Middle East War Briefing

[GURPS]

Middle East Update

Information is starting to trickle out about how Hamas outsmarted Israel’s crackerjack intelligence agencies. On Tuesday, the New York Post ran a story headlined, “Hamas used landline phones in Gaza tunnels to evade Israeli intelligence for 2 years while plotting attack: report.”



“Hello? Can I get a medium double-stuff pepperoni with extra cheesy bread?”

Hamas’ vast concrete and metal-reinforced tunnel network, dubbed the “Gaza metro” by Israeli Defense Forces, runs for over 300 combined miles underneath Gaza, allowing the terror group to hide, plot, store supplies, move fighters, weaponry and supplies undetected throughout the region, and carve their initials into the concrete walls. The tunnels are highly sophisticated, offering all the comforts of a terrorist’s home: power, air conditioning, cement roads, rail systems, and apparently, a completely-independent, secure, analog phone system that cannot be monitored by Israeli intelligence.




The Hamas tunnels give a different take on the term, “moles.” They are moles armed with rocket launchers and machetes. Anyway, it is helpful to understand how Hamas used a low-tech solution to avoid Israel’s high-tech monitoring systems.

It made me think of the (friendly) anonymous letter I received this week that had been typed on a typewriter. A real typewriter. With a ribbon and stuff. I had a brief thought that it might be handy to have a typewriter around these days. You know. I’m not saying why.


There is a developing narrative that the U.S. is the one acting as the “Restrainer” holding Israel back from a Gazan ground invasion. To date, Biden has not stopped coming up with new reasons that Israel should keep waiting. For just a few examples: (1) Biden needs more time for hostage negotiations, (2) the ground invasion would be useless anyway because it would just become a quagmire like Afghanistan, and the latest excuse, (3) the U.S. needs more time to ship air defenses to the region.

Yesterday, the Wall Street Journal ran a story suggesting that Israel had agreed to wait so the U.S. forces, who aren’t in the fight, can get hold of some air defenses, to protect them from an unnamed and identified enemy:



It’s a good thing the U.S. isn’t in a real war that doesn’t wait around for you to ship your air defenses by UPS ground.

On the other hand, also yesterday, PBS said that Israel would probably delay the invasion for hostage negotiations. According to its article, “there are new signs that an Israeli ground invasion may not be imminent after all,” and “the ground invasion appears to be on hold for now, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu indicated tonight.” Its headline:



So many reasons to delay.

But there were signs yesterday the Israelis may be catching on that their allies could be trying to frustrate their Gazan invasion plans. I’ve been following influencer Amir Tsarfati, an Israeli messianic Jew (a Christian) who has kept his telegram updated with hour-by-hour news. Until yesterday, Amir has lauded Biden for his support. Last night, Amir posted this update, titled “Biden fooled Israel”:





I suspect a lot of Jews are feeling the same way as Amir about Biden. Welcome to our world.

Israel is sitting in a thorny political corner. This morning, the Financial Times ran a story suggesting Israel may have found a third way: a “non-invasion” invasion. Late last night, Israel conducted a large incursion — not an invasion — with troops returning to the border after completing the action.



In a widely-dissected televised address yesterday, Prime Minister Netanyahu again said Israel was “preparing a ground invasion,” and again he did not offer any timeline. But incursions aren’t invasions. After all, since troops don’t stay there, an incursion nothing like an invasion, with incursions having the additional highly-desirable benefit of not becoming quagmires.

Meanwhile yesterday, according to a White House summary of their call, President Robert L. “Pedo” Peters — who sure is a chatty Kathy about Israel these days — told Prime Minister Netanyahu yesterday that he, Biden, is looking for a “pathway for permanent peace” between Israel and Palestine at the end of the conflict, which is probably the last thing Netanyahu wants to think about right now.

Why is Biden talking about “permanent peace” when the invasion hasn’t even started yet and the parties have yet to agree to their first ceasefire? Look, I’m an optimist. I’m not being critical, I really want to know. Does Biden think this could all be magically resolved in the midst of rising hostilities?

☕️ LOW TECH ☙ Thursday, October 26, 2023 ☙ C&C NEWS 🦠

New Speaker; Maine shooter; WEF nowhere on Israel; Reuters panics over lost trust; Hamas's low-tech schemes; West Bank trouble; Biden invasion quibbles; Times admits strokes and seizures; and more.

www.coffeeandcovid.com

 

[Kyle]

Israel needs to seize and open one end of those tunnels to the sea.

 

[GURPS]

Israel needs to seize and open one end of those tunnels to the sea.

I'd be dropping deep penetrating bunker busters

 

[stgislander]

Unfortunately if they are serious about destroying Hamas, they are going to have to go underground to do it. They can level every building in Gaza, but that does no good.

 

[Kyle]

Unfortunately if they are serious about destroying Hamas, they are going to have to go underground to do it. They can level every building in Gaza, but that does no good.

