The ‘depressingly simple and cynical’ reason Gaza ceasefire deals keep falling apart

“Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu refuses to end the war in exchange for the hostages, because he expects that if he does, his coalition will collapse, since the ultranationalist flank on which it depends wants the war to go on.” Hamas is okay with that, too—because it hurts Israel.

Recent reading

Three weeks’ worth of articles: Obituaries, artificial intelligence, damaging storms, the case for charging genocide in Gaza, the viral Chabad tunnel story and online antisemitism, and housing—social in Vienna and enshittified at Airbnb

This week’s reads

Links to and excerpts from articles about Search (AI and publishers, PR, entities, and brands), what “intifada” and “from the river to the sea” mean to Israelis and Palestinians and how they are understood (or not) elsewhere, on the terrible costs of allowing a Russian victory in Ukraine, and a bit more about the Forward.