#task: kuwait

[mommy-lin-da]

[robfinancialtip]

🗽🌍Raja Iqdeimat, a successful pastry firm owner, describes her story. Born in Abu Dhabi, she grew up in several places, including Libya, Lebanon, Jordan, and Kuwait before moving to Turkey, California, and finally New York. Despite her parents' lack of education, she was the first member of her family to pursue higher education and succeed. She credits her parents for instilling entrepreneurial skills and determination in her despite their lack of formal schooling.

👨‍👩‍👧‍👦🌱Growing up as the youngest member of a large family of nine, Raja felt unusual, but she believed that each family had a unique person who contributed in different ways. Despite lacking a formal education, she describes how her father was a successful businessman who inspired her to pursue her aspirations. Raja's mother, though uneducated, was hardworking and concerned about her family's well-being, imparting in Raja a strong work ethic and tenacity.

😔💼Growing up in different places and seeking a profession in finance was filled with personal losses and difficulties. Despite working as a brokerage manager in Jordan for seven years, dealing derivatives, equities, and bonds, she felt great loneliness following the deaths of her parents when she moved to the United States as a single mother without a broker's license. When the mass layoff in 2008, she was unemployed for six to seven months in California, struggling to support herself and her kid. Realizing that California's emphasis on the film industry did not fit with her career goals, she boldly moved to New York, where she swiftly obtained a job at an insurance firm and began rebuilding her life.

🏙️🎉While working at a New York bank in 2018, her manager questioned her capacity to buy a Manhattan apartment, which proved critical. This distrust motivated Raja to pursue entrepreneurship and independence. Despite difficulties and misgivings, she bravely launched her own business, motivated by her passion for entrepreneurship and need for autonomy. This marked the beginning of Délice Macarons, her venture into the world of cooking pastry, and her journey toward self-reliance and success.

🚀🧁Raja, a dessert shop owner in New Jersey, faced challenges during the COVID-19 pandemic. Despite lacking retail expertise, she managed everything from decoration to recruitment, relying on her entrepreneurial flair. She and her chef friend opened their first physical store in Cranford, New Jersey, in January 2020. Despite financial constraints, they shifted their business strategy to focus on fundamental products like bread. Raja's resilience and ability to transform adversity into opportunity remained evident.

🌟🗣️Raja's message encourages listeners, emphasizing the value of endurance, adaptation, and believing in oneself. Despite various barriers, including financial difficulties and the enormous task of beginning a business in a new nation, she stayed determined to succeed, demonstrating that anything is possible with devotion and hard work. Raja's path demonstrates the importance of taking risks, pursuing passion, and never giving up on one's goals. Her tale resonates with individuals who want to overcome obstacles and succeed on their terms. Raja highlights the importance of perseverance, hard work, and financial acumen. She promotes confidence in oneself and pursuing one's goals, emphasizing that hard work combined with passion may lead to success in any activity.

[northgazaupdates]

19 March 2024

Sources report multiple, apparently simultaneous bombings of aid-seekers by the IOF tonight in north Gaza.

Resistance News Network reports on Telegram that the IOF has once again bombed Kuwait Roundabout, wounding and killing many starving civilians. RNN writes

🚨 A large number of martyrs and injuries were reported near the Kuwait Roundabout southeast of Gaza City in the northern #Gaza Strip, following an IOF strike which targeted a gathering of committees formed by notables and tribes tasked with securing the entry of aid from the Roundabout into famine-stricken Gaza City.

After four days of successful aid deliveries to the northern #Gaza Strip since the latest flour massacre, the IOF returns to targeting aid-seekers after eliminating the mechanisms for securing the entry of aid, in an attempt to sow chaos. In the past 24 hours, 3 officials who were facilitating the entry of aid in northern and central Gaza were assassinated by the IOF.

Hossam Shabat said at least 23 were martyred in the Kuwait Roundabout attack, with many more injured. Shortly after, he reported the death toll rose to 30. It may continue to rise.

He also reports that the IOF bombed aid-seekers in the Shafut area of southeastern Gaza City. He says the number of martyrs and injured is large, but does not provide a rough estimate at this time.

More information will be provided as I find it.

