Hamas rocket fired from Gaza City The Hamas surprise attack on Israel this morning is unlike anything since the Egyptian Army crossed the Suez Canal 50 years ago today. The attack did not just involve the usual rockets, or even a larger version of those attacks. Hamas additionally infiltrated a large number of paramilitary units into Israeli towns, mostly but not only those bordering Gaza. Thee commandos lit homes on fire, have killed at least 100 civilians according the most recent report I have read in Ha’Aretz. Hundreds were wounded and some unknown number of civilians and soldiers have been taken hostage, with some taken back into Gaza. There are active hostage situations in those towns. Hamas has claimed the capture of “high level” IDF officers.
This is almost NEVER spoken about in the MSM: "Benjamin Netanyahu’s disastrous alliance with the Israeli fascist fundamentalist far Right, BRINGING SETTLER MOVEMENT TERRORISTS and giving them power over domestic security in the country, which gave the (MOSTLY AMERICAN) fundamentalists in the West Bank PERMISSION TO ACT WITH IMPUNITY with their attacks against the Palestinian population, has resulted in the guy who thinks he’s the smartest guy in the Knesset discovering the meaning of the term 'fuck around and find out.'” Every word of this is the truth. Will anyone with power pay any attention???
Talk about your shock and awe. Your analysis is spot on, Tom, and, yet it's not surprising that Netanyahu's political opponents are uniting with him in dealing with this matter. Iran needs to see this happen, and so does MBS (who now has nuclear ambitions) because as we've experienced ourselves, it's easy to divide a country over time and make them/us vulnerable to such a full scale attack, but unification in a crisis will enable Israel to prevail although they may not get all their hostages back. Iran miscalculated. And I think "the more to come" that you mention will involve Russia.
As for the Palestinians who lost their land to the Balfour Decision, they seem to be among Allah's most misbegotten, lacking all political leverage. Sadly, a misguided Hamas is their only viable option at this time.
Finally, the evangelicals in the US need to be reminded that the Rapture they insisted was scheduled for last month didn't happen and they'd be wise to shut the hell up and keep religion out of our politics. The Middle East has had lessons to teach us about the enmeshment of the two.
Love last paragraph. Yep, they are waiting for the rapture. I am disgusted with religion because the worst arses have escaped lightening strikes for way too long. God, if you want people to flock to “real religion,” smite some of the worst offenders, and don’t get tired.
Historically, religion has been the cause of too many wars. Which, in this particular case is kink of ironic, since Judaism and Islam are both "children" of Abraham.
Reminds me of my Mom's family; siblings hated one brother and they spent their lives being angry and mean, not only to him but to each other at times. My seven sibs and I have tried not to repeat that horror. So sibling problems with Abraham, no surprise. Tribes just can't help it, it seems
Very accurate. And none of the MSM, Congress critters (other than The Squad), DoD, DoS, and the official DC talking heads, will say so. Nitwityahoo will use this to try to force an authoritarian government upon Israel, the settlers in the West Bank will lash out at the P.A. in hopes of opening a second front, and Congress will egg them on heedless to the strategic consequences. Another generation of bloody conflicts in the Middle East for Russia to exploit. Damn it.
Does the fact that people I know who have been employed in that organization say that the initials stand for "Can't Investigate Anything" answer your question?
Does the surprise indicate higher levels of management, logistics, and coordination of violence? Does it indicate professional insurgency leadership and training? I think Hamas had more help than just from Iran. And Putin just loves anniversaries.
Hubris certainly played a large part in the success of this attack. The far right and it's cruel, crimes against humanity treatment of the Palestinians existing in Gaza was a factor they never even considered. I intentionally use the word existing, because they have nothing close to "life" as we think of it. Cram 2.3 million people in roughly 135 square miles with no way out, few resources, and brutal occupation by a military force with no qualms about using extreme violence for small infractions, leads to hopelessness and eventually violence. While I mourn the death of anyone killed as a result of violence, when you are subject to the conditions in Gaza, at some point you lose the ability to see any way other than violence.
