Pity the nation that is full of beliefs and empty of religion. Pity the nation that wears a cloth it does not weave, eats a bread it does not harvest, and drinks a wine that flows not from its own winepress.
~Gibran Khalil Gibran

War

תל אביב על האש

تل ابيب ع نار

Tel Aviv On Fire

Preview pic for post: Tel Aviv On Fire (2018)

Given the title of the film, it's a funny (happy or otherwise, not sure!) coincidence, that I'm writing this post on November 5th 2025, a date familiar enough to readers in the United Kingdom. Many Britons now seem to have no idea any more of the history, mind, and it's a date which needs a quick search on Wikipedia for most of those not native to these islands. There was zero intention of the two things would overlap. The only reason for writing now is a conversation about this film which took place only two days ago.

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הדונלד והדיפ סטייט

الدونالد والدولة العميقة

Donald 🥴😱😵

Preview pic for post: Donald 🥴😱😵

This really happened. The most grotesque thing you could imagine (until the next thing, at least). This is indeed the TRUTH that Donald Trump posted this morning. He wasn't hacked, and it wasn't a hoax. In what more auspicious possible circumstance could I return to write the first post on this blog since I left things off nearly a year ago?

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Lebanon - Invasion

Preview pic for post: Lebanon

The format here is very simple. I'm going to discuss three Israeli films- 'Lebanon', 'Waltz With Bashir' and 'Beaufort' - about the invasion and occupation of Lebanon. These three films were actually made remarkably close to each other in time. The chronology of the films' production is in reverse order of the moments in history that they describe.

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Heatopher's Motivational Post, AKA The Prologue

Preview pic for post: Heatopher's Motivational Post, AKA The Prologue

Heatopher of late 2023 has bequeathed himself a daunting task in 2024. With no less lofty an ambition than resolving the Arab/Israeli conflict, if not for the world as a whole, but in my own head at least, I took it upon myself to watch a very strictly equal number of films from the two sides of that monstrous separation wall. These were to be watched in very rigid alternation...

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