IDF rescues 4 hostages alive in stunning operation in central Gaza

Hostages rescued in an IDF operation in the Gaza Strip on June 8: Shlomi Ziv (top left), Andrey Kozlov (top right), Almog Meir (bottom left), and Noa Argamani. (Courtesy)

Hostages rescued in an IDF operation in the Gaza Strip on June 8: Shlomi Ziv (top left), Andrey Kozlov (top right), Almog Meir (bottom left), and Noa Argamani. (Courtesy)

Four Israeli hostages were rescued alive by troops from Hamas captivity in a daring operation in the central Gaza Strip earlier today, the military announces.

The rescued hostages are named as Noa Argamani, Almog Meir Jan, Andrey Kozlov, and Shlomi Ziv. All four had been abducted by Hamas terrorists on October 7 from the Supernova music festival near the southern community of Re’im.

Special forces had simultaneously raided two Hamas sites in central Gaza’s Nuseirat. At one location, Argamani was rescued, while Meir Jan, Kozlov, and Ziv were at the second location.

The rescued hostages are all in good condition, according to initial medical assessments. They were taken to Tel Hashomer Hospital for further evaluation.

Amid the operation, heavy airstrikes were carried out in the area against Hamas sites and in support of the ground troops. Hamas health authorities reported a “large number” of casualties.

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“The EPP is just beginning to see the perils of mass immigration”: An Interview with Geoffrey van Orden


This is about 1/2 way down the article and applies to the U.S. just as much as to European nations.


Where does the greatest challenge for the West lie: abroad, or in domestic policies of open borders and green pacts?

The West faces multiple challenges, both internal and external. Mass uncontrolled immigration of people from entirely different cultures and habits is sheer madness. While the genuinely persecuted are rightly offered sanctuary, and small numbers of other people with particular skills or resources can be integrated into our societies, we are demonstrably incapable of properly integrating very large numbers of strangers. The effect is unwelcome changes to our own systems and loss of national cohesion at a time when this is more necessary than ever.

The vulnerabilities and fractures in our society are exploited by external enemies. While we had imagined that conflict between European states was a thing of the past, following the collapse of the Soviet Union, the invasion of Ukraine has provided a salutary shock. The West needs to rearm and demonstrate the solidarity and resilience of its alliances, particularly NATO. EU involvement, through its autonomous defence ambition, is a dangerous distraction from this.

Fetterman has turned out to be a less a demoncrap and more a thorn in the party’s side.


Fetterman: Biden’s Ceasefire Proposal Isn’t ‘Meaningful Peace’, Hamas Has to Be Destroyed

During an interview aired on Friday’s broadcast of the Fox News Channel’s “Special Report,” Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) reacted to President Joe Biden’s ceasefire proposal by stating that there won’t “be any meaningful peace, so long as Hamas is able to operate.”

Host Bret Baier asked, [relevant exchange begins around 3:50] “Sen. Fetterman, while I have you, the President endorsed a ceasefire proposal today, … and essentially, it would stop going after Hamas, would release all the hostages, and be a permanent ceasefire. Your thoughts on that proposal?”

Fetterman answered, “I’ve been very clear, I’m going to follow Israel in this situation. I do believe that Hamas needs to be destroyed, and it needs to be followed to the end, until there is an absolute surrender and they are…either in exile or they’re brought to justice or they’re eliminated. One way or another, there’s not going to be any meaningful peace, so long as Hamas is able to operate. And if you look at all of the damage, the death, and all of that, that’s exactly what Hamas wants. They designed that to be that way. They really don’t care how many Palestinians actually die and their suffering. Actually, Israel cares about minimizing all of the civilian deaths and all of the kinds of damage.”

‘Martyred’: Iranian Media Declare Raisi Dead; ‘No Sign’ of Life at Helicopter Crash Site

Search teams have reportedly located the site where a helicopter carrying Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, crashed on Sunday, according to the Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA), the state’s news agency.

There was “no sign’ of life, according to Iranian state television (via the Times of Israel).

