First: GREAT writing, HamNo! "There will always be young guys soaked in testosterone and high on dreams of Defending Their People..." Man, why can't we get them to "fight" for, ya know: people. Humanity. "Defending the good of all people." Like, building and inventing. Kinda an FDR New Deal WPA vibe. I know. Foolishness. But an old woman can dream!
I'm not sure about best overall, but in the category of Falafel After 10PM, I vote the Falafel Guys truck right off the Astoria-Ditmars N stop, on Ditmars. Open late all year round, they often hand you an extra, free toasty falafel while you're waiting. Crisp! Impeccable service! Lovely!
"older men willing to send those wild young men to fight to protect the things that older men have" is a succinct description of most wars I can recall. Thanks, Hamilton.
Wonderfully written piece about this deeply disturbing aspect of this society. Thank you—I think—for it…and for ending with the charming, engagingly sweet treat of maybe optimism almost—at least for falafel lovers….
appreciate the honesty of the piece and the writing but it sucks that even in great press coverage Palestinians are still decorative pieces, background symbols and their advocates, as validated as their views are in this piece ‘standard issue’. Maybe just call then tiresome and right and call it a day
and bc this is one of only an infinitesimal percentage of reporting accurately on such protests, criticizing it surely dumb at best insufferable or “standard issue keffiyeh wearing insufferable” but f-it. We’re all just cartoons to the knowing interlocutors of mass death.
Obviously, "Greater Israel" is a horrific name choice - but, man, have you actually looked at their actual website to see what is actually there? Like a journalist usually does, one would hope? :)
This is the list of locations where these folks are selling real estate:
Jerusalem | Tel aviv | Ramat Beit Shemesh | Netanya | Raanana | Modiin | Herzliya | Haifa | Nahariya | Rishon LeZion | Carmei Gat | Ramat HaNadiv | Ramat Gan | Givat Shmuel | Ashdod | Beersheva | Ashkelon | And many more!
Now, obviously "And many more!" could be hiding shit but literally ALL the place names are within the 1967 borders. None of this is "stolen land" by any metric unless you deem the very existence of Israel as "stolen land".
I may be a bit cross but I am offering this in a friendly spirit, not as an opening salvo to a fight.
You’re worse than cross, you’re a Zionist simp. The critique of Klein/Piker on your timeline reveals your propagandized self. The Israeli population writ large might be opposed to Bibi, but not his racist ideology, anymore than the American public writ large is opposed to imperial hegemony, despite sitting in political silos concerning Trump.
How doesIsrael and Netanyahu have so much influence over Trump? Sell land taken from Palestenians? How does Netanyahu dogwalk Trump in war with Iran? Check the Israeli connections in this Epstein Files relationship map!
Brilliant piece, brilliant writing, wonderful language. And for someone over in the UK, worryingly similar situation to how we are seeing things develop here too.
First: GREAT writing, HamNo! "There will always be young guys soaked in testosterone and high on dreams of Defending Their People..." Man, why can't we get them to "fight" for, ya know: people. Humanity. "Defending the good of all people." Like, building and inventing. Kinda an FDR New Deal WPA vibe. I know. Foolishness. But an old woman can dream!
I'm all in on that beautiful foolishness too.
Amen!
I'm not sure about best overall, but in the category of Falafel After 10PM, I vote the Falafel Guys truck right off the Astoria-Ditmars N stop, on Ditmars. Open late all year round, they often hand you an extra, free toasty falafel while you're waiting. Crisp! Impeccable service! Lovely!
Valuable comment thank you Katie.
What an exceptional piece.
“A miniature local theater in a sprawling global war.” *chef’s kiss*
"a group of Orthodox Jewish people from NKI, who oppose Zionism for religious reasons, and who show up at many pro-Palestine protests"
Fascinating...thanks for the link to NIIK...Will tuck into this evening. I would have thought Orthodox Jews would have been the MOST 'Zionist'
delighted to be wrong!
"It's not really their fault"
Um. But it is.
yeah, that second to last paragraph is a pretty good summary of human history, unfortunately.
"older men willing to send those wild young men to fight to protect the things that older men have" is a succinct description of most wars I can recall. Thanks, Hamilton.
Outstanding writing! I love these "street reporting" pieces!
I'm glad it remained peaceful, and hope that Israelis stop killing people and stealing their land.
Wonderfully written piece about this deeply disturbing aspect of this society. Thank you—I think—for it…and for ending with the charming, engagingly sweet treat of maybe optimism almost—at least for falafel lovers….
appreciate the honesty of the piece and the writing but it sucks that even in great press coverage Palestinians are still decorative pieces, background symbols and their advocates, as validated as their views are in this piece ‘standard issue’. Maybe just call then tiresome and right and call it a day
and bc this is one of only an infinitesimal percentage of reporting accurately on such protests, criticizing it surely dumb at best insufferable or “standard issue keffiyeh wearing insufferable” but f-it. We’re all just cartoons to the knowing interlocutors of mass death.
Thanks for the piece tho, i do appreciate it
Obviously, "Greater Israel" is a horrific name choice - but, man, have you actually looked at their actual website to see what is actually there? Like a journalist usually does, one would hope? :)
https://israelevent2025.com/?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email
This is the list of locations where these folks are selling real estate:
Jerusalem | Tel aviv | Ramat Beit Shemesh | Netanya | Raanana | Modiin | Herzliya | Haifa | Nahariya | Rishon LeZion | Carmei Gat | Ramat HaNadiv | Ramat Gan | Givat Shmuel | Ashdod | Beersheva | Ashkelon | And many more!
Now, obviously "And many more!" could be hiding shit but literally ALL the place names are within the 1967 borders. None of this is "stolen land" by any metric unless you deem the very existence of Israel as "stolen land".
I may be a bit cross but I am offering this in a friendly spirit, not as an opening salvo to a fight.
You’re worse than cross, you’re a Zionist simp. The critique of Klein/Piker on your timeline reveals your propagandized self. The Israeli population writ large might be opposed to Bibi, but not his racist ideology, anymore than the American public writ large is opposed to imperial hegemony, despite sitting in political silos concerning Trump.
Gush Etzion AFAIK. Look at the bottom of the site.
How doesIsrael and Netanyahu have so much influence over Trump? Sell land taken from Palestenians? How does Netanyahu dogwalk Trump in war with Iran? Check the Israeli connections in this Epstein Files relationship map!
https://thedemlabs.org/2026/05/12/epstein-files-israel-connection-trump-netanyahu-wars/
fucking hell you got some bars, sir
Cant abide the Israeli falafel shout out tho ffs
Brilliant piece, brilliant writing, wonderful language. And for someone over in the UK, worryingly similar situation to how we are seeing things develop here too.