Meanwhile on the International front....

Noam Chomsky has an interesting take on Israel and the Middle East. A key takeaway: "When you have your boot on someone's neck ... it does something to you."

 

Spare a thought . . .

The Israel-Hamas war is deadly for journalists. Lives are being lost, and truth | Margaret Sullivan

 

I'm not talking about going to war, but holding back too much makes them targets. It puts our people at risk.

 

Israel is already taking blame because the fighting started again, but it was Hamas that played games with the release of hostages. Apparently, Hamas refused to provide a list of hostages to be released that Israel would accept. The sticking point seems to be that Hamas insists that all of the women they are holding are military reservists, not civilians.

Hamas has previously argued that women under 45 should be considered reservists and not civilians, according to a person familiar with the talks. Most of the women still being held hostage are under the age of 45, according to the Hostages and Missing Families Forum.

Hamas has claimed they do not have more women and children in their custody to release, suggesting those remaining may be in the hands of other groups. Under the previous agreement, Hamas had to release 10 women and children hostages for each day of the truce, with three Palestinians released from Israeli prisons for each hostage.

Live updates: Israel-Hamas war, truce in Gaza expires, combat operations resumed

 

Beau with some pretty good analysis of the situation, especially regarding US-Israeli positions and Blinken's talks with Bibi. If the IDF moves south and uses the same tactics it has over the last few weeks, international pressure is going to ramp up, and the U.S. is signalling that it may not support Israel in the face of it.

I don't remember who it was who asked about being able to read Beau instead of taking the time to let the video run. Click the YouTube logo at bottom right and it will open a Youtube tab. With Beau's post up on Youtube, just below the number of views, you'll see a "more" tab. Click it and "transcript" / "show transcript"under that and there is indeed a written transcript, which appears to the right of the video frame. You can pause the video and scroll to read it. The transcript is a little annoying as it includes every "um", but you can indeed scan it more quickly than the video runs. I'll probably repeat this a couple of times so that it's out there.

 

The international crowd needs to get its head out of its collective ass. Despite this entire thing starting with a terrorist attack by Hamas, Israel tried playing nice. Hamas kept launching rockets after the cease-fire. Then they fucked with the hostage release once. Then they did it again, lying by saying they didn't have any women and children left to release, at least not any that were civilians. They are insisting every Israeli woman under 45 is not a civilian. The international crowd needs to get it through their thick fucking skulls that Hamas has no interest in peace. They want this shitshow and they don't give a damn how many of their people they kill or get killed in the process.

 

Surprised that negotiating with terrorists didn't work out. ‍♂️

 

They got some hostages out, took off some of the international pressure, and got a little more evidence that Hamas has no interest in negotiating in good faith. For the hostages alone, that's worth it. What is the alternative? Turn all of Gaza into a parking lot while killing all of the hostages and alienating every ally they have?

 

They need to significantly impair Hamas’ ability to wage attacks. As long as Hamas is popping off rockets, Israel needs to keep eliminating them and their stockpiles. Plus, this may sound impossible, but they need to go through every tunnel and stronghold that they can find, confiscate all weapons including AK-47s, rifles, grenades and bomb making equipment. From the north to the south, every square inch of Gaza needs to be inspected.

As long as Hamas keeps fighting back, the pressure must remain to fully eliminate them, as well as significantly reduce Hamas’ ability for any future attacks for years to come.

This is their 9/11 and Remember Pearl Harbor moment. 7 OCT was a blood soaked price paid that requires actions to remove Hamas and their ability to wage war. Period.

As far as the Jericho Wall report - the cynic in me can easily see a scenario where 7 OCT was allowed to happen so that the response is justified.

Similarly, people think the same of Pearl Harbor. Ever seen the McCollum memo?

 

The idea that the Hamas attack was some kind of Pearl Harbor moment is pure Likud propaganda. The country has been a war zone for more than half a century, and under the current conditions it will remain so for another half century. That's the way Likud wants it -- it keeps them in power.