I’m so sorry: If you have to go back to work today, allow me to offer my sincerest condolences. And if you never got a break over the holidays at all, I’m even more sorry. That’s not because I think the world should stop for a Christian holiday or anything, I just think we should all work a lot less. Love you!

Not much holiday cheer in Bethlehem: Bethlehem, a town in the West Bank that’s cited as Jesus’s original birth place, cancelled their Christmas festivities once again this year as Israel continues its genocide in Gaza. Since Oct. 7, 2023, Israel has displaced millions and killed tens of thousands in a death toll the media has basically stopped updating as we probably won’t truly understand the scale of the carnage until after a ceasefire. In just the last 24 hours, as many across the world celebrate Christmas, Israel has killed 38 people in Gaza and injured more than 100 others. Not only that, but Israel’s ramped up its violence against Palestinians in the West Bank as well. 

Protect journalists: Quds Today, a Palestinian TV station, says Israel targeted and killed five of their journalists outside of a hospital where one of the journalists’ wife was giving birth. The victims include Ibrahim Jamal Ibrahim Al-Sheikh Ali; Faisal Abdallah Muhammad Abu Qamsan; Mohammed Ayad Khamis al-Ladaa; Ayman Nihad Abd Alrahman Jadi; and Fadi Ihab Muhammad Ramadan Hassouna. They are among 133 Palestinian journalists killed by Israel since Oct 7. 2023. Israel claims the five people were actually “Islamic Jihad operatives posing as journalists,” according to the BBC. 

There’s not an appropriate holiday pun for this: It’s just awful.

Weather: That was some rain yesterday, huh? Well, today should be drier! By the time you’re reading this, the showers should have stopped and by noon we’ll even see some sunshine. As for temperature, expect things to hover around the high 40s and low 50s. If you’re a fiend for sunshine, take advantage of whatever rays we get this afternoon because the clouds and rain will roll back in tomorrow! For the full weather report, check here or whatever weather source you trust most—and if that’s just this blog, you are probably very hot, but very chaotic. We should be friends. 

Whoooooosh: We’re not out of the woods in terms of wind until about 1pm today.

But wind doesn’t have to be all bad:

Edmonds is not defunding the police: Right-wing media made a big stink about the City of Edmonds considering a proposal to shut down its police department in the face of a $13 million budget deficit. I’m totally into tightening up bloated cop budgets instead of making like the mayor of Seattle and cutting hundreds of millions from more preventative spending like affordable housing. But that’s not what’s happening. Edmonds is considering, among other options, closing the department and contracting with a county sheriffs department—possibly Snohomish County or King County—which many small towns do to save money. The Seattle Times has more. 

Azerbaijan airplane down: An Azerbaijan Airlines plane crashed Wednesday in Kazakhstan, killing 38 people on board. Another 32 people survived the crash, but have been hospitalized. Many remain in critical condition. So far, it’s unclear what lead to the tragic crash—theories include an “emergency situation” onboard after a bird strike, according to Russia’s aviation watchdog on Telegram, as well as as bad weather conditions along their route, and a Russian missile. The Azerbaijani president, Ilham Aliye cautioned against speculation: “There are videos of the plane crash available in the media and on social networks, and everyone can watch them. However, the reasons for the crash are not yet known to us. There are various theories, but I believe it is premature to discuss them.” 

Six days til sex with robots: Expect a huge cultural shift very shortly!

Ukraine update: President Joe Biden denounced Russia’s Christmas Day attack on Ukraine, which he said aimed to cut off Ukrainians access to heat in the winter and jeopardize the country’s safety grid. He promised to continue sending guns to Ukraine in the wake of the attack. But Biden’s only president for a few more weeks and it seems President-elect Donald Trump may be kinder to Russia. Trump’s choice for special envoy to Ukraine and Russia, retired Lt. Gen. Keith Kellogg, also denounced Russia’s attack, but added that the world is “closely watching actions on both sides” and committed to peace vaguely enough that he could mean total capitulation to Russia. Just sayin’!

PSA: Hey, cat owners. Northwest Naturals, a pet food company based in Portland, has recalled a batch of its Feline Turkey Recipe cat food after it tested positive for bird flu and killed a house cat. So if you have a two-pound plastic bag of the food with “best if used by” dates of May 21, 2026, and June 23, 2026, throw that shit away. 

You gotta hear this: I played this track earlier this week when asked about my favorite Christmas song and I have amazing taste if I do say so myself.