That's why I'm thinking flood the tunnels and push them out.

 

[stgislander]

That's why I'm thinking flood the tunnels and push them out.

Their Navy just yesterday destroyed the underwater tunnel those "frogmen" came out of.

 

[Kyle]

Their Navy just yesterday destroyed the underwater tunnel those "frogmen" came out of.

Damn. That would have been a good place for the first pumping station.

 

[Kyle]

Hamas Clarifies They Only Want Israel To Cease Fire

GAZA — In an urgent message intended to clarify its stance, the terrorist organization Hamas explained they were really only wanting Israel to cease fire.

"There seems to have been a misunderstanding," said Hamas spokesman Abu Ubeida. "When we requested a ‘ceasefire,' what we really wanted was for the Israeli forces — may they die like dogs — to stop shooting at us so we can continue firing thousands of rockets without any pesky interruptions. So, if you would please tell Israel to stop firing. Ceasefire now. Thank you very much and death to Israel."

Hamas Clarifies They Only Want Israel To Cease Fire

GAZA — In an urgent message intended to clarify its stance, the terrorist organization Hamas explained they were really only wanting Israel to cease fire.

babylonbee.com

 

[GURPS]

Hmm: This Hamas TikToker Looks Awfully Familiar​

 

[GURPS]

Explosive Journal report reveals an arms-smuggling route direct from Iran to ‘Palestinian’ terrorists… disguised as aid packages​

By Olivia Murray


Yesterday, The Wall Street Journal published a bombshell report, identifying an arms-trafficking scheme in which “Iran and its allies” have been smuggling heavy weapons and small arms to the jihadi terrorists occupying certain areas of Israel; see the lede below:

Long before Hamas militants burst out of their Gaza stronghold to massacre scores of civilians with handguns and assault rifles, Iran and its allies had accelerated efforts to smuggle weapons into a different part of the Palestinian territories, the West Bank.

What was most explosive though, given current circumstances, is that the arms flowing from the terrorist regimes to the smaller terrorist groups, often comes disguised as aid packages. The authors of the Journal item recount that after the February 2023 earthquake in Turkey and Syria, Iran “began hauling large quantities of weapons to Syria” in shipments disguised as aid; as we see, a “humanitarian crisis” or an “emergency” is a great cover for arming terrorists.

On a separate and totally unrelated note… From a Politico report last week:

The U.S. will send $100 million in aid for humanitarian assistance to civilians in Gaza and the West Bank, President Joe Biden said on Wednesday.
‘This money will support more than 1 million displaced in conflict affected Palestinians, including emergency needs in Gaza,’ Biden said Wednesday during a speech in Tel Aviv.

Now, we don’t even need to make speculations and draw logical but unprovable conclusions—Biden actually has a history of being involved in arming terrorist regimes, and most relevantly, Iran itself. Remember those pallets of euros and francs sent by Barack Obama? Who was vice-president? I wonder how much of that money was used to manufacture or procure weapons which somehow found their way to jihadis in Israel?

 

[GURPS]

U.S. strikes Iranian-backed militias in eastern Syria to retaliate for attacks on U.S. troops​

"The United States does not seek conflict and has no intention nor desire to engage in further hostilities, but these Iranian-backed attacks against U.S. forces are unacceptable and must stop," Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said in a statement Thursday night.

US officials on Thursday night told reporters the strikes were carried out by a pair of F-16s against a weapons storage area, and an ammunition storage area, near Abu Kamal in Syria.

Iranian-backed groups have targeted U.S. forces in Iraq and Syria with a mix of drones and rockets at least 16 times since Oct. 17, according to the Pentagon. The most recent attack took place Thursday in Erbil, Iraq, but did not result in any injuries.

 

[GURPS]

The Hamas-led "Ministry of Health" in Gaza has a long record of inflating death tolls, including faking pictures and videos, for propaganda reasons. It is simply not a credible source in any way whatsoever.

Most recently, they claimed 500 were killed in an Israeli airstrike on a hospital. Putting aside the evidence that eventually showed it was almost certainly a Palestinian Islamic Jihad rocket that misfired, a European intelligence official put the true total at between 10 and 50. That was consistent with the facts on the ground given the hospital itself was undamaged (aside from a few broken windows), and it was confirmed that several dozen people were camping out next to the parking lot where the fire occurred.

Despite that, the mainstream press has continually relied on causality statistics from Hamas, in order to present the narrative that Israel is committing atrocities by retaliating against the terrorist group. You can hear the indignation in the voice of the reporter as she tries to scold Kirby for daring to not believe that a terrorist group has the most efficient recovery operation in human history.

Again, as I've stressed, that's not to say that people aren't dying. Of course, people are being killed by the airstrikes, some of them civilians, because Hamas refuses to let them evacuate. Still, the idea that 7,000 people have died, the latest total put out by the "Ministry of Health," is backed by no evidence whatsoever.

