“Every Israeli offensive into Gaza bears a name that delivers a message meant not only for those locked up there, but also for others in Israel and the rest of the world. What do these names tell us? ‘Operation Summer Rain’ on June 27, 2006. ‘Operation Autumn Clouds’ on November 1, 2006. ‘When clouds are full, they empty rain on the earth.’ So said Koheleth, the preacher in Ecclesiastes. Almost lyrical, like bits of haiku, these names portend nature gone wrong: rain that does not moisten but scorches the earth; clouds that promise terror so unrelenting that no season can survive it. No more autumn. No more winter.
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The biblical code name chosen for the current Gaza attacks is in Hebrew amud anan, meaning not ‘pillar of defense,’ as it is being translated, but actually ‘pillar of cloud.’ We can forget the clouds of smoke from buildings burning, bombs falling, and drones firing. The defense is God’s protective cloud, the cloud that hid the children of Israel from harm during their exodus from slavery in Egypt. We join with them, protected from whatever is outside our felicitous refuge. The mistranslation doubles up on the codename’s original use and transforms it. Despite what is clearly real—the obvious and asymmetrical force of arms tuned against the population of Gaza—Israel’s pillars of fire and smoke are recalibrated as a legitimate and necessary defense, no matter the cost.”
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