[captain-price-unofficially]

A row of U.S. Army M1A1 Abrams from Task Force 1-64 fire live rounds during a live fire training session on the Udairi Range near the Iraqi border in northern Kuwait. February 6, 2003

[usafphantom2]

What are the most amazing things you've seen as a Boom Operator?

Five KC-135Rs and Sixty F-16s Refueling Near Kuwait 🇰🇼

In November and December of 1990 during Operation Desert Shield I was flying out of Jeddah, Saudia Arabia. The flight lunches always had goat cheese on the sandwiches, but our quarters were ok, and the flying was good, sometime even flying twice a day.

General Schwarzkopf was attempting to plant the idea that US forces would invade Kuwait with an amphibious assault from the Persian Gulf. The Marine’s plans were called Operation Desert Saber, and my understanding was that the Air Force was supporting the operation with F-16s. It was all a feint of course, but the mission was flown to make it look like that’s what we were going to do. In support of this, we were tasked with a large mission with five KC-135Rs.

When multiple tankers fly in formation at altitude, the second aircraft flies 500 feet above, 1 mile behind, and on a 30-degree offset from the lead aircraft. Each subsequent aircraft also flies off lead, but the each add an additional 500 feet of altitude, and 1 mile in distance. So, if Lead is at 25,000 ft, Two is at 25,500, Three is at 26,000, Four is at 26,500 and Five is at 27,000. That’s two thousand feet, plus a thousand above and a thousand below for other air traffic clearance. Needless to say, it’s a bit of a headache for air traffic controllers, whether they are regular ATC, or as in our case an E-3A Sentry and a USN E-2A Hawkeye.

We were lucky enough to be assigned as aircraft number five, tail end Charlie. The great thing about being last in the formation is that you can see everything, and this formation was one worth watching.

We flew toward the southern tip of Kuwait where we were to meet up with sixty F-16s. Yes, sixty! Fighters join up with tankers by flying straight at them, usually a bit lower in altitude, and then just turn in behind the tanker with whatever bank angle they need to make the turn, so it’s not uncommon to see them coming around behind you at 90-degree of bank. Each F-16 formation is called a flight, and each flight tended either two or four aircraft, but for this tasking, each tanker was responsible for twelve F-16s and we had no idea how they were going to be divided up.

As I recall, all air refueling at the time was done using radio silent operations, which meant that everything was pre-briefed, and the radios were only used went they were really needed (safety of flight issues, or to prevent mission failure.) So, while you had receivers assigned to you, if different ones showed up, you just recorded the tail numbers and refueled them. Saudia Arabia was paying for the gas anyways, we just had to record who got what.

I remember standing in the cockpit before any had arrived on our wing yet because we were at the highest level and watching all these F-16s buzzing around like bees in the spring, flying up to their tankers to get some nectar.

Eventually they swarmed on us, and I headed back to the boom pod to get to work. As each flight joined up with its tanker, they would normally form on the left wing, and when it looked like the tanker was ready, the boom down and extended to 10 feet, they would get into position.

They were using a technique known as “Quick Flow Air Refueling”. An F-16 would get into the pre-contact position and wait to be cleared to contact. The next F-16 would fly fingertip formation with the one on the boom. When the first one finished, he would move off to the right, and the next one would slide right into the contact position, we’d plug him and give him his gas and so on. They would continue this until the entire flight was topped off with fuel. It was very efficient and quick.

When they were all done, they disappeared as if the wind had blown them away, and we just hung around for a bit in case anybody needed a little extra.

Let me tell you, it was a sight to see, and I haven’t seen anything online that would compare to it. Wish I’d taken photos or better yet, videos.

@tcamp202 via X

[palestinegenocide]

DAY 166

- Israel bombs north Gaza’s Kuwait roundabout, targeting authorities tasked with aid delivery

- Hamas says Israel is ‘spreading chaos’ in north Gaza

- One kilogram of flour for every 25 people

- Children in Gaza face grave injuries, malnutrition as hospitals struggle to operate

- Israeli attack on Nuseirat refugee camp kills 27 family members

- Italian PM opposes Rafah Invasion, Canada votes to stop arms transfers to Israel 

- Smotrich calls settlements ‘holistic’ response to sanctions

- Israeli forces and settlers kill two Palestinians in West Bank

[67-romeo]

