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Sunday, October 08, 2023

10/08 Links Pt1: October 7th 2023 a day that will live in infamy, 700 Murdered, 2,000 Injured, 100+ Hostages

From Ian:

700 Israelis dead, 2,000 injured amid Hamas rockets and terror infiltrations
Hamas killed at least 600 Israelis on Saturday as it launched a massive offensive from the Gaza Strip, including firing more than 3,000 rockets and sending dozens of Palestinian terrorists to infiltrate the Jewish state.

Around 5:30 p.m., 11 hours into the terrorist attacks, there were still exchanges of fire at 22 locations inside Israel.

Just after 8 p.m., Hamas launched a massive barrage of rockets toward central Israel, with direct hits reported in Tel Aviv, Bat Yam and Givatayim.

Active combat continued between Israeli security forces and Hamas terrorists in Kibbutz Be’eri and Kibbutz Kfar Aza.

There were also reports of a hostage situation in Ofakim, located some 12 miles from the Gaza border.

Hamas claimed to be holding 163 Israelis hostage in Gaza.

More than 1,800 Israelis were evacuated to hospitals across the country, the largest number to Soroka Medical Center in Beersheva and many to Barzilai Medical Center in Ashkelon.

People were asked to donate blood across Israel. Because of the overwhelming response, only those with type O universal donor blood were asked to come.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu convened the Security Cabinet at the Kirya military headquarters in Tel Aviv.

“Since this morning, the State of Israel has been at war. Our first objective is to clear out the hostile forces that infiltrated our territory and restore the security and quiet to the communities that have been attacked,” said Netanyahu at the start of the meeting.

“The second objective, at the same time, is to exact an immense price from the enemy, within the Gaza Strip as well. The third objective is to reinforce other fronts so that nobody should mistakenly join this war.

“We are at war. In war, one needs to be level-headed. I call on all citizens of Israel to unite in order to achieve our highest goal—victory in the war,” added the premier.

In response, the Israel Air Force launched “Operation Swords of Iron,” initially striking 17 Hamas “military” compounds and four operational headquarters in Gaza.

The IDF was ordered to a “state of war readiness” and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant authorized the call-up of reserve troops.

He also announced a “special security situation” within 80 kilometers of the Gaza Strip, enabling the IDF to close relevant sites and impose safety restrictions on the population.
More than 100 Israelis captive in Gaza
Hamas terrorists abducted more than 100 Israeli citizens to the Gaza Strip during Saturday’s terrorist assault, Israel’s Government Press Office said in a Facebook post on Sunday.

That assertion came hours after the Israeli embassy in the United States cited the same number in a post on X (formerly Twitter). The embassy’s post was later deleted.

Earlier on Sunday, the Israel Defense Forces set up a situation room tasked with determining how many civilians and soldiers were kidnapped.

Maj. Gen. Yaniv Asor, the head of the IDF Personnel Directorate, asked Maj. Gen. (res.) Lior Carmeli to lead the effort.

Meanwhile, the Prime Minister’s Office in Jerusalem said that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appointed Brig. Gen. (res.) Gal Hirsch to coordinate the government efforts to locate missing persons.

Hamas claimed on Saturday to have abducted 163 Israelis and taken them to the Gaza Strip after dispatching dozens of terrorists into the Jewish state as part of a major attack.

The Foreign Ministry of Thailand said Sunday that Hamas abducted 11 of its citizens during the previous day’s attack on Israel from Gaza.

Channel 13 reported late Saturday afternoon that Israel has confirmed that at least 11 people have been taken hostage in the Hamas-ruled enclave.

Unconfirmed footage circulating online showed alleged Hamas terrorists ushering numerous Israelis into Gaza. A father interviewed by Channel 12 said his two daughters, aged 3 and 5, were missing and feared kidnapped.

There were also unconfirmed reports that more than a dozen Nepalese nationals, working in Israel, were abducted and taken to Gaza.

The IDF says the situation room will work to compile a “situational picture” for locating the captives, noting that “some families have already received messages about their loved ones.”
Israel-Hamas war: At least 260 bodies found after attack on Israeli music festival
At least 260 bodies were found after Hamas targeted a music festival in Israel as part of its incursion, rescuers have said.

Those killed at the Supernova festival near Re'im, in the south of the country are among hundreds killed so far.

The number dead at the music event in the desert region of Negev was given by the Israeli rescue service Zika on Sunday.

Social media footage shows people dancing late into Friday, before the attack in the early hours of Saturday.

People are then seen running through an open field with gunshots firing in the background in a separate clip.

Another video shows a young woman being forced onto a motorbike as she pleads with the two men taking her: "Please don't kill me."






President Isaac Herzog addresses Israel



** Jerusalem Post is under constant cyber attack and may not be reachable **

IDF chief: ‘It is time for war, not a round or operation’
In his first public comments since Hamas launched its multi-pronged attack on Saturday morning, Israel Defense Forces Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi warned citizens that “long and complex days of fighting” await the Jewish state.

“We have civilians and members of the security forces, some of whom are in the hands of the enemy,” Halevi told IDF officials during an assessment at the IDF Southern Command in Beersheva. “Therefore, it is time for war. Not a round, not an operation, time for war.”

“And in this war, the IDF will be strong and win,” said the military chief, while vowing to “maintain readiness in all arenas.”

“I know the last day was difficult; the price is a heavy price; I know there are many questions and a lot of frustration,” continued Halevi. “But we are now focusing forward on doing and solving the problem.”

Gaza’s ruling Hamas terror group killed at least 700 Israelis and wounded more than 2,000 on Saturday in a massive offensive launched from the Gaza Strip, including firing thousands of rockets and sending dozens of terrorists to infiltrate the Jewish state.

Hamas terrorists also abducted more than 100 Israeli citizens into Gaza during the terrorist assault, Israel’s Government Press Office said in a Facebook post on Sunday.

Halevi’s remarks came shortly before he joined Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for a security assessment at the Kirya military headquarters in Tel Aviv.
Israel shifts to ‘offensive phase’ of Gaza op after 700 killed
Israel’s Security Cabinet early on Sunday morning made a series of decisions marking the start of the offensive phase of “Operation Swords of Iron,” ordering the Israel Defense Forces to prepare for the “destruction of the military and governing capabilities of Hamas and [Palestinian] Islamic Jihad.”

“We are embarking on a long and difficult war that was forced on us by a murderous Hamas attack,” said Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu.

“We will restore security to the citizens of Israel and we will win,” he vowed.

“The first stage is ending at this time with the destruction of the vast majority of the enemy forces that infiltrated our territory. At the same time, we have begun the offensive phase, which will continue with neither limitations nor respite until the objectives are achieved,” he added.

Among the Cabinet’s decisions was to halt the supply of electricity, fuel and goods to the Gaza Strip.

On Saturday night, the Cabinet officially approved a war situation and the taking of significant military steps, as per Article 40 of Basic Law: The Government.

“The war that was forced on the State of Israel in a murderous terrorist assault from the Gaza Strip began at 6 a.m. yesterday (Saturday, 7 Oct. 2023),” a statement from the Prime Minister’s Office said.

As Israel readied its response to Saturday’s attacks, four divisions of reservists were being deployed to the Gaza border, joining the 35 battalions already deployed to the area, the army said.

Hamas killed at least 700 Israelis and wounded more than 2,000 on Saturday in a massive offensive launched from the Gaza Strip, including firing thousands of rockets and sending dozens of terrorists to infiltrate the Jewish state.

Of the 1,864 wounded, 19 remain in critical condition, the Israeli Health Ministry announced on Sunday morning. In addition, 326 Israelis sustained severe wounds, while 359 were moderately wounded.

According to the Health Ministry’s most recent figures, 821 people suffered light injuries, 20 were treated for anxiety and another 223 are under medical supervision.
IDF spokesperson: ‘Hamas was more barbaric and more brutal than ISIS’
Hamas’s war crimes against the people of Israel committed on Saturday during cross-border raids against the south were more barbaric and brutal than ISIS, Israel Defense Forces Spokesperson Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said in a statement to media on Sunday.

Speaking from IDF Southern Command in Beersheva, Hagari said: “This weekend, Hamas started a war against Israel with the worst massacre of innocent civilians in Israel’s history. Hamas was more barbaric and more brutal than ISIS. Let me be crystal clear: Israel will respond with determination and force to their unprovoked war crimes.”

Following Hamas’s murder of many hundreds of Israeli men, women and children, and the taking of dozens of hostages into Gaza, Israel has begun its “forceful, determined and sustained response,” said Hagari, stating that “our Air Force is attacking hundreds of Hamas and Islamic Jihad targets in Gaza. We follow international law while exercising our right and responsibility to protect our civilians.”

Israeli intelligence indicates that Hamas operatives are hiding among Gazan civilians inside schools and hospitals, said Hagari, adding that Hamas, like ISIS, seeks to maximize civilian casualties in order to cause the world to forget its massacre of hundreds of Israelis that began the war.

“Israel will do whatever it takes to protect our people and restore security to Israel. We are also looking to the north, with full readiness and we are fully coordinated with [the US’s Middle East Command] CENTCOM,” said Hagari.

“Those who attack us in the Middle East will face [a] decisive attack back,” he vowed.


‘SAVAGE TERRORISTS’: Attack on Israel is ‘our 9/11,’ says ambassador

Pentagon sends Israel weapons, redirects aircraft carrier to conflict area
The Pentagon announced on Sunday that it’s sending “additional equipment and resources, including munitions” to the Israel Defense Forces while redirecting a Carrier Strike Group to the Eastern Mediterranean.

