It’s true what they say, things really are tough all over.
Early this morning, Israeli military forces stormed the main medical facility compound at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, the southern city in Gaza. This raid came hours after Israeli soldiers surrounded the hospital and began shooting anyone inside, killing one patient and wounding six others. The Israeli army claimed this was part of a ‘limited operation’ seeking the remains of hostages taken by Hamas. Thousands of displaced Palestinians who had sought shelter inside were forced to evacuate with no clear idea of where exactly to evacuate to.
One potential destination is being constructed in Egypt’s Sinai desert. According to the Egyptian organization “Sinai for Human Rights”, the Sisi/Mexican government is in the process of building a new open-air prison in the Sinai where they can toss any Palestinians forcibly expelled from their homes in Gaza. The “buffer zone”/prison is allegedly being built by an Egyptian company linked to Ibrahim Al Argani, a relative of the Egyptian president, so at least the dictator can continue to enrich himself from the tragedy of thousands of innocent people.
Thankfully, the American government is keeping busy reassuring Palestinians in the States that they probably won’t get deported. The white house announced yesterday that Palestinians living in the US will be protected from deportation as the genocide continues, citing “significantly deteriorated” conditions on the ground in Gaza. I suppose referring to an entire region that was bombed into complete depletion with no remaining hospitals, schools, or homes would be considered a “significant deterioration” in the eyes of the American government.
In Canada, politicians were outraged, but not for any of the legitimate reasons you might expect. Prime minister Trudeau and other prominent leaders are lining up to express their anger that a Pro-Palestinian march took place in downtown Toronto, in the vicinity of Mount Sinai Hospital. Despite the overwhelming and regularly available evidence that Palestinian hospitals are targeted and destroyed with impunity, Trudeau’s harshest words were about Canadians peacefully protesting near a hospital, not disrupting the operations of the medical facility in the slightest. The occasional brown-facing coward said, “I strongly condemn this display of antisemitism. In Toronto and across Canada, we stand with Jewish communities against this hate.” This is where the priorities of western politicians lie.
Over in England, three women were found guilty this week of terrorism offenses after they displayed images of paragliders, "celebrating" the Hamas uprising on October 7th. Heba Alhayek, 29, and Pauline Ankunda, 26, attached images of a paraglider to their backs at a protest a few days after the initial attack by Hamas. Noimutu Olayinka Taiwo, 27, stuck a similar image to a placard's handle at a central London pro-Palestinian march. The judge said there was no evidence "that any of these defendants are supporters of Hamas, or were seeking to show support for them" but he still convicted them of "glorifying terrorism" offenses, deciding not to punish the defendants, but handing them each a 12-month conditional discharge instead.
But in Gaza, the gleefully genocidal Israeli soldiers continue to post videos on social media showing them damaging and burning a food warehouse in the western part of Gaza City a few days ago. The whole world will distract itself with false indignation over made-up crimes and endless quibbling over how people should protest and all the while, Gaza is under attack and threat of total destruction.
Side Items
Kansas City Shuffle: The parade of the newly-crowned Super Bowl champions was the latest setting for a mass shooting yesterday, as one woman was killed and at least eight children were among over 20 other people shot. A few people were eventually taken into custody after some brave fans were involved in apprehending at least one of the shooters. Hundreds of terrified fans scampered for cover and yet another high-profile public event was ruined by gun violence. Just another day in the world capital of mass shootings
Dolezal Strikes Again: Try to keep up with this one: Rachel Dolezal, who you might recall as the black-cosplaying white woman who now goes by the name Nkechi Diallo, lost her job this week with the Catalina Foothills School District where she was working as an after school instructor. The school was made aware of Dolezal’s public social media page where she has linked an OnlyFans account that appears to be operated by her. Just multiple levels of confusion, outrage, and shamelessness on display here folks
Reader’s Note: Recently I’ve been re-examining and contemplating the format of this newsletter and have come to the decision that it will be changing in the near future. I believe that keeping a daily record of a genocide has had a profoundly negative impact on my psyche and has led me to the sad realization that I’m not such a fun person to be around during a time of such great injustice. When I first started writing The Mourning over a year ago, it was an outlet for me to practice writing and sharing my writing consistently, shooting off a few jokes and briefly covering some interesting news item of the day. But over the past several months, my motives have shifted considerably and I’ve undertaken the task of investigating footage and coverage of the daily horrors of an active genocide. To be blunt I’m not feeling particularly hopeful, and I’m starting to think that writing this every day has only made things worse. I mention this only because I sincerely enjoyed the opportunity to write with you as an audience, and I’m hopeful to continue writing, if less frequently, or in a slightly different shape. There’s too much absurdity happening every day and it’s really no laughing matter
As you’re considering to change the format of this newsletter (totally understandable, btw), I wanted to express my immense gratitude for what you’ve done in the last several months to cover the genocide happening in Gaza. I appreciate your newsletter as a resource in which I can actually sit down and process the horrific news that I’ve seen in bits and pieces across social media throughout the day. And the humor in your delivery helps me cope with the pain of what I’m reading and makes me feel seen. To say I look forward to your newsletter sounds off given the subject matter, but I will say yesterday I checked my email twice to make sure I hadn’t missed The Mourning. Thanks for everything!
Your posts are one of the few I read regularly! While you explore other options, please note that there’s a saturation of long form articles such that I either delay reading them or skip them now. I keep up with yours because they’re concise and have your voices. Please keep that in mind as you explore other options — maybe adding a long form a week but keeping the concise format, etc.