4/17 Cav (formerly Task Force 118) pilot, Mr. Scott Berrier; pictured here at Kuwait International Airport (KIA) flowing the liberation of the Airport with his AH-58D Prime Chance Kiowa helicopter carrying four Hellfire Missiles, Operation Desert Storm…1991

[haggishlyhagging]

The strength of this politics lies, in fact, in its dynamism, in the fluid energy that links unapologetic intellect with unashamed passion; it is a means, not an end; a process, not a dogma. Consequently, what a radical feminist in Brazil (the nation's debt, for example) might consider her cutting-edge issue, need not be the same as that considered a priority by a radical feminist in Thailand (combating sex tourism) or in Kuwait (winning women's suffrage) or in Sudan (ending the practice of female genital mutilation) or Nepal (gaining inheritance rights) or the Pacific Island nations (halting French nuclear testing, the fallout of which creates "jellyfish babies"—children born with no spines), and so on—and so on, and on.

What radical feminists have in common, though, includes a stubborn commitment to the people of women, the courage to dare question anything and dare redefine everything, a dedication to making the connections between issues, a sobering comprehension of the enormity of this task—freeing more than half of humanity and, by so doing, saving the other half—and perhaps most importantly of all, radical feminists share an audacious understanding of this politics' centrality to the continuation of sentient life itself on this planet.

This is no hyperbole. Women constitute the majority of the human species, so the female condition is hardly a marginal or minority issue. Furthermore, all the ills that afflict humankind—from pollution to war to poverty—impact first and worst on women, who are also the last to be consulted about solutions to such problems.

-Robin Morgan, “Light Bulbs, Radishes, and the Politics of the 21st Century” in Radically Speaking: Feminism Reclaimed

[unofficial-book-of-quotes-tm]

An ordinary souvenir reminds you of a place you've been to, but in my case, I went to Kuwait and I wasn't allowed in. So I haven't actually visited Kuwait, but I bought the t-shirt on eBay as a souvenir of a place I would've seen.

Mark Watson (series 05, episode 04: Residue around the hoof) Prize task.

[chubby-dumpling-project]

Denise Marie Bidot, born 1986, Puerto Rican, Kuwaiti

note: avatars for @taskweekly’s TASK 005: BODY DIVERSITY, TASK 043: PUERTO RICO, TASK 136: KUWAIT

[beardedmrbean]

Air Force F-16 pilot explains how he dodged 6 missiles during insane Gulf War mission

It was just a few days after the start of the U.S.-led campaign to push Saddam Hussein’s forces out of Kuwait when Tullia took part in a mission to attack an oil refinery in southern Baghdad.

“They knew we were coming, and as we were getting closer to the target area, the triple-A [anti-aircraft artillery] started coming up, the 35 mm stuff,” Tullia told Task & Purpose. “You could see an undercast of clouds from the triple-A going off.”

Tullia had spent years studying Soviet air defenses, which included reading classified studies about how long it took surface-to-air missiles to lock onto targets after being launched.

“I remember thinking at the time: Who the heck has time to analyze the reaction times?” Tullia recalled. “This time here it came true to life. When the thing moved, I could see that then the missile made a correction – and then on top of that, you could see that the missile is pointing at me, the missile is pointing in front of me. It was like: Wow, all this textbook knowledge comes right back into focus; and it was just pretty awesome to watch.”

While it made for an awe-inspiring sight, the Iraqis had fired so many missiles that Tullia had trouble figuring out which ones were coming at him and which were targeting other American warplanes.

For seven nauseating minutes, Tullia pulled a never-ending series of hard turns to evade the enemy missiles. He doesn’t remember how many G forces he was pulling at the time, but his blood pressure was so high that he was not in danger of passing out.

Tullia jettisoned his external fuel tanks to help him outfly the surface-to-air missiles. He said he remembers watching the first missiles miss him and thinking, “That is pretty damn cool.”

But his Radar Warning Receiver kept going off, indicating he was being shot at by even more missiles. Now Tullia had to worry about burning up his remaining fuel while he continued to dodge, dip, duck, duck, dive, and dodge.  

As he took his plane to lower altitudes, he realized he was increasingly at risk of being hit by Iraqi anti-aircraft artillery. “Then I’d really be happy,” Tullia joked. “I go: I made it this far; I really don’t want to walk home.”