The security assistance “will begin moving today and arriving in the coming days,” said U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III and the U.S. Department of Defense, adding that the decision was in response to the “abhorrent terrorist attack by Hamas.”

The steps followed detailed discussions with U.S. President Joe Biden. The White House confirmed earlier on Sunday that “the president directed additional support for Israel in the face of this unprecedented terrorist assault by Hamas.”

Austin said that the United States would also send the USS Gerald R. Ford Carrier Strike Group to the region, including the USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN-78), the world’s largest aircraft carrier and the newest in the U.S. fleet, the Ticonderoga-class guided-missile cruiser USS Normandy and four Arleigh-Burke-class guided-missile destroyers.

“We have also taken steps to augment U.S. Air Force F-35, F-15, F-16 and A-10 fighter aircraft squadrons in the region,” Austin said.

“Strengthening our joint force posture, in addition to the materiel support that we will rapidly provide to Israel, underscores the United States’ ironclad support for the Israel Defense Forces and the Israeli people,” he added.
IDF shells Lebanon after Hezbollah fires into Israel
The Israel Defense Forces on Sunday hit targets in Southern Lebanon with artillery after Hezbollah terrorists there fired mortars at the Jewish state.

The military confirmed that there were no casualties in the Hezbollah attack.

The shells landed in the contested Mount Dov region close to the Blue Line, which demarcates the 120-kilometer (75-mile) border and was created in the year 2000 by U.N. cartographers to verify Israel’s withdrawal from Lebanon.

Hezbollah claimed responsibility for Sunday’s fire, saying it targeted three Israeli military sites in solidarity with the “Palestinian resistance.”

In response, the IDF carried out a drone strike against “Hezbollah infrastructure,” with Israeli media reporting the targeting of a tent the Iran-backed terror group set up in Israeli territory in April.

The Hezbollah outpost was constructed north of the border fence but on the Israeli side of the U.N.-marked Blue Line. The position, across from an Israeli military base, was reportedly initially manned by three to eight armed terrorists.
IDF evacuating civilians from Gaza border region
The Israel Defense Forces is evacuating civilians from towns and villages located near the border with the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip.

The communities include the village of Ibim, Moshav Netiv HaAsar and a slew of kibbutzim: Nahal Oz, Erez, Nir Am, Mefalsim, Kfar Aza, Gevim, Or HaNer, Yad Mordechai, Karmia, Zikim, Kerem Shalom, Kissufim, Holit, Sufa, Nirim, Nir Oz, Ein Hashlosha, Nir Yitzhak, Be’eri, Magen, Re’im, Sa’ad and Alumim.

“Further evacuations will be carried out according to the assessment of the situation,” said the military.

IDF Spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said, “Our mission for the upcoming 24 hours is to evacuate all residents living around Gaza” to enable a “scan of the territory” to ensure no terrorists remain.

“There are tens of thousands of combat soldiers in the area. We’ll reach each and every community and kill every terrorist in Israel,” said Hagari.
Frantic families plead for help after loved ones kidnapped to Gaza
Families who have lost members in Saturday’s terrorist attacks in the western Negev or whose sons and daughters were taken as hostages to the Gaza Strip say that no officials have spoken with them and that they feel forsaken.

“We feel abandoned, that no one cares about us,” Orit Meir told Channel 12. She saw Hamas men leading her son into captivity, in a video posted online.

Almog was one of hundreds who tried to flee a “Nature Party” near Kibbutz Re’im when Hamas terrorists burst onto the scene, spraying machine-gun fire in all directions.

“He went to a party to celebrate because he was so excited about a new job he was supposed to start,” his mother said. “Suddenly, in the morning he called me and said, ‘The army shut down our party. There are volleys [of gunfire] from all directions, I’m running to a protected place.’ I haven’t had any contact with him since.

“Then I learned that together with the friend who was traveling with him, he tried to escape in a car. Terrorists shot at them and they were captured by Hamas,” she said.

The family of Yaffe Ader, 85, who was filmed sitting next to armed terrorists as she was driven into the Gaza Strip, told the news channel: “We don’t know anything except for the pictures we saw. We lost contact with her at 8 in the morning, it was clear to us that something had happened. … No one spoke to us.”

They noted that Yaffe’s eldest grandson, Tamir, is also missing after he headed out with an emergency squad to protect his community from the Hamas invaders.

“He is the father of two sweet children. We are helpless, we want to help them. Grandma is a sick woman who takes a lot of medication. We don’t know what her medical and mental state is,” family members said.
The Caroline Glick Show: Israel at War
In the wake of Hamas’s invasion of Israel on Saturday morning, Caroline Glick provides a rundown of what has happened to date, and shares some thoughts on the meaning of the war and the only way that it can end with Israel and its people safe.


‘United States stands with Israel,’ Biden says in short remarks on Hamas terrorist attacks
U.S. President Joe Biden delivered a little more than two minutes worth of remarks about the Hamas terrorist attacks in Israel on Saturday afternoon in a nationally televised address and did not take questions from the press.

“Today, the people of Israel are under attack,” he began. “Orchestrated by a terrorist organization, Hamas. In this moment of tragedy, I want to say to them and to the world, and to terrorists everywhere: The United States stands with Israel. We will not ever fail to have her back.”

“We will make sure that they have the help that their citizens need and they can continue to defend themselves,” he said. “The world has seen appalling images. Thousands of rockets, in the space of hours, raining down on Israeli cities.”

“I got up this morning and started this at 7:30, 8:00, my calls,” the president added. “Hamas terrorists crossing into Israel. Killing not only Israeli soldiers but Israeli civilians. In the street. In their homes. Innocent people murdered, wounded. Entire families taken hostage by Hamas.”

He noted that all occurred “just days” after Israel the High Holidays. “It’s unconscionable,” he said. “You know, when I spoke to Prime Minister [Benjamin] Netanyahu this morning, I told him the United States stand with the people of Israel in the face of these terrorist assaults.”

“Israel has the right to defend itself and its people. Full stop. There’s never a justification for terrorist attacks,” Biden added. “My administration’s support for Israeli security is rock solid and unwavering.”

“Let me say this as clearly as I can,” the president added, pointing at the cameras. “This is not a moment for any party hostile to Israel to exploit these attacks to seek advantage. The world is watching.”

Biden said he has also been in contact with King Abdullah II of Jordan and with members of the U.S. Congress.

He said that he has directed his team to be in touch with Israeli counterparts and to be in “constant contact” with leaders in the region, including Egypt, Turkey, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Oman, the United Arab Emirates, European partners and the Palestinian Authority.
Biden Admin Deletes Tweet Instructing Israel to Stand Down Amid Hamas Terror
The Biden administration was forced to delete a Saturday morning tweet from its Palestinian Affairs office calling on Israel to stand down amid a fresh wave of Hamas terror attacks that have left scores of Jews dead and the region on the cusp of war.

"We unequivocally condemn the attack of Hamas terrorists and the loss of life that has incurred," wrote the U.S. Office of Palestinian Affairs, a diplomatic post opened by the Biden administration when it entered office and restarted relations with the Palestinian government. "We urge all sides to refrain from violence and retaliatory attacks. Terror and violence solve nothing."

The tweet was quickly deleted following outrage from Republican lawmakers and Israel’s defenders, who accused the Biden administration of abandoning Israel and its right to self defense amid the deadliest and most sophisticated attack on the Jewish state in decades.

When the Washington Free Beacon asked about the missive on Saturday, a State Department official confirmed the tweet was erased because it "was not approved and does not represent U.S. policy."

"The United States condemns the terrorist attack against Israel and unequivocally supports Israel’s right to defend itself, as the President and Secretary have both made clear," the spokesman said.

The administration’s about-face is certain to add confusion to U.S. policy toward Israel as the country faces down one of the most dangerous situations in recent memory.
Disrupting Saudi-Israel Ties May Have Motivated Hamas Attack, Blinken Says
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said part of the motivation for Hamas’ latest attack on Israel may have been disrupting a potential normalizing of Israel-Saudi Arabia ties and said Washington will announce new assistance for Israel on Sunday.

Hamas fighters rampaged through Israeli towns as the country suffered its bloodiest day in decades on Saturday and battered Palestinians with air strikes in Gaza on Sunday, with hundreds reportedly killed on both sides. The spiraling violence threatens a major new Middle East war.

The attack by Hamas launched at dawn on Saturday represented the biggest and deadliest incursion into Israel since Egypt and Syria launched a sudden assault in an effort to reclaim lost territory in the Yom Kippur war 50 years ago.

“It wouldn’t be a surprise that part of the motivation may have been to disrupt efforts to bring Saudi Arabia and Israel together, along with other countries that may be interested in normalizing relations with Israel,” Blinken told CNN in an interview on Sunday.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said last month he believed his country was on the cusp of peace with Saudi Arabia, predicting it could reshape the Middle East. Saudi Arabia, the home of Islam’s two holiest shrines, has long insisted on the Palestinians’ right to statehood as a condition of recognizing Israel – something that many members of Netanyahu’s nationalist religious coalition have long resisted.

The United States said on Sunday that Saudi-Israel normalization efforts should continue despite the latest attack.

“We think it would be in both countries’ interests to continue to pursue this possibility,” U.S. Deputy National Security adviser Jon Finer told Fox News Sunday.
Hamas attack: The greatest intelligence failure in Israeli history?

