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In a surprise attack, Hamas militants infiltrated Israel together with a massive rocket attack, leaving the Israeli intelligence service totally exposed.
This is a very serious development in what is already a decades long confrontation with Hamas backed by Shi'ite Iran.
Israel calls it a war.
I watched a news report yesterday on the worsening situation there. That was followed by the news of the 2023 Nobel Peace prize being awarded to Iranian Narges Mohammadi. Got me thinking how easy life is here in comparison with what's going on in those two countries.
I've seen the overnight attacks described as "unprecedented" which is quite a thing to say given the history. I'm following this closely because one wonders what Iran will do should Israel really escalate its response. Israel blew up an 11 story building today mostly consisting of apartments and the residents got less than 10 minutes notice to vacate before it was reduced to rubble.
Disastrous for the attempts for peace. I wish that both sides would stop their incomprehensible need for violence
Disastrous for the attempts for peace. I wish that both sides would stop their incomprehensible need for violence
You may wish that, but it's not going to happen. Both Hamas and Hezbollah require the total destruction of Israel as an entity, as does Iran.
I'm not excusing Israel's treatment of Palestinians, but the geopolitics, not to mention the vast chasm of the religious divide, simply will not allow peace while Israel exists.
This BBC article explains in detail the very complicated situation, not to mention the geographical and religious strains which have lasted for decades with numerous peace accords being reached over Palestine, but then ending up in conflict yet again.
The big fear is that Hezbollah out of Lebanon and Palestinians on the West Bank will be pulled into the conflict.
The big fear is that Hezbollah out of Lebanon and Palestinians on the West Bank will be pulled into the conflict.
They are already in it, up to their eyeballs. Hamas couldn’t have done this alone.
I think there has been some totally abysmal failure in intelligence on Israel's part as they were caught completely with their pants down with this.
It got me thinking how Hamas gets such a volume of weapons into their territory undetected. It really should not be that easy given the location.
But I'm just chatting from the armchair.
I’m wondering if the overall effect will be ruinous or beneficial for Bibi Netanyahu. On the one hand, as you say, this colossal intelligence failure is on his watch. But on the other hand, voters very rarely vote a wartime president out of office.
I think there has been some totally abysmal failure in intelligence on Israel's part as they were caught completely with their pants down with this.
It got me thinking how Hamas gets such a volume of weapons into their territory undetected. It really should not be that easy given the location.
But I'm just chatting from the armchair.
Like with 9/11, I think there was some deliberate letting the attacks to go ahead. Mossad of all intelligence agency, must have known about the imminent attacks and the weapons that were stored in the area
I’m wondering if the overall effect will be ruinous or beneficial for Bibi Netanyahu. On the one hand, as you say, this colossal intelligence failure is on his watch. But on the other hand, voters very rarely vote a wartime president out of office.
I think the way he's behaved with the attacks on Gaza, it might unfortunately boost his popularity oh so much
… unless it turns out to be the case that he had intelligence reports that he decided to ignore.
From the Washington Post just now:
“News Alert: U.S. and Qatar agree to stop Iran from tapping $6 billion humanitarian fund as authorities probe Hamas attack in Israel.”
Yes it was. The prisoners were released nearly a month ago, and as part of the agreement, the frozen $6B of Iran’s own money would be unfrozen for humanitarian aid only. But Biden has been taking a lot of heat for “giving” (republicans’ spin) $6B to Iran. So apparently he decided to refreeze their assets.
Now the ball is in the republicans’ hands, because, as the House majority, they have fired their Speaker and can’t agree on a replacement. Until there is a Speaker, no normal House business can go forward, and that means no vote for financial support of Israel.
If the republicans love Israel 5% as much as they profess to, the non-rightwing extremists need to act like adults and work with the democrats to choose a speaker who will be acceptable to both sides, not threaten to end aid to Iran, not threaten to shut down the government (again), and put in place very substantial aid to Israel.
Can they do it? It didn’t happen yesterday or again, today.
The Washington Post has this description of the logistics of the unfreezing of Iranian assets:
The deal, financed by Iranian oil sales, allowed Iranian entities — not the Iranian government — to access the funds, and only if they provided extensive documentation showing the money will be used for humanitarian purposes. U.S. officials would have to approve each transaction under the agreement. The money had been transferred to Qatar from banks in South Korea to facilitate the arrangement.
And this explanation of the re-freezing:
“The world just changed, and it changed because Iran has built a barbaric terrorist organization inside Gaza that just raped and murdered hundreds of Israelis,” said Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), a leading Democrat on the Senate foreign relations committee.
Display MoreYes it was. The prisoners were released nearly a month ago, and as part of the agreement, the frozen $6B of Iran’s own money would be unfrozen for humanitarian aid only. But Biden has been taking a lot of heat for “giving” (republicans’ spin) $6B to Iran. So apparently he decided to refreeze their assets.
Now the ball is in the republicans’ hands, because, as the House majority, they have fired their Speaker and can’t agree on a replacement. Until there is a Speaker, no normal House business can go forward, and that means no vote for financial support of Israel.
If the republicans love Israel 5% as much as they profess to, the non-rightwing extremists need to act like adults and work with the democrats to choose a speaker who will be acceptable to both sides, not threaten to end aid to Iran, not threaten to shut down the government (again), and put in place very substantial aid to Israel.
Can they do it? It didn’t happen yesterday or again, today.
They got evidence in less that 24 hours? Wow, that is quick of them isn't it? Wait, is there an election coming up next year?
All pointers suggest that Bibi knew this was going to happen. Egypt warned them. Somehow the intelligence service "was severely lacking", just like their own "9/11" where the US intelligence was also severely lacking
According to Bob Woodward’s book Bush at War, for months before 9/11/2001, US intelligence had warned that bin Laden was planning “spectacular attacks” against US targets. A plan to eliminate Al Qaeda was being formed by the Bush administration even as the US was struck, but Bush later admitted that, before the attack, bin Laden wasn’t his own or his security staff’s central focus.
Interesting material from the National Security Archive: https://nsarchive2.gwu.edu/NSAEBB/NSAEBB116/index.htm
So perhaps the blame for our unreadiness for an attack falls less on US intelligence services, and more on those who didn’t take their warnings seriously enough.
Future years will reveal what was happening in Israel before this attack.
The way they're going, it looks like they want to stop the existence of Gaza. By turning off all the essentials like provisions, I don't want to use this word all the time, but to me, it looks like genocide. Egypt won't accept them, neither will Jordan or Lebanon, so where can they go?
