#shekel speaks

[heybeyby]

yk i think about ryutaro being confronted with uncertainty a lot. he’s so used to knowing what the future will bring i wonder how he copes post-battle bladers. his battle with ginkga must have shook his faith in his divination. of course he would just push that doubt down cause that’s how he is—refusing to acknowledge the notion he might have been wrong. but the thoughts are always there, lingering

it really makes me think if there ever would be a situation where he’s hesitant in using his divination abilities cause he’s scared of the possibility of being wrong again, of making the wrong choice again and suffering because of it.

[evilwickedme]

Marvel's Spider-Man 2 on PS5 is out now!

No spoilers but if you're a parksborn fan, ohhh boy. The trailer was enough of a tease, but the game itself?? You'll be in for such a show

@stackthedeck is my resident parksborn shipper lmao I'm just here for the ride

That said. God I wish I had a PS5 but noooo it's gotta cost money ffs I would play the FUCK out of that spider man game. And gotham knights too

[emmafallsinlove]

ma'am you said download now and then you making me pay $5.99 am i a joke to you

[willowchild]

Bowls and cup my mom got up north

[probablyasocialecologist]

The economic indicators speak of nothing less than an economic catastrophe. Over 46,000 businesses have gone bankrupt, tourism has stopped, Israel’s credit rating was lowered, Israeli bonds are sold at the prices of almost “junk bonds” levels, and the foreign investments that have already dropped by 60% in the first quarter of 2023 (as a result of the policies of Israel’s far-right government before October 7) show no prospects of recovery. The majority of the money invested in Israeli investment funds was diverted to investments abroad because Israelis do not want their own pension funds and insurance funds or their own savings to be tied to the fate of the State of Israel. This has caused a surprising stability in the Israeli stock market because funds invested in foreign stocks and bonds generated profit in foreign currency, which was multiplied by the rise in the exchange rate between foreign currencies and the Israeli Shekel. But then Intel scuttled a $25 billion investment plan in Israel, the biggest BDS victory ever.  These are all financial indicators. But the crisis strikes deeper at the means of production of the Israeli economy. Israel’s power grid, which has largely switched to natural gas, still depends on coal to supply demand. The biggest supplier of coal to Israel is Colombia, which announced that it would suspend coal shipments to Israel as long as the genocide was ongoing. After Colombia, the next two biggest suppliers are South Africa and Russia. Without reliable and continuous electricity, Israel will no longer be able to pretend to be a developed economy. Server farms do not work without 24-hour power, and no one knows how many blackouts the Israeli high-tech sector could potentially survive. International tech companies have already started closing their branches in Israel. Israel’s reputation as a “startup nation” depends on its tech sector, which in turn depends on highly educated employees. Israeli academics report that joint research with universities abroad has declined sharply thanks to the efforts of student encampments. Israeli newspapers are full of articles about the exodus of educated Israelis. Prof. Dan Ben David, a famous economist, argued that the Israeli economy is held together by 300,000 people (the senior staff in universities, tech companies, and hospitals). Once a significant portion of these people leaves, he says, “We won’t become a third world country, we just won’t be anymore.” 

19 July 2024

[mariluphoto]

"Israel is banning Palestinian hostages and their families from speaking to the media, holding any type of community gathering or celebration, including distributing sweets as part of family celebrations.

Any violation would result in a 70,000 israeli shekels ($18,000) fine.

Israel not only robs Palestinians of their life and liberty; but also their joy."

(via. rosypirani)

[matan4il]

Daily update post:

Israel has been preparing for the possibility of a direct strike from Iran. To that end, the IDF has been initiating GPS jamming, first in the south, and now in central Israel as well. On a personal note, I had to calm my mom down today (I could do this thanks to having heard about it on the news already), because it's a scary thing for people, and they don't know what to think, when they open Waze and find themselves "appearing" in enemy territory. Iran's attack options might also include drone attacks, or anti-Jewish terrorist attacks around the world. We've heard about Esther and Mordechai's Tomb being attacked tonight in Iran itself.

Speaking of the country that's the biggest funder of terrorism globally, tomorrow it's "Al-Quds Day" (Jerusalem Day) in Iran. It was established in 1979, after the Islamist revolution, as an antisemitic political measure, meant to help radicalize people against the Jewish state. Officially, it's a protest of Israel's sovereignity in Jerusalem, the city which has been the capital of the Jewish people, the place we pray to, for over 3,000 years, longer than Islam has existed. Some people worry that Iran will use this date specifically to strike against Israel or other Jewish targets around the world.

