 

Our support soiree dance party will hype up the auction featuring selections from the archives of Rebirth Garments fashion performances while you can dance with Sky!

Thank you so much for being here for Seraj. He and his family are so deeply grateful for all of the ways folks have supported them and partnered with them to help others. And our team is so thankful for how you all have stepped up. Please share and contribute! 

-Written by my team member Bex with additions by me!

[image Description: a flyer featuring a photo by Seraj of a small little kid with a blue plastic bag full of fresh fruits and vegetables. The kiddo has a heart emoji over their face and is smiling really big. They are wearing a red shirt that says “sleep time” with a sleeping bear on it. They are standing on a sandy ground in front of a tent. Text to the right of the photo on a red background reads: Gaza Sky Seraj’s mutual aid project for Ramadan in Rah-fah For part 2 of Seraj’s Ramadan project, he gave out 32 food parcels for 32 families around him in the displacement camps. Send support to his family + others! bit.ly/serajfund “ Underneath is a QR code with the link. ]

#gaza strip #gaza genocide #gaza #free gaza #radicallyvisible #queerfashion #mutual aid #go fund me #fundraising #free palestine #gazaunderattack #palestine #stand with gaza #vetted #I personally vetted this fundraiser

[eretzyisrael]

Good News From Israel

Israel's Good News Newsletter to 10th Mar 24

In the 10th Mar 24 edition of Israel’s good news, the highlights include:

A massive project to rehabilitate southern Israel’s farms.

He trained the IDF medic who later saved his life.

Israeli hospitals are recognized as First Class.

Israeli women are a beacon of light to the nations.

An Israeli bedtime story-telling app is now a global educational tool.

Huge confidence in Israel’s economy.

The 13th Jerusalem marathon was an especially moving event.

The Israeli wedding(s) of the year.

Read More: Good News From Israel

Five months after Oct 7, Israel is certainly Up and Running - even stronger than before.  Residents have returned to battered communities in the south and rehabilitation hospitals and charities have successfully been getting the wounded back on their feet. Meanwhile, an Israeli NGO has even been helping get the devastated Ukrainian healthcare system back up and running.   On International Women’s Day, the Israeli news includes the first woman to run an Israeli Air Force base, the women in charge of several Israeli NGOs, and the woman who runs one of Samsung’s Israeli subsidiaries.   Israelis have developed material for putting up buildings and remove greenhouse gases. Meanwhile, up in the air, synchronized Israeli drones extinguish wildfires.   Things are also looking up for Israel’s economy. Employment is up, as is confidence in the Shekel and in the Israeli bond market. Israel’s gas revenues are on the up, and even the avocado harvest is at a record high.  The Israeli foldable electric car now can be seen running around town, and Israeli startups ran some 2,000 business meetings at the Mobile World Congress.   Finally, Israeli women and men have again been climbing up on sporting podiums, many more Jews have been going “up” on Aliyah, and even the Kinneret has been filling up, thanks to benevolence from above.   The photo (TY Sharon) shows competitors gathering for Friday’s Jerusalem Marathon, where a record 40,000 were up and running.

#back pain #cancer #Chabad #climate #displaced #epilepsy #Gaza #good news #Hamas #hostages #IDF #Israel #Jerusalem #Jewish #Sheba #Ukraine #vegan #Virtual Reality #waste #women

[heybeyby]

i wanna see Wales try to eat a spicy chicken wing. i think it’d be incredibly funny, number one. Number two: i don’t think he’s like. ever eaten a piece of seasoned food in his life.

just. look at what he’s eating.

there’s like. tomatoes, cheese, lettuce, and some bread. that’s it. wales please

and then we see him order like. a whole new platter for some reason despite him not finishing his first? it’s probably a rich kid thing idk

there is not a speck of seasoning on that plate lord in heaven :(

#shekel brainrots #mfb #beyblade metal saga #beyblade metal fight #wales beyblade #he is so fucking british my lord #you put a pinch of pepper in his food and he immediately dies. it's attempted murder

[capybaracorn]

How the songbirds of Rafah help Palestinians cope with the terror of war

Canaries, lovebirds and goldfinches are muffling the sounds of Israel’s terrifying bombardment of Gaza with their songs.

Rafah, Gaza Strip – In downtown Rafah, near Al-Awda Mosque, a small bird flutters in a cage hanging on the outer wall of a school which is currently being used as a shelter for people who have been displaced by the Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip.

Its soothing song catches the attention of Hassan Abu Jazar who has come here in search of birds to buy, prompting him to stop. He approaches the seller and requests a closer look, then gently turns the cage left and right.

In Rafah, where the majority of Gaza’s population is now crammed, a market for songbirds is thriving. [Mohamed Soleimane/Al Jazeera]

Intrigued onlookers who are here to buy their own birds start to get impatient during his lengthy examination – checking the bird’s singing pitch, hearing about the times of day it is most active and asking detailed questions about its overall demeanour. They want him to get on with his purchase, so they can have a chance to look at the birds, too.

But Abu Jazar needs to be thorough – he wants to find a canary which will be chirpy, not quiet, and which sings at the right pitch before he commits to a purchase. And these birds do not come cheap – this one is priced at 150 shekels (just over $41).

