The "US Foreign Policy & International Politics" Thread (Ben Shapiro Oxford Hamas Debate)

[Blue Horseshoe 348]

 

A mom shielding her son from gunmen and a ‘pro-peace’ academic are among the Americans killed in Israel

.....Deborah Matias, an American citizen who lived in Israel, was shot and killed by Hamas gunmen while shielding her teenage son from their bullets, her father told CNN. Hayim Katsman, an Israeli-American academic, had been hiding in a closet with his neighbor when he was fatally shot, his sibling said. They are among at least 11 US citizens who were killed in Israel after the Gaza-based militant group launched a devastating attack early Saturday that has left at least 900 people there dead.....There are also Americans who remain unaccounted for.....it is “likely” some are among those being held hostage by Hamas.....

.....In response to the attack, Israel has pounded Gaza with airstrikes. More than 680 Palestinians have been killed, according to Gaza’s health ministry, and medical care has been complicated by Israel cutting power to the territory. It’s unclear whether any US citizens are among those killed or injured in Gaza.....Ilan Troen said he was on the phone with his daughter when she was killed.....Troen, a professor emeritus from Brandeis University in Massachusetts, said his daughter and son-in-law, Deborah and Shlomi Matias, were killed by Hamas militants over the weekend. Troen’s grandson, 16-year-old Rotem Matias, was shot but will survive.....

.....Rotem hid for more than 12 hours after he was shot, texting on his phone to communicate with people who were coaching him on how to breathe and how to manage “the blood that was coming out of his abdomen,” Troen said, adding Rotem’s phone was down to a 4% charge when he was rescued.....Hayim Katsman’s friend, Avital Alajem, described how she was hiding inside a shelter’s closet with Katsman when gunmen came and began firing at the door – striking Katsman multiple times......“He was murdered,” Alajem told CNN’s Anderson Cooper in Israel, early Tuesday. “I was saved because he was next to the door and they shot him.”

https://www.cnn.com/2023/10/09/us/us-victims-israel-gaza/index.html

[Blue Horseshoe 348]

 

[Blue Horseshoe 348]

 

Here is a timeline of the clashes between Palestinian militants and Israel.

Here is a summary of the main events of the conflict, which spans two centuries. On several occasions this year, hundreds of Israeli forces carried out military raids in the Palestinian city of Jenin. In January, a Palestinian man killed seven people outside a synagogue in East Jerusalem. After a spate of terrorist attacks in Israeli cities in 2022, Israeli forces killed at least 166 Palestinians in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.

In May 2021, the Israeli police raided Al Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem, the third-holiest site in Islam, which set off an 11-day war between Israel and Hamas that killed more than 200 Palestinians and more than 10 Israelis.

In 2018, at least 170 Palestinians were killed as Israel responded to protests along the barrier fence that separates Gaza and Israel.

In 2014, Hamas kidnapped and killed three Israeli teenagers, prompting attacks from Israel, and rocket launches from Gaza, in a conflict that killed more than 1,881 Palestinians and more than 60 Israelis.

In November 2012, Israel killed Ahmed al-Jabari, Hamas’s military chief, setting off more than a week of an exchange of fire in which more than 150 Palestinians and at least six Israelis are killed.

In January 2009, Israel and Palestinian groups declared unilateral cease-fires, then Israel withdrew from Gaza, and redeployed to the strip’s perimeter.

In response to rocket fire from Gaza, Israel launched an attack on Hamas targets in December 2008 that killed 200 Palestinians. Shortly after, they opened a ground war against Hamas. In total, 1,200 Palestinians and 13 Israelis were killed.

In January 2006, about a year after the death of the Palestinian leader Yasir Arafat, the co-founder of the paramilitary organization Fatah, Hamas won the Palestinian parliamentary election. One year later, Hamas seized control of Gaza, routing the Fatah forces.

In September 2005, Israeli troops pulled out of Gaza, but Israel came under criticism for restricting the movement of Palestinians coming in and out of the strip.

