As to the projected flooding of the Hamas tunnel system in Ghaza with nerve gas, in order to rescue the missing 220 hostages, Egyptian media expressed their disbelief.
While a high-ranking Hamas official is being quoted as saying that "the occupation [power] is promoting this news to create panic and fear", an Egyptian military expert, Major General Samir Faraj, is expressing his doubts more detailed. [Egypt Today on Oct. 27/28]
علق عضو المكتب السياسي لحركة حماس الفلسطينية، حسام بدران، على التقارير التي تتحدث عن استخدام إسرائيل غاز الأعصاب في الأنفاق لإجبار مقاتلي حماس على الخروج منها
A member of the political bureau of the Palestinian Hamas movement, Hossam Badran, commented on reports that Israel used nerve gas in tunnels to force Hamas fighters to leave them.
......
وأوضح أن حماس جاهزة من الناحية العسكرية لكثير من الاحتمالات، موضحًا أن الاحتلال يروج لهذه الأخبار تهدف إلى إثارة الذعر والخوف بين صفوف المقاتلين والشعب الفلسطيني
وتابع عضو المكتب السياسي لحركة حماس: «شعبنا، حتى الطفل الصغير لم يعد يخشى هذا الاحتلال ولا تهديداته ولا نيرانه، نحن أصحاب الحق، وسنمضي في هذا الطريق إلى النهاية»
He explained that Hamas is militarily prepared for many possibilities, explaining that the occupation is promoting this news aiming to create panic and fear among the ranks of the fighters and the Palestinian people.
The member of the Hamas political bureau continued: “Our people, even the little child, no longer fear this occupation, its threats, or its fire. We are the owners of the right, and we will continue on this path until the end.”
[Egypt Today مصريا اليوم, Oct. 27]
Major General Samir Faraj, a strategic thinker, ruled out the use of nerve gas by the Israeli occupation forces in their war with Hamas.
Faraj said during a phone call to the “On My Responsibility” program, via “Sada El Balad” satellite channel, this Saturday evening, that the occupation forces cannot use nerve gas against the Hamas movement in the Gaza tunnels in order to protect the prisoners.
He pointed out that the most powerful weapon possessed by the Palestinian resistance is the tunnel weapon, in addition to its possession of a large number of prisoners.
He explained that the occupation forces use seismic bombs in their war on the Gaza Strip to demolish tunnels, noting that these bombs were used in World War II and were developed to demolish the nuclear reactors that Iran is building underground.
Faraj added that the occupation forces were unable to advance, for fear of heavy losses, stressing that Israel failed in its operation yesterday in Gaza, and is in a difficult situation and does not know how to move its affairs.
[Egypt Today مصريا اليوم, Oct. 28]
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خطة إسرائيلية لإغراق أنفاق "حماس" بغاز الأعصاب
Israeli plan to flood Hamas tunnels with a nerve agent. [Al-Mashhad المشهد Oct. 28]
The video link is no longer available on the republished Arabic
site of Al-Mashhad, but it can still be accessed on YouTube.
For the liberation of hostages, being hidden in 'Ghaza Metro', the legendary underground system of Hamas tunnels comprising some 500 km, Israel plans to flood these tunnels with a nerve agent intended to 'immobilize' Hamas fighters for some hours. The operation should be under supervision of US Delta Forces. This is what Al-Jazeera and Middle East Eye MEE have already reported. In the video of Al-Mashhad the gassing of Hamas fighters is being compared with the nerve gas attack on 'Tokyo Metro' using Sarin in 1995.
The republished news page of Al-Mashhad on Friday Oct. 27 came with a confirmation of such plans while already omitting the video link:
أكدت وسائل إعلام بريطانية أن مصادر قريبة من البنتاجون كشفت أن الولايات المتحدة والجيش الإسرائيلي سيستخدمان غاز الأعصاب لإغراق الأنفاق تحت غزة
وبحسب موقع «ميدل إيست آي» البريطاني، فإن هذا هو السبب الرئيسي لتأخير العملية البرية للجيش الإسرائيلي في غزة، والتي تنتظر تسليم الغاز المحظور عالميًا، ووصول الطواقم الأمريكية التي ستتولى التعامل معه
وكان الهدف هو إحداث تأثير المفاجأة، ما يسمح بإطلاق سراح الرهائن وقتل أكبر عدد ممكن من مقاتلي حماس
British media confirmed that sources close to the Pentagon revealed that the United States and the Israeli army will use nerve gas to flood tunnels under Ghaza.
According to the British Middle East Eye website, this is the main reason for the delay in the Israeli army’s ground operation in Ghaza, which is awaiting the delivery of globally banned gas and the arrival of the American crews that will handle it.
The goal was to create an effect of surprise, allowing the hostages to be released and the largest possible number of Hamas fighters killed.
The town of Khan Junis in southern Ghaza is crammed with people queuing for bread and drinking water. The situation has been accelerated due to brutal raids in the time of Israeli occupation. A report from The New Arab, Cairo, on October 23.
عضو المكتب السياسي لحركة حماس غازي حمد
Hamas movement's Political Bureau member Ghazi Hamad
in an interview after the Hamas-Hezbollah meeting in Tehran
[English language interview on October 26]
On Oct. 27, Asharq News in Riyadh & Cairo reported on the situation of public health in the Ghaza Strip after Israeli bombardment. They quoted Israeli army spokesman Avichai Adraee as having said that Hamas is keeping its headquarters under Ghaza's main hospital Al-Shifa, an extended compound in the center of Ghaza City. Hamas Political Bureau member Izzat al-Rishq denied the Israeli army’s claim. [Editor: Asharq News is affiliated to the Bloomberg network.]
