💡 SPOTLIGHT

Revenge poetry? Israel's “soldier poets” reveal the true essence of the war on Gaza

The eighth part of an anthology of poetry from the IDF's front line soldiers prompted the withdrawal of its copies, with some poems articulating an Israeli "call for revenge.” Sometimes only poetry can truly expose the brutal truth, writes Ammar Almamoun in Arabic-language independent digital media Daraj.

The Israeli daily Haaretz published a recent article about the poetry anthology, “I Am Here,” published by the Israeli military with poems written by soldiers fighting in Gaza.

The anthology was compiled under the supervision of the poet Eliaz Cohen, who is described as an “artist-settler,” and has been calling since October 7 for the establishment of a refugee camp in southern Gaza until the army ends “the military operation.”

Cohen has said that the project came from his admiration for the morals of Abraham, who called for preserving the lives of innocents, and discussed the Lord's plans to destroy “Sodom.” The word of the Lord, as the biblical story tells us, is stronger.

From the Book of Genesis: “And Abraham went early in the morning to the place where he had stood before the Lord. Then he looked toward Sodom and Gomorrah, and toward all the land of the plain; and he saw, and behold, the smoke of the land which went up like the smoke of a furnace.”

After the invitation was launched on Oct. 8 in cooperation with the “Restoring the Soul” foundation, hundreds of entries arrived. That led to publishing many parts of the anthology, the first of which arrived ten days after the invitation was provided.

The eighth installment of the anthology sparked serious controversy, ultimately leading to the withdrawal of its copies. Some poems were delayed in a reprinted version, because they “do not represent the morals of the Israeli army,” and included “a call for revenge.”

The poetry anthology has been highly politicized in Israel, as it was officially issued by the army, and some feared normalizing the “culture of revenge.” [...]

— Read the full article by Ammar Almamoun for Daraj, translated into English by Worldcrunch.

🗞️ FRONT PAGE​​

Lisbon-based daily newspaper Diário de Notícias uses its front page to highlight an underreported difficulty in making the economy “greener.” A study found that 91% of companies in Portugal lack the talent needed to implement environmental, social and governance goals, an issue that countries around the world are facing. Portuguese universities are being called on to provide more courses in the fields of sustainability and the environment.

🌎 7 THINGS TO KNOW RIGHT NOW

• Hamas criticizes Israeli truce proposal but keeps it on the table. The group that rules Gaza said in a statement that the proposal transmitted from Qatari and Egyptian mediators was “intransigent,” though Hamas said it was still under review. Meanwhile, Turkey said it would restrict exports of a wide range of products to Israel on Tuesday, including steel, fertilizer and jet fuel, until a ceasefire is declared in Gaza. 

• European landmark court ruling says human rights are violated by climate inaction. The case was brought by an association of older Swiss women, concerned about the impact of global warming on their health, and who said Switzerland’s government isn't taking enough action. In a historic first ruling on the climate crisis, the European Court of Human Rights ruled on Tuesday that the country had failed to put in place sufficient domestic policies to tackle climate change. This comes as Europe's Copernicus Climate Change Service announced on Tuesday that March 2024 was the warmest March on record, extending the run of monthly temperature records to 10 in a row.

• China’s Xi Jinping meets with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in Beijing in show of support. Both countries reaffirmed solidarity in international affairs and shared opposition to Western democracies amid Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. For more on China-Russia relations, see this article translated from Russian: Russia's Dependence On China Is Deep And Wide — It May Also Be Irreversible.

• Simon Harris is set to become Ireland’s youngest leader. Aged 37, the new Fine Gael leader is expected to take over as taoiseach (Irish prime minister) at a ceremony in Dublin on Tuesday, following Leo Varadkar's official resignation. 

• Ecuador’s former vice president has been hospitalized after Mexican embassy raid. Jorge Glas was transferred from prison to a hospital in Guayaquil after he refused to eat food and fell ill. Glas was arrested last Friday in a highly controversial raid on the Mexican Embassy in Quito, where he was seeking refuge after being twice convicted of corruption by Ecuadorian courts, triggering a diplomatic row.