Have you seen them? These are the people still missing

Operation Swords of Iron: These are the names of the fallen



Family of grandmother kidnapped by Hamas plead for help
The family of Yaffa Adar, an elderly Israeli woman who was taken hostage by Hamas and taken to the Gaza Strip on Saturday, are leaning for help.

Footage of Adar surfaced shortly after the Hamas invasion, in which she can be seen surrounded by terrorists and paraded through Gaza in a jeep.

Adar's granddaughter, Adva, wrote on Facebook, "Nobody speaks to us, no one knows what to say, we found out all the information from the Internet.

"My grandmother who founded the kibbutz with her own two hands, who believed in Zionism, who loved this country that abandoned her, was kidnapped. Probably dumped somewhere, suffering from severe pain, without medicine, without food, and without water, dying of fear, alone.

"Let this image be etched into the memories of all those in this disgraceful government who are disconnected from reality. Let them understand that there are people here, elderly and children, women and men, with names and families. I want them to not sleep at night and turn over every piece of land until these people come home."
Survivor testimony from music festival attack
Gili Yoskovich, a survivor of Saturday's festival that was attacked by Hamas terrorists shares her story.




Israel must make it clear: The era surgical strikes is over
Beyond the heavy cost in lives, the surprise offensive by Hamas has dealt a severe blow to Israel's image and deterrence. A comparison can be made to the damage inflicted by Al-Qaid on the United States in the September 11 terror attacks in which almost 3,000 people were killed.

The attack carried out by Hamas has also fractured the trust of Israel's citizens in the defense establishment. That is one of the goals of terrorism. The time for hard questions, debriefings, and drawing conclusions will come, but right now we need to devote all our attention and efforts to the battle against Hamas and to give our unreserved support to the commanders and soldiers, who, as they struggle to digest what has happened, will need to march bravely into battle and to determine the outcome. They face many and complex challenges. The dimension of time does not have an equal effect on everyone, and therefore operations against them should be prioritized and operations should be conducted in a cool and calculated manner.

First, Israel needs to clear out any Hamas terrorists still left inside Israel (an analytical reconstruction of the information and images we possess should be conducted to check the numbers and make sure no terrorists are left). At the same time, we need to re-establish control of the entire length of the border, formulate a complete and reliable picture of the missing and those held hostage, and prepare for the possibility that additional Iranian proxies will join the fighting. We can assume that Hamas will attack Israel not just from the West Bank but from Lebanon and other arenas.

The political echelon should instruct the IDF to immediately create a 300-meter wide (900-foot) security zone on the Gazan side running the length of the border and declare that any Palestinian that enters this zone is placing his life at risk. The rules of engagement should be changed to reflect this. Supervision of this security zone and the use of lethal fire can be conducted from the air and will not necessarily require a physical military presence.

With regard to the operation in Gaza, according to the statement put out by the Prime Minister's Office, the aim of the operational decisions taken is to bring about the destruction of Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad's military and political power in a way that will negate their ability and desire to threaten and harm the citizens of Israel for many years to come. Without getting into complex analyses, the first goal Israel must achieve in the Gaza campaign is to reduce the harm caused to its deterrence by exacting a very high price from Hamas. Unfortunately, in our neighborhood, the price is determined primarily by the extent of casualties.

The current circumstances not only justify but necessitate a departure from the policy of surgical strikes. While they provide precision and show Israel's special capabilities, they require long protracted, and complex preparations and in any event cannot constitute a sufficient price tag for the severe attack carried out by Hamas.
It's not the 1973 war all over again; it's 9/11
There is much talk about how the tragedy of the past week is a redux of the Yom Kippur War of 1973. It's also symbolic, as they both took place 50 years apart, almost to the day. Indeed there are quite a few similarities: The intelligence lapses; the operational shock; the painful first strike by the enemy; the High Holidays; the emergency military call-up in the middle of Shabbat. It is as if one trauma dictates the interpretation of the second trauma.

The memory of the past indeed shapes the perspective on the present. That's natural, perhaps necessary, as a means of dealing with the chaos and shock. It had been less than ten hours since the event began when one commentator announced that this time too, there would be no escape from the domestic political consequences. Because if we go from October 2023 to October 1973, we can cut straight to the findings – and perhaps, straight to the conclusions. Cynicism does not stop at the trauma threshold.

But the shock of the tragic Simchat Torah reminds me also – and perhaps even more so – of what I felt on September 11, 2001. It may be a generational and cultural issue. Just like back then we are now glued to the TV screens and reports to keep updated on an event that continues to roll and unfold beneath our feet. It's not just a terrorist act that we follow it as breaking news as the IDF hunts down the perpetrators. Rather, it's an event that has multiple dimensions as we try to process the situation on the go, seeing people on live television experiencing horrors. Trapped; taken hostage; captured; calling their loved ones as try to evade the terrorists under the mattress and in the dark shelter, whispering into the phone so that the evildoers who had entered would not notice, saying what they believe are their final words because their fate has been sealed unless some miracle happens. But no miracle is performed, and no soldier is there to rescue them.

Our soft underbelly was exposed, as was our helplessness. That's the shock. And the fact that the situation continues to unfold and we are told that we are "under attack." In the present tense. The present continues. In a live broadcast. And then the casualty numbers just grow exponentially, and accumulate, and gather, and the shock solidifies on the faces, in the streets, on the roads. And it's palpable in the air. Something we haven't experienced with such intensity. An order of magnitude of a calamity.

I put aside the blame game for a moment. It's a failure, and we'll investigate it. Definitely. And heads will roll. Everything is correct. But in the realm of national experience, in the realm of consciousness, in the realm of shock, it's closer to the events of September 11th, and in that, October 2023 (slightly) differs from October 1973, and closer to September 2001. It's something that cannot be fully processed, comprehended, or "investigated" at the level of military or political logic. It's something that emerges from a darkness of cruelty and brutality that is just beyond disbelief, that cannot be fully fathomed.
John Podhoretz: First Thoughts on the War
Israel spent the past couple of years in a martial daze in which it did not take full measure of Hamas’s ideas and purposes and intentions and capabilities. That will be the subject of the post-war examination inside Israel of what happened this weekend. That examination is likely to create an entirely new political reality—and may wash away two generations of highly flawed leaders. The years during which those leaders argued to stalemate about almost everything will likely be viewed as the slow-acting poison that made possible the horrors of October 7, 2023—the single day on which more Jews died and were wounded than any other since the Nazi death camps eight decades ago.

Still, people who always want to lay some blame on Israel for the threats against it are leaning rather heavily on the talking point that this is an “intelligence failure”—as though Israel somehow summoned this evil upon itself and therefore what we should talk about is what Israel did wrong. That’s like if the law blamed someone for a massacre committed against their family in their house because of a faulty lock. The victim of the massacre will spend the rest of his life tearing himself apart for not having dealt with the lock, and will suffer greatly as a result. But he is not guilty of the crime. The murderer is the criminal, and we can never forget that.

The task for Israel now is to destroy Hamas. This is not just like how it’s a police department’s job to find the perpetrator of the massacre. This is something much larger and far more fundamental. There can be no lesser a response than the destruction of Hamas by the Jewish state—because this was one of the bloodiest pogroms in human history. Hamas infiltrators took Jews and slaughtered Jews en masse. As I write the death toll from a single morning‘s activities is well above 700, with thousands more injured. There is no difference here, even numerically, from the horrifyingly countless stories of the Nazi forces moving into a town in Poland, rounding up the Jews, making them dig a trench, and then murdering them with gunfire in the trench.

Saving Jews from pogroms is the secular purpose of a Jewish state. The pogroms in Russia and elsewhere are what fueled the mass Jewish migration to Israel known as the “Second Aliyah” at the beginning of the 20th century. Jews have ingathered in Israel for the past 140 years not to make themselves a convenient target for anti-Semitic monsters but to gather strength and force and arms and tactics and skills and the absolute self-assurance necessary to kill anyone who comes for the Jews.


A Wounded Israel Is a Fiercer One
It was a horror. Hour after hour, families sat huddled in their homes awaiting rescue from the Hamas fighters streaming through their towns and villages. Families were butchered in cold blood. In one home, a terrorist shot the parents dead, took a child's cellphone and started broadcasting it all in a livestream on their Facebook account.

Grandmothers were pulled in wheelchairs to waiting vehicles ready to carry them as hostages into Gaza. Then came the mothers carrying babies. Footage circulated on social media, put there by Hamas, of an Israeli child asking his mother if the gunmen that surrounded them were going to kill them.

A tectonic shift has occurred in Israel's psyche. Where Hamas had always seemed an implacable but ultimately containable enemy, it had now proven it could bring the danger into Israeli homes, could slaughter children and kidnap grandmothers. Hamas was once a tolerable threat. It just made itself an intolerable one.

Analyst Avi Issacharoff tweeted, Hamas "success may turn into a Pyrrhic victory. It seems to me there's now a consensus in the Israeli elite and among the public that what was won't be anymore."

As a result of the raw cruelty of the assault and the impossibility of ever satisfying the assailant's demands, Israelis are uniting, from left to right. None of the political problems have been resolved, but Hamas brought home to Israelis the intolerable weakness of a divided Israel.

Israelis believe they have been left no choice but to fight desperately to ensure Saturday's images never return. These heirs of a collective memory forged in the fires of the 20th century cannot handle the experience of defenselessness Hamas has imposed on them.

