Titles For The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on October 07-08/2023
Text & Video in Arabic-English: The Fate Of Those Who Lack Faith and Worship Perishable Earthly Riches/Elias Bejjani/October 06/2023
NNA: Lebanese Army closes military road near Blue Line amid Israeli military deployment
Tennenti: Our leadership is in constant contact with the parties to ensure effective coordination and avoid misunderstandings
Lebanon's Foreign Ministry urges international community to bear its responsibilities, says developments in Palestine are due to occupation's daily...
Army blocks military road adjacent to "Blue Line" at Al-Hamames
Enemy patrol opens fire at a group of motorcyclists nearby the technical fence in Marjayoun's Plain
Lebanese Kataeb Party Chief, MP Sami Gemayel: "Lebanon will turn into an oppressive police state if the resistance axis succeeds in imposing its presidential candidate,"
PSP: Time to stop betting on so-called "two-state solution" & ability of Palestinian Authority to obtain Palestinians' rights through futile...'
Abu Faour: Let the Syrian regime’s allies in Lebanon exert pressure to prevent the flow of displaced into Lebanon, return them to Syria
Hezbollah praises 'heroic Palestinian response' to Israel crimes
Hezbollah's message of unity and resilience to the Palestinian people
3 dead, 16 injured in fire at Zahle prison
Lebanese Army rescues over 100 migrants after boat runs into trouble off Lebanon
MP Sami Gemayel warns of Lebanon becoming a security-police state
Sheikh Ahmad Kabalan: What is happening in Palestine is a blow to normalization and a reaffirmation of the strategic choice of resistance

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on October 07-08/2023
The White House: Washington "stands firmly" by Israel in confronting the Hamas attack
Moscow calls for an "immediate ceasefire" between Israel and Hamas
Khamenei's advisor: We support the "Al-Aqsa Flood" and stand by the Palestinian "mujahideen"
Saudi Arabia warns of exploding situation due to continued occupation, deprivation of Palestinian people's rights
Haniyeh: The battle continues towards the West Bank and Jerusalem
Erdogan urges Israel and Palestinians to “act rationally”
AFP: Israeli raids destroy several towers in the Gaza Strip
1973 vs. 2023: Comparing Operation Al-Aqsa Flood to the 1973 Yom Kippur War
Understanding the Gaza Envelope: A region shaped by history and clashes
An increasingly threatened Iran saw Netanyahu distracted and pounced
Hamas surprise attack out of Gaza stuns Israel and leaves hundreds dead in fighting, retaliation
Israel ‘at war’ as Hamas launches unprecedented attack from Gaza
Hamas leader Haniyeh says Israel can't provide protection for Arab countries
Saudi Arabia suggests Israel to blame for war despite steps to normalise relations
Islamist anti-Semitism is behind Israel’s darkest hour since the Yom Kippur war
Factbox-What is the Palestinian group Hamas?
Hamas surprise attack out of Gaza stuns Israel and leaves hundreds dead in fighting, retaliation
Over 100 Israelis dead amid Hamas rocket attacks and terrorist infiltration
Battles continue against terrorists in Kibbutz Be'eri and Kibbutz Kfar Aza.
Palestinians say at least 198 killed in Gaza in Israeli retaliation for a Hamas assault into Israel.
Countries condemn 'terrorist attacks' from Gaza, Russia urges 'restraint'
EU's top diplomat says bloc 'unequivocally' condemns Hamas attacks
Syria shells northern rebel-held region of Idlib, killing 7 people
World Court to hear Armenia's demand for Azerbaijan withdrawal
Russian Attacks Are Edging Closer and Closer to NATO Territory
Turkey says it 'neutralised' at least 14 Kurdish militants in Syria
Regime shelling kills seven civilians in Syria: monitor

Titles For The Latest English LCCC  analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on October 07-08/2023
Hamas has crossed the Rubicon. What now?/Faisal J. Abbas/Arab News/October 07, 2023
Punish Iran for this despicable attack on Israeli civilians/Con Coughlin/The Telegraph/October 7, 2023
Today in History: Muslims Skin Christians Alive for Refusing Islam/Raymond Ibrahim/October 07, 2023
Biden Administration Enabling Iranian Mullahs' Dangerous Nuclear Weapons Program – Again?/Majid Rafizadeh/Gatestone Institute/October 7, 2023
What is behind the US and Russia nuclear system tests?/Dr. Theodore Karasik/Arab News/October 07, 2023

Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on October 07-08/2023
Text & Video in Arabic-English: The Fate Of Those Who Lack Faith and Worship Perishable Earthly Riches
Elias Bejjani/October 06/2023
https://eliasbejjaninews.com/archives/43601/elias-bejjani-who-are-you-are-you-yourself/
Matthew 6/24 “No man can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will hold to the one and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon”.
Many people do not recognize consciously who they really are, and willingly with a vicious mind hide behind fake faces, or let us say they put on deceiving masks. Why do they so? It is definitely because they hate themselves, and are mostly burdened with devastating sickening inferiority complexes.
These chameleon like-people do not trust or respect themselves, have no sense of gratitude whatsoever, lack faith in God and worship Perishable Earthly Riches.
In general we know that the majority of these faithless were initially poor, but suddenly became rich. Instead of investing their – God graces riches in helping others and making them happy, especially their own family members. They alienate themselves from every thing that is related to human feelings, forget what is true love, and deny that Almighty God is love.
They still fall into temptation, live in castles of hatred, ruminate on grudges and contemplate revenge. Not only that, but they venomously and destructively envy everyone who is happy, respected and decent. They go astray and misuse their riches and influence to inflict pain and misery on others.
These faithless people become mere sadists who satanically enjoy pain, misery and the suffering of others, especially inflicting them on their own family members who refuse to succumb to their twisted mindset and become evil like them. No matter where we are, when we look around, it is very easy to identify many people who possess this evil nature.
The Question is, how will they end?
Definitely, they will end up paying for all their destructive and vicious acts, if not on this earth, then definitely on God’s Day Of Judgment. May Almighty God safeguard us from such evil people.

NNA: Lebanese Army closes military road near Blue Line amid Israeli military deployment
LBCI/October 7, 2023
The Lebanese Army has taken measures to close a military road adjacent to the Blue Line near El Hamames as Israeli military vehicles continue to deploy along the border in the occupied territory.

Tennenti: Our leadership is in constant contact with the parties to ensure effective coordination and avoid misunderstandings
NNA/October 7, 2023
UNIFIL Spokesperson Andrea Tenenti said on Saturday that the UN peacekeeping mission is closely monitoring the unfolding dramatic events in Israel. "Peacekeepers are present along the Blue Line to maintain stability and help avoid escalation. We have also adapted and enhanced our presence throughout our area of operations, including counter rocket-launching operations," he added. "Our leadership has been in constant contact with the parties since the events began to ensure effective coordination and avoid misunderstandings," Tenenti noted.
"Our primary goal is to preserve stability along the Blue Line and avoid any escalation that could have disastrous consequences for people living in the area," the UNIFIL spokesperson concluded.

Lebanon's Foreign Ministry urges international community to bear its responsibilities, says developments in Palestine are due to occupation's daily...
NNA/October 7, 2023
The Lebanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Emigrants announced in a statement that it is “following with great concern the field developments taking place on the land of Palestine, which come as a direct result of Israel’s continued occupation of the Palestinian territories and its daily attacks on Islamic and Christian sanctities, its policy of settlement expansion, annexation of lands, and depriving the steadfast Palestinians of their minimum rights.”The Foreign Ministry stressed that "the solution lies in the international community assuming its responsibilities in pressuring Israel to return to the peace option with its well-known references, especially the Arab Peace Initiative that was issued by the Beirut Summit in 2002, the establishment of the Palestinian state with Holy Jerusalem as its capital, and the return of Palestinian refugees to their homes."
The Ministry warned in its statement that "the failure to find a just, lasting and comprehensive solution based on ending the occupation of Arab lands and resolving the Palestinian issue threatens international peace and security."

Army blocks military road adjacent to "Blue Line" at Al-Hamames
NNA/October 7, 2023
Marjayoun - The Lebanese army blocked the military road adjacent to the Blue Line at the locality of Al-Hamames, in light of the deployment of enemy forces’ vehicles on the border in the occupied interior, NNA correspondent reported this evening.

Enemy patrol opens fire at a group of motorcyclists nearby the technical fence in Marjayoun's Plain
NNA/October 7, 2023
Marjayoun - An enemy Israeli patrol opened fire at a group of motorcyclists who approached the technical fence in the Marjayoun Plain and surrounding the Metulla settlement this evening.

Lebanese Kataeb Party Chief, MP Sami Gemayel: "Lebanon will turn into an oppressive police state if the resistance axis succeeds in imposing its presidential candidate,"
NNA/October 7, 2023
Lebanese Kataeb Party Chief, MP Sami Gemayel, warned that “Lebanon will turn into a security police state if we allow Hezbollah and its allies to impose their candidate as president of the republic for a new period of six years, during which Lebanon’s facet will be changed, other opinions will be suppressed, and everyone who rejects the process of infringement on the Lebanese decision will be forced to migrate.”
Gemayel considered that the various parties in Lebanon are ready to accept a consensual figure that has the minimum specifications and covers the files to become president, with the exception of Hezbollah, which insists on imposing its candidate and is not satisfied with the democratic game or with consensus.
“What we are exposed to is an occupation attempt carried out by an armed, ideological militia that receives orders from abroad and wants to forcefully impose, disrupt and threaten the President of the Republic of Lebanon,” Gemayel went on.
He consequently emphasized “the need for creating a balance to stand up to what is happening and to form a broad, unified front that leads a peaceful confrontation to get out of the process of kidnapping Lebanon.”Gemayel’s words came during an oath-taking ceremony for a number of new members joining the party from the Metn region.

PSP: Time to stop betting on so-called "two-state solution" & ability of Palestinian Authority to obtain Palestinians' rights through futile...'
NNA/October 7, 2023
In an issued statement this afternoon by the Progressive Socialist Party’s Information Commission, it considered that the "Al-Aqsa Flood" operation has rendered "the Israeli enemy in an existential security crisis, proving that no matter how great the occupation’s armed capabilities are, they remain weaker than the resolve and will of the Palestinian resistance fighters, who are facing not only the Israeli war machine, but also the conspiratorial Western position, global failure, and incomprehensible Arab normalization.”
“The Progressive Socialist Party confirms that it is time to stop betting on the so-called two-state solution and on the ability of the Palestinian Authority to obtain the rights of the Palestinians through fruitless negotiation," the statement added.
"It has become necessary to unite the Palestinian position behind the military confrontation against the occupation, not to compromise, and to insist on taking the rights of the Palestinians by force, which the occupation only comprehends," the PSP statement concluded.

Abu Faour: Let the Syrian regime’s allies in Lebanon exert pressure to prevent the flow of displaced into Lebanon, return them to Syria
NNA/October 7, 2023
Member of the “Democratic Gathering” parliamentary bloc, MP Wael Abu Faour, called on the Syrian regime’s allies in Lebanon to “pressure the regime to prevent the influx of displaced Syrians into Lebanon and return them to Syria.”
He stressed that “the radical solution is for the displaced to return and oblige the regime to do so, but at the present time, it is necessary to establish temporary shelter centers for them on the border between the two countries and oblige the United Nations and international organizations to bear the cost of establishing these camps and to provide services to the displaced Syrians in them instead of providing them in the Lebanese regions."Abu Faour expressed concern that the Syrian displacement issue has become a major national crisis that requires responsible national remedies and a single national position, to be placed on the table of the Arab and international communities so that everyone can bear their responsibilities towards this crisis. He also warned of some attemtps in Lebanon to exploit the displacement issue to try to serve the regime in Syria by calling for either deporting them at sea or reconsidering the Caesar Act. "Those who demand a solution to this crisis, at a minimum, should give up their political positions and attend the Council of Ministers sessions to come up with a national plan agreed upon by all Lebanese in the Lebanese government that will be implementable," Abu Faour underlined. The MP's words came during a visit today to the Rashaya Official Middle School where he inspected the maintanance works undetaken in its premises.

Hezbollah praises 'heroic Palestinian response' to Israel crimes
Naharnet/October 7, 2023
Hezbollah congratulated Hamas Saturday, praising the Palestinian "heroic" and "victorious" infiltration into southern Israel. In a statement, Hezbollah said it is following up with the Palestinian factions on the operation, and called on Israel to "draw lessons" from it.
The group added that the operation is a "response to the occupation's continuous crimes and violations."It called on the Arab and Islamic nations and on all "the free people of the world" to support the Palestinian people and the resistance movements.
Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip had carried out an unprecedented infiltration Saturday into southern Israel and fired thousands of rockets into Israel as the ruling Hamas militant group announced the beginning of a new operation. The militants had "divine backing," Hezbollah said. Israel began striking targets in Gaza in response, setting the stage for what was likely to be a new heavy round of fighting between the bitter enemies.

Hezbollah's message of unity and resilience to the Palestinian people
LBCI/October 7, 2023
Hezbollah expressed its support and solidarity with the Palestinian people and the fighters from various Palestinian factions, including the Al-Qassam Brigades and the Islamic Resistance Movement, Hamas. This support comes in the wake of what they called a "heroic and extensive operation," characterized by divine success and a promise of ultimate, comprehensive victory. According to Hezbollah, this victorious operation is a resolute response to the ongoing crimes and continuous violations committed by the occupying forces against the Palestinian people's sanctity, dignity, and honor.
It serves as a renewed affirmation that the will of the Palestinian people and the resistance's determination are the sole choices in confronting aggression occupation, and sends a message to the Arab and Islamic world, as well as the international community, especially those seeking normalization with this enemy. The message is clear: the Palestinian cause remains a living issue that will persist until victory and liberation are achieved. Hezbollah called the Arab and Islamic nations and all freedom-loving people worldwide to declare their support for the Palestinian people and the resistance movements, which confirmed their unity through words and actions on the ground. Furthermore, the Islamic Resistance leadership in Lebanon has been closely monitoring the significant developments on the Palestinian front. They attentively follow the situation on the ground and maintain direct communication with the Palestinian resistance leadership inside and outside Palestine. This continuous exchange aims to assess events and the progress of operations. Therefore, Hezbollah urges the Zionist enemy's government to carefully consider the valuable lessons and insights demonstrated by the Palestinian resistance on the battlefield and in the arenas of confrontation and combat.

