CDR, great job; I think you got the planning assumptions right. This was in the works for a long time, and is a horrific intelligence failure on the part of Israel and the U.S.. To anyone who says "we saw this coming", I'll refer them to Jake Sullivan's recent article (and subsequent "revised" version). Not even a foreign policy moron would publish that article if they knew better. How far up the chain does this go is to me THE critical question. Iran is definitely involved, but were they calling the shots with respect to the timing (50th anniversary) and level of violence? Are other players involved outside of the Middle East (Russia, China) and how deeply? If they are, what is the goal of this unfolding disaster? Wiping Israel off the map, just stirring up trouble, or fulfilling the Iranian Millenial belief in the 12th Imam / Mahdi? This last is why Iran getting a nuke is so dangerous, as they are the most likely to use it because part of their culture would feel it is their duty / destiny to do so...
I was, until he jumped on the "greatest threat to Jews worldwide is really the ignorant American White Supremacist Trump Supporter" bandwagon, at which point I found him to be unreadable.
Well, he’s an accomplished bootlicker. And he will shamelessly peddle lies. But given that he’s never actually done anything other than lying and bootlicking, how could we tell?
I think of Hamas, ISIS, and the Central American drug cartels in the same regard in terms of sheer ruthlessness and non-concern for their own population. I find it mind-boggling unbelievable that the UN and 30% of US thinks it's cruel that Israel has stopped fuel shipments to Gaza. The fuel would be used for one purpose only...to fire more rockets at Israel. There is only good endgame result...the elimination of Hamas from the human gene pool.
The fuel is also useful for pumping water out of tunnels and forcing air through them. This is an important part of the 3D battlefield preparation. A significant fraction of the southwestern third of the coastal plain that is the Gaza Strip is less than 20 meters above mean sea level.
I think the IDF should bring in water cannons and start flooding Gaza. I doubt the tunnel entrances are hydrostatically sealed. Water will find a way to drain.
I honestly think we are over-focusing on what Hamas planned to get out of this. Hamas leadership are beholden to Iran, and the rank and file just want to kill Jews.
The more important way to look at this is as COA from an IRANIAN planning perspective.
In that respect, I think the goal for the operation, from the start was deliberately to provoke a massive Israeli ground response.
Were it not for the hostages, Israel could tighten the screws, sit back and pick off Hamas leadership with drones and airstrikes while reinforcing the border. They could open the spigot on humanitarian supplies to lessen world condemnation, and then just begin an unrelenting air campaign that everyone would mostly tune out after the first month, provided it remained 'surgical'.
Taking the hostages was the deliberate play to ensure Israel would have to invade, while also giving Hamas some sort of leverage. the barbaric cruelty was DESIGNED to provoke an emotional response from Israel.
Iran - and Hamas - WANT a ground war in Gaza, because they think it lets them inflame the passions of the arab - and to some extent the entire muslim - street.
They WANT to re-awaken global jihad against the west.
See, as I posted earlier in response to a question about whether Sunni or Shiite extremism was the greater threat, for the most part, AlQaida, AQAP, ISIS, etc, became locked into the 'Anti-West (Anti US)' struggle, and for many, Israel became a backwater issue.
Iran despises the West and especially the US. I'm certain they are sincere in their hatred of Israel ass well, but it is a part of their larger hatred of the West.
But Iran recognized that the arab nations were willing to reconcile with Israel, and put aside the Palestinian issue.
But most arab/muslim populations have NOT forgotten. For the people of those countries, their leadership is 180 from them. The peoples of those countries would focus far more on Israel than on the west.
And so, Iran's plan is to draw Israel into a bloody ground war, that will prevent the arab states from moving closer to Israel (lest their populations string them up), and in so doing, bring the entire muslim world back on track to hating Israel AND the west, since that hatred of Israel and a protracted war will provide ample fodder for blaming the west for Israel's 'crimes'.
Keep in mind, I'm 100% pro-Israel here. I just think we've allowed the idiots to run things for too long, and Israel got complacent.