A safe Israel can spend much time and resources worrying about the humanitarian fallout from a Gaza ground war; a more vulnerable Israel cannot.
Daniel Gordis: From Joy to Terror: A Postcard from Jerusalem
It is tragic that it took a disaster of this magnitude to bring the nation of Israel together today. But Hamas has managed to do that. The staggering reports, at the moment, of 250 dead and 1,450 wounded, the images of family members looking through body bags at the entrance to the town of Netivot—that will bind Israelis together in a shared grief and rage they haven’t known in at least two generations.

They will be bound, too, by the knowledge that death may not be the worst thing that happened today. The army also posted on social media pleas with Israeli citizens not to repost videos that Hamas is uploading to Telegram, showing Israeli civilians being taken into captivity in Gaza. The army does not want families to learn that their loved ones have been captured from Hamas TV.

“We saw her on the Hamas video, so we know she’s been kidnapped, but the army isn’t telling us,” one mother told a reporter, explaining why social media was more reliable than the army. There will be rage at Hamas, but at the army, and the government. That, too, will bind Israelis together as they haven’t been in many years.

For eight years, our son was a commando in the army. When he got out, and ceased being called up for reserve duty, we heaved a sigh of relief. Since then, he’s gotten married. He’s in his thirties now, and in good shape, but nothing like he was back then. And he has two kids. His youngest, his daughter, was born less than two months ago.

An hour ago, he called us to say he’d been called up. Like thousands of other Israeli parents, we're now watching what's unfolding with even greater horror, more worry.

No one can know how many soldiers will pay the ultimate price to keep this country alive, or how many more mothers and grandmothers and ordinary people not in uniform will be murdered. In fact, it feels like no one here knows anything that matters. We are feeling something Israelis have not felt in a long time. This is a feeling that has been obscured, perhaps, by many years of building and success and relative security. It is that feeling that has always been part of this haunting, sad, beautiful, holy place—the terror of not knowing what tomorrow will bring.
Melanie Phillips: The Barbaric War Against Israel
Dozens of Israelis including elderly people, women and small children were abducted from their homes or dragged out of cars, forced into Hamas vehicles and are now being held as hostages in Gaza. This is unthinkable and unspeakable. It is wrong to call this terrorism. It is all-out war against Israel. This was a lethal and overwhelming onslaught aimed at Israeli civilians. Every one of those attacks was therefore a war crime.

Whenever Israel has launched military operations in Gaza - which it does only when attacks from there have become intolerable - some in the West complain that its response is "disproportionate." What they mean is that not enough Israelis have been killed.
Gil Troy: Israel Faces Its 9/11
Death, destruction and mayhem rained down on the Jewish state. But so did a moral clarity and resolve that characterizes democracies under attack - and that terrorists always underestimate.

A functional nation is most responsible for protecting its own citizens, especially when threatened by adversaries who respect no rules of war or simple decency. Israel needs to fight this latest battle with a clarity that its many previous conflicts with Gaza lacked and do what it takes to protect its citizens.

Israel may have brutal enemies and continuing political challenges. But Israelis rank as among the world's happiest people, because they share a sense of common destiny, a sense of community, and a sense of purpose that gives their lives meaning amid the danger.
Brendan O'Neill: A pogrom against Israel
Even as we condemn the invasion, we must also reflect on what it might tell us about the situation in the Middle East. To my mind, it points to a possible weakening of Israeli resolve alongside an emboldening of Israel’s Islamist enemies. There’s no avoiding the fact that we have just witnessed a catastrophic intelligence failure on Israel’s part. This is a nation famed for its thorough and daring intelligence-gathering, which has infiltrated its haters everywhere from Gaza to Lebanon to Syria. And yet today it was utterly taken by surprise. An attack that will have been months in the planning somehow escaped its notice. This will worry Israelis, profoundly.

Is it possible Israel is losing its moral and political focus? It’s been rocked by domestic strife this year. The protests over judicial reform – following the Netanyahu government’s decision to limit the powers of the Supreme Court – have stirred up huge tension. Including within the elite itself. Former Mossad chiefs alongside Israeli big business have expressed displeasure with the government. A lack of national unity, disarray in establishment ranks, may have caused Israel to take its eye off its enemies. Internal angst dragging attention from external threats. A hard question: is national resilience withering in Israel, and if it is, what sign will that send to its militant foes on its borders?

Regional power plays might also have shaped today’s invasion. In recent months, Israel and Saudi Arabia have been making moves to establish diplomatic ties – to achieve ‘normalisation’, as it’s called. This has unnerved Iran, which of course is locked into numerous proxy conflicts with the Saudis over influence in the Middle East. Might Hamas be doing the bidding of its sponsors in Iran with today’s bold and horrific attack on Israel? And how will Saudi Arabia respond? The possibility of even greater instability in the region – in Israel itself, in Lebanon and in the various sites of Iranian-Saudi proxy war-making – feels very real indeed right now.

For now, though, as we await more clarity on the planning and impact of the Hamas invasion, we should oppose it as a grotesque violation of national integrity and life itself. The West’s leftist haters of Israel will say it’s an ‘act of resistance’. These apologists for radical Islam will dress up this invasion by a movement that was founded with the express purpose of killing Jews as a ‘rebellion’. They will expose, unwittingly, the true extent of their own moral decomposition. For if the world’s only Jewish state angers you more than any other state, even as its civilians are being gunned down and burnt out, then, truly, you have left the realm of politics and entered the realm of bigotry. You have become an intellectual facilitator of the pogrom.
Noah Rothman: Hamas Attack an Act of Medieval Barbarism
In the invasion of Israel by the Iran-backed terrorist organization Hamas, Israeli seniors were slaughtered while waiting for the bus. Concert-goers were fired upon. People were gunned down in their cars. Citizens were hunted down from house to house, murdered while trying to protect their families. Throats were slashed. Structures were torched. This was a massacre. The surprise attack was pared with a barrage of thousands of missiles originating in Gaza, which rained down on Israeli civilian targets across the country.

When the initial shock of Hamas' horrific attack has worn off, you're sure to hear false equivalences and fallacies designed to stay the hands of officials in Jerusalem. Acts of medieval barbarism like these are, if not excused, rationalized away by those who insist the occupation Israel dissolved painfully in 2005 persists insofar as Gaza is "besieged." Hamas, the terrorist group that ascended to power in the wake of Israel's withdrawal, transformed its stronghold into a fortress, the foremost purpose of which was to wage war on the Jewish state.

There will be calls for Israelis to observe proportionality. But what would that look like? What is a proportionate response to the deliberate slaughter of civilians and hostage-taking designed to free more terrorists who would soon be returned to the fight against Israel? There will be those who think there are shades of grey, sprawling trans-generational grievances to account for, and regional dynamics that complicate this situation. They are wrong.
Lt.-Col Peter Lerner: A Wakeup Call for Israel Enough with proportionality: It's time to take radical steps
Exactly 50 years and one day after the Yom Kippur War, Israel found itself again facing a surprise attack, with outcomes that are no less horrifying. You don't need to be a great expert to understand that there was an intelligence lapse and that the IDF was caught unprepared to a fault.

The time to investigate the oversight will come. Right now efforts must be concentrated on turning defeat into victory. The way to do that is to take the initiative in our response and first of all to defeat the enemy. It is not enough to "demand that they pay a huge price," as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said. In the circumstances imposed on us, and to quote the Chief of Staff David Elazar [Dado] during the Yom Kippur War, "We must smash them to smithereens." That is, bring them to their knees until they scream enough, hit him mercilessly, and mow them down to the ground. Without High Court rulings and without B'Tselem interventions, without limitations, without proportionality, and without mercy. And if we are worrying about what The Hague's International Court of Justice will have to say, there are enough volunteers who will do the job and remain in Israel until the last day of their lives.

We have taken all of the abovementioned obstacles upon ourselves since we left the Gaza Strip in 2005. They brought us to an endless number of futile military operations against Hamas, and finally to the terrible Simchat Torah war. Well, now that a war has broken out, it must be used to finally shatter the unbearable equilibrium with which the terrorist organizations in Gaza have been striking against us for a decade and a half. Now is the time to turn the tables.

What does this mean in practical terms? This means sending Gaza back into the Stone Age, abducting senior Hamas officials and their families, destroying their magnificent houses, the tall buildings, the restaurants, and the promenades in Gaza.

Energy Minister Israel Katz took the right step and stopped the supply of Israeli electricity to Gaza – even on normal days it is impossible to understand why it exists. This stand must be reinforced. In other words, the electricity must not be reconnected until the last of our people are returned, including Avraham [Avera] Mengistu and the remains of IDF soldiers Oron Shaul and Hadar Goldin. If that doesn't help, the existing power plant in Gaza must also be bombed.

In addition, fishing must be completely banned, and a demand put out that the Egyptians immediately close the Rafah crossing, stop all and any supplies to Gaza, including water and food, until Gazan mothers cry out to heaven for their suffering. Also, the Hamas headquarters located in the Shifa Hospital, or any other location, should have been bombed already yesterday, without any hesitation.

There is no excuse and no justifiable reason for our people to suffer while their people continue life as usual. It is not acceptable by any standard.

There is no doubt that we still have difficult days and terror ahead of us. But, unfortunately, in this super-modern era, where everything is broadcast in real time, we have been condemned to a brutal medieval war. And in war as in war, we must plow through, overcome the shock and the pain, and reach a victory that will pound a stunning blow on the enemy, from which he will never be able to recover, such a blow that will make it clear to all players in the region, those who are now rubbing their hands in glee, that Israel may have been taken by surprise once again, but that at least in the next 50 years, no one will mess with her again.


