quote:

Originally posted by Rey HRH:
The news is saying the Biden administration is asking Israel to delay the ground offensive until the US can better defend the US bases in the area which have been undergoing attacks.

WTF??? Did they not learn anything from the marine bombing in Lebanon airport from a long time ago? Why put personnel somewhere and then require a time out so you can defend them?

There are bases in Syria and Iraq that have been targeted. The bases were in those places prior to 10/7. The defenses are being upgraded as Iranian assets have been lobbing rockets at them and are likely to send a lot more once Israel launches ground troops into Gaza.

teacher can i take the exam next tuesday i'm not ready

quote:

Originally posted by sse:
teacher can i take the exam next tuesday i'm not ready

Exactly!

quote:

'He now understands that his actions were reprehensible, he is deeply sorry and regretful

Only because he was caught, and put on SM for all the world to see.

No video or post and this AH and his BLM wife would have continued to do this crap....

Here is a pithy 10-minute video that clearly explains what Hamas wants, what jihad really means, and what we are up against. It is clear what needs to be done.

How much longer will Biden’s handlers restrain the Israelis from sending large scale infantry into Gaza?

quote:

Originally posted by nhracecraft:

quote:

"Official says without power, the ventilation systems in Hamas' tunnels won't work and leaders will be forced to leave tunnels or suffocate."

Somehow I was left with the impression that the leader of hamas were enjoying the good life in Qatar or the Sheraton Dubai....

Interesting interview with Sam Harris. Didn't find myself disagreeing with what he had to say on this particular topic, but I equate him to a broken clock being right every so often and don't consider him a ally.

On Israel, Biden Picks Up Where Obama Left Off

Secretary of State Antony Blinken contends that Hamas would gain no “greater” victory “than allowing its brutality to send us down a path of terrorism and nihilism. We must not let it.”

You can hear echoes of Barack Obama’s insufferable moral equivalencies imbued in that statement.

The contention is a not-so-subtle warning to Israel, who will almost surely enter Gaza and try to dismantle the Hamas terror state — which has been indirectly and directly funded not only by Iran, the European Union, and the United Nations but also by the Obama and Biden administrations.

The insinuation, of course, is that Israel needs to temper its inclination to engage in “terrorism and nihilism.” It is a blood libel.

It is not “terrorism” to seek justice for the pregnant woman who had her baby cut from her body or the elderly couple who was burned alive. And eliminating those who committed Nazi-like atrocities against your citizens is no more nihilistic than tracking down Eichmann or demanding Emperor Hirohito unconditionally surrender.

Yet, only days after the worst mass murder of Jews since the Holocaust, Biden was already lecturing Benjamin Netanyahu on how “democracies like Israel and the United States are stronger and more secure when we act according to the rule of law.” The insinuation, again, is that there is something nefarious about winning a war against those who massacre your citizens.

Israel doesn’t target civilians, as Blinken, busy placating the progressives who now infest Washington and academia, knows well. Many Israeli soldiers have died because the nation avoids civilian casualties – even as Hamas diligently places their weapons and themselves behind women and children.

Then again, the idea Hamas’s greatest victory would be Israelis exacting revenge is itself the kind of self-satisfying gibberish that might impress a crowd at the Aspen Ideas Festival or readers of Tom Friedman columns.

Hamas’ greatest victory is killing and terrorizing as many Jews as possible. We know this because Islamists tell us this all the time. Why is this confusing? “There is no solution for the Palestinian problem except by Jihad” are the words literally written into the group’s charter.

And Hamas is quite popular in both Gaza and the West Bank. Islamic fundamentalism is popular.

“Look, what happened in Gaza, in my view, is Hamas and the extreme elements of Hamas don’t represent all the Palestinian people,” Joe Biden said the other day. This is the “religion of peace” canard, begun by George W. Bush and widely promulgated by Obama all over again.

When our former president declared that the “future must not belong to those who slander the prophet of Islam,” he wasn’t joking. Every time Islamists committed acts of terror, the Obama administration would turn the conversation towards “Islamophobia,” a neologism that conflates tolerance of individuals and groups (Muslims) with tolerance of a belief system (Islam).

This rhetoric is not only meant to cloud reality but to chill speech and create immunity for the many progressive “anti-Zionists” on the left.

The modern Democrats have taken up this dishonest framing with gusto. When a reporter asked White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre this week if the president was concerned about rising anti-Semitism — you know, because of the Jew-hating protests that have broken out across the country — she responded by saying there were no “credible threats” and then pivoted the claims that “Muslims and those perceived to be Muslim have endured a disproportionate number of hate-fueled attacks.”