In September 2000, a few months after negotiations between Israel and Palestine reached an impasse at Camp David, a Second Intifada began, with Palestinian youth throwing stones at the Israeli police. Support for Hamas continued to grow within Palestine because of its readiness to fight Israel.

In 1997, two suicide bomb attacks killed 27 people, and Israel’s prime minister, Shimon Peres, said he would wage an incessant war against Hamas.

In 1993, Mr. Arafat signed the Oslo accords with Israel, and committed to negotiating an end to the conflict based on a two-state solution. Hamas, which opposed the deal, launched a series of suicide bombings in Israel.

In December 1987, Palestinians living in the West Bank and Gaza started the First Intifada against Israel. Muslim Brotherhood members founded Hamas.

On March 26, 1979, Egypt and Israel signed a peace treaty at the White House which led to Israel’s complete withdrawal from the Sinai Peninsula. The two countries agreed on the framework of an agreement to allow for self-rule for Palestinians living in occupied territories. Three years later, President Reagan expressed his support for their full autonomy with some Jordanian supervision, but Israel rejected the plan.

On Yom Kippur in October 1973, invading forces from Egypt and Syria tried to persuade Israel to negotiate better terms for the Arab countries. Nearly 2,700 Israeli soldiers died in the 19-day war and thousands were injured out of a population of about three million at the time.

In June 1967, during the Six-Day War, Israel gained control of the Gaza Strip and the Sinai Peninsula.

In January 1957, Israel withdrew from Egyptian land, except from the Gaza Strip and the area of the Gulf of Aqaba, arguing that the Gaza Strip never belonged to Egypt.

In October 1956, a few months after the Egyptian president nationalized the Suez Canal waterway, cutting off Israel from shipping, Israel invaded the Sinai Peninsula and the Gaza Strip. In November that year, the United Nations called for Britain, France and Israel to withdraw their troops from Egypt.

In 1949, the newly created State of Israel signed a series of truces with Arab countries that had declared war on it. Under the 1949 agreements, the Gaza Strip was under Egypt’s control.

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/07/world/middleeast/israel-gaza-conflict-timeline.html

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Americans among hostages taken by Hamas, Israeli ambassador says

......Americans are among the hostages taken into Gaza by Hamas, Israeli Ambassador to the U.S. Michael Herzog confirmed Sunday.....Hamas, the Islamist militant group that controls the Gaza Strip, launched an unprecedented attack on Israel early Saturday morning, killing hundreds and kidnapping others. The massive incursion came a day after Israel marked the 50th anniversary of the surprise invasion on Yom Kippur, up until now the worst surprise attacks....

.....The Saturday morning incursion caught Israel and its allies completely by surprise, as Hamas fired a barrage of rockets from the Gaza Strip into Israel and dozens of heavily armed gunmen mowed down a barrier along Israel’s southern border; some also entered by air and sea. Israel began tracking down the invaders and then launching retaliatory air strikes on targets in Gaza shortly after. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Sunday morning that it was likely that Americans were among those killed and kidnapped.....“..... At the same time, there are reports of missing Americans and, there again, we’re working to verify those reports,” Blinken said during an interview on CNN’s “State of the Union.”

https://www.politico.com/news/2023/10/08/americans-hostages-hamas-israel-00120521

[Pimpadeaux 2,404]

[Blue Horseshoe 348]

 

Iran sends deadly message to Biden with Hamas attack on Israel

....Regardless of whether Iran plotted and ordered the massive Hamas attack against Israel over the weekend, Tehran’s backing and support for the Palestinian militant group sends a clear and defiant message to Washington. The U.S. has yet to confirm a direct involvement from Tehran in the operation, but officials acknowledge Iranians are indirectly complicit in training, funding and supporting Hamas. The Hamas invasion, the worst attack on Israel in 50 years, shows Tehran is increasingly willing to damage U.S. allies and, in effect, try to weaken American influence through proxy groups. It comes as Iran’s influence as a regional power appears on the rise.

