Couldn’t happen here, of course, it’s not like we’ve allowed millions of unvetted men of military age across our borders……

Day of Wrath

Guns in schools?

This novella by New York Times bestselling author William R. Forstchen imagines a horrifying scenario where, in the course of one day, the terrorist group ISIS carries out massacres in schools and on highways across the United States. With a surprisingly small but well-organized and ruthless force, the nightmarish devastation brings America to a state of near-paralysis.

Author of ONE SECOND AFTER and PILLAR TO THE SKY, this heart-stopping novella brings home just how fragile our defenses and infrastructure really are. It is also a story of heroic efforts to save lives, while sounding a wake-up call to American citizens and their government.

Story: Bob Petersen arrives with his daughter at the Middle Grade school in Maine where he teaches, expecting another regular day but worried about what recent ominous news reports might portend. Suddenly his school — along with many others across the United States — is under attack. Gunmen burst in, slaughtering children and adults alike.

From the ISIS leader in Syria, to the murderous rampages throughout the U.S., Day of Wrath reveals with chilling effect how national panic and paralyzing terror at the spiraling violence can bring a mighty country to a near-standstill. Petersen’s fight to save lives and stop the merciless gunmen provides edge-of-the-seat drama. Day of Wrath is a provocative work that should stimulate an intense national debate.

Horse, Barn Door – Israel’s Minister of National Security Announces Relaxed Rules for Civilian Gun Ownership.

In our post this morning, we predicted that following the atrocities committed by Hamas terrorists across southern Israel this weekend, the government, which has kept a relatively tight hold on gun ownership by Israeli citizens, would relax that policy. Huddling in safe rooms, waiting for hours for help from police and the military while murderous Palestinians go house to house cutting down men, women, and children tends to drive home the benefits of an armed populace.

This afternoon, Israel’s Minister for National Security, Itamar Ben-Gvir — someone you have to think will soon be looking for other employment opportunities — announced that the government will, in fact, make it easier for Israelis to buy and carry firearms.

Here’s a translation of his tweet . . .

Today I directed the Firearms Licensing Division to go on an emergency operation, in order to allow as many citizens as possible to arm themselves.

The plan will take effect within 24 hours, below are its main points:

1. Any citizen who meets the detailed tests for carrying a private firearm due to self-defense and serving the security forces, and is without a criminal or medical record, will be required to undergo a telephone interview instead of a physical interview, and will be able to receive permission to carry a firearm within a week. (Self-defense tests: residence in an eligible settlement, rifle veterans 07 and above, officers in the rank of lieutenant and above and combatants in the rank of major and above in the IDF and the security forces, service in special units, firefighters, policemen, and workers and volunteers in the rescue forces).

2. Any citizen who received a conditional permit to purchase a firearm and did not purchase a firearm during the year 2023 and the conditional license has expired, will be able to purchase a firearm now without the need to submit another application. The exemption will apply to about 4000 citizens.

3. Any citizen who deposited his weapon in the last six months due to failure to perform refresher training or renewal training, will be able to receive his weapon back. The exemption will apply to about 1800 citizens.

4. In addition, starting next Tuesday, conditional permits to carry firearms will be issued with a permit allowing the purchase of up to 100 bullets instead of 50 today.

All this in addition to the criteria change that should happen soon.

I thank the members of the Firearms Licensing Division, the Civil Response Department of the Israel Police and the employees of the Ministry of Health for the very important commitment that will allow as many citizens as possible to arm themselves and protect themselves and their environment when necessary.

Unfortunately, the Israeli government won’t be handing out rifles and ammo to anyone who wants one. The process and requirements are still far too restrictive and cumbersome, but this appears to be a step in the right direction.

It’s a shame that it’s taken a national atrocity and the loss of hundreds of lives to drive home the point that armed self-defense is not only a natural human right, but can also make the job of criminals and, in this case, blood-thirsty terrorists, much more difficult. Who knows how many lives might have been saved by wider civilian gun ownership?

Politicians, however, are politicians no matter where you go. And few of them ever seem to see allowing citizens to exercise more freedoms as in their own best interests.

Secretary of State Blinken Accidentally Admits Biden Admin Funded Attack on Israel

It took little time for people to connect the dots between Joe Biden’s unfreezing of $6 billion in Iranian assets last month — part of a prisoner swap — and the Hamas attack on Israel. Hamas gets funding from Iran, and all the restrictions on how Iran can spend their money are meaningless. In fact, Hamas spokesman Ghazi Hamad told the BBC that Iran did give financial support to Hamas for its surprise attack on Israel, and a senior adviser to Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, confirmed this.