She did this twice. Not only is it a gross deflection, it is a lie. According to the FBI, hate crimes against Jews represent over 50 percent of all religion-related hate crimes, while hate crimes against Muslims are under 10 percent.

But Obama’s most corrosive legacy is foreign policy. Democrats have become obsessed with turning Iran into a regional counterweight to Israel while also restarting a “peace process” that would surely create a Muslim Brotherhood-led terror state on Israel’s borders.

Before Israel could even identify all the bodies of their citizens, Biden was already yammering on about the “dignity” and “self-determination” in places where “self-determination” manifested in the creation of a Jihadist terror state.

Donald Trump nixed this strategy, punishing Iran and circumventing Hamas/PLO in peace negotiations with Gulf states. That success was shattered when the Obama retreads entered the White House again and began opening up billions to Iran and sending Hamas and Fatah hundreds of millions of dollars.

The Biden administration is teeming with Obama-era Iran and Muslim Brotherhood fans. Not only did someone like Rob Malley — rehired by Biden after leading Obama’s giveaway — surround himself with real-life Iranian assets, but he’d met at least twice with Hamas, once with Obama’s blessing.

“This administration is different from the previous administration,” Hamas’s deputy foreign minister and New York Times columnist, Ahmed Yussuf, said at the time. “We believe Hamas’s message is reaching its destination.”

Definitely.

Even now, despite overwhelming evidence of its involvement in the killing of not only 1,300 Jews, 30 of them Americans, the administration does everything it can to deny Iran provided logistical and financial help that killed 30 Americans.

Like Obama, Biden offers just enough lip service about Israel’s right to defend itself to placate Jewish donors and voters. Every action of the president – even his supposed morale-lifting trip to the country–is meant to inhibit Israel from winning. Democrats are open to helping Israel defend itself but unopened to the prospect of destroying those who seek its end.

Let me amend that. There are plenty of Democrats who want Israel destroyed and more every day.

When Obama finally deigned to wade in on the killing of Jews and Americans, he offered his usual perfunctory throat-clearing about Israel’s right to exist before hitting the “but.” The “but” can be summed up as so: the more Jews die, the more Jews have a responsibility to placate the Islamic world and give their enemies a state.

And apparently, in many ways, the Biden administration concurs.

David Harsanyi is a senior editor at The Federalist, a nationally syndicated columnist, a Happy Warrior columnist at National Review, and author of five books—the most recent, Eurotrash: Why America Must Reject the Failed Ideas of a Dying Continent.

https://thefederalist.com/2023...where-obama-left-off

quote:

Like Obama, Biden offers just enough lip service about Israel’s right to defend itself to placate Jewish donors and voters. Every action of the president – even his supposed morale-lifting trip to the country–is meant to inhibit Israel from winning. Democrats are open to helping Israel defend itself but unopened to the prospect of destroying those who seek its end.

Let me amend that. There are plenty of Democrats who want Israel destroyed and more every day.

What percentage of registered Democrats Jews in the US will vote for Biden/Harris or whoever gets the D nomination? My guess is that that percentage won't change much.

Even after the slaughter of Oct 7th and the weeks and months of clearing out Hamas, US Jews will vote for these Democrat policies and leadership, time and time again.

I don't understand it.

quote:

Originally posted by Russ59:
Even after the slaughter of Oct 7th and the weeks and months of clearing out Hamas, US Jews will vote for these Democrat policies and leadership, time and time again.

I don't understand it.

A lot of it is virtue signalling and self-directed virtue soothing.

But I also think it is pride and a reluctance to admit (even to themselves) that they were wrong and that all those hated conservatives were right. That is simply too bitter a pill to swallow.

Thinking they could get a few old diesel locomotives and seal the exhaust to one of the tunnels.

Seems that would run 'em all out before they could try much else.

In preparation for the next stages of combat, the IDF operated in northern Gaza.

IDF tanks & infantry struck numerous terrorist cells, infrastructure and anti-tank missile launch posts.

The soldiers have since exited the area and returned to Israeli territory.

video at link

https://twitter.com/IDF/status...d-into-gaza-n2630422

For a gas, propane would work well. It is heavier than air and easily available. They could bring in 5 gallon cannisters of propane, and open the valves.

quote:

Originally posted by c1steve:
For a gas, propane would work well. It is heavier than air and easily available. They could bring in 5 gallon cannisters of propane, and open the valves.