Jonathan Spyer, the director of research at the Middle East Forum, said Iran seeks to defeat Israel with a strategy of “death by a thousand cuts.” ......“They intend to reduce the morale of Israelis, to cause Israelis to lose faith in their institutions, to cause Israelis to quit Israel,” said Spyer. “That’s the reason why they’re backing Hamas. That’s the reason why they created Hezbollah. They intend to try to surround Israel with what we would call hybrid military forces.” Iran has denied any role in the brutal surprise attack by Hamas but has welcomed the news, reportedly with celebrations of what Iranians are calling a Palestinian victory.

Both Hamas and Iran have publicly acknowledged a strategic partnership. They hold separate goals in the decades-long conflict with Jerusalem, but those aims appear to have aligned during the early Saturday attack, which has left hundreds dead in Israel and fighting still flaring up in the south near Gaza. Iran has for years been fighting a shadow war against Israel through proxy groups, such as Hezbollah in Lebanon, Hamas and others. Tehran considers Israel an American client state, hostile to Muslims......Hamas, which has controlled the Gaza Strip since 2007, has suffered from corruption and domestic turmoil as relations with Israel have worsened with the far-right government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, which has expanded settlements into the Israeli-occupied West Bank and cracked down against militant groups....Amid Israel’s domestic strife, Hamas wanted to display strength and put the Palestinian movement back on the international stage, said Matthew Levitt, the director of counterterrorism and intelligence at the Washington Institute for Far East Policy.....“They saw an Israel they believed was weak, and they wanted to do something that would demonstrate that Israel is not 10 feet tall,” he said. “It was showing that it could happen, that Israel is not invincible and that you can’t ignore Hamas.”

https://thehill.com/policy/international/4246378-iran-hamas-fighting-proxy-war-israe/

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[weepaws 3,157]

Very Nice OP, Very Nice.  

[Hardcore troubadour 14,934]

Israel should send their spies to this country and Europe and start killing the enemies that are abroad, doing it on the down low.  The Israelis can probably do a better job than the FBI finding the terrorists we have here. The FBI is too busy with 70 year old women protesting abortions and Jan 6 idiots. And Trump! 

[Fireballer 2,639]

26 minutes ago, Hardcore troubadour said:

 The FBI is too busy with 70 year old women protesting abortions and Jan 6 idiots. And Trump! 

Don’t forget those pesky parents at school board meetings!

[Pimpadeaux 2,404]

1 hour ago, Hardcore troubadour said:

Israel should send their spies to this country and Europe and start killing the enemies that are abroad, doing it on the down low.  The Israelis can probably do a better job than the FBI finding the terrorists we have here. The FBI is too busy with 70 year old women protesting abortions and Jan 6 idiots. And Trump! 

Why don't you put your mad Internet research skillz to use and help out with this instead of researching women's hair color?

[seafoam1 2,802]

55 minutes ago, Pimpadeaux said:

Why don't you put your mad Internet research skillz to use and help out with this instead of researching women's hair color?

Everyone is spying on you. Be very paranoid. 

[BeachGuy23 642]

Just unbelievable.  Using a terrorist attack on an American alley to copy paste your alt right garbage with zero actual thoughts from you as usual.

Almost as sad as me creating multiple handles after being permabanned. 

[Blue Horseshoe 348]

 

Egypt intelligence official says Israel ignored repeated warnings of ‘something big’

......Mounting questions over Israel’s massive intelligence failure to anticipate and prepare for a surprise Hamas assault were compounded Monday when an Egyptian intelligence official said that Jerusalem had ignored repeated warnings that the Gaza-based terror group was planning “something big” — which included an apparent direct notice from Cairo’s intelligence minister to the prime minister.....He said Israeli officials were focused on the West Bank and played down the threat from Gaza. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government is made up of supporters of West Bank settlers who have demanded a security crackdown there in the face of a rising tide of violence over the last 18 months. “We have warned them an explosion of the situation is coming, and very soon, and it would be big. But they underestimated such warnings,” the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he wasn’t authorized to discuss the content of sensitive intelligence discussions with the media, told The Associated Press.