I KNOW Israel has to invade. I HOPE they have planner smarter than me who can see that just because they have no choice, and they are allowing the enemy to have the initiative, doesn't mean they can't still be creative.
I'm really not sure what a good outcome looks like here.
I did not think the published CoA's answered the question posed. I think you more closely answered the question What does Hamas want? They want to kill all the Jews. Inflaming the entire Arab world will (in their calculations) ignite such an eventuality.
My guess is that Hamas (et al) wants a protracted, brutal war with the goal of Israel expending all of its robust munitions and exhausts its ability to beg or borrow more. Then they go man-to-man in a slug fest with knives, clubs & guns using the tactical advantage of millions of young Arab men with no futures who are eager to kill Jews or die trying and who'll go straight to Paradise and their 72 virgins. No doubt the West will be horrified but probably relieved in the end when one side wins and the other side is annihilated and this can be put to bed permanently or kicked down the road for 10-15 years. Hamas wants COA-C. https://www.americanpartisan.org/2023/10/this-is-totally-fine/
Well stated, by you and William Barrett. Iran wants a ground war, and as I pointed out yesterday, the Persian 12thers are more than willing to pay for it with the lives of Arabs that no Arab country wants in their backyard (as proven by 75 years of lying to, cheating, and sacrificing said “Palestinian” families and lives in furtherance of their own goals. My one disagreement with your post is the phrase “the West will be horrified but probably relieved in the end when one side wins and the other is annihilated.” My disagreement is that I believe the dirty little secret of many Western people is that they hope Israel will be destroyed and every Jew living there killed. Aside from the many people who have outed themselves recently as Jew haters, getting rid of “those people “ simply makes their lives easier and access to petroleum far more assured. Yes, I have that low an opinion of some of my fellow men and women.
‘Twere I in charge in Israel, I would go throttle to the firewall to find, isolate (if possible), and summarily execute the top four or five levels of Hamas and Hezbollah leadership and any Quds advisors in their immediate vicinity. National borders and normal diplomatic niceties to be ignored. In terms of chess, think of it as defenestrating the other side’s pieces of queen, bishops, knights, rooks, AND the king. I know that in the game the king is never actually killed, but when he is certifiably mad, in the psychiatric sense, (King Aegon in Game of Thrones) exceptions should and must be made.
With respect to the "dirty little secret of many Western people" it's not really been that much of a secret for 100 years that if you scratch a Socialist, whether National of International, you'll likely find someone who wants to rid the world of Jews.
We've allowed far too many of the International sort to flourish in the West, especially in media and academia, while pretending a few idiots encouraged by Three-Letter-Agencies of various flavors represent a clear and present threat of the former. Don't get me wrong; the former are just as bad, but almost non-extant outside government funding and organization, at least in the US.
Agreed; my thoughts extended beyond Socialists, to include too many “average folk” that are willing to just go along with racist remarks rather than stand up for what’s right. And yes, I’m including myself in my much younger days. I’m thinking of all of those average Germans that let the Nazis get just enough votes to force their way into the Reichstag. Freedom and Truth must be defended each generation.
And among those Socialists we have to include Woodrow Wilson. Born in Virginia before the Civil War and raised in Georgia, Wilson wrote the history book that was the basis of Birth of a Nation. He gave us the Amendments providing the income tax and direct election of Senators. Oh, yes. Perfect Socialist solutions to what didn’t ail the country.
Quite possibly; now I must learn something today. Damn you! :)
I found the full Reagan quote "Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn't pass it on to our children in the bloodstream. The only way they can inherit the freedom we have known is if we fight for it, protect it, defend it, and then hand it to them with the well fought lessons of how they in their lifetime must do the same. And if you and I don't do this, then you and I may well spend our sunset years telling our children and our children's children what it once was like in America when men were free."
The reason is best expressed in the movie Independence Day in the scene where the President confronts the captured alien. No peace, we want you to die.