That hasn’t stopped the Biden administration from desperately trying to absolve itself of responsibility for the deadly attack, which has set off yet another war in the region.

“Let’s be clear,” State Department spokesman Matthew Miller wrote on X. “The deal to bring U.S. citizens home from Iran has nothing to do with the horrific attack on Israel. Not a penny has been spent, and when it is, it can only go for humanitarian needs like food and medicine. Anything to the contrary is false.”

Variations of this talking point have been repeated ad nauseam by various members of the Biden administration. One of them was Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who did the rounds on the Sunday morning talk shows to defend the Biden administration. He claimed on ABC’s “This Week” that “not a single dollar from that account has actually been spent to date, and in any event, it’s very carefully and closely regulated by the Treasury Department to make sure that it’s only used for food, for medicine, for medical equipment.”

Cute story, right? Well, that may be the line the administration is pushing, but when Blinken appeared on “Meet The Press,” he let slip some actual truth.

“What do you say about the argument that money is fungible — so Iran may have known this money is coming and used other funds to help fund this attack?” asked host Kristen Welker.

“Iran has unfortunately always used and focused its funds on supporting terrorism, on supporting groups like Hamas,” Blinken replied. “And it’s done that when there have been sanctions, it’s done that when there haven’t been sanctions, and it’s always prioritized that.”

That admission completely undermines the talking points that the Biden administration has been pushing. They unfroze $6 billion for Iran, and Iran funded the Hamas attack. It’s that simple. Per Blinken’s own words, the condition of the money only being used for humanitarian purposes is meaningless. Iran will always use money to fund terrorism.

So if the Biden administration knows Iran funds terrorism, why did it unfreeze $6 billion as part of the prisoner exchange last month? There’s no good answer to that — or to the question of why the Obama administration and now the Biden administration are so intent on giving the Iranian regime a pathway to nuclear weapons.

Gun-grabbing New Mexico governor will not give in

Just a few weeks back, New Mexico Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham declared a public health emergency to attain what she believed was the legal justification to override the 2nd Amendment. Her public health emergency was created out of thin air to give herself the power to mandate a 30 day ban on the public carry of firearms in Albuquerque and the surrounding county. She said, “No Constitutional right, in my view, including my oath, is intended to be absolute.”

The backlash was swift as police departments denied her support in enforcing the rule, the public defied the governor by carrying openly in public to make a point, and even the media, along with some of her fellow Democrats ridiculed her by saying she was overreaching her power. Apparently, this corrupt governor did not care and continued to demand that the police departments enforce her unconstitutional rule regardless of its unconstitutionality, She created an unjustified “health emergency” as a vehicle to push her “one woman dictate” over the people of New Mexico.

Grisham used the death of an 11-year-old boy in an attempt to create irrational fear and hype in her pursuit to violate the rights of the citizens she represents.  Standing on the graves of dead children has been an effective tool for gun-grabbing politicians, as it drums up irrational fear among parents and directs anger toward gun owners. The implication is that these heinous killings wouldn’t happen if gun owners would “compromise-away” their rights. In Grisham’s case, it would appear she used the tragedy to portray herself as the hero.

In response to the overreaching rule, A Federal Judge temporarily blocked Gresham’s ban on carrying guns in Albuquerque and its surrounding county. Bernalillo County Sheriff John Allen said, “This order will not do anything to curb gun violence other than punish law-abiding citizens who have a constitutional right to self-defense.”

In defiance of the law and the Constitution, Grisham recently revised her public health order prohibiting firearms in parks, playgrounds and other public places where children go in Albuquerque. The governor also added a provision that tasks the state Department of Public Safety with organizing safe surrender events — also known as gun buybacks — in Albuquerque, Española and Las Cruces within a month. According to Maddy Hayden, a spokeswoman for the governor, the renewed order will remain in effect until Nov. 3.

As an additional slap in the face to New Mexicans, Grisham said, “We’re not letting up, and I’m continuing to make investments that drive down violence in our communities and protect our children.”

Throughout this entire battle, Grisham has failed to offer any solutions to solve the problem of “human violence,” and only seems to be focused on gun control. As usual, and like other gun-grabbing governors, Grisham appears to be avoiding responsibility for the violence that is created as a direct result of failed Democrat policies.