3 dead, 16 injured in fire at Zahle prison
Associated Press/October 7, 2023
Prisoners in the Zahle prison set their cells on fire, leaving three inmates dead and 16 others injured, according to a police statement. Police said the fire started in several cells on the second floor in the main prison in the eastern city of Zahle after an apparent escape attempt. It said 19 prisoners suffered from smoke inhalation and were taken to hospital where three died later. The police statement said guards had discovered a hole that was being dug in a wall, angering the inmates who then set their rooms on fire. Reinforcements were sent to the area of the prison to boost security and make sure no one escaped, local media reported. Living conditions in Lebanese prisons have deteriorated sharply since the country's historic economic crisis began in October 2019.

Lebanese Army rescues over 100 migrants after boat runs into trouble off Lebanon
Associated Press/October 7, 2023
The Lebanese Army rescued more than 100 migrants after their boat developed technical problems in the Mediterranean off the coast of northern Lebanon, state-run National News Agency reported. No one was hurt in the incident.
The agency said the boat that was carrying 125 people, all of them Syrians except for one Lebanese, called for help after they faced problems while near the Palm Islands in Lebanese territorial waters. The boat was towed to the Lebanese port of Tripoli where some of the migrants received first aid, the agency added. The army said in a statement that the migrants included eight women and 24 children. For years Lebanon had been a net recipient of refugees from the region, but since the small nation's economic meltdown began in October 2019, thousands of Lebanese, Syrians and Palestinians have been attempting the dangerous trip across the Mediterranean to reach Europe in search of stability and opportunities. Lebanon has some 805,000 U.N.-registered Syrian refugees, but officials estimate the actual number to be between 1.5 million and 2 million. Lebanon is also home to tens of thousands of Palestinian refugees and their descendants, many living in 12 refugee camps scattered around the country. Over the past months, thousands of Syrian citizens fleeing worsening economic conditions in their war-torn country made it to Lebanon through illegal crossing points. In August, Lebanese troops detained dozens of Lebanese and Syrian traffickers in the country's north while they were preparing to send migrants on boats to Europe across the Mediterranean Sea. A boat carrying migrants from Lebanon capsized off Syria's coast in September last year, leaving at least 94 people dead, one of the deadliest incidents involving migrants. It was followed by a wave of detentions of suspected smugglers.

MP Sami Gemayel warns of Lebanon becoming a security-police state
LBCI/October 7, 2023
MP Sami Gemayel, the head of the Kataeb Party, warned sternly against the possibility of Lebanon becoming a "security-police state" if Hezbollah and its allies successfully impose their presidential candidate for another six-year term. Gemayel emphasized that such a scenario could lead to a significant transformation in Lebanon, stifling dissent and forcing those who oppose the current infringement on Lebanese sovereignty into exile. Gemayel asserted that political parties in Lebanon are ready to accept a consensus candidate who possesses the minimum qualifications and respects the nation's interests, except Hezbollah, which insists on imposing its candidate, refusing to engage in the democratic process or seek compromise. He argued that Lebanon is currently experiencing an attempt at occupation by an armed, ideological militia that takes orders from external powers and seeks to dictate the Lebanese presidency through coercion, obstruction, and threats. Highlighting the urgency of creating a balanced response to counter these developments, Gemayel called for forming a united front capable of leading a peaceful resistance against the hijacking of Lebanon's destiny. Gemayel also commented on the ongoing economic situation in Lebanon, describing it as a process of transferring wealth and shifting the economy from legitimate to illegitimate means. He cited the imposition of taxes by the state to fund political patronage networks, which places a burden on legitimate business owners, forcing them to raise prices on their goods and services. Consequently, this compels Lebanese citizens to turn to the shadow economy, where lower prices are offered, mainly relying on smuggling routes controlled by illicit actors through border crossings and ports.

Sheikh Ahmad Kabalan: What is happening in Palestine is a blow to normalization and a reaffirmation of the strategic choice of resistance
LBCI/October 7, 2023
The Grand Jaafari Mufti, Sheikh Ahmad Kabalan, said in a statement that his perspective on the current situation in Palestine, seeing it as a correction of history, a blow to normalization, and a reaffirmation of the strategic choice of resistance. He also noted the unprecedented shock to the Zionist legend, supported by the world's most powerful leaders, and highlighted the inevitable image of Israel's imminent downfall.  He emphasized the need to focus on the unity of battles and strategic necessity, emphasizing that staying abreast of developments is crucial. He stated, "We are witnessing a small-scale view of the new regional map. Some may understand that normalization is betrayal, loss, and self-destruction. Therefore, all pride, partnership, support, and backing go to the Palestinian resistance and its steadfast axis. The hand is on the trigger, the eye on the countdown, the heart on the foundations, and the goal is the recovery of Jerusalem and Palestine, with the potential to reshape the entire region."
Related Articles

Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on October 07-08/2023
The White House: Washington "stands firmly" by Israel in confronting the Hamas attack
NNA/October 7, 2023
Washington "unequivocally" condemned the "Al-Aqsa Flood" operation, according to a statement issued by the White House on Saturday. The statement, as reported by Agence France-Presse, said: “The United States unequivocally condemns the unprovoked attacks by Hamas terrorists on Israeli civilians,” stressing, “We stand firmly with the government and people of Israel and offer our condolences to the Israelis who were killed in these attacks.”

Moscow calls for an "immediate ceasefire" between Israel and Hamas
NNA/October 7, 2023
Russia called on Saturday for an "immediate ceasefire", expressing its "deep concern" about the large-scale operation launched by the Hamas movement. Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said in a statement reported by Agence France-Presse: “We call on the Israeli and Palestinian parties to an immediate ceasefire, to abandon violence, and to show the necessary restraint.”

Khamenei's advisor: We support the "Al-Aqsa Flood" and stand by the Palestinian "mujahideen"
NNA/October 7, 2023
The Iranian Students News Agency (ISNA) quoted Rahim Safavi, advisor to Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, saying: “We congratulate the Palestinian mujahideen and we will stand by them until the liberation of Palestine and Holy Jerusalem.”He said, "We support the Al-Aqsa Flood operation, and we are confident that the Resistance Front also supports this."

Saudi Arabia warns of exploding situation due to continued occupation, deprivation of Palestinian people's rights
NNA/October 7, 2023
The Saudi Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a statement calling for an immediate halt to the escalation between the Palestinian and Israeli sides, the protection of civilians, and restraint. The statement said, "The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is closely following developments in the unprecedented situation between a number of Palestinian factions and the Israeli occupation forces, which has resulted in a high level of violence taking place on a number of fronts there." The statement stressed that Saudi Arabia “recalls its repeated warnings of the dangers of the situation exploding due to the continued occupation, depriving the Palestinian people of their legitimate rights, and repeating systematic provocations against their sanctities,” according to the Saudi Press Agency, SPA.

Haniyeh: The battle continues towards the West Bank and Jerusalem
NNA/October 7, 2023
Ismail Haniyeh, head of the Hamas political bureau, informed the Arab countries that Israel could not provide them with any protection. He said in a speech he delivered today, as reported by Reuters: "The Palestinian armed factions intend to expand the ongoing battle in Gaza to the West Bank and Jerusalem." He added, "The battle has moved to the heart of the Zionist entity."

Erdogan urges Israel and Palestinians to “act rationally”
NNA/October 7, 2023
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan urged Israel and the Palestinians to "act rationally" and avoid further escalation. Erdogan said: “We call on all parties to act rationally and avoid emotional actions that escalate tensions,” according to Agence France-Presse.

In Jordan, demands to expel Israeli ambassador due to “Al-Aqsa Flood”
NNA/October 7, 2023
Jordanian political and social parties and organizations called on the public to participate in a solidarity stand this afternoon near the Al-Kaluti Mosque in the capital, Amman, in support of Operation Al-Aqsa Flood. Jordan is witnessing a solidarity campaign with the Gaza Strip, accompanied by partisan and popular demands stressing the necessity of expelling the Israeli ambassador from the country, heading to the Jordan Valley region near the border with Israel, and opening the crossings, as Russia Today reported. For his part, Jordanian Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign and Expatriate Affairs, Ayman Safadi, discussed with Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry in a phone call today the escalation of tension between Israel and the Gaza Strip. The two ministers called for efforts to stop the escalation between the Palestinian and Israeli sides.

AFP: Israeli raids destroy several towers in the Gaza Strip
AFP/October 7, 2023
Israeli fighter jets targeted three commercial and residential towers in the Gaza Strip on Saturday, as reported by correspondents from AFP who witnessed the thick plumes of smoke rising as the towers collapsed entirely. The Israeli military confirmed the airstrikes in a statement, stating that "the terrorist organization Hamas deliberately places its military facilities among the civilian population in the Gaza Strip." They also mentioned issuing advance warnings to residents and requesting them to evacuate the buildings.

1973 vs. 2023: Comparing Operation Al-Aqsa Flood to the 1973 Yom Kippur War
LBCI/October 7, 2023
Fifty years after the 1973 Yom Kippur War, which the Arabs dubbed the October 6 War or the War of Crossing, and Israel referred to as the Yom Kippur War or the Day of Atonement, Hamas surprises Israel through a large-scale operation executed in the same way.On that day, precisely half a century ago, on October 6, which also happened to be a Saturday, coinciding with the Jewish Day of Atonement, Yom Kippur, two simultaneous attacks were launched on different fronts. The Egyptian front aimed to liberate the Sinai Peninsula, and the Syrian front aimed to regain control of the Golan Heights. These regions had been occupied by Israel in the 1967 Six-Day War, in addition to Gaza, the West Bank, and Jerusalem. The slight difference between the War of Crossing and Operation Al-Aqsa Flood is that the former began in the afternoon, while the latter unfolded with the first rays of the sun.
Given the divided world at the time, with the United States supporting Israel and the Soviet Union backing Egypt and Syria, it was Soviet Chief Counselor Vasilyevich who advised commencing the simultaneous attack on Yom Kippur, considering it the best time for achieving surprise. This strategic advice was based on the fact that on this day, life almost came to a halt, following the strict Jewish religious observance, with Israelis mostly at home, engaged in contemplation, fasting, and radio silence. The plan succeeded, and Egyptian forces crossed the Suez Canal, reclaiming parts of Sinai, while Syrian forces penetrated deep into the Golan Heights. Israel, seeking assistance, turned to the United States, which established a military airlift to supply Israel with aircraft, tanks, and ammunition. Simultaneously, the Soviet Union sent tons of weaponry and ammunition to Egypt and Syria. American support allowed Israel to regain the initiative, recapturing parts of the lost territories on both fronts. After two United Nations Security Council resolutions, fighting ceased on October 24. The Arabs considered it a success in shaking Israel's invincibility. However, the 1973 war and its aftermath set the stage for the Camp David Accords, leading to peace negotiations between Israel and Egypt. Now, as Operation Al-Aqsa Flood unfolds, what will be its outcomes, who will reap its gains, and how will it affect the region?

Understanding the Gaza Envelope: A region shaped by history and clashes
LBCI/October 7, 2023
In every clash or war that unfolds in the Gaza Strip, the term "Gaza Envelope" invariably comes to the forefront. What exactly is the Gaza Envelope? In 1948, during the Nakba (the Palestinian exodus), thousands of Palestinians were forcibly displaced from their homes and lands due to the success of Jewish groups in using armed force to secure control over the majority of Palestine and declare the establishment of the State of Israel. At that time, migration to the Gaza Strip, which covers an area of 360 square kilometers, became a refuge for those Palestinians that Jews could not conquer. Nineteen years later, in 1967, Israelis seized control of the Gaza Strip during the Six-Day War. However, they withdrew from the territory in 2005, dismantling all settlements and evacuating more than eight thousand settlers. But, this military and civilian withdrawal was not final. Israel established the "Gaza Envelope," a buffer zone along the land borders with the Strip, housing approximately 55,000 settlers. Most of these settlers are from Eastern Jewish backgrounds and are considered far-right extremists. Most of them left the Gaza Strip in 2005. The Israeli government offers substantial incentives to the Envelope residents to ensure its continued existence as a geographical and demographic barrier between the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. This policy aims to prevent the establishment of a contiguous Palestinian state.

