The Israeli-Hamas Conflict was precipitated by that terrorist group attacking Israeli civilians and slaughtering about 1,200 men, women, children and babies, and including many foreign nationals in Israel on October 7.
Israel has every right to respond, as they are doing, sadly leading to more than 11,000 people in the Gaza Strip killed, as Israel pursues Hamas.
This is highly regrettable, but the reaction in America of the two opposing groups is very disturbing,
The pro Palestinian demonstrators on college campuses and in public places in multiple cities have promoted violence and lawlessness.
Pro Israeli demonstrators are peacefully marching and demonstrating, as in, for example, the hundreds of thousands of American Jews and their supporters in Washington DC this past Tuesday.
It is alarming how America has to be on guard against those who would promote bloodshed and violence if they do not get their way in public policy of America toward the Israel-Hamas conflict.
This controversy is dividing America in an ugly way, and could affect the politics of the upcoming Presidential election of 2024, although most Republicans, including Donald Trump, if anything, are much more hardline in their support of Israel without any qualifications.
So those who support Hamas, or see them as somehow not the terrorists they are, have a rude awakening that most Americans clearly see Israel as the aggrieved nation, who witnessed the greatest loss of life of Jews since the Nazi Holocaust of World War II.
At this point, the Middle East is, as always, a cauldron of turmoil, and likely to become a major confrontational issue, adding to the dangers of domestic terrorism everywhere in America!
Something else alarming. Some young Americans on Tik Tok sympathize with Osama Bin Laden.
https://www.cnn.com/2023/11/16/tech/tiktok-osama-bin-laden-letter-to-america/index.html
Since the conflict started in the Middle East, there is less news coverage about Ukraine lately.
Someone on MSNBC was talking about this Bin Laden letter on Tik Tok. He said that these young Americans were either not born or were very young children when 9/11 happened, so they don’t have much historical context.
Since the conflict, MSNBC has dropped in ratings, putting the network behind Fox and CNN. Reports are that viewers may not have liked the views of the network’s Muslim anchors – Mehdi Hasan, Ali Velshi, and Ayman Mohyeldin – who were sidelined after the CEO of the Anti-Defamation League lambasted the network’s coverage of the conflict.
Speaking of the Anti-Defamation League, they have a really good ad on TV reminding people that Hamas is a terrorist organization that needs to be stopped.
Elon Musk has publicly endorsed an antisemitic conspiracy theory popular among White supremacists: that Jewish communities push “hatred against Whites.”
https://www.cnn.com/2023/11/15/media/elon-musk-antisemitism-white-people/index.html
Remind me not to do two things:
1. Don’t sign up for Musk’s sorry replacement for Twitter, “X” as it’s now called.
2. Don’t buy one of his Tesla cars.
Bodies of two of the hostages have been recovered near the Al-Shifa Hospital. One is a 19-year-old woman and the other is a 65-year-old woman.
Re: The Bin Laden letter on Tik Tok –
This opinion piece on CNN nails it best – Bin Laden was a murderer, plain and simple! People praising him is baffling!
https://www.cnn.com/2023/11/17/opinions/osama-bin-laden-was-a-mass-murderer-not-a-tiktok-influencer-bergen/index.html
Former Republican – Have they gotten rid of the Muslim anchors? I hope not.
No. They haven’t gotten rid of them. They just have them hosting their shows at home instead of reporting from the region.
Glad to hear that. I like their programs.
The thing that bothers me is that UN agencies are reporting that supposedly safe places for the civilians in the southern part of the Gaza Strip are being bombed. Reports like that make you wonder if Netanyahu is carrying out collective punishment.
The UN is calling for an investigation of the hospital raid as there are conflicting claims about whether or not Hamas was using the hospital to house a command center and military equipment.
https://www.cnn.com/2023/11/17/middleeast/israel-alleged-hamas-tunnel-al-shifa-intl-hnk/index.html
Rational Lefty – What the UN and other humanitarian relief agencies report bothers me as well. I just wonder if there is some other way to deal with Hamas that would lessen civilian casualties.
The Israel Defense Forces has released videos and still images it says show Hamas fighters bringing hostages into the Al-Shifa Hospital on October 7.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-67469591
Negotiators are nearing a deal to release some more hostages.
https://www.cnn.com/2023/11/19/politics/hamas-hostage-release-deal-pending/index.html
There is also new video of the underground tunnel at Al-Shifa Hospital compound.
The video, which runs 3 minutes and 27 seconds and was filmed on Friday, Nov. 17, begins outside the tunnel shaft with several Israel Defense Forces soldiers visible in the opening shot. The video then shows the soldiers preparing to lower equipment into the shaft to examine the interior. There is no audio throughout the clip.
As the camera is lowered into the shaft, a set of spiral stairs becomes visible around a central pole. The camera then begins advancing along the tunnel before coming to a sharp left turn. The walls of the tunnel appear to be made of vertical slabs of concrete, with an arched concrete roof.
After the turn, the tunnel continues before coming to a closed metal door with what appears to be a small viewing window. The IDF says it has not yet opened the door because the military fears it may be booby-trapped. The IDF says the tunnel shaft extends 10 meters (just over 30 feet) underground and the tunnel itself continues for 55 meters (180 feet).
“This type of door is used by the Hamas terrorist organization to block Israeli forces from entering the command centers and the underground assets belonging to Hamas,” the IDF and the Israel Security Agency claimed in a statement Sunday evening.
Hamas and hospital officials have repeatedly denied that the hospital is anything other than a medical complex.
https://www.cnn.com/middleeast/live-news/israel-hamas-war-gaza-news-11-19-23/h_3e4267feda390d8042f9e38781a64376
These videos that the IDF is releasing is pretty convincing to me that Hamas is using civilians as human shields.
Families of the hostages are getting frustrated at the lack of news of their loved ones.
A deal has been made to release some women and children hostages.