Morch

As in, 'if you don't know, vote no'?

Well, he IS the Chosen One....

Large barrage of rockets fired at Tel Aviv region as US senators give press conference https://www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog_entry/large-barrage-of-rockets-fired-at-tel-aviv-region-as-us-senators-give-press-conference/ Timing is everything.....

Israeli online news venues and social media are flooded with clips from Hamas helmet cams. A whole lot of images, a whole lot of talk. More importantly for the future, though - they keep filming each other. I bet that somewhere in Israel, and in the USA, the UK and a couple of EU countries, intel officers are hard at work matching names to faces.

If Israel wanted to kill most or all of the people in the Gaza Strip, it would have no trouble doing so. To date, this did not happen. And even now, measured on a ratio of casualties per day, the recent Hamas attack comes way on top. Israel is not intent on killing Palestinian civilians. If so, there would be no evacuation order, and no reprieve.

Were 'medical facilities, ambulances and medical personnel' actually targeted? Or are you making this stuff up? Seems that for you anyone that gets hurt is 'targeted'.

'Criminal' in your opinion, which is biased, uninformed, and doesn't carry all that much weight on its own. News flash, life is not simple - if it's an option between bombing a city full of civilians or urging them to evacuate, the latter may not be nice, the former could be a called a crime. Do you suppose the people of Gaza would prefer to stay and make your point for you? They voted on this already, heading south. Maybe in some perfect world, there are no such choices to be made. Let us know if you find it. You have no idea into the motivations of the IDF - you're just making things up now. And so far, Egypt did not even open the border, so how would they get to that fabled tent city in the Sinai desert anyway? You've already decided how things are, why they came about, and what the outcome would be - without presenting much by way of knowledge, common sense or objectivity.

I think it's more the former than the latter. The information required to carry the attack did not require high level of security clearance. Most of the information was practically out there, or pretty easy to get. Still a security and intelligence flop, obviously. There's something I forgot to add to the previous list. Long ago, a former USA Ambassador was asked how he got access to information during his tenure, and his reply was that whenever the need arose, he held a cocktail party. Israelis, especially politicians, talk. A lot. Think Trump. Sorry, dog is restless - lost my train of thought.. The Iron Dome (and similar longer range systems) worked alright. It's a statistics game, and both side make constant modifications to overcome each other's efforts. If it was not in place, things would be worse. The 'secure borders' thing, yes and no. It is almost an axiom that an army behind walls tends to get complacent. One Israeli Op-Ed framed it as 'everyone wants to be a hero, no one wants guard duty'. No one answer to that - walls are useful, but to a point. IMO, what took a hit was the notion that Hamas could be handled, pacified, reasoned with. Failure on strategic, tactical and political levels.

Not a mystery, really. There were plenty of documents taken from captured and dead Hamas 'militants', so analyzing what they knew etc. didn't take too long. A whole lot of the stuff had to do with watching what Israel does and how. Troop movements, shifts, number of troops and equipment. Much information could simply be researched on the internet - maps, satellite images, articles about units, bases, activity and so on. Specs of some military and surveillance systems weren't too hard to get as well. They employed small drones here and there, tried signal surveillance (mainly on tactical level), and attempted to contact soldiers on the internet (romance/sex scams etc.) for information. There's a lot of talk on Israeli social media right now about lefty spies, collaborators and so on. This is mainly driven by Russian/Iranian bots, with enthusiastic cooperation from hardcore Netanyahu fans (his wife's spokeswoman will get the boot for that in a day or two, for example). In all probability, there was no major breach of security in this sense. At most, tidbits (which were surely helpful) and maybe some info from Palestinian workers in Israel and local Bedouins. The other angle, which is far more likely, would be Iranian aid. Iran intelligence services target Israel for years, and had some success, so there's certainly stuff they could share. Perhaps more sophisticated visual and signal intel. Not to forget input from Hezbollah, who's been planning and practicing for similar action. There were some disturbing things they did on a tactical level, which implied some of the above - ambushing one chopper, and shooting it down (no casualties). They also knew better than to start running when attack choppers came, so weren't immediately identified as Hamas. It's a 9/11 on this level as well.

Israel resumes water supply to southern Gaza after U.S. pressure https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/israel-resumes-water-supply-to-southern-gaza-after-us-pressure/ar-AA1ieW8g Some reprieve, at least.

There were definitely bad and even horrible things done during the 1948 war. By Arabs as well, of course. One side accepted the UN proposal, won the war the other side commenced, and built a country. The other side chose only rejectionism and a futile 'struggle'. People are to be, at least somewhat, accountable for their choices. As for the rest - both became prime minister many years later on. Sometimes that happens, and not only in Israel. Guess Arafat wasn't a terrorist in your book? Or some of those Fatah members waiting for Abbas to drop dead? Or Hamas leaders? All cleared by you?

My comment was that if things were as that poster claimed, the death toll would have been higher. Don't twist my words and meaning. You do realize that the Hamas managed to inflict about half that number of casualties, in a day, right? Israel's aerial campaign is going on for about a week now. If Israel was on a rampage, again, the death toll would be higher.