After several lawsuits last month in response to the Governors’ 30-day gun ban, U.S. District Judge David Herrera Urias issued the initial restraining order but has delayed a decision on whether to order a preliminary injunction against the edict. Grisham seems to be taking full advantage of every bit of power she can dig up in the meantime.

Michelle Lujan Grisham is the exact type of person our Founding Fathers warned us about. Her attempt to unilaterally suspend the right to carry is why the 2nd Amendment was written, and why so many New Mexico gun owners stood up and defied her unconstitutional order.

“When minutes count, the army is only hours away”

In Heroic Battle, 15 People Saved Kibbutz Kerem Shalom From Hamas Massacre.

JERUSALEM (VINnews) — Although most of the Kibbutzim in the western Negev were woefully unprepared for a mass Hamas attack and paid a heavy price in civilian casualties, there was one Kibbutz where Hamas did not succeed in conquering the Kibbutz, did not take captives and did not cause any civilian casualties.

The kibbutz is situated at the southwestern tip of Israel, near the border with Gaza and Egypt. A few years ago, the kibbutz nearly disbanded due to lack of people willing to live in the parched, arid zone with few employment opportunities. However a Garin Torani (nucleus of Bnei Torah) arrived a few years ago to strengthen the kibbutz and to build their lives there in pioneering fashion. The young religious families energized the kibbutz and on Simchas Torah all the residents both religious and secular celebrated in the shul with many guests from all over the country.

At one point, Moshe Yedidia Raziel stood in the middle of the circle and began singing Am Yisrael Chai as everyone jumped up and down in unison. At the end of the Hakafos everyone went back to eat the festive meal.

At 6:30 A.M they awoke to sirens around the Kibbutz and the defenders, consisting of nine local residents with army training (former IDF soldiers) and six soldiers, prepared for the invasion. Amichai Yisrael Vitzan told his wife that “this is what we have been training for.” The small force deployed around the kibbutz in different places. Tens of terrorists infiltrated the kibbutz and the force engaged them in fierce fighting.

Kerem Shalom’s 35 homes became a battlefield. In the first hours the force eliminated many of the terrorists and for 6 hours continued the battle alone. In on of the shootouts, the wife of Moshe Yedidia Raziel heard heavy shooting and then Yedidia shouted: “We eliminated them”.

Amichai was calm and told his wife on Whatsapp to make the children feel good as today is Simchas Torah. This was the last she heard from him. A few hours after the fighting started, a terrorist surprised Amichai Yisrael and Moshe Yedidia from behind and murdered both of them. Amichai (33) left five children and Moshe (31) left three children. Both were friends from the same community (Psagot), both were studying social work in Ashkelon and both came to help the struggling kibbutz. It was their heroic struggle which saved the kibbutz members from the fate of neighboring communities. All of the families were saved (two other members of the fighting group were injured) and nobody was taken captive.

The army arrived only at 1 PM after the group had fought off Hamas for six hours.

 

Armed Chicago tow truck driver turns the tables on suspected drive-by shooter

A concealed carry holder in Chicago turned the tables on a suspected drive-by shooter who opened fire on a group of people after a car crash, according to a report.

“The shooting happened so quickly, I didn’t have time to react,” witness Lorenzo Hernandez told ABC 7 via a Spanish translator. “In Chicago, you go to work not knowing if you will come back home. This happens everywhere. I thank God that I didn’t get hit.”

Police said they responded to a drive-by shooting at about 2 p.m. on the Southwest Side, the outlet reported, and squad cards surrounded a Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) bus.

Hernandez said he witnessed a car crash involving four vehicles and a CTA bus near 47th and Archer that afternoon. He witnessed riders exit the bus before someone in a white Dodge Durango allegedly shot at the group.

“I saw the bus crash happen as I was stopped at the light,” Hernandez said.

A 55-year-old male CTA bus supervisor was hit during the gunfire. The man was injured after responding to the scene for the crash, ABC 7 reported.

Hernandez said he was in his SUV near a tow truck driver when the gunman fired in his direction and hit his vehicle. The tow truck driver, Hernandez said, ducked when the gunfire erupted and he feared the trucker was hit.

The tow truck driver, who did not provide his name to local media, however, reemerged during the shooting and fired off two shots at the suspect, ABC 7 reported.

