Caroline Glick provides a somber rundown of what has happened in Israel, and starting at 06:00 of the video below, shares some pragmatic thoughts on the meaning of the war and the only way that it can end with Israel and its people safe.

Given the nature of what has been happening in Israeli politics, and the coordination Saturday in the Hamas attack, as Mrs. Glick aptly notes, all prior metrics for a regional Israeli control and defend policy has failed.

In very somber tones, Caroline Glick deconstructs the pretending model and cuts to the heart of the issue.  Regardless of diplomatic costs, the strategic killing of every element of Hamas must begin immediately, with extreme prejudice and without regard for collateral damage. WATCH (Prompted):

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(Via Daily Mail) –  The Hamas gunmen who launched an unprecedented surprise attack on Israel have taken babies and elderly women hostage, according to former Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett.

Bennett revealed the sickening details of the ongoing assault in an interview with CNN on Saturday night, as running gun battles continued in the streets of Israel more than 24 hours after the assault began. (more)

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Victor Davis Hanson is a man not known for short-term thinking.  Indeed, while his analysis does not always contain the same scope of datapoints reviewed here, his opinions are generally rooted in accepting things as they are, not as he would pretend them to be.

Recently during an interview with Tucker Carlson, as he contrasts the targeting of President Donald Trump, VDH was far more distraught than previously noted in his analysis. He increasingly sees our American options for a peaceful approach to retain our constitutional republic, diminishing.

Today, VDH takes the overall geopolitical landscape and outlines his thoughts below on the Hamas terror attack against the nation state of Israel.  Victor Davis Hanson:

A 50th Anniversary War?

Why did Hamas stage a long-planned, carefully executed and multifaceted attack on Israeli towns, soldiers, and civilians—one designed to instill terror by executing noncombatants, taking hostages, and desecrating the bodies of the dead?

And how were the killers able to enter Israeli proper in enough numbers to kill what could be hundreds and perhaps eventually wound what could be thousands?

a) Ostensibly, radical Palestinians wanted to stop any rumored rapprochement between the Gulf monarchies—the traditional source of much of their cash—and Israel, by forcing the issue of Arab solidarity in times of “war”, especially through waging a gruesome attack aimed at civilians and encompassing executions and hostage taking. Iran likely was the driving force to prompt the war—given its greatest fear is a Sunni Arab-Israeli rapprochement.

b) Arab forces have had only success against Israel through surprise attacks during Israeli holidays, as in the Yom Kippur War (i.e., was it any accident that the present attack began 50-years almost to the day after the October 6, 1973 beginning of the Yom Kippur War?). And so they struck again this Saturday during Simchat Torah, coming at the end of a weeklong Jewish celebration of Sukkot—in hopes that others will join in as happened in 1973. (So much for the Arab warnings not for Westerners to conduct war during Ramadan).

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The reports from the ground in Israel are horrific.  Israeli citizens have been targeted by Hamas terrorists who infiltrated the border – with families killed and multiple kidnappings, as the Israeli Defense Force (IDF) rapidly deploys into several areas.  Hundreds have been killed in a well-coordinated attack from the air, land and sea.

(FOX NEWS) – […] Israeli media reported that at least 100 people have so far been killed in the wide-ranging assault, while Gaza health officials say that 198 Palestinians have died in Israeli air strikes made in response to the Hamas attack. Hospitals are treating at least 561 wounded people, including 77 who were in critical condition, the Associated Press reported based on public statements and calls to hospitals. (read more)

[Source – Source]

GROUND REPORT – (Long Time Treeper, David)

My American friends,

Today is a very sad day for Israel. We had a surprise attack with terrorists from gliders from the sky, boats and ground. The situation is not fully understood yet and there is a lot of media confusion.

Not all is published but there are over 40 dead (probably a lot more), over 750 injured and citizens are donating blood as there is scarcity. And there are hostages. I don’t know how many, Hamas is claiming 35.

