BREAKING....Thread 8...Israel At War...OPERATION SWORDS OF IRON

[mountaineer]

President Biden said he and first lady Jill Biden were “heartbroken” that an American hostage being held by Hamas has died.

Yeah, sure.

[mystery-ak]

 Antony Blinken Asks Why World Isn’t Demanding Hamas Surrender

Secretary of State Antony Blinken asked Thursday why the world was pressuring the victim of terror, Israel, instead of pressuring the terrorist “aggressor,” Hamas, whose surrender would end the war in Gaza and save the lives of many Palestinian civilians.

Joel B. Pollak 22 Dec 2023

Secretary of State Antony Blinken asked Wednesday why the world was pressuring the victim of terror, Israel, instead of pressuring the terrorist “aggressor,” Hamas, whose surrender would end the war in Gaza and save the lives of many Palestinian civilians.

Blinken was answering questions from reporters in a year-end press conference when he delivered this response on the Gaza war:

    Everyone would like to see this conflict end as quickly as possible. But if it ends with Hamas remaining in place, and having the capacity and the stated intent to repeat October 7th again and again and again, that’s not in the interests of Israel, it’s not in the interests of the region, it’s not in the interests of the world. And what is striking to me is that even as, again, we hear many countries urging to end this conflict, which we would all like to see, I hear virtually no one saying, demanding, of Hamas, that it stop hiding behind civilians, that it lay down its arms, that it surrender. This is over tomorrow, if Hamas does that. This would have been over a month ago, six weeks ago, if Hamas had done that. And how can it be that there are no demands made of the aggressor, and only demands made of the victim? So it would be good if there was a strong international voice pressing Hamas to do what is necessary to end this. And, again — that could be tomorrow.

Video clips of Blinken’s remarks went viral among pro-Israel social media users — though, curiously, the United States, which is one of five permanent members of the UN Security Council, has not introduced a resolution calling on Hamas to surrender.

https://www.breitbart.com/middle-east/2023/12/22/watch-antony-blinken-asks-why-world-isnt-demanding-hamas-surrender/

[berdie]

First time or just something else missed by the IDF, Mossad and Shin Bet?

I ask this very sincerely. Why do you skip over the use of children by Hamas and blame Israel? @Right_in_Virginia

[berdie]

Antony Blinken Asks Why World Isn’t Demanding Hamas Surrender

Secretary of State Antony Blinken asked Thursday why the world was pressuring the victim of terror, Israel, instead of pressuring the terrorist “aggressor,” Hamas, whose surrender would end the war in Gaza and save the lives of many Palestinian civilians.

Joel B. Pollak 22 Dec 2023

Secretary of State Antony Blinken asked Wednesday why the world was pressuring the victim of terror, Israel, instead of pressuring the terrorist “aggressor,” Hamas, whose surrender would end the war in Gaza and save the lives of many Palestinian civilians.

Blinken was answering questions from reporters in a year-end press conference when he delivered this response on the Gaza war:

    Everyone would like to see this conflict end as quickly as possible. But if it ends with Hamas remaining in place, and having the capacity and the stated intent to repeat October 7th again and again and again, that’s not in the interests of Israel, it’s not in the interests of the region, it’s not in the interests of the world. And what is striking to me is that even as, again, we hear many countries urging to end this conflict, which we would all like to see, I hear virtually no one saying, demanding, of Hamas, that it stop hiding behind civilians, that it lay down its arms, that it surrender. This is over tomorrow, if Hamas does that. This would have been over a month ago, six weeks ago, if Hamas had done that. And how can it be that there are no demands made of the aggressor, and only demands made of the victim? So it would be good if there was a strong international voice pressing Hamas to do what is necessary to end this. And, again — that could be tomorrow.

Video clips of Blinken’s remarks went viral among pro-Israel social media users — though, curiously, the United States, which is one of five permanent members of the UN Security Council, has not introduced a resolution calling on Hamas to surrender.

https://www.breitbart.com/middle-east/2023/12/22/watch-antony-blinken-asks-why-world-isnt-demanding-hamas-surrender/

Oh my Lord...Blinken and I have the same question! What alternate universe am I living in?

[Right_in_Virginia]

I ask this very sincerely. Why do you skip over the use of children by Hamas and blame Israel? @Right_in_Virginia

I don't skip over it ..... but the Hamas MO has been known for many, many years.  Why does this continue to surprise Israel's top security agencies?  @berdie   Should they not be prepared for it by now?