بسبب عجز سيارات الإسعاف عن تلبية نداءات الاستغاثة بغزة.. سيارات مدنية لنقل ضحايا القصف الإسرائيلي المتواصل على القطاع
Because ambulances were unable to respond to distress calls in Ghaza, civilian vehicles are transporting victims of the continuous Israeli bombardment of the Ghaza Strip.
On Oct. 27, Wisal News, a Saudi Arabian TV station, reported on the spread of infectious diseases in the Ghaza Strip.
أصابت أمراض واسعة النطاق الاف النازحين الفلسطينيين في قطاع غزة, بسبب انعدام الضروريات الأساسية و النظافة الناجمة عن الغارات و الحصار الإسرائيلي, الأمر الذي يهدد بتحويل مراكز النزوح إلى بؤر للأوبئة
Widespread diseases have infected thousands of Palestinians in the Ghaza Strip, due to the lack of basic necessities and hygiene resulting from Israeli raids and siege, such threatening to turn displacement centers into hotbeds of epidemics.
..........................
خطة إسرائيلية لإغراق أنفاق "حماس" بغاز الأعصاب
Israeli plan to flood Hamas tunnels with a nerve agent. [Al-Mashhad المشهد Oct. 28]
The video link is no longer available on the republished Arabic
site of Al-Mashhad, but it can still be accessed on YouTube.
For the liberation of hostages, being hidden in 'Ghaza Metro', the legendary underground system of Hamas tunnels comprising some 500 km, Israel plans to flood these tunnels with a nerve agent intended to 'immobilize' Hamas fighters for some hours. The operation should be under supervision of US special forces. This is what Al-Jazeera and Middle East Eye MEE have already reported. In the video of Al-Mashhad the gassing of Hamas fighters is being compared with the nerve gas attack on 'Tokyo Metro' using Sarin in 1995.
Whether the deployment of German special forces to the region (i.e. on Cyprus), reported by Deutsche Welle on Oct. 28, is related to the joint Israeli-US operation, remains unknown up to now.
The term 'Anti-Semitism' is an ambivalent expression referring to a suspected racial component and another indisputable language component. Both should not be mixed up because they are not necessarily describing the same group of people.
..... there remains no archaeological or scientific evidence of a common Semitic people. Because Semitic-speaking peoples do not share any traits aside from language, use of the term Semite to refer to the broad range of Semitic-speaking peoples has fallen out of favour. For this reason, some critics even encourage the removal of the hyphen in the term anti-Semitism to help dispel any pseudoscientific notions of a "Semitic race". They advocate instead for the use of 'Antisemitism' to describe the hostility toward or discrimination against Jews as a religious or racial group. [Encyclopaedia Britannica]
In addition to that, here some Basic Genetics:
Even though Jewish identity is traditionally passed on to their children through their mothers, there is no reason to relate genetic kinship among Jews to one of seven primordial mothers described by Bryan Sykes in his book 'Mitochondrial Eve' (2002).
When it comes to the term primordial mother, one should be aware that it refers only to the inheritance of the female mitochondria DNA (mtDNA). Although they have their own genome, it only accounts for about one percent of the genetic information of humans. The majority of human genetic information is located in the cell nucleus and is a mixture of genomes of countless great-great-great-great... grandmothers and grandfathers, which is not taken into account in Sykes' book. In addition, mutations occur at random intervals. Genetic kinship means not only having the same mitochondrion as someone else, but also having sequence similarities in DNA with someone else. If you want to do genealogy research, you should create a family tree based on DNA sequences and refer to old family documents.
The Jewish community of Israel is composed of different ethnic extractions. Israelite populations were always geographically dispersed, so that by the 19th century, Ashkenazi Jews were mainly located in Eastern and Central Europe. Sephardi Jews were largely spread among various communities which lived in the Mediterranean region. Mizrahi Jews were primarily spread throughout Western Asia, and other populations of Jews lived in Central Asia, Ethiopia, the Caucasus and India. As there is no common feature in ethnic diversity, it must be religion itself that makes the difference. In fact, what most non-Jews know of Jews is about their conviction of being 'Jehovah's Chosen People'. Unfortunately Jehova is identical to Allah in Islamic belief and Godfather in Christian belief while being the God of Abraham, the predecessor of all prophets. And who likes to be the 'second choice' of his God ? Such it needs nothing more than the observation of a strange behaviour or the outward demeanor of an orthodox Jew, seen as a manifestation of Jewish arrogance and pride, to trigger off feelings of inferiority and the urgent need to 'pay it back'. And here we have the origin of antisemitism. The feeling becomes even more intense when these non-Jews belong to a disadvantaged class of society.
....................
Among other publications referring to the 'Holy Qur'an', there is a book in Arabic named
' The Characteristics of the Jews in the Holy Quran سيمات اليهود في القرآن الكريم ':
إن النعم الإلهية تفيض باستمرار على الخلائق، خصوصاً الإنسان، غير أن الله تعالى قد خص اليهود من بين سائر الأمم بعنايات خاصة وبارزة، وأتم عليهم الحجة في هذا الطريق، لكنهم بدلوا النّعمة كفراً وعناداً، وواجهوا نعم الله تعالى باللجاجة والتذرع حيناً، والإصرار على العناد في المواقع الخاطئة والمواقف غير المناسبة أحياناً، حتى استحقوا العذاب الإلهي على أفعالهم هذه؛ من كفران النعمة إلى عبادة الأهواء وحب الدنيا
" Divine blessings are constantly pouring out upon creatures, especially man. However, God Almighty has singled out the Jews from among all other nations for special and prominent blessings, and has completed the proof for them in this way. But they retaliated the blessings with disbelief and stubbornness and faced the blessings of God Almighty with persistence and pretext at times, and insistence on stubbornness. In the wrong places and sometimes inappropriate situations, to the point that they deserved divine punishment for their actions: From denial of grace to the worship of desires and love of worldly matters. "
[Chapter 2: History of the Jews]
....................
