Oof.

This month is really feeling like one gut punch after another.

This is welcome news, but it still feels bizarre that people continue to act as though the settlements are part of a black market criminal operation. These are just private contractors of the Israeli government. You can't cut ties with the settlements while remaining in bed with the Israeli government than you can forgo using using one half of a hammer.

This article is better than I expected.

I thought it was going to be overly credulous nonsense about what the strategy is for an operation that is clearly a purely selfish gimmick to keep Bibi in power at the expense of Israel's long term reputation, security, and stability.

Overall, this author appears to be using dry sarcasm to allude to the fact that the emperor obviously has no clothes.

It makes me sad that Jewish Israelis let Bibi puppeteer them like this. It's unfortunate, and it reminds me that at least until something changes, change will have to come from abroad. I think American Jews are probably the greatest hope for an intervention. But it's not a hopeful situation.

Honestly, I don't think this is really correct. It's not a bad take, I just think the truth is that no one really wants more than violence for the sake of power.

Iran has never really supported Palestine, they just arm anyone who will attack Israel. And claiming that Netanyahu wants to install a puppet leader is giving him away too much credit. He wants nothing more than an indefinite war so he can start in power. He'll fight in Iran until something shocking happens like a terrorist attack from the West Bank and then he'll shake the etch a sketch and do all this again. And again. And again. Until anyone with sufficient power stops him.

This is silly.

First, I don't know why you're using the past tense. I don't call water "wetted" I call it "wet". And while I wouldn't call fire "burned", I would call it "burning".

But here's the thing: you're welcome to have your idiosyncratic opinion on this. The fact that you seem to want me to argue my side when I feel perfectly comfortable letting you have a subjective opinion most people consider ridiculous says to me that (A) you know which one of us holds the broadly agreed upon position and (B) this isn't about resolving a dispute. It's just online debate for sport.

Enjoy believing a hotdog is a sandwich. Sleep well in your claims that cereal is a soup. I'm not going to explain to you why water is wet because it's a waste of my time.

Most scientists define wetness as a liquid’s ability to maintain contact with a solid surface, meaning that water itself is not wet, but can make other sensation.

But if you define wet as ‘made of liquid or moisture’, as some do, then water and all other liquids can be considered wet.

So... by a highly common definition it is wet. That's not much of a debate.

There are plenty of words that mean different things in scientific contexts that are different from common use. It's like saying "the sky is blue" is a false statement. Yes, there are contexts where the sky isn't blue. At night. On other planets. Perhaps earlier periods in our planet's history. But are we in those contexts right now? And is my meaning ambiguous?

There are a lot of times where language is unclear, and we must work to bridge communication barriers. But to insist on debating things when no genuine confusion is present is just an a bizarre antisocial practice.

That's a fun song (but also obviously silly and wrong).

This article is fine, but kind of superfluous.

We get it. Everyone can see this. If you don't have actionable advice or some additional insight, you're really just reporting that water is wet.

China would be an unstoppable juggernaut.

...Isn't it?

It looks like a lot of people in this comment section didn't read the article. Because I expected something far more dystopian, and honestly this is not that big a deal. Maintaining your confidence and avoiding distractions during a job search is actually a real challenge, and if they offer lunch and WiFi, then spending a few dollars a day to get dressed and leave your apartment sounds like a totally reasonable service.

I think it sounds a little fucked up, but just in the way that most work stuff is fucked up today. I wish multi-purpose short term space rentals in the US were this cheap.

There's no 'getting caught'. They've been doing so publicly before, and they're doing it publicly now.

I think what upsets him is that their long-term vision of Israel is a right-win illiberal middle-eastern theocratic kleptocracy, and he prefers a neoliberal technocratic imperial republic.

He's not, like, a GOOD GUY, but I think in this instance his enemy is my enemy, and I think he's being pretty frank and sincere.

One piece of context that really needs emphasized to anyone who doesn't already know: about a fifth of Israeli Jews are ultra orthodox, and they have long refused to participate in the compulsory military service that everyone -- men and women -- must perform. They're also the foundation of the political base of far-right zealots that have decided to forgo recovering the Israeli hostages/prisoners held in Gaza in favor of embarking on a final solution to the Palestine question. So they're quite unpopular and also highly privileged politically.

This is messianic levels of insane. This is guy is a meglomaniacal fanatic fascist.

The only good thing I can say about Bezalel Smotrich is that I admire his candor. He really doesn't bother with pretext.

I am not someone who looks forward to a violent collapse of Israel. I wish for freedom or Palestinians and democracy and secular human rights. I fear that Israel is less than five years from a catastrophic collapse in international support, and that when that happens the people there will reap what they have sown.

Which is terrible. I don't like what they've sown, and I don't think I'll like what they reap. But I do want this nightmare -- and I mean the whole occupation -- to end.