The Mainstream Press Is So Awful on Hamas That John Kirby Just Owned Them

redstate.com

 

[GURPS]

Israel Hits 150 Hamas Tunnel Sites In Ferocious Airstrikes: ‘Using Fire That Has Never Been Seen Before’​

Israel unleashed fury on northern Gaza Friday night after repeatedly urging civilians to evacuate the area for the last two weeks as it seeks to permanently eradicate Hamas, the Palestinian terrorist group that is responsible for murdering more than 1,400 Israelis, wounding 5,200+ more, and kidnapping 200+ people.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said that it struck 150 underground sites in Hamas’ vast underground terror tunnels that allow the terrorists to meet, organize, and move undetected throughout Gaza. The terrorists also store weapons, ammunition, and other military supplies in the tunnels. The terrorists use hardwired landlines, which allowed them to communicate without being intercepted by Israeli intelligence as they plotted the October 7 attacks.

“During the attack, terrorists of the terrorist organization Hamas were eliminated and combat tunnels, underground combat spaces and other underground terrorist infrastructures were destroyed,” the IDF said in a statement.

 

[GURPS]

Hamas Leader: ‘Women, Children, Elderly’ Must Die In Gaza To Help Our Fight Against Israel​

“I have said this before, and I say it time again: The blood of the women, children, and elderly… I am not saying that this blood is calling for your [help],” he continued. “We are the ones who need this blood, so it awakens within us the revolutionary spirit, so it awakens within us resolve, so it awakens within us the spirit of challenge, and [pushes us] to move forward.”

 

[GURPS]

 

[GURPS]

What Hamas promised Palestinians​

Things you do not hear very often, number one: a pro-Palestinian protestor denouncing Hamas for the barbarity of its incursion into Israel on October 7, appalled at the savagery of those attacks upon children, grandmothers, etc. It may seem as if, in saying this, I am stating the obvious — because support for that pogrom was, I would suggest, strong among some of those carrying Palestinian flags on marches. Six Arab language journalists were suspended by the BBC when it was discovered that they retweeted messages glorifying in that day’s murder. They were not members of Hamas. Ordinary Palestinians interviewed, cowering in the rubble of Gaza, were not quoted condemning the attacks which led directly to their present misery. And so here we have a big problem, another non-sequitur to pile upon all the others which bedevil attempts to bring peace to a region of the world which shows very few signs of wanting peace at all.

 

[stgislander]

Hamas Leader: ‘Women, Children, Elderly’ Must Die In Gaza To Help Our Fight Against Israel​

“I have said this before, and I say it time again: The blood of the women, children, and elderly… I am not saying that this blood is calling for your [help],” he continued. “We are the ones who need this blood, so it awakens within us the revolutionary spirit, so it awakens within us resolve, so it awakens within us the spirit of challenge, and [pushes us] to move forward.”

How is that guy still alive?

 

[GURPS]

 

[GURPS]

Israel on Calls for Pause: Tell Hamas to Release the Fuel the NYT Says They’re Hoarding​

Levy responded, “Members of the international community that want to see fuel reach the people of Gaza should insist that Hamas, the governing body in the Gaza Strip, release the fuel that it already controls. … I promise you, Hamas and its tunnels underneath that hospital have all the fuel they need to ventilate those tunnels.”

He added, “Hamas has been drip-feeding fuel to these hospitals in order to keep them operational. Why has Hamas been drip-feeding fuel to the hospitals? Because it wants to continue using innocent Palestinians as human shields in order to shield the military targets that are located underneath those hospitals. That is, of course, a grave breach of international law under the Geneva Conventions, for any army — not to mention a brutal ISIS-like terror organization — to use human civilians in that way as human shields. The fuel exists in the Gaza Strip for all of the humanitarian needs, but it’s controlled by Hamas, the same Hamas that we’re concerned, if we allow more fuel into the Gaza Strip, is going to requisition those supplies anyway. And you don’t have to take our word for it, The New York Times published just yesterday or the day before, an article stating clearly, there is one group in the Gaza Strip that remains well-stocked in terms of fuel and food and all other sources, Hamas.”

 

[GURPS]

Hamas Official: Tunnels Are For Protecting Terrorists, Not Palestinian Civilians​

“We have built the tunnels because we have no other way of protecting ourselves from being targeted and killed,” he responded. “These tunnels are meant to protect us from the airplanes. We are fighting from inside the tunnels.”

“Everybody knows that 75% of the people in the Gaza Strip are refugees, and it is the responsibility of the United Nations to protect them,” he continued. “According to the Geneva Convention, it is the responsibility of the occupation to provide them with all the services as long as they are under occupation.”

Hamas commits war crimes by placing their tunnels near and underneath churches, schools, and hospitals.