Netanyahu denied receiving any such advance warning, saying in the course of an address to the nation Monday night that the story was “fake news.”......“No early message came from Egypt and the prime minister did not speak or meet with the intelligence chief since the establishment of the government — not indirectly or directly,” his office said in a statement earlier in the day.....In one of the said warnings, Egypt’s Intelligence Minister General Abbas Kamel personally called Netanyahu only 10 days before the massive attack that Gazans were likely to do “something unusual, a terrible operation.....” .....Israel’s intelligence agencies have gained an aura of invincibility over the decades because of a string of achievements. Israel has foiled plots seeded in the West Bank, allegedly hunted down Hamas operatives in Dubai and has been accused of killing Iranian nuclear scientists in the heart of Iran. Even when their efforts have stumbled, agencies like the Mossad, Shin Bet and military intelligence have maintained their mystique.

“This is a major failure,” said Yaakov Amidror, a former national security adviser to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. “This operation actually proves that the [intelligence] abilities in Gaza were no good.”

.....“The other side learned to deal with our technological dominance and they stopped using technology that could expose it,” said Avivi, who served as a conduit for intelligence materials under a former military chief of staff. Avivi is president and founder of Israel Defense and Security Forum, a hawkish group of former military commanders.......“They’ve gone back to the Stone Age,” he said, explaining that terrorists weren’t using phones or computers and were conducting their sensitive business in rooms specially guarded from technological espionage or going underground.....

https://www.timesofisrael.com/egypt-intelligence-official-says-israel-ignored-repeated-warnings-of-something-big/

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[Blue Horseshoe 348]

 

 

Rep. Rashida Tlaib denounces ‘violent reality’ of Israeli ‘apartheid’ — but fails to condemn Hamas

....Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) on Sunday blasted Israel’s “occupation” policies while saying she grieves those killed as violence engulfed the region following Hamas’ unprecedented incursion from Gaza......Tlaib — the first Palestinian-American sworn into Congress back in 2019 — issued the statement slamming Israel as an “apartheid” state after some of her fellow “Squad” members sparked controversy Saturday for urging a ceasefire in the Middle East. “I grieve the Palestinian and Israeli lives lost yesterday, today, and every day. I am determined as ever to fight for a just future where everyone can live in peace, without fear and with true freedom, equal rights, and human dignity,” Tlaib said. “The path to that future must include lifting the blockade, ending the occupation, and dismantling the apartheid system that creates the suffocating, dehumanizing conditions that can lead to resistance.”

Tlaib did not condemn the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas, which launched a sneak attack involving a barrage of thousands of rockets and a ground assault into Israel on Saturday — sparking retaliatory strikes by the US ally and its Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to declare the country was at “war.”......“As long as our country provides billions in unconditional funding to support the apartheid government, this heartbreaking cycle of violence will continue,” Tlaib added....

https://nypost.com/2023/10/08/rashida-tlaib-denounces-violent-reality-of-israeli-apartheid-grieves-violence/

[Blue Horseshoe 348]

 

Ilhan Omar stokes outrage with plea against sending US weapons to back ‘war crime’ in Israel

.....Rep. Ilhan Omar elicited outrage Monday with a public entreaty for the US to shift from giving Israel “unconditional weapons sales and military aid” to diplomacy.....“The Israeli Defense Minister has called Palestinians ‘human animals’ and promised to cut off all electricity, all food, and all fuel to civilians in Gaza,” Omar wrote in a lengthy threat on X, formerly Twitter.....“This is collective punishment, a war crime, and the U.S. should oppose any violations of international law if we truly support a rules-based international order,” she continued.....The 41-year-old congresswoman who’s long been a vocal critic of Israel’s settlement policies and defender of the Palestinians, further argued, “the solution to this horror, as ever, is a negotiated peace.”