[berdie]

I don't skip over it ..... but the Hamas MO has been known for many, many years.  Why does this continue to surprise Israel's top security agencies?  @berdie   Should they not be prepared for it by now?

So tell me how they can prepare for it @Right_in_Virginia

[Right_in_Virginia]

'Frogmen, hang gliders, kidnapped Israelis’: Netanyahu described Hamas’s plans in 2017
Times of Israel, Dec 22, 2023

Footage of Knesset hearing on 2014 Gaza war shows PM claiming he’d deterred terror group; premier lays out Hamas’s murderous plans, which came to fruition on Oct. 7, in eerie detail

In 2017, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu described an onslaught by the Hamas terror group that would prove to be a prescient description of the horrifying events of October 7, but said at the time that his policies had deterred the terror group.

Hebrew-language media published footage on Thursday from a 2017 Knesset meeting in which Netanyahu described the terror group’s plans in eerie detail.

“Hamas has an operational plan for a multi-pronged attack, including thousands of missiles on Israeli cities, naval commando raids, hang gliders and incursions from dozens of tunnels, some of which come up in [Israeli] territory,” Netanyahu said during a hearing held by the parliament’s State Control Committee to discuss a report on the 2014 Gaza war against Hamas.

During the emotionally fraught three-and-a-half hour discussion, Netanyahu described the “special forces” that Hamas was training in order to murder and kidnap Israelis, a reference to the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, Hamas’s military wing.

“They’ve assessed that if they can surprise us, they can put the plan into action,” Netanyahu said.

The scenario the prime minister described was similar to the events some six years later on October 7, when some 3,000 Hamas terrorists burst across the border into Israel from the Gaza Strip by land, air and sea, killing some 1,200 people and seizing over 240 hostages of all ages — mostly civilians — under the cover of a deluge of thousands of rockets fired at Israeli towns and cities. Entire families were executed in their homes, and over 260 people were slaughtered at an outdoor festival, many amid horrific acts of brutality by the terrorists.

In 2017, Netanyahu said that the Hamas leadership had begun planning a massive onslaught years earlier.

“At any given moment they could have put that plan into action, but contrary to popular opinion, we don’t control our opponent’s decisions — at most, we can influence their ability to carry them out,” he said.

While he claimed that Hamas was “deterred,” Netanyahu made it clear that he was under “no illusions .. that the terror group would abandon its plan.”

“When I thought about an infiltration of thousands of gunmen or more, seizing a town, capturing hostages, what a blow that would be, I flagged it,” Netanyahu added.

“We tried to avoid war in any way possible. We’re facing a hard and cruel enemy. To avoid escalation against an enemy like that is no mean feat. There are 30,000 [Hamas fighters in Gaza], wishing for our destruction and preparing all the time and building the means with which to kill us, to infiltrate, to attack us. People who are committed to the annihilation of Israel; it’s what they live for,” he said.

Netanyahu also highlighted his role in the policy of containment: “One of the reasons that [Hamas] is deterred is because I have a policy, that I’m not willing to tolerate droplets [of violence], and there’s always a strong reaction, usually very fast, on every such droplet.”

One of the most damning allegations in the 2017 report contended that better decision-making practices could have obviated the need for a military operation entirely.

The state comptroller report debated by the committee in 2017 was centered around the management of the security cabinet by Netanyahu and then-defense minister Moshe Ya’alon, specifically the cabinet’s alleged failure to set concrete, strategic goals for the military in the campaign. It also noted intelligence gaps and tactical mistakes by the Israel Defense Forces, then led by Lt. Gen. (res.) Benny Gantz, notably its unpreparedness for the threat of Hamas tunnels.

https://www.timesofisrael.com/frogmen-hang-gliders-kidnapped-israelis-netanyahu-described-hamass-plans-in-2017/

[Right_in_Virginia]

So tell me how they can prepare for it @Right_in_Virginia

Start with the retirement of Benjamin Netanyahu @berdie

[Wingnut]

Start with the retirement of Benjamin Netanyahu @berdie

Why all the Jew hate.  He is the guy who will kill all the Moslums we are afraid of that Obama let come here.