The 23-year-old can’t suppress his smile. He has found the bird he wants.

Once sought after for their vibrant colours and soothing melodies, these birds now serve a very important purpose. They help Palestinians endure the thunderous sounds of explosions during the relentless Israeli shelling. Their song can also partially drown out – or at least provide a little distraction from – the humming sounds of hovering missile-bearing drones.

A shield against terror

Despite the cost, many parents have purchased birds to help distract their children from the horrors of war, and to drown out the sounds of bombs and drones [Mohamed Soleimane/Al Jazeera]

Abu Jazar, who has been struggling with anxiety since the start of the war, has found great solace in the singing of the canaries he keeps in cages in his bedroom.

“The songs of the canaries can shield any space against the terror that comes with the violent sound of shelling,” he tells Al Jazeera. “They give me a sense of comfort that helps me endure the fear.”

His five birds, including the latest acquisition, are not loud enough to drown out the sound of explosions, but their gentle tones help calm him.

Abu Jazar, who lives in Tal as-Sultan in Rafah, is one of thousands grappling with the terror that Israeli shelling triggers.

More than one million children in the Gaza Strip are in dire need of mental health support, according to the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF). Many in Gaza say they are comforted by the sound of birdsong [Mohamed Soleimane/Al Jazeera]

Drowning blasts with birdsong

Even before the war, Palestinians have long collected songbirds – canaries, goldfinches, lovebirds and sparrows – for their comforting melodies. Now, they’re becoming go-to mental health allies.

“The sounds of explosions from Israeli shelling are terrifying and there are no alternatives to calm the fear of children except the sounds of canaries,” says Raed al-Qudra, who has been displaced by the war from the centre of Khan Younis to an area south of the city.

Al-Qudra’s four daughters and two sons are among the more than one million children in the Gaza Strip who the United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF) estimates are in dire need of mental health and psychosocial support.

“My daughters love birds because their colours make them feel safer, calmer and more alive. We consider their presence in the house as part of the few means of entertainment remaining since the war,” he says.

Al-Qudra, who has been keeping birds for the past 10 years, first introduced his family to the power of birdsong two years ago, during Israel’s 2022 bombardment of the city. It helped calm them, he says.

Recently, he has been hoping to buy some more. Despite the harsh conditions of displacement, he has visited the Rafah markets repeatedly in search of birds. A few days ago, he managed to acquire three birds from a seller who agreed to sell them at a lower price than usual because of the harsh economic situation in Gaza.

Bird-seller Dedar (left) agrees on a sale with Raed al-Qudrah, whose six children find solace in the chirps of songs. ‘The children’s mental health is paramount,’ he says [Mohamed Soleimane/Al Jazeera]

Booming birds’ market

Four months after the October 7 attacks on southern Israel by Hamas, Israel’s military campaign has reduced most of the Gaza Strip to rubble. Aerial bombardments and ground invitations have resulted in the deaths of nearly 29,000 Palestinians, the majority of them children and women. Thousands more are feared buried in the ruins and are presumed dead.

Rafah, the focus of Israel’s latest military operation, has become Gaza’s most densely populated area, according to the UN. Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians who fled the onslaught in the northern and central regions of the enclave are now packed into the southernmost city. Amid the sprawling sea of refugee tents that now line its streets, an unlikely market for songbirds is thriving.

While some sellers have set up stalls, others wander up and down carrying birds in cages.

Not everyone can afford to buy birds, but many come here anyway to enjoy the colours and peaceful chirps [Mohamed Soleimane/Al Jazeera]

Some customers approach the cages displayed on the street or hanging on the nearby walls of the shelter, to inspect the birds up close. Dedar lists the local names of their species. His stock includes canaries, lovebirds, breeds of passer birds (sparrows) and more.

Some potential buyers are dissuaded by the prices. Dedar also notes that birdfeed has surged in price from seven shekels ($1.90) to about 80 shekels (just over $22) per kilo.

Regardless of this steep rise in the cost of keeping a songbird, their popularity appears not to have waned.

“Customers are looking for breeds with soothing voices during this difficult time,” says Dedar. “Many of them purchase multiple birds to ensure a variety of melodies throughout the day, as some birds sing better during the day while others prefer the night”

#palestine #free palestine #save palestine #gaza #free gaza #save gaza #world news #current events #israel #israel palestine conflict #israeli apartheid #war on gaza #gaza strip #gaza genocide #gazaunderattack #palestine genocide #palestinian genocide #stop the genocide #genocide #middle east #bird #birds #birdblr #canary

[sgiandubh]

Spy Wednesday. Treason

Sidenote: Still very late with all this, but decided to keep the pace. Perhaps it is better like this, since this is the slightly haphazard result of scattered thoughts throughout the day and as such, a personal experience of it.

Obviously, powerful bystanders are not happy about Jesus entering Jerusalem at all, especially since this peculiar event coincided with the feast of Passover: 'and the chief priests and the scribes sought how they might take him by craft, and put him to death' (Mark, 14:1 - from Palm Sunday's reading). Just try and imagine the bureaucratic kerfuffle, the whispered speculations, the slow burn alarm building up in those circles. Political unrest, with a twist: local consensus was not enough - Rome had to be persuaded to step in, and it was everything but obvious. About all this, later this week: it is, to me at least, perhaps the most mysterious episode of the New Testament.