I often use this analogy: what if one day the United Nations decided, with the assent of government, (I live in NJ) decided that NJ was now the nation of the Lenni Lenape Native American people. They were also provided with the latest military equipment, given the chance to write their own rules, have their own courts, and pretty much the whole world was on their side. You had 48 hours to take what you could carry and get out. Anyone who wanted to stay in NJ would be confined to Cumberland County (arguably the poorest County in the state, almost no industry, low education, gangs, and high drug use). I then ask, how angry would you be? How long before you started joining the "militants" who wanted to take back what they'd lost? Usually they shut up as they start to realize what happened. Once in a while I get some "Christian" who starts mumbling about the bible, at which point I walk away thinking of Twain. You can't argue with stupid people, they will drag you down to their level and beat you with experience every time.
Amnesty International and B'Tselem have described Gaza as an open air maximum security prison. If we call ourselves civilized and can't see the inhumanity, we are as deluded as the leadership of Israel.
Organizational suicide, one wonders. Sounds like if they have been watching repubs in the House. Bibi is the chump of Israel. Pisses me off to the max that we are tied to that arse and his settlement crap. Who didn’t expect this. Everybody is shocked but shouldn’t be. Bibi has his war; nothing unites a country behind idiots like war. W tried it, so shocked that chump didn’t get a chance. He just decided on civil war. BTW, LBJ didn’t have propaganda on his side, just McNamara feeding him turd after turd. What a diet.
Not to be toooooo cynical. But, what is the take-away for the hard right in US, besides strengthening ties and prayers for Israel? I can see a bad way forward amongst our hard right Congress as, drum roll, we have more in common with Israel than we do with Ukraine (?). Is there a new play to try out in the Playbook for American Autocratic Mongers to throw into the muck and mire that is now flowing from the swamp that once was the legislative branch: Increase aid to Israel, rebuild our Israeli-American alliances, prepare for a revolt when the right gets to run everything again?
Jews in the US have expressed dissatisfaction with current Israeli policy. It is time democrats face reality in regards to Israel and Saudis. Past time.
The MAGAt's will have to justify being opposed to aid to Ukraine and demanding aid to Israel when both allies have suffered the same fate. They will try to choose both sides of the same coin, which maybe is why they haven't had much to say. If this thing expands, and who knows what happens next, they may have to face reality.
I want the dough to go to Ukraine, despite being a Jew. I ***suspect*** Israel can take care of itself without that money, and I KNOW that Ukraine needs it.
The repugnantkins facing reality would be some trick, they would have to pull their heads out of their asses first, and they have been jammed in there for so long I doubt they know the way out.
The initial success of the Arab attacks in 1973 was mostly due to Israeli hubris as anything else. Previous successes had made the government and IDF overconfident. After all, they had beaten the odds before and the combined Arab armies, so why not again? But 1973 flipped that and by the slimmest of margins and a massive infusion of U.S. military equipment, the Israelis prevailed. This looks like a repeat with overconfidence and arrogance on one side against anger and resentment on the other. I pretty much expect Hamas to be crushed by the IDF, but they’ll just be replaced by something worse later on with the cycle of violence and payback by both sides continuing ad infinitum…thanks, Bibi and the Zionist extremists, thanks for all the bloodshed and destruction.
Thanks TC. I don't follow this stuff closely, because it's always been too depressing to me, and so you've greatly enlightened me.
I can't believe they attacked Al Aqsa, a mosque that greatly impressed me with its beauty at age 12, looking from behind the barbed wire on the border between Israel and Jordan back in March 1966. Sheesh!
And I didn't realize fundie 'Murican MAGAts were involved in the settling on the West Bank.
