The Middle East

[Chris 2,180]

KHAN YOUNIS, Gaza Strip (AP) — A massive blast rocked a Gaza City hospital packed with wounded and other Palestinians seeking shelter Tuesday, killing hundreds of people, the Hamas-run Health Ministry said. Hamas blamed an Israeli airstrike, while the Israeli military blamed a rocket misfired by other Palestinian militants.

At least 500 people were killed, the ministry said.
 

Source

 

Christ…

[TTL News 308]

Meanwhile, closer to home:

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A Cornell University professor was caught on camera telling students Hamas’ terror attack on Israel — which has left more than 1,400 dead — was “exhilarating” and “energizing.”

The remarks were made at a pro-Palestinian protest by Russell Rickford, an associate professor of history at the top-tier school in Ithaca, New York, and posted online Sunday by a student who called them “shameful.”

The footage of Rickford’s impassioned speech was also shared with The Post by two other tipsters. They declined to say exactly when and where the rally took place, but both said they were shocked by the brazen remarks.

 

Source

[TTL News 308]

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CAIRO (AP) — Within hours after a blast was said to have killed hundreds at a Gaza hospital, protesters hurled stones at Palestinian security forces in the occupied West Bank and at riot police in neighboring Jordan, venting fury at their leaders for failing to stop the carnage.

President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi of Egypt, King Abdullah II of Jordan and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas — friends of the U.S. who normally relish the chance to meet with American presidents — called off a planned Wednesday summit with Joe Biden, who will now only visit Israel.

 

AP News

[MsKreed 1,186]

19 minutes ago, Elmira Telegram said:

Meanwhile, closer to home

I had a Journalism professor who used to say, "All News is Local News" emphasizing that a good reporter can always find a local connection to every national or international story. 

As an institution, Cornell is facing the same problem as many organizations.....tip-toeing around, trying to placate everyone. Having to repeatedly "clarify" and issue new statements so as not to offend anyone at all. 

Unable to decide which “victims” deserve more pandering. (Jewish students and staff? Muslims who identify as Palestinian? Or how about the Student Assembly’s Diversity, Equity and Inclusion committee and some of the LGBTQIA+ liaisons who don’t support the the Palestinians stance that would impose the death penalty on them?).

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“I am sickened by statements glorifying the evilness of Hamas terrorism. Any members of our community who have made such statements do not speak for Cornell; in fact, they speak in direct opposition to all we stand for at Cornell. There is no justification for or moral equivalent to these violent and abhorrent acts,” Pollack wrote in the statement. “I am outraged by them and, along with senior leadership of the Cornell Board of Trustees, I again condemn them in the strongest possible terms.”

The statement comes following a comment made by Prof. Russell Rickford, history, at an Oct. 15 rally in support of Palestine on the Ithaca Commons. Rickford spoke of feeling “exhilarated” by Hamas’s attacks.

“[The attacks were] exhilarating. [They were] energizing,” Rickford said. “And if [Gazans and Palestinians] weren’t exhilarated by this challenge to the monopoly of violence, by this shifting of the balance of power, then they would not be human. I was exhilarated.”

In Pollack’s first email statement in response to the Israel-Hamas war on Tuesday, Oct. 10, Pollack described the University’s overall support for faculty, staff and students impacted by global conflicts and natural disasters. The same day, Pollack sent a follow-up email in which she apologized for not referring to Hamas’s attacks as acts of terrorism.

This third email is the first time Pollack has included the words “Palestine” and “Palestinians” in a public statement after the start of the conflict, something for which she has been criticized by students in other previous communications talking about the conflict for not talking about Palestine.

“The Cornell community on our campuses and around the world includes students, faculty, staff and alumni who are Israeli, Palestinian and others who have close ties to the region. As the fighting there continues, the pain and suffering felt by all people throughout the region is and will be completely heart-wrenching,” Pollack wrote in the statement. “I am a grandmother and I weep for the Israeli babies who were murdered or kidnapped; I weep for the Palestinian babies now in harm’s way.”