Excellent analysis that would easily earn an "A" at the NWC.
My guess is that the Israelis are holding the bulk of their forces in reserve and building up supplies just in case of an all out attack by Iran and its proxies. HAMAS itself will be dealt with slowly over time. One building destroyed at a time. One tunnel cleaned out at a time. One terrorist killed at a time. There will be no infantry assaults on heavily fortified positions.
The UN will pass resolutions, but it's very unlikely that any countries will send their soldiers to die on behalf of Gaza.
I heard a story - which may be apocryphal - that General Dyan was once asked what would happen in the future. He said that would you see today is what you will see tomorrow.
They (HAMAS, the PLO) claim they want a homeland free of Jews....
No Arab nation wants them around: They know what troublemakers they are. So, where to get them a homeland?
Bir Tawil is sitting right there, unwanted by anyone. Surrounded by brother mohammedans. Let them make a paradise in the desert there. Their own homeland no Jews nearby. LOTS more room then they have now!
Perhaps the answer lies in the observation that Hamas et al are the agents of Iranian policy, the objective of which is to have their proxies conduct the war in Gaza and Israel. Why fight the war Iran has designed, planned & prepared for?
Isolate Gaza, the West Bank & Lebanon from resupply. Do not enter Gaza in the near term. Fortify the Israeli border and prepare to decimate sorties out of those isolated bastions if they come into the open.
In the mean time identify Iranian targets that support the proxies, either by manufacturing munitions/components, or shipping them (along with any other relief supplies). Destroy the Iranian capacity to sustain the war by hitting those Iranian targets with sustained air/missile strikes.
Hold Israeli nukes, but warn that movement of Iranian armed forces to directly strike Israel will be met with the destruction of such forces and the decapitation of the Iranian government.
You could pump a thousand gallons of liquid propane into each tunnel you find, followed by a WP/thermite grenade some tens of minutes later if it hasn't already gone boom.
I understand that Hamas wants Israel destroyed with all its Jews. They have refused to cooperate with Israel or others to end the issue or at lease to lesson the tension. They are not really interested in anything else. the Bible promises mean nothing to them. I am certain Hamas will have to be hit HARD where it hurts unless you want this to go on for another 50 years. Not sure the US has the gonads for it.
Good points, Sal. Israel is really in the "Damned if you/damned if you don't" infinite Do Loop. Hamas now states that 50 hostages have been killed by IDF bombing - and if you believe that then you probably believe that "Palestinians" are Allah's chosen people. And IF Israel stops bombing they might release "more". Hamas is assuming the IDF will play by the old rules - "we kill some, they come kill some, we make peace, we get to keep 98% of our organization intact, and start re-arming".
I had a flash of a mental picture when the news first broke of the Hamas raids...an image of John Wayne in The Searchers rubbing down his horse while saying “It shapes up to be a murder raid.” Hamas wants to fight on its own ground, the hostages are to ensure that the Israelis accept the invitation.
First thought when news came out about the Maine shooter that there's a real good chance he's Palestinian. All these Palestinian protestors in the US, I would have the FBI keeping real close tabs on their leaders. They honestly think that they should dictate US foreign policy. I'd start deporting them real soon.
This Maine thing is the kind of activity that makes me wonder if MkUltra ever got the ground. Reserves (or Guard), goes to VA, hearing voices and paranoid, tells people he wants to shoot up places. What do they do? Let him out to shoot up places while wanna-be-dictators Biden and Harris are pushing for more civilian disarmament.
Likely just another unfortunate situation with a nut off (or on) his meds, but still damned convenient for the powers that want to be.
There seem to have been a lot of those lately (all "on the radar"), and at least sometimes with, uh, fortuitous ("from a certain point of view," to swipe another Star Wars quote from the Before Times) timing.
If we were to learn someone was teeing these people up and pulling their pins, I would have to hunt through my junk drawer for my shocked face.
Some men just want to watch the world burn.
