Generate your own Gaza operation
If you don’t like ‘Protective Edge,’ there are plenty more obscure names to choose from
Add ToI as a Preferred Source on GoogleRenee Ghert-Zand is the health reporter and a feature writer for The Times of Israel.
It turns out that Anglo Israelis are not the only ones poking fun at the name of Israel’s latest military operation.
While native English speakers are scratching their heads specifically at the IDF’s translation of “Tzuk Eitan” into the impenetrable “Protective Edge,” Hebrew speakers are spoofing the presumed process by which operation names are chosen.
Case in point: The Gaza Operations Generator. Just go to its site and keep clicking on an arrow in the middle of the screen. You will get another and yet another two-word phrase (Hebrew only). The words are obviously pulled from a database of intentionally bombastic language.
The generator reflects the widely held assumption that an IDF computer spits out the names of Israel’s military actions. However, the IDF Spokesperson’s Unit, refusing to discuss with The Times of Israel how the current operation got its moniker, would not confirm this.
If The Gaza Operations Generator had been used to name the current operation, it could have been dubbed “Mashav Kasuf” (Silver Gust), “Geshem Helem” (Pounding Rain), “Shemesh Nafitz” (Volatile Sun), or any other silly-sounding random combination of pre-programmed adjectives and nouns.
The generator is hosted on the website of Feelternet, a Tel Aviv-based digital creative agency.
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