But after successfully dodging several surface-to-air missiles, Tullia got into a duel with a Soviet-made SA-6 missile that he could not shake.

“I turned and this thing is right on me,” Tullia recalled. “Every time I turn, the response is really quick. I was getting a fairly strong RAW [Radar Warning Receiver] indication on this thing. I was just turning as best I could. I go: Well, I’m just going to do what I can do on this thing. That thing came so close, I could hear the rocket motor as it went by – that was a little unnerving. And it went by, and I go: Wow, I’m still here. OK, let’s get back to business.”

Video is insane, I can't read F-16 HUD but the narration takes care of most of that.

[walkingthroughthisworld]

(M1A2 Abrams Tanks of the 2nd Combined Arms Battalion, 8th Cavalry maneuver before engaging targets during a Combined-Arms Live-Fire Exercise with the Kuwaiti Army's 151st Tank Battalion, 15th Mubarak Armored Brigade, at northern Kuwait's Udari Range)

(M1A2 Abrams Tanks of the 2nd Combined Arms Battalion, 8th Cavalry engage targets)

(Spc. Richard Creecy, 2nd Combined Arms Battalion, 8th Cavalry, describes aspects of an M1A2 Abrams Tank to a Kuwaiti Soldier)

Article by Sgt. 1st Class Raymond Drumsta, South Carolina Army National Guard May 18, 2012

In a Combined-Arms Live-Fire Exercise, known as a CALFX, at the Udari Range May 8, units of the 1st Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division (Iron Horse) and the Kuwaiti Army's 151st Tank Battalion, 15th Mubarak Armored Brigade successfully performed a series of maneuvers to stop a simulated invasion force, validating months of training which began soon after the brigade withdrew from Iraq to Kuwait. "It proved our ability to partner and work with the Kuwaiti military," said Maj. Eric Melloh, operations officer for the 2nd Combined Arms Battalion, 8th Cavalry. "We're able to shoot, move and communicate together. You can't fight if you can't do all three of those things." This partnership increases the strategic reach of the United States, stressed Melloh, who is from Huntsville, Texas. In addition to the 2nd Combined Arms Battalion and the 151st Tank Battalion, the exercise involved the 1st Battalion, 82nd Field Artillery of the 1st Brigade, the brigade headquarters, and the 29th Combat Aviation Brigade. The troops were tasked with engaging targets representing an invading enemy armored force.

[moldedheartsministry]

Justification for the Crusades

Justification for the Crusades

“Exo 6:2  And God spoke unto Moses, and said unto him, I am Jehovah: 

Exo 6:3  and I appeared unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob, as God Almighty; but by my name Jehovah I was not known to them. 

Exo 6:4  And I have also established my covenant with them, to give them the land of Canaan, the land of their sojourning’s, wherein they sojourned.”

I believe I needed to start here. God, Yahweh reveals himself to Moses in a different manner than Abraham, Issac, and Jacob. He reminds Moses of the covenant he made with them, and he reveals for the first time His Lordship and the Authority of His name. Christians now know the power in the name of Jesus. God is setting the stage to deliver His people out of slavery, and into this “Promised Land.”

Soon after God delivered them out of slavery Amalek attacked them in the wilderness. Exodus 17:8-16 gives us the account of this pivotal event because that ends with the LORD swearing to have War with Amalek from generation to generation.

If we back up to Exodus 15 we read about “The Song of Moses” where Israel sings the words “The Lord (Yahweh) is a man of War: the Lord (Yahweh) is his name” The Old Testament, from this point forward is full of great battles, from Jericho to Gideon's campaign, to The siege of Jebus, which essentially was David leading the Israelites to take Jerusalem. We know, without a doubt that Israel is called to war by God, the question then is, are Christians under the new covenant called to War?

When people say that Christians are just as violent as Islam, and then use the Crusades as the main example, they make a great point. I am sure the Crusaders were ruthless and savage, nothing even resembling our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, but anyone who has been in war will tell you “War is Hell”

So where does the Christian Justification come in? The Kingdom of Heaven is not exclusive to Jerusalem. “We know we do not wrestle against flesh and blood but principalities and dark forces” (Eph 6:12) We know that defending our families and loved ones with our lives is justified, but should Christians be “Militarized” if so, for what? This is the real question. Islam organized a military after centuries of battling the Roman Empire, eventually becoming the Eastern Holy Roman Empire.