......“Instead of continuing unconditional weapons sales and military aid to Israel, I urge the United States at long last to use its diplomatic might to push for peace,” she stressed.....Omar became the first female Muslim elected to the House of Representatives alongside Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) in 2019....Tlaib, the first Palestinian member of the lower chamber, described Israel’s policies toward the Palestinians as an “apartheid system” on Sunday while emphasizing that she grieves both the “Palestinian and Israeli lives lost.”....“The path to that future must include lifting the blockade, ending the occupation, and dismantling the apartheid system that creates the suffocating, dehumanizing conditions that can lead to resistance,” Tlaib said....

https://nypost.com/2023/10/09/ilhan-omar-stokes-outrage-with-plea-against-sending-us-weapons-to-back-war-crime-in-israel/

[The Real timschochet 6,421]

You somehow forget this one: 

https://www.newsweek.com/donald-trump-israel-intel-russia-hamas-attack-1833094?amp=1

Is Donald Trump’s idiocy partly responsible for this mess? It’s certainly possible. 

[The Real timschochet 6,421]

This perspective has also been somehow left out of this thread: 

https://www.haaretz.com/opinion/editorial/2023-10-08/ty-article-opinion/netanyahu-bears-responsibility/0000018b-0b9d-d8fc-adff-6bfd1c880000

A large percentage of the Israeli public correctly hold Netanyahu responsible for this entire situation. 

[The Real timschochet 6,421]

So to recap: 

1. Trump gave away classified Israeli secrets to Russia, an ally of Hamas and Iran. This is very possibly how Hamas got around Iron Dome. 

2. Israel was taken by surprise because Netanyahu’s right wing agenda, strongly supported by conservatives in this country, weakened the Israeli military (just as the right wing agenda by conservatives here like Tommy Tuberville is weakening our own military.) 

3. Luckily we now have Biden in charge. 

[Mike Hunt 261]

31 minutes ago, Blue Horseshoe said:

 

 

Rep. Rashida Tlaib denounces ‘violent reality’ of Israeli ‘apartheid’ — but fails to condemn Hamas

....Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) on Sunday blasted Israel’s “occupation” policies while saying she grieves those killed as violence engulfed the region following Hamas’ unprecedented incursion from Gaza......Tlaib — the first Palestinian-American sworn into Congress back in 2019 — issued the statement slamming Israel as an “apartheid” state after some of her fellow “Squad” members sparked controversy Saturday for urging a ceasefire in the Middle East. “I grieve the Palestinian and Israeli lives lost yesterday, today, and every day. I am determined as ever to fight for a just future where everyone can live in peace, without fear and with true freedom, equal rights, and human dignity,” Tlaib said. “The path to that future must include lifting the blockade, ending the occupation, and dismantling the apartheid system that creates the suffocating, dehumanizing conditions that can lead to resistance.”

Tlaib did not condemn the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas, which launched a sneak attack involving a barrage of thousands of rockets and a ground assault into Israel on Saturday — sparking retaliatory strikes by the US ally and its Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to declare the country was at “war.”......“As long as our country provides billions in unconditional funding to support the apartheid government, this heartbreaking cycle of violence will continue,” Tlaib added....

https://nypost.com/2023/10/08/rashida-tlaib-denounces-violent-reality-of-israeli-apartheid-grieves-violence/

Tlaib hates Jews with her heart and soul.

[squistion 1,952]

21 minutes ago, The Real timschochet said:

This perspective has also been somehow left out of this thread: 

https://www.haaretz.com/opinion/editorial/2023-10-08/ty-article-opinion/netanyahu-bears-responsibility/0000018b-0b9d-d8fc-adff-6bfd1c880000

A large percentage of the Israeli public correctly hold Netanyahu responsible for this entire situation. 

Any perspective he doesn't agree with is conveniently left out of every one of his thread diatribes. 

[The Real timschochet 6,421]

38 minutes ago, Mike Hunt said:

Tlaib hates Jews with her heart and soul.

I don’t agree with Tliab at all on this issue (and many others) but her perspective is important at this time. She is certainly anti-Israel but I wouldn’t call her comments anti-Semitic. If you want to know the difference check out the posts by CDub100 and Casual Observer in this forum. 

[Mike Hunt 261]

25 minutes ago, The Real timschochet said:

I don’t agree with Tliab at all on this issue (and many others) but her perspective is important at this time. She is certainly anti-Israel but I wouldn’t call her comments anti-Semitic. If you want to know the difference check out the posts by CDub100 and Casual Observer in this forum. 