The suspect has not been identified and fled the scene before police were able to make any arrests. The police department confirmed that a witness with a concealed carry permit returned fire on the suspect, according to ABC 7.

The tow truck driver told the outlet that the shooter aimed at him before he returned fire.

A bullet was found lodged in Hernandez’s SUV, the outlet reported.

“The bullet looked like it was headed in my direction, but got stopped by the car,” Hernandez said.

Hernandez added that the tow truck driver came over and thanked him following the shooting, because the car prevented him from getting shot.

“The tow truck driver thanked me. He said if my SUV wasn’t there, he would have gotten killed,” Hernandez said.

The CTA bus supervisor was taken to a local hospital in stable condition after suffering a gunshot to his thigh. He was not the reported target of the shooting, according to the outlet.

The Chicago Police Department told Fox News Digital on Sunday evening that there were no updates to the case and the investigation remains ongoing.

‘Green’ EV Battery Factory Uses So Much Energy, It Needs Its Own Coal Plant to Power It

In order to keep up with the demands for Democrat President Joe Biden’s green agenda, a coal-fired power plant is being expanded to cope with the energy needs of an electric vehicle (EV) battery factory.

The $4 billion Panasonic EV battery factory is being constructed in De Soto, Kansas. The new factory will help satisfy the Biden administration’s efforts to get everyone into an EV. It also will help extend the life of a coal-fired power plant.

The Evergy Power Plant was slated to be decommissioned as part of the push to eliminate fossil fuels. Plans were in place to transition fossil fuel-burning units at the plant to natural gas.

However, plans have now changed as the power plant will now be used to provide energy for the new battery factory. The plant will now be dedicated to burning coal to provide energy for the battery factory. It will also be expanded to cope with the extra demand.

Panasonic broke ground on the facility last year. The Japanese company was slated to receive $6.8 billion from the Democrats’ “Inflation Reduction Act.” The legislation has been pouring billions into electric vehicles and battery factories as part of its effort to transition America away from fossil fuels.

The Kansas City Star reports that the factory will require between 200 and 250 megawatts of electricity to operate. That’s roughly the amount of power needed for a small city.

In testimony to the Kansas City Corporation Commission, which is the state’s equivalent of the Wyoming Public Service Commission, a representative of Evergy, the utility serving the factory, said that the 4 million-square-foot Panasonic facility creates “near term challenges from a resource adequacy perspective,” according to the newspaper.

As a result, the utility will continue to burn coal at a power plant near Lawrence, Kansas, and it will delay plans to transition units at the plant to natural gas.

Environmentalists, meanwhile, are not happy about that. The situation reflects an ignored fact about EVs — they require enormous amounts of energy to produce. Aside from production, the vehicles themselves also require vast amounts of electricity to charge.

A 15-pound lithium-ion battery holds about the same amount of energy as a pound of oil. To make that battery requires 7,000 pounds of rock and dirt to get the minerals that go into that battery. The average EV battery weighs around 1,000 pounds.

All of that mining and factory processing produces a lot more carbon dioxide emissions than a gas-powered car. EVs have to be driven around 50,000 to 60,000 miles before there’s a net reduction in carbon dioxide emissions.

So, as more factories are built in the U.S. to supply EV manufacturers, there will be higher demands on the grid for power.

Yes, there does actually seem to be people this dense and ignorant.
“…shared cultural norms…”

October 9

768 – Brothers Carloman and Charlemagne are crowned kings of the Franks in Noyon, France.

1000 – The Norse sagas record that this day, Leif Ericson discovers “Vinland”, which is likely where a Viking village later named L’Anse aux Meadows, was founded on the island of Newfoundland, Canada.

1238 – After retaking Valencia from the moors during the Reconquista, Jaume el Conqueridor of Aragon is crowned as James I of the Kingdom of Valencia.

1604 –  Actually observing the conjunction of Mars and Jupiter, which was linked in the astrology of the time to the Star of Bethlehem, SN1604, (named “Kepler’s Supernova” after the european astronomical discoverer) Johanees Kepler observes what is now classed as a Type Ia supernova in the constellation Ophiuchus, visible even during the day for over 3 weeks with records of its sighting existing in Europe, China, Korea, and Arabia, and is the most recent supernova to be observed within the Milky Way galaxy

1635 – Roger Williams is banished from the Massachusetts Bay Colony after religious and policy disagreements and founds Providence Plantations on land bought from Wampanoag Chief Massasoit, which later becomes the English colony of Rhode Island.

