by TYLER DURDEN
Update(1345ET): For the first time since the Yom Kippur War of 1973, the government of Israel has issued a formal and legal “declaration of war” after Saturday’s devastating assault from Islamic militants out of Gaza, which according to the country’s health ministry has left over 700 Israelis dead and thousands injured. Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer told CNN in a morning interview, “There will probably be more hundreds, several hundred more.”
At least 350 have been killed on the Palestinian side, as a large-scale Israeli bombing campaign over Gaza ensues. Israeli officials are expected to embark on some kind of hostage rescue operation. According to Israeli media there are foreigners, likely including Americans, among the kidnapped hostages being held by Hamas and Islamic Jihad:
The Government Press Office, a body that operates under the Israeli Prime Minister’s Office, said Sunday in a Facebook post that the number of hostages in Gaza was over 100.
Among the kidnapped were small children, the elderly, and foreign nationals including 11 Thais working on farms near the border. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the State Department was attempting to confirm reports that Americans had been killed or kidnapped.
Nonstop troop movements near the Gaza border. pic.twitter.com/CoQcDYxOq4
— Trey Yingst (@TreyYingst) October 8, 2023
Currently, there are reports that internecine gunfire has erupted in different parts of Israel and the West Bank. Overnight there were also reports of sporadic shelling and exchanges of fire in the north, between Hezbollah and Israel’s military.
Will a northern front open up? This would likely put Israel in an even greater state of panic as things spiral…
Video of Hezbollah attack on #Israel military position in Shebaa Farms.
“Where did it come from?
“From the school grounds down there” pic.twitter.com/XsAD3OenpM— Firas Maksad (@FirasMaksad) October 8, 2023
Below is a brief review of major events over the last several hours, courtesy of Academy SITREP:
- Early this morning, Hamas militants launched a surprise attack on Israel firing thousands of rockets in a coordinated air and land assault.
- Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that his country was now “at war” and has retaliated with massive airstrikes on Hamas targets.
- Hezbollah, the Lebanese Shiite militia organization that fought a war with Israel in 2006, said that it was monitoring the situation but has not yet pledged its support to join forces with Hamas in this attack on Israel.
- An adviser to Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei said that Iran supported the cross-border operation by Hamas, which is not surprising and could partially be in response to the ongoing Saudi Arabia /Israel diplomatic talks.
- Netanyahu has spoken with President Biden and Secretary of Defense Austin said that “The Department of Defense will work to ensure that Israel has what it needs to defend itself and protect civilians from indiscriminate violence and terrorism.”
- While still early, initial reports are coming in indicting over 40 Israelis have been killed along with hundreds more injured.
Fighting along Israel’s southern border with the Gaza Strip is ongoing Sunday:
Police publish footage of forces battling Hamas terrorists in southern Israel. At least 30 officers have been killed in the fighting. pic.twitter.com/6mE0nH2HB7
— Emanuel (Mannie) Fabian (@manniefabian) October 8, 2023
Meanwhile, US Neocons clamoring for war and escalation by saying an attack on Israel is an attack on America…
* * *
NO, STOP IT. This was a barbaric, savage attack on ISRAEL, not America.
Glad you support Israel doing what it needs to do to defend itself—they’ll do it. That’s nice.
But stop universalizing every damn conflict and shoe-horning it into your basic ideological agenda. It’s… https://t.co/dnuwndYMLz
— David Reaboi, Late Republic Nonsense (@davereaboi) October 8, 2023
Among the most shocking images to come out of Saturday’s surprise deadly assault by Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) out of Gaza was the scene of dozens of militants flying over the southern Israeli desert using motor-powered hang gliders.
Some of the first footage to go viral soon after the broader cross-border assault was of militants parachuting down into a crowd of thousands of unsuspecting young Israeli partiers who were enjoying a rave concert in the southern desert. Foreigners, including Europeans and possibly Americans were also in attendance. The surreal scene looks like something out of the 1980s movie “Red Dawn”…
The above is being widely described as the moment it all started. The event was described as a “Music Festival for Peace” – ironically enough, but was very close to the Gaza border.
Possibly dozens of festival goers were abducted and others were killed. There were seen huddled in the back of large trucks and driven into Gaza by armed militants.
Others, more fortunate, later fled across the desert by foot – and made it to their vehicles, as the below additional footage shows…
Never would have happed with President Trump.
biden is weak and because of his weakness brought this on.
The Afghanistan debacle showed bidens weakness
Trump to Netanyahu, January 26, 2020:
He thinks of geopolitics in terms of real estate deals. Hey, endorse territorial annexation, officially recognize Jerusalem as the capital, and relocate the US embassy. That will placate the Palestinians.
I suppose it made as much sense as the Doha Agreement and sudden troop withdrawals.