IRAN – MAY 20: A screen grab captured from a video shows from Akinci Unmanned Aerial Vehicle, which participated in search and rescue operations for the helicopter carrying the Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi and his delegation in Iran on May 20, 2024. A Turkish Akinci unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) identified a source of heat early Monday suspected to be the wreckage of a helicopter carrying Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi and shared its coordinates with Iranian authorities. (Photo by Anadolu/Anadolu via Getty Images)

State-run media also declared that Raisi had died — or, rather, that he had been “martyred.”

The Times of Israel quoted Iran’s Mehr news agency:

“The president of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Ayatollah Ebrahim Raisi, had an accident while serving and performing his duty for the people of Iran and was martyred,” Iran’s Mehr agency says as other media outlets also reported the news.

Iranian Foreign Minister Amirabdollahian and other officials were also reported to have been on board when the helicopter went missing in a mountainous area of the country.

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to reemphasize from earlier this year………..


Attack and Defense
Thoughts on a 10/7 style attack on America

So I just finished Kurt Schlichter’s new novel, The Attack.  It’s a fictionalized account of an October 7 style attack that takes place on a large scale in the United States.  It’s also a warning.

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In essence, Iranian terror experts use America’s open southern border to slip in thousands of Islamist fanatics, sleeper cells who are primed to attack specified targets on command.  The terrorists don’t know their targets until the last minute, when they get guns, ammunition, and directions.  They also don’t know that they’re part of a massive effort.  This means that if they turn, or are caught, as a few do or are, they can’t give anything away.  They have minimal training, basically how to lay low, and to shoot guns and throw grenades.  They’re also equipped with web-linked cameras to stream their attacks, and the atrocities – rape, torture, etc. – that they perpetrate on their victims.  Also meth to pump them up for the attacks.

When the day comes, they attack public places, schools, the Atlanta Zoo, and so on.   The next day, with the overstretched police trying to protect public places and ordering people to shelter in their homes, they go after suburban neighborhoods, again placing torture, rape, and dismemberment videos online.  On the third day, the remaining terrorists attack infrastructure targets – substation transformers, oil refineries, etc.

The result is a six-figure civilian casualty list, massive economic disruption, and political turmoil.  The terrorists’ goal of cowing the United States into isolationism fails, however, in dramatic fashion.   The entire novel is written as an oral history from numerous viewpoints, including the terrorists and their leftist American sympathizers.

It’s a gripping story, and an unfortunately plausible cautionary tale.  How likely is it to happen?

Probably the biggest impediment to something like this happening in America is the aftermath of the 10/7 attacks on Israel.  Atrocities didn’t cow the Israelis, but angered them. Other nations, even many of those that the Palestinians of Hamas generally looked to for support, turned against them.  Hamas leaders are being targeted and killed, Hamas backers know they aren’t safe, and the Israelis simply continue to grind away, four months after the attacks happened.

And everyone knows that the consequences of an attack on the United States would likely be worse.

Or maybe not.  Our current president is senile and inept, our vice president is just inept – though neither Kamala nor Biden is named in the book, Schlichter’s version of Harris’s response to the attacks is picture perfect, an incomprehensible word salad that causes Americans to lose faith in her entirely.  The President and VP wind up being replaced by the unnamed Speaker of the House, who brings the hammer down.  (I was at a luncheon Friday with Speaker Mike Johnson and didn’t get to speak to him – we had to leave early – but I was going to tell him that his role in the line of succession is probably more important for the remainder of this year than it usually would be.  I did notice that there was a lot more security than I had seen at similar events in the past).

Okay, I said it was a cautionary tale, but once cautioned, what should we do?

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The guy on the right is Mosab Hassan Yousef. His father was the co-founder of HAMAS. Mosab defected to Israel and went undercover for Shin Bet. If anyone knows HAMAS every which way, he does and he tears the ditzhead on the left a new one.

Biden Admin Finally Acknowledges What’s Happening With Gaza Aid

President Joe Biden has made aid to Gaza a priority as the Israel-Hamas conflict rages on, despite the increasingly high financial cost, the threat to American troops, and how such aid has been hijacked by Hamas terrorists before. As The Times of Israel covered, which our sister site of Twitchy also picked up on, State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller admitted on Thursday that Hamas was able to seize aid that was coming from Jordan to Gaza.

