Military support for both Israel and Ukraine has become essential to promote and preserve democracy against Hamas and Russian authoritarianism.
Particularly for American Jews, and Jews around the world, there is an emotional commitment to preservation of both nations’ ability to survive against massive threats to their sovereignty.
Personally, this author and blogger, being Jewish and whose ancestry is from Ukraine, and with Israel being the national homeland of the Jewish people, feels a special affinity to continued support for both nations.
The vast majority of the Democratic Party is behind continued support of Israel and Ukraine, while many Senate Republicans and some House Republicans agree.
But the MAGA Republican element, as respresented by Ohio Congressman Jim Jordan’s bid to be Speaker, are a dire threat to Ukraine, and unreliable on their Israeli support, as they bow to the evil of Donald Trump, who now attacks Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for accepting Joe Biden’s victory in 2020, and praises Hezbollah, the threat to Israel from Lebanon. And Trump was impeached in 2019 for trying to force Ukraine to help him against Joe Biden, and is a known supporter of Vladimir Putin and the Russian Federation!
Biden is heading to Israel.
Just as Biden heads to Israel, a dispute has broken out over whose rocket hit a hospital in Gaza, killing hundreds of people.
CNN showed photos of the blast site. It’s in the parking lot next to the hospital. Not inside the hospital. Also, it’s a relatively small parking lot. And a relatively small blast. I emphasis relatively. The blast ignited fuel in the cars. A dozen or so cars burned out. The buildings next to the lot are basically OK except for some shrapnel damage and roof tiles missing. Yes, it’s a tragedy, but not anywhere close to the magnitude claimed by Hamas. Which causes me to question Hamas’s claim that Israel was responsible.
Erin Burnett had some video on her show. The video is from an Al Jazeera news camera. It appears to show a rocket fired from Gaza exploding above Gaza City before the explosion at the hospital.
The video was broadcast live from an east-facing Al Jazeera camera and captures the rocket trail rising into the air just a few seconds after it was launched. The time on the screen reads 6:59 p.m local time.
By geolocating where the Al Jazeera video was taken from, and the direction it’s capturing, CNN has determined the rocket was fired from an area south of Gaza City. The rocket can be seen in the video continuing to rise, until it suddenly veers straight up in the air.
The rocket then is seen making a sharp turn back toward the direction from where it was fired. A streak of fire is seen as the rocket flies significantly faster, continuing back toward the direction it was fired.
Suddenly, the rocket is seen exploding mid-flight, in the air high above Gaza City. The rocket trail is no longer visible. From the video, it is unclear where the rocket ultimately fell.
Retired Col. Cedric Leighton told CNN after reviewing the video that “it’s consistent with a malfunctioning rocket.”
In addition to the video that Erin Burnett showed, there is also audio that Israel’s Defense Force has released. The released audio is supposedly a conversation between two Hamas operatives in which they speak of a rocket launched from a cemetery near the hospital. According to a translation of the conversation, one of the alleged operatives says: “They are saying that the shrapnel of the missle is local shrapnel and not like the Israeli shrapnel.”
Biden is going to have a primetime address tonight, where he plans to state that the US should continue to fund the war in Israel and in Ukraine.
Democratic Representatives Rashida Tlaib and Ilhan Omar have both been criticized for blaming Israel for the Gaza hospital explosion.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/saradorn/2023/10/18/progressive-reps-tlaib-omar-criticized-for-blaming-israel-for-gaza-hospital-explosion/?sh=245e72177ce1
Shame on them!
Here’s an article from NBC News talking about the left being split about Israel.
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/left-faces-reckoning-israel-divides-democrats-rcna120076
Polls show that most Americans agree with Biden.
https://www.cnn.com/2023/10/19/politics/polling-israel-hamas-biden/index.html
Some good news. Two American hostages have been released.