Tell us again how pursuing peace caused this. Time for more of your fairy tales.
Tell us how Trump’s encouragement of pointless provocations made it less likely. What has Trump touched that he hasn’t f*cked up?
OK, dumbass, tell me what wars were not fought over territory?
What provocations? The Peace Accords? Bet you praised the peanut farmer and the grifter who followed him for their attempts?
What has Biden touched that he hasn’t f*cked up?
Guess you are one of the idiots who think Palestine is really a nation.
WHAT “pointless provocations”? Do you ever have any sense of a point backed up with facts or do you always just throw pointless shit around? Everything Trump took a hand in was improved. It’s idiot Biden that has stomach hands; everything he touches turns to shit
So says Trump, so it must be true.
FAFO
How’s that MAGA pitch for American isolationism holding up? Is an unprovoked attack on another pro-western nation still not our business? Does locking down government funding and blocking all military appointments in the Senate still seem like a really smart idea?
Whoa, is this the same guy who did nothing but bitch about the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan? Same guy who constantly bitched about the defense budget?
Why, yes, yes you are, Comrade Greggie. So once again, your standard depends on who is in the Oval Office. Perhaps Curt could pull up some of your anti-war rants from when a Republican was in office.
Hate to tell you this, but most spending on our military is non-discretional. And just how many four-star generals do we need? Milley proved just how lousy military leadership is now. Odd you have changed your tune about the military budget. How many times have you posted on this website how we spend too much money on defense?
You are one sick POS.
War is always terrible. Sometimes it’s necessary and other times it isn’t. Sometimes it’s flat out stupid. Removing Iran’s greatest enemy at the cost of American lives and treasure fell into that last category.
US Intelligence warned the Bush/Cheney administration what could happen before the invasion was launched. We went ahead and created the power vacuum, and Iran didn’t even send us a Thank You note.
Tell me, Comrade Greggie, do you not fault Barack Obama and his brain dead associate, Joe Biden, for their pandering to Iran? Do you think all the fault lies with Bush/Cheney? Because Bush/Cheney never sent plane loads off money to Iran like the asshats you spread your asscheeks for.
After we got our hostages back from Iran, we should have bombed Iran into hell. No other option. When we didn’t, that should have still been on the table. Instead, Obama and Biden tried to buy cooperation from Iran. It did not work.
And you damn sure are not qualified to be the arbitrator of what is necessary and what is not. You are just another ignorant POS like the rest of the Democrat Socialists that supported Hamas in the NYC protest today.
We bought some concessions from Iran, in return for giving them back their own money. The irreversible shut down of a weapons program nuclear reactor was one. What did Trump accomplish by kicking the agreement over? Or of pushing them into a closer alliance with Putin?
Iraq was a serious geopolitical error. Worse than unnecessary. Enormous, terrible costs, but it’s hard to see lasting beneficial results. I might be in agreement with Trump on that point.
EVERY PROMINENT DEMOCRAT supported the was in Iraq.
Iraq didn’t attack us, and it had no WMD, so that’s a poor example.
And who attacked us in 1914? How about telling me when the North Koreans attacked us or when North Vietnam attacked us?
You’re as stupid as Comrade Greggie.
You got me. I did argue stridently on social media for our entry into World War I.
Who pitched isolationism? We we promote is only being involved in things that are in US interests, not going around creating disasters for profit. Did you criticize efforts to normalize relations between Saudi Arabia and Israel? Yeah… it was.
All made necessary thanks to idiot Biden’s weakness and incompetence. ALL OF IT.
Nationals from Germany, Netherlands, France and USA are among the hostages or dead.
Apparently joe is slowly sending a ship or two to nearby.
Even North Korea was scared to let that American prisoner they had beaten to the point of permanent brain damage die inside NoKo while Trump was in the White House.
The NoKos freed him in time for his family to say goodbye to him.
Hamas would be smart (too late) to free all American and foreign hostages.
But Hamas is not smart.
Islam teaches that, once the killing starts, muslims go straight to “paradise” if they get killed.
All sins against allah are instantly forgiven.
No wonder they fight like rabid dogs.
President Biden has deployed the USS Gerald R. Ford Carrier Strike Group, which includes our largest aircraft carrier, a guided missile cruiser, and four guided missile destroyers.
Comrade Greggie, sounds like you are creaming your jeans with the thought of the U.S. entering the fray. My, how your standards change at the drop of a hat (or should I say, the theft of an election?).
Why release then when idiot Biden will give billions for them?
Idiot Biden’s buddies, the Iranians, are behind this, thanks to him sucking their asses to try and get Obama’s disastrous nuclear deal going again. Proving, once again, how election fraud needs to be fought, tooth and nail.