The Israelis know what needs to be done.

quote:

Originally posted by Pipe Smoker:
The Israelis know what needs to be done.

I’m not sure they do, but I firmly support staying out of their way and letting them figure it out. I only wish I could say the same for my country’s administration.

Really, they are in an impossible position. The only way to be truly safe from the Palestinians is to exterminate every last man, woman, and child. However, there is no way to do that and hold onto their humanity. Somehow they need to thread the needle between doing enough damage to Hamas to at least reduce the likelihood of something like this happening again and doing something so heinous that they can’t look themselves in the eye.

That is a Gordian knot on its own, even without considering the responses of the international community. To have the drooler in chief sticking his nose in is not the least bit helpful.

Wish them luck, send them whatever munitions they want, and STFU. YMMV, but that seems a better approach than what is currently going on.

good grief, first time I ever agreed w John Kirby

video at:

https://twitter.com/i/status/1717611872499687550

V Globo’s @RKrahenbuhl: “So, besides saying that he doesn't have confidence in these numbers, the President went further to say that innocents will die and that this is the price of the war. You also said that.”

Kirby: “I have indeed.”

Krähenbühl: “Don't you think this is insensitive? There’s being very harsh criticism in about it. For example, the Council of American-Islamic Relations said it was deeply disturbed and call on the President to apologize. Would the President apologize?”

Kirby: “No.”

Krähenbühl: “And does he regret saying something like that?”

Kirby: “What’s harsh — what’s harsh is the way Hamas is using people as human shields. What’s harsh is taking a couple of hundred hostages and leaving families and anxious, waiting and worrying to figure out where their loved ones are. What's harsh, is dropping in on a music festival and slaughtering a bunch of young people just trying to enjoy an afternoon. I could go on and on. That's what's harsh.

That is what's harsh and being honest about the fact that there have been civilian casualties and that there likely will be more is being honest, because that's what war is. It's brutal. It's ugly. It's messy. I've said that before. President also said that yesterday. Doesn't mean we have to like it. And it doesn't mean that we're dismissing anyone of those casualties each and every one is a tragedy in its own right...It would be helpful if Hamas would let [Gazans] leave....We know that there are thousands waiting to leave Gaza writ large and Hamas is preventing them from doing it. That is what is harsh.”

quote:

the Council of American-Islamic Relations said it was deeply disturbed and call on the President to apologize. Would the President apologize?”

They can go fuck themselves.

detailed article on the Gaza tunnels

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/ne...ls-attacks-Gaza.html




Chilling footage has emerged showing the elaborate tunnel systems that Hamas terrorists have been using to move weapons, hostages and stage attacks on Israel.

The footage gives insight into the claustrophobic conditions the Palestinian Islamist fighters have been operating in.

It shows militants using metal rods and shovels to dig the tunnels. Many of them appear to be quite cramped and dark with footage showing the fighters slightly slouching as they move through the tunnels guided by headtorches.

Despite the confined conditions, most of the tunnels have concrete reinforcing.

The militants can be seen dressed in full military fatigues with some obscuring their faces with headscarves, balaclavas or wearing camouflage paint. They were heavily armed, carrying large machine guns, ammunition and rocket propelled weapons.

The armed terrorists can be seen emerging from trapdoors concealed by sand, shrubs or improvised barriers. Others carrying missiles can be seen setting up in cinderblock laden defensive positions.

Other shots of the tunnels show more expansive and well-lit areas with what appears to be wiring for electricity and communications and Hamas flags and insignia decorating the walls.

They also show off an array of munitions with grenades, landmines and large rockets visible.

Their complex network of reinforced tunnels, some of which are buried up to 40ft underground and all of which could conceal an ambush, be booby-trapped or filled with explosives and primed to cave in.

This means Israel can bomb Gaza all it likes and launch bunker-busting munitions to clear out some tunnels - but the Israeli Defense Force (IDF) would still need to deploy hundreds of thousands of troops to neutralise every last Hamas fighter if it is to wipe the organisation out completely.

more at link



Not only do they run underground throughout Gaza, but several reach into Israeli territory and have long served as a launch point for many of the Hamas' attacks.

quote:

Originally posted by sdy:
good grief, first time I ever agreed w John Kirby

video at:

https://twitter.com/i/status/1717611872499687550

Maybe he had a TIA and spoke the truth.