Same as the irredeemable scorpion with the frog.
What do they want? Death to Israel, Israelis and Jews worldwide. For a start. These Hamas vermin must be hunted and killed; there is no other way.
CDR, great job; I think you got the planning assumptions right. This was in the works for a long time, and is a horrific intelligence failure on the part of Israel and the U.S.. To anyone who says "we saw this coming", I'll refer them to Jake Sullivan's recent article (and subsequent "revised" version). Not even a foreign policy moron would publish that article if they knew better. How far up the chain does this go is to me THE critical question. Iran is definitely involved, but were they calling the shots with respect to the timing (50th anniversary) and level of violence? Are other players involved outside of the Middle East (Russia, China) and how deeply? If they are, what is the goal of this unfolding disaster? Wiping Israel off the map, just stirring up trouble, or fulfilling the Iranian Millenial belief in the 12th Imam / Mahdi? This last is why Iran getting a nuke is so dangerous, as they are the most likely to use it because part of their culture would feel it is their duty / destiny to do so...
There were clues and indications. They were systematically ignored by the IDF leadership because they didn't match their worldview. https://www.timesofisrael.com/surveillance-soldiers-warned-of-hamas-activity-on-gaza-border-for-months-before-oct-7/
There are none so blind as those who will not see.
Blame David (Davi) Barnea (Head of Mossad) who's world view includes 'A Country Which Neglects Peace Is Destined to Be Drawn Into War'
https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/2023-09-07/ty-article/.premium/mossad-chief-a-country-which-neglects-peace-is-destined-to-be-drawn-into-war/0000018a-6fa1-dd96-ab8b-ffa56d300000
Note the date. A month earlier.
Well, he neglected war for peace. How'd that work out for him?
Netanyahu may have to go (the buck stops with him, after all). But the failure? Mossad.
If you are a fan of David Silva, his next book with the main characters in Mossad, just wrote itself in real time.
I was, until he jumped on the "greatest threat to Jews worldwide is really the ignorant American White Supremacist Trump Supporter" bandwagon, at which point I found him to be unreadable.
His earlier Gabriel Allon novels are quite good.
Is Sullivan guilty of same? I tend to give him more points for malfeasance than incompetence, but it's not impossible.
Well, he’s an accomplished bootlicker. And he will shamelessly peddle lies. But given that he’s never actually done anything other than lying and bootlicking, how could we tell?
I think of Hamas, ISIS, and the Central American drug cartels in the same regard in terms of sheer ruthlessness and non-concern for their own population. I find it mind-boggling unbelievable that the UN and 30% of US thinks it's cruel that Israel has stopped fuel shipments to Gaza. The fuel would be used for one purpose only...to fire more rockets at Israel. There is only good endgame result...the elimination of Hamas from the human gene pool.
The fuel is also useful for pumping water out of tunnels and forcing air through them. This is an important part of the 3D battlefield preparation. A significant fraction of the southwestern third of the coastal plain that is the Gaza Strip is less than 20 meters above mean sea level.
I think the IDF should bring in water cannons and start flooding Gaza. I doubt the tunnel entrances are hydrostatically sealed. Water will find a way to drain.
The UN, the US, and the rest of the world should read, understand and abide by the rules for laying siege to an area:
https://lieber.westpoint.edu/siege-law/
The short answer is that since HAMAS is not a government, none of the rules apply to them, nor can they claim benefit from them.
Aren't they the official, "elected" authority in the area?
For values of elected. Now, did they ever sign the accords? Do they follow them? No, and no. So they are not entitled to be protected by them.
Israel having to hit Gaza and Lebanon at the same time is going to be difficult, but might buy them a decade of relative peace.
And the Iranians will be stuck mumbling about relying on Arabs.
TBH, would you like to rely on any arabs?
The Persians don't. They hate Arabs and see them as merely expendable, even if they are Shiite.