Rome never conquered the peninsula of Arabia. They seized enough land in modern Kuwait to establish trade routes, but the regions hosting Mecca and modern-day Riyadh were never conquered.

When Muhammed began his teachings in 613 A.D. it was not in a region conquered by the Roman Empire. It was 300 years after Constantine made Christianity the official religion of the Roman Empire. Though Rome had footholds, it had never truly conquered the lands and its people.

The Arabian Peninsula was also home to the descendants of the tribes and nations fighting against Israel for well over millennia. Jericho was conquered in 1400 B.C. which would indicate two full MILLENIA'S before Muhammed. The roots of animosity and justification had to run so deep.

I have not studied the Quran so I do not know Muhammed's justification for Islam to lay siege to Jerusalem (636-637), nor do I know what the catalyst for their conquest of North Africa and eventually into Europe was. One thing was made clear...Islam had declared war on not just the descendants of Moses, and not just the Byzantine Empire, but on all of Christianity.

Once Christianity brought the Crusades the pride in the hearts of man had justified their means. Nobody was innocent anymore, nobody was right.

Even though I acknowledge any Christian excuse for War as hypocritical, I do believe that war is inevitable in the preparation of the Bride. Christians have been tasked with spreading the good news, the Apostles died as Martyrs for this Good news, the early church was persecuted for this good news and Christianity thrived.

Is this what it means? For us to all be Martyrs? To not be lovers of violence? That if we live by the sword, we will die by the sword? Are followers of Christ destined to be slaughtered as the Lamb himself? Is this the depths of laying down one's life? Did Christ die that we might die, or that we may have Life? Is Life worth fighting for?

Christ does not want His Men to be weak, nor allow crimes perpetrated upon their families! To allow our mothers and daughters to be conquered and raped? Enslaved? Jesus would never stand by and allow this.

Since I do believe that violence is to be met with violence, to defend against violence perpetrated upon my family, I believe one must Establish boundaries and borders. Borders that infer "This is where I draw the line" “This is mine, and I will defend this to my last breath to protect it.”

If you do not, dark forces will try to stamp you out. Hitler tried very very hard to exterminate all that was Jewish. The world will always create an enemy of God's people. Socialism, Communism, Nazism, Islam, Satanism, Witchcraft. The enemy has even turned Christianity against Christianity. From the great schism to the protestant reformation. Protestant Americans in southern U.S. states killed Jewish students from the northern states because they hated them. Northern and Southern Ireland had a Civil War with Protestants backing the Queen's rule in the North and Catholics fighting for independence in the South.

As I establish My boundaries in life, perhaps I seek out others to collectively protect our beliefs and families. To keep them safe from wolves, and roaring lions that look around seeking to devour. Perhaps this fellowship of creating borders, and boundaries causes us to form a community, or perhaps a tribe. Perhaps we reach out to other tribes to collectively further our boundaries because of strength in numbers, perhaps we create a nation or Kingdom. If the American media has taught us anything in the last four years, it's that not having borders will allow chaos and enemies inside your homes.

Now, applying this reasoning to our Christian morality, we will eventually come full circle to "Where" exactly we believe we should establish our boundaries. Is Christianity exclusive to Europe and The U.S.A.? Is Catholicism exclusive only to Italy? Is the Orthodox church exclusive only to Russia? Are all the different denominations simply trying to establish their foothold in regions? If so, then so is Islam, Hinduism, and Buddhism.

Do I believe in Israel or Christianity maintaining the boundary and authority over Jerusalem?

Yes...

I unapologetically confirm that I stand with Israel, especially since I was raised by a long line of American veterans to never forget the past. I was shown the footage of Auschwitz, and Dachau. I remember the black-and-white footage of Jews standing in lines being marched into showers, and ovens. I will never stand before my God and say I did nothing to prevent that from happening...again.

“God hates a Coward.” "Rak Chazak Amats"

Israel's God is my Lord and savior's Father, but I believe in the Trinity, so their God is my God even if they look down on us for believing that Jesus is the Christ. Even if they are not saved due to their denial of Jesus, I will support them.