An increasingly threatened Iran saw Netanyahu distracted and pounced
Stephen Pollard/The Telegraph/October 7, 2023
If it is a truism that all political careers end in failure, the definition of failure in most democracies involves an election loss or the mundanity of a policy not working. In Israel, political failure can lead to catastrophe – as we are now witnessing in gruesome, sickening detail. For most of his career Benjamin Netanyahu was a titanic figure – a colossus who dominated not just Israeli politics but, by extension, much of the region. He has been prime minister, on and off, for the past 15 years. He was also, vitally, right about almost everything, not least in his obsession with the threat posed to Israel and the wider Middle East by Iran. But the Netanyahu who took office again in December was anything but titanic. He was diminished not just by having to stand trial for corruption – a trial which is ongoing – but by having to assemble a coalition comprised not in the usual Israeli way of various mainstream parties with differing nuances who pop in and out of power depending on whatever post-election deal they manage to do, but with extremist politicians who are so toxic that no mainstream politician would normally go near them.
There are two important contexts to remember in understanding yesterday’s terrorist attacks. The first is the improvement in Israel’s relations with its Arab neighbours, codified in the Abraham Accords with Bahrain, Morocco, Sudan and the UAE – and even more importantly the rapprochement with Saudi Arabia. The other is Israel’s political situation. The past 10 months have seen Israel riven apart by the government’s proposed judicial reforms, which are intended to shackle the Supreme Court’s power and willingness to rule legislation illegal. Hundreds of thousands of Israelis have taken to the streets to protest. The issue that matters in the context of the terror attacks is not which side is right, but that the only face Israel has presented to the world has been one of a divided country in political crisis, led by a man who is only able to maintain power by siding with extremists whose views are rejected by the vast majority of Israelis. When you demonstrate weakness and division your enemies notice.
Yom Kippur War
Having won every war it has had to fight after being attacked, Israel has since maintained an aura of invincibility for decades. That seeming invincibility has been vital to the security its citizens prize above all else. It has also been the key to Netanyahu’s political success. His promise to voters – on which he has previously delivered – has been that he will protect them. Security has always been his priority and his focus in government. But this time, he has not so much been distracted by the crisis over judicial reform as utterly shackled by it, without the time or political bandwidth to deal with almost anything else.
The weakness that this signalled to Israel’s enemies is why the crisis always mattered more than merely as a row about the powers of the Supreme Court.
Yesterday’s terror attacks were clearly not an impromptu move. They were coordinated and planned on a scale never seen before, with rockets accompanied by incursions deep into Israel itself. And they took place the day after the 50th anniversary of the Yom Kippur War – the worst military and intelligence failure in Israel’s 75 years. That and the planning involved cannot have been a coincidence. The hand of Iran is clear.
Hamas is not, as some fools would have it, a plucky group of freedom fighters. It is a murderous proxy of the Iranians, who are the world’s largest funders of terror. The Iranians fund Hamas. The Iranians have been wrong-footed by the Abraham Accords – which were driven by the realisation by Arab states that they and Israel shared a common enemy in Iran. But however bad that may have been for them, an understanding between Israel and the Saudis is of a different order of magnitude. It would transform the Middle East. Which brings us back to Netanyahu. The Iranians will have seen Israel’s divisions and his government’s weakness – masquerading as a determination to ram through its judicial reforms – and pounced. He was determined that his legacy would be a deal with the Saudis. It now seems that his departing legacy will be Israel’s worst military and intelligence failure since the Yom Kippur War.

Hamas surprise attack out of Gaza stuns Israel and leaves hundreds dead in fighting, retaliation
JERUSALEM (AP)/Updated Sat, October 7, 2023
Backed by a barrage of rockets, dozens of Hamas militants broke out of the blockaded Gaza Strip and into nearby Israeli towns, killing dozens and abducting others in an unprecedented surprise early morning attack during a major Jewish holiday Saturday. A stunned Israel said it is now at war with Hamas and launched airstrikes in Gaza, vowing to inflict an “unprecedented price.”
In an assault of startling breadth, Hamas gunmen rolled into as many as 22 locations outside the Gaza Strip, including towns and other communities as far as 15 miles (24 kilometers) from the Gaza border. In some places, they roamed for hours, gunning down civilians and soldiers as Israel’s military scrambled to muster a response. Gunbattles continued well after nightfall, and militants held hostages in standoffs in two towns.
Israel’s national rescue service said at least 200 people were killed and 1,100 wounded, making it the deadliest attack in Israel in decades. At least 198 people in the Gaza Strip have been killed and at least 1,610 wounded in Israeli strikes, the Palestinian Health Ministry said. Hamas fighters took an unknown number of civilians and soldiers captive into Gaza, a deeply sensitive issue for Israel.
The conflict threatened to escalate to an even deadlier stage with Israel’s vows of greater retaliation. Previous conflicts between Israel and Gaza’s Hamas rulers brought widespread death and destruction in Gaza and days of rocket fire on Israeli towns. The situation is potentially more volatile now, with Israel’s far-right government stung by the security breach and with Palestinians in despair over a never-ending occupation in the West Bank and suffocating blockade of Gaza.
In a televised address Saturday night, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who earlier declared Israel at war, said the military will use all of its strength to destroy Hamas’ capabilities but the war will “take time.”
“We will defeat them ... and take revenge for this black day,” he said.
After nightfall, Israeli airstrikes in Gaza intensified, flattening several residential buildings in giant explosions, including a 14-story tower that held dozens of apartments as well as Hamas offices in central Gaza City. Israeli forces fired a warning just before, and there were no reports of casualties.
Soon after, a Hamas rocket barrage into central Israel hit four cities, including Tel Aviv and a nearby suburb, where two people were seriously injured. Throughout the day, Hamas fired more than 3,500 rockets, the Israeli military said.
The strength, sophistication and timing of the Saturday morning attack shocked Israelis. Hamas fighters used explosives to break through the border fence enclosing the Mediterranean territory, then crossed with motorcycles, pickup trucks, paragliders and speed boats on the coast. In some towns, a trail of civilians’ bodies lay where they had encountered the advancing gunmen. On the road outside the town of Sderot, a bloodied woman slumped dead in the seat of her car. At least nine people gunned down at a bus shelter in the town were laid out on stretchers on the street, their bags still on the curb nearby. One woman, screaming, embraced the body of a family member sprawled under a sheet next to a toppled motorcycle; as she was led away, she picked up the dead person’s helmet from the ground nearby.
Associated Press photos showed an abducted elderly Israeli woman being brought back into Gaza on a golf cart by Hamas gunmen and another woman squeezed between two fighters on a motorcycle. Images also showed fighters parading captured Israeli military vehicles through Gaza streets. The shadowy leader of Hamas’ military wing, Mohammed Deif, said the assault was in response to the 16-year blockade of Gaza, Israeli raids inside West Bank cities over the past year, violence at Al Aqsa — the disputed Jerusalem holy site sacred to Jews as the Temple Mount — increasing attacks by settlers on Palestinians and growth of settlements.
“Enough is enough,” Deif, who does not appear in public, said in the recorded message. He said the attack was only the start of what he called “Operation Al-Aqsa Storm” and called on Palestinians from east Jerusalem to northern Israel to join the fight. “Today the people are regaining their revolution.”
The Hamas incursion on Simchat Torah, a normally joyous day when Jews complete the annual cycle of reading the Torah scroll, revived painful memories of the 1973 Mideast war practically 50 years to the day, in which Egypt and Syria launched a surprise attack on Yom Kippur, the holiest day of the Jewish calendar, aiming to take back Israeli-occupied territories.
Comparisons to one of the most traumatic moments in Israeli history sharpened criticism of Netanyahu and his far-right allies, who had campaigned on more aggressive action against threats from Gaza. Political commentators lambasted the government over its failure to anticipate what appeared to be a Hamas attack unseen in its level of planning and coordination.
Asked by reporters how Hamas had managed to catch the army off guard, Lt. Col. Richard Hecht, an Israeli army spokesman, replied, “That’s a good question.”
The abduction of Israeli civilians and soldiers also raised a particularly thorny issue for Israel, which has a history of making heavily lopsided exchanges to bring captive Israelis home. Hamas’ military wing claimed it was holding dozens of Israeli soldiers captive in “safe places” and tunnels in the Gaza Strip. The Israeli military confirmed that a number of Israelis were abducted but would not give a figure. If true, the claim could set the stage for complicated negotiations on a swap with Israel, which is holding thousands of Palestinians in its prisons. An unknown number of civilians were also taken. AP journalists saw four taken from the kibbutz of Kfar Azza, including two women. In Gaza, a black jeep pulled to a stop and, when the rear door opened, a young Israeli woman stumbled out, bleeding from the head and with her hands tied behind her back. A man waving a gun in the air grabbed her by the hair and pushed her into the vehicle’s back seat. Israeli TV reported that workers from Thailand and the Philippines were also among the captives.
In the kibbutz of Nahal Oz, just 4 kilometers (2.5 miles) from the Gaza Strip, terrified residents who were huddled indoors said they could hear constant gunfire echoing off the buildings as firefights continued.
“With rockets we somehow feel safer, knowing that we have the Iron Dome (missile defense system) and our safe rooms. But knowing that terrorists are walking around communities is a different kind of fear,” said Mirjam Reijnen, a 42-year-old volunteer firefighter and mother of three in Nahal Oz.
Earlier in the day, Netanyahu vowed that Hamas “will pay an unprecedented price.” A major question now was whether Israel will launch a ground assault into Gaza, a densely populated enclave of more than 2 million people, a move that in the past has brought intensified casualties. Israel’s military was bringing four divisions of troops as well as tanks to the Gaza border, joining 31 battalions already in the area, the spokesman Hagari said.
In Gaza, much of the population was thrown into darkness after nightfall, as electrical supplies from Israel – which supplies almost all the territories’ power – was cut off.
Hamas said it had planned for a potentially long fight. “We are prepared for all options, including all-out war,” the deputy head of the Hamas political bureau, Saleh al-Arouri, told Al-Jazeera TV. “We are ready to do whatever is necessary for the dignity and freedom of our people.”U.S. President Joe Biden condemned “this appalling assault against Israel by Hamas terrorists from Gaza.” He spoke with Netanyahu and said Israel “has a right to defend itself and its people.” according to a White House statement.
Saudi Arabia, which has been in talks with the U.S. about normalizing relations with Israel, called on both sides to exercise restraint. The kingdom said it had repeatedly warned about the danger of “the situation exploding as a result of the continued occupation (and) the Palestinian people being deprived of their legitimate rights.”
Lebanon’s Hezbollah militant group congratulated Hamas, praising the attack as a response to “Israeli crimes.” The group said its command in Lebanon was in contact with Hamas about the operation.
The attack comes at a time of historic division within Israel over Netanyahu’s proposal to overhaul the judiciary. Mass protests over the plan have sent hundreds of thousands of Israeli demonstrators into the streets and prompted hundreds of military reservists to avoid volunteer duty — turmoil that has raised fears over the military’s battlefield readiness and raised concerns about its deterrence over its enemies.
It also comes at a time of mounting tensions between Israel and the Palestinians, with the peace process effectively dead for years. Over the past year Israel’s far-right government has ramped up settlement construction in the occupied West Bank, Israeli settler violence has displaced hundreds of Palestinians there, and tensions have flared around a flashpoint Jerusalem holy site.
Israel has maintained a blockade over Gaza since Hamas seized control of the territory in 2007. The bitter enemies have fought four wars since then.

Israel ‘at war’ as Hamas launches unprecedented attack from Gaza
Arab News/October 07, 2023
Israeli military said it had responded with air strikes into Gaza
232 Palestinians dead, 1,700 injured in Israeli retaliation
JERUSALEM/GAZA: Palestinian Islamist group Hamas launched the biggest attack on Israel in years on Saturday, killing at least 200 Israelis and wounding 1,100 more in a surprise assault that combined gunmen crossing into Israel with a barrage of rockets fired from Gaza. Israel said the Iran-backed group had declared war as its army confirmed fighting with militants in several Israeli towns and military bases near Gaza and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to retaliate. Israeli forces responded with airstrikes across the Gaza Strip on multiple residential neighborhoods. “Our enemy will pay a price the type of which it has never known,” Netanyahu said. “We are in a war and we will win it.”The Palestinian Ministry of Health reported 232 Palestinians had been killed and 1,700 more injured in the Israeli retaliation since the early morning hours. Meanwhile, at least 200 Israelis were killed in the Palestinian resistance attack, Israel’s ambulance service said. More than 1,100 Israelis had been wounded, the health ministry said, while dozens had been taken hostage, according to reports. After weeks of escalating tensions along the Gaza-Israel border and deadly confrontations in the occupied West Bank of Palestine, Palestinian resistance factions, primarily led by Hamas, declared a full-scale military operation on Saturday into the towns and settlements located along the separation fence with Gaza. The Israeli military said it had responded with air strikes into Gaza, where witnesses reported hearing heavy explosions and multiple dead being carried into hospitals. The attack marked an unprecedented infiltration into Israel by an unknown number of Hamas gunmen crossing from the Gaza Strip, and the heaviest blow for Israel in the conflict with Palestinians since the suicide bombings of the Second Intifada some two decades ago.
‘PLEASE SEND HELP’
Speaking to Israel N12 News by phone from Nir Oz, a kibbutz near Gaza, a woman identified as Dorin said militants had infiltrated her house and tried to open the bomb shelter where she was hiding. “They just came in again, please send help,” she said. “There are a lot of homes harmed ... My husband is holding the door closed ... They are firing rounds of bullets.”Israeli Defense Minister Gallant said “troops are fighting against the enemy at every location” and authorized the call-up of reservists. Israeli media reported that gunmen had opened fire on passers-by in Sderot, and footage circulating on social media appeared to show clashes in city streets as well as gunmen in jeeps roaming the countryside. “We were told there are terrorists inside the kibbutz, we can hear gunfire,” a young woman named Dvir, from Beeri Kibbutz, told Israeli Army Radio from her bomb shelter.
BACKDROP OF SURGING VIOLENCE
The escalation comes against a backdrop of surging violence between Israel and Palestinian militants in the West Bank, which together with the Gaza Strip is part of the territories where Palestinians have long sought to establish a state. Hamas media displayed videos of what it said were bodies of Israeli soldiers brought into Gaza by fighters, and Palestinian gunmen inside Israeli homes and touring an Israeli town in jeeps reportedly been driven into Israel by the attackers. Reuters was not immediately able to verify the footage. Hamas media also circulated video footage apparently showing a destroyed Israeli tank. In Gaza, the roar of rocket launches could be heard and residents reported armed clashes along the separation fence with Israel, near the southern town of Khan Younis, and said they had seen significant movement of armed fighters. Palestinians in Gaza were bracing for Israel’s response.“We are afraid,” Palestinian woman, Amal Abu Daqqa, said as she left her house in Khan Younis. Others in Gaza expressed disbelief at the infiltration into Israel. “It is like a dream. I still can’t believe it,” said one Gaza shopkeeper. The attack came a day after Israel marked the 50th anniversary of the 1973 war that brought the country to the verge of catastrophic defeat in a surprise attack by Syria and Egypt.