As 'Antisemitism' is a personal attitude, difficult to grasp by legal means because of its ambiguous definition, it is difficult to prosecute as well. For historical reasons, German lawmakers felt obliged to find a way to prosecute the manifestation of an 'antisemitism directed against the people of Jewish belief'.
Section 130 of the German criminal code therefore criminalizes certain types of hate speech. The law bans incitement to hatred and insults that assault human dignity against people based on their racial, national, religious or ethnic background. In post-World War II Germany, it has been used to prosecute racist and antisemitic threats and slurs.
Germany’s laws on hate speech and Holocaust denial stand in a sharp contrast to the U.S.A., where the First Amendment limits the role of government in restricting speech.
Distribution of Semitic-speaking peoples.
Semite is a name given in the 19th century to a member of any people who speak one of the Semitic languages, a family of languages spoken primarily in parts of western Asia and Africa. The term therefore came to include Arabs, Akkadians, Canaanites, Hebrews [generally referred to as 'Jews'], some Ethiopians (including the Amhara and the Tigrayans), and Aramaean tribes.
مواجهات بين شبان فلسطينيين وقوات الاحتلال في مخيم شعفاط بالقدس المحتلة
قال مراسل الجزيرة إن مواجهات اندلعت بين شبان فلسطينيين وقوات الاحتلال في مخيم شعفاط بالقدس المحتلة
Clashes between Palestinian youths and occupation forces
in Shuafat refugee camp in occupied Jerusalem.
A correspondent of Al-Jazeera [TV station in Qatar] said that clashes broke out between Palestinian youths and occupation forces in Shuafat [مخيم شعفاط] refugee camp in occupied Jerusalem.
The 'Demographic Wall' (Separation Wall) at Shuafat Refugee Camp.
Quds Press seems to be a Hamas-near publication located in Britain. The same source is mentioning an Israeli incursion in the Jericho area.
Here is a summary of mass demonstrations in support of the Palestinians that took place in Arab countries, given by Quds Press on Oct. 21, 2023:
ففي مصر، خرجت مظاهرات حاشدة في عدة مدن وميادين ومساجد منها "ميدان التحرير" والجامع الأزهر بالعاصمة القاهرة، ردد فيها المتظاهرون هتافات نصرة للفلسطينيين ورفضا لتهجيرهم
ومن بين هذه الهتافات: "أرضي أرضك دينك ديني"، "بالروح بالدم نفديك يا أقصى
وطالب المتظاهرون بسرعة إدخال مساعدات إنسانية إلى قطاع غزة الذي يشهد حصارا مطبقا منذ أسبوعين من القوات الإسرائيلية التي قطعت عنه الكهرباء والغذاء والدواء والماء والوقود
وفي الدوحة، نظم المئات وقفة تضامنية مع غزة في ساحة مسجد الإمام محمد بن عبد الوهاب بعد صلاة الجمعة.
وفي الأردن، شارك الآلاف في فعاليات تضامنية مع غزة بالعاصمة عمان، منها بمنطقة "الرابية" حيث مقر السفارة الإسرائيلية، رافعين أعلام فلسطين، ومرددين "بالروح بالدم نفديك يا أقصى"، وغيرها من الهتافات، وفق مراسل الأناضول
وفي المغرب، أعلنت الجبهة المغربية لدعم فلسطين ومناهضة التطبيع (غير حكومية)، انتظام أكثر من 114 وقفة ومظاهرة في عدة مدن بالبلاد، دعما لفلسطين وتنديدا بما سمته "التواطؤ العالمي
..........
وفي اليمن، تظاهر الآلاف في مدن عدة، منها مأرب وتعز وعتق تضامنا مع الشعب الفلسطيني، وتنديدا بما يحدث في قطاع غزة، رافعين العلم الفلسطيني، ورددوا هتافات من قبيل "لبيك يا أقصى
In Egypt, mass demonstrations took place in several cities, squares and mosques, including Tahrir Square and Al-Azhar Mosque in Cairo, in which demonstrators chanted slogans in support of the Palestinians and rejected their displacement.
Among these chants are: "Satisfy your land, your religion is my religion", "With soul and blood we redeem you, O Al-Aqsa".
The demonstrators demanded the rapid entry of humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip, which has been under siege for two weeks by Israeli forces who cut off electricity, food, medicine, water and fuel. [Editor's Note: Meanwhile 20 trucks with aid materials have been allowed into Ghaza at the Rafah checkpoint.]
In Doha, hundreds held a stand in solidarity with Gaza in the courtyard of the Imam Muhammad bin Abdul Wahhab mosque after Friday prayers.
In Jordan, thousands participated in solidarity events with Gaza in the capital Amman, including the "Rabieh" area, where the Israeli embassy is located, raising Palestinian flags, chanting "With soul and blood, we redeem you, O Al-Aqsa," and other slogans, according to an Anadolu correspondent [Anadolu: Turkish press agency].
In Morocco, the Moroccan Front for Support of Palestine and Against Normalization (non-governmental) announced the organization of more than 114 vigils and demonstrations in several cities in the country, in support of Palestine and condemning what it called "global complicity."
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In Yemen, thousands demonstrated in several cities, including Marib, Taiz and Ataq, in solidarity with the Palestinian people, and to denounce what is happening in the Gaza Strip, raising the Palestinian flag, and chanting slogans such as "Labbaik Ya Al-Aqsa".
A couple of years ago, some "diplomatic and military observer" published the following text on a Chinese military news site. Parts of that text have been translated and could serve as some kind of an expert comment about Hamas using "Ghaza Underground" to fight Israeli incursions into the densely populated Palestinian settlements of Ghaza:
揭秘加沙特色的地道战：哈马斯令以军损失惨重
Uncovering the unique tunnel warfare in Ghaza:
Hamas caused heavy losses to the Israeli army.