I believe the Crusades are justified... because I believe Israel should always have a home.

 Mat 10:34  “Think not that I have come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword”. 

Ecclesiastes 3:8  “A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace.”

Until Christ comes again, I believe we are stuck in this age of Warfare. The only way to world peace is in Christ.  

[danglovely]

Regrading Taskmaster: S05E04 Residue around the hoof.

*Score changes noted in parenthesis.

Prize Task: Most Extraordinary Souvenir

Abba Monopoly is less extraordinary and more perplexing. Mark has a Kuwait themed shirt despite never having been to Kuwait. It sort of stretches the definition of "souvenir" seeing as it serves as a reminder of nothing. Bob has a 5-foot tall Woody Woodpecker that he won from a ping-pong game at Butlin's in Spain. Ultimately, it's still just a Woody Woodpecker doll. Aisling also stretches the definition of "souvenir" by bringing in a bag of her teeth. Nish somehow has the best offering because he stole a fake leaf from Hobbiton in New Zealand.

Aisling's is, at least, interesting. Bob/Mark/Sally all deserve last, but the woodpecker was actually won, not bought, and Mark's shirt at least had a story.

Aisling: 4 (-1) Bob: 3 (+2) Mark: 2 (0) Nish: 5 (+1) Sally: 1 (-2)

VT 01: Make Marmite.

Marmite is disgusting and I don't understand people who like it. That said, I basically have to go off of Alex's reactions on this one. I can maybe adjust a little bit for how much it looks like Marmite.

I disagree with Greg here. Nish didn't present Marmite that he bought. He seemed to change it so much that I would consider whatever he presented as "made." Aisling's doesn't look like Marmite and Alex repeatedly says it doesn't taste like Marmite. Mark's looks close but it is a lot more liquidy than Marmite. Alex says it tastes close. Bob's is too light, but Alex said he would guess it's Marmite in a blind taste test.

Once again, I'm not sure Nish deserved to be DQ'd here. It's really liquidy (and hot for some reason). Alex pulls it out in chunks. Sally has several jars, one of which is just Absinthe. To quote Greg: "Sally misheard the task as would you please show Alex the time of his life."

Aisling: 3 (0) Bob: 5 (0) Mark: 4 (0) Nish: 2 (+2) Sally: 1 (-1)

Team Task: Do something remarkable, synchronized. Most remarkably synchronized behavior wins.

This isn't a fair task for the team of three and neither team does anything particularly impressive. The team of three is slightly more synchronized (despite Bob screwing up almost everything). The team of two's routine was slightly more interesting. I'd give a tie if I believed in it, but I'll just defer to Greg's grading.

Aisling, Bob, & Sally: 3 Mark and Nish: 2

VT 03: Wearing this blindfold, blow up this balloon so that its circumference is the length of a standard cucumber. Spot the difference. Have a look at the scene in front of you and explain exactly what's changed since you've put the blindfold on.

This sort of task is random as to whether to first half of it gets graded. They decide to do so here, despite it not actually having a win condition. The way to do it is take what you think is the length of a standard cucumber and divide it by a little more than three to get the diameter of your balloon. Thus, you'll have really small balloons.

As for the spot the changes half of it, it isn't entirely clear how many guesses they get or how specific the guess has to be. Thus we defer to the original grading.

Aisling: 8 Bob: 6 Mark: 8 Nish: 4 Sally: 4

VT 04: Sneeze.

There's no time limit on this, so there's an argument Aisling, Nish or Sally shouldn't have gotten zero. Surely they sneezed sometime between the task and the studio recording. I guess there's an argument that Aisling and Sally cheated, but it was such a pathetic cheating attempt that it almost doesn't count. Nish gave up, so if anyone is getting a zero, it's him.

Aisling: 1 (+1) Bob: 5 (0) Mark: 4 (0) Nish: 0 (0) Sally: 1 (+1)

Live Task: Stand on one leg for the longest while playing a game of Greg Says/Alex Says.

They all drop pretty quickly. There's two DQ conditions: Removing your foot from over the balloon and touching "any other item." Mark definitely touches the floor when Nish stumbles past him and Aisling's foot is behind her when this happens, not over the balloon.

