As the Lebanese army pulls its forces from the border ...

[Jayhawker Soule]

... in preparation for an Israeli ground operation, we get the following from Netanyahu to, not the people of Israel. not eben the people of Gaza and Lebanon, but:

PM to Iranians: Israel stands with you, you'll be free sooner than people think​

It is a remarkable article, particularly given that

1. Hezbollah's leadership has been decimated,
2. it's command and control system appears to have been all but destroyed,
3. it's military-communications equipment has been qualitatively compromised,
4. it's puppet master, Iran, just recently allowed the international face of Hamas to be assassinated in its capital, and
5. the 1-year anniversary of the barbaric Hamas pogrom is but one week away.

Meanwhile the "Live Updates" in the New York Times are equally remarkable. I cannot imagine this ending well.

 

[Debater Slayer]

I can only hope that this doesn't signal desire or plans for a regional war. Reading the headline brought this to mind (and the article wasn't exactly reassuring either):

Israel puts pressure on US to strike Iraq

Israel signalled its decision yesterday to put public pressure on President George Bush to go ahead with a military attack on Iraq, even though it believes Saddam Hussein may well retaliate by striking Israel.

www.theguardian.com

"Freeing" another people didn't work out so well the last couple of times it was tried in the region. I just hope there isn't a repeat of the same atrocious mistakes under slightly rephrased slogans.

Perhaps Netanyahu is trying to sow discord against the Iranian regime with his words. That would certainly be better than a war, but it's hard to predict what will happen at this point.

 

[RestlessSoul]

Some men just want to see the world burn.

 

[Jayhawker Soule]

Some men just want to see the world burn.

That is simplistic and fundamentally unhelpful.

 

[Revoltingest]

That is simplistic and fundamentally unhelpful.

But almost accurate.
It's been Israel's approach to "self defense",
ie, to relish the death & destruction of Muslims.

 

[Jayhawker Soule]

Two articles might prove worth reviewing:

• For history: Wikipedia's Sabra and Shatila massacre
• For today: Politico's Israel; sends troops into Lebanon -- but its real target is Iran

 

[MayPeaceBeUpOnYou]

It’s astonishing that people still fall in to trap of the justification of ‘security ‘after killing 40.000 people in Gaza, escalated situation in West Bank, several attacks in other countries and now invading in Lebanon.

The right wing lunatics that runs Israel wanna convince the world they have a right of defense at the expense of Palestinians rights. It’s like saying we have a right to maintain the occupation, we have a right to maintain the apartheid regime, we have a right to expand in occupied territories, we have a right to deny Palestinians to building permits en we have right to destroy Palestinians homes. But in no case Palestinians have a right to defend themselves, but in no case Palestinians have a right to oppose the occupation. And why?

Because Israel is the only ‘democracy’ in the Middle East.
Because Israel backed by the west and the west are always right.

Like any other apartheid regime it will eventually collapse, it’s just a matter of time. When?

When people come back to their senses and open their eyes.

 

[Jayhawker Soule]

Meanwhile:

US embassy warns staff in Israel to 'shelter in place until further notice'​

​

The US embassy in Jerusalem issues a security warning telling its employees and their families “to shelter in place until further notice.”​

​

The warning, similar to that issued in April ahead of an Iranian attack, comes amid indications from US intelligence that Tehran is planning to launch another ballistic missile attack on Israel.​

 

[RestlessSoul]

That is simplistic and fundamentally unhelpful.

Doesn't even qualify as hyperbole in the current circumstances.

 

[Jayhawker Soule]

Apparently the current barrage of about 200 ballistic missiles has come to an end. As of this writing, the NYT is reporting a single casualty, a Palestinian man near Jericho killed by falling shrapnel.

By way of comparison, Wikipedia, reporting on Iran's April attack, notes:

Israel said that the coalition, whose defensive efforts were codenamed Iron Shield,[27] destroyed 99 percent of the incoming weapons,[28][29][30] most before they reached Israeli airspace.[31] A U.S. official said that at least nine Iranian missiles had struck two Israeli airbases, causing minor damage.[5] Some of the ballistic missiles were shot down in space by the Arrow system.[32] The missiles caused minor damage to the Nevatim Airbase in southern Israel, which remained operational.[33][34][35] In Israel, a 7-year-old Israeli Bedouin girl was struck and injured by part of a missile, and 31 other people either suffered minor injuries while rushing to shelters or were treated for anxiety. Jordan reported some shrapnel falling on its territory, causing little damage or injuries.[33][34] [source]​

And now analyst Bakak Ravid, while being interviewed on CNN, is suggesting that there has never been a more opportune time for Netanyahu to use the current escalation as grounds for an attack aimed at taking out Iran's nuclear program.

 

[metis]

It is Iran that behind almost all the turmoil in the Middle East, so...

 

[Jayhawker Soule]

Two very different headlines from this morning ...