WSJ Ed. Hamas' Surprise Attack a Reminder of Israel's Existential Peril
The scenes of Israeli civilians gunned down in the streets, children and grandmothers taken hostage, and Palestinians cheering it all are awful to behold. Israel is on the front lines, but all of the democratic world is a target.

One myth busted is that Palestinians will live in peace with Israel if they get a state of their own. Not as long as Hamas and Islamic Jihad can terrorize and dominate Palestinians. Israel ceded Gaza to the Palestinians in 2005, but Hamas took over in 2007 and assassinates anyone in the territory who challenges its goal of expelling the Jews from all of Israel.

And please no more condemnation of Israel's "blockade" or "occupation." Israel has been allowing 17,000 Gazans to work in Israel each day and would like to allow more. No Israeli government can afford to give up control of more territory that could become a launching point for Hamas attacks.

The temptation at the White House will be to give Israel a week or so to respond with a free hand, and then lean on the Netanyahu government to stand down. That is always the U.S. pattern, but it shouldn't be this time.

The attacks on Israel, horrible as they are, at least provide some moral clarity about the stakes in the Middle East. One side seeks the destruction of Israel and the Jews. The other arms itself to protect its citizens and state from that destruction.


Jake Marlowe 'tried to help people in last moments' before vanishing
A lifelong friend of Jake Marlowe, the 26-year-old Briton missing in Israel, has described how the Londoner sacrificed his own safety to help others coming under attack from Hamas terrorists at a dance festival near Gaza on Saturday.

Jake, an Arsenal fan and metal musician from north London, was working as part of the security team at an all-night dance music festival being held near Kibbutz Re'im, close to the Gaza Strip, to celebrate the end of the Succot, when the terrorists descended from the air and opened fire indiscriminately. He had been working alongside his friends Shlomi Ziv, and Aviv Eliyahu, who have also been reported missing.

His parents, Lisa and Michael, who live in Potters Bar, Hertfordshire, have launched a desperate appeal for help as they attempt to locate their son’s whereabouts from the UK.

A carpenter and former pupil at the Jewish Free School in London, Jake, who also rgoes by the Hebrew name Kobi, moved to Israel in November 2021 and lives in the northern city of Ma'alot.

Daniel Aboudy, a lifelong friend who attended nursery, primary and secondary school with the missing Briton, has been close with Jake since the pair were just two years old.
Egyptian media: Policeman kills 2 Israelis, Egyptian at tourist site
Local media say an Egyptian policeman opened fire on Israeli tourists in the Mediterranean city of Alexandria, killing at least two Israelis and one Egyptian.

Extra News television channel, which has close ties to Egyptian security agencies, quoted an unidentified security official as saying that another person was wounded in the attack, which took place at Pompey's Pillar in Alexandria.

It says the suspected assailant was detained.
Israelis overwhelm blood donation centers as war begins
Natalie Selvin’s apartment in Herzliya is the only one in her building with a “safe room” fortified against missile attack.

So when she heard her neighbors across the hall running into the communal staircase as warning sirens wailed outside during Saturday’s massive surprise attack by Hamas terrorists in Gaza, she invited them in to shelter with her.

Selvin, ISRAEL21c’s social media coordinator, recalls that later in the day she saw an urgent appeal from a local blood donation center. Israel’s hospitals, especially in the south and the Tel Aviv area, were treating hundreds of casualties and desperately needed blood for transfusions.

She doesn’t have a car and was prepared to make the half-hour walk to the donation center, even though that made her understandably nervous with the threat of incoming missiles.

And then she thought of the neighbors.

“I told them about the call for blood donations, and they said, ‘Yes, we’d love to go and we’ll drive.’

“We got there at 7:10pm, 20 minutes before the drive was scheduled to begin, and the line was already super long,” she says.


MEMRI: MEMRI's Early Warning About Today's Attack In Israel

"I Saw My Wife and Daughters in Terrorists' Videos"
Yoni Asher, resident of Ganot Hadar village in the Sharon area, said on Saturday night that his wife and two daughters are missing, after they visited his mother-in-law at Kibbutz Nir Oz for the Simchat Torah holiday. Asher, said that his wife and daughters contacted him when terrorists entered the house and seized the grandmother's partner, and fears that they too were taken into the Gaza Strip. "The tracking of my wife's phone shows that it is in Khan Yunis. I'm afraid that she, our two daughters and my mother-in-law are also there. None of them have answered for five hours," he said.

Asher noted that his daughters are 3 and 5 years old, and added: "I have contacted all security forces." After several hours, Asher said that he saw his wife and daughters in videos that Hamas had distributed from Gaza.

"We receive very little information and cannot get in touch with the neighbors because the communication network has been down for a long time. I need to get proof, I ask that someone from the security forces or anyone to go there in person and get information about the whereabouts of my daughters, wife and mother-in-law," Asher told Ynet. "I turned to the German Embassy," he recounted. "My wife and her mother hold German passports. I contacted the police to file an official report, but they aren't saying anything."
2 Thai Workers Killed, 11 Captured by Hamas
Two Thais are now known to have died during the Hamas attacks on Israel on Saturday, the premier said after arriving in Hong Kong on Sunday afternoon.

Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin said he had received a report from Pannabha Chandraramya, Thai ambassador to Tel Aviv, that one more Thai national had perished in the conflict, raising the toll to two.

The ambassador said people of many nationalities had been kidnapped by Hamas militants, and battles were continuing along the border of the Gaza Strip. Israel had reoccupied only two areas, but neither contained workplaces for Thais, she said.

Foreign Affairs Minister Parnpree Bahiddha-Nukara said eight Thai people were injured and 11 Thais were captured.

Of the eight injured Thais, five were admitted to hospital and three others were awaiting rescue, the minister said.

Earlier on Sunday, Mr Srettha said a Thai worker was killed and about 11 others were captured during the Hamas attacks, while a total sky lockdown was delaying evacuations.
9 Nepalese Injured in Hamas Attack in Israel
At least nine Nepalese nationals were injured in the terrorist attack by the Hamas militant group in Israel on Saturday, the Nepal government said as it condemned the unprecedented assault and vowed solidarity with Tel Aviv.

The Nepali government has strongly condemned the "loss of precious human life" in the attack that also "injured many more”, said a statement issued Nepali Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

“At this critical hour, we convey our solidarity with the government of Israel,” the statement said.

When the Islamist group Hamas launched an attack in Israel, nine Nepalese were injured, two of them seriously, according to a Ministry of Foreign Affairs official.

“We have been informed that a farm where 14 Nepalese were working was also under attack, nine of the Nepalese have been reported injured while two of them are in serious condition,” the ministry said.

“The Government of Nepal extends heartfelt condolences and deepest sympathies to the people and the government of Israel as well as the victims of this cruel attack and their families,” reads the statement, adding that Nepal "wishes for the speedy recovery of the injured”.
Hamas Plans to Use Israeli Civilian Hostages as Human Shields
Hamas claimed to have over 100 Israeli civilians and soldiers held hostage in the Gaza Strip, which was confirmed by Israel and the US but not as the exact number.

The terrorist group said it is holding “far more than [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu thinks.” Hamas further claimed that the 163 people in its hands were “dispersed in tunnels throughout the Gaza Strip.”

At the same time, a White House official described the situation as “entire families kidnapped, including children.” The Israeli security apparatus admitted that the situation was unprecedented, and even Hamas had been surprised by the ease with which it managed to kidnap such a large number of people.

Terrifying images relayed by Hamas, showing the kidnapping of young Israelis and elderly people from southern communities, caused shock and awe throughout the country. A search center was set up by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), while many families remained without news of their loved ones well into the night.

While Netanyahu promised to wage a strong war of retaliation against Hamas, the presence of hostages in the Gaza Strip will undeniably complicate the army’s operations. So much so that Israel must necessarily expect a “long and difficult” operation, in the words of the premier.


PMW: Fatah calls to expand war to West Bank – “confrontation in all arenas”
Fatah: Terror massacre was “a morning of victory, joy, [and] pride” Abbas: Hamas massacre of Israeli civilians is “self-defense” and “Israeli escalation” Fatah calls for Palestinian “escalation” and to “intensify the confrontation in all arenas of confrontation with the occupation”

Fatah urges all Palestinians to join the terror against Israel and “to take action and participate in this story of heroism”

Fatah: “Glory to the Martyrs, healing to the wounded, and victory to our mighty Palestinian people”

Fatah’s antisemitic legitimization of terror: The Jews “defile our Jerusalem and our holy places”

Fatah stresses its participation in the “heroic battle” to “defend” the Palestinian people’s “honor and holy sites”


Hamas massacre on Israel is “a morning of victory, joy and pride” says Fatah official, urging all Palestinians to join the terror – “this story of heroism”
Fatah Jenin branch member Abd Al-Rahman Abu Al-Rub: “We say to our people and to the members of the Palestinian people: A morning of victory, and morning of joy, a morning of pride (i.e., Hamas terror massacre). We ask Allah to send a blessing to our heroic Martyrs in the Gaza Strip, the West Bank, and wherever the Palestinian people is… We in the Fatah Movement in the Jenin district convey the message to all our brothers and to all our Palestinian people that they are compelled to take action and participate in this story of heroism with the Palestinian people that is realizing its natural right to fight the occupation and liberate the occupied lands.” [Official PA TV, Oct. 8, 2023]

Hamas war on Israel October 2023 - At least 600 Israelis were murdered and over 2,000 wounded, in addition to nearly 100 Israelis who were taken hostage, some of whom were abducted into the Gaza Strip, when approximately 200 Hamas terrorists broke through Israel's security fence at the Gaza Strip border and launched a surprise attack, taking control of several Israeli towns on the Jewish holiday of Shemini Atzeret (Simchat Torah), which fell on the Sabbath, Oct. 7, 2023. Hamas terrorists also fired at least 3,000 rockets at Israeli population centers. In response, Israel launched Operation Iron Swords to counter the Hamas terror threat.

