Tag: israel

2,000 US troops preparing for deployment to support Israel if needed, officials say

The United States military has chosen about 2,000 American troops to potentially deploy to support Israel, U.S. defense officials said, according to the Wall Street Journal.

The selected troops are currently stationed in the Middle East and other locations, including Europe, officials said, adding the troops are not expected to serve in combat roles. Instead, they will provide advising and medical support.

It is unclear what could trigger the deployment.

The deployment preparations come after the U.S. State Department announced Sunday that the number of Americans killed in the recent Hamas terrorist attacks against Israel has increased to 30.

According to a statement attributed to a State Department official, the government has been able to “confirm the deaths of 30 U.S. citizens” in Israel. In addition to the American citizens who have been killed in Israel, the State Department official confirmed that multiple U.S. citizens are currently missing in Israel.

Keep reading

Lessons in Atrocity Propaganda

It has been a little over a week since Hamas attacked Israel.

In that week, we have learned more of what 5th Generation Warfare looks and feels like in the context of actual battles taking place in a geographic theater of war.

Although the Israel-Palestine conflict has demonstrated an evolution in asymmetric warfare, this article will not discuss, per se, the tactics or politics of asymmetric warfare as deployed by Hamas.

As we have witnessed, in contrast to a specific tactic, 5th Generation Warfare involves us all. As James Corbett wrote in April:

“There is a world war happening right now. It is a fifth-generation war (or whatever you want to call it). It is being waged across every domain simultaneously. It is a war for full-spectrum dominance of every battlefield and every terrain, from the farthest reaches of the globe (and beyond) to the inner spaces of your body and even to your innermost thoughts. And it is a war on you.”

This observation is not meant to cheapen the suffering of those on the ground, or to equate the rending of flesh with the rending of the mind. It is, however, an acknowledgement that the war over public opinion makes us all combatants in some small way. The accessibility and pervasiveness of modern media increases this involvement a hundredfold.

To fully analyze the evolution of 5th Generation Warfare through this conflict, an at least cursory understanding of each side’s objectives is necessary.

Very crudely speaking, they are as follows:

For Israel, a religious war ending with the complete annexation of the West Bank and Gaza, and the ultimate defeat of Hamas. This would mean the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians from their land. To do this, Israel must control the international narrative enough for the world to turn a blind eye, and to prevent other Muslim nations from entering the conflict.

For Hamas, the purpose of the attacks was to provoke Israel into committing atrocities against the Palestinians that would turn the international community against Israel and “force the Muslim states and armed groups everywhere to take a stand.” If that means sacrificing civilians, they are martyrs; Inshallah.

With those objectives in mind, the Israeli dissemination of atrocity propaganda actually aids Hamas in achieving its goals because public outrage enables Israel to overreact, which is exactly what Hamas desires.

This means that the public mind isthe crucial battleground in this conflict. Except, as we have seen over the last week, the public is no longer a silent observer.

Indeed, public comment has had an even more pronounced effect than during the war in Ukraine, where critical reporters debunked the “Ghost of Kiev” and highlighted the truth about the alleged Russian missile attack on Poland.

Keep reading

 Israeli minister seeks arrest of journalists who ‘harm national morale’

Israel‘s communications minister is proposing emergency regulations that would allow police to arrest citizens and journalists who publish content deemed to “harm national morale”.

Under Shlomo Karhi’s proposal, those restrictions could be placed upon publications that have been used as a “base for enemy propaganda”.

Journalists and other citizens could have their homes searched, property seized and could be placed under arrest for speech the government deems undesirable.

The proposal comes on the ninth day of fighting between Israel and Palestinian groups, which has killed at least 2,450 Palestinians in Gaza, including 724 children and 458 women. In the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem, 56 people have been killed by Israeli fire. Meanwhile, at least 1,300 people have been killed in Israel.

Earlier on Sunday, Karhi said he was seeking a possible closure of Al Jazeera’s local bureau, accusing the Qatari news station of pro-Hamas incitement and of exposing Israeli soldiers to potential attack from Gaza.