As the report mentioned:

According to Miller, the aid shipment was unloaded by the Jordanian military inside the Strip before being “picked up by a humanitarian implementer for distribution inside Gaza, and that aid was intercepted and diverted by Hamas on the ground in Gaza.”

“The UN is either in the process or has by now recovered that aid, but it was an unacceptable act by Hamas to divert this aid to begin with,” he said during a press briefing.

Miller added that UNRWA, the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees, would likely issue a statement soon condemning the incident, indicating it was the organization from which Hamas stole the aid.

“If there’s one thing that Hamas could do to jeopardize the shipment of aid, it would be diverting it for their own use, rather than allowing it to go to the innocent civilians that need it,” he said, claiming this was the “first widespread case of diversion that we have seen” in Gaza.

Hamas held the aid trucks for “some time” before releasing them, according to Miller….

Israel recently stepped up efforts to deliver aid by land and opened up new ground routes, including opening Erez to aid trucks on Wednesday. Washington has said aid delivery has increased significantly in recent weeks, but that more is needed.

A temporary pier is also being constructed by the US military to increase humanitarian aid deliveries, and is more than halfway complete, the Pentagon said Wednesday.

The subheadline for The Times of Israel’s article notes, with added emphasis, that this was “the ‘first widespread case of diversion’ acknowledged by US.”

There’s been video evidence for months now of Hamas taking over aid meant for civilians and sold on the black market. The article also mentions the tricky way that the United States has tried to go about that narrative:

[Miller’s] comments follow Israel’s long-standing contention that Hamas stockpiled supplies and kept them from increasingly desperate civilians. Footage from Gaza has shown gunmen, who were reportedly linked to the terror group, stealing trucks delivering humanitarian aid from Egypt.

In February, the US diplomat who was then involved in humanitarian assistance for Gaza denied allegations that Hamas stole aid and commercial shipments into the enclave, saying that no Israeli official had presented him or the Biden administration with “specific evidence of diversion or theft of assistance.”

At the same time, he acknowledged that Hamas had used other aid delivery channels to “shape where and to whom assistance goes.”

That acknowledgment of how much control Hamas really has in the region is a pretty significant one.

When it comes to Miller expecting a statement from the UNRWA, that may be asking too much. There’s evidence that the pro-Hamas agency of the anti-Israel United Nations has actually been involved with the terrorist group, and that this includes even holding one of the captives taken as a hostage on October 7.

As of early Friday afternoon, the most recent official statement posted to the UNRWA website is from Tuesday, April 30 and highlights the introductory remarks from UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini. There’s plenty of sympathizing with Gazans and criticism about Israel’s role in the conflict, but no update on hijacked aid.

Further, the UNRWA’s X account also contains no mention of the aid that was intercepted by Gaza. Instead, the posts lament the situation in Gaza as a result of the Israel-Hamas conflict brought on from the brutal attack that Hamas perpetrated against Israel on October 7, demand more assistance for their region and agency, and call for a ceasefire.

A separate eyewitness video, verified by Reuters and taken in the aftermath of the incident, shows the man being pinned to the ground by several others, his face obscured. A voice speaks in Arabic and says: “If they didn’t insult my prophet, I wouldn’t have come here. If he didn’t involve himself in my religion, I would not have come here.”
Authorities disclosed no motive for the attack and have not identified the suspect.

Australia church stabbing: bishop wounded, 15-year-old arrested

SYDNEY, April 15 (Reuters) – At least four people were wounded, including a bishop with a global online following, in a knife attack during a service at a church in a suburb of Sydney on Monday, police and witnesses said, triggering clashes between angry residents and police.
Police said they arrested a 15-year-old male at the scene and were forced to hold him at the church in Wakeley, a suburb about 30 km (18 miles) west of downtown Sydney, for his own safety after a crowd gathered outside and demanded the attacker be brought out.

It was the second major stabbing attack in just three days after six people were killed in a knife attack at a beachside mall in the Bondi area.
Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel of the Assyrian Christ The Good Shepherd Church was speaking during an evening service on Monday when a man walked towards him and lunged with a knife, according to video of the event captured from a livestream on the church’s social media page.