Hamas leader Haniyeh says Israel can't provide protection for Arab countries
(Reuters)/October 7, 2023
Ismail Haniyeh, the leader of the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, told fellow Arab countries on Saturday that Israel cannot provide them with any protection despite recent diplomatic rapprochements. Hamas launched the biggest attack on Israelin years on Saturday, killing dozens of people and taking hostages in a surprise assault that combined gunmen crossing into Israel with a barrage of rockets fired from the Gaza Strip. Israel said the Iran-backed group had declared war as its army confirmed fighting with militants in several Israeli towns and military bases near Gaza, and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to retaliate. In a televised speech, Haniyeh addressed the Arab countries that have normalised ties with Israel in recent years. "We say to all countries, including our Arab brothers, that this entity, which cannot protect itself in the face of resistors, cannot provide you with any protection," he said. "All the normalization agreements that you signed with that entity cannot resolve this (Palestinian) conflict."In 2020, Israel reached normalisation with the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, and upgraded ties with Morocco and Sudan, despite talks with the Palestinians being frozen for years.
Regional powerhouse Saudi Arabia and Israel are also engaged in U.S.-mediated talks to normalise relations, a prospect that drew condemnation from some Palestinian factions. Haniyeh also said armed Palestinian factions intend to expand the ongoing battle in Gaza to the West Bank and Jerusalem. "The battle moved into the heart of the 'zionist entity'" he said.

Saudi Arabia suggests Israel to blame for war despite steps to normalise relations
James Crisp/The Telegraph/October 7, 2023
Saudi Arabia suggested Israel was to blame for Saturday’s deadly attack by Hamas, as it called for an immediate end to the violence between Israelis and Palestinians. ‌Riyadh was edging closer to a historic deal to normalise relations with Jerusalem, a taboo in the Arab world because of the Palestinian issue, before hostilities erupted. ‌In a sign that Saudi Arabia may not be ready to abandon the delicate US-backed diplomacy, the Kingdom did not explicitly blame Israel or back Hamas. ‌But, in a veiled criticism, it said on Saturday it had warned of the dangers of Israeli treatment of Palestinians leading to an “explosion of the situation”. Crown prince Mohammed bin Salman told Fox News a fortnight ago that normalised ties were “getting closer every day” but the issue of the Palestinian territories would have to be solved. ‌An Israeli minister made a historic visit to Saudi Arabia and a Saudi delegation travelled to the West Bank in late September. The Saudi Arabian foreign ministry said on Saturday: ‌“We are following the unprecedented developments between a number of Palestinian factions and Israel occupation forces which has led to a high level of violence on a number of fronts.
“The Kingdom calls for an immediate halt to the escalation between the two sides, the protection of civilians, and restraint.”‌It added: “The Kingdom recalls its repeated warnings of the dangers of the explosion of the situation as a result of the continued occupation, the deprivation of the Palestinian people of their legitimate rights, and the repetition of systematic provocations against its sanctities.”‌Hugh Lovatt, a senior policy fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations think tank and an expert on the Middle East, Israel and Palestine, said: “The statement is pretty neutral and reflective of how Riyadh is trying to balance various interests.”“It will be concerned that this could lead to broader regional escalation which could undermine its ongoing normalisation talks with the US and Israel, and potentially further bolster Iranian influence.”Greater Iranian influence could upset the new and “delicate detente” with Iran, he said, and Saudi Arabia had long-held animosity towards Hamas. But Riyadh has also “sought to portray itself as a committed and active supporter of Palestinian rights,” Mr Lovatt said. He added: “It will also be aware that there is still a strong pro-Palestinian public opinion in the Kingdom which will be enthused by the current scenes of Palestinian triumph.”Mr Lovatt warned: “This balancing act will become even more difficult should Israel’s retaliation provoke a large Palestinian death toll in Gaza, as seems likely. In that case, expect them to take a stronger line against Israel.”
Hizbollah, the Iran-backed militia in Lebanon, praised the “heroic” attack, which it said was a “decisive response to Israel’s continued occupation and a message to those seeking normalisation with Israel”. Maj Gen Rahim Safavi, an adviser to Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, said: “We congratulate the Palestinian fighters.”“We will stand by the Palestinian fighters until the liberation of Palestine and Jerusalem,” he said, according to the ISNA news site. Qatar’s foreign minister said it held Israel “solely responsible” for the ongoing escalation of violence due to its “violations” of the rights of Palestinians. Egypt, which almost 50 years ago attacked Israel in the Yom Kippur war, called for “exercising maximum restraint and avoiding exposing civilians to further danger”.“We call for restraint from all parties,” said Turkey’s president Recip Tayip Erdogan in Ankara, “they must refrain from aggressive acts.”

Islamist anti-Semitism is behind Israel’s darkest hour since the Yom Kippur war
Jake Wallis Simons/The Telegraph/October 7, 2023
The intelligence failure was astonishing. As Israel fell silent to observe a religious holiday, it was surprised by a massive assault that nobody had anticipated. This was as close as the Jewish state had ever come to destruction. By the end, casualties were three times higher per capita than the United States had suffered in Vietnam. This was the Yom Kippur war of exactly 50 years ago. Yet it forms a disturbingly close parallel to the catastrophe that engulfs the Jewish state today.
The security errors that led to scenes of armed terrorists breaking out of Gaza and rampaging through Israeli towns yesterday require urgent explanation. In 1973, Israel’s military and political establishment was captured by groupthink, wrongly believing that the Arab armies would not attack because they feared they would lose. Was such herd hubris also to blame this weekend, as Jews celebrated the end of Sukkot?
Footage has shown militants firing their guns in residential areas. An unknown number of Israelis have been dragged away into Gaza as prisoners and Israel’s fabled intelligence services stand humiliated. Seeing crowds in Palestinian towns dancing and singing in jubilation, I can’t be alone in feeling sick to my stomach. So begins a conflagration the likes of which have not been seen in my lifetime. Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has declared war. This means that energy and supplies to Gaza may be cut off and the Israeli armed forces will respond with huge force, targeting not just terrorist strongholds but communications systems and infrastructure. Sources have indicated that a condition of ceasefire will be the return of all Israeli prisoners and remains. Tragedy will pile upon tragedy. Dig in for the long haul.
Meanwhile, there are fears that Hezbollah – whose stockpile of missiles is larger than some nation-states – will open an additional front in the north, splitting Israeli forces in two in a repeat of 1973. And behind it all is Iran, which funds both Hezbollah and Hamas and has long been intent on orchestrating a co-ordinated attack on the Jewish state. It is hard to ignore the role of Western appeasement in emboldening the Iranian regime and its tentacles overseas, such as Hamas. In Britain, the Foreign Office has reportedly argued against efforts to blacklist Tehran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, despite the MI5 director-general saying there had been 10 Iranian plots to kidnap or murder British residents in 2022. The Biden administration, meanwhile, released $6 billion (£4.9 billion) to the regime in August, with potentially more to come. Blocks on Iran’s oil production have been quietly relaxed, allowing Tehran to sell millions of barrels a day. There is little doubt that this money boosts terrorism overseas, funding outrages like those seen in Israel. We can only hope that international assessments of Tehran’s nuclear programme – which already place it just weeks away from sufficient fissile material for a bomb – are accurate, and it doesn’t already have the capability. Yet as is ever the case with Israel, while the battle rages in the real world, a second conflict is fought on the airwaves and online, as armies of trolls try to undermine the case for the Jewish state’s defence. Even as Israeli civilians are butchered, we are told that they deserve it. When its military responds, we are told it is “disproportionate”. Mahmoud Abbas, the “moderate” Palestinian leader currently enjoying the 18th year of his four-year term, justified the atrocities as a response to the “terror of settlers and occupation troops”.
Israel is denigrated in the language of socialism and identity politics. Hamas are “resistance fighters”, say the useful idiots of the West, merely fighting a “colonial power” when they murder Jews. These people speak with no consequences. As Saul Bellow put it, they use Israel as their “moral resort area”. Meanwhile, real people are dying 3,000 miles away. In response, sensible voices must be absolutely clear: this was an anti-Semitic attack. It was of a piece with the pogroms carried out by the Cossacks, the Iraqi mobs during the Farhud, and the Nazis. That last example is especially powerful, as a direct line can be drawn from Hitler to Hamas. During the Second World War, the extremist Palestinian leader Amin al-Husseini, who compared Jewishness to infectious disease and Jews to microbes or bacilli, worked with Nazi officials to translate Third Reich ideology into an Arabic context and transmit it into the Middle East via radio, leaflets and other means. His twisted ideology rings loudly in our ears today. Look at Hamas’s charter. Article 32 – a conspiracy theory which accuses the Zionists of wishing to take over the entire territory between the Nile in Egypt and the Euphrates in Iraq, an area of thousands of square miles – says: “Their scheme has been laid out in the Protocols of the Elders of Zion.” To describe Hamas as being influenced by Nazi propaganda is insufficient. This is Nazi propaganda. The fact that some Western liberals defend such action, or equivocate in their condemnation, marks them as allies of Islamist fascists. Naivete is no excuse; it is a measure of their moral bankruptcy. We must stand against those smug voices just as we stand alongside Israel against the forces of Islamism.

Factbox-What is the Palestinian group Hamas?
(Reuters)/October 7, 2023
The Palestinian group Hamas has launched a surprise attack from Gaza into Israel, in one of the most serious escalations in the Israel-Palestinian conflict in years.
What is Hamas?
- Hamas, or the Islamic Resistance Movement, was founded in 1987 during the first Palestinian Intifada, or uprising. It is backed by Shi'ite Iran and shares the Islamist ideology of the Muslim Brotherhood, which was established in Egypt in the 1920s.
- It has run the Gaza Strip since 2007, after a brief civil war with forces loyal to the Fatah movement led by President Mahmoud Abbas, who is based in the West Bank and also heads the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO).
The Hamas takeover of Gaza followed its win in Palestinian parliamentary elections in 2006 – the last time they were held. Hamas accused Abbas of conspiring against it. Abbas described what happened as a coup.
Since then, there have been numerous rounds of conflict with Israel, often involving Hamas rocket attacks from Gaza into Israel and Israeli airstrikes and bombardment of Gaza.
- Hamas refuses to recognise the state of Israel and violently opposed the Oslo peace accords negotiated by Israel and the PLO in the mid-1990s.
- Hamas has an armed wing called the Izz el-Deen al-Qassam Brigades, which has sent gunmen and suicide bombers into Israel. Hamas characterizes its armed activities as resistance against Israeli occupation.
Its 1988 founding charter called for the destruction of Israel, although Hamas leaders have at times offered a long-term truce, or Hudna in Arabic, with Israel in return for a viable Palestinian state on all Palestinian territory occupied by Israel in the 1967 war. Israel regards this as a ruse.
- It is designated as a terrorist organisation by Israel, the United States, European Union, Canada, Egypt and Japan.
- Hamas is part of a regional alliance comprising Iran, Syria and the Shi'ite Islamist group Hezbollah in Lebanon, which all broadly oppose U.S. policy in the Middle East and Israel.
- While its power base is in Gaza, Hamas also has supporters across the Palestinian territories, and it has leaders spread across the Middle East in countries including Qatar.

