Caroline Glick is a stable, non-pretending voice of pragmatic deliberation as the Israeli response to the Hamas attack continues.   Notable in this update, is the brutal reality that many of the claimed 150 hostages have a status that cannot be solidly known.  Hamas has a vested interest in maintaining a hostage narrative as a defensive shield and talking point against the Israeli response, and nothing said in regard to the status of hostages can be relied upon.

Additionally, Mrs. Glick notes probing attacks from the North into Israel, from Lebanon and possibly Syria, appear intended to support the dilution of combat troop efforts into Gaza.  Full interview with News Nation below:

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Please always remember.  CNN = State Dept.  WaPo = CIA.  NYT = DOJ/FBI/DNI. This constant will never change.

Today CNN is out with four reporter bylines on one story to push the official U.S. State Dept story that Iran had no idea Hamas was going to launch the attack against Israel. That’s the collective story, assembled by the people behind Joe Biden, and they are sticking to it.

Now, let’s cut through the pretending.  The State Dept is pushing the story the Biden team need them to, because the point of defending Iran is to maintain a friendly posture and dance with the devil.  The team behind Biden is hopeful that this approach will endear them to Iran so that Tehran will keep Hezbollah out of the fight.  It’s diplomatic pretending pushed on a global stage and managed by the PR firm of the State Dept through CNN.   That’s the ‘why’ of this story.

Now, read very carefully as to how it is constructed. You will see the couched terms and carefully edited propaganda.

CNN – The United States has collected specific intelligence that suggests senior Iranian government officials were caught by surprise by Saturday’s bloody attack on Israel by Hamas, according to multiple sources familiar with the intelligence.

The existence of the intelligence has cast doubt on the idea that Iran was directly involved in the planning, resourcing or approving of the operation, sources said.

The sources stressed that the US intelligence community is not ready to reach a full conclusion about whether Tehran was directly involved in the run-up to the attack. They continue to look for evidence of Iranian involvement, which caught both Israel and the United States by surprise.

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The Biden administration has one goal in relation to supporting Israel, keep Hezbollah from entering the conflict.

Hamas has small rockets and inbred jihadi terrorists.  Hezbollah has precision missiles built up over time, more money, sophisticated targeting systems and a more disciplined approach.  Israel can enter Gaza and begin operations; it will not be easy at all, but it is possible.  However, if Hezbollah launches from the North, the U.S. will need to intervene on behalf of Israel.

That is the reason we keep seeing these statements:

[CentCom Source Link]

Hezbollah will not engage Israel without direct approval from Tehran, Iran.  Currently Iran views the Biden administration as a useful ally.

From the perspective of Iran, they have an interesting decision.  Keep the happy geopolitical leverage they have with the Biden administration or put the Biden administration into a corner by activating their Hezbollah terrorists.

I don’t think Iran will approve Hezbollah for two reasons. First, because they will want to maintain the Joe Biden team’s usefulness for them.  Second, I doubt even Hezbollah realized how much success Hamas would have in the 10/7 attack.

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Yes, there are massive geopolitical interests at stake in the Hamas attack against Israel. Yes, there are layers and layers of massive multinational corporate investments into the process of energy control, capture and change that is driven by competing interests. Yes, those trillions at stake are playing out in the world from Iran to Israel, to Ukraine, to Russia, to Azerbaijan, to Turkey, to Africa, and beyond. {Go Deep}

Yes, all of the political and state actors are playing a role and using their military resources as part of the positioning process. China, Russia, Iran, The United States, Europe, NATO, etc, all positioning and in the background trillions upon trillions being discussed and fought for. Yes, the ultimate high stakes public-private partnerships are leveraging everything right now…..

… But trust me, RIGHT NOW, that’s not where our immediate focus should be!

We need to narrow our viewpoints to a very specific field of vectors, protecting your family.

As all of this geopolitical crisis is playing out on the global stage, there are domestic interests who are in alignment with the global crisis. Their focus is the fundamental change and the upheaval of the globe in conflict as a gateway for those interests to advance. Right here, at home, literally coming to your neighborhood, is where your focus should be, because in the final analysis it is all connected.

Do not look so easily at the global horizon that you cannot see the crisis unfolding on our doorstep.

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The people controlling Joe Biden admit at least 11 American citizens have been confirmed to have been killed in Israel. It is “likely” that American citizens may be among those being held hostage by Hamas, and the Biden administration is working with Israeli officials on “every aspect of the hostage crisis.”

The White House also notes that there are multiple American citizens whose whereabouts remain unaccounted for.

Joe Biden is expected to address the issues and read the statements prepared for him shortly. Livestream Links Below:

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In less than two minutes, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu outlined the nature of the barbarian enemy they face, but also dropped all pretending when he said, “Hamas is ISIS.”   For those who understand the nature of the Middle East, not the pretend version pushed by western media and intelligence within those three words, there is a depth of understanding.

Hamas, Hezbollah, al-Qaeda, al-Nusra, and ISIS are all factions of the same overall core violent and militant ideology.  Each of these violent factions represents a spine in the umbrella of the Muslim Brotherhood (political Islam).  It is a good thing to see Netanyahu drop the pretending and admit the core nature of the terrorist enemy they are facing.   This approach may put Arab nations like Jordan, Egypt and Saudi Arabia in a tough domestic position, but it needs to be said out loud.  WATCH (2 mins)

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The leaders of Hamas do not live in Gaza, they live in Doha, Qatar….  So, it comes as no surprise the Qatari government, the official sponsors and finance operators of the Muslim Brotherhood, of which Hamas is one subsidiary, will act as the negotiators for the release of captured Israeli hostages.