Horrified members of the congregation scream as the man stabs the priest several times in the head and chest, the videos show. A separate eyewitness video, verified by Reuters and taken in the aftermath of the incident, shows the man being pinned to the ground by several others, his face obscured. A voice speaks in Arabic and says: “If they didn’t insult my prophet, I wouldn’t have come here. If he didn’t involve himself in my religion, I would not have come here.”

Authorities disclosed no motive for the attack and have not identified the suspect.

Two witnesses told Reuters the crowd threw rocks at police. More than 100 police officers were ultimately called in to deal with the unrest, and two were taken to hospital with injuries, police said. Reuters saw two men pepper sprayed.

 

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‘You got a win. Take the win’: Joe Biden tells Netanyahu

Joe Biden reportedly warned Benjamin Netanyahu that the US will not participate in any Israeli counter-attacks against Iran.

The US president and his senior advisers are highly concerned that an Israeli response to Iran’s attack would lead to a regional war with catastrophic consequences, US officials told Axios.

On Saturday evening, Iran launched its first-ever direct attack on Israel, involving more than 300 drones and missiles. The attack came in retaliation to an airstrike in Syria on April 1 that killed seven of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps – Israel has neither confirmed nor denied responsibility.

Mr Biden said the US and Israel had shot down “nearly all” of the drones and missiles launched by Tehran overnight, aided also by Britain, France and Jordan. Israel said 99 per cent were intercepted without hitting their targets and that “very little damage” had been caused.

American forces intercepted 70 drones and at least three ballistic missiles, according to CNN, while Mr Biden also said that US support for Israel was “ironclad”.

“You got a win. Take the win,” Mr Biden reportedly told Mr Netanyahu, adding that the US will not participate in any offensive operations. Mr Netanyahu reportedly said that he understands the US’s position.

Iran has said the attacks “achieved all its objectives” and that it is not planning any further operations. It warned Israel against taking any “reckless” actions, and said it would not hesitate to retaliate with a “much stronger response”.

However, Israel has said the “campaign is not over yet”.

Lloyd Austin, the US secretary of defence, has asked that Israel notify the US ahead of any response against Iran.

World leaders have condemned Iran’s attack, with regional powers Saudi Arabia and Egypt calling for restraint. Leaders from the G7 will hold a video conference later on Sunday to discuss the Iranian strikes and coordinate a united diplomatic response.

Joe Biden Approved Iran’s Assault on Israel ‘Within Certain Limits’.

On Saturday, Iran initiated a barrage of drones and ballistic missiles at Israel. Thankfully, most of them were successfully intercepted and caused minimal damage. Of course, in a stunning move, President Biden is pushing Israel not to retaliate. It’s hard to imagine why Biden would do that, except when you consider that Joe Biden has been appeasing Iran since his days as Barack Obama’s vice president.

With that in mind, it’s also not surprising—though it’s still shocking— that Joe Biden not only had prior knowledge of Iran’s assault on Israel but also technically gave it the green light under certain conditions, according to a report from the Jerusalem Post.

Iran informed Turkey in advance of its planned operation against Israel, a Turkish diplomatic source told Reuters on Sunday, adding that Washington had conveyed to Tehran via Ankara that any action it took had to be “within certain limits.”

Turkey, which has denounced Israel for its campaign on Gaza, said earlier on Sunday that it did not want a further escalation of tensions in the region.

The Turkish source, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan had spoken to both his US  Iranian counterparts in the past week to discuss the planned Iranian operation, adding Ankara had been made aware of possible developments.

Earlier this week, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken spoke to Fidan to make clear that escalation in the Middle East was not in anyone’s interest.

“Iran informed us in advance of what would happen. Possible developments also came up during the meeting with Blinken, and they (the US) conveyed to Iran through us that this reaction must be within certain limits,” the source said.

I’ve said before that, despite his public support for Israel, Biden has not been a friend to the Jewish state. And this report proves that. Joe Biden publicly told Iran not to attack Israel. When it was clear they didn’t give a hoot what he said, the Biden administration basically said it was fine to attack Israel as long as the attack was “within certain limits.”