Hamas surprise attack out of Gaza stuns Israel and leaves hundreds dead in fighting, retaliation
JERUSALEM (AP) /Updated Sat, October 7, 2023
Hamas militants fired thousands of rockets and sent dozens of fighters into Israeli towns near the Gaza Strip in an unprecedented surprise early morning attack during a major Jewish holiday Saturday, killing dozens and stunning the country. Israel said it is now at war with Hamas and launched airstrikes in Gaza, vowing to inflict an “unprecedented price.”Hours after the incursion began, Israeli troops were still fighting Hamas gunmen in 22 locations near the Gaza Strip, including towns and other communities, army spokesman Daniel Hagari said — a startling sign of the breadth of the assault.
Israel’s national rescue service said at least 100 people were killed and hundreds wounded, making it the deadliest attack in Israel in years. An unknown number of Israeli soldiers and civilians were also taken captive and brought into Gaza, an enormously sensitive issue for Israel. Hagari said militants were also holding hostages in standoffs in two towns, Beeri and Ofakim, which is 15 miles (24 kilometers) from the Gaza border. At least 198 people in the Gaza Strip have been killed and at least 1,610 wounded in Israel’s retaliation, the Palestinian Health Ministry said. After nightfall, airstrikes intensified, flattening several residential buildings in giant explosions, including a 14-story tower that held dozens of apartments as well as Hamas offices in central Gaza City. Israeli fired a warning just before, and the number of casualties was not immediately known.
The strength, sophistication and timing of the attack shocked Israelis. Hamas fighters used explosives to break through the border fence enclosing the long-blockaded Mediterranean territory, then crossed with motorcycles, pickup trucks, paragliders and speed boats on the coast.
Bodies of dead Israeli civilians and Hamas militants were seen on streets of Israeli towns. Associated Press photos showed an abducted elderly Israeli woman surrounded by gunmen being brought back into Gaza on a golf cart and another woman squeezed between two fighters on a motorcycle. Images on social media appeared to show fighters parading what seemed to be captured Israeli military vehicles through Gaza streets and a dead Israeli soldier being dragged and trampled by crowd of Palestinians.
The conflict threatened to spiral dramatically further. Previous conflicts between Israel and Gaza's Hamas ruler brought widespread death and destruction in Gaza and days of rocket fire on Israeli towns. The mix is potentially more volatile now, with Israel's far-right government stung by the security breach and with Palestinians in despair over a never-ending occupation. “We are at war,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a televised address, declaring a mass army mobilization. “Not an ‘operation,’ not a ‘round,’ but at war.”“The enemy will pay an unprecedented price,” he added, promising that Israel would “return fire of a magnitude that the enemy has not known.”
The shadowy leader of Hamas’ military wing, Mohammed Deif, said the assault was in response to the 16-year blockade of Gaza, Israeli raids inside West Bank cities over the past year, violence at Al Aqsa — the disputed Jerusalem holy site sacred to Jews as the Temple Mount — increasing attacks by settlers on Palestinians and growth of settlements. “Enough is enough,” Deif, who does not appear in public, said in the recorded message. He said the morning attack was only the start of what he called “Operation Al-Aqsa Storm” and called on Palestinians from east Jerusalem to northern Israel to join the fight. “Today the people are regaining their revolution.”The Hamas incursion on Simchat Torah, a normally joyous day when Jews complete the annual cycle of reading the Torah scroll, revived painful memories of the 1973 Mideast war practically 50 years to the day, in which Egypt and Syria launched a surprise attack on Yom Kippur, the holiest day of the Jewish calendar, aiming to take back Israeli-occupied territories. Comparisons to one of the most traumatic moments in Israeli history sharpened criticism of Netanyahu and his far-right allies, who had campaigned on more aggressive action against threats from Gaza. Political commentators lambasted the government over its failure to anticipate what appeared to be a Hamas attack unseen in its level of planning and coordination. Asked by reporters how Hamas had managed to catch the army off guard, Lt. Col. Richard Hecht, an Israeli army spokesman, replied, “That’s a good question.”The abduction of Israeli civilians and soldiers also raised a particularly thorny issue for Israel. Israel has a history of making heavily lopsided exchanges in order to bring captive Israelis home. Their number was not immediately known. Videos released by Hamas appeared to show at least three Israelis captured alive, and AP photos showed at least three civilians brought in Gaza, including the two women. Israeli television showed images of a young man stripped down to his pants being led on foot in a chokehold and reported that elderly women with dementia as well as workers from Thailand and the Philippines were among the captives.
The Israeli military confirmed that a number of Israelis had been taken captive. A spokesman for Hamas' military wing, Abu Obeida, said the group was holding dozens of Israeli soldiers captive in “safe places” and tunnels in the Gaza Strip. If true, the claim could set the stage for complicated negotiations on a swap with Israel, which is holding thousands of Palestinians in its prisons. The assault brought scenes of bloodshed into towns of southern Israel, with a trail of civilians' bodies where they had encountered the advancing gunmen. On the road outside the town of Sderot, a bloodied woman lay dead in the seat of her car. Inside the town, bodies of at least six people gunned down at a bus shelter were laid out on stretchers on the street, their bags set nearby on the curb. Elsewhere, a woman knelt in the street and embraced a dead family member whose body was stretched out next to a pink motorcycle that lay on its side. The rider’s hand with a glove and a foot in a racing boot extended out from under the sheet.
In the kibbutz of Nahal Oz, just 4 kilometers (2.5 miles) from the Gaza Strip, terrified residents who were huddled indoors said they could hear constant gunfire echoing off the buildings as firefights continued. “With rockets we somehow feel safer, knowing that we have the Iron Dome (missile defense system) and our safe rooms. But knowing that terrorists are walking around communities is a different kind of fear,” said Mirjam Reijnen, a 42-year-old volunteer firefighter and mother of three in Nahal Oz. In a televised address, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant warned that Hamas had made “a grave mistake” and promised that “the state of Israel will win this war.”Israel's military was bringing four divisions of troops as well as tanks to the Gaza border, joining 31 battalions already in the area, the spokesman Hagari said. A major question now was whether Israel will launch a ground assault into Gaza, a densely populated enclave of more than 2 million people, a move that in the past has brought intensified casualties. Hamas said it had planned for a potentially long fight. “We are prepared for all options, including all-out war,” the deputy head of the Hamas political bureau, Saleh al-Arouri, told Al-Jazeera TV. “We are ready to do whatever is necessary for the dignity and freedom of our people.” U.S. President Joe Biden condemned “this appalling assault against Israel by Hamas terrorists from Gaza.” He spoke with Netanyahu and said Israel “has a right to defend itself and its people.” according to a White House statement.
Saudi Arabia, which has been in talks with the U.S. about normalizing relations with Israel, released a statement calling on both sides to exercise restraint. The kingdom said it had repeatedly warned about “the dangers of the situation exploding as a result of the continued occupation (and) the Palestinian people being deprived of their legitimate rights.”Lebanon’s Hezbollah militant group congratulated Hamas, praising the attack as a response to “Israeli crimes.” The group said its command in Lebanon was in contact with Hamas about the operation. The attack comes at a time of historic division within Israel over Netanyahu’s proposal to overhaul the judiciary. Mass protests over the plan have sent hundreds of thousands of Israeli demonstrators into the streets and prompted hundreds of military reservists to avoid volunteer duty — turmoil that has raised fears over the military’s battlefield readiness and raised concerns about its deterrence over its enemies. It also comes at a time of mounting tensions between Israel and the Palestinians, with the peace process effectively dead for years. Over the past year Israel’s far-right government has ramped up settlement construction in the occupied West Bank, Israeli settler violence has displaced hundreds of Palestinians there, and tensions have flared around a flashpoint Jerusalem holy site. Israel has maintained a blockade over Gaza since Hamas seized control of the territory in 2007. The bitter enemies have fought four wars since then.

Over 100 Israelis dead amid Hamas rocket attacks and terrorist infiltration
Battles continue against terrorists in Kibbutz Be'eri and Kibbutz Kfar Aza.
Jewish News Syndicate (JNS)/October 07/2023
https://www.jns.org/at-least-40-dead-amid-hamas-rocket-attacks-and-terrorist-infiltration/
Hamas killed more than 100 Israelis on Saturday as it launched a massive offensive from the Gaza Strip, including firing more than 2,500 rockets and sending dozens of Palestinian terrorists to infiltrate the Jewish state.
As of 3 p.m., there were reports of active combat 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 more than 35 Israelis hostage in Gaza.
More than 800 Israelis were evacuated to hospitals across the country, including many at Soroka Medical Center in Beersheva and Barzilai Medical Center in Ashkelon. Scores of the wounded were in serious condition, including at least 80 at Soroka, where there were also 10 victims in critical condition.
People were asked to donate blood across Israel, especially those with type O universal donor blood. 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. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu convenes the Security Cabinet at the Kirya military headquarters in Tel Aviv, Oct. 7, 2023. Photo by Haim Zach/GPO. 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. President Isaac Herzog denounced on Saturday the “cold-blooded” killings of Israelis and called on the international community to act.
“Today we saw the true face of Hamas. A terrorist army whose only goal is the cold-blooded murder of innocent men, women, and children,” said Herzog. “Supported and directed by their proxy commanders in Iran, they carried out an unprovoked, heinous attack against the Jewish state on a Jewish holy day [Simchat Torah]. Innocent civilians were massacred and wounded, and many are still under attack. “The State of Israel will take all measures necessary to eliminate this clear and immediate danger to our citizens. Israel will overcome in the face of all challenges. I call upon the family of nations: This war waged against us marks a line in the sand. Now is the time to hear clear, unequivocal condemnation of Hamas, its allies, and its backers in Iran. Now is the time to stand firm with Israel in support of its just and moral battle in the face of an abhorrent enemy,” said the president.
Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid on Saturday gave full support to the government to strike hard at Hamas. “At times like these, there is no opposition or coalition in Israel. We will give full backing to the security forces for a harsh response against terrorism and its proxies,” said Lapid.
“The whole world must stand with Israel as we defend ourselves from terror,” said Lapid. “We must mobilize the international community against [Palestinian] terror.” The United States condemned Hamas’s multi-pronged offensive. “Sickened by the images coming out of southern Israel of dead and wounded civilians at the hands of terrorists from Gaza. The United States stands with Israel,” said acting U.S. Ambassador in Jerusalem Stephanie Hallett. “I condemn the indiscriminate rocket fire by Hamas terrorists against Israeli civilians. I am in contact with Israeli officials, and fully support Israel’s right to defend itself from such terrorist acts,” she said. Netanyahu was expected to speak with U.S. President Joe Biden later in the afternoon.

Palestinians say at least 198 killed in Gaza in Israeli retaliation for a Hamas assault into Israel.
Updated Sat, October 7, 2023
JERUSALEM (AP) — The Palestinian Health Ministry in Gaza says at least 198 people have been killed and at least 1,610 wounded in the territory in Israel's retaliation after a wide-ranging Hamas assault into Israel.
The toll came as Israel has carried out a number of airstrikes in Gaza and has clashed with gunmen at the border fence around the coastal territory. THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier story follows below. The ruling Hamas militant group in the Gaza Strip carried out an unprecedented attack on Israel at daybreak Saturday, firing thousands of rockets as dozens of fighters infiltrated the heavily fortified border in several locations by air, land and sea, catching the country off guard on a major holiday. Several hours after the invasion began, Hamas militants were still fighting gunbattles inside several Israeli communities in a surprising show of strength that shook the country. Israel’s national rescue service said at least 40 people have been killed and hundreds wounded, making it the deadliest attack in Israel in years. At least 561 wounded people were being treated in Israeli hospitals, including at least 77 who were in critical condition, according to an Associated Press count based on public statements and calls to hospitals. There was no official comment on casualties in Gaza, but AP reporters witnessed the funerals of 15 people who were killed and saw another eight bodies arrive at a local hospital. It was not immediately clear if they were fighters or civilians.Social media was replete with videos of Hamas fighters parading what appeared to be stolen Israeli military vehicles through the streets and at least one dead Israeli soldier within Gaza being dragged and trampled by an angry crowd of Palestinians shouting “God is Greatest.”Videos released by Hamas appeared to show at least three Israelis captured alive. The military declined to give details about casualties or kidnappings as it continued to battle the infiltrators.
“We are at war,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a televised address, declaring a mass army mobilization. “Not an ‘operation,’ not a ‘round,’ but at war.”
“The enemy will pay an unprecedented price,” he added, promising that Israel would “return fire of a magnitude that the enemy has not known.”
At a meeting of top security officials later on Saturday, Netanyahu said the first priority was to “cleanse the area” of enemy infiltrators, then to “exact a huge price from the enemy,” and to fortify other areas so that no other militant groups join the war.
The serious invasion on Simchat Torah, a normally joyous day when Jews complete the annual cycle of reading the Torah scroll, revived painful memories of the 1973 Mideast war practically 50 years to the day, in which Israel’s enemies launched a surprise attack on Yom Kippur, the holiest day of the Jewish calendar. Comparisons to one of the most traumatic moments in Israeli history sharpened criticism of Netanyahu and his far-right allies, who had campaigned on more aggressive action against threats from Gaza. Political commentators lambasted the government over its failure to anticipate what appeared to be a Hamas attack unseen in its level of planning and coordination. The Israeli military struck targets in Gaza in response for some 2,500 rockets that sent air raid sirens wailing constantly as far north as Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, some 80 kilometers (50 miles) away. It said its forces were engaged in gunfights with Hamas militants who had infiltrated Israel in at least seven locations. The fighters had sneaked across the separation fence and even invaded Israel through the air with paragliders, the army said. Israeli TV broadcast footage of explosions tearing through the Gaza-Israel border fence, followed by what appeared to be Palestinian gunmen riding into Israel on motorcycles. Gunmen also reportedly entered on pickup trucks.
It was not immediately clear what prompted Hamas to launch the attacks, which would have likely required months of planning.
But over the past year Israel’s far-right government has ramped up settlement construction in the occupied West Bank, Israeli settler violence has displaced hundreds of Palestinians there, and tensions have flared around a flashpoint Jerusalem holy site.
The shadowy leader of Hamas’ military wing, Mohammed Deif, announced the start of what he called “Operation Al-Aqsa Storm.” The Al-Aqsa mosque compound in Jerusalem is the third holiest site in Islam, and is located on the holiest site for Jews, who refer to it as the Temple Mount. “Enough is enough,” Deif, who does not appear in public, said in the recorded message, as he called on Palestinians from east Jerusalem to northern Israel to join the fight. “Today the people are regaining their revolution.”In a televised address, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant warned that Hamas had made “a grave mistake” and promised that “the state of Israel will win this war.”Western nations condemned the incursion and reiterated their support for Israel, while others called for restraint on both sides. “The U.S. unequivocally condemns the unprovoked attacks by Hamas terrorists against Israeli civilians,” said Adrienne Watson, spokeswoman for the U.S. National Security Council. “We stand firmly with the government and people of Israel and extend our condolences for the Israeli lives lost in these attacks.”Watson said Jake Sullivan, the national security adviser, has spoken with his Israeli counterpart, Tzachi Hanegbi.
Saudi Arabia, which has been in talks with the U.S. about normalizing relations with Israel, released a statement calling on both sides to exercise restraint. The kingdom said it had repeatedly warned about “ the dangers of the situation exploding as a result of the continued occupation (and) the Palestinian people being deprived of their legitimate rights.”The attack comes at a time of historic division within Israel over Netanyahu’s proposal to overhaul the judiciary. Mass protests over the plan have sent hundreds thousands of Israeli demonstrators into the streets and prompted hundreds of military reservists to avoid volunteer duty — turmoil that has raised fears over the military’s battlefield readiness and raised concerns about its deterrence over its enemies.
The infiltration of fighters into southern Israel marked a major escalation by Hamas that forced millions of Israelis to hunker down in safe rooms. Cities and towns emptied as the military closed roads near Gaza. Israel’s rescue service and the Palestinian Health Ministry in Gaza appealed to the public to donate blood. “We understand that this is something big,” Lt. Col. Richard Hecht, an Israeli army spokesman, told reporters. He said the Israeli military had called up the army reserves.
Hecht declined to comment on how Hamas had managed to catch the army off guard. “That’s a good question,” he said. Ismail Haniyeh, the exiled leader of Hamas, said that Palestinian fighters were “engaged in these historic moments in a heroic operation” to defend the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem and the thousands of Palestinian prisoners held by Israel. In the kibbutz of Nahal Oz, just 4 kilometers (2.5 miles) from the Gaza Strip, terrified residents who were huddled indoors said they could hear constant gunfire echoing off the buildings as firefights continued even hours after the initial attack.
“With rockets we somehow feel safer, knowing that we have the Iron Dome (missile defense system) and our safe rooms. But knowing that terrorists are walking around communities is a different kind of fear,” said Mirjam Reijnen, a 42-year-old volunteer firefighter and mother of three in Nahal Oz. Israel has built a massive fence along the Gaza border meant to prevent infiltrations. It goes deep underground and is equipped with cameras, high-tech sensors and sensitive listening technology. The escalation comes after weeks of heightened tensions along Israel’s volatile border with Gaza, and heavy fighting in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. Saturday’s wide-ranging assault threatened to undermine Netanyahu’s reputation as a security expert who would do anything to protect Israel. It also raised questions about the cohesion of a security apparatus crucial to the stability of a country locked in low-intensity conflicts on multiple fronts and facing threats from Lebanon’s Hezbollah militant group. Hezbollah congratulated Hamas on Friday, praising the attack as a response to “Israeli crimes” and saying the militants had “divine backing.” The group said its command in Lebanon was in contact with Hamas about the operation.
Israel has maintained a blockade over Gaza since Hamas seized control of the territory in 2007. The bitter enemies have fought four wars since then. There have also been numerous rounds of smaller fighting between Israel and Hamas and other smaller militant groups based in Gaza. The blockade, which restricts the movement of people and goods in and out of Gaza, has devastated the territory’s economy. Israel says the blockade is needed to keep militant groups from building up their arsenals. The Palestinians say the closure amounts to collective punishment. The rocket fire comes during a period of heavy fighting in the West Bank, where nearly 200 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli military raids this year. In the volatile northern West Bank, scores of militants and residents poured into the streets in celebration at the news of the rocket barrages.
Israel says the raids are aimed at militants, but stone-throwing protesters and people uninvolved in the violence have also been killed. Palestinian attacks on Israeli targets have killed over 30 people. The tensions have also spread to Gaza, where Hamas-linked activists held violent demonstrations along the Israeli border in recent weeks. Those demonstrations were halted in late September after international mediation.