• The New Arab: Israel suffers 'mass casualty event' by Hezbollah fighters during Lebanon invasion attempt
• Times of Israel: IDF announces 1st soldier killed fighting in south Lebanon as troops battle Hezbollah

In the New Arab article we are told ...

Israel has placed a strict gag order on local media reporting on its operations on the border with Lebanon and there has been no word from the military about casualties.​

It must be very effective. I've yet to find this "mass casualty event" reported in Haaretz, Al Jazeera, The Guardian, or The New York Times. I'll keep looking ...

 

[Jayhawker Soule]

Rightly or wrongly, I tend to view The Times of Israel (TOI) as one of the more centrist Israeli news sources standing between Haaretz on the left and Israel Hayom on the right. Perhaps this is why I read the following bellicose TOI editorial with some alarm:

In April, Israel responded to the first-ever direct Iranian attack with a relatively mild, tactical raid on elements of the missile defense system protecting Iran’s nuclear facility at Natanz. Speculative talk here in the past few hours has been of Israel, this time, striking anything from other Iranian air defense systems, to oil and other energy targets, to nuclear facilities.​

​

But whatever Israel opts to do or not do in the short term, there must be no doubt about its core imperative. And that is, together with the United States, to accelerate the demise of the ideologically and territorially rapacious death-cult regime in Tehran that abuses its people, terrorizes the region and is working assiduously to destroy Israel.​

​

If Tuesday’s strike was evidence of that regime’s relative weakness, so much the better. If not, then the need to root it out is still more acute. [source]​

Meanwhile, declaring UN secretary general Guterres persona non grata is both understandable and worrisome.

 

[metis]

But whatever Israel opts to do or not do in the short term, there must be no doubt about its core imperative. And that is, together with the United States, to accelerate the demise of the ideologically and territorially rapacious death-cult regime in Tehran that abuses its people, terrorizes the region and is working assiduously to destroy Israel.

Amen.

 

[LuisDantas]

But almost accurate.
It's been Israel's approach to "self defense",
ie, to relish the death & destruction of Muslims.

Sure, if you insist on knowing nothing whatsoever of Middle East politics and the behavior and beliefs of Muslim communities.

If you can live in that make-believe world, then it is "almost accurate".

For shame...

 

[LuisDantas]

It is Iran that behind almost all the turmoil in the Middle East, so...

As most things in this complicated world of reality and facts, there isn't a single, sole cause.

It is foolish to disregard the attitudes of the Iranian regime. It is also foolish and just as dangerous to disregard Israel's.

 

[Revoltingest]

Sure, if you insist on....

Nothing useful ever starts out thus.

 

[Jayhawker Soule]

Amen.

My preface would be that, in the future, you quote the news source directly instead of attributing to me a perspective that I clearly labelled bellicose. Perhaps I should have also quoted Israel Hayom:

​

It seems that in its response, Israel needs to consider how far it wants to escalate this now fully overt war with Iran. In theory, all options are on the table (including a strike on nuclear sites), but Israel must account for the possibility of a broader regional conflict. Iran could retaliate not just against Israel but also against its overt and covert allies - from the U.S. to Saudi Arabia and Jordan.​

​

In this situation, before acting, Israel would do well to coordinate its response with Washington, especially given that the U.S. is weeks away from elections and could be drawn into deeper military involvement than it planned. Israel also needs to consider the impact of escalating the conflict on active fronts in Lebanon and Gaza, which could flare up even more. Yesterday's attack in Jaffa serves as a reminder that the West Bank is also volatile and threatening, and the attack from there claimed a far heavier toll on Israel than the missile assault from Iran. [source]​

Do you say amen to this as well? Would you care to venture a guess concerning the civilian death count and/or the international repercussions? Let me suggest two:

• the immediate execution of the 66 hostages presumed to be still alive in Gaza, and
• a MAGA victory as the nation seeks the false security of a bellicose xenophobic president.

Amen?

 

[Jayhawker Soule]

Two very different headlines from this morning ...

• The New Arab: Israel suffers 'mass casualty event' by Hezbollah fighters during Lebanon invasion attempt
• Times of Israel: IDF announces 1st soldier killed fighting in south Lebanon as troops battle Hezbollah

In the New Arab article we are told ...

Israel has placed a strict gag order on local media reporting on its operations on the border with Lebanon and there has been no word from the military about casualties.​

It must be very effective. I've yet to find this "mass casualty event" reported in Haaretz, Al Jazeera, The Guardian, or The New York Times. I'll keep looking ...

Israel has just announced the death of additional soldiers in Lebanon. See, e.g., here ...

 

[Debater Slayer]

Sure, if you insist on knowing nothing whatsoever of Middle East politics and the behavior and beliefs of Muslim communities.

Muslim communities have no uniform, universal behavior and beliefs, just like other large religious and ideological communities don't. If anything, I think the notion that they do makes it easier for demonization and stereotypes to take hold.