Starting in early July [2014], the Israeli army launched a large-scale ground offensive into the Gaza area controlled by Hamas, code-named "Operation Protective Edge." In addition to the standing army, the Israeli army also mobilized 86,000 reserve soldiers with the goal of completely clearing Hamas rocket launch sites in Ghaza. However, since the battle started, the Israeli army has only achieved the "result" of killing hundreds of Hamas militants at the heavy cost of 61 dead soldiers. The exchange ratio has hit a new low, surprising everyone from all walks of life.
In this battle, Hamas's armed resistance actions featuring "tunnel warfare" were talked about by all parties because of their special tactics and outstanding results: not only Hamas repeatedly broadcast news of sneak attacks on Israeli troops through tunnels , the Israeli army itself has made destroying Hamas tunnels its top priority. In China, the media's constant exaggeration and the lasting influence of the classic military-education film "Tunnel Warfare" made it regarded as a "good recipe" for Hamas to defeat the enemy.
In Palestine, which is full of deserts, the elusive tunnel warfare of Hamas has some similarities and more differences with its distant Chinese cousin, the Ranzhuang tunnel warfare. What are Hamas's tunnels and tunnel warfare like? This has to start with the blockade of Ghaza.
Ghaza Blockade and Tunnels
As a traditional human construction project, tunnels have played a significant role in war. In military history, tunnels have played various roles: During the Anti-Japanese War, the Ranzhuang Tunnel in the North China Plain provided shelter for villagers when the Japanese and puppet troops invaded; during the Vietnam War, thousands of people's troops lived, marched and even fought in hidden tunnels; To this day, the Syrian opposition continues to destroy fortresses by digging tunnels and planting explosives beneath enemy positions. In Gaza, the two most important types of tunnels are the most basic traffic tunnels.
Gaza faces the sea on one side and borders Egypt and Israel on land. After Hamas gained full management rights over Ghaza in 2007, Israel completely blocked Ghaza and carried out intermittently shelling and "targeted killing" operations in Ghaza; Egypt also nominally closed the border between Egypt and Ghaza.
Ghaza was obviously unable to support itself with only a small amount of humanitarian aid, so it started a large-scale tunnel smuggling business. In the first quarter of 2013, the tunnels provided Ghaza with 65% of its flour, 67% of its consumer goods, 98% of its sugar, and 100% of its steel and cement. It also provided Hamas with important weapons and financial support - to 800 militants annually. The taxes levied by many smuggling tunnels are equivalent to 40% of Hamas's fiscal revenue. Firearms, ammunition, rocket launcher parts and even anti-tank missiles and other weapons continue to flow into Hamas's armed forces, greatly enhancing its strength.
Most of these smuggling tunnels lead to Egypt, and a few extend into Israel. The tunnels are usually wide and sturdy, and can generally accommodate two people or one person and a cart. Large ones can even pass small cars. The tunnels are reinforced with steel beams, reinforced concrete prefabricated panels or cement hollow bricks to prevent collapse or bombing. Due to the actual connivance of the Egyptian government, most of the tunnels leading to Egypt are semi-open, while the smuggling tunnels leading to Israel are strictly covered both at the entrance and exit.
Coexisting with smuggling tunnels are military tunnels. At present, it seems that such tunnels were dug by Hamas specifically for sneak attacks on Israeli troops. This kind of tunnel is smaller in size and is reinforced with cement boards, but the exit can only accommodate a single person crawling. Even close to the entrance, the tunnel is still several meters deep, and the entrance is carefully camouflaged. Such tunnels usually penetrate deep into Israel, and after the Israeli army attacked Gaza, they became Hamas' main means of harassing the Israeli army's rear areas.
No matter what kind of tunnel, it is very expensive and expensive to build. It is dangerous to dig tunnels in places where there is a lack of geological exploration and safety equipment. Many young people have died in landslides during the 12 hours of tunnel excavation every day. Normally, a tunnel consumes 350 tons of concrete, and the excavation cost for an average tunnel of 700 meters is as high as US$250,000. A tunnel to Israel or Egypt costs millions of dollars. This is why many tunnel diggers joke about having millions (assets) but not even a million dollars in cash.
Underground Infiltration and Short-Range Artillery
Unlike the one-time blast tunnels that frequently appear on the Syrian battlefield and are specially used for government forces to fly "earth planes", most Ghaza tunnels can now be used repeatedly as long as they are used properly (Before 2012, Hamas tried to use them repeatedly. Blasting tunnels to blow up Israeli military outposts, but this type of tunnel excavation is expensive, easy to be discovered by the Israeli army and can only be used once, so it was gradually abandoned by Hamas). Through these tunnels, Hamas penetrates into Israeli military positions or behind frontline troops in teams of less than 10 people, and launches sneak attacks on Israeli military posts or small groups of troops in areas far away from tunnel entrances.
The Ghaza border is long and the Israeli army is short of troops. It can only ensure that there are sufficient troops at the front and only a few people are stationed at the rear post. The fast-moving Hamas team can easily succeed and evacuate from the tunnel before Israeli reinforcements arrive. Even if the sneak attack fails and the assault team is annihilated, as long as they are not in a position to enter the tunnel, the tunnel will not be easily exposed. In order to solve this problem, the Israeli army recruited a large number of reserves and tried to protect these rear strongholds by increasing the density of troops and the number of patrols. Unexpectedly, this move actually increased the probability of Israeli casualties.