Countries condemn 'terrorist attacks' from Gaza, Russia urges 'restraint'
Agence France Presse/October 7, 2023
Germany "firmly condemns the terrorist attacks from Gaza against Israel", Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said on Saturday, following the firing of hundreds of rockets. Israel "has our full solidarity" and "the right, guaranteed by international law, to defend itself against terrorism", Baerbock said on social media, as the Israeli army began carrying out air strikes on the Gaza Strip. The French foreign ministry also condemned "in the strongest possible terms the ongoing terrorist attacks against Israel and its population". France "expresses its full solidarity with Israel and the victims of these attacks. It reaffirms its absolute rejection of terrorism and its commitment to Israel's security", the ministry added. Italy said Saturday it backed "Israel's right to defend itself" against the "brutal attack" underway after hundreds of rockets were fired on its territory from Gaza. The government said it "condemns in the strongest terms the terror and the violence underway against innocent civilians", adding: "We back the right of Israel to defend itself". Other countries also condemned the attack, including the UK, Ukraine, Spain and the Czech Republic, while Russia urged "restraint". "We are now in contact with everyone. With the Israelis, Palestinians, Arabs," Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov told Russian private news agency Interfax, adding: "Of course, we always call for restraint."

Countries condemn 'terrorist attacks' from Gaza, Russia urges 'restraint'
Agence France Presse/October 7, 2023
Germany "firmly condemns the terrorist attacks from Gaza against Israel", Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said on Saturday, following the firing of hundreds of rockets. Israel "has our full solidarity" and "the right, guaranteed by international law, to defend itself against terrorism", Baerbock said on social media, as the Israeli army began carrying out air strikes on the Gaza Strip. The French foreign ministry also condemned "in the strongest possible terms the ongoing terrorist attacks against Israel and its population". France "expresses its full solidarity with Israel and the victims of these attacks. It reaffirms its absolute rejection of terrorism and its commitment to Israel's security", the ministry added. Italy said Saturday it backed "Israel's right to defend itself" against the "brutal attack" underway after hundreds of rockets were fired on its territory from Gaza. The government said it "condemns in the strongest terms the terror and the violence underway against innocent civilians", adding: "We back the right of Israel to defend itself".Other countries also condemned the attack, including the UK, Ukraine, Spain and the Czech Republic, while Russia urged "restraint". "We are now in contact with everyone. With the Israelis, Palestinians, Arabs," Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov told Russian private news agency Interfax, adding: "Of course, we always call for restraint."

EU's top diplomat says bloc 'unequivocally' condemns Hamas attacks
Agence France Presse/October 7, 2023
The European Union on Saturday "unequivocally" condemned attacks by the Palestinian group Hamas on Israel and called for an immediate stop to the violence. "We follow with anguish the news coming from Israel. We unequivocally condemn the attacks by Hamas. This horrific violence must stop immediately. Terrorism and violence solve nothing. The EU expresses its solidarity with Israel in these difficult moments," EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said.

Syria shells northern rebel-held region of Idlib, killing 7 people
BEIRUT (AP)/October 7, 2023
Syrian and Russian bombardment of rebel-held parts of northwest Syria claimed seven more lives and wounded others Saturday, two days after one of the country's deadliest attacks on a government target in years, a war monitor and a paramedic group said. Thursday’s drone strike on the Homs Military Academy killed 89 people, including 31 women and five children, and wounded as many as 277, according to the health ministry. The Syrian military accused insurgents “backed by known international forces” of carrying out the attack and said “it will respond with full force and decisiveness to these terrorist organizations, wherever they exist.” No one claimed responsibility for the attack that happened during a graduation ceremony at the academy. On Saturday, Syrian artillery pounded towns and villages held by rebels in Idlib province, killing seven and wounding 10, according to the opposition’s Syrian Civil Defense, also known as White Helmets. After more than 12 years of civil war, Idlib is the last major rebel stronghold in Syria. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an opposition war monitor, had a similar death toll and reported that insurgents fired rockets on government-held areas, including the outskirts of President Bashar Assad’s hometown of Qardaha. The Observatory said Russian warplanes carried out four airstrikes on the rebel-held region. The pro-government Sham FM reported that three people were wounded in rebel shelling in Latakia province that borders Idlib. Since the attack in Homs, government forces and their Russian backers have intensified their attacks on Idlib. Fearing harsh retaliation from the government, authorities in Idlib suspended this week’s Friday prayers and also closed public and private schools on Saturday and Sunday. Syria’s crisis started with peaceful protests against Assad’s government in March 2011 but quickly morphed into a full-blown civil war after the government’s brutal crackdown on the protesters. The conflict has killed half a million people.

World Court to hear Armenia's demand for Azerbaijan withdrawal
THE HAGUE (Reuters)/October 7, 2023
The World Court will sit next Thursday to hear Armenia's demand for an emergency order to Azerbaijan to withdraw all its troops from civilian establishments in Nagorno-Karabakh, the court said on Friday. It is the fourth time the World Court, formally known as the International Court of Justice, will hear a request for emergency measures as part of two competing legal disputes between Armenia and Azerbaijan. Both states accuse each other before the ICJ of violating a U.N. anti-discrimination treaty. In February, the United Nations' highest court ordered Azerbaijan to ensure free movement through the Lachin corridor to and from Nagorno-Karabakh after already ordering both sides in December last year of refraining from any actions that would aggravate their dispute. Last month, Azerbaijan launched a military operation that caused more than 100,000 ethnic Armenians to flee Nagorno-Karabakh. Armenia has accused Azerbaijan of "ethnic cleansing" in Karabakh, which Baku denies. The World Court in The Hague is the U.N. court for resolving disputes between countries. Its rulings are binding, but it has no direct means of enforcing them.

Russian Attacks Are Edging Closer and Closer to NATO Territory
(Bloomberg)/Natalia Drozdiak, Slav Okov and Irina Vilcu/October 7, 2023
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization has an increasingly tricky problem in its backyard: how to confront the spillover from Russia’s war without sparking further escalation. As Ukraine reaps a bumper harvest, Russia is targeting the export routes that run from the ports around Odesa. That’s forcing grain ships on a new path that hugs the Romanian coastline and bringing the threat of attacks closer and closer to NATO’s shores.
Romanian radar detected a breach of its territory last weekend, the latest in a string of such incidents, while Bulgaria next door has found drone debris on its soil. Off shore, drifting sea mines and GPS-jamming that risks marine collisions are pushing the 31-member alliance into taking a view. For now, it is inclined to see the incidents as mishaps. Even so, the subject is expected to be raised at a meeting of defense ministers in Brussels next week, according to a NATO diplomat, who asked not be named when discussing confidential information. The head of the Romanian armed forces, Daniel Petrescu, echoed NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg’s reading of the events when last week he warned of a need to be vigilant against “accidents.”“Russia’s war and strikes close to Romanian borders are reckless and are destabilizing,” Stoltenberg had told reporters in Kyiv, but emphasized that the drone debris didn’t appear to result from intentional targeting. Last year, a missile that struck Polish territory and killed two people had briefly raised alarm within NATO, whose collective defense arrangements mean member states come to each others’ aid if attacked. Investigators later found that it was caused by a Ukrainian missile.
Mode of Escalation
The sheer number of cases may suggest a less innocent explanation, according to Iulia Joja, the director of the Black Sea program for the Washington-based Middle East Institute think tank.“This is unfortunately the Russian fashion of escalation,” she said of the incidents, which number at least a dozen. “They try and probe our limits, our so-called red lines, and if they perceive our response as weak, they probe further.”
Russia is keen to avoid sinking cargo ships openly, according to a report from British intelligence published Wednesday, and will instead falsely blame Ukraine for any attacks against civilian vessels in the Black Sea.
How Russia Is Choking Ukraine’s Vital Grain Exports: QuickTake
For more than two months over the summer, Russia declared a section of the Black Sea within Bulgaria’s exclusive economic zone to be dangerous for navigation, hindering cargo transit, gas exploration and other commercial activity there. Now incidents are picking up as Kremlin forces target Kyiv’s use of alternative river, rail and road routes to ship its crops after Moscow exited the Black Sea commerce deal in July. The current workaround is both more expensive and puts the shipments, as well as anything targeting them, within reach of Ukraine’s NATO neighbors. Cargoes tend to be taken over land to the Danube basin before being placed onto river boats, which are smaller than the vessels designed to go by sea. Their size forces them nearer to the shore — never mind the fact that boats traveling further out can no longer count on safe passage.
Still, at least 10 cargo ships have completed the journey through deeper waters. It is a risky one: the British intelligence report said that since July, Russia has destroyed enough grain to feed more than 1.3 million people for a year.
The prospect of Russia returning to a deal with Ukraine remains remote as it has a strong incentive to erode Kyiv’s economy and wear it down long-term, according to Sidharth Kaushal, a research fellow in sea power at the Royal United Services Institute think tank. The de-facto blockade means tensions are likely to stay elevated, especially while Ukraine is launching counter-attacks on Russian assets in Crimea.
NATO allies are trying to ascertain more information about the drone debris incidents and are warning Moscow of the risks of escalation, according to one senior US government official. Alongside other provocations, the recent incidents are starting to raise questions about whether the bloc’s assets in the Black Sea are sufficient to deter spillover, let alone an actual assault.
The alliance has been slow to match Russia in prioritizing defense around the Black Sea and only established battle groups in Romania and Bulgaria last year. Those complement the so-called tripwire units set up in Poland and the Baltics back in 2014.
Even now it is catching up, NATO faces a foe that’s particularly assertive in the Black Sea theater, according to one senior Eastern European diplomat, leaving allies feeling options that won’t inflame tensions are limited. By contrast with the Arctic and Baltic, where Russia is enveloped by NATO countries, of the six countries bordering the Black Sea only Romania, Bulgaria and Turkey are members of the alliance.
The US has pledged F-16s to Romania to help with air policing while allies are looking at what more can be done with counter-drone technology, the US official said.
Bulgaria is stepping up its own naval security, last month launching a tender to buy anti-ship missiles for its coast guard, while Romania has increased its forces in the Danube Delta area bordering Ukraine, according to an official. Although Romania already has more than 100 radars installed, it must adapt to detect Russian drones which fly at very low altitudes, the official said. As for Ukrainian strikes on Russia, a French official told Bloomberg that allies need to be prepared for an erratic response by hostile forces in the region, describing these attacks as akin to a mosquito biting non-stop.