NotYetYouYahoo (as the Car Talk guys referred to him) has to go. (I do think NitwitYahoo works better, and I suspect the Car Talk guys would agree (RIP Taughm)
Unfortunately, the Kach Krazies - the ones who want to exterminate the west bank Palestinians, all seem to come from Crown Heights. I didn't use Nitwityahoo, which is correct, in hopes if people repost this elsewhere it will be read and paid attention to.
The GOP already blaming Biden’s Iranian hostage deal for funding the attack. And just watched a news clip with talking heads saying how could we ( U.S.) have missed on the intelligence.
This so much reminds me of the reaction I had to 9/11 that was impossible to talk about at the time: you reap what you sow. It didn't take much back then to reflect on the arrogance of the US over the years that got so many innocent people killed. And the same goes here. I have an Israeli friend who has gone from a pretty liberal guy to hard right freakin overnight. It's understandable: he has relatives in one of the small towns attacked. But I can do nothing but blame Netanyahu and the ultranationalists for winding things up to the breaking point. Hamas obviously is no better, but one can understand the motives of a terrorist while at the same time condemning their acts. The motives of N are keep out of jail and the motives of the ultranationalists are exactly like Russia's in Ukraine.
Netanyahu has threatened to pretty much bomb Gaza flat and told civilians to leave. The problem is they can't--Israeli forces restrict their travel.
I'm not a pacifist, but thinking through my lifetime, WWII was the only thing approaching a "just war." There, the state adversary and the terrorist were one and the same. The rest have been "big men puffing their chests out" and accomplishing nothing but killing innocents despite the lies they told to be able to strut. And it's happening again
This was written as "satirical humor" when I was 9 and recorded by the Kingston Trio when I was 15. It was humor until it isn't.
This is almost NEVER spoken about in the MSM: "Benjamin Netanyahu’s disastrous alliance with the Israeli fascist fundamentalist far Right, BRINGING SETTLER MOVEMENT TERRORISTS and giving them power over domestic security in the country, which gave the (MOSTLY AMERICAN) fundamentalists in the West Bank PERMISSION TO ACT WITH IMPUNITY with their attacks against the Palestinian population, has resulted in the guy who thinks he’s the smartest guy in the Knesset discovering the meaning of the term 'fuck around and find out.'” Every word of this is the truth. Will anyone with power pay any attention???
No.
Talk about your shock and awe. Your analysis is spot on, Tom, and, yet it's not surprising that Netanyahu's political opponents are uniting with him in dealing with this matter. Iran needs to see this happen, and so does MBS (who now has nuclear ambitions) because as we've experienced ourselves, it's easy to divide a country over time and make them/us vulnerable to such a full scale attack, but unification in a crisis will enable Israel to prevail although they may not get all their hostages back. Iran miscalculated. And I think "the more to come" that you mention will involve Russia.
As for the Palestinians who lost their land to the Balfour Decision, they seem to be among Allah's most misbegotten, lacking all political leverage. Sadly, a misguided Hamas is their only viable option at this time.
Finally, the evangelicals in the US need to be reminded that the Rapture they insisted was scheduled for last month didn't happen and they'd be wise to shut the hell up and keep religion out of our politics. The Middle East has had lessons to teach us about the enmeshment of the two.
Love last paragraph. Yep, they are waiting for the rapture. I am disgusted with religion because the worst arses have escaped lightening strikes for way too long. God, if you want people to flock to “real religion,” smite some of the worst offenders, and don’t get tired.
Historically, religion has been the cause of too many wars. Which, in this particular case is kink of ironic, since Judaism and Islam are both "children" of Abraham.
Reminds me of my Mom's family; siblings hated one brother and they spent their lives being angry and mean, not only to him but to each other at times. My seven sibs and I have tried not to repeat that horror. So sibling problems with Abraham, no surprise. Tribes just can't help it, it seems
👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻
Very accurate. And none of the MSM, Congress critters (other than The Squad), DoD, DoS, and the official DC talking heads, will say so. Nitwityahoo will use this to try to force an authoritarian government upon Israel, the settlers in the West Bank will lash out at the P.A. in hopes of opening a second front, and Congress will egg them on heedless to the strategic consequences. Another generation of bloody conflicts in the Middle East for Russia to exploit. Damn it.