{Go Deep on Qatar}  👀

Of course, the Qatar negotiations will be for an exchange of Hamas prisoners in Israel, in exchange for Israeli women and children held hostage.  See how that works?

Sorry, I forgot, we are not allowed to talk of these things.  We must pretend not to know them.

DOHA/GAZA (Reuters) -Qatari mediators have held urgent calls to try to negotiate freedom for Israeli women and children seized by the militant group and held in Gaza in exchange for the release of 36 Palestinian women and children from Israel’s prisons, a source briefed on the talks told Reuters.

Qatar’s foreign ministry confirmed to Reuters its involvement in mediation talks with Hamas and Israeli officials, including over a possible prisoner swap.

The ongoing negotiations, which Qatar has been conducting in coordination with the United States since Saturday night, are “moving positively” said the source, who has been briefed on them.

“We are in constant contact with all sides at the moment. Our priorities are to end the bloodshed, release the prisoners and make sure the conflict is contained with no regional spillover,” foreign ministry spokesperson Majed Al-Ansari told Reuters, without elaborating.

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The coverage of the attacks by Hamas against the Israeli people is extensive, but have you paused to notice a very peculiar dynamic?

As familiar to most news consumers, various media war correspondents are embedded throughout the Israel and Gaza region.  Flak jackets and helmets are worn by CNN, BBC, Fox News and all the international agencies who are covering the Israeli War.  All of that footage is common and familiar.

Television streams are lit up with the continuing coverage and the audience is brought in live to the fight, despite the dangers and the military combat that is taking place throughout the area.  Brave war correspondents are doing what they do, showing the public exactly what is happening on the ground as the fighting continues.

Yet, the extensive footage triggers a reminder of something….

The war in Ukraine has been raging for 20 months, and not once, not even one single time, did we see simultaneous international war correspondents delivering their reporting, showing action on the front lines, donning their protective gear and taking the audience toward the battles in a similar fashion.

The contrast between the War in Israel and the “War” in Ukraine could not be starker when viewed through the prism of what a real combat war looks like.

Why is that?

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You want to go deep weeds, let’s go deep weeds.  Almost all of the conversations about the $6 billion given back to Iran have focused on the fungible aspect of money.  While true, that focus misses the key and essential point, where the money was delivered.

The captured $6 billion was held in a South Korean bank, the result of sanctions violations.  What the Biden/Blinken crew did, was move the money from South Korea to a bank in Qatar.

Now, many people may not at first understand the nature of how that makes such a significant difference.  The lack of understanding is the result of people not fully grasping what Qatar does in the Middle East.   Qatar is the financial center for Islamic extremist operations.  Qatar is the banking center for the Muslim Brotherhood.  The Brotherhood is the political umbrella for a host of Islamic extremist groups.

Qatar is well known to CTH readers and those who follow the deep weeds of geopolitics.  Qatar has historically been the financial center and funding mechanism of the Muslim Brotherhood.  In many ways Qatar is to the U.S. State Dept, CIA and political elements of the Intelligence Community in the Middle East, as Ukraine is to those same entities in Europe.

We have outlined the long history of Qatar as it pertains to a myriad of U.S. interests.

EXAMPLES: •When the Obama/Clinton State Dept wanted to fund the covert weapons to the Benghazi rebels, they used Qatar. •When President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi expelled the radical leaders of The Brotherhood from Egypt, they went to Qatar.  •When President Donald Trump asked the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) to confront radical Islamic extremism, the Arab nations confronted Qatar.  •When Qatar was forced to expel the five most radical leaders of The Brotherhood, they went to Turkey.  [Turkish President Recep Erdogan is aligned in common principle with The Brotherhood.]  •When the U.S. released captured Islamic extremists from Gitmo (al-Qaeda in Afghanistan), they were transferred to Qatar.  •When the Taliban took back control over Afghanistan, the al-Qaeda leaders from Qatar went back to Afghanistan.

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Appearing on CBS, Michael Herzog, the Israeli ambassador to the U.S., tells “Face the Nation” that after the unprecedented attack in Gaza that left at least 600 dead, “we have to destroy the Hamas war machine.” “This is war,” he said.  Additionally, Ambassador Herzog confirms that Americans were taken as hostages back into Gaza.   WATCH:

MARGARET BRENNAN: Are there Americans among those hostages?

AMBASSADOR HERZOG: I understand there are, but I don’t have details.

[Transcript] – MARGARET BRENNAN: We’re joined now by the Israeli Ambassador to the United States, Michael Herzog. Mr. Ambassador, first, I want to offer you our condolences.

AMBASSADOR MICHAEL HERZOG: Thank you very much. Appreciate it.

MARGARET BRENNAN: We know that your Prime Minister is promising a sustained campaign. Do you have any sense of how Israel will define success?

AMBASSADOR HERZOG: Well, Israel is at war. Yesterday, we were attacked by a terror organization. They infiltrated Israeli territory and killed hundreds of Israelis. At least 600 were butchered yesterday, including whole families, elderly, women, children, babies were taken out of the mothers laps and murdered. This is war and we have to fight that war and win it. We have to destroy the Hamas war machine. You know, in war- back in war- we have to fight it.

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