 

 

More in NEWS

Local (and not-so-local) news from your favorite writers.

Suite Deal

The longest hotel strike in Washington state history is over now that workers at the downtown Embassy Suites have a contract.

Hannah Krieg is a staff writer at The Stranger covering everything that goes down at Seattle City Hall. Importantly, she is a Libra. She is also The Stranger's resident Gen Z writer, with an affinity for...

112 replies on “Slog AM: Bethlehem Cancels Christmas Over Israel’s Genocide, Azerbaijan Airplane Crash Kills 38, and I’m Sorry You Have To Work Today”

  3. @87″ I’ve repeatedly acknowledged Israelis used human shields in Gaza”

    Only AFTER I pointed out your lying by omission systematically in order to demonize Palestinians, which didn’t prevent you to again not mention it the next time around as shown in this very thread. Your use of ‘repeatedly’ is somewhat abusive unless you mean a small handful of times for the simple reason that I didn’t force you to admit it most times as you have shown REPEATEDLY that there is no point in attempting to curtail the stream of lying propaganda coming out of you.

    “so your implicit claim to have found something new in this matter fails”

    Your claim that the use of human shield by the IDF is ancient stuff and that it stopped after the Israeli supreme court ordered a stop to it, is an outright lie as you have been given news article, and UN reports describing the common practice of forcing Palestinian civilians into clearing a path free of IEDs by the IDF during this very Gaza offensive. You have no shame.

    I will stop here even though the rest of your comment is equally revolting

  4. @101: No, that simply confirms you’ve ignored the parts of my previous comments you happen not to like.

    The NATO report on Hamas’ (not “Palestinians”) and Israeli use of human shields was from many years ago. Here’s a comment from Oct. 2023 in which I mention it, and quote from it. As I actually read everything in a a document before I quote from it, you can take that citation as an early mention of Israeli use of human shields at Slog. (https://www.thestranger.com/war/2023/10/31/79233815/this-is-total-war/comments) What took you so long?

    “Your claim that the use of human shield by the IDF is ancient stuff and that it stopped after the Israeli supreme court ordered a stop to it,”

    Again, you need to learn ‘new,’ vs. ‘new to you.’ Those are always vastly different, at least on any topic upon which you’ve chosen to comment here.

    The only entity I’ve tried to “demonize” here is Hamas, and that by accurately describing what they do.

    And again, you’re forever trying to make a moral equivalence between Hamas and the IDF. You could start by citing a story where the head of the IDF tells his subordinates about their need for more civilian casualties in Gaza, as Sinwar did for Hamas.

  5. @93 so the courts are toothless, Israel is just going to get their weapons elsewhere if not from us–I guess there’s really nothing the US can do about the situation in Gaza. The US is powerless to influence world events. Why even bother? Might as well withdraw into isolationism. Do I have it right?

  6. @102 “You could start by citing a story where the head of the IDF tells his subordinates about their need for more civilian casualties in Gaza”

    Not exactly apples to apples but here:

    https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/2024-04-30/ty-article/.premium/smotrich-calls-for-no-half-measures-in-the-total-annihilation-of-gaza/0000018f-2f4c-d9c3-abcf-7f7d25460000

    https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/2024-08-05/ty-article/israeli-finance-minister-starving-gazans-to-death-may-be-moral-but-world-wont-let-us/00000191-22e1-dd23-a7dd-2aed4b050000

    Also:

    https://www.haaretz.com/2024-12-23/ty-article/.premium/when-you-enter-gaza-you-are-god-inside-the-minds-of-idf-soldiers-who-commit-war-crimes/00000193-f043-d354-a59f-ff670ac80000

  7. @103: Your dedication to undergraduate-level sophistry remains impressive, but the impression remains not the one you might prefer to give.

    Indeed, as the All Gaza All The Time crowd resolutely ignored for the entire US election season, the US has little immediate leverage over Israel, and even less over the rest of the region. Part of this is the US law which requires the US to arm Israel. (You might want to stop resolutely ignoring said law, and put some research into it, including how it came to exist — and why.) The US has been playing a very long game in the region, and had Saudi Arabia on the cusp of recognizing Israel when the 10/7 attacks just so happened to hit. (You can leave that as a pure coincidence.) With the collapse of the Assad regime, the crippling of Hezbollah, and Iran’s growing isolation, American diplomacy may have fertile ground indeed for more long-term peace initiatives — not that anyone expects you to know or care.