In the past few years, with the continuous expansion of the smuggling tunnel business, Hamas, which has become richer in financial resources, has begun to reflect on its combat experience in resisting Israeli invasions and strengthened its armed forces in a targeted manner. An important step is to equip portable anti-tank missiles on a large scale. As Libya, Egypt, Syria and other countries fell into civil strife, a large number of weapons, including anti-tank missiles, were dispersed into the arms market. Together with the imitation Soviet-made anti-tank missiles purchased from North Korea, Hamas's anti-tank strength has greatly increased. .
Although these 1970s-era missiles are incapable of destroying the heavy armored vehicles and main battle tanks of the Israeli frontline troops in a direct confrontation, they have a unique opportunity in the face of the called-up reserves: the old M113 armored vehicles for the reserves can only defend themselves against attacks from old-style rocket launchers and are powerless against anti-tank missiles. Hamas can launch missiles relatively covertly from one kilometer away, and as long as they hit, they can cause "mass casualties." Compared with rocket launchers that are not powerful enough and have to get as close as 100 to 200 meters, yet only hitting by luck, anti-tank missiles have become a "nightmare" for the Israeli army.
This tactic is generally the same as that of the Lebanese Hezbollah. In 2009, Hezbollah used 500 anti-tank missiles to destroy more than 50 Israeli tanks and armored vehicles, causing the Israeli army to pay huge casualties.
Another use of tunnels by Hamas is to conceal rocket launch sites. Among the Hamas tunnels discovered by the Israeli army, one had four rocket launchers installed at the entrance of the tunnel. Not only is such way of launching more concealed, it can also increase the range of the rocket with the help of tunnels. - Half of the indigenous rockets of poor quality land on Ghaza's own territory due to their insufficient range. Moving the launch site underground to Israel will increase the rocket's probability of reaching Israeli territory to 100%. Because the ballistic trajectories of Turkish rockets are unstable, it is difficult for the Israeli military to accurately determine the location of these launch positions and attack them.
Of course, these two tactics are not enough to stop or even contain the Israeli army. They only make the Israeli army pay a higher price and bear greater domestic pressure. Judging from the fact that the Israeli military has shifted its focus to attacking tunnels, this kind of attack is still effective.
الليله || مصر الجزائر كندا بلجيكا - وشعب الاردن مصمم على فتح الحدود
Tonight in Egypt Algeria Canada Belgium
[Thousands are shouting their motto]
"The People of Jordan demand a border opening"
Demonstration of pro-Palestinian activists in Amman, Jordan, demanding the opening
of the Rafah border crossing to Egypt in southern Ghaza to enable the entrance of aid
delivery into Ghaza. The people of Jordan comprises 98% Arabs, including 370,000
Palestinians who are living in UNRWA refugee camps after having to flee from Israel.
Israel is mourning after the deadliest attack in its 75-year history, as more than 1,500 Hamas members attacked through the Gaza security barrier in their coordinated land, air and sea attack on the Jewish Sabbath.
Hamas' ability to remain undetected while preparing and launching such a big, complex assault from the closely monitored and heavily guarded Gaza strip could serve as kind of evidence of an => unprecedented intelligence failure for US ally Israel <=.
One Hamas official claimed that when they got into southern Israel they were surprised by the [Israel Defense Forces] IDF’s weak response: “We were planning to make some gains and take prisoners to exchange them. This army was a paper tiger.” It would be granting too much to Hamas to assume that it had no interest in murdering local civilians and no plans to do so. But with the IDF absent there was nothing to prevent them going on a rampage, moving into nearby towns and villages, shooting whoever they found and breaking into houses to kill residents. [Financial Times, October 14]
Israeli authorities say Hamas gunmen killed more than 1,200 people and wounded over 2,700 as they swept into small towns and kibbutzim and indiscriminately killed residents who hid in their homes or died defending their communities.
Israel has been relentlessly pounding Hamas targets in Gaza in response, and the war has already claimed the lives of more than 3,700 lives of Israeli and Palestinian civilians, soldiers and combatants.
=> Why We Refused <= is an article published in Israel's newspaper Haaretz on Sept. 25, 2002. It's about three Israeli bomber pilots who refused to bomb civilian areas and non-military targets in Lebanon.
In Washington, President Joe Biden has pledged to send more US munitions and military hardware and expressed revulsion at the "sheer evil" of the slaughter of civilians.
Republican Congressman Michael McCaul (Foreign Affairs Committee / before: Committee on Homeland Security) said the attack may have been planned as long as a year ago. "We're not quite sure how we missed it. We're not quite sure how Israel missed it," he told reporters.
Cairo has not commented officially on suggestions that it may have offered an early warning. But Arabic media quoted senior security sources from Egypt on Monday Oct. 9, confirming that such warnings had been issued.
However this is not all !
Israel's army has undergone a loss of qualified personnel due to dramatic changes in society. Qualified young Israelis are not willing any longer to join the army for a rather low salary while well-paid jobs are waiting for them elsewhere.
But there is even more when it comes to severe changes planned for Israel's judicial system on behalf of prime minister Netanyahu. His efforts to cling to his outstanding government position seem to be => Netanyahu's way to avoid prison for corruption charges <=. To serve his purpose, he doesn't even refrain from building an alliance with the most questionable hardliners to be found in Israel's society.
If Netanyahu was ever charged and sentenced with corruption, this would not be the first time for a high-ranking Israeli politician to commit a criminal offence: On 22 March 2011, Moshe Katsav was sentenced to seven years in prison and two years' probation for rape, indecent acts, sexual harassment and obstruction of justice, in this way becoming the first former President of Israel to be sentenced to prison. I still find it difficult to believe that such extent of criminal attitude and behaviour on the highest level of society, deeply rooted in the personality of a public leader, could be observed in a nation we have to call 'civilized'.
So there is something foul in the state of Israel !
Above: Latest News from BBC on October 14.
Below: Footage of the Hamas attack on Israel
by Erem News إرم نيوز including pictures from
people fleeing the youth music festival where
Israeli hostages were taken. Pictures taken
of cheering Palestinians at a border breach.