With or without connection, the chief of Israel's army intelligence is quoted as saying in private conversations, "I have told you time and time again that it is not certain that the worst is behind us and we are ahead of complex days."

Back in February, we heard that the niece of Hamas' overall leader, Ismail Haniyeh, gave birth in an Israeli hospital, and her baby, which was born prematurely, was treated in an Israeli hospital's NICU, the same hospital that had to have millions of shekels spent on, in order to make parts of it safe during Hamas' rocket attacks. While at it, we were reminded that several of Haniyeh's sisters live in Israel after marrying Israeli Bedouins, and that a few more of his relatives were allowed from Gaza into Israel for medical treatment. Just a small reminder that Haniyeh's personal wealth is estimated to be somewhere between 4 to 5 billion dollars (Taylor Swift's is only a little over 1 billion dollars), and if he wanted to, he could have flown his entire family out of there, to join him in Qatar, with the best facilities and care, rather than get medical care at a hospital subsidized by the "genocidal Zionist enemy."

Now we get the news that one of Haniyeh's sisters, a 57 years old woman, has been arrested for helping Hamas, including support for the Oct 7 massacre.

This is 34 years old Lidor Levi.

He was critically injured in the Palestinian terrorist attack in Gan Yavne. He was in a hospital, fighting for his life for 4 days. Today we got the news that he succumbed to his wounds. He leaves a pregnant wife and a daughter behind. May his memory be a blessing.

I will never understand how the accidental killing of 7 civilians in Gaza is making more headlines, and causes more rage, than the on going and intentional killing of so many Israeli civilians targeted in terrorist attacks along this entire war. I can't remember the world even addressing it, let alone raging about how unacceptable these killings are, and how they're proof that Palestinian terrorist organizations must be stopped. For that matter, I haven't come across anywhere as many headlines and world leaders' statements about an intentional drone attack that killed several rescue workers in Kharkiv, where a residential area was targeted. The hyperfocus on the one conflict where Jews can be demonized, is also leaving a lot less attention for, practical aid, and just general caring about other conflicts, which are in many ways far worse (just look at Tigray alone on the below map). It's harmful to so many more people than we come close to realizing.

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

[tieflingkisser]

Israel approves plans to build settlements in Gaza Envelope

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced the allocation of 19 billion shekels ($5bn) to build settlements in the Gaza Envelope, or the areas adjacent to the Gaza-Israel boundary. Speaking on Wednesday after meeting with UK and German government leaders, Netanyahu said, “we will uproot” Hamas and “deepen our roots” and “build the land of Israel”.

[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?).

[eretzyisrael]

An Israeli peace activist who was seized from her home on 7 October and held hostage for 53 days in Gaza has told the BBC how her ordeal destroyed her belief that peace is possible between Palestinians and Israelis.

In her first UK interview since being freed in November, Ada Sagi, 75, also told Emma Barnett on Radio 4's Today programme how she was held in an apartment by paid guards, that Hamas kept her in a hospital before her release - and that she now believes the world hates Jews.

"I don't believe in peace, I don't sorry," the Arabic and Hebrew teacher said. "I understand Hamas don't want it."

Ms Sagi lived for decades in the Nir Oz kibbutz near the Israel-Gaza border, trying to help reconciliation efforts by teaching Israelis Arabic to speak to their neighbours.

In the autumn of 2023, she was planning to come to London to visit her son Noam and celebrate her birthday.

But all that changed when Hamas attacked southern Israel, killing about 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages into Gaza, Ms Sagi among them.

Ada, who turned 75 while held hostage by those she describes as “Hamas terrorists”, was finally freed 53 days later.

EPA Ada Sagi after her release

freed 53 days later.

Ada Sagi was released in November after 53 days in captivity in Gaza

It has taken six months for the life-long peace activist to be ready to talk to the British media about her experience and her views of those who took her freedom, her home and her belief in peace.

She is aware of the 116 hostages still left behind, 41 of whom Israel says are presumed dead, and is urging the Israeli government to agree a new Gaza ceasefire and hostage release deal with Hamas.

"Israel have to do the deal... bring back home all these hostages who [are] alive and also dead," she says.

Ms Sagi describes how, when she was first taken into Gaza, she and some other hostages were hidden in a family home with children, but the following day taken to an apartment in the southern city of Khan Younis because it was "dangerous".

The apartment owner, Ms Sagi said, told them his wife and children had been sent to stay with his in-laws. The man, she added, was a nurse.

She said students were being paid to watch over them. "I heard them say... 70 shekels [£14.82; $18.83] for a day," she said.