The Saudis don't trust the Kuwaitis who don't trust the Omanis who don't trust the Muscatis who don't trust the Jordanians, or Lebanese, or Syrians,
And Nobody trusts the Egyptians or the non - ME mohammedans (Indonesians, etc)
Not their family, not their tribe,not their government and really, are they true mohammedans?
Now that you mention it.....
Sal,
I honestly think we are over-focusing on what Hamas planned to get out of this. Hamas leadership are beholden to Iran, and the rank and file just want to kill Jews.
The more important way to look at this is as COA from an IRANIAN planning perspective.
In that respect, I think the goal for the operation, from the start was deliberately to provoke a massive Israeli ground response.
Were it not for the hostages, Israel could tighten the screws, sit back and pick off Hamas leadership with drones and airstrikes while reinforcing the border. They could open the spigot on humanitarian supplies to lessen world condemnation, and then just begin an unrelenting air campaign that everyone would mostly tune out after the first month, provided it remained 'surgical'.
Taking the hostages was the deliberate play to ensure Israel would have to invade, while also giving Hamas some sort of leverage. the barbaric cruelty was DESIGNED to provoke an emotional response from Israel.
Iran - and Hamas - WANT a ground war in Gaza, because they think it lets them inflame the passions of the arab - and to some extent the entire muslim - street.
They WANT to re-awaken global jihad against the west.
See, as I posted earlier in response to a question about whether Sunni or Shiite extremism was the greater threat, for the most part, AlQaida, AQAP, ISIS, etc, became locked into the 'Anti-West (Anti US)' struggle, and for many, Israel became a backwater issue.
Iran despises the West and especially the US. I'm certain they are sincere in their hatred of Israel ass well, but it is a part of their larger hatred of the West.
But Iran recognized that the arab nations were willing to reconcile with Israel, and put aside the Palestinian issue.
But most arab/muslim populations have NOT forgotten. For the people of those countries, their leadership is 180 from them. The peoples of those countries would focus far more on Israel than on the west.
And so, Iran's plan is to draw Israel into a bloody ground war, that will prevent the arab states from moving closer to Israel (lest their populations string them up), and in so doing, bring the entire muslim world back on track to hating Israel AND the west, since that hatred of Israel and a protracted war will provide ample fodder for blaming the west for Israel's 'crimes'.
Keep in mind, I'm 100% pro-Israel here. I just think we've allowed the idiots to run things for too long, and Israel got complacent.
I KNOW Israel has to invade. I HOPE they have planner smarter than me who can see that just because they have no choice, and they are allowing the enemy to have the initiative, doesn't mean they can't still be creative.
I'm really not sure what a good outcome looks like here.
I did not think the published CoA's answered the question posed. I think you more closely answered the question What does Hamas want? They want to kill all the Jews. Inflaming the entire Arab world will (in their calculations) ignite such an eventuality.
Great comment, thanks for taking the time to share
My guess is that Hamas (et al) wants a protracted, brutal war with the goal of Israel expending all of its robust munitions and exhausts its ability to beg or borrow more. Then they go man-to-man in a slug fest with knives, clubs & guns using the tactical advantage of millions of young Arab men with no futures who are eager to kill Jews or die trying and who'll go straight to Paradise and their 72 virgins. No doubt the West will be horrified but probably relieved in the end when one side wins and the other side is annihilated and this can be put to bed permanently or kicked down the road for 10-15 years. Hamas wants COA-C. https://www.americanpartisan.org/2023/10/this-is-totally-fine/
Well stated, by you and William Barrett. Iran wants a ground war, and as I pointed out yesterday, the Persian 12thers are more than willing to pay for it with the lives of Arabs that no Arab country wants in their backyard (as proven by 75 years of lying to, cheating, and sacrificing said “Palestinian” families and lives in furtherance of their own goals. My one disagreement with your post is the phrase “the West will be horrified but probably relieved in the end when one side wins and the other is annihilated.” My disagreement is that I believe the dirty little secret of many Western people is that they hope Israel will be destroyed and every Jew living there killed. Aside from the many people who have outed themselves recently as Jew haters, getting rid of “those people “ simply makes their lives easier and access to petroleum far more assured. Yes, I have that low an opinion of some of my fellow men and women.