[Wingnut]

Nixon was right.  But we have Biden now and Muzzie lover RiV.  So all Bets are off.

https://www.facebook.com/reel/1385419905720314

[Hoodat]

I don't skip over it ..... but the Hamas MO has been known for many, many years.

If that were the case, then you wouldn't be advocating for a two-state solution.

[Right_in_Virginia]

Why all the Jew hate.  He is the guy who will kill all the Moslums we are afraid of that Obama let come here.

There's no "Jew hate" @Wingnut   To the contrary, what I "hate" is how Netanyahu's decades long "leadership" has weakened Israeli safety and security. 

[Wingnut]

There's no "Jew hate" @Wingnut   To the contrary, what I "hate" is how Netanyahu's decades long "leadership" has weakened Israeli safety and security.

Nah, You hate the jews.   I bet you have a pro Hamas Poster hanging up in your garage and you pull The Star Of David stickers of the bumpers of cars.

[Right_in_Virginia]

Nah, You hate the jews.   I bet you have a pro Hamas Poster hanging up in your garage and you pull The Star Of David stickers of the bumpers of cars.

Your reaction is predictable ----- and profoundly wrong @Wingnut

[DCPatriot]

There's no "Jew hate" @Wingnut   To the contrary, what I "hate" is how Netanyahu's decades long "leadership" has weakened Israeli safety and security.

That's interesting, @Right_in_Virginia

Caught some of Mark Levin's radio show yesterday and he was discussing the mirror image of GWB during 9-11.

Bibi didn't form a government until December 29th, 2022.  He wasn't in charge while all these tunnels were being constructed, etc..

[Elderberry]

OSINTdefender
@sentdefender

Operation Prosperity Guardian in the Red Sea has practically Collapsed as France, Spain, and Italy have all announced their Withdrawal from the U.S. Command Structure for the Operation, with the Three Nations stating they will only conduct further Maritime Operations under the Command of NATO and/or the European Union and not the United States.

[Elderberry]

Israel's UN Ambassador Gilad Erdan stated that after viewing footage, Guterres described the Hamas attack as 'humanity at its worst'

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres condemned the severe terror attacks carried out by Hamas on October 7, stating that "nothing can possibly justify" such acts, including the harsh abduction of around 250 hostages.

In a statement on X, Guterres reiterated his demand for the immediate and unconditional release of all remaining hostages.

This post comes after the UN Security Council passed a resolution urging the acceleration of aid delivery to Gaza and the creation of conditions to end the conflict between Israel and Hamas.

António Guterres
@antonioguterres
·
Follow
Nothing can possibly justify the horrific terror attacks launched by Hamas on 7 October, or the brutal abduction of some 250 hostages.

I repeat my call for all remaining hostages to be released immediately and unconditionally.

[Elderberry]

Israel Radar
@IsraelRadar_com
·
War update:

Extensive IDF strikes in southern & central Gaza at night, heavy damage reported in Rafah; army bombs Hezbollah targets in Lebanon; Israel prepares to shift to next stage of war within weeks, reduce forces in Gaza, focus on pinpoint raids. @ynetalerts & @kann_news

Israel Radar
@IsraelRadar_com
·
IDF kills dozens of terrorists in Gaza City airstrike; forces opened fire to trick terror operatives, prompting them to take shelter in Hamas site that was then bombed by Air Force; IDF also captured over 200 Hamas & Islamic Jihad terrorists this week. via @N12News

[Elderberry]

Israel Defense Forces
@IDF
During operational activity in Gaza, our troops:

🔺 Fired decoy shots, luring dozens of terrorists into a building that served as a Hamas headquarters and directed an IAF strike on the building, eliminating the terrorists.

🔺 Directed IAF strikes on an armed terrorist cell in Gaza City and on 3 terrorists in in the outskirts of al-Shati, eliminating them.

🔺 Identified terrorists attempting to attack troops and eliminated them by sniper fire, as well as located and destroyed terrorist infrastructure, including buildings used as Hamas military sites.

[Elderberry]

Israel Defense Forces
@IDF
·
Kindergarten toys?

IDF troops found toy boxes filled with dozens of mortar shells, warheads and RPG type anti-tank missiles in a kindergarten in Gaza.

[Elderberry]

Are Biden's demands of Israel 'detached from reality'?

WND 12/20/2023

'They have only two possibilities: Surrender or die'

Are Joe Biden's demands that Israel pull back in its campaign to destroy the Hamas terrorists who killed some 1,400 civilians in the launch of a war on Oct. 7 "detached from reality"?