Abu Al-Rub is also spokesman of Fatah’s military wing, the Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades


MEMRI: In Statement, Qatar-Based And Funded International Union of Muslim Scholars (IUMS) Statement Calls 'Al-Aqsa Storm' Operation An 'Effective' And 'Mandatory Development of Legitimate Resistance,' States: Muslims Must Support Their Brothers In Al-Aqsa, Jerusalem And Gaza

MEMRI: Newspapers And Editorials In Pakistani Dailies Express Support For Hamas Attack In Israel, Predict Halt In Saudi-Israel Normalization Process

MEMRI: Egypt's Al-Azhar Salutes Hamas Terror Attack In Which Over 600 Israelis Were Killed, Over 100 Were Kidnapped, And Over 2,000 Were Wounded

MEMRI: Saudi Journalist: The Hamas Attack Will Have Devastating Results; It Harms The Palestinians And Serves Only Iran

MEMRI: Leaders Of Iran-Backed Militias In Iraq Vow Support To Palestinian Factions In Hamas Attack, Threaten To Respond To Any Israeli Or American Attack Against Them

MEMRI: Political Leader Of Ansar Allah Houthi Movement Delivers Remarks At Rally In Sana'a, Yemen, In Support Of Hamas Attack, Addresses Israel: 'Today We Saw Your Trained Soldiers Kneel'

MEMRI: Iran-Backed Militias In Lebanon, Iraq, And Yemen Release Statements On Telegram In Support Of Hamas Attack – Lebanese Hizbullah: 'Rifle Of Resistance Is The Only Option In Confronting The Occupation'; Yemen's Ansar Allah Houthi Movement: 'Yemeni People Are Ready To Participate In Operation'

MEMRI: Hamas, Islamic Jihad, Lions' Den Threaten Lone Wolf Attacks, Claim Capture Of Israeli Soldiers, Call On Palestinians To Disable Surveillance Systems As Part Of Ongoing Operation Against Israel



Lindsey Graham: ‘Israel should do whatever it takes, as long as it takes, to destroy this threat’
Two South Carolina politicians spoke in particularly blunt terms about Israel destroying Hamas.

“As far as I’m concerned, Israel should do whatever it takes, as long as it takes, to destroy this threat,” wrote Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.).

“It is in America’s interest for Israel, one of our best allies in the world, to survive and flourish against efforts to destroy them by radical Islamic terrorists,” Graham said. “There should be no time limit or conditions set on Israel’s response to Hamas’ invasion.”

Nikki Haley, a former South Carolina governor, who is currently running for president (and who is a former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations), said in a Fox News interview on Saturday that Hamas “should have hell to pay.”

“I’ll say this to Prime Minister [Benjamin] Netanyahu: Finish them. Finish them,” Haley said. “Hamas did this. You know Iran’s behind it, finish them. They should have hell to pay for what they’ve just done.”




Washinton Freebeacon Ed: On Israel’s 9/11, Jewish State Must Settle For Nothing Less Than Total Victory
Tomorrow should be a dark day in Gaza. Today, almost all the world says it supports Israel’s right to defend itself against this unprovoked assault, the kidnapping of its citizens and the rape of its women. We suspect that unity will soon fade.

Whether the IDF destroys two buildings or two hundred in Palestinian territory, the Arab propaganda apparatus will generate the same outraged response from its global allies, and calls for a measured and proportional response will soon come from anti-Semites on the Left and Right.

We hope Israel, in this moment of existential peril, will ignore them. If Gazans wake up to piles of smoking rubble, it will demonstrate to Hamas and the rest of the Arab world the consequences of their unending war against Israel.

President Joe Biden, we understand, told Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu that he will get whatever support he needs in the war to come, and we expect Democrats and Republicans to hold him to that.

For the past several years, Israel has treated its foes as a weakened and constrained enemy subject to unwritten but clear boundaries, "mowing the lawn" every so often with limited counterattacks: Operation Breaking Dawn, Operation Guardian of the Walls, Operation Protective Edge. That was folly. The IDF has mowed the lawn, now it is time to rip up the turf. Israel cannot exist in a world where it is subject to attack like this. As a result, the response should be extraordinary, huge, and final. Hamas must be eradicated, not taught a lesson.

Another weak and partial solution will mean that Israel declines and fades as a nation. What tech expert, executive, or highly educated person will want to live in a nation where this can happen? It will lose its most valuable citizens.

It is a precious thing for a country to have a military whose strength, intelligence, and reliability discourages war-making against it, and it would be a catastrophe if the perception and reality of Israel’s military were to be replaced by incompetence, weakness, and lack of vision.

On Israel’s 9/11, we hope the recent carelessness and frivolity of its politics and military apparatus turns on a dime, or a shekel, and that the Jewish State marshals all the forces of innovation and creative energy into a determined path to victory and unconditional surrender—not just the status quo ante.
Israel’s Distracted Deep State
In a perverse way it’s understandable that Israel’s legendary intelligence and security services failed to prevent the worst mass killing of Jews in their country in a half century. They've been distracted, and unforgivably so.

In the last year, members of Mossad and Shin Bet have been preoccupied with resisting Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition government and its efforts to reform an imperious and undemocratic justice system.

In addition to the open letters from former top spies and security chiefs decrying Netanyahu’s judicial reforms, hundreds of elite reservists in March said they would not be showing up to their posts in protest of the prime minister.

Earlier this year, the Times of Israel reported that Mossad chief David Barnea gave the green light to some of his charges to participate in the protests. One U.S. intelligence document posted to a Discord server by the disgraced Air National Guardsman Jack Teixeira said that Mossad’s leadership went further: that Mossad leaders "advocated for Mossad officials and Israeli citizens to protest the new Israeli Government’s proposed judicial reforms, including several explicit calls to action that decried the Israeli Government, according to signals intelligence." And last month, the former Mossad chief Tamir Pardo blurted out that he believed his country was now an "apartheid state," repeating the talking points of Israel’s enemies.

Today's terror attacks are a sobering reminder than the Shin Bet and the Mossad should keep the main thing the main thing. Israel has wired Gaza with listening posts, hidden cameras and human assets. If the Shin Bet and Mossad failed to detect a plot of this magnitude then perhaps it should consider leaving politics to the politicians. Instead of "defending democracy," the spies and security chiefs should get back to defending Israel.
Israel’s 9/11
In Norway, where I live, there is a very useful word: ukultur.

Kultur, of course, means culture. Ukultur is the word for a culture that lacks, well, culture.

Which is to say, a culture that preaches, and practices, barbarism.

There is no greater ukultur on Earth than Islam.

And in the entire Islamic world, there is no denser concentration of ukultur than in the Gaza Strip.

For decades, America and other Western nations have poured extraordinary sums of cash into that tiny area in the utterly misbegotten expectation that the savages who live there, if handed enough money, will choose to civilize themselves.

This notion has never been anything less than insanity.

Why? Here’s why.

Islam, even at its best, is nothing to write home about. It’s a violence-obsessed ideology, masquerading as a peaceful religion, that preaches the conquest and murder of infidels.

In some parts of the Muslim world, Islam is less violent than in others.

But in the Gaza Strip, under Hamas, the terrorist organization that has governed it since 2007, Islam dials up to eleven.

Being that close to the Jewish enemy – even though the Jewish enemy supplies everything from water to emergency health care to Gazans – must make the Jew-hatred just too much to contain.
A Brief Education in What Just Happened in Israel
A key element of trashing the Abraham Accords was to once again place the Palestinians center stage. As the administration paid and bestowed prestige on them, the Palestinians launched another terrorism campaign against Israel, this time in Judea and Samaria and Jerusalem. The Palestinians knew that they had America’s wind in their sails, and they understood the function America wanted them to perform, one familiar to them throughout their history: to act as an instrument of sabotage for radical regimes.

The administration also continued to extend a security umbrella to Hezbollah and moved to tie down the Netanyahu government in another process with the terrorist group, replaying its maritime border scheme this time on land. By this spring, Hezbollah had been assisting Hamas and Islamic Jihad in their ongoing campaign against Israel, orchestrating rocket fires from Lebanon and dispatching a bomber deep into Israel. Recognizing that Lebanon, and therefore Hezbollah, enjoyed American protection, the group then upped the ante further by setting up an outpost inside the Israeli Har Dov region in the Golan Heights.

The group’s leader explained confidently that the Israelis were deterred and that now the Biden administration will come and pressure Israel to concede. Which is exactly what happened. The administration’s special envoy came to Israel and Lebanon carrying an “initiative” to resolve their land border dispute, and advised Israel not to escalate.

Shortly thereafter, Team Obama-Biden knifed Israel at the Security Council by approving a resolution that called that part of the Golan Heights “occupied,” even as U.S. policy, put in effect by President Trump, recognizes Israel’s sovereignty over the Golan. The Obama-Biden team was dead set on reaffirming Obama’s vision, which he enshrined in UNSCR 2334, and which adopted the so-called 1967 lines. That meant that the U.S. regarded all Israeli presence and communities established in territory “occupied since 1967, including East Jerusalem,” as having “no legal validity.”

