[Post credited to author with fair use content from Wikipedia, The New Republic, +972 and al-Jazeera.]

Israel bombed eight countries in the last month, preemptive strikes with no provocation. Iraq, Kuwait, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, United Arab Emirates, Oman and, most recently, Iran, supported by the USA.

'More than 50,000 troops, 200 fighters, two aircraft carriers and bombers from the United States are participating in this operation, and more capabilities on the way,' Admiral Brad Cooper said in a video address. 'These forces bring a massive amount of firepower, representing built up by the US and the Middle East in a generation.'

US commanders in “Operation Epic Fury” are telling their troops that this is a biblicly-sanctioned holy war to bring about the ‘end times’. Trump “has been anointed by Jesus to light the signal fire in Iran to cause Armadeen and mark his return to earth”.

What the <deleted> <deleted>!

War on Iran is “all part of God’s divine plan” and references numerous citations in the Book of Revelations and the imminent return of Jesus Christ. This is what the Jews have been waiting for for millennia! The nuts are falling out of their trees!

"Greater Israel" (Eretz Yisrael HaShlema) is a Zionist, often irredentist, vision for an expanded state stretching between the Nile and Euphrates rivers, encompassing Palestine, Jordan, Lebanon, and parts of Syria, Iraq, and Egypt. Rooted in biblical interpretations, it serves as a far-right ideological goal for a Jewish homeland.

On Sunday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu referenced the Torah, comparing Iran with an ancient biblical enemy, the Amalekites. The “Amalek” are known in Jewish tradition as representing “pure evil”.

The biblical story of Amalek claims that God commanded the Israelites to murder every man, woman, child and animal in a pagan nation that attacked them – to justify Israel’s mass murder of civilians in Iran, just as it did in Gaza.” God is enlisted in this conflict, as with many others, to support acts of violence.

Trump ally, Christian Zionist Pastor John Hagee predicts Russia, Turkey, "what's left of Iran" and "groups of Islamics" will invade Israel, and be destroyed by God through a combined attack of earthquakes, hailstones and friendly fire. Whoo-ee! Sounds like quite a show!

110 commanders, White, Muslims and Jews have made official complaints to the US watchdog Military Religious Freedom Foundation.

Last month, Mike Huckabee, the US ambassador to Israel, told US conservative commentator, Tucker Carlson, in an interview that it would be “fine” is Israel took “essentially the entire Middle East“ because Israel was promised the land in the Bible.

“We’re playing for keeps. Our warfighters have maximum authorities granted personally by the president and yours truly. Our rules of engagement are bold, precise, and designed to unleash American power, not shackle it,” Hegseth said, attempting to speak menacingly. “This was never meant to be a fair fight, and it is not a fair fight. We are punching them while they’re down, which is exactly how it should be.”

Hegseth proudly crowed Monday that this war with Iran has “no stupid rules of engagement, no nation-building quagmire, no democracy-building exercise, no politically correct wars,” meaning that “playing for keeps” doesn’t mean a proper transition of power.

Israel started attacking Iran on June 13, 2025 with what it called “preemptive” strikes on nuclear facilities, military sites and infrastructure. Israel also assassinated scientists and military commanders.

And soon enough the US joined in, but in the war of words that followed, questions arise over what is preemptive and what is simply illegal.

Israel’s quintessential “preemptive” strike occurred in 1967. To legally justify the six day war, Israel accused Egypt of mobilising its army against Israel. Egypt, as we;; as Syria, Jordan and Iraq were crushed.

On June 7, 1981, Israel launched Operation Opera, a surprise air strike by eight F-16s that destroyed Iraq’s Osirak nuclear reactor near Baghdad. Again, billed as preemptive, Israel called it a way to keep Saddam Hussein from acquiring nuclear weapons.

was a nuclear plant.

Israel’s bombing of a suspected nuclear reactor in Deir Az Zor, Syria, in September 2007 followed a similar pattern, secrecy, jets and a destroyed facility—in this case, one that Syria denied.

Since about 2008, Israel has targeted Syria with hundreds of air strikes against what it say are often Iranian and Hezbollah assets—claims which are often impossible to corroborate.

Israel has also used “preemptive cyberattacks. In 2010, the Stuxnet worm infected Iran’s Natanz facility and destroyed centrifuges for refining nuclear fuel.

Israel is, of course, going to reap the fallout by destabilising the entire region. Sooner or later, the US won’t be bailing them out. There are consequences to waging war. Israel tries to explain itself—hasbara—to justify its wars.

Since May 1948, Israel has had no fewer than 23 major wars with its neighbours, some lasting for years.

• 1948 Jewish and Arab militias’ civil war. This established Israel’s Green Line in an armistice between Israel and Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria.

• 1950s-1960s Palestinian attacks and Israeli reprisals by the IDF to combat Arab guerrillas from neighbouring countries targeting civilians and soldiers. Israel’s strategy was a high ‘blood cost’ to act as future deterrence. We can see how that panned out.