1701 – The Collegiate School of Connecticut, later renamed Yale University, is chartered in New Haven by the General Court of the Colony of Connecticut

1812 –  In a naval engagement on Lake Erie during the War of 1812, American naval forces under the command of Lieutenant Jesse Elliott, capture the British ships; HMS Detroit and HMS Caledonia.

1825 – The private sloop Restauration arrives in New York Harbor from Norway, the first organized immigration from Norway to the U.S.

1873 – A meeting of 15 naval officers at the U.S. Naval Academy establishes the U.S. Naval Institute.

1936 – Boulder Dam, now renamed Hoover Dam, begins electric power generation

1967 – Ernesto “Che” Guevara is executed for attempting to incite a revolution in Bolivia.

1974 – Oskar Schindler dies in Hildesheim, Germany

1986 – Fox Broadcasting Company (FBC) launches as the “4th” US television network.

1992 – The Peekskill meteorite, a 27.7 pound meteorite crashes into a parked car in Peekskill, New York

2006 – North Korea conducts its first nuclear test.

2007 – The Dow Jones Industrial Average reaches its then all time high of 14,164 points before rapidly declining due to the 2007/2008 financial crises.

2009 – NASA’s Lunar Precursor Robotic Program intentionally crashes the spent Centaur upper stage and data-collecting Shepherding Spacecraft in the crater Cabeus near the south pole of the Moon so that the Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite (LCROSS) can observe the impact

Just what we need right now

Army Strongly Considering 10-20% Cut To Special Ops Forces.

The Army has a serious recruiting problem. One of their solutions? Hey! Let’s cut our Special Ops Forces by 10-20%! Yes folks, that’s really what they are considering.

The Army is cutting about 3,000 troops, or about 10% from its special-operations ranks, which could include so-called trigger-pullers from the Green Beret commando units who have conducted some of the nation’s most dangerous and sensitive missions around the world, from the jungles of Vietnam to the back alleys of Baghdad.

The reductions would enable the Army to rebalance toward the large conventional ground forces needed in a potential fight in Asia. The trims in the ranks of special forces would also help the Army cope with a recruiting shortfall in a strong labor market. But opponents of the cuts, notably senior special-operations officers, have argued they could hinder training of U.S. partners, including the Ukrainian and Taiwanese militaries, and limit the elite units’ ability to respond to crises.

This is an asinine idea that will blow a significant crater in our current war fighting capabilities. Yet doing this, according to the brilliantly idiotic minds at the Pentagon will “rebalance” our forces and magically ramp up recruitment? Are You Kidding Me? 

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Observation O’ The Day

Prime Minister Netanyahu got it right when he said, immediately after the invasion was launched, that Israel was at war. The difference is important. If the invasion was just another in a long series of terrorist outrages, then selective reprisals, as in the past, are the presumptive response. In other words, doing again what hasn’t worked before–destroying a few military installations and taking out a handful of political or military leaders. War is different. A war ends only when one side internalizes the fact that it is beaten and loses the will to continue. – Ed Driscoll

 

ISRAEL’S SECURITY CABINET OFFICIALLY DECLARES WAR FOR FIRST TIME IN 50 YEARS AFTER HAMAS’ SURPRISE TERROR ATTACK LEAVES OVER 600 TOTAL DEAD.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office says his security cabinet has declared the country at war following a deadly Hamas assault in southern Israel.

The decision, announced on Sunday, formally authorises “the taking of significant military steps,” it said in a statement.

“The war that was forced on the State of Israel in a murderous terrorist assault from the Gaza Strip began at 06:00 yesterday,” it said.

Mr Netanyahu had previous declared the country at war and the military has promised a harsh response in Gaza.

Israeli media say at least 600 people have been killed in the surprise cross-border incursion by Hamas militants from the Gaza Strip.

The Kan public broadcaster and Channel 12, as well as the Haaretz and Times of Israel newspapers, all reported the toll.

There has been no official confirmation of the number of deaths on the Israeli side since the fighting erupted early on Saturday.

Palestinian officials say more than 300 people have been killed in Gaza, without differentiating between fighters and civilians.

A brief exchange of strikes with Lebanon’s Hezbollah militant group raised fears of a broader conflict.