That appears to be what Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is saying.

Fox News reported he said in a video message this week that those who think his nation will "let up during its military campaign" are just that.

"We will not stop the fighting until all of the goals that we have set are achieved: The elimination of Hamas, the release of our hostages and the removal of the threat from Gaza," he charged.

"We are attacking Hamas with fierce fire, everywhere, including today. We are also attacking their accomplices near and far. All Hamas terrorists, from the first to the last, are dead men walking," he said.

"They have only two possibilities: Surrender or die."

He said, "Whoever thinks that we will stop is detached from reality."

Biden has been caught in the middle of the Gaza violence. Leftists dislike his support for Israel, and others object to the subtle pressure he's applying, through his administration officials he's sent to tell Israel to pull back in certain situations.

The dispute has divided those who may support Biden in the 2024 election, and he needs to appease both factions to gain their support.

The Hill recently reported how dissatisfied Americans are with Biden's Hamas war agenda.

"The New York Times/Siena poll shows that just 33 percent of respondents approve of Biden’s Israel policy, compared to 57 percent disapproval. The results also highlight the massive divide in opinion among Americans on the best course of action in the conflict," the report said.

The split is with one-third of those who disapprove of Biden's actions saying the U.S. is too supportive of Israel, and nearly the same saying the same of Palestinians.

More: https://www.wnd.com/2023/12/bidens-demands-israel-detached-reality/

[Right_in_Virginia]

That's interesting, @Right_in_Virginia

Caught some of Mark Levin's radio show yesterday and he was discussing the mirror image of GWB during 9-11.

Bibi didn't form a government until December 29th, 2022.  He wasn't in charge while all these tunnels were being constructed, etc..

I'm basing my opinion on Netanyahu's 30 years at the top of the Israeli national and international political pyramid @DCPatriot   IMO, history will prove the atrocities of Oct 7 were set in motion and made possible by Netanyahu's decades-long  "strategy".

For Mr. Security, a bit of war was a political asset ---- perhaps his greatest.  Mowing the grass in Gaza while authorizing and facilitating hundreds of millions of US dollars in payments from Qatar to Hamas was a recipe for disaster from the start. It served not to protect and secure Israel, but to keep a sufficient number of Israelis just fearful enough to keep him in power.

As for not knowing about the tunnels ---- Netanyahu knew. . He knew, his government, his security agencies knew and he was forced to admit they knew when the tunnels became common knowledge during the war in 2014.  Not only didn't Netanyahu destroy them then, he didn't attempt to stop their expansion in the years since.  Neither did he question where the money from Qatar was going.

Netanyahu ignored warnings of an imminent and massive attack from the IDF, as well as from Egypt.  Two IDF commando companies just days before the Oct 7 attack were diverted from the Gaza region to the West Bank to help with unrest there ---- leaving Israelis in the South unprotected for 20 hours. FWIW,  the settlers in the West Bank are part of the political glue holding Netanyahu's tenuous government together.

Yet, by his own admission, Netanyahu knew an attack of this scale was coming since 2017.  Read more below:

'Frogmen, hang gliders, kidnapped Israelis’: Netanyahu described Hamas’s plans in 2017
Times of Israel, Dec 22, 2023

Footage of Knesset hearing on 2014 Gaza war shows PM claiming he’d deterred terror group; premier lays out Hamas’s murderous plans, which came to fruition on Oct. 7, in eerie detail

In 2017, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu described an onslaught by the Hamas terror group that would prove to be a prescient description of the horrifying events of October 7, but said at the time that his policies had deterred the terror group.

Hebrew-language media published footage on Thursday from a 2017 Knesset meeting in which Netanyahu described the terror group’s plans in eerie detail.

“Hamas has an operational plan for a multi-pronged attack, including thousands of missiles on Israeli cities, naval commando raids, hang gliders and incursions from dozens of tunnels, some of which come up in [Israeli] territory,” Netanyahu said during a hearing held by the parliament’s State Control Committee to discuss a report on the 2014 Gaza war against Hamas.

During the emotionally fraught three-and-a-half hour discussion, Netanyahu described the “special forces” that Hamas was training in order to murder and kidnap Israelis, a reference to the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, Hamas’s military wing.

“They’ve assessed that if they can surprise us, they can put the plan into action,” Netanyahu said.