‘Twere I in charge in Israel, I would go throttle to the firewall to find, isolate (if possible), and summarily execute the top four or five levels of Hamas and Hezbollah leadership and any Quds advisors in their immediate vicinity. National borders and normal diplomatic niceties to be ignored. In terms of chess, think of it as defenestrating the other side’s pieces of queen, bishops, knights, rooks, AND the king. I know that in the game the king is never actually killed, but when he is certifiably mad, in the psychiatric sense, (King Aegon in Game of Thrones) exceptions should and must be made.
With respect to the "dirty little secret of many Western people" it's not really been that much of a secret for 100 years that if you scratch a Socialist, whether National of International, you'll likely find someone who wants to rid the world of Jews.
We've allowed far too many of the International sort to flourish in the West, especially in media and academia, while pretending a few idiots encouraged by Three-Letter-Agencies of various flavors represent a clear and present threat of the former. Don't get me wrong; the former are just as bad, but almost non-extant outside government funding and organization, at least in the US.
Agreed; my thoughts extended beyond Socialists, to include too many “average folk” that are willing to just go along with racist remarks rather than stand up for what’s right. And yes, I’m including myself in my much younger days. I’m thinking of all of those average Germans that let the Nazis get just enough votes to force their way into the Reichstag. Freedom and Truth must be defended each generation.
And among those Socialists we have to include Woodrow Wilson. Born in Virginia before the Civil War and raised in Georgia, Wilson wrote the history book that was the basis of Birth of a Nation. He gave us the Amendments providing the income tax and direct election of Senators. Oh, yes. Perfect Socialist solutions to what didn’t ail the country.
Reagan was right about that; it's not passed on in our genes.
Didn’t Reagan get it from Jefferson?
Quite possibly; now I must learn something today. Damn you! :)
I found the full Reagan quote "Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn't pass it on to our children in the bloodstream. The only way they can inherit the freedom we have known is if we fight for it, protect it, defend it, and then hand it to them with the well fought lessons of how they in their lifetime must do the same. And if you and I don't do this, then you and I may well spend our sunset years telling our children and our children's children what it once was like in America when men were free."
supposed to be California Inauguration 1967.
https://www.quotescosmos.com/quotes/Ronald-Reagan-quote-2.html
Some debate on the Jefferson version, but there could well be something I am missing. Either way, now I know when Reagan said it:)
https://www.reuters.com/article/uk-factcheck-freedom-quote-jefferson-idUSKBN29H2T6
The reason is best expressed in the movie Independence Day in the scene where the President confronts the captured alien. No peace, we want you to die.
https://youtu.be/dZc1V67XzNw?si=14jRzaGsjJX0qaSV
I had that same perception when I saw that movie.
Excellent analysis that would easily earn an "A" at the NWC.
My guess is that the Israelis are holding the bulk of their forces in reserve and building up supplies just in case of an all out attack by Iran and its proxies. HAMAS itself will be dealt with slowly over time. One building destroyed at a time. One tunnel cleaned out at a time. One terrorist killed at a time. There will be no infantry assaults on heavily fortified positions.
The UN will pass resolutions, but it's very unlikely that any countries will send their soldiers to die on behalf of Gaza.
I heard a story - which may be apocryphal - that General Dyan was once asked what would happen in the future. He said that would you see today is what you will see tomorrow.
When has the UN ever stopped a war? ESPECIALLY in the ME?
And Moshe was right.
Looks like some pro-Hamas forces managed to cause trouble at the Port of Oakland. https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2023/11/03/18860028.php
What a absurd situation. The Muslim world can’t make a fridge and all they can do is hate.
These young men keep getting manipulated by fat cats that sit back watching other men die.
Like I said, absurd.
They (HAMAS, the PLO) claim they want a homeland free of Jews....