BLUF
Obama’s transformation of America was to remake it in his own image, by junking the idea that America is exceptional and dissolving the country’s borders with the rest of the world. America is not unique. It is as sinful as any other nation, he was effectively arguing, and possibly worse. What better way to make that point than by throwing Israel overboard, and replacing it with Iran—a country that preaches God’s retribution against America.

Now that the Israel part of Obama’s dream has been achieved, we should all be prepared for the other shoe to drop. The violence he unleashed in Israel will be coming to these shores now.

Why the Iran Deal Matters.

How did we get here? [Treason (but none dare call it Treason)]

The current state of affairs began when Joe Biden’s former boss Barack Obama legalized a terror state’s nuclear weapons program.

Despite what its publicists claimed, the purpose of the deal, officially known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), was never to stop Iran from getting the bomb. Rather, the tens of billions of dollars that Obama paid the clerical regime, which included planeloads of cash, was to facilitate construction of the nuclear weapons program under the protective umbrella of an international agreement backed by the United States. Even a cursory glance at the agreement’s clauses restricting Iranian nuclear and other activities reveals the truth—they are called “sunset clauses” because they were designed to expire. And once they expired, Iran’s industrial-size nuclear weapons program would be entirely legal under the continuing protection of the United States.

No, no, say JCPOA advocates and defenders—the Iran deal was constructed to prevent Iran from ever getting a bomb. And at the time that Obama proposed his plan, it seemed inconceivable that the president would mislead Americans about something as serious as legalizing the nuclear weapons program of a terror state that has been killing Americans since its inception in 1979. Surely, Obama had some more conventional idea of arms control in mind. His critics must be conspiracy theorists, projecting their own pyromania onto the righteous president, probably because they were racists, or Zionists, or both. The Iranian emigres and Saudi analysts who expressed their shock at the idea of giving Iran the bomb must have their own local axes to grind.

Nearly a decade after the selling of the Iran deal, it’s much easier now for Americans to see that it was the origin point in a series of hugely consequential lies that have shaped our country at home as surely as they have shaped the lives of people in the Middle East. They lied about Obama’s successor being a Russian spy to delegitimize the government and divide the country, in the hope of removing an elected president from office. They lied about an “insurrection” on Jan. 6, 2021, to justify designating one half of the country as domestic terrorists, in order to put their political opponents in jail. They’ve lied about so many things because they’re certain that their communications infrastructure—where intelligence officers direct big tech and censor what was once America’s independent press—will shape the “information space” on their behalf, effectively controlling what we see, hear, and read. They first built their echo chamber to sell the idea that the Iran deal would stop Iran from getting a bomb; now the echo chamber is everywhere—a high-tech version of how the press is run in countries like Egypt, or Iran.

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Victor Davis Hanson

A 50th Anniversary War?

Why did Hamas stage a long-planned, carefully executed and multifaceted attack on Israeli towns, soldiers, and civilians—one designed to instill terror by executing noncombatants, taking hostages, and desecrating the bodies of the dead?

And how were the killers able to enter Israeli proper in enough numbers to kill what could be hundreds and perhaps eventually wound what could be thousands?

a) Ostensibly, radical Palestinians wanted to stop any rumored rapprochement between the Gulf monarchies—the traditional source of much of their cash—and Israel, by forcing the issue of Arab solidarity in times of “war”, especially through waging a gruesome attack aimed at civilians and encompassing executions and hostage taking. Iran likely was the driving force to prompt the war—given its greatest fear is a Sunni Arab-Israeli rapprochement.

b) Arab forces have had only success against Israel through surprise attacks during Israeli holidays, as in the Yom Kippur War (i.e., was it any accident that the present attack began 50-years almost to the day after the October 6, 1973 beginning of the Yom Kippur War?). And so they struck again this Saturday during Simchat Torah, coming at the end of a weeklong Jewish celebration of Sukkot—in hopes that others will join in as happened in 1973. (So much for the Arab warnings not for Westerners to conduct war during Ramadan).

c) Hamas may have reckoned that recent Israeli turmoil and mass leftist street protests over proposed reforms of the Israeli Supreme Court had led to permanent internal divisions and thus a climate of domestic distraction if not an erosion of deterrence.

But, more importantly, in a larger sense the Biden administration has contributed both to the notion that Hamas was a legitimate Middle East player, and to the perception that the U.S. was backing away from its traditional support for Israel—to the delight of Hamas—based on the following inexplicable policies:

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