Inside Israel, 2 fighter jets of Israel's air force
were removed on low-loaders to protect them
during Hamas attacks with Qassam rockets.
Foreigners are being shown, trying to leave
Tel Aviv in a hurry from Ben Gourion airport.
"Safe region" of Israel
By the way, all that is necessary to know
about the Hamas attack can be found in
my repeatedly updated blog from Oct. 7, the
original address of which has been corrupted.
This should have something to do with firewall
synchronization, a subject of cyber security.
The Chinese source is quoting Israel's newspaper Haaretz which has published a list of high-ranking Israeli officers who died in the conflict. Major General Nimrod Aloni, former commander of the Gaza Division, was captured at the beginning of the war. Brigadier General Peled, deputy commander of the border police, died together with his family of three.
To be honest, there are no generals or senior commanders who have been killed. The problem is that the Israel Defense Forces have always been considered as an advanced army and capable of fighting well. In the four Middle East wars, senior officers took the lead and commanded effectively, leading the Arab countries' armies to loose their armor... How does it come that in the 21st century, while equipment has been modernized, yet personnel has become more and more regressed?
The fundamental reason is that with the changes in Israeli society, the quality of Israel's soldiers is getting worse and worse. Compared with other industries in Israel, the salary and benefits of soldiers are pitifully low. Although Israel has a compulsory military system and all young people of appropriate age must join the army, however, after their service period none is willing to stay in the army and devote their youth, and it is impossible to retain talents. Especially the quality of the army's grassroots officers and ordinary soldiers is getting lower and lower.
First news from Israel
Hamas fired a large number of rockets towards Israel, launched
from Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip this morning, Oct. 7, 2023.
Hamas terror commander Mohammed Deif has called for more attacks and encouraged assaults against Israel to take place from within Israel, according to Al-Mayadeen, which is considered pro-Iran.
Al-Mayadeen as well as Iranian media such as Tasnim News have all detailed the widespread attack. This illustrates the widespread Iranian axis involvement in the wave of rocket fire and attacks on Saturday morning.
Al-Mayadeen said that Deif had announced the “Al Aqsa Storm” operation in response to “the occupation” and Israel’s policies in Jerusalem. He referenced claims that women had been assaulted in Jerusalem.
“In response to the occupation’s orgy in Al-Aqsa Mosque and the dragging of women in its courtyards” the Hamas terror leader said that 5,000 rockets had been fired at Israel, Al-Mayadeen claimed.
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The terror group successfully invaded around 22 Gaza corridor communities, of varying sizes, by cutting through the IDF’s supposedly enhanced border fence, amphibious landings with naval commandos at Zikim, and makeshift small air transport and drone-type vehicles simultaneously starting around 6:30 a.m.
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According to local Israeli media released today, more than 250 Israelis have been killed and more than 1500 wounded. An unknown number has been kidnapped and brought to Gaza where they are still being held hostage. The wounded and dead resulted from all attacks: the invasion, the rockets, and from a surprise attack on various youth events in open areas. This was the largest number of Israeli casualties, especially civilians, in decades. [Jerusalem Post October 7, 2023]
Latest news on October 9 mentioned a death toll of more than 800 Israeli citizens. Israeli prime minister Netanyahu declared the 'state of war حالة الحرب'.
On October 11, the death toll of Israeli citizens was reported to have reached 1,200 while 1,500 Hamas activists should have perished in their operation 'Al-Aqsa Storm/Flood'. The number of hostages taken by Hamas militants at a Youth Music Festival in Israel is being considered to comprise about 150 persons, including at least 5 German citizens.
[Western TV & Radio stations and other sources]
The proceedings of Operation 'Al-Aqsa Storm' on Oct. 7 in a daily
video overview published by channel Al-Jazeera قناة الجزيرة
2 years ago, the Voice of America (VOA) has published a video
showing Israeli bombardment of Ghaza as it used to take place
in the past. - This should serve as a typical example of Israeli
air force routine.
Heavy Israeli Bombardment of Ghaza قصف إسرائيلي عنيف على غزة
Al-Manar (Hezbollah TV) - Special news for latest proceedings of the Al-Aqsa Brigades
during their Operation 'Al-Aqsa Flood' [Al-Aqsa Storm]. المنار - طوفان الأقصى
Voices from Iran اصوات من إيرانا
الصحف الإيرانية: "طوفان الأقصى" عملية مفاجئة ومخططة بدقة
Iranian newspapers: The "Al-Aqsa Flood" is a
sudden and meticulously planned operation
في سياق متصل، قال "جعفر قنادباشي" أحد المحلّلين الاستراتيجيين الإيرانيين لأوضاع المنطقة في صحيفة "جام جم" إنّ: "العملية الكبيرة، وغير المسبوقة التي أطلقتها فصائل المقاومة أمس، كانت مفاجئة ومخططة بدقة وعلى أساس حسابات عسكرية دقيقة، ولم يسبق لها مثيل في تاريخ فلسطين"، مؤكدًا أنّ: "هذه العملية هي نتيجة لسلسلة من الجهود التي بذلت على مدى عدة عقود للرد على مجمل جرائم المحتلين خلال السبعين سنة الماضية".
In a related context, Jaafar Qandabashi, one of the Iranian strategic analysts of the situation in the region, said in the [Iranian] newspaper “Jam-e Jam جام جم”: “The large and unprecedented operation launched by the resistance factions yesterday was sudden, meticulously planned and based on precise military calculations, and was unprecedented in Palestinian history. That [reference to Palestinian history] is stressing that: “This operation is the result of a series of efforts made over several decades to respond to all the crimes of the occupiers during the past seventy years.” [العهد = The Alliance / Epoch, Lebanon, Oct. 9]
US President Herbert Hoover - A capitalist working in Russia
An article published in the English edition of Russia Beyond.