 

Source:  President Pollack Releases Third Statement on Israel-Hamas War, Condemns Cornellians’ Glorification of Hamas Attacks

 

 

[Chris 2,180]

Here is the proof that #Hamas itself bombed the #hospital in #Gaza and is now blaming #Israel.

This video also proves the location of the impact.#GazaAttack #GazaCity #GazaHospital #Palestinian #HamasISIS #Palestine #IsraelAttack #Israel #hospital #HamasMassacre pic.twitter.com/6yG0wAdpXe

— ImVipulJamwal🇮🇳 (@imvipuljamwal) October 18, 2023

[KarenK 384]

2 hours ago, Chris said:

It appears the US intelligence has also confirmed that it was launched within Gaza so they bombed their own hospital, whether intentional or not.

[Ann 264]

2 hours ago, KarenK said:

It appears the US intelligence has also confirmed that it was launched within Gaza so they bombed their own hospital, whether intentional or not.

That won’t make any difference at all.  The anti-Israel movement is growing, including current protestors inside the U. S. Capital.  

[MsKreed 1,186]

Despite the US and Israeli goal to prevent a full WW3 from spreading across the region, I fear that this conflict has hardly begun.

Protests have broken out at consulates and embassies in several Arab nations, and there are now reports of US bases being targeted by armed drones in Iraq. 

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BEIRUT (AP) — Two drones launched at a base hosting U.S. troops in western Iraq were intercepted Wednesday, a U.S. defense official said.

Hours later, an Iraqi militia announced it had launched another drone attack on a second base. No injuries were reported in either incident.

The Islamic Resistance in Iraq, an umbrella group of Iranian-backed militias, issued a statement afterward claiming responsibility for the two attacks and saying it “heralds more operations” against the “American occupation.”

The salvos came at a time of increasing tension and fears of a broader regional conflict in the wake of the latest Hamas-Israel war.

 

Source

[Chris 2,180]

Yeah this has the makings of expanding into a regional war for sure.

[Hal 341]

You know , with all the protests going on and growing by the day, and the U.S sending in Military Advisors and Military Medical support , not to mention two Carrier Groups . I am having flashbacks to another era , a time my generation should remember as the way it is playing out is not just coincidental. And where we were at that time didn’t like Americans either ! 
Just a thought …

[Chris 2,180]

Don't worry folks, Kathy is there and she'll fix the problem:

[TTL News 308]

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WASHINGTON (AP) — Declaring that U.S. leadership “holds the world together,” President Joe Biden told Americans on Thursday night the country must deepen its support of Ukraine and Israel in the middle of two vastly different, unpredictable and bloody wars.

Acknowledging that “these conflicts can seem far away,” Biden insisted in a rare Oval Office address that they remain “vital for America’s national security” as he prepared to ask Congress for billions of dollars in military assistance for both countries.

“History has taught us when terrorists don’t pay a price for their terror, when dictators don’t pay a price for their aggression, they cause more chaos and death and more destruction,” Biden said. “They keep going. And the cost and the threat to America and the world keep rising.

 

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He’s expected to ask for $105 billion on Friday, including $60 billion for Ukraine, much of which would replenish U.S. weapons stockpiles provided earlier.

Source

[Ann 264]

US leadership on all levels couldn’t find its way out of a carnival fun house.   60 billion to Ukraine, 14 billion to Israel, 7 billion for Taiwan, 10 billion for humanitarian assistance for both conflicts, and finally 14 billion for US border security, none of which will be used to close and secure that border.
Again the American people come in last with this administration.  

[Hal 341]

And yet our Southern border is wide open , our military is a Charlie Foxtrot , our munitions and equipment stores are depleted! 
Notice I didn’t include Our cost of living or that it’s Our tax dollars funding this doddering old fools feel good policies! All that aside please remember if this continues the next will be Our young people to pay the price because “ old men send young men to die “ ! 

Did I overuse the word “OUR “ , nope it was intentional . Doesn’t it piss you off that Billions of Our dollars are not being used to protect Our interests here in Our Country … it should !! 
Rant over … for now . 