"It's a lot of money in Gaza because they have no work. And if you have work not with Hamas, it's no more than 20 shekels for a day," she said.

Hamas paying Gazans to house Israeli captives, says released hostage

Ms Sagi was among 105 hostages released in November in return for a week-long ceasefire and some 240 Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails.

She described the terrible uncertainty of the run up to her release on the fifth day of the deal along with nine other Israelis and two Thais.

"Every knocking on the door you think there is somebody coming to take you," she said.

When the hostages heard there was a deal and that the older women would be released, she said one of the women eventually freed with her was "terrified" she might have been too young to be included.

"But our housekeeper said: ‘No. You came together, you go together,’" she explained.

'We fought to get her back,' son says as more hostages released

Stories of the hostages taken by Hamas from Israel

Who are the released hostages?

On day 49 - a Friday - Ms Sagi said they were told: "You are going home", which she didn't believe.

"At lunchtime, they gave us food... they take us by car to Khan Younis and we go [un]til the border of Rafah [on the border with Egypt]."

But something had gone wrong and they had to return to Khan Younis.

"We are told they are releasing women with children, [and you feel] all the happiness that you are going to be released, and [then] something goes wrong," she said.

When they got into the city, Ms Sagi said, they were taken to a hospital - which she believes was southern Gaza's main hospital, Nasser - and told: "You are staying here."

Ms Sagi said: "People say that they are not involved. They're involved... and getting money for each of us."

Testimony from a number of other released hostages places 10 hostages in total at Nasser hospital, one of whom remains in captivity.

When asked by the BBC to comment on Ms Sagi’s allegations, the hospital's director, Dr Atef al-Hoot, denied that any hostages were kept there and said it only provided humanitarian services.

The Israeli military has previously said its troops detained "about 200 terrorists who were in the hospital" during a raid on Nasser hospital in February, and that they found ammunition as well as unused medicines intended for Israeli hostages.

Hamas has denied Israeli claims that its fighters have been operating inside Nasser and other hospitals across Gaza.

Ada Sagi and her son Noam had hoped to celebrate her 75th birthday in London before she was kidnapped

Ms Sagi said she and the other residents of Nir Oz who survived the 7 October attacks were now living in apartments in the city of Kiryat Gat.

She is writing a book and working with children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). “It’s made me feel good that I can help other people,” she said.

She is also keen to continue talking about her ordeal, despite the strong emotions it brings up.

"I lost my home. I lost my freedom - the whole place that I [have] to go back. Our village - kibbutz - is destroyed," she said.

“I cried good. I'm not ‘iron woman’, like everybody says. Sometimes you cry and it's good. My mother would say: ‘To cry, it cleans the eye.’”

[david-goldrock]

הודו דרום אמריקה זה הכי ישראלי

Why is it always the ones that take the most time? XD

India South America is the most Israeli The Out Kids (reference to the out kids band) in the kibbutz is the most Israeli Pugs (an old israeli game), tokens, Shluks (an Israeli sweet), an economic night [I speak but] (in english) not enough is the most Israeli Sing!

Bamba Bamba, Alma gum, from Tel Aviv to Ben Gurion (airport) Shekel Schenkel (nickname to a 2 shekel coin), oh kapara (an endearment), the great Aric Einstein Haida Haida, Haida Hi-Tech - for the police - 1-0-0 (100 is the Israeli 911) Checkers, checkers, Matka, Matka We love you Shimon Peres

A new evening, a cold watermelon It is this and nothing else (referencing the show "This is it"'s theme song) Paratroopers course, Araq Ayalim No, no, we don't have another country Red Sea, Dead Sea, Mediterranean Sea, Sea of ​​Galilee Tiredness of start of week from Sunday on Saturday that comes and returns Traffic jam on the holiday with a collection of Kaveret Another World Cup but without the (national) team

Bamba Bamba, Alma gum, from Tel Aviv to Ben Gurion (airport) Shekel Schenkel (nickname to a 2 shekel coin), oh kapara (an endearment), the great Aric Einstein Haida Haida, Haida Hi-Tech - for the police - 1-0-0 (100 is the Israeli 911) Checkers, checkers, Matka, Matka We love you Shimon Peres

From Givat Halfon to Eskimo Lemon (Old Israeli Movies) Who's messing around, it's Miko? (A quote from another old israeli movie- Charlie Vachetzi) Give me hummus, chips, salad and radish But with Diet (coke) or Coke Zero And don't forget applause upon (a plane's) landing And if the line is long, please perform a bypassing Right, they promised that we would grow up and there would be no more army Everyone is on their feet for the singing of Hatikva (the national anthem, also a part of the band's name)