I guess I'll have to repeat again - what people imagine international law is on such matters, and what it actually is are distinct things. As for no warning etc. - if you say so.... I an sure that carrying out this numbers of sorties would include at least some which can be later prosecuted, there's always that. But as for wholesale labeling of everything Israel does as a war crime etc. - that's probably not going to hold. I will tell you this, though, putting your bunker right next to a hospital, or placing an arms depot under a school are definitely not allowed. Don't see you airing much issues with Hamas placing their facilities among residents to begin with. Think how much less destruction and loss of life this could save, eh? As for your Tel Aviv example, it's simple - each and every time Hamas launches a rocket, no matter if it hits - that's a war crime. See, you can't launch indiscriminate armaments against civilian populations. While it may sound like the exact opposite of deliberate targeting, it's considered in a similar manner.

You have no idea if they were all civilians. That's maybe what the Palestinians say, on past rounds of fighting they routinely inflated casualty figures, and claimed all were civilians - sometimes having to backpedal when caught. Doubt this will be any different. Already linked reports to specific Hamas military leaders being targeted, and in one case captured. You're welcome to look up topic.

People getting killed doesn't imply they were deliberately targeted.

If so, how come the casualty lists are not much longer? Could it be anything with you're 'account' of things being incorrect? Or maybe that Gazans have more common sense than to listen to Hamas leadership and clear south?

There are reports of a senior IRGC intelligence officer being the target of an assassination attempt in Tehran (Arabic, probably a report in English soon). Hard to believe this is not tied to current events. Not going to do anything for calming things down, but if he was involved, that's one way of settling a bill quickly. On a similar note (sort of) - there are at least two top tier Hamas leaders residing in Qatar - Ismail Haniyeh, and Khaled Mashal. I wonder how tight their security was, and how much tighter it got now. On another level, the USA usually turned a blind eye to them being hosted by Qatar, but with that many American casualties and hostages, maybe they'll apply some pressure. Qatari PM seemed a bit stressed when something along this line was vaguely hinted at.

Most previous rounds of fighting between Israel and the Hamas, saw a similar pattern: Hamas attack, Israel responds. Initial mild condemnation of Hamas, with partial international participation, getting more vocal and changing to criticize Israel. This time is different - at least with the almost wall to wall condemnation of Hamas, and the relative break Israel gets to conduct it's response (the trend will shift, but slower than past times). I think this represents a realization that this was no ordinary attack, not yet another round of fighting, not something which could be answered by the usual means. A whole lot of foreign (or dual citizenship) citizens were abducted or killed (last tally is over 250). That makes more of an international impact, even without the gruesome manner of the attack. This was Israel's 9/11. Not just another day in the Middle East. The response would be proportionate to that. Now, a whole lot can be said about Israel. No angels, sure. But they don't go for the sort of thing done by Hamas on this attack. This goes way beyond what's even remotely acceptable. It's not same same.

Yes. Because it doesn't say much about what things the money is used for, what value it represents, and how much of it goes to whom. There's no indication of how significant is the sum in question vs. Iran's annual budget, for example. This topic deals with the current situation, ie the Hamas attack. The issue of the 'released' funds was brought up (rightly or not) in that context. I have already addressed the point of this 'release' not being directly tied to the attack. You now seek to expand the argument further, and way beyond the scope of my comments. Hilarious to think Iran's actions and options rely on the monies referred to. They managed quite fine in doing all sort of stuff even during Trump's term as well.

In 1947, Arabs comprised about 60% of the total population under the British Mandate. According to the Partition Plan of the same year, the area designated as the Jewish State, the population was divided - 55% Jewish, and 45% Arab. The area allocated to the Arab State was homogeneous with almost no Jews included. Granted, there were large immigration waves later on, but the account should include the Naqba - hundreds of thousands Arabs were displaced - some ran away, some driven away - the end result being the same, demographically. This significantly changed the demographic balance. The 6-day war came much later, and had several underlying causes.

Nothing much, I think. In Hebrew Benjamin will be pronounced Binyamin.

What 'genocide'?

This is happening now. This is a real situation. You want to start theorizing about what's the absolute 'right' thing? Or maybe let them people get away, and discuss it later? So noble of some posters here to take such a heroic stand.... Why didn't Hamas invest in bomb shelters for the Gazans? Why are Hamas operatives and leaders safely (for now) underground? Why are other Hamas leaders urging the same nonsense while living in the Gulf, Turkey and Lebanon? Why aren't their immediate families in the Gaza Strip? Israel got it's own pack of sins, sure - but laying it all on Israel is way off mark.

There is no intentional targeting of civilians. No serious source claims this. If it was true, casualty figures would be way way higher. To equate - the death toll inflicted on Israel during the recent Hamas attack was far more intense. Consider this: Hamas carried out it's attack knowing full well Israel will respond in force. There were no measures taken to warn or protect the populace, and now Hamas even calls on the to remain in harm's way or even tries to prevent them from doing so.

There is nothing said about permanent removal. There is nothing said about Israel permanently taking charge of the Gaza Strip. Citizens are urged to evacuate as to save lives. Weak.