Turkey says it 'neutralised' at least 14 Kurdish militants in Syria
ANKARA (Reuters)/Smoke rises from Qamishli/October 7, 2023
Turkish forces have "neutralised" at least 14 Kurdish militants in northern Syria in overnight attacks on militant targets, the Defence Ministry said on Saturday, as conflict in the region escalated nearly a week after a bomb attack in Ankara. Turkey this week said all targets belonging to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) militia and the Syrian Kurdish YPG militia were "legitimate targets" for its forces, after the PKK claimed responsibility for Sunday's bombing in Ankara which wounded two police officers and killed the two attackers. Turkey said the attackers came from Syria but the Syrian SDF forces denied this. Since the bomb attack, Ankara has launched a barrage of air strikes and attacks against militant targets in northern Syria and Iraq, while ramping up security operations at home. "Targets belonging to PKK/YPG terrorists in northern Syria's Euphrates Shield, Olive Branch, and Peace Spring operation areas were hit strongly all night long," the ministry said, referring to regions where Turkey has previously mounted incursions. "According to initial findings, at least 14 terrorists have been neutralised," it added, using a term it typically uses to mean killed. Late on Friday, the ministry had said Turkey's military had conducted air strikes in northern Syria, destroying 15 militant targets where it said militants were believed to be. Turkey lists the YPG as a terrorist organisation and says it is indistinguishable from the PKK, which has fought an insurgency against the Turkish state since 1984 in which more than 40,000 people have been killed. The United States and European Union deem the PKK a terrorist organisation, but not the YPG. The YPG is at the heart of the SDF forces in the U.S.-led coalition against Islamic State militants. U.S. support for them has long caused tension with Turkey. Underscoring the tension, the United States on Thursday shot down an armed Turkish drone that was operating near its troops in Syria, the first time Washington has brought down an aircraft of NATO ally Turkey. Ankara and Washington held a series of calls following the incident, with Turkey saying non-conflict mechanisms with the parties on the ground would be improved, but vowing to continue hitting militants in Syria and Iraq. Turkey, which has mounted several incursions into northern Syria against the YPG, has said a ground operation into Syria is an option it could consider.

Regime shelling kills seven civilians in Syria: monitor
AFP/October 07, 2023
Seven civilians, including four children, were killed in ground bombardment by regime forces on several locations
Two men were also killed in separate bombardments in Aleppo and Idlib provinces
BEIRUT: Shelling by government forces targeting several locations in rebel-held northwest Syria killed seven civilians including four children on Saturday, a war monitor said. The Damascus regime has been bombing opposition-held areas in apparent retaliation for an attack on a military academy graduation ceremony in Homs on Thursday that killed dozens of people. “Seven civilians, including four children, were killed in ground bombardment by regime forces on several locations” on Saturday, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights war monitor reported. It said three civilians, among them two children, died when government forces shelled a market and homes in the city of Idlib, and two more children were killed in shelling on the Idlib countryside. Two men were also killed in separate bombardments in Aleppo and Idlib provinces, said the Britain-based monitor which has a wide network of sources inside Syria. Swathes of Idlib province and parts of the neighboring Aleppo, Hama and Latakia provinces are controlled by Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham (HTS), led by Al-Qaeda’s former Syria branch. The Observatory said that more than 30 people, mostly civilians, had been killed in government bombardment of rebel-held areas since the Homs attack on Thursday. State media said the attack on the academy had killed 89, while the Observatory reporting a higher toll of 123 dead. No group has claimed responsibility for the Homs attack, but the Syrian army accused “armed terrorist organizations” for the attack that used “explosive-laden drones,” and vowed to “respond with full force.” HTS is considered a terrorist group by Damascus, as well as by the United States and United Nations. Civil war erupted in Syria after President Bashar Assad’s government crushed peaceful protests in 2011. The conflict has killed more than half a million people and displaced millions after spiralling into a devastating war involving foreign armies, militias and militants.

Latest English LCCC  analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on October 07-08/2023
Hamas has crossed the Rubicon. What now?
Faisal J. Abbas/Arab News/October 07, 2023
The massive escalation in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict sends so many messages at the same time. The first thing one has to note is that a Hamas attack on this scale could only have been possible after months of planning. In fact, this is exactly the kind of “explosion” warned of as a consequence of continued occupation and deprivation of Palestinian rights. Those claiming that the attack was unprovoked are wrong — this is precisely the reaction that deliberate and systematic intimidation by the current Israeli government garners when insult is added to injury. Does this justify the killing and kidnapping of civilians? Absolutely not, and this is true regardless of who the villains or victims are.
So, what happens now?
Well, given recent history, the outcome is pretty predictable: Israel will say it has the right to defend itself, declare a full-scale war and inflict the maximum pain possible in retaliation. Hamas will declare the outcome — no matter what it is — a victory. Many Palestinians will celebrate the unprecedented early success portrayed in images of Israelis fleeing and soldiers being detained. Shortly after, the same Palestinians will suffer the devastating consequences at the hands, tanks and aircraft of the Israeli army. After that, Arab countries — namely the GCC — will come to the rescue and help rebuild Gaza.
Will this escalation change anything in the balance of power? Well, given the number of captured soldiers, it does provide Hamas with a few more bargaining chips. It also boosts the morale of the group’s followers since this is the first time such an operation has been so widely shared on social media. However, it is unlikely to change the reality on the ground, as Hamas simply does not have the means to sustain a standoff against the world’s 18th-strongest army, which has just been pledged full support by the US.
Israel’s continued occupation and intimidation can be blamed. However, the cons seem to outweigh the pros for the Palestinians.  So, could this be a strategic move by Hamas aimed to tell the international community that “we alone decide for Palestine?” That is a possibility. At the end of the day, while it is true that the Palestinian Authority is the legitimate representative of the Palestinian people, the PA’s influence has always been limited compared with that of Hamas. It is the unfortunate reality that in the failed states of this part of the world, illegitimate, armed representatives, such as Hamas, Hezbollah in Lebanon or the Houthis in Yemen, will always have the upper hand. Meanwhile, the PA has no choice but to support Hamas in order to avoid further internal Palestinian friction. As a result, it will only be perceived as even weaker globally. However, here are the cons of Hamas’s most recent adventure: It gives Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu a way out of his internal political turmoil at a rare moment when even members of his own Israeli military were opposing him. Now, it is a full-scale war to protect Israel and rescue kidnapped soldiers and civilians, so it is a case of “all hands on deck.” It also further empowers his right-wing coalition at a time when the world has been trying to convince them to back down and tempt them with peace proposals.
Will Hamas emerge stronger or weaker after this? Well, this time they have crossed the Rubicon, and Israel has already signaled that the gloves are off. Given the level of escalation, even opponents of Netanyahu’s right-wing government in the US and Europe will be reluctant to call for restraint. In other words, Hamas must brace itself for tough times ahead, and, sadly, it is the average Palestinian who will eventually pay the price.
What effect will the latest events have on prospects for a wider regional peace proposal? The short answer remains: Time will tell. However, in my opinion, it is time for the world to double down. As the statement by the Saudi Ministry of Foreign Affairs clearly indicated, the international community must act now to activate a credible peace plan that enables a two-state solution, which is the best means to protect civilians. Easier said than done? Perhaps, but at least Saudi Arabia can say it tried its best, and has been for decades.
*Faisal J. Abbas is editor-in-chief of Arab News. X: @FaisalJAbbas

Punish Iran for this despicable attack on Israeli civilians
Con Coughlin/The Telegraph/October 7, 2023
Iran’s Islamic revolutionary government will derive great satisfaction from yesterday’s surprise attack launched by Hamas militants against Israel. Since the Iranian revolution back in 1979, the sine qua non for Iran’s Islamic rulers has been the complete destruction of the Jewish state. To this end, Tehran has directed tens if not hundreds of millions of dollars into Hamas’s coffers to assist the militant Palestinian movement in its unrelenting quest to destroy Israel.
This has even required Iran’s rulers, who subscribe to Islam’s Shia tradition, to set aside their religious and ideological differences with Hamas’s Sunni leadership to combine forces to achieve their ultimate goal. The true extent of Iran’s military support for Hamas was recently laid bare by the movement’s current leader, Ismail Haniyeh, when he reportedly claimed that Tehran paid the movement $70 million to help it develop missile and defence systems designed and built in the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip. Such equipment is perhaps now being put to good use, as Hamas attacks innocent Isrealise near the end of the week-long festival of Sukkot – an attack which caught Israeli security services off-guard. In a move that threatens to provoke the most dangerous confrontation between Israeli security forces and Hamas militants in decades, reports suggested that dozens of Israelis had been taken hostage. Hamas clearly regards the attack as the preliminary to a wider Palestinian uprising against the Israelis, with Mohammed Deif, the movement’s military leader, calling on Palestinians everywhere to rise up against Israel.
This dramatic assault, one of the most comprehensive actions undertaken against Israel in the movement’s history, comes against a background of deepening tensions between Israel and the Palestinians, which in recent months has resulted in Israeli security forces launching a number of military operations against Palestinian militant groups. The upsurge in Israeli-Palestinian violence, moreover, is taking place against the background of a new initiative by the Biden administration to negotiate a “mega-deal” between Saudi Arabia and Israel which aims to normalise relations between the two countries in return for Washington providing Riyadh with tangible security guarantees against Iran, its long-standing regional rival. Any such deal would be an extension of the Abraham Accords between Israel and several Arab countries that were signed off under President Donald Trump’s administration. The deep divisions within the Palestinian leadership between Hamas militants and the more secular-oriented Palestinian Authority meant that they were sidelined during the negotiations, leading to discontent among some Palestinians, which has been skilfully exploited by countries like Iran. Tehran’s involvement in helping to facilitate the latest Hamas-inspired violence certainly should not be underestimated. Following the last major clash between Hamas and Israel in May 2021, the two-week long period of violence caused after the movement launched what it called operation “Sword of Jerusalem”, it was claimed that Tehran had helped Hamas to develop the comprehensive defence strategy that enabled them to conduct the deadly assault. At the time, Haniyeh claimed the operation was “a rehearsal for the liberation of the Palestinian territories from the occupation”. Iran’s pernicious support for Hamas, which is part of its wider strategy to intimidate Israel from military bases it has established in Syria and southern Lebanon, must now serve as a wake-up call to those European governments, including the UK, that continue to talk to its leaders – and even send them money – while wavering when it comes to proscribing the Iranian Revolutionary Guards.

Today in History: Muslims Skin Christians Alive for Refusing Islam
Raymond Ibrahim/October 07, 2023 
Drawing of the torture and subsequent flaying of Marco Bragadin, for rejecting the “invitation” to Islam.
Today in history, on October 7, 1571, one of the most cataclysmic clashes between Islam and the West took place.
In 1570, Muslim Turks — in the guise of the Ottoman Empire — invaded the island of Cyprus, prompting Pope Pius V to call for and form a “Holy League” of maritime Catholic nation-states, spearheaded by the Spanish Empire, in 1571. Before they could reach and relieve Cyprus, its last stronghold at Famagusta was taken through treachery.
After promising the defenders safe passage if they surrendered, Ottoman commander Ali Pasha — known as Müezzinzade (“son of a muezzin”) due to his pious background — had reneged and launched a wholesale slaughter. He ordered the nose and ears of Marco Antonio Bragadin, the fort commander, hacked off. Ali then invited the mutilated infidel to Islam and life: “I am a Christian and thus I want to live and die,” Bragadin responded. “My body is yours. Torture it as you will.”
So he was tied to a chair, repeatedly hoisted up the mast of a galley, and dropped into the sea, to taunts: “Look if you can see your fleet, great Christian, if you can see succor coming to Famagusta!” The mutilated and half-drowned man was then carried near to St. Nicholas Church — by now a mosque — and tied to a column, where he was slowly flayed alive. The skin was afterward stuffed with straw, sown back into a macabre effigy of the dead commander, and paraded in mockery before the jeering Muslims.
News of this and other ongoing atrocities and desecrations of churches in Cyprus and Corfu enraged the Holy League as it sailed east. A bloodbath followed when the two opposing fleets — carrying a combined total of 600 ships and 140,000 men, more of both on the Ottoman side — finally met and clashed on October 7, 1571, off the western coast of Greece, near Lepanto. According to one contemporary:
The greater fury of the battle lasted for four hours and was so bloody and horrendous that the sea and the fire seemed as one, many Turkish galleys burning down to the water, and the surface of the sea, red with blood, was covered with Moorish coats, turbans, quivers, arrows, bows, shields, oars, boxes, cases, and other spoils of war, and above all many human bodies, Christians as well as Turkish, some dead, some wounded, some torn apart, and some not yet resigned to their fate struggling in their death agony, their strength ebbing away with the blood flowing from their wounds in such quantity that the sea was entirely coloured by it, but despite all this misery our men were not moved to pity for the enemy. … Although they begged for mercy they received instead arquebus shots and pike thrusts.
The pivotal point came when the flagships of the opposing fleets, the Ottoman Sultana and the Christian Real, crashed into and were boarded by one another. Chaos ensued as men everywhere grappled; even the grand admirals were seen in the fray, Ali Pasha firing arrows and Don Juan swinging broadsword and battle-axe, one in each hand.
In the end, “there was an infinite number of dead” on the Real, whereas “an enormous quantity of large turbans, which seemed to be as numerous as the enemy had been, [were seen in the Sultana] rolling on the deck with the heads inside them.” The don emerged alive, but the pasha did not.
When the central Turkish fleets saw Ali’s head on a pike in the Sultana and a crucifix where the flag of Islam once fluttered, mass demoralization set in, and the waterborne mêlée was soon over. The Holy League lost twelve galleys and ten thousand men, but the Ottomans lost 230 galleys — 117 of which were captured by the Europeans — and thirty thousand men.
It was a victory of the first order, and Catholic, Orthodox, and Protestants rejoiced.
Practically speaking, however, little changed. Cyprus was not even liberated by the Holy League. “In wrestling Cyprus from you we have cut off an arm,” the Ottomans painfully reminded the Venetian ambassador a year later. “In defeating our fleet [at Lepanto] you have shaved our beard. An arm once cut off will not grow again, but a shorn beard grows back all the better for the razor.”
Even so, this victory proved that the relentless Turks, who in previous decades and centuries had conquered much of Eastern Europe, could be stopped. Lepanto suggested that the Turks could be defeated in a head-on clash — at least by sea, which of late had been the Islamic powers’ latest hunting grounds. As Miguel Cervantes, who was at the battle, has the colorful Don Quixote say: “That day … was so happy for Christendom, because all the world learned how mistaken it had been in believing that the Turks were invincible by sea.”
Modern historians affirm this position. According to military historian Paul K. Davis, “More than a military victory, Lepanto was a moral one. For decades, the Ottoman Turks had terrified Europe, and the victories of Suleiman the Magnificent caused Christian Europe serious concern. … Christians rejoiced at this setback for the Ottomans. The mystique of Ottoman power was tarnished significantly by this battle, and Christian Europe was heartened.”
No matter how spectacular, however, defeat at sea could not shake what was first and foremost a land power — so that more than a century later, in 1683, some 200,000 armed Ottomans had penetrated as far as and besieged Vienna.
But that — to say nothing of Turkey’s many other jihads down to the present — is another story.
*Historical quotes in this article were excerpted from the author’s Sword and Scimitar: Fourteen Centuries of War between Islam and the West