The scenario the prime minister described was similar to the events some six years later on October 7, when some 3,000 Hamas terrorists burst across the border into Israel from the Gaza Strip by land, air and sea [...]

In 2017, Netanyahu said that the Hamas leadership had begun planning a massive onslaught years earlier.

“At any given moment they could have put that plan into action, but contrary to popular opinion, we don’t control our opponent’s decisions — at most, we can influence their ability to carry them out,” he said.

While he claimed that Hamas was “deterred,” Netanyahu made it clear that he was under “no illusions .. that the terror group would abandon its plan.”

"When I thought about an infiltration of thousands of gunmen or more, seizing a town, capturing hostages, what a blow that would be, I flagged it,” Netanyahu added.

“We tried to avoid war in any way possible. We’re facing a hard and cruel enemy. To avoid escalation against an enemy like that is no mean feat. There are 30,000 [Hamas fighters in Gaza], wishing for our destruction and preparing all the time and building the means with which to kill us, to infiltrate, to attack us. People who are committed to the annihilation of Israel; it’s what they live for,” he said.

Netanyahu also highlighted his role in the policy of containment: “One of the reasons that [Hamas] is deterred is because I have a policy, that I’m not willing to tolerate droplets [of violence], and there’s always a strong reaction, usually very fast, on every such droplet.”

One of the most damning allegations in the 2017 report contended that better decision-making practices could have obviated the need for a military operation entirely.

The state comptroller report debated by the committee in 2017 was centered around the management of the security cabinet by Netanyahu and then-defense minister Moshe Ya’alon, specifically the cabinet’s alleged failure to set concrete, strategic goals for the military in the campaign.  It also noted intelligence gaps and tactical mistakes by the Israel Defense Forces, then led by Lt. Gen. (res.) Benny Gantz, notably its unpreparedness for the threat of Hamas tunnels.


https://www.timesofisrael.com/frogmen-hang-gliders-kidnapped-israelis-netanyahu-described-hamass-plans-in-2017/

[mountaineer]

OSINTdefender
@sentdefender
Operation Prosperity Guardian in the Red Sea has practically Collapsed as France, Spain, and Italy have all announced their Withdrawal from the U.S. Command Structure for the Operation, with the Three Nations stating they will only conduct further Maritime Operations under the Command of NATO and/or the European Union and not the United States.

Marc 🇺🇸
@gopher_marc
France, Spain, and Italy aren’t withdrawing because they don’t want to escalate the conflict. On the contrary, they’re withdrawing because they don’t believe the operation coordinated by Biden regime will protect their vessels. This is the result of a weak ‘President’ / lack of leadership.

U.S. gives more details on Prosperity Guardian as its Red Sea coalition grows
Mike Wagenheim
Senior U.S. Correspondent, i24NEWS
December 22, 2023 at 01:52 AM

The Pentagon press secretary, Major General Pat Ryder, says Houthis 'really need to ask themselves if they've bitten off more than they can chew'

After announcing Operation Prosperity Guardian to safeguard shipping lanes in the Red Sea against Houthi attacks, the U.S. provided more details on the coalition’s purpose, alongside more members announcing their participation on Thursday night.

The Pentagon press secretary, Major General Pat Ryder, said more than 20 nations signed up and it was expected “to see the coalition continue to grow.” Some of the allies joined openly and others chose to support behind the scenes. ...

The coalition was put together in response to a recent wave of attacks on ships in the Red Sea area by the Iran-backed Houthis, primarily with suicide drones and missiles, which has begun to disrupt global trade flows with major shipping firms cutting off passage through the vital Bab el-Mandeb Strait. ...

See also: Reuters: Spain, Italy, France Decline US Command Of Red Sea Operation Prosperity Guardian

[Hoodat]

I'm basing my opinion on Netanyahu's 30 years at the top of the Israeli national and international political pyramid @DCPatriot   IMO,

In other words, it is based in a false premise.

[Hoodat]

That's interesting, @Right_in_Virginia

Caught some of Mark Levin's radio show yesterday and he was discussing the mirror image of GWB during 9-11.

Bibi didn't form a government until December 29th, 2022.  He wasn't in charge while all these tunnels were being constructed, etc..

100% correct.  As I said before, those now blaming Netanyahu for the Hamas attack are no different than the Democrats who blamed Bush for 9/11.