And then Joe went on vacation.

Related: Trump Warned We Were on the Brink of WWIII Under Joe Biden, and He’s Been Proven Right

Considering the size and intensity of the attack, it’s reasonable to question whether Iran heeded that warning, but I would say it’s obvious Iran’s leaders did not.

So, let’s recap the facts here: Joe Biden told Iran’s leaders not to attack Israel, but they ignored him. Then he said they could attack Israel with some restrictions, though they clearly ignored that as well. Now, Biden is telling Israel not to retaliate.

In short, Biden is still appeasing Iran.

Why is Joe Biden still kowtowing to Iran and throwing Israel under the bus? I can’t answer that, but I know that Israel can’t listen to Biden because doing so threatens its existence.

Will the mainstream media report on this interesting development? Not likely. Make no mistake about it: The media will always cover for Joe Biden. They will spin this conflict as Joe Biden displaying leadership and resolve on the world stage. They’ll prop Biden up as a strong and confident leader, hoping it will become true if they repeat the lie often enough, while we’re supposed to pretend that we’re not on the precipice of World War III.

THE DEEP MEANING OF “DON’T:”

Would that President Biden had not warned the Iranian regime not to attack Israel with his pitiful “don’t” yesterday. In Bidenspeak, “don’t” is an invitation. It something like the shout-out for contestants to “come on down” on The Price Is Right.

 

Q.E.D.

 

Observation O’ The Day
America has a problem, we now have several areas in America that the moslem population has risen to they level where they feel comfortable attacking us, our way of life, and they will become increasingly belligerent. It will require a massive effort to rein them in.

 

FBI Busts an ISIS Operative Planning a Major Attack

The FBI has arrested an 18-year-old Idaho man and recent convert to Islam for planning attacks against multiple churches on behalf of the Islamic State.

“Alexander Scott Mercurio, 18, of Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, was arrested Saturday, April 6, 2024, in Coeur d’Alene for attempting to provide material support and resources to ISIS,” the Department of Justice released late Monday night. “According to the affidavit in support of the criminal complaint, Mercurio pledged his allegiance to ISIS and intended to commit attacks on its behalf. He planned to attack individuals at churches in Coeur d’Alene on April 7 using weapons, including knives, firearms, and fire.”

FBI Director Christopher Wray is calling the plans “truly horrific.”

“The defendant allegedly pledged loyalty to ISIS and sought to attack people attending churches in Idaho, a truly horrific plan which was detected and thwarted by the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force,” Wray said. “This investigation demonstrates the FBI’s steadfast commitment to work with our law enforcement partners to stop those who wish to commit acts of violence on behalf of – or inspired by – foreign terrorist groups.”

From the complaint:

This case began when MERCURIO reached out to confidential human sources online and indicated his support for ISIS and terrorist organizations, more generally. The FBI was able to work with a confidential human source (CHS) who met with MERCURIO in person. MERCURIO proceeded to express support for terrorist organizations, specifically ISIS, online and in-person. MERCURIO spread ISIS propaganda online and solicited ISIS’s involvement in and approval of his propaganda efforts, discussed travelling from the United States to join ISIS, considered and planned ways to support ISIS financially, and most recently, set forth on a plan to assault his father with a metal pipe, acquire his father’s firearms, and attack a local church. At the beginning of 2024, his conduct escalated to MERCURIO planning to carry out a suicide attack on a church(es) in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho. His attack plan involved using flame-covered weapons, explosives, knives, a machete, a pipe, and ultimately firearms. His plan grew more precise as he eventually identified the specific church and date on which he planned to attack.

MERCURIO planned to attack the church on April 7, 2024, a date intentionally selected by him so his attack would occur before the end of Ramadan. As the date drew near, MERCURIO devised a plan to incapacitate his father, restrain him using handcuffs, and steal his firearms to use for maximum casualties in his attack.