Now, I think these can be excused away because the previous command was to bow, which is just impossible to do without removing your foot for a bit. Additionally, I'm okay with not considering the floor to be "an item."

Aisling: 5 Bob: 1 Mark: 4 Nish: 2 Sally: 3

Final

Aisling: 24 (0) Bob: 23 (+2) Mark: 24 (0) Nish: 15 (+3) Sally: 13 (-2)

What was originally a tie between Aisling and Mark is still a tie between Aisling and Mark. We saw this tiebreaker play out, and Mark comes away the winner.

[cosmicanger]

Why Must Palestinians Audition for Your Empathy?

I’ve moved back to the United States twice since my birth. Once as a child, after the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait. Then again for graduate school. I’d had the privilege of a youth — adolescence and young adulthood — in countries where being Palestinian was fairly common. The identity could be heavy, but it wasn’t a contested one. I hadn’t had to learn the respectability politics of being a Palestinian adult. I learned quickly.

The task of the Palestinian is to be palatable or to be condemned. The task of the Palestinian, we’ve seen in the past two weeks, is to audition for empathy and compassion. To prove that we deserve it. To earn it.

In the past couple of weeks, I’ve watched Palestinian activists, lawyers, professors get baited and interrupted on air, if not silenced altogether. They are being made to sing for the supper of airtime and fair coverage. They are begging reporters to do the most basic tasks of their job. At the same time, Palestinians fleeing from bombs have been misidentified. Even when under attack, they must be costumed as another people to elicit humanity. Even in death, they cannot rest — Palestinians are being buried in mass graves or in old graves dug up to make room, and still there is not enough space.

If that weren’t enough, Palestinian slaughter is too often presented ahistorically, untethered to reality: It is not attributed to real steel and missiles, to occupation, to policy. To earn compassion for their dead, Palestinians must first prove their innocence. The real problem with condemnation is the quiet, sly tenor of the questions that accompany it: Palestinians are presumed violent — and deserving of violence — until proved otherwise. Their deaths are presumed defensible until proved otherwise. What is the word of a Palestinian against a machinery that investigates itself, that absolves itself of accused crimes? What is it against a government whose representatives have referred to Palestinians as “human animals” and “wild beasts”? When a well-suited man can say brazenly and unflinchingly that there is no such thing as a Palestinian people?

It is, of course, a remarkably effective strategy. A slaughter isn’t a slaughter if those being slaughtered are at fault, if they’ve been quietly and effectively dehumanized — in the media, through policy — for years. If nobody is a civilian, nobody can be a victim.

***

In 2017, I published a novel about a Palestinian family. It was published by a respectable publisher, got a lot of lovely press, was given a book tour. I spoke on panels, to book clubs. I answered questions after readings. There was a refrain that kept coming up. People kept commenting on how human the story was. You’ve humanized the conflict. This is a human story.

Of course, literature and the arts play a crucial role in providing context — expanding our empathy, granting us glimpses into other worlds. But every time I was told I’d humanized the Palestinians, I would have to suppress the question it invoked: What had they been before?

A couple of weeks ago, in a professional space, someone called Palestinians by name and spoke of the seven decades of their anguish. I sat among dozens of co-workers and realized my lip was quivering. I was crying before I understood it was happening. I fled the room, and it took 10 minutes for me to stop sobbing. I didn’t immediately understand my reaction. Over the years, I’ve faced meetings, classrooms and other institutional spaces where Palestinians went unnamed or were referred to only as terrorists. I came of professional age in a country where people lost all sorts of things for speaking of Palestine: social standing, university tenure, journalist positions. But in the end, I am undone not by silence or erasure but by empathy. By the simple naming of my people. By increasing recognition that liberation is linked. By spaces of Palestinian-Jewish solidarity. By what has become controversial: the simple speaking aloud of Palestinian suffering.

These days, everyone is trying to write about the children. An incomprehensible number of them dead and counting. We are up at night, combing through the flickering light of our phones, trying to find the metaphor, the clip, the photograph to prove a child is a child. It is an unbearable task. We ask: Will this be the image that finally does it? This half-child on a rooftop? This video, reposted by Al Jazeera, of an inconsolable girl appearing to recognize her mother’s body among the dead, screaming out, “It’s her, it’s her. I swear it’s her. I know her from her hair”?