I am far from an expert on this topic and am sure you know way more than I on this topic. To look at the stats as an outsider it is difficult to understand.

OK.  About "terror" attacks.  Hamas surprised and inflicted damage and murdered hundreds of people in the terror attack and they were all celebrating.

Since then, I just heard on the news over 1500 Hamas have been killed, and that is on the low side.   Over 100,000 people on their side have been displaced and left without food and shelter, and that number will double and triple in the next couple of days.

So is the terror attack considered a success and something to celebrate? 

Inflict some damage to receive tenfold in return? To cause 10 times more pain on your own people than you can inflict on the other side?

 

[Hardcore troubadour 14,934]

Real Tim thinks criticizing George Soros is anti-semetic but taking the side of people that have vowed to wipe Israel off the map isn’t. He’s only Jewish when he can use it as a shield for his leftist beliefs. 

[Blue Horseshoe 348]

 

Twitter fueled attacks on Muslim candidates in 2018, study finds

.....Muslim candidates, including Reps. Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib, endured torrents of hateful, xenophobic and threatening tweets during last year’s campaign season, much of it amplified through bots and other fake accounts, according to a study to be released Tuesday.....The study, by the Social Science Research Council, analyzed 113,000 Twitter messages directed at Muslim candidates. The tweets called the candidates “dogs” and “pieces of garbage” and accused them of marrying siblings, being terrorists and seeking to impose the values of a “demonic” faith on Americans.....

....“Death threats, incitement to violence, and hateful conduct have no place on Twitter,” said company spokeswoman Katie Rosborough after reviewing an advanced copy of the report. “We believe this behavior undermines freedom of expression and the power of healthy public conversation. People using their accounts to spread this type of content will face enforcement action.”.....Omar complained publicly Sunday about the threats against her life on Twitter by retweeting a compilation of them and saying, “Twitter this is unacceptable!” That prompted talks between her office and the company.....Tlaib (D-Mich.) said: “Sadly, the SSRC report on Islamophobia online during the 2018 campaign is not surprising — anyone who has ever read my Twitter mentions and replies has already seen the level of hate that exists online.”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/twitter-fueled-attacks-on-muslim-candidates-in-2018-study-finds/2019/11/04/be0bf432-ff51-11e9-9518-1e76abc088b6_story.html

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[The Real timschochet 6,421]

Omar and Tliab and their supporters have absolutely been the target of hateful attacks and bigotry, no question about that. It didn’t help that a couple of years ago Trump said they should go back to their “own country”, demonstrating his racism and ignorance. Twitter or X since Musk took over hadn’t helped either, spreading lies and hate all over the place. And now Trump has gone back to promising a new, larger Travel Ban once he’s elected. And his fans cheer. 
 

We are living in ugly, scary times right now. 

[Mike Hunt 261]

4 minutes ago, The Real timschochet said:

Omar and Tliab and their supporters have absolutely been the target of hateful attacks and bigotry, no question about that. It didn’t help that a couple of years ago Trump said they should go back to their “own country”, demonstrating his racism and ignorance. Twitter or X since Musk took over hadn’t helped either, spreading lies and hate all over the place. And now Trump has gone back to promising a new, larger Travel Ban once he’s elected. And his fans cheer. 
 

We are living in ugly, scary times right now. 

Always been ugly and scary.  Just more out in the open now.

[Blue Horseshoe 348]

 

 

Israel-Gaza violence: The strength and limitations of Hamas' arsenal

.....Hamas and Islamic Jihad, though the weaker parties, have weapons enough with which to attack Israel.....But by far and away the most significant weaponry in the Palestinians' arsenal is their wide variety of ground-to-ground missiles. Some of these (along with other systems employed like the Kornet guided anti-tank missiles used during recent days), are believed to have been smuggled in through tunnels from Egypt's Sinai peninsula.....But by far the bulk of the Hamas and Islamic Jihad arsenals come from a dynamic and relatively sophisticated manufacturing capability inside the Gaza Strip itself. Israeli and outside experts believe that Iranian know-how and assistance have played a significant role in building up this industry. Accordingly, weapons manufacturing and storage sites have been among the chief targets of the Israeli strikes....