Turkish coffee and Belgian waffles are the most Israeli Also, French kiss and Greek dancing Swedish key Scotch whiskey Spanish burger Nachman From Uman (an important rabbi) is the most Israeli - Goveina

Bamba Bamba, Alma gum, from Tel Aviv to Ben Gurion (airport) Shekel Schenkel (nickname to a 2 shekel coin), oh kapara (an endearment), the great Aric Einstein Haida Haida, Haida Hi-Tech - for the police - 1-0-0 (100 is the Israeli 911) Checkers, checkers, Matka, Matka We love you Shimon Peres

[end segment] It will be fine - I am unloading goods It will be fine - Waze if there is no choice It will be fine - Obama will help It will be fine - and God will protect It will be fine - we will try It will be fine - there is an iron dome It will be fine - the whole song is original It will be fine - only that the tune is a folk tune It will be fine

[heybeyby]

Okay honestly curious for what you julian/da xiang thoughts would be for the ship game

prettiest man in the world x boygirl loser thing the ship of all time !

Ship It

What made you ship it?

The Fallen Emperor really just solidified them for me. Like they already were foils before but that episode just hit the nail so hard. There's nothing hotter to me than characters that are foils of each other on opposite sides. Like it's so juicy i go bonkers every time

What are your favorite things about the ship?

Daxiang to me is like julian's true gay awakening. Like why are you, as a man, taking off your jacket in front of another man? To distract him so you can get the final blow? To seduce him? why do wang hu zhong members do that. Listen i just think it's a really good dynamic with julian secretly admiring daxiang a lot after their battle but being afraid of admitting his feelings. It's like daxiang is the greatest person you'll ever meet and julian is his nerd boyfriend that shrivels up and dies at the mere mention of emotional vulnerability (he's working on it)

Is there an unpopular opinion you have on your ship?

this ship needs to more popular idk it that's an unpopular opinion but come on people

[evilwickedme]

Fuck the exorbitant cost of moving, I'm going to order a tuna salad

[emmafallsinlove]

the need to have evermore cd signed….. like i look at prices and someone selling it in $115 which is wayyy to expensive for me 😭

[willowchild]

For 35 shekels I got a sandwich, an ice coffee and a chocolate pastry. I wish it was this cheap everywhere fr

[bloghrexach]

💥 … good news!!! — July 20, 2024!!

By: LaillaB, founder of ‘Reclaim the Narrative’, from LinkedIn …

“As Israel's genocidal war against Gaza continues unabated, the Israeli economy is facing a catastrophe.

The economic indicators speak of nothing less than an economic catastrophe.

Over 46,000 businesses have gone bankrupt, tourism has stopped, Israel's credit rating was lowered, Israeli bonds are sold at the prices of almost "junk bonds" levels, and the foreign investments that have already dropped by 60% in the first quarter of 2023 (as a result of the policies of Israel's far-right government before October 7) show no prospects of recovery.

The majority of the money invested in Israeli investment funds was diverted to investments abroad because Israelis do not want their own pension funds and insurance funds or their own savings to be tied to the fate of the State of Israel.

This has caused a surprising stability in the Israeli stock market because funds invested in foreign stocks and bonds generated profit in foreign currency, which was multiplied by the rise in the exchange rate between foreign currencies and the Israeli Shekel.

But then Intel scuttled a $25 billion investment plan in Israel, the biggest BDS victory ever.

Three Israeli historians, two Zionists and one anti-Zionist, have declared that the Zionist project has come to an end.

Israel's power grid, which has largely switched to natural gas, still depends on coal to supply demand.

The biggest supplier of coal to Israel is Colombia, which announced that it would suspend coal shipments to Israel as long as the genocide was ongoing.

After Colombia, the next two biggest suppliers are South Africa and Russia.

Without reliable and continuous electricity, Israel will no longer be able to pretend to be a developed economy.

The physical destruction in Israel has been minimal, but one thing has been destroyed: its future.

When a critical mass of Israelis, regardless of their political opinions, become convinced that Israeli apartheid has become unsustainable, they will no longer agree to invest energy and money and risk their lives and their families for the sake of the Zionist project.

They will seek out a better future for themselves, as every sane person would, either by leaving Israel, or better yet, by working towards a new and democratic political system in Palestine 🇵🇸 إن شاء الله

Mondoweiss.

🃏 An economy built on the exploitation and suffering of others is a house of cards destined to collapse.

إن شاء الله

#reclaimthenarrative — 🍉🕊 — #FreePalestine … @hrexach