"Israel's oldest daily, Haaretz," which was was sanctioned by the Israeli government on Nov. 24, 2024
Against the Drowning Noise of Other Words, CLXXXVIII: "A Gazan baby"
written in response to Haaretz, May 20, 2025: Opposition MK Says Israel Risks Pariah Status, "Sane State Doesn't Kill Babies as Hobby"
a Gazan baby
the glitter
in a sniper's eye
first frost …
a Gazan baby’s face
in pixels
a dull-eyed baby
with loose skin over bone ...
red glow of Gazan skies
(reprinted in Haikuniverse, July 26, 2025)
On June 23, 2026, the UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry published a major report titled “The essence of childhood has been destroyed: Israel’s deliberate targeting of Palestinian children in the Occupied Palestinian Territory since 7 October 2023”.
The paper describes the deliberate targeting and killing of Palestinian children, including post-ceasefire since the October 2025 Gaza peace plan. The Commission also examines a sharp increase in violence perpetrated by members of Israeli settlers against Palestinian children in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem.
Against the Drowning Noise of Other Words, CIII: "settler violence"
under slate-gray skies
|
a settler aims his gun | a boy throws his rock
|
tank track marks on the grass
it’s peaceful now
M-16 rifles are blooming, 2000-pound bombs singing, and Merkava tanks sweeping the streets.
Gaza is cleaner than ever, clean of blood-covered children. Yet, somewhere among the rubble the only moving thing is a boy’s eyes that look up to Heaven.
a mural
on the separation wall
of the West Bank:
in midair a girl grasps
a bunch of rainbow balloons
Contemporary Haibun Anthology 20
Against the Drowning Noise of Other Words, CXC: "ghostly memory"
inspired by a short documentary, Severed: The Story of a Boy From Gaza, premiering on The Nation Magazine website this week for free.
awake alone
with the ghostly memory
of skeletal houses ...
this one-legged Gazan teen stares
into the borderless sky
Against the Drowning Noise of Other Words, CLXXXIX: "Heaven and Gaza's ruins"
an armless boy's stare
midnight lightning links Heaven
and Gaza's ruins ...
The United Nations has officially placed and kept the Israeli military on its annual "blacklist" (formally known as the Children and Armed Conflict report annex) for committing grave violations against children, including killing, maiming, and attacking schools and hospitals
Against the Drowning Noise of Other Words, XLIV, "hospitals destroyed"
written in response to the destruction of Gaza's biggest hospital, Al Shifa
between blood of birth
and blood of death
a new life
on the hospital floor ...
a Gazan mother's last look
collapsed school wall
a butterfly
in shades of charcoal
To conclude today's "Special Feature" post, I would like to share the latest entry of Against the Drowning Noise of Other Words, CCXCIX: "Ceasefire: You Cease, I Fire"
Ceasefire: You Cease, I Fire
Boom, boom, boom ... trailed by intermittent night-piercing screams, near and far.
an armless boy's stare
midnight lightning links Heaven
and smoky ruins
hazy day moon
an orphaned girl, her world
of paper cranes
There is no ceasefire in Gaza; the world has normalized the genocide of Palestinians.
-- Francesca Albanese, UN Special Rapporteur on Palestine and author of UN Report, "Anatomy of a Genocide"
And
There comes a time when silence is betrayal.
Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.
-- Martin Luther King, Jr.
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