Blazingcatfur

Editors’ Note: Gaza Hospital Coverage

On Oct. 17, The New York Times published news of an explosion at a hospital in Gaza City, leading its coverage with claims by Hamas government officials that an Israeli airstrike was the cause and that hundreds of people were dead or injured. The report included a large headline at the top of The Times’s website.

Israel subsequently denied being at fault and blamed an errant rocket launch by the Palestinian faction group Islamic Jihad, which has in turn denied responsibility. American and other international officials have said their evidence indicates that the rocket came from Palestinian fighter positions.

The shofar is sounded at Yonge and Bloor, where a coalition of Jewish groups have blocked the intersection in protest against Israel.

One interpretation is that the shofar stirs conscience and summons feelings of humility. #cdnpoli #Toronto #Palestine #Gaza pic.twitter.com/Dx0v2UAUWo

— Caryma Sa'd – Lawyer + Political Satirist (@CarymaRules) October 23, 2023

Do you think the crocodile will eat you last? Because that’s how you’ll find out if the crocodile will eat you last.

In an interview today, Sunday, Israel’s President Isaac Herzog revealed materials found on the bodies of Hamas terrorists, including training materials for the use of chemical warfare agents, intended to be used by the terrorist organization in its murderous rampage against innocent civilians.

A USB key found on the body of a Hamas terrorist who infiltrated Israeli territory was found to contain detailed instructions on creating chemical weapons and implementing their use among the civilian population. The source of the document is a manual from the Al-Qaeda terrorist organization dated 2003, and its discovery indicates both the connection between the organizations and the intention of the Hamas terrorist organization to use chemical weapons to cause mass casualties – as ISIS had planned in the past.

Al-Qaida and Islamic State (IS) have called on their followers to strike Israeli, US and Jewish targets, raising the prospect of new terrorist violence in the Middle East or the west.

In a series of statements over the past two weeks, affiliates of al-Qaida congratulated Hamas on its “invasion of Israel”, a reference to the terrorist attacks that killed 1,400 people, mainly civilians, on 7 October.

The Israeli military offensive in Gaza, which has caused a humanitarian crisis and so far killed more than 4,500 people, according to medical authorities in the Hamas-controlled territory, has provoked outrage across the Islamic world.

President Joe Biden’s approach to the ongoing violence in Israel and Palestine is fueling mounting tensions at the U.S. government agency most involved in foreign policy: the State Department.

Officials told HuffPost that Secretary of State Antony Blinken and his most senior advisers are overlooking widespread internal frustration. Some department staff said they feel as if Blinken and his team are uninterested in their own experts’ advice as they focus on supporting Israel’s expanding operation in Gaza, where the Palestinian militant group Hamas is based.

Joe ain’t running anything.

h/t Mauser

To understand the context of the latest Israeli-Hamas war requires some knowledge of the history that led up to it — a history of never-ending conflict between Israel and its internal and external enemies.

On May 15, 1948, the day after Israel became an independent state, the armies of Egypt, Syria, Iraq, Lebanon, Transjordan (now Jordan) and two Palestinian irregular forces launched their initial attempt to “drive the Jews into the sea.”

Few things are as dangerous as the newsroom that wants a story to be true.

An overzealous editor is how the really dangerous stuff gets printed.

The argument remains. On one side are those who credit and feel indebted to President Biden and his administration for the unbridled moral support and the massive military aid, worth millions of dollars, the U.S. is giving to Israel to assist in our war against Hamas (and Hezb’allah). On the other side, the position is that if this administration had been much tougher with Iran from the outset, actually maintaining the policy toward Iran during the Trump administration, the October 7 attack by Hamas on Israel would never have happened. The Biden administration’s conciliatory gestures and language further empowered Iran, leading to Hamas’s invasion of southern Israel. This surprise incursion was one of Iran’s tactics to weaken Israel over time through sporadic attacks by its proxies, including Hamas, Islamic Jihad, Hezb’allah, and even Yemen. If not for Biden’s efforts to placate Iran, goes this argument, all the people murdered in that attack would be alive today. All the hostages taken would be home with their loved ones and friends.