In tandem with this track, the administration bogged the Israelis down in another process. This one dangled before Netanyahu the promise of a “megadeal” with Saudi Arabia—a prize the Israeli prime minister very much coveted.

U.S. officials had put out through their Israeli mouthpiece that if the Netanyahu government wants an agreement with Saudi Arabia, it will have to make concessions to the Palestinians. That is, the Biden administration had inserted its agenda on the 1967 lines and Jerusalem into the Saudi-Israeli process, and presented it as a Saudi ask that was necessary to provide “legitimacy”—through Palestinian buy-in—to any prospective agreement with Israel. You want your “historic” deal, Bibi? Sign here.

Moreover, the administration moved to paralyze Netanyahu at home, backing his political opponents and shunning him and members of his coalition. The administration’s ambassador backed the popular demonstrations against Netanyahu, openly flaunting Washington’s interference behind a movement to topple the elected government.

It is against this background of a relentless, multifaceted, and sustained campaign to disorient, distract, and paralyze Israel that we should read Hamas’ attack. As in 2021, it is Iran and Hamas who launched the war. But it is America that has conditioned the battlefield.
America’s Betrayal of Israel
Here today, then, is the challenge for Israel’s leadership: Can you accept that this is what’s happening? Can you imagine a future for the Jewish state decoupled from America? Because you must.

For at least a decade now, we’ve been told that part of what makes Israel so mighty and so safe is its superior technology, developed in partnership with America. Who, went this line of argument, needs to worry about missiles when we have Iron Dome and F-35 stealth fighter planes as part of a $3 billion military aid package? Who cares about guns and grenades when we’ve developed high-level cybersecurity systems that can strike at will? The war of the future, we’ve been promised, will be waged on computer terminals, in cyberspace—not in dusty border towns.

And then came a gaggle of Gazans with Kevlar vests and pickup trucks and small arms that brought Israel to its knees. “Startup nation” has been ravaged by reality. It is clear that the dream Israel’s elites have entertained for the past decade—to become part of the global set of people who make all the money and all the decisions and have all the right opinions and fashionable friends—has soured into a nightmare.

And now it’s time to wake up. Stop prattling about the “cycle of violence,” about faults on both sides, about “the occupation,” about Bibi’s cabinet appointments, or any other distraction.

Reroot yourself in what you should never have forgotten—which is that we have enemies not because of what we did or didn’t do here or there, or on this day or that one, or because our hasbara isn’t good enough or because it is too good, or any other pointless argument. It is because we have vicious enemies, and they hate us. Instead of trying pathetically to curry favor with American overlords by scrubbing Judaism from your streets, pray to HaShem to fulfill the promise made to Isaiah and deliver vengeance. Reject, with great force and wrath, the death cult that has gripped so much of American political, public, and intellectual life and that sees virtue in propping up benighted regimes in the name of diversity, equity, and inclusion. We don’t need an integrated Middle East, because we don’t wish to integrate with the murderous mullahs and their packs of wild animals. We have our own interests, and if we’re smart—and if we wish to survive—we’ll never forget it again.
Us and Them
We’ve lived through skirmishes between Israelis and Palestinians before, but May 2021 felt different. It’s not only that the number of rockets lobbed at Israel, 4,360, marks an all-time high. It’s not just that suddenly it seemed as if every one of your favorite actors, singers, writers, and lawmakers took to social media to accuse Israel of everything from apartheid to deliberately killing Black and brown people, shouting down anyone who advocated for balance and complexity—even Rihanna. It’s not even that speakers on protest stages are saying things like “every time they bomb Gaza, this is what creates antisemitism.” Or that a majority of House Democrats voted against providing Israel with emergency funding to boost its Iron Dome defense system. Or that mini-pogroms are popping up everywhere from West Hollywood to the Upper East Side, with mobs attacking Jews indiscriminately.

No, this round felt different because, once and for all, it opened up a chasm that many of us have spent our lifetimes trying to avoid. Simply put, there are only two sides now: the Zionists and the anti-Zionists. Given the events of this past week, it is incumbent upon every person who wants to have any effect on the future, Jew and non-Jew alike, to understand how and why this is—and to pick a side, and soon.

Once upon a time not too long ago, the Jewish tent was open wide. It contained, from the very birth of the Zionist movement, hardened soldiers and starry-eyed poets, Marxists who fantasized about tilling the fields and rabbis who yearned to redeem the resting places of the Patriarchs. For over a half-century, you could be a Jew who believed anything: You could feel happy that Israel existed but not particularly want to think about it much. You could be a Zionist who supported a two-state solution. You could see yourself as a Zionist who believed Jewish self-determination was a right best exercised in a binational democracy shared with Arab neighbors. You could be an anti-Zionist who still felt kinship with the Jews living in Israel and wished them well.

All of those distinctions are now moot.

There are only two camps that will have any political significance in the coming decade. In the first are the people willing to call themselves Zionists—without clarification or caveat or distinction. You can believe that Bibi is the problem or that peace will come with a retreat to the 1967 borders or that the settlements are an obstacle to coexistence, but the space in the realm of politics for “I believe in Israel but …” just closed.
Israel’s Intelligence Failure
Israel’s political misjudgments about Hamas’ intentions, especially in the context of recent hopeful movements toward further peace agreements with Arab countries including a deal with Saudi Arabia, may well have played a background role in lowering the country’s vigilance. But it is no excuse for the massive intelligence failure that allowed Hamas to pull off its deadly surprise offensive. Indeed, Israeli wishful thinking is not even relevant to Saturday’s disaster, because the 24/7 scrutiny of enemy doings and undoings to detect “threat indicators” is not supposed to be switched off for any reason, ever.

In theory one may have to wait for years to find out what happened. But in reality there is only one way Hamas could have pulled off Saturday’s massive surprise: by feeding valuable, indeed “actionable” information to individuals who were Israeli intelligence sources, even though that information allowed the Israelis to destroy rockets before they could be launched against them and achieve other such successes.

Because the destroyed rockets belonged to Islamic Jihad, which is the chief competitor for Hamas and Shia-leaning to boot (Iran pays the bills), Hamas itself paid no price to thus fill the “espionage horizon” below which yesterday’s attacks were planned.

There are techniques that with much skill and patience can uncover double agents, but no tricks can detect agents who are reporting as best they can what they actually know—and who report enough good intelligence to keep everybody too busy to look for what they do not know.

Evidently years of war with Israel and its intelligence services have taught Hamas how to fight them effectively.

Caught by surprise, because of errors that allowed Hamas to take the initiative, it is now Israel’s turn to act—and not just by bombing Hamas headquarters. A new approach altogether is needed, with nothing off the table.
Bernard-Henri Lévy May 20, 2021: Eyeless in Gaza
Faced with such hypocrisy, I am proud to say that I have not changed my position for 50 years.

The number of civilian victims of the absurd, criminal war started by Hamas breaks my heart. And even though the Palestinians’ claim to statehood is of relatively recent origin, even though it is regrettable that their leaders have not used the billions in international aid and subsidies they have received to take even the tiniest step toward forming a government worthy of the name, I believe the Palestinians have the right to a state of their own.

But not if it’s just one more tyrannical regime.

Not if it’s a gangster state that takes its own people hostage, that makes them live in an open-air prison, and—every three or four years, when its political grip becomes wobbly—sacrifices a new contingent of human shields so that it can use their martyrdom to refurbish its lost legitimacy.

And finally, not if that state has no reason to exist except to serve as a launching pad for rockets intended to destroy Israel.


Abbas stresses Palestinian right to self-defense, as int’l community condemns Hamas
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas reacted to the deadly major Hamas infiltration and rocket attacks on Israel on Saturday by expressing his solidarity with Palestinian civilians and using the opportunity to level criticism at Israel.

An English-language report of his comments from the PA news agency Wafa made no mention of the Hamas onslaught. In several cities in the West Bank, meanwhile, Palestinians celebrated in the streets.

Early Saturday, Hamas launched a massive surprise attack on Israel, firing thousands of rockets and carrying out a major infiltration assault on several Israeli border communities. At least 200 Israelis were killed and 1,400 wounded by evening, with the toll expected to rise. Dozens of Israelis are also feared to have been captured by Hamas and taken back to Gaza.

The IDF launched a series of airstrikes on Gaza in response and issued a mass mobilization of reserves.

Abbas in Ramallah chaired an emergency leadership meeting of the Palestinian Authority, and according to the official news agency Wafa, “gave instructions to provide protection for the Palestinian people, stressing the right of the Palestinian people to defend themselves against the terrorism of settlers and the occupation forces.”

Abbas also “gave directions to provide all that is necessary to bolster the resilience and steadfastness of the Palestinian people in facing the crimes committed by the Israeli occupation and settler gangs.”

The Palestinian Authority Foreign Ministry tweeted a statement that “we have repeatedly warned against the consequences of blocking the political horizon and failing to enable the Palestinian people to exercise their legitimate right to self-determination.”

It blamed Israel for the “destruction of the peace process” saying that the “absence of a solution to the Palestinian cause” along with “the silence of the international community” to alleged Israel crimes “and the continuation of the injustice and oppression to which the Palestinian people are exposed is the reason behind the explosive situation and the absence of peace and security in the region.”