......While the names and designations of specific missiles can be a bit confusing, Hamas has a huge inventory of shorter-range systems like the Qassam (up to 10km or 6 miles) and the Quds 101 (up to about 16km); bolstered by the Grad system (up to 55km); and the Sejil 55 (up to 55km). These probably make up the bulk of its inventory and for the shortest ranges can be bolstered by mortar fire......But Hamas also operates a variety of longer-range systems like the M-75 (up to 75km); the Fajr (up to 100km); the R-160 (up to 120km); and some M-302s which have a range of up to 200km. So it is clear that Hamas has weapons that can target both Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, and threaten the whole coastal strip which contains the greatest density of Israel's population and critical infrastructure....

Armed drones have been used for the first time by Hamas to take out Israel's most well-defended tank, the Merkava IV. According to Hamas, these weapons were obtained through clandestine means, bypassing military bases, and aviation and maritime patrols. While Hamas maintains close alliance with Iran and Syria, it has also procured arms, including Fajr-3, Fajr-5, Iranian R-160, and M302 rockets. They also have drones, anti-tank missiles and shoulder-launched rockets. Plans are underway to acquire Chinese C-704 missiles, anti-ship missiles with a range of 35 kilometres (21 miles) and radar systems for guided missiles.

Israel is widely believed to possess nuclear weapons, with estimates of its stockpile ranging from 80 to 200 warheads. According to the Arms Control Center, Israel has approximately 90 plutonium-based nuclear warheads, with enough plutonium production capacity for 100-200 weapons. The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute estimates that Israel has around 80 nuclear weapons, of which 30 are gravity bombs designed for delivery by aircraft and the remaining 50 are intended for deployment via Jericho II medium-range ballistic missiles.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-57092245

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[BeachGuy23 642]

We should have a rule, no copying and pasting from alt right/alt left sites without adding comments or your own thoughts.

Would cut down on 75% of the propaganda that's proliferated here daily starting with OP. 

Let's try to get this done guys!

[Baker Boy 1,688]

7 minutes ago, BeachGuy23 said:

We should have a rule, no copying and pasting from alt right/alt left sites without adding comments or your own thoughts.

Would cut down on 75% of the propaganda that's proliferated here daily starting with OP. 

Let's try to get this done guys!

The lefties sure love their rules.

Why don’t you find a board that fits your needs rather than changing this board?  You are supposedly the new guy.
 

 

 

[BeachGuy23 642]

15 minutes ago, Baker Boy said:

The lefties sure love their rules.

Why don’t you find a board that fits your needs rather than changing this board?  You are supposedly the new guy.
 

 

 

While new I recognize terrible posting.

This guy is the epitome of it.  

[Blue Horseshoe 348]

 

ADL says it will resume advertising on X following feud with Elon Musk

....The Anti-Defamation League on Wednesday said it plans to resume advertising on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, following a spat with owner Elon Musk......Musk last month threatened to sue the ADL for defamation, claiming that the nonprofit organization’s statements about rising hate speech on the social media platform had hurt X’s advertising revenue. ADL CEO Jonathan Greenblatt pushed back on the claims, saying that while the ADL was part of a coalition of groups that called on companies to pause advertising on the platform immediately following Musk’s acquisition last year, it had not been engaged in such calls in recent months....