Herbert Clark Hoover, the 31st president of the United States, worked in Russia as an entrepreneur from 1909 to 1913 and helped during the mass famine of 1921-1923.
Herbert Clark Hoover - US President 1929-33 during the "Great Depression".
"Older men declare war. But it is youth that must fight and die."
"Children are our greatest natural resource."
Hoover, a mining engineer by profession, had been working in Russia since 1909. In Kyshtym in the Urals, he bought the enterprises from the heirs of the South Urals merchant Lev Rastorguev and created the joint-stock company ‘Kyshtym Mining Plants’. He was engaged in both financial reorganization and modernization of production.
This success at Kyshtym brought important repercussions. Russian industry had, hitherto, been often dominated by German and British operators. The Russians were always suspicious of them, fearing political implications. They resented the assumed superiority of the British and the German officials. They had none of that feeling toward Americans. The Russian engineers were most able technical men, but lacked training on the administrative side. There was instinctive camaraderie by which the Russians and Americans got along together,” Hoover wrote in his memoirs.
Hoover, who quickly gained prestige in Kyshtym, was later invited to supervise the development of the mining fields in the Altai Mountains. In his opinion, it was the largest and richest ore deposit known in the world. American engineers worked there until the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution.
Hoover left Russia in 1913.”"Had it not been for World War I, I would have had the largest engineering fees ever known to man,” he recalled of his work in Russia. He also headed several mining and oil companies.
In 1917, the United States severed diplomatic relations with the newly formed Bolshevik government. Nevertheless, when a mass famine broke out in Soviet Russia in 1921, Hoover, already Secretary of Commerce and head of the American Relief Administration (ARA), sent humanitarian supplies to the country, despite the fact that he was extremely negative about Bolshevism.
ARA donated aid to 20 million people in Soviet Russia. It provided food and shoes, agricultural machinery and seeds and opened hospitals and dispensaries.
Under President Hoover, the U.S. actively developed trade relations with the USSR. In 1932, with American assistance, an automobile plant in Nizhny Novgorod and a metallurgical plant in Novokuznetsk were launched.
Russian peasants suspected of cannibalism on a photo with human remainings found at their home. [Contemporary documents are also available from the same Russian (?) source.]
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Mass Famine in Russia - A Historic Event.
Another article published on 15 June 2022
in the German edition of Russia Beyond.
Originally, the U.S. initiative was aimed at curbing the influence of the Bolsheviks in Soviet Russia. During the great famine between 1921 and 1922, however, it saved the lives of millions of people.
One of the greatest disasters since the Middle Ages.
The catastrophe that forced the United States to send large-scale humanitarian aid to Russia is sometimes called one of the largest European disasters since the time of the Black Death, that is, the plague.
As a result of the First World War, the Civil War, hunger and the policies of the Bolsheviks, many regions in Russia suffered from an unprecedented famine between 1921 and 1922. Tens of millions of people were affected. The total number of victims who died due to the famine is estimated at at least five million. This state of affairs prompted the Soviet regime to ask for help from the "capitalist world" for the first time.
A struggle with food shortages and the "Bolshevism disease".
Two years before the outbreak of the devastating famine in Russia, the U.S. Congress had passed the "European Famine Relief Bill" in April 1919 with a sum of 85 million euros. The program was intended to help European countries suffering from food shortages after the First World War. The fight against hunger was led by the newly created American Relief Administration (ARA) under the leadership of Herbert Hoover, then U.S. food administrator and future president of the United States.
Bolshevik Russia was not directly represented in the list of countries that received assistance from the United States. This would have been hard to imagine, considering that the US and other Western countries had only recently intervened in the Russian Civil War on the side of the White Army and supported anti-Bolshevik troops in several Russian regions with army units.
Furthermore, the entire program was directed against Soviet Russia, as it was believed that left-wing radicalism might have spread to other European countries along with hunger. The historian Bertrand Patenaude puts it this way: "The economic and political instability of these states, most of which had just been built from the ruins of old empires, made them susceptible to the plague of the East, commonly called "the Bolshevism disease." European and American statesmen generally assumed that this evil was caused by hunger; that Bolshevism was the consequence of good people starving."
Russian intellectuals and Kremlin's plea for help.
However, this situation changed in the middle of 1921. The Bolshevik regime successfully resisted the foreign invasion and defeated its opponents – they had to be taken very seriously at the latest. Moreover, the famine at that time was so terrible that it was impossible to ignore it. Around 100,000 people fell victim to the disaster every week.
Russian writer Maxim Gorky turned to the international public and asked for help. Lenin also turned to the international proletariat for support. Then, in September, the famous Norwegian adventurer Fridtijof Nansen spoke to the public from the League of Nations rostrum and said that it was not right "to sentence millions of people to death just because of enmity with the Soviet regime."
At the same time, the ARA and the Soviet government concluded an agreement. However, it would be a mistake to think that Hoover dropped his political agenda during the time he was helping the Soviet Union. "Hoover believed that if only he could rid the Russians of starvation, they would regain their sanity and regain their physical strength in order to free themselves from the oppression of the Bolsheviks," Patenaude argues.
ARA poster "A gift from the American people".
Food for ten million people every day.
Hoover did not succeed in achieving his political goals. On the contrary, with his help, he contributed to the stabilization of the situation in Russia. Nevertheless, his support saved millions of lives.
The situation was indeed dramatic. As journalist and scientist Cynthia Heaven writes, people in the famine-stricken areas had to eat everything they could find: "grains of ground bones, tree bark and clover, but also horses, dogs, cats, rats and straw from the rooftops. The government sought to put an end to the sale of human flesh and set up guards in cemeteries to protect them from looting." Heaven also cites the terrifying memories of an ARA employee in Russia: "I've seen stacks of half-naked and frostbitten corpses in the most bizarre positions, with signs that they may have been eaten by stray dogs. I saw all these bodies – and it was a sight I'll never forget." During this time, the authorities opened more than 7,000 kitchens to feed people in need – far from enough.