Very accurate analysis. Unfortunately.
Babe’s goal
Bibi’s?
Thank you
Gaza has been like a drip of water in Bibi's bucket for quite awhile. It eventually
overflows and becomes a
flood.
Who didn't see this coming?
Hammas was in Moscow a few months ago. Who's
supplying Russia with the
Sahid drones that are causing
damage in Ukraine?
Personally, I wouldn't be in
the same room with MSB. He
gives me the heebie jeebies
and he has his own very personal agenda where the
USA is concerned. He's a pit viper.
Bibi, Hammas, Iran, MBS,
Hungary, Turkey, Syria, MAGAs, they're all playing footsie with Putin. FUBAR!
SNAFU!
TC, what a FUBAR this is.
This is not going to be good.
Completely right.
TC, what does this tell us about our CIA and Mossad?
Does the fact that people I know who have been employed in that organization say that the initials stand for "Can't Investigate Anything" answer your question?
Does the surprise indicate higher levels of management, logistics, and coordination of violence? Does it indicate professional insurgency leadership and training? I think Hamas had more help than just from Iran. And Putin just loves anniversaries.
It'll be int3resting in a few years when the answers to these questions start to get found.
Hubris certainly played a large part in the success of this attack. The far right and it's cruel, crimes against humanity treatment of the Palestinians existing in Gaza was a factor they never even considered. I intentionally use the word existing, because they have nothing close to "life" as we think of it. Cram 2.3 million people in roughly 135 square miles with no way out, few resources, and brutal occupation by a military force with no qualms about using extreme violence for small infractions, leads to hopelessness and eventually violence. While I mourn the death of anyone killed as a result of violence, when you are subject to the conditions in Gaza, at some point you lose the ability to see any way other than violence.
I often use this analogy: what if one day the United Nations decided, with the assent of government, (I live in NJ) decided that NJ was now the nation of the Lenni Lenape Native American people. They were also provided with the latest military equipment, given the chance to write their own rules, have their own courts, and pretty much the whole world was on their side. You had 48 hours to take what you could carry and get out. Anyone who wanted to stay in NJ would be confined to Cumberland County (arguably the poorest County in the state, almost no industry, low education, gangs, and high drug use). I then ask, how angry would you be? How long before you started joining the "militants" who wanted to take back what they'd lost? Usually they shut up as they start to realize what happened. Once in a while I get some "Christian" who starts mumbling about the bible, at which point I walk away thinking of Twain. You can't argue with stupid people, they will drag you down to their level and beat you with experience every time.
Amnesty International and B'Tselem have described Gaza as an open air maximum security prison. If we call ourselves civilized and can't see the inhumanity, we are as deluded as the leadership of Israel.
Organizational suicide, one wonders. Sounds like if they have been watching repubs in the House. Bibi is the chump of Israel. Pisses me off to the max that we are tied to that arse and his settlement crap. Who didn’t expect this. Everybody is shocked but shouldn’t be. Bibi has his war; nothing unites a country behind idiots like war. W tried it, so shocked that chump didn’t get a chance. He just decided on civil war. BTW, LBJ didn’t have propaganda on his side, just McNamara feeding him turd after turd. What a diet.
Not to be toooooo cynical. But, what is the take-away for the hard right in US, besides strengthening ties and prayers for Israel? I can see a bad way forward amongst our hard right Congress as, drum roll, we have more in common with Israel than we do with Ukraine (?). Is there a new play to try out in the Playbook for American Autocratic Mongers to throw into the muck and mire that is now flowing from the swamp that once was the legislative branch: Increase aid to Israel, rebuild our Israeli-American alliances, prepare for a revolt when the right gets to run everything again?
There's cynicism and realism. This is the latter.
Jews in the US have expressed dissatisfaction with current Israeli policy. It is time democrats face reality in regards to Israel and Saudis. Past time.