They managed to occupy about 7 towns and army bases or a base and at this time about 3 towns are still in heavy combat. I saw footage of terrorists shooting at Israeli vehicles and killing families with children. There are thousands of rockets fired at Israel. I saw a footage of Israeli national counter terror unit negotiating and preparing and assault at a hostage situation in a town.

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President Donald Trump released the following video statement, commemorating the anniversary of 09-11-01:

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In 2010 and 2011 the Hillary Clinton State Department, working with NATO allies (particularly France), triggered a crisis in Libya during the Obama administration’s intentional effort to remove Muammar Gaddafi from power.  This was a key element to the Arab Spring (Islamist Spring or Color Revolution) that flowed from the Cairo, Egypt, speech of President Obama a year prior.

Hillary Clinton, Susan Rice and Samanta Power (R2P) were the architects of the destabilization plan.  After the country was destabilized and thrown into severe violent crisis by the U.S. support for radical Islamists in eastern Libya (Benghazi region), President Obama then signed (Feb, 2011) a national emergency declaration in regard to the destabilized Libya his administration created.

Five years later, in April 2016, President Obama expanded the Libya emergency declaration to extend the 2011 declaration and envelop a larger portion of North Africa, under the auspices of expanded threats from AQIM (al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb).  This extension allowed the state dept to frame actions in neighboring Egypt, and block any effort to counteract Obama’s mid-east policy which was established to support the Muslim Brotherhood.   In April 2016 it was presumed Hillary Clinton would win the election and continue the policy.

Today, a full twelve years after Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton destabilized Libya throwing it into a tribal civil war, Joe Biden signs an executive order continuing the extension of the U.S. National Emergency with regard to Libya {White House Link}.

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We are still just watching, evaluating, seeing how this plays out, without making any determination about motive or intent. However, that said, Twitter’s new owner Elon Musk is beginning to go to the quiet places that no mainstream media has ever gone before.

Stunningly, with the recent discoveries of Twitter manipulating the free flow of information in the U.S as an example, Elon Musk now engages the discussion of how far social media platforms have gone to support the U.S State Department. Mr. Musk notes the ideologues within Twitter were engaged in tilting the outcome of the election in Brazil:

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If this direction of inquiry is maintained, it is very likely people will find themselves at the origin of the U.S. Government working with social media platforms to manipulate political outcomes.  The origin of that relationship is the ‘Arab Spring’, specifically the uprising in Egypt and neighboring Libya in 2011.

While average Americans were caught up with ObamaCare news in 2010, President Obama was building out a massive influence campaign in Egypt to install a Muslim Brotherhood candidate, Mohammed Morsi.   Almost no-one was paying attention to the State Dept enlisting Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey into using social media to manipulate a population.

Zuckerberg and Dorsey were enlisted in the endeavor by like-minded travelers in Obama’s tight circle. At the time the Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee was John Kerry, and the Secretary of State was Hillary Clinton.  The U.S. State Department was in direct alignment with the White House policy objectives.

It wasn’t until the lambs were directed into the social media trap and took over Tahir Square, that most Western media began reporting in depth what was going on.  However, by the time people realized Obama and Clinton had used social media to open the Big Cat cages in the zoo, it was too late.

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For many people Salman Rushdie is perhaps the most well-known free speech defender in the current generation. He certainly is one of the bravest people who originally spoke out against Islamic extremism with his 1988 book Satanic Verses.

Iranian leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini issued a fatwa calling for Rushdie’s death over what he claimed were blasphemous references to Islam. A $3 million bounty was placed on his head for anyone who kills him. The fatwa was never rescinded, and Rushdie spent well over a decade hiding under protective custody.

In recent years Rushdie has been a visible advocate for free speech and has given multiple speeches on issues around the need for freedom of expression. During a speech yesterday he was attacked and stabbed multiple times.

[New York] – Author Salman Rushdie is likely to lose one of his eyes and is currently on a ventilator after he was attacked on stage at a literary event in upstate New York on Friday, a report said.

“The news is not good,” the 75-year-old writer’s agent, Andrew Wylie, told The New York Times. “Salman will likely lose one eye; the nerves in his arm were severed; and his liver was stabbed and damaged,” said Wylie.

