Report From The Ground In Gaza, Results-Only Work Environments, Wisconsin Life: What Does Home Mean To You?

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A lot of businesses use the 40-hour workweek as a standard. Rob Ferrett and Cynthia Schuster talk to the founder of a movement for workplaces to consider the final product instead of the hours clocked by employees. Then, in Wisconsin Life, they listen to a piece about one Wisconsinite’s definition of home and ask what “home” means to you. They also speak with a reporter on the ground in Gaza about the latest developments after thousands fled northern Gaza on Sunday.

Featured in this Show

  • Reporter Describes Latest Gaza Conflict From The Ground

    After a week of conflict, crossfire between Israel and Gaza soldiers shows no sign of abating despite repeated calls for a cease-fire from the international community.

    According to the Israeli government, the militant group Hamas has fired more than 1,000 rockets into Israel, leaving one 16-year-old badly wounded in the Israeli city of Ashkelon. Most of the rockets have landed in open areas or have been shot down by Israel’s Iron Dome defense shield.

    Meanwhile, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry, Israeli airstrikes have killed at least 175 Palestinians — mostly civilians — and have wounded 1,200 others.

    Thousands more fled northern Gaza on Sunday after Israel’s military warned that the area would be targeted by more airstrikes. Hamas urged civilians to remain in their homes, calling the warnings “Israeli propaganda.”

    New York Times London Bureau chief Steven Erlanger, who has been reporting on the conflict from the ground on Gaza, said many of the people there feel afraid and isolated. He described a sense of desperation.

    “There’s a kind of quiet unhappiness with this and a feeling like, ‘We are in a bad movie being rerun,’ he said. Lots of people are dying, and they ask themselves, ‘For what particular reason might they be dying?’”

    Erlanger said that he believes the Israeli military is making an effort not to not kill civilians, though ultimately they have.

    “The best kind of targeting killing sometimes goes wrong,” he said.

    Hamas has taken advantage of the situation by launching its rockets from disguised sites in populated areas, knowing that the Israel’s air force tries not to harm civilians.

    Erlanger said that Palestinians see Israel as the aggressor in the conflict. Hamas, however, isn’t extremely popular either, though few people would criticize the organization directly.

    “Ordinary people want what ordinary people want everywhere, which is peace and a chance to make some money and to make their children’s lives better — and they know this is not that,” said Erlanger.

    Erlanger described the conflict as one that neither Hamas nor Israel particularly wanted. He did, however, suggest that Hamas might be looking to improve its footing with a newly brokered peace agreement. Gaza, he said, has been in dire economic straits after Egypt clamped down on the flow of goods smuggled across its borders and after Israel tightened its border controls following the discovery of a tunnel running from Gaza into Israel.

    “No one has been paid in Gaza for like two or three months now,” said Erlanger. “There is a banking problem. The ATM machines aren’t working. There is a shortage of cash.”

    The lack of supplies has put Hamas in a difficult situation, according to Erlanger, and the group might be looking to improve the situation through peace negotiations.

    Meanwhile, Israeli ground forces have gathered at the border with Gaza, and whether those forces will eventually be used remains one of the biggest questions of the conflict. Erlanger said that while some are pushing Israel to deal with Hamas once and for all, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been prudent when it comes to using ground force.

    “(Israel) has always been reluctant to go into the big cities and fight,” he said, “It’s a very bad way to fight because you always end up losing lots of soldiers and lots of civilians die, and I just don’t think the west is going to tolerate that much bloodshed.”

    Erlanger speculated that the gathering of ground forces could be a psychological tactic on the part of Israel, in an effort to intimidate Hamas into entering peace negotiations and cease its rocket attacks. Nevertheless, he doesn’t rule out the possibility that Israel will end up using its ground troops.

    “There’s always a chance that Israel will decide to throw the dice,” he said.

  • Report From The Ground In Northern Gaza After Sunday's Evacuations

    Thousands of Palestinians fled northern Gaza Sunday, after warnings from Israeli forces that the area would be targeted with airstrikes. While the international community continues to call for a cease-fire, at the time neither Hamas nor Israel appear likely to comply. New York Times London Bureau Chief Steven Erlanger reports on the situation from the ground in Gaza.

  • Considering Results Only Work Environments

    Some businesses are considering a move to a results only work environment that considers the final product instead of the hours clocked by workers. We’ll talk with a founder of the movement.

Episode Credits

  • Rob Ferrett Host
  • Cynthia Schuster Host
  • Veronica Rueckert Host
  • Galen Druke Producer
  • Steven Erlanger Guest
  • Jody Thompson Guest