• 1956 Suez Crisis. The Suez Canal was nationalised by Egypt. Militaries of Israel, UK, Britain, France attacked Egypt with the goal of annexing the Sinai Peninsula and claiming the Suez Canal. Egypt stills owns and operates the Suez Canal.

• 1967 Six-Day War. Israel versus Egypt, Jordan and Syria. Iraq, Saudi arabia, Kuwait, and Algeria lent troops.  Israel territory was expanded to the Purple Line, annexing the West Bank from Jordan, Golan Heights from Syria and Gaza from Egypt in an obvious act of imperialism, land theft that has continued until the present day.

• 1967-1970 War of Attrition. Israel versus the Egyptian Republic, USSR, Jordan, Syria and the Palestine Liberation Organisation to reclaim stolen land.

• 1973 Yom Kippur War. Israel versus a coalition of Arab states led by Egypt and Syria to reclaim stolen land.

• 1971-1982 Palestinian Insurgency in Southern Lebanon.  Israel lauched its first invasion of Lebanon after the PLO tried to reclaim Galilee.

• 1982 Lebanon War. Israel invaded south Lebanon to expel the PLO.

• 1982-2000 18 years war by the IDF against Lebanese Christian proxy militia against Lebanese Muslim gurrillas supported by Iranian-backed Hezbollah.

• 1987-1993 First Intifada. Palestinian uprising against Israel in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

• 2000-2005 Second Intifada. Another Palestinian uprising with intensified violence.

• 2006 Israel-Hezbollah War .Abduction of two Israeli soldiers. UN mandated ceasefire after which Israel lifted its naval blockade  of Lebanon. Israel was still listening to the UN.

• 2008-2009 Gaza War (Operation Cast Lead—pretty aggressive name, eh). Three weeks Israel versus Hamas. Surprise air strike in responce to Hamas rockets. Israel attacked military and civilian targets, police stations and govt buildings. (Hamas is nothing new.)

• 2012 Gaza War (Operation Pillar of Defence [sic]). IDF offensive on the Gaza Strip.

• 2014 Gaza Wat (Operation Protective Edge). Israeli offensive after collapse of peace talk and plans for a coalition govt in Palestine. Kidnapping and murder of three Israeli teenagers followed by the same on a Palestinian teenager—the old eye for an eye.

• 2011 Syrian Civil War. Israeli airstrikes on Iranian and Hezvollah forces. Israel invaded Syria in 1024.

• 2011-2017 Israel declares strict neutrality but…

• 2013 Iran in Syria (Operation Chess). Israeli air and missile strikes on Iranian & Hezbollah facilities.

• 2021 Israel-Palestine crisis (Operations Guardian of the Walls—it’s a wailing wall). Riots between Jews & Arabs in Israeli cities. Hamas fired  into Isreal and Israel sent in airstrikes.

• 2023- present Gaza War (Operation Iron Swords) .Hamas killing & hostage-taking at music festival in Israel. Israel had a devastating bombing campaign in retaliation, causing a humanitarian crisis and ongoing famine in the Gaza Strip. Experts accuse Israel of genocide.

• 2024 Israeli invasion of Lebanon (Operation Northern Arrows).

• 2024-present Israeli invasion of Syria (Operation Arrow of Bashan).

• 2025 Twelve-Day War (Operation Rising Lion). Israel’s surprise attack on Iran, bombing military and purported nuclear facilities. Assassinated military leaders, nuclear scientists and politicians, killing civilians and destroying Iran’s air defences.

Iran responded with missiles and suicide drones, hitting civilian populations, a hospital, military and govt sites in Israel. The US then bombed Iran’s purported nuclear development.

The UN’s IAEA declared Iran non-compliant with its nuclear obligations. Israel developed its own nuclear arsenal in 1966 and 1967 in secret and has never admitted to nukes.

And just today, Hezbollah sent rockets from Lebanon into Israel. You'd think Israel would be too busy in Iran but, ever vigilant, they bombed the hell out of Lebanon, again. It's a really relevant question why Lebanon, a multi-ethnic society of Christians and Muslims, doesn't eliminate Hezbollah. What is Lebanon getting out of this deal?

What is Hezbollah holding over Lebanon that it can tolerate being bombed by Israel again and again and again? Which political faction in power is sheltering and supporting Hezbollah despite the suffering of their own people? Lebanon was once called the Riviera of the Middle East. Its Bekaa Valley grew some of the best hash on the planet.

The IDF invaded and is already occupying parts of Lebanon after the strike.

There are an awful lots of scars from all these operations. One cannot whitewash Israel’s Muslim neighbours. In many cases, they attacked Israel first. But Israel’s responce was, in nearly every case, military overreach and in even more cases involved Israeli preemptive strikes contrary to the Rules of Engagement.