Judas Iscariot. Tragically instrumental to this plan, we know it. And treason, coupled with dark alley maneuvering, was the only way to make it happen. Treason: not betrayal or treachery, which are either too vaguely moral or too general - what is about to happen is a political assassination disguised as trial, followed by public torture as punishment.

This year's lectionary brings along a second, slightly alternate POV of the Last Supper, as related by Matthew Levi (my favorite), this time. Matthew, the tax collector, is a man acutely aware of the value of money and he is the only one to give us a very precise quotation of the reward Judas received from Caiaphas' middlemen: 'And said unto them, What will ye give me, and I will deliver him unto you? And they covenanted with him for thirty pieces of silver.' (Matthew, 26:15). Again, we have a very telling, albeit approximate, conversion in today's currency. Matthew's Greek text is very vague, in that respect. It speaks about 'silver' (coins), to an audience that immediately understood the value of it. And even if we will never know for sure if those coins were Ptolemaic (Egyptian) or Athenian (Greek) tetradrachms, Tyrian (in today's Lebanon) shekels or Antioch (Greek) staters, we can make a rough evaluation based on their actual weight and purity (isn't it ironic?).

Ready?

In 2024's value (based on the current JP Morgan's quotation of 30 USD/ounce), Judas Iscariot sold Jesus for an something that varies between 97,8 USD (if reward was received in Ptolemaic tetradrachms) to 472,8 USD (if the reward was received in Athenian tetradrachms). The median and geographically more plausible amount being of about 325,5 USD (for Antioch staters) or 380,7 USD (for Tyrian shekels).

I don't know about you, but what sickens me is the complete ludicrousness of this all. Think about what these money could buy in your respective worlds: would you do it?

Rhetorical question, of course. What is at stake, here, is not money. It's Power, in its political, appallingly punitive dimension the Romans called imperium, as opposed to the organic, ethical dimension they called auctoritas (and which we would translate by 'prestige' or 'influence'). With this deal, Judas hopes to save his life, soul be damned. Only to lose both, in complete, endless dishonor.

The day's somber and reflective sounds come from François Couperin's Première leçon de ténèbres pour le Mercredi saint (1714). Couperin was the Sun King's favorite harpsichordist and as such, was commissioned to arrange into music Jeremiah's lamentations, for the Holy Week liturgies of the Longchamp Royal Abbey. In a Baroque universe filled with light and joy and levity, these are the most dejected sounds perhaps ever written:

PS: I will try to catch up tonight. Pinky promise and thank you all for your patience (I never thought you'd like these, but here we are - still, the topic is a very difficult one, don't you think?).

#Holy Week #Easter 2024 #Youtube

[sky-daddy-hates-me]

Twelve Malawians have been deported from Israel after leaving the farms where they were working, to get higher salaries elsewhere. The 12 Malawians were among more than 40 foreign workers who were arrested while working at a bakery in Tel Aviv last week. The workers, who were part of a labour agreement between Israel and Malawi, were unhappy with working conditions in the agricultural sector and found work in a bakery instead. Israel's ambassador to Malawi Michael Lotem told the BBC: "Anybody who violates his visa terms will be deported – as easy as this, as in any country. "I hope it will be a sign for others that it is better to stick to the job. Nobody forced them to come, they came to do a job, they should do the job that is all." Last week, Benzani, a Malawian working in Israel, told the BBC that some of his compatriots working on other farms were being paid less than the minimum wage in Israel.

"The minimum wage in Israel is 32 shekels ($8.60; £6.85) an hour, but some of us are being paid 18 to 20 shekels an hour." Benzani said many of them had signed contracts which said they would receive $1,500 a month. Benzani is not one of those who were deported. Mr Lotem said that rather than leaving the farms and breaking the conditions of their visas, they should have lodged a complaint. “If someone thinks that he is not getting what he deserves, there is a hotline and a phone number they can call "Violating the law is not the answer. "The Israeli police shows zero tolerance to illegal activity especially these days when we have so many other troubles,” Mr Lotem said. Those deported were part of a labour drive by the Israeli government last year to fill a shortage of agricultural workers following October's deadly attacks on Israel by Hamas. This led Israel to stop giving permits to Palestinians to work on its farms, while 10,000 migrant farm workers - mostly Thai nationals - left Israel after war broke out. More than 200 Malawians went to Israel, while Kenya agreed to send 1,500 workers. The announcement of the deal sparked mixed reactions in Kenya, with some concerned about their safety. The two governments said it would help reduce unemployment in their countries. Mr Lotem also said that a new agreement had been signed for another 3,000 Malawians to go and work in Israel.

Imagine deporting someone because they wanted a job that actually paid the minimum wage

#palestine #free gaza #free palestine #gaza #israel #israel is committing genocide #israel is a war criminal #fuck israel #end israeli occupation #boycott israel #malawi #immigration #immigrants #immigrant workers