Yes.
The MAGAt's will have to justify being opposed to aid to Ukraine and demanding aid to Israel when both allies have suffered the same fate. They will try to choose both sides of the same coin, which maybe is why they haven't had much to say. If this thing expands, and who knows what happens next, they may have to face reality.
They will want to take the money slotted for Ukraine and give to Bibi. Wait for it.
To do that they will have to pass a budget. LOL.
Woo hoo, I think
I want the dough to go to Ukraine, despite being a Jew. I ***suspect*** Israel can take care of itself without that money, and I KNOW that Ukraine needs it.
The repugnantkins facing reality would be some trick, they would have to pull their heads out of their asses first, and they have been jammed in there for so long I doubt they know the way out.
The initial success of the Arab attacks in 1973 was mostly due to Israeli hubris as anything else. Previous successes had made the government and IDF overconfident. After all, they had beaten the odds before and the combined Arab armies, so why not again? But 1973 flipped that and by the slimmest of margins and a massive infusion of U.S. military equipment, the Israelis prevailed. This looks like a repeat with overconfidence and arrogance on one side against anger and resentment on the other. I pretty much expect Hamas to be crushed by the IDF, but they’ll just be replaced by something worse later on with the cycle of violence and payback by both sides continuing ad infinitum…thanks, Bibi and the Zionist extremists, thanks for all the bloodshed and destruction.
You are thanking the right perps.
Thanks TC. I don't follow this stuff closely, because it's always been too depressing to me, and so you've greatly enlightened me.
I can't believe they attacked Al Aqsa, a mosque that greatly impressed me with its beauty at age 12, looking from behind the barbed wire on the border between Israel and Jordan back in March 1966. Sheesh!
And I didn't realize fundie 'Murican MAGAts were involved in the settling on the West Bank.
NotYetYouYahoo (as the Car Talk guys referred to him) has to go. (I do think NitwitYahoo works better, and I suspect the Car Talk guys would agree (RIP Taughm)
Unfortunately, the Kach Krazies - the ones who want to exterminate the west bank Palestinians, all seem to come from Crown Heights. I didn't use Nitwityahoo, which is correct, in hopes if people repost this elsewhere it will be read and paid attention to.
The clarity is welcome. Organized religion of any sort...not so much.
The GOP already blaming Biden’s Iranian hostage deal for funding the attack. And just watched a news clip with talking heads saying how could we ( U.S.) have missed on the intelligence.
Except that is false. The money from the hostage deal is overseen by the US and is only to be used for humanitarian aid.
Doesn’t keep them from accusing and blaming. It’s what they do best.
You mean lying.
ALWAYS
Exactly.
This so much reminds me of the reaction I had to 9/11 that was impossible to talk about at the time: you reap what you sow. It didn't take much back then to reflect on the arrogance of the US over the years that got so many innocent people killed. And the same goes here. I have an Israeli friend who has gone from a pretty liberal guy to hard right freakin overnight. It's understandable: he has relatives in one of the small towns attacked. But I can do nothing but blame Netanyahu and the ultranationalists for winding things up to the breaking point. Hamas obviously is no better, but one can understand the motives of a terrorist while at the same time condemning their acts. The motives of N are keep out of jail and the motives of the ultranationalists are exactly like Russia's in Ukraine.
Netanyahu has threatened to pretty much bomb Gaza flat and told civilians to leave. The problem is they can't--Israeli forces restrict their travel.
I'm not a pacifist, but thinking through my lifetime, WWII was the only thing approaching a "just war." There, the state adversary and the terrorist were one and the same. The rest have been "big men puffing their chests out" and accomplishing nothing but killing innocents despite the lies they told to be able to strut. And it's happening again
This was written as "satirical humor" when I was 9 and recorded by the Kingston Trio when I was 15. It was humor until it isn't.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OUfUAnqRJTQ
I should have known. Now I know. Thanks again TC.
Who loves anniversaries?