Col Kemp: Hands that pushed Hamas attack forward are in Moscow
Don’t imagine this is just an unprovoked, brutal attack by a bunch of terrorists from Gaza. It is much more than that. The hands that pushed these killers forward are in Moscow. US President Joe Biden and European leaders have long feared an escalation of the Ukraine war and that is what they’ve now got. Unwilling to take the fight directly to NATO, instead, Putin has been fomenting conflict between Azerbaijan and Armenia, Serbia and Kosovo, in West Africa and now in Israel.

The instability created in these places is intended to pull US attention, as well as resources, away from the war in Ukraine. Let us not forget that the US recently withdrew large stocks of munitions stored in Israel and transferred them to Ukraine. If this war escalates further, which it may well do, they will have to be replaced by stocks that might otherwise be earmarked for Ukraine to use against Russia.

Just as Russia used Iran to supply large numbers of drones to attack Ukrainian civilians, it is now using Iran to encourage and enable these attacks in Israel. Iran is of course a more than willing partner whose leaders have repeatedly sworn death to Israel and America; as are its proxies in Gaza and also in Lebanon. Iran has long been directing, training, funding and supplying weapons to Hamas and Islamic Jihad in Gaza as well as in Judea and Samaria, or the West Bank. Moscow too has maintained and developed connections with Palestinian terrorist groups and individual extremists, going back to Soviet days, when Putin himself as a KGB officer was dealing with Middle East terrorists including during his time in Dresden.

Hamas leaders, including terrorist boss Ismail Haniyah, have made a number of visits to Moscow since the Ukraine war began, meeting with senior government officials including Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. A delegation from their Gaza terrorist bedfellows, Islamic Jihad, led by its chief, Ziyad al-Nakhalah, also visited Moscow in March. Likewise, leaders of another Iranian proxy, Lebanese Hezbollah, have been welcome guests in Moscow. Hezbollah terrorists fought side by side with Russian troops in Syria and have since been involved in helping Moscow evade sanctions and, according to the US Treasury Department, may have received weapons in return.

Iran, with its critical role in this attack, has been emboldened by White House appeasement that recently saw $6 billion worth of frozen assets handed to Tehran. These funds, which can be used for whatever terrorist purposes Iran sees fit, were released on Biden’s orders, even as the ayatollahs continued to build their nuclear weapons program, fomented violence across the Middle East and beyond, and at the same time supported Russia in its war crimes against the Ukrainian people.


Dozens of Harvard student groups blame Israel for being attacked
The Harvard Divinity School student group Jews for Liberation doesn’t mince words in its description on the school’s site.

The group “offers warm, creative spiritual and political space for anti-Zionist and non-Zionist Jews, as well as Jews questioning their relationship with Zionism,” it states.

Student groups must register annually with the school’s Office of Student Life, which “prioritizes anti-racist and anti-oppressive practices” and “reflects the rich diversity and plurality of our community,” but evidently doesn’t consider avowed anti-Zionists to be oppressive or racist.

Jews for Liberation is one of dozens of Harvard student group signatories to a joint statement of Harvard “Palestine solidarity groups on the situation in Palestine.”

“We, the undersigned student organizations, hold the Israeli regime entirely responsible for all unfolding violence,” the groups state.

“The apartheid regime is the only one to blame. Israeli violence has structured every aspect of Palestinian existence for 75 years,” the groups add. “From systematized land seizures to routine airstrikes, arbitrary detentions to military checkpoints, and enforced family separations to targeted killings, Palestinians have been forced to live in a state of death, both slow and sudden.”

“Even Hamas doesn’t believe these talking points. These are the same students who think words are violence. I’m so ashamed,” wrote Yael Bar tur, a consultant and former NYPD director of social media and digital strategy. “Sick to my stomach.”


PodCast: Generation Jihad Ep. 101 — Israel: “This is not a conflict. This is a war.”

This is Israel's 9/11 - comment

Complacency meets the ghosts of history

Israeli options with Gaza: From toppling Hamas to limited ground op

Jerusalem Post correspondent on the frontlines of Gaza border

A massive, unprovoked attack on Israel - analysis

'It was utter chaos’: Families and survivors describe the horrors of Hamas’ invasion







Hamas terror commander Deif calls for all out war on Israel

New Zealand Foreign Minister Nanaia Mahuta fails to condemn Hamas attacks on Israel, accused of acting to 'minimise terror'
New Zealand Foreign Minister Nanaia Mahuta has failed to condemn the massive attack by Hamas militants on the state of Israel.

The group launched a brutal assault on the Middle Eastern nation on Saturday, with more than 200 killed and over 1,100 injured as militants attacked from land, sea and air.

They also launched thousands of rockets, targeting cities all over Israel, and have taken dozens of hostages.

World leaders have widely condemned the attack, with United States President Joe Biden, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and others lending their support to Israel.

However, New Zealand declined to call out Hamas for the violence, as Ms Mahuta instead posted a statement on Twitter (now X) expressing concern at the "outbreak of conflict between Israel and Gaza."

The move drew immediate criticism from Jewish groups in the country, with think tank Israel Institute of NZ slamming the Minister for her comments.

"Compare and contrast your statement with other political leaders in democratic nations and see how you minimise terror," they wrote in a statement on the same platform.

A spokesperson for the New Zealand embassy pointed Skynews.com.au to a statement from Prime Minister Chris Hipkins which "unequivocally" condemned the attack and noted that Ms Mahuta had updated her initial response.

More than seven hours after her original tweet, the Foreign Minister added she "utterly condemns" the actions of Hamas, in a response which also called on all parties to limit "the further loss of civilian lives."

New Zealand has long held a different stance on Israel and the West Bank to Australia.


Terrorists fire on attendees at outdoor party in Southern Israel

Hostage crisis in Kibbutz Be'eri continues

Netanyahu offered Lapid and Gantz entry into a 'broad emergency government'

Hamas claims to have captured Israeli commander

Hamas terror attack: Militants post videos of Israeli hostages including mother and baby

Hamas 'controls several Israeli population centres' as residents beg for help

UN Security Council to meet Sunday on Gaza War; Erdan says body must condemn Hamas

Abbas stresses Palestinian right to self-defense, as int’l community condemns Hamas

Zelensky: Israel has ‘indisputable’ right to defend itself from terror



Hamas’ surprise attack on Israel a ‘horrific act’
Israeli News Anchor Lital Shemesh says Hamas’ surprise attack on Israel has been a “horrific act”.
Ms Shemesh said the situation unfolding in Israel is “literally horrific”.
“I’m talking about over 15 hours of harsh war,” Ms Shemesh told Sky News Australia.
Hundreds have been killed in the attack, with more than 1,500 left wounded.
Ms Shemesh said the attack isn’t just a “fight against Israel” but a “war against the free world”.


Governments around the world need to ‘get behind Israel’
Former British Commander Richard Kemp says governments around the world need to “get behind Israel”.
Mr Kemp’s comments come after Hamas militants launched a surprise attack against Israel.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has responded, saying the country is at war with Hamas.
“If they really want Israel to deal with the situation … then they should not get on Israel’s back,” Mr Kemp told Sky News Australia.
“They should just give Israel every bit of support it needs.”


Hamas escalates 'aggression' towards Israel with surprise attack
Hamas’ escalation of aggression against Israel following its surprise attack is “unprecedented,” according to Australia’s Ambassador to Israel 2013-2017 Dave Sharma.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has declared Israel is at war, facing the greatest outburst of violence in half a century following an unprecedented attack from Hamas militants.
It began with a violent flurry – thousands of rockets fired from inside the Gaza Strip and gunmen storming into Israeli territory.
“We’ve never seen anything like this from Hamas before in its aggression against Israel – this is undoubtedly unprecedented,” Mr Sharma told Sky News Australia.
“This one has taken Israel by surprise – it's clear they were not expecting any aggression from Hamas.”


'Horrific day'- Assault on Israel 'bigger than a terrorist attack'
Israeli author and activist Noa Tishby describes the terror unfolding in Israel, saying it’s a “horrific day” for every Jew and “every democracy-loving human being” around the world.
“Israel is under assault,” Ms Tishby told Sky News Australia.
“This is bigger than a terrorist attack; this is nothing short of Israel’s 9/11 or Israel’s Pearl Harbor.”
Ms Tishby said at 6:30 in the morning, Israel was surprised with what seemed like launched missiles and rockets but what was actually a "land, air and sea invasion" by Hamas terrorists.
“The terrorists have taken over towns, villages and kibbutzim in the south of the country, moving door to door, taking hostages and slaughtering people,” she said.


‘Most horrific thing I’ve ever seen’- Australian living in Israel describes surprise attack
The Zionist of Australia Federation Director of Social Media Emily Gian has spoken with Sky News Australia on the surprise attack on Israel launched by Hamas.
A "state of alert for war" has been declared in Israel, with the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowing to retaliate following the incident.
“This is the most horrific thing I have ever seen,” Ms Gian told Sky News Australia.
“Today, there has been a lot of shock and disbelief that it went this far.”
“Today, I just saw fear on every single face that I saw.”


'We are at war'- Journalist speaks about Israel-Hamas conflict from bunker
Journalist and former Israeli military major Sarit Zehavi has spoken about the Israeli-Hamas conflict from a bunker, saying Israel has “never experienced this kind of attack”. “Since this morning, we are at war,” Ms Zehavi told Sky News Australia. “It’s live hostages that were taken to Gaza – around 160 Israelis were taken to Gaza and 300 Israelis dead. “We have never experienced this kind of attack. “I’m talking to here from the northern part of Israel, and I can tell you that we are very much worried here that this will escalate to the north as well.”






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