MERCURIO purchased items consistent with his planned attack; this included butane canisters and a metal pipe. In planning the attack, MERCURIO made a ba’yah statement, pledging his allegiance to ISIS and stating his intention to die while killing others on behalf of ISIS. MERCURIO transmitted that statement on April 6, 2024, consistent with a prior representation where he claimed he would transmit the statement a day or so prior to the attack. He planned the attack for April 7, 2024. Law enforcement thwarted MERCURIO’s plans before, according to MERCURIO’s timeline, he could harm his father and acquire firearms. Law enforcement executed a search warrant on his house and upon his person. At MERCURIO’s house, law enforcement found items consistent with his planned attack (butane canisters, lighters, a pair of handcuffs, a knife, a pipe, and a machete).

Law enforcement also found several firearms in MERCURIO’s father’s possession, stored as MERCURIO represented in his plans. Also, law enforcement found an ISIS flag in MERCURIO’s bedroom.

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY: BILL CLINTON ON HAMAS

You know things are bad when Bill Clinton is the voice of moral clarity in the Democratic Party. Here’s what he said in 2016:

“I killed myself to give the Palestinians a state. I had a deal they turned down that would have given them all of Gaza… between 96%-97% of the West Bank, compensating land in Israel, you name it.”

“Hamas is really smart. When they decide to rocket Israel, they insinuate themselves in the hospitals, in the schools, in the highly populous areas, and they are smart. They said they try to put the Israelis in a position of either not defending themselves or killing innocents. They’re good at it. They’re smart. They’ve been doing this a long time.”

Why can’t anyone in the Biden Administration point this out to the American public (and to the Palestinian Authority)? It has long been reported second-hand that the person Clinton hated the most from his time as president was not Ken Starr, but Yassir Arafat, for turning down the deal that would have gained Clinton the Nobel Peace Prize and redeemed his morally stained presidency.

Israeli Air Strike Punches Senior Iranian Revolutionary Guards Commander’s Ticket

On Monday, a senior commander in Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps was deleted from the rolls of the living by an Israeli air strike. The strike hit the Iranian consulate in Damascus, Syria, killing Mohammad Reza Zahedi along with (reportedly) several Iranian diplomats.

An Israeli airstrike launched at the Iranian consulate in Damascus, Syria on Monday has killed Mohammad Reza Zahedi, a senior commander in Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Corps, a Lebanese security source has told Reuters.

In 2010, the U.S. Treasury Department sanctioned Zahedi, describing him as playing a key role in Iran’s support of the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah.

Reuters is reporting that its journalists at the scene in the Syrian capital saw smoke rising from the rubble of a building that was flattened in the airstrike. Israel has not confirmed its involvement.

“We do not comment on reports in the foreign media,” an Israeli military spokesperson told Reuters when asked about the matter.

One has to appreciate the wisdom of Israel not commenting on this at all; in taking out Zahedi, they determined to let a missile do their talking for them, and that would seem to be sufficient to make their point. Zahedi was not in Syria to play tiddlywinks; the Revolutionary Guard Corps commander was known to be a conduit to funnel Iranian weapons to Hezbollah and acted as a liaison between Iran, Hezbollah, and Syria. He was a guy who manifestly deserved to be removed from the game.

The U.S. Treasury said in 2010 that Zahedi “has also acted as a liaison to Hezbollah and Syrian intelligence services and is reportedly charged with guaranteeing weapons shipments to Hezbollah.”

 

This isn’t the first Iranian commander that Israel has un-alived in recent months.

Israel said in February that it killed a senior Hezbollah commander in a strike carried out in Lebanon.

The Israel Defense Forces had announced at the time that an overnight airstrike targeting a “Hezbollah military structure” in Nabatieh killed Ali Muhammad Aldbas, a senior commander of the Radwan forces. His deputy commander, Ibrahim Issa, and an additional terrorist were killed in the attack, according to the IDF.

It’s important to note that then the U.S. Treasury Department “sanctioned” Zahedi all the way back in 2010, it clearly seems to have had little to no effect on his actions. Israel’s sanction, delivered at several times the speed of sound, would appear to have been much more effective. The Israeli military has time and again proven their skill at making bad terrorists into good terrorists, and since the Oct 7th atrocities, they have picked up the pace.