Israel at War

On the 50th anniversary of the Yom Kippur War, the terror group Hamas launched an all-out attack on Israeli military and civilian sites, killing at least 350, wounding at least 1500 (as of 10pm EDT), and kidnapping dozens of civilians (to be used as barter later on and possibly as human shields). The attack represents an astonishing intelligence failure on the past of Israeli intelligence services, who were caught unprepared and vulnerable to the scope and breath of the attacks on multiple fronts. 

The fog of war prevails at the moment. Israel's response is still forming, it's Prime Minister, Bibi Netanyahu (persona non grata among the Democrats and Biden administration in particular) has declared war. One can only hope that Hamas and their palestinian supporters pay a VERY heavy price for their actions.

A few key facts are worth noting:

• Hamas does NOT recognize Israel's right to exist.
• Hamas oppresses women and gay people, murdering or jailing anyone within Gaza who opposes their leadership or their view of Islamic supremacy.
• Hamas launches rockets toward Israeli civilian centers indiscriminately. Estimates of the number of rockets launched over the past 24 hours exceed 2000.
• Hamas places rocket launchers in civilian neighborhoods, inside or next to schools and hospitals, using those facilities as "pseudo-civilian shields" for propaganda purposes.
• Hamas was voted into power by the people of Gaza.
• Israel essentially gave Hamas the opportunity to govern Gaza independently decades ago. 
• Hamas is a welfare state under Hamas rule, unable to establish a viable economy without billions in Western aid.
  
• Hamas is supported and funded by Iran. The Biden administration released $6 billion to Iran 17 days ago. Iran is the world's largest sponsor of Islamist terror groups.
  
• Hamas is supported by billions in "aid" from Western countries, including monies sanctioned by the Biden administration.
• U.S aid to Hamas was stopped during the Trump administration and restarted on day one of the Biden administration.

The international Left celebrates Hamas as "victims of Israeli oppression,"  justifies the Hamas murder of Israeli civilians as a response to their "oppression," and demands that billions in aid be given to Hamas (that aid is used to buy weapons and build offensive tunnels). 

Leftist propaganda media in the United States will be loath to depict the atrocities committed by Hamas as this war unfolds, but will be quick to emphasize every collateral death of a palestinian as the Israeli defensive response begins.

I'll have much more to say about this war in upcoming days, but for now, there are a few things to remember:

1. The attack against Israel was unprovoked—a literal invasion of a sovereign nation.
2. In terms of loss of life—as a percentage of population, Israel lost more people over the past 24 hours that the U.S. lost as a consequence of 9/11.
3. There is no justification for a "proportional" response on the part of Israel, just as there was no justification for a "proportional response from the U.S. to 9/11.

I can only wish that the FAFO philosophy be applied to Hamas by Bibi and the IDF. Sadly, I doubt the West and its legions of Hamas apologists will allow that to happen. 

That's a shame.

UPDATE:

It's taken less than 24-hours for the leftist groups and their many friends in the propaganda media to begin their hand wringing over Israel's inevitable response to Hamas' invasion of its country and murder of more that 300 (as of 10pm EDT) citizens. 

Bari Weiss describes the lies that have already surfaced among those (mostly Left) groups and media "talking heads" who try to justify palestinian barbarism:

You’re about to withstand a barrage of lies about the war that broke out today in Israel.

Some of those lies will be explicit. Some of them will be lies of omission. Others will be lies of obfuscation. Or lies of minimization. Lies told by people who are simply too afraid to look at such an ugly, barbarous reality. And lies told by people whose true beliefs are too ugly to quite say aloud. Turn on cable news and you can hear some of them right now ...

I have friends in Israel. Each one of them has a story of someone they know who is missing. Or injured. Or killed. This was not a tit-for-tat, as you’ll see the mainstream media try to spin it. This was not a justifiable military response, or just another day in a cycle of violence. This was the slaughter of innocent civilians.

New York City’s Democratic Socialists of America today announced a protest in honor of the attacks. It’s called All Out for Palestine: “In solidarity with the Palestinian people and their right to resist 75 years of occupation and apartheid.” The anti-Zionist group IfNotNow explained the attacks as Israel’s fault and said of the dead Jews: “Their blood is on the hands of the Israeli government.”

You will see a lot like this in the coming days. Ancient lies told in new language whose end is always, strangely, the same: a justification for genocide. 

It's difficult to express the disgust I feel when I listen to the verbal sewage that emanates from groups like New York City’s Democratic Socialists of America or IfNotNow. Words like ignorant and sanctimonious, dishonest and repugnant come to mind, but they just don't seem to be sufficient. They are, like their kindred spirits in Hamas and among the Islamists who control Iran's funding of that terror group, not simply ideological, or stupid, or overcome with an fanatic's fervor. No, they are evil ... full stop.