ARA poster "America – for hungry Russians".
[The steamer "Phoenix" with a cargo of food
arrived in Petrograd on 1st September 1921.]
In August of the following year, for this reason, the ARA set up another 19,000 kitchens and supplied ten million people every day to support the Soviets. Usually, a meal included corn semolina, canned milk, cocoa, white bread and sugar – goods imported into the Soviet Union from abroad. In addition to the soup kitchens, ARA opened emergency shelters for the homeless and wise men and helped fight the typhus epidemic.
"Your help will go down in history as a unique, huge achievement, which deserves the greatest honor, which will long be remembered in the memory of millions of Russians whom you saved from death," Maxim Gorky wrote to Herbert Hoover in gratitude for his support.
Editor's Comment:
It should be added that the former Soviet Union during all the time of its existence never succeeded in feeding its population properly. Purchase of grain from Canada and even from the US became a regular item during its last years, not to mention the grave mistakes committed in the concept of agricultural production by Stalin and his followers. While the Great Famine of 1921-22 was mainly a result of an unusual drought, exaggerated by the consequences of a civil war that emerged after the Bolshevist revolution, Russia's new leaders, namely Lenin, managed to keep in the background instead of actively inviting foreign help into their country. Everything that was done to fight mass starvation remained the initiative of Hoover's ARA and other international aid organizations. Instead, the Cheka as an instrument of supervision and suppression was activated under the guidance of the Politburo to 'prove' any anti-Bolshevist attitude among members of such aid organizations, especially those from America.
Even years later, more money was spent to finance industrial espionage operations instead of modernizing Russia's inadequate economical structures. I remember a Professor at my West-Berlin university who unexpectedly became the target of a little snoop, obviously sent by some 'informal member' (IM) for East-German state security (Stasi), and who kept a facade for science espionage at East-Berlin's Humboldt University. That IM operated in close connection with Russia's KGB when it came to detect anything new discovered by Western scientists. As to the above-mentioned West-Berlin Professor, it was his professional interest in a certain group of chemicals occurring in nature which lead him to the development of chemically stable fungicides for plant protection, a project turning into a big-selling hit for Germany's agricultural chemicals branch much later.
After the crumbling of the East-German state in 1989, their state security IM in the background, and who held the post of a regular Humboldt Professor, was immediately licensed (*) while his 'errand boy' vanished to the Munich region, embedded in a group of similar guys. He is still naming himself 'Herr Onur' in allegation to his documents describing him as the Turkish citizen Onur K., and who should have undergone academic formation. In fact, he usually behaves like some crook who jumps on the back of his victim from behind. Despite his feigned interest in a local 'Institute of Turkish Culture', he avoided to speak Turkish, his alleged native language, at the time when he had to face two of my Turkish colleagues on our West-Berlin campus. He was therefore regarded as rather coming from one of the Caucasian Soviet Republics (Georgia / Chechnya) with a very limited knowledge of his alleged 'scientific profession'. I came to think that he had already entered 'the radar screen' of West-German security authorities many years ago, so I didn't mention him earlier.
China's first aircraft carrier Liaoning is often being compared with its 'sister ship', Russia's carrier 'Admiral Kusnezov', as the hull of both ships was originally built in the former Soviet Union. China bought one of both ships, equipped and renamed it Liaoning. Up to now, it served the Chinese Navy as a training ship. After recent overhaul, the Liaoning will finally enter the class of combat ships.
As to the remark 'Kusnezov collapsed in the mud', to be found in the headline of the above quoted Chinese article, this refers to the Kusnezov now lying in a muddy dry dock. The meaning of it: There has nothing been done to modernize the Russian ship while China's Liaoning has undergone significant changes.
China has commissioned a total of two aircraft carriers, one Shandong and one Liaoning, and in 2018, the Liaoning ship has already begun related renovation work, and a few months later it will appear in a new posture, both in appearance and in various systems, it has undergone tremendous changes.
For example, the appearance of the ship island looks cleaner and simpler than before, in addition, the control tower on the ship island has also undergone related modifications, not only the window area has become larger, but also a lot of new humanized design.
The most recent upgrade was last December. At that time, after the Liaoning completed a Western Pacific cruise, it directly entered Dalian Shipyard for upgrades. According to the photos released by media, the workload of the Liaoning ship upgrade will reach an unprecedented level.
Since it is China's first aircraft carrier, the outside world pays special attention to the Liaoning's every move. Hong Kong media announced the recent dynamics of the aircraft carrier, and it can be seen from a large number of high-definition photos that the transformation and upgrading work will involve all aspects, such as air defense systems, radars, control systems, shipborne weapon systems, etc.
Image: The outside world speculates that Liaoning is likely to be equipped with electromagnetic catapults.
According to sources, the Liaoning is likely to carry heavyweight equipment on board, that is, electromagnetic catapults.
In this view, electromagnetic catapults can greatly improve the number of aircraft hosted and the takeoff and landing efficiency, or carry more fixed-wing carrier-based aircraft. In a certain sense, this would enhance the combat effectiveness of the Liaoning, making it a real combat ship.
However, there are also many experts who have doubts about this speculation, after all, the space of the Liaoning ship is limited, the Soviet-style structure adopted has long been fixed, and it will be very difficult to install an electromagnetic catapult. Moreover, the electromagnetic catapult is inseparable from the medium-voltage DC integrated power supply system, and in order to realize the equipment on the ship, the Liaoning ship must at least overhaul the power system, so that the workload will undoubtedly multiply.