Rushdie, who is still unable to speak, was attacked by a lone man while speaking at an event at the Chautauqua Institution in Chautauqua, NY, about 55 miles south of Buffalo.

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Everything about the supposed killing of al-Qaeda leader Ayman Al Zawahiri is suspect, weird and fishy.

♦First, Al Zawahiri has been reported as killed or dead at least a half dozen times in the last 10 years; including by natural causes.  ♦Second, Ayman Zawahiri was very old. Western citations put his age at 71 (born 1951), however, that is suspect (sounds like his younger brother’s age).  ♦Third, the location of his reported killing in Kabul is odd.  Zawahiri was known to avoid large populations, and even with the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan the tribal conflicts with factions of the Taliban would have been an issue.

♦Fourth, somehow the Taliban waited until after the U.S. intelligence community leaked the strike to the media before they issued a statement condemning the drone attack.  Since when does al-Qaeda wait 48+ hours to denounce hostile action in their territory?   Coordinating and timed joint press releases between the White House and ‘Taliban‘ to western media outlets is seriously sketchy.

♦Fifth, absolutely no official outline from the Pentagon or White House on this “successful counterterrorism strike“?  Despite a primetime presidential address, the White House has no announcement, no official statement, nothing, on their website.  Additionally, Biden leads off saying the attack was on Saturday, the Taliban waited 48-hours to denounce a U.S. drone strike?  Think about it.  Doesn’t add up.  More sketchy.

♦Sixth, and seemingly just an oddball addendum, Fox News breaks the story using Jennifer Griffin as lead reporter.  As I noted several days ago, Griffin had been missing from Fox News since she went bonzo in March attacking Tucker Carlson over his cynicism of the official State Dept and Pentagon narrative in Ukraine.

May, June, July, nothing from pentagon deep state promoter Jenn Griffin at all.  Then, suddenly, on the same day Griffin resurfaces, after months of nothing, there’s a major terrorism strike in Afghanistan, killing Zawahiri and she’s leading the coverage?…. With Brett Baier cheerleading?  C’mon man.  Sketchy, all of it.

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This is weird.  Ayman al-Zawahiri, who was always hiding in the same Afghanistan-Pakistan area where Osama Bin Laden was hiding out, was very old ten years ago in 2012 when he established the Libyan branch of al-Qaeda.  [SEE CTH Archives] This guy is ancient by now.

Ayman al-Zawahiri was #2 to Bin Laden and elevated to #1 after his death.  Ayman has a younger brother named Mohammed al-Zawahiri who was the Muslim Brotherhood organizer of the uprising in Egypt, and very likely the person who helped coordinate the 9/11/2012 protest on the U.S. Embassy in Cairo that happened on the same day as the attack in Benghazi.

According to media reporting, the CIA is claiming to have killed Ayman al-Zawahiri last weekend and Joe Biden is going to give a congratulatory speech about it tonight at 7:30pm ET.   Something about this is odd, he was killed in Kabul, Afghanistan?  Ayman al-Zawahiri was seriously old if he was still actually alive.

WASHINGTON DC – The United States killed Al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahri in a drone strike over the weekend, two people briefed on the operation told POLITICO.

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Mark Twain was reported to have said, “History may not always repeat, but it rhymes.”  With the Obama foreign policy team back together again in the White House, we are watching Twain’s truism play out in real time.

Yesterday, the Biden administration specifically designated Qatar as a major non-NATO ally {LINK}.

The purpose of this designation is brutally obvious. The United States is putting Qatar back into the business of brokering arms sales from the U.S. government into Ukraine.  Following the geopolitical intervention models previously used in Egypt, Libya and Syria by President Obama and Hillary Clinton, Joe Biden and Antony Blinken are now repeating the process toward Ukraine.

In many ways this should not be a surprise.  Qatar is the financial hub and support network for the Muslim Brotherhood.  Qatar is also the arms broker for covert military operations when the U.S. does not want visible fingerprints.

By making this designation now, the Biden administration is setting up the groundwork for a long-term proxy war between the U.S/NATO and Russia in Ukraine.

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