Biden Administration Enabling Iranian Mullahs' Dangerous Nuclear Weapons Program – Again?
Majid Rafizadeh/Gatestone Institute/October 7, 2023
Iran's ruling mullahs have been rapidly and defiantly advancing their nuclear weapons program to levels never before seen. Apparently, after a short nap, a make-believe, monumentally unenforceable, nuclear deal with Iran is back in play.
"The JCPOA is not off the table...." — Iranian Foreign Minister Amir-Abdollahian, iranintl.com, September 3, 2023.
"Various media sources have reported that Tehran and Washington are discussing an unofficial deal, whereby Iran would limit its uranium enrichment and Washington would agree to the release of all funds frozen in several countries totalling around $20 billion." — iranintl.com, September 3, 2023
The regime is now finally at the threshold of making all the nuclear weapons it desires, along with missiles to launch them at their enemies in the Middle East, Europe and America.
The Iranian authorities continue to claim that their nuclear program is designed for peaceful purposes only. If that were true, why is the regime continuing to enrich uranium and refusing to cooperate with the IAEA?
The Biden administration has totally failed to curb Iran's nuclear program – but then again evidence shows it had never intended to. The "sunset clause" in then President Barack Obama's 2015 JCPOA "nuclear deal" assured Iran's rulers that in a few years, they could legitimately have as many nuclear weapons as they desired. Obama's assurance that his deal "prevented Iran from having nuclear weapons" is at the same level of trustworthiness as his, "If you like your doctor you can keep your doctor," or President Joe Biden's, "nobody earning less than $400,000 a year will pay an additional penny in new taxes."
Biden's legacy -- along with surrendering to the Taliban in Afghanistan and possibly "sell[ing] out" America to the Chinese Communist Party at home -- might well be turn out to be paying off Iran, called by the US State Department the world's "top state sponsor of terrorism," with billions of dollars, to help it become nuclear-armed state, so long as the mullahs promise -- Scouts' honor! -- not to use their nuclear weapons on his watch.
The Biden administration has totally failed to curb Iran's nuclear program – but then again evidence shows it had never intended to. (Image source: iStock)
One of the Biden administration campaign's promises was to curb Iran's nuclear program. In the two and a half years since the Biden administration assumed office, however, Iran's ruling mullahs have been rapidly and defiantly advancing their nuclear weapons program to levels never before seen. Apparently, after a short nap, a make-believe, monumentally unenforceable, nuclear deal with Iran is back in play. According to the website Iran International:
"Amir-Abdollahian told Ettelaat that presently 'The Sultan of Oman has put forth an initiative and we held indirect talks with the Americans...Now we have two documents on the table; one is about the release of Iran's [frozen] funds,' but he did not elaborate on the second document. He went on to say that the JCPOA is not off the table, although it was perhaps 'not a great agreement.'
"Various media sources have reported that Tehran and Washington are discussing an unofficial deal, whereby Iran would limit its uranium enrichment and Washington would agree to the release of all funds frozen in several countries totalling around $20 billion."
Since the Biden administration took office in 2021, the Iran's leaders seem to have enjoyed a green light to freely advance their nuclear program, enrich uranium to any level they wish, spin as many centrifuges as they like, and march towards becoming a nuclear-armed state – with no negative consequences.
After the Biden administration took office, Iran's regime began by increasing uranium enrichment to 20%. Possibly thanks to seeing the Biden administration's pathetic leadership after its surrender in August of 2021 to Afghanistan, Iran's parliament, in September, blocked the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) nuclear inspectors from accessing Iran's nuclear sites.
A report by the Institute for Science and International Security detailed:
"Since June 2022, the IAEA has had no ability to monitor Iran's centrifuge manufacturing or assembly rate, old or new centrifuge stocks, stocks of critical parts and material, or potential diversion of such stocks or manufacturing capabilities to unknown sites. The IAEA has reiterated its concerns about the completeness of the information it has from Iran and its ability to accurately verify Iran's declared centrifuges. With Iran accelerating its advanced centrifuge deployments, uncertainties will likely grow in the estimated number of advanced centrifuges produced in excess of those deployed, adding concern to the possibility that Iran will again seek to build a clandestine enrichment plant, using advanced centrifuges manufactured in secret."
In February this year, Iran raised its uranium enrichment level to 60%, edging closer to the weapons-grade level of 90%. Mohammed Bagher Qalibaf, Speaker of Iran's parliament, boasted: "The young and God-believing Iranian scientists managed to achieve a 60 percent enriched uranium product. I congratulate the brave nation on this success."
The United Kingdom, France and Germany commented in a joint statement:
"Iran has no credible civilian need for uranium metal R&D and production, which are a key step in the development of a nuclear weapon."
Additionally in February, a UN report found that weapons-grade uranium in Iran was enriched to 90% – the level needed for weaponization. Kamal Kharrazi, Iran's former foreign minister, pointed to Iran's major advances:
"It's no secret that we have become a quasi-nuclear state. This is a fact. And it's no secret that we have the technical means to produce a nuclear bomb... In the past, and within just a few days, we were able to enrich uranium up to 60%, and we can easily produce 90% enriched uranium."
The regime is now finally at the threshold of making all the nuclear weapons it desires, along with missiles to launch them at their enemies in the Middle East, Europe and America.
The Iranian authorities continue to claim that their nuclear program is designed for peaceful purposes only. If that were true, why is the regime continuing to enrich uranium and refusing to cooperate with the IAEA?
Some Iranian leaders have openly acknowledged that the regime's nuclear program was always designed to manufacture atomic weapons. Former deputy speaker of the Iranian parliament Ali Motahari disclosed:
"From the very beginning, when we entered the nuclear activity, our goal was to build a bomb and strengthen the deterrent forces but we could not maintain the secrecy of this issue."
At present, Iran reportedly has enough enriched uranium to produce five nuclear bombs. Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said during an official visit to Athens, Greece on May 4, 2023:
"Make no mistake — Iran will not be satisfied by a single nuclear bomb. So far, Iran has gained material enriched to 20% and 60% for five nuclear bombs... Iranian progress, and enrichment to 90%, would be a grave mistake on Iran's part, and could ignite the region."
The Biden administration has totally failed to curb Iran's nuclear program – but then again evidence shows it had never intended to. The "sunset clause" in then President Barack Obama's 2015 JCPOA "nuclear deal" assured Iran's rulers that in a few years, they could legitimately have as many nuclear weapons as they desired. Obama's assurance that his deal "prevented Iran from having nuclear weapons" is at the same level of trustworthiness as his, "If you like your doctor you can keep your doctor," or President Joe Biden's, "nobody earning less than $400,000 a year will pay an additional penny in new taxes."
Biden's legacy -- along with surrendering to the Taliban in Afghanistan and possibly "sell[ing] out" America to the Chinese Communist Party at home (such as here, here , here, here and here) -- might well be turn out to be paying off Iran, called by the US State Department the world's "top state sponsor of terrorism," with billions of dollars, to help it become nuclear-armed state, so long as the mullahs promise -- Scouts' honor! -- not to use their nuclear weapons on his watch.
*Dr. Majid Rafizadeh is a business strategist and advisor, Harvard-educated scholar, political scientist, board member of Harvard International Review, and president of the International American Council on the Middle East. He has authored several books on Islam and US Foreign Policy. He can be reached at Dr.Rafizadeh@Post.Harvard.Edu
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What is behind the US and Russia nuclear system tests?
Dr. Theodore Karasik/Arab News/October 07, 2023
Authorities in the US and Russia carried out tests of their respective national emergency alert systems this week. Why now, you might ask? Has there been any evolution in their emergency response procedures that is salient to current strategic dynamics?
Tensions between them are certainly rising quickly, which means it is important to test the effectiveness of systems that can alert the public to emergency situations, including potential nuclear threats, especially as arms control treaties seem to be falling apart.
In January, the science and security board of the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists set the Doomsday Clock, a symbolic measure of the threats and challenges facing humanity, to 90 seconds to midnight, the closest to calamity the world has ever been judged to be. It had been set at 100 seconds to midnight since 2020.
The Doomsday Clock was introduced in 1947, in the wake of the Manhattan Project and the use of nuclear weapons at the end of the Second World War. The Bulletin of Atomic Scientists is the organization that updates the clock, if required, in January each year, moving it closer to or further from midnight as it deems appropriate. It said in January that the decision to move the clock closer to midnight this year was largely, though not exclusively, the result of growing threats resulting from the war in Ukraine, which began with the Russian invasion of the country in February 2022.
In the US, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, in coordination with the Federal Communications Commission, conducted nationwide tests of the country’s Emergency Alert System and Wireless Emergency Alert System on Wednesday. They took place at approximately 2:20 p.m. Eastern Standard Time across the whole of the country, including Hawaii and Alaska.
Such a test of FEMA’s alert systems is nothing new; there have been six previous tests. However, the latest one came as nuclear politics continue to heat up.
The emergency alert messaging technology was ostensibly being tested to check new rules and procedures developed as a result of previous nationwide tests. The non-wireless aspect of the test involved an alert sent to radios and television stations.
The wireless test message was sent directly to all consumer cell phones and appeared in English or Spanish depending on the language settings of the device receiving it. It was the third nationwide test of the system but only the second sent to all compatible cellular devices.
Reports of some devices buzzing for as long as 30 minutes after receiving the message were common. On other systems, there was intermittent beeping.
Ultimately the aim of the test was to identify potential weaknesses in the systems. The test was a success, authorities said, and the updates to the systems for keeping Americans informed of imminent threats work properly. It is assumed that measures have also been put in place to counter any attempted cyberattacks that might target the system.
The trend of the past 30 years or so away from the threat of nuclear war now seems to be reversing.
At the same time authorities in the US were testing their Emergency Alert System, their counterparts in Russia were doing the same. The Russian drill included the testing of sirens and practice of using radiation suits in a few cities. The technology being tested was clearly much less advanced than the American systems. The Russian population is educated in a different way about nuclear testing and the survivability during nuclear warfare than their American counterparts. Russia’s test therefore had high political and strategic value for Russian President Vladimir Putin, who spoke publicly the following day about possible plans to resume the testing of nuclear weapons.
Any resumption of nuclear tests by Russia, the US, or both would be profoundly destabilizing at a time when tensions between the countries are higher than they have been at any time since the 1962 Cuban missile crisis.
Putin said Russia’s nuclear doctrine does not need updating but he was not yet ready to definitively state whether or not the country needs to resume nuclear tests. He did say that Russia should consider revoking its ratification of the 1996 Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, noting that the US, which also signed it, has yet to ratify it. Hours after Putin’s comments, Russia’s top lawmaker, Vyacheslav Volodin, said the nation’s parliament will consider revoking the ratification of the treaty.
These developments signal that Russia does indeed plan to resume nuclear tests, or is seriously considering doing so. Established arms control measures are continuing to disintegrate before our eyes as the confrontation between Russia and the West escalates.
Meanwhile, the US is also planning to resume nuclear tests, although it will stop short of actually detonating a device. Scientists charged with ensuring the aging US stockpile of nuclear warheads still work say the weapons are “good to go.” However, experts have not been able to physically test their effectiveness and reliability since US authorities introduced an underground-testing ban in 1992.
But US sentiment could be shifting as Russia moves closer toward the possible resumption of nuclear testing. A $1.8 billion project known as “Scorpius” could make it possible, as early as 2027, to move far beyond the current realm of theoretical computer modeling of nuclear explosions and provide a much more sophisticated way to accurately test nuclear weapons without the need for any detonations.
For the next four years, however, the US will continue to rely on maintenance checks and emergency drills, rather than detonating nuclear weapons, thereby maintaining the moral high ground over Russia should Moscow follow through on the threat to resume test detonations.
Meanwhile, all this nuclear activity by the US and Russia, in whatever forms it might take, will lead to more tests of emergency alert and response systems. We have therefore entered a new nuclear era of possible tests and maybe even use. And, of course, there are other countries that are not constrained at all by nuclear test bans, including North Korea. The trend of the past 30 years or so away from the threat of nuclear war now seems to be reversing, and the tests of emergency alert systems this week are very visible symptoms of a much larger problem, as countries rethink their views on nuclear weapons. Europe might be the next place to schedule tests of emergency alert systems in the coming months as authorities there ponder possible policy adjustments.
• Dr. Theodore Karasik is a senior adviser to Gulf State Analytics in Washington.
X: @KarasikTheodore