No Arab nation wants them around: They know what troublemakers they are. So, where to get them a homeland?
Bir Tawil is sitting right there, unwanted by anyone. Surrounded by brother mohammedans. Let them make a paradise in the desert there. Their own homeland no Jews nearby. LOTS more room then they have now!
Somalia?
It's literally unclaimed land. The only such on earth
Iraq was like that. The most intricate IEDs and booby traps but everything else broken.
Perhaps the answer lies in the observation that Hamas et al are the agents of Iranian policy, the objective of which is to have their proxies conduct the war in Gaza and Israel. Why fight the war Iran has designed, planned & prepared for?
Isolate Gaza, the West Bank & Lebanon from resupply. Do not enter Gaza in the near term. Fortify the Israeli border and prepare to decimate sorties out of those isolated bastions if they come into the open.
In the mean time identify Iranian targets that support the proxies, either by manufacturing munitions/components, or shipping them (along with any other relief supplies). Destroy the Iranian capacity to sustain the war by hitting those Iranian targets with sustained air/missile strikes.
Hold Israeli nukes, but warn that movement of Iranian armed forces to directly strike Israel will be met with the destruction of such forces and the decapitation of the Iranian government.
Just thinking out loud.
You could pump a thousand gallons of liquid propane into each tunnel you find, followed by a WP/thermite grenade some tens of minutes later if it hasn't already gone boom.
I understand that Hamas wants Israel destroyed with all its Jews. They have refused to cooperate with Israel or others to end the issue or at lease to lesson the tension. They are not really interested in anything else. the Bible promises mean nothing to them. I am certain Hamas will have to be hit HARD where it hurts unless you want this to go on for another 50 years. Not sure the US has the gonads for it.
Good points, Sal. Israel is really in the "Damned if you/damned if you don't" infinite Do Loop. Hamas now states that 50 hostages have been killed by IDF bombing - and if you believe that then you probably believe that "Palestinians" are Allah's chosen people. And IF Israel stops bombing they might release "more". Hamas is assuming the IDF will play by the old rules - "we kill some, they come kill some, we make peace, we get to keep 98% of our organization intact, and start re-arming".
I am hopeful they grossly miscalculated.
They want me dead. They want all Jews dead, all Christians converted to mohammedanism, and to rule the world.
I do not wish to be dead. We may an argument about that.
I don't hold to that approach either. If someone tries to kill you, you try and kill them right back.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tq7SGQzeCEw
First.
Han shot first, he was entitled to.
Concur, and LOL; I wrote my response to NEC before I read yours.
Do. Do, or do not. There is no try.
I miss the old star wars before Disney ruined it
I had a flash of a mental picture when the news first broke of the Hamas raids...an image of John Wayne in The Searchers rubbing down his horse while saying “It shapes up to be a murder raid.” Hamas wants to fight on its own ground, the hostages are to ensure that the Israelis accept the invitation.
First thought when news came out about the Maine shooter that there's a real good chance he's Palestinian. All these Palestinian protestors in the US, I would have the FBI keeping real close tabs on their leaders. They honestly think that they should dictate US foreign policy. I'd start deporting them real soon.
The FBI too busy hunting down Catholics who like the traditional Latin mass.
This Maine thing is the kind of activity that makes me wonder if MkUltra ever got the ground. Reserves (or Guard), goes to VA, hearing voices and paranoid, tells people he wants to shoot up places. What do they do? Let him out to shoot up places while wanna-be-dictators Biden and Harris are pushing for more civilian disarmament.
Likely just another unfortunate situation with a nut off (or on) his meds, but still damned convenient for the powers that want to be.
There seem to have been a lot of those lately (all "on the radar"), and at least sometimes with, uh, fortuitous ("from a certain point of view," to swipe another Star Wars quote from the Before Times) timing.
If we were to learn someone was teeing these people up and pulling their pins, I would have to hunt through my junk drawer for my shocked face.
sadly true!