Keep reading

FBI TARGETS MUSLIMS AND PALESTINIANS IN WAKE OF HAMAS ATTACK, CIVIL RIGHTS ADVOCATES WARN

FEDERAL LAW ENFORCEMENT agents have questioned and detained Palestinian nationals and made visits to mosques in the wake of Hamas’s attack on Israel, according to civil rights advocates.

Abed Ayoub, executive director of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, or ADC, said that his organization has fielded multiple reports of individuals and mosques being visited by the FBI this week. The Stop LAPD Spying Coalition, a police accountability group, also said it had received reports of federal agents intimidating Palestinians and their supporters. 

The interactions are reminiscent of surveillance and targeting of Muslim and Arab communities in the wake of the 9/11 attacks, and Ayoub told The Intercept that they are contributing to a resurgence of fear among Muslim communities. “Like, ‘Oh my god, this is happening again, how are we going to protect ourselves?’”

Keep reading

Israel warns Hezbollah – beware what happened to Hamas: Minister says Israel does NOT want a war in the north but if the Iran-backed militia force one ‘it will pay a very heavy price’ after rocket fired from Lebanon kills Israeli

Israel has warned Hezbollah it would pay a ‘very heavy price’ if the Iranian-backed movement enters the ongoing conflict.

The Israeli government said today it was willing to fight a war on two or more fronts as it issued a stark warning to its northern neighbour to stay out of the clashes taking place between it and Hamas.

The country’s defence minister, Yoav Gallant, said the Jewish state did not want a war with Lebanon and was prepared to show restraint despite shooting from both sides taking place at the border which has claimed the life of at least one Israeli so far.

It comes Israel continues its bombardment of Gaza following last week’s raids by Hamas which are confirmed to have killed hundreds of Israeli civilians and soldiers. It has confirmed that at least 155 people have also been taken hostage by the terrorist organisation.

Military leaders had warned the people of Gaza City, which is close to the border with Israel, that they should evacuate ahead of a planned ground offensive into the Palestinian territory. Officials have said at least 600,000 have done so so far. 

Keep reading

Here’s What the Hamas Attack Tells Us About U.S. Immigration Policy: Nothing

In the middle of his statement responding to last weekend’s barbaric attacks in Israel, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis veered sideways into a non-sequitur about American immigration policy.

In a post to X (formerly known as Twitter), DeSantis said President Joe Biden ought to freeze all foreign aid flowing to Hamas, the terrorist group responsible for Saturday’s attacks that left more than 1,000 people dead, and freeze money “made available to Iran.” Then, DeSantis added, Biden must “immediately shut down America’s wide-open southern border to ensure we are in a position to better protect Americans here at home from these real threats.”

That is…quite the jump.

Yes, it’s true that Saturday’s attack on Israel involved people crossing a border, and that immigrants coming to the U.S. also cross a border as part of that process. That’s literally the only similarity.

To be clear: Immigrants seeking to come to the U.S. to live and work are absolutely not terrorists conducting a paramilitary operation. Mexico and the U.S. are not Israel and Palestine. And, as Saturday’s attack makes obviously clear, even the most extreme measures designed to “shut down” a border can be defeated.

Keep reading

Illinois Man Killed Muslim Boy, 6, In Hate Crime Motivated By Israeli-Hamas War, Police Say

On 10/14/2023 at approximately 11:38 AM, deputies with the Will County Sheriff’s Office were sent to a residence located near the 16200 block of S. Lincoln Highway in Unincorporated Plainfield Township regarding a stabbing that occurred involving a landlord and renter. When police personnel arrived on scene they located the suspect, Joseph M. Czuba (age 71) of Plainfield sitting upright outside on the ground near the driveway of the residence. Joseph Czuba had a laceration to his forehead and was later transported to a local area hospital for treatment.