***

Take it from a writer: There is nothing like the tedium of trying to come up with analogies. There is something humiliating in trying to earn solidarity. I keep seeing infographics desperately trying to appeal to American audiences. Imagine most of the population of Manhattan being told to evacuate in 24 hours. Imagine the president of [ ] going on NBC and saying all [ ] people are [ ]. Look! Here’s a strip on the edge of the Mediterranean Sea. That’s Gaza. It is about the same size as Philadelphia. Or multiply the entire population of Las Vegas by three.

This is demoralizing work, to have to speak constantly in the vernacular of tragedies and atrocities, to say: Look, look. Remember? That other suffering that was eventually deemed unacceptable? Let me hold it up to this one. Let me show you proportion. Let me earn your outrage. Absent that, let me earn your memory. Please.

I don’t hesitate for a second to condemn the killing of any child, any massacre of civilians — this of course includes Jewish life. It is the easiest ask in the world. And it is not in spite of that but because of that I say: Condemn the brutalization of bodies. By all means, do. Condemn murder. Condemn violence, imprisonment, all forms of oppression. But if your shock and distress comes only at the sight of certain brutalized bodies? If you speak out but not when Palestinian bodies are besieged and murdered, abducted and imprisoned? Then it is worth asking yourself which brutalization is acceptable to you, even quietly, even subconsciously, and which is not.

Name the discrepancy and own it. If you can’t be equitable, be honest.

There is nothing complicated about asking for freedom. Palestinians deserve equal rights, equal access to resources, equal access to fair elections and so forth. If this makes you uneasy, then you must ask yourself why.

***

Here is the truth of the diasporic Palestinians: They are not magically diasporic. Their diaspora-ness is a direct result of often violent, intentional and illegal dispossession. One day a house is yours; one day it is not. One day a neighborhood is yours; one day it is not. One day a territory is yours; one day it is not. This same sort of dispossession is grounded in the same mind-set and international complicity that is playing out in Gaza.

I’m a poet, a writer, a psychologist. I’m deeply familiar with the importance of language. I’ve agonized over an em dash. I’ve spent afternoons muttering about the aptness of a verb. I pay attention to language, my own and others. Being Palestinian in this country — in many countries — is a numbing exercise in gauging where pockets of safety are, sussing out which friends, co-workers or acquaintances will be allies, which will stay silent. Who will speak.

Here’s another thing I know as a writer and psychologist: It matters where you start a narrative. In addiction work, you call this playing the tape. Diasporically or not, being Palestinian is the quintessential disrupter: It messes with a curated, modified tape. We exist, and our existence presents an existential affront. As long as we exist, we challenge several falsehoods, not the least of which is that, for some, we never existed at all. That decades ago, a country was born in the delicious, glittering expanse of nothingness — a birthright, something due. Our very existence challenges a formidable, militarized narrative.

But the days of the Palestine exception are numbered. Palestine is increasingly becoming the litmus test for true liberatory practice.

In the meantime, Palestinians continue to be cast paradoxically — both terror and invisible, both people who never existed and people who cannot return.

Imagine being such a pest, such an obstacle. Or: Imagine being so powerful.

[usafphantom2]

Editor’s note: We received several comments regarding the 7 August entry image and caption which focused on the deployment of F-15 Eagles to the Middle East. In an effort to “clean it up,” the following clarifications are offered. Thanks to those who took the time to offer facts and corrections to the post.

7 Aug 1990: Operation DESERT SHIELD. As a response to Iraq’s 2 August invasion of Kuwait, the US military initiated deployment actions to protect Saudi Arabia from Iraqi aggression and to liberate Kuwait. The 71 TFS deployed 24 F-15C Eagles on a 15-hour, 8,000-mile, non-stop flight from Langley AFB to Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, with 12 inflight refuelings. The following day, 24 Eagles from the 27th FS also deployed. See an account at this link: jble.af.mil/News/Article-D…

The 4th TFW was also tasked to react to Iraq's invasion of Kuwait. The 335th and 336th Tactical Fighter Squadrons and support personnel deployed to Saudi Arabia, also in August 1990.

@AFHF via X