[Adam 375]

bit long but notice the current talking point of "proportionality" being continually pushed, yet the point Mr. Youssef offers showing the disproportionality of years past goes un-answered? though bit sarcastic, he's been likened to the Egyptian Jon Stewart( they apparently are friends) he does make very salient points

[Adam 375]

this is from close to 10 years ago, very relevant to today

[Chris 2,180]

I think the guy in the Piers Morgan clip was WAY too heavy on sarcasm. While I understand the point he was trying to make, he did a poor job of it because of the sarcasm. Are you trying to make a case to me, the viewer, or are you auditioning for a new "Daily Show"?

[KarenK 384]

4 hours ago, Elmira Telegram said:

Source          He’s expected to ask for $105 billion on Friday, including $60 billion for Ukraine, much of which would replenish U.S. weapons stockpiles provided earlier.

Oh HELL no.

[Chris 2,180]

1 minute ago, KarenK said:

Oh HELL no.

C'mon Karen, we have a huge humanitarian and international crisis over there in Israel. What's a 60/40 split ( favoring the place that we've already given billions to ) gonna hurt?

[KarenK 384]

31 minutes ago, Chris said:

C'mon Karen, we have a huge humanitarian and international crisis over there in Israel. What's a 60/40 split ( favoring the place that we've already given billions to ) gonna hurt?

This administration is absolutely out of it's mind.

And as an aside, if these morons in the GOP do not get their shit together soon they are going to become completely irrelevant.  I hope every single one of them gets voted out.

[MsKreed 1,186]

3 hours ago, Chris said:

I think the guy in the Piers Morgan clip was WAY too heavy on sarcasm. While I understand the point he was trying to make, he did a poor job of it because of the sarcasm. Are you trying to make a case to me, the viewer, or are you auditioning for a new "Daily Show"?

Ben Shapiro’s friend made much more rational arguments.

Basam is off his rocker, beyond sarcasm to the POS to poke fun at the deaths on both sides. And whatever “statistics” he claims are on his chart (that we can’t see) can’t be trusted when his other numbers are wildly  – whether intentional or for dramatic effect.

Straight out of the gate, before he waved his chart around, with its alleged historical data......he (falsely) stated that 5,000 innocent Palestinians were killed in the hospital explosion (which, apparently at the time of this interview, the origin had not yet been determined and still trusted Hamas’s claim that it was IDF).

Even if it had turned out to be an IDK missile.... Hamas says 500, not 5,000, and US and other intelligence has indicated that 500 is overstated and more like 150-200 casualties.

[MsKreed 1,186]

5 hours ago, Chris said:

C'mon Karen, we have a huge humanitarian and international crisis over there in Israel. What's a 60/40 split ( favoring the place that we've already given billions to ) gonna hurt?

Not even a 60/40 split. Israel's share is only 14% of the $106.7 Billion.

HERE is the breakdown and details.

In summary:

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$61.4 billion in aid for Ukraine

$14.3 billion in aid for Israel

$13.6 billion to address security at the US-Mexico border

$10 billion for humanitarian assistance (Ukraine, Israel, Palestinians - and immigrants crossing the US southern border)

$7.4 billion for Taiwan and the Indo-Pacific region

 

 

[Hal 341]

5 hours ago, KarenK said:

I hope every single one of them gets voted out.

I will definitely be switching party affiliation from  Republican to whatever , other than Democrat of course . And No more aid in theform of money damn it , especially to Gaza … We all are being held hostage and Biden is facilitating it ! 

[TTL News 308]

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The AP analyzed more than a dozen videos from the moments before, during and after the hospital explosion, as well as satellite imagery and photos. AP’s analysis shows that the rocket that broke up in the air was fired from within Palestinian territory, and that the hospital explosion was most likely caused when part of that rocket crashed to the ground.

Source

[Chris 2,180]

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RAFAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — Israeli warplanes struck targets across Gaza overnight and into Sunday, as well as two airports in Syria and a mosque in the occupied West Bank allegedly used by militants, as the 2-week-old war with Hamas threatened to spiral into a broader conflict.

Source

Syria, Lebanon, and took out a couple mosques along the way? Man this could get even more sporty, and that genie won't go back in to the bottle easily.