Saturday, Shabbat, October 14, Day 8

In our neighborhood, the shops are closed on Shabbat. People are usually walking to services on Friday night, going in all directions to the many local synagogues. Saturday morning as well, and then afterwards to have lunch with family and friends, or an afternoon stroll, or sitting peacefully in the park. This Shabbat was very quiet, hardly anyone in the streets. When we walked to our friends for dinner last night, we saw maybe a dozen people out and about.

Dinner during wartime was comforting. The two Israeli couples that were there have 13 soldiers called up between them, their children and grandchildren. Yet the dinner was lively, discussing many topics before we talked about the war. The consensus was that yet again, it is a necessary battle, and the country is prepared for the fight, no matter how horrible the casualties will be. They do not believe Bibi will survive politically and his legacy is tarnished. 

This morning we slept in, exhausted from the past week. With enormous will power, I did not check my phone for the news. I kept it on for alerts, but I wanted some relief from the pictures and updates. I spent some time reading the print edition of the Jerusalem Post, which on Fridays has two magazine sections usually filled with articles about events happening in the city, movie and restaurant reviews, and Torah commentary. This week it was all about the war and I learned a few things about modern warfare.

According to the Post, one in four social media accounts discussing the war is fake. Israeli social media threat-intelligence companies are analyzing thousands of accounts to detect them. They are detecting Hamas bots and identifying the narratives they are posting, both in Arabic which targets the Arab world, and English, which targets international audiences. I imagine this is helpful in planning the counter-offensive on social media from the Israeli side.

Also in the Post, Paypal has set up special operations rooms to identify and block links to Gaza fundraising organizations. An Israeli fintech company has set up similar activities to halt money laundering to stop the transfer of funds to Hamas. The Israeli cybersecurity system is blocking campaigns raising money in cryptocurrencies. It's a new world.

There were sirens today in Tel Aviv, and many other places. The northern front is heating up. Gazans are on the move. The ground war is going to start soon.


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