.....“As we have noted in our research over the past several years, X – along with other social media platforms — has a serious issue with antisemites and other extremists using these platforms to push their hateful ideas and, in some cases, bully Jewish and other users,” it said. “A better, healthier, and safer X would be a win for the world … As we do with all platforms, we will credit X as it moves in that direction, and we also will call it out when it has not.”....The ADL and other similar organizations, including the Center for Countering Digital Hate, have said in reports that the volume of hate speech on the website has grown dramatically under Musk’s stewardship. (Musk has criticized the findings.)

https://www.cnn.com/2023/10/04/tech/adl-makes-peace-with-x/index.html

[Blue Horseshoe 348]

 

Jonathan Greenblatt is a Democratic political operative, corporate executive, and the CEO of the Anti-Defamation League. He worked for Bill Clinton’s 1992 Presidential campaign1 and worked in the Obama White House as the director of the Office of Social Innovation and Civic Participation. Politically conservative Jewish commentators have criticized Greenblatt for appearing to place his personal liberal politics ahead of the ADL’s historical mission to oppose anti-Semitism. 

CLINTON CAMPAIGN AND ADMINISTRATION - After graduating from Tufts University, Greenblatt went to Little Rock, Arkansas to work on the successful 1992 Bill Clinton presidential campaign. After Clinton’s election, Greenblatt went on to work in the Department of Commerce focusing on economic policy. 

OBAMA ADMINISTRATION - Greenblatt worked as a special assistant to the President in the Obama White House. In this role, Greenblatt advised President Obama on the day-today on various social and economic policy related discussions. Greenblatt also served as the Director of the Office of Social Innovation in the Obama White House; the Office existed to promote the left-of-center not-for-profit advocacy sector. 

Anti-Defamation League (ADL) - Jonathan Greenblatt works as the CEO and national director of the Anti-Defamation League, an international Jewish non-governmental organization founded in 1913 based in the United States. He took the position in July 2015, succeeding ADL’s longtime leader Abraham Foxman. 

CRITICISM - As national director and CEO of the ADL, Greenblatt “has modernized the organization while refocusing it on the dual mission it has had since its founding in 1913: to fight the defamation of the Jewish people, and to secure justice and fair treatment for all.” The “modernization” has proved controversial with politically conservative members of the Jewish community, some of whom have accused Greenblatt of putting his personal progressive politics before unity against anti-Semitism.

In the politically conservative and historically Jewish journal Commentary in 2018, Seth Mandel wrote: Greenblatt took three hallmarks of Team Obama [a reference to former President Barack Obama’s political operation] with him when he left: a belief that liberalism and modern morality were synonymous; an obsession with [then-Israeli Prime Minister] Benjamin Netanyahu; and a rivalrous antagonism toward anyone to his right who called out anti-Semitism. Mandel further alleged that while the Greenblatt-led ADL “will rap a Democrat on the knuckles and claim partisan evenhandedness,” Greenblatt himself “sees right-wing bigotry as a crucial element of conservative ideology, while viewing any such transgressions on the left as isolated anomalies.” 

https://www.influencewatch.org/person/jonathan-greenblatt/

[Blue Horseshoe 348]

 

 

ADL director asks if Hamas is writing MSNBC’s scripts in coverage of attack on Israel

....The director of the Anti-Defamation League criticized MSNBC while appearing on the network for the way it was covering the ongoing fighting between Hamas and Israeli military forces.....“While I am sad and trying to cope, I’ll be honest. I am angry. I am angry with the world that allowed the dehumanization of Israelis and sanitized the terrorism of Hamas,” said Jonathan Greenblatt during an appearance Monday on “Morning Joe.” “I must say, I love this show, and I love this network, but I’ve got to ask, who’s writing the scripts? Hamas?”

Greenblatt described in detail the atrocities that have been committed in Israel by members of Hamas during the surprise attack over the weekend, saying, “They are not fighters. … They are not militants. And I’m looking right at the camera, they are terrorists.....So I just think, like, guys get this story, right, and all these pictures of like, you know, missiles or the rubble in Gaza, please talk to the Israeli mothers and fathers who lost their children,” he said. “And please stop calling this a retaliation. This is a defensive measure against an organization that is committed to one thing: killing Jews, not a peaceful resolution of a conflict, but murdering Jews. And if you’re wondering if I’m exaggerating, please, I beg of you, everyone watching and everyone at this network, just watch the footage.”

https://thehill.com/homenews/media/4246082-adl-director-msnbc-hamas-israel-scripts/