Deputies located two victims inside the residence in a bedroom. Both victims had multiple stab wounds to their chest, torso, and upper extremities. Both victims were transported to a local area hospital for treatment. The thirty-two (32) year-old female was transported in serious condition and had over a dozen stab wounds to her body. The female victim is recovering from her injuries at a local area hospital and is expected to survive this brutal attack.

It was initially reported to police personnel that the juvenile victim was eight-years-old. That initial information was incorrect, and juvenile victim is six (6) years-old. The six-year-old male was transported to the hospital in critical condition. The boy later succumbed to his injuries and was pronounced deceased by a doctor. On 10/15/2023, an autopsy was conducted on the six-year-old victim. The forensic pathologist conducting the autopsy removed the knife from the abdomen of the boy at that time. The six-year-old boy was stabbed twenty-six (26) times throughout his body. The knife used in this attack is a twelve-inch serrated military style knife that has a seven-inch blade.

Keep reading

Iran Issues Dire Warning to Israel If Attacks in Gaza Continue: ‘Huge Earthquake’

On Saturday, Iran’s foreign minister called on Israel to halt attacks on Gaza, warning that the war may expand to other parts of the Middle East if Hezbollah joins the battle, saying that Israel would suffer “a huge earthquake.”

While speaking with reporters in Beirut, Hossein Amirabdollahian said that Lebanon’s Hezbollah group has taken all the scenarios of a war into consideration and Israel should stop its attacks on Gaza as soon as possible.

Hezbollah is considered by Israel to be its most serious immediate threat, with estimates suggesting that they may have nearly 150,000 rockets and missiles, including precision-guided missiles that can hit anywhere in Israel.

The group consists of thousands of fighters, many of whom were veterans of Syria’s 12-year conflict, as well as various types of military drones. Since last week’s attack by the militant Palestinian group Hamas, which left hundreds of Israeli civilians and soldiers dead, Hezbollah fighters have been on alert along Lebanon’s borders with Israel. 

Keep reading

PROPAGANDA BLITZ: HOW MAINSTREAM MEDIA IS PUSHING FAKE PALESTINE STORIES

After Hamas launched a surprise attack on Israel, IDF forces responded with airstrikes, leveling Gazan buildings. The violence so far has claimed the lives of more than 2,500 people. Western media, however, show far more interest and have much greater sympathy with Israeli dead than Palestinian ones and have played their usual role as unofficial spokespersons for the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF).

One case in point is the claim that, during their incursion into southern Israel, Hamas fighters stopped to round up, kill and mutilate 40 Israeli babies, beheading them and leaving their bodies behind.

The extraordinary assertion was originally reported by the Israeli channel i24 News, which based it on anonymous Israeli military sources. Despite offering no proof whatsoever, this highly inflammatory claim about an enemy made by an active participant in a conflict was picked up and repeated across the world by a host of media (e.g., in the United States by Fox News, CNN, MSN, Business Insider, and The New York Post).

Meanwhile, the front pages of the United Kingdom’s largest newspapers were festooned with the story, the press outraged at the atrocity and inviting their readers to feel the same way.

Extraordinary claims should require extraordinary evidence, and a story like this should have been met with serious skepticism, given who was making the claim. The first question any reporter should have asked was, “Where is the evidence?” Given multiple opportunities to stand by it, the IDF continually distanced itself from the claims. Nevertheless, the story was simply too useful not to publish.

Keep reading

CIA Warned of Escalated Violence Against Israel Days Before Hamas Attack

A New York Times report says that in late September and early October the CIA produced analyses that suggested violence would be coming from Gaza but did not predict the large-scale attack on Israel stemming from Hamas militants just days into October.

Intelligence collected by the CIA and other partner agencies was used by analysts to create the reports, which cited a recent wave of protests in Gaza that could turn violent.  

However, the CIA has not prioritized intelligence in the Gaza Strip for several years, due to other threats in the region that were seen as larger or more concerning, which gives a possible explanation as to why U.S. and Israeli intelligence was apparently caught off guard by the surprise attack on Oct. 7.

Keep reading