• Tesla agrees to settle lawsuit over a deadly Autopilot crash. The case was brought by the family of Wei Lun Huang, an Apple engineer who was killed after his Model X, operating on Autopilot, collided with a highway barrier in 2018. The terms of the settlement with the U.S. electric carmaker weren’t disclosed. Read more on Tesla's CEO in this analysis translated from French: Elon Musk And The Tech Right: Trump's Indispensable Allies For November.

• “Not quite my tempo” says Chechnya, banning music deemed too fast or slow. The culture minister of the Russian republic said “all musical, vocal and choreographic works should correspond to a tempo of 80-116 beats per minute” to ensure that Chechen music aligns with the nation’s “mentality and musical rhythm.” The ban will apply to many pop and techno songs.

📰 STORY OF THE DAY

Shakira's howl: Colombian guts, feminist gesture, marketing gem

Shakira made headlines this week for calling the Barbie movie “emasculating,” yet the Colombian superstar, with a radical image change in 2009 and her signature hip moves, has created her own pack of undeniable feminist she-wolves, writes Teresita Goyeneche in Bogotá-based daily El Espectador.

🎤🐺 Shakira’s 2009 album She Wolf (called Loba in Spanish) initiated one of the most successful strategies in her career as a songwriter and businesswoman. When Shakira came out that year as a wolf, with straight, blond hair and with lighter eyes, those with acute sensitivity to aesthetic and social-class norms began objecting to the stylistic choices and brazen hip movements that were both innocent and indecent.

💬 Loba wasn't a best-seller. But the gesture, which was both daring and planned, became a precedent in defying the Colombian custom of calling a woman considered indiscreet, showy and vulgar a loba or "she-wolf." Shakira also likes this popular image even if she does not insist on it as her exclusive identity.

✊ Walking one recent rainy day in Manhattan, I took cover on a street corner to wait for the rain to pass. I could hear a loudspeaker nearby blaring out Puntería (the first single from Shakira's new album). I had a patriotic pang just then, not for Colombia, but for the nation Shakira has created, where all her fans around the world live on an equal footing, freed of class, language and stylistic stratification. Our Shakira — the singer with elaborate lyrics and complex melodies we fondly recall — remains alive in today's superstar.

➡️ Read more on Worldcrunch.com

📣 VERBATIM

“TIt will happen. There is a date.”

— Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed in a video statement on Monday that the much rumored invasion of Rafah, the city in southern Gaza, will indeed go forward. The town on the border with Egypt has swelled to around 1.4 million with the arrival of displaced Palestinians from northern Gaza. The U.S. says ground operations into Rafah would be a serious mistake and has demanded to see a plan to protect civilians.

📹 THIS HAPPENED VIDEO — TODAY IN HISTORY, IN ONE ICONIC PHOTO

➡️ Watch the video: THIS HAPPENED

#️⃣ BY THE NUMBERS

36 years and 322 days

Serb tennis champion Novak Djokovic has become the oldest male player to top world rankings, at 36 years old and 322 days, breaking the previous record held by Swiss great Roger Federer, who retired in 2022. Retired U.S. icon Serena Williams is the oldest woman to have held the top spot, at age 35.

📸 PHOTO DU JOUR

People in Canada excitedly watched the full solar eclipse that was visible across North America yesterday. The path of totality covered an area between 108 and 122 miles wide, with parts of the U.S. experiencing more than four minutes of darkness. The next total eclipse in the U.S. isn’t until 2044, though Greenland, Iceland, Spain, Russia and a small portion of Portugal will see one on August 12, 2026. — Photo: Serkan Senturk/ZUMA

👉  MORE FROM WORLDCRUNCH  

• Palestine, The Nation? Israel's War Accelerates Recognition Of Palestinian Statehood — FRANCE INTER

• Putin Is Gearing Up For A Major Summer Offensive — Here's How Ukraine Can Defend Itself — DIE WELT

• How A Princeton Professor Has Quietly Been Working For Iran's Regime — KAYHAN-LONDON

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