Sunday, April 12, 2026, sent at 01:15
I probably could have not prepared a report for today. There's not really anything special that needs reporting, only more of the same in both the good and the bad. By us it was quiet, while in the north (and in Lebanon) it wasn't. Negotiations started in Islamabad between the Americans and the Iranians and it seems that each side "understood" what was achieved or not achieved differently. In other words, nothing new.
There was something different however. This evening I went, along with a friend, to Tel Aviv to demonstrate. On the way she asked me what we were demonstrating about - not because we didn't intend to protest our government's continued senseless war, but because there are so many things that merit protest, and it's hard to separate them, such that it almost makes sense for those against us to say that we simply can't stop demonstrating. Along those lines, for instance, one of my answers to the question is that I'm demonstrating in order to make it clear to my government that we haven't given up and continue to make it publically clear that we can't be fooled. I guess that the main focus was simply against the war, even though there are those who will tell us that it's already over.
There were a few thousand of us - more than the police had said they'd allow, perhaps even more than only a few thousand. We knew it wouldn't be massive, and frankly I was surprised that there was as large a turnout as there was. Most of the time I was with the group silently holding photos of Gazan children killed by Israeli fire, perhaps a hundred of us.
You'll notice that this child, whose photo I held, was killed only two weeks ago. Yes, there's still a war, or something like it, going on in Gaza as well.
From where I stood I could hear chanting, but it was only when I started to get to our car to return home that I learned that there had been a central stage with speeches. These were drowned out by one of the groups chanting. I might have wanted to hear the speeches, but the vigil was definitely also a part of the demonstration.
I photographed one sign:
The words derive from Avraham Shlonsky's translation of the poem Ponar (here's Chava Alberstein singing):
which you'll recognize from the Yiddish:
The English is:
Quiet, quiet, let's be quiet, (Schlonsky translated - Quiet, quiet, my boy be quiet)
graves are growing here
The person who prepared the sign had written:
Quiet, quiet, my boy be quiet
villages in the west bank are being burned
Yet another reason to demonstrate.
After getting home I learned that Netanyahu had given another televised prime time victory speech this evening. He apparently said nothing new, still expecting us to be impressed by the achievements he lists in his flowery language, oblivious to the fact that this war has actually accomplished nothing. What's interesting is that apparently this time the channels carrying the speech quickly caught on to the fact that he had nothing new to say and simply cut off their broadcasting of it after a short period of time. I guess that's encouraging.
And now it's time for bed.
to: Monday, April 13