    @104: So, you found nothing where the head of the IDF tells them to get more civilians in Gaza killed, and soon. On the topic of research, you might want to determine the relation of the Finance Minister to the military. (Yes, I know, you’re just barrel-scraping because big meanie tensor actually believes evidence is a thing. On Slog, no less!) Again, Sinwar was head of Hamas when he told them to get more civilians killed in Gaza, pronto. He wasn’t their banker, or whatever Hamas uses to obtain funds.

    As far as soldiers playing God in a war zone, I suggest you read The Peers Inquiry (https://www.loc.gov/item/97042604/), wherein Gen. Peers has quite a bit to say — all of it very negative — about American military commanders throwing deadly force around in a foreign civilian area. Some things never change.

  8. “I will stop here

    even though the rest of

    your comment is equally revolting.’

    –@ab

    in reply to

    our Wormtongue

    one truly Needs

    a cast-iron stomach to

    swallow a little of wormmy’s

    “vile projections” (thnx Catalina!)

    gratitutious insults (no matter How ‘clever’)

    & insidious & utter Abuses to the spirit of Justice

    all wrapped up

    in rhetoric so thik

    one’d need a harpoon*

    to locate a truthful nugget

    the counter here says 101 comments

    ab’s being the last. I suspect mr

    magoo, wormmy and his

    little 🔨ing🛴’ll be

    ‘well’ represented

    tho currently

    Invisible

    From

    here.

    *or

    one of

    ab’s scalpels

  10. @82: “…utterly Immune to Matthew’s teachings.”

    Considering the very first of “Matthew’s teachings,” is “flat-out fabricating your history is morally OK, if it advances your personal agenda,” I can understand your deeply confusing dismay at my calling it out as a bad thing.

  11. @105 “Part of this is the US law which requires the US to arm Israel.”

    It’s been explained to you that this is not what the law says.

    “So, you found nothing where the head of the IDF tells them to get more civilians in Gaza killed, and soon.”

    That’s not what Sinwar said either. He said civilian casualties would increase international pressure on Israel, which, obviously. What the Israeli politician said is actually worse in that he explicitly wants to increase suffering.

    Not that facts matter to you at all.

  12. @109: Wow, your “No, it isn’t,” statements really carried the day for you, didn’t it? I recognize your completely undocumented denials as unquestionable truth, and thus stand defeated!

    (Wait, what? Oh, sorry…)

    “That’s not what Sinwar said either. He said civilian casualties would increase international pressure on Israel, which, obviously.”

    First, that’s exactly what he said, in refusing negotiations and egging Israel to attack Rafah. At that time, Hamas in Rafah was launching rockets into Israel, of course from behind human shields:

    “Arab mediators hastened to speed up talks about a cease-fire, and on Feb. 19, Israel set a deadline of Ramadan—a month later—for Hamas to return the hostages or face a ground offensive in Rafah, what Israeli officials described as the militant group’s last stronghold.

    “Sinwar in a message urged his comrades in Hamas’s political leadership outside Gaza not to make concessions and instead to push for a permanent end to the war. High civilian casualties would create worldwide pressure on Israel, Sinwar said. The group’s armed wing was ready for the onslaught, Sinwar’s messages said.”

    (https://www.wsj.com/world/middle-east/gaza-chiefs-brutal-calculation-civilian-bloodshed-will-help-hamas-626720e7?mod=Searchresults_pos17&page=1)

    Second, getting more civilians killed didn’t alter the course of the war, because those of you who fell for Sinwar’s child-killing tactics were outnumbered and ignored. The rest of us continued to place responsibility upon Hamas for getting civilians killed in Gaza.

    “It’s been explained to you that this is not what the law says.”

    You can take your problem to the Council on Foreign Relations:

    ‘What is Israel’s qualitative military edge (QME)?

    ‘QME has been a conceptual backbone of U.S. military aid to Israel for decades, and it was formally enshrined in U.S. law in 2008 [PDF]. It requires the U.S. government to maintain Israel’s ability “to defeat any credible conventional military threat from any individual state or possible coalition of states or from non-state actors, while sustaining minimal damage and casualties.” QME is based on NATO military planning vis-a-vis a potential conflict with the Soviet Union and Warsaw Pact countries during the Cold War.’

    (https://www.cfr.org/article/us-aid-israel-four-charts)

    If you really want to show off your great imagination, then please describe a scenario where a US arms embargo doesn’t negatively impact Israel’s QME. In time of war.

    Good luck with that.

Comments are closed.