With its superior military force and nuclear threat, Israel has always “won” these wars so far. But at what expence?

The United States has had only 17 years of peace since 1776. Israel has had almost none. Would you like to live like this???

The US and Israel are morally-bankrupt partners in crime. Crimes against humanity and illegal wars unsanctioned by the respective countries’s legislators, a clear violation of international law.

Yeah, that's a lot of wars.

Maybe it's high time aliens blow up the entire planet.

It's a failed project.

1 hour ago, unblocktheplanet said:

Israel

The worst thing to happen in the 1940s. ☹️

4 hours ago, Packer said:

The worst thing to happen in the 1940s. ☹️

Israel was created by the British Empire and it is probably still controlled by them and/or the US.

Who was really behind the Rabin murder?

Israel may be one of the biggest scams and conspiracies in the history of the world.

Oh wait .... conspiracies don't exist ... ooops.

Because it was sold as a "safe haven for Jewish people", but it does not appear that it was ever intended to be a safe haven, but rather a military outpost for the UK and maybe even American empires to have control and power in the Middle East.

Maybe the only solution is to get off oil.

And then you will see all problems in the Middle East magically disappear.

<>

Has the US, or Israel for that matter bombed any Iranian oilfields yet?

I bet some of Trump's other conditions (apart from being involved in the choice of leader) will be:

1. The US gets all the rebuilding contracts.

2. The US gets their oil companies involved in the drilling and sale of the oil.

A repeat of the Saddam Hussein shakedown.

8 minutes ago, phetphet said:

Has the US, or Israel for that matter bombed any Iranian oilfields yet?

I bet some of Trump's other conditions (apart from being involved in the choice of leader) will be:

1. The US gets all the rebuilding contracts.

2. The US gets their oil companies involved in the drilling and sale of the oil.

A repeat of the Saddam Hussein shakedown.

I agree!

Just another "rinse and repeat" shakedown!

46 minutes ago, scottiejohn said:

I agree!

Just another "rinse and repeat" shakedown!

Fabulous. You object to us and the Israelis controlling the world do you? Got an alternative?

5 minutes ago, Yagoda said:

Fabulous. You object to us and the Israelis controlling the world do you? Got an alternative?

Each country being allowed to do it's own thing in its own national interest would be a start! without the orange blob doing a TACO every day!

4 minutes ago, scottiejohn said:

Each country being allowed to do it's own thing in its own national interest would be a start! without the orange blob doing a TACO every day!

How does President Trump allow that?

What is a TACO?

1 hour ago, Yagoda said:

How does President Trump allow that?

What is a TACO?

He tries not to allow non US counties to follow their own paths!

If you do not know what TACO means WRT to TRUMP that you have been totally brainwashed by the MAGA movement!

18 minutes ago, scottiejohn said:

He tries not to allow non US counties to follow their own paths!

Which countries? LOL

18 minutes ago, scottiejohn said:

If you do not know what TACO means WRT to TRUMP that you have been totally brainwashed by the MAGA movement!

Naw I dont pay attention to screechy social media

1 hour ago, Yagoda said:

How does President Trump allow that?

What is a TACO?

It's an acronym for "Trump always chickens out."

6 minutes ago, Yagoda said:

Which countries? LOL

Naw I dont pay attention to screechy social media

Which countries?; Every country except The USA!

I dont pay attention to screechy social media; That is because your MAGA controlled braincell does not allow you to do so!

Rogue state ? Yes of course but with the support of which other large western country since the last 80 years ? I'll give you a hint. It was long before the Donald took over.

42 minutes ago, Evil Penevil said:

It's an acronym for "Trump always chickens out."

Is that what the ByeAtollah said as he looked upward?

4 hours ago, Yagoda said:

Fabulous. You object to us and the Israelis controlling the world do you? Got an alternative?

Yag, you can't even control yourself.

Dahm Pete hope we find those

Nuclear WMD soon ....

The stock market is tanking due to this war and the tarrif effects finally kicking in. There will be a big TACO soon.

I think the USA is currently a rogue state too. There doesn't seem to be anything important going via congress, it's a one-man dictatorship who has no regard for the law.

Both USA & Israel are rogue states currently and I don't know how Trump can keep a straight face when he calls himself the peace president.

In my opinion industry has become the new terrorist state in the Middle East. They seem to have forgotten many of the lessons of the Holocaust, and I am not sure that their long-term outlook is sustainable.

Israel must be very careful at this point as they are losing support around the world, by the day it's gotten to the point where there are very few nations who are still supportive of Israel, and the IDF, and even many Americans no longer support them. If they lost they support, that would put them in dire straits, and very isolated. But, they deserve that, in my opinion.

Forty-one percent of Americans now say they sympathize more with the Palestinians in the Middle East situation, while 36% sympathize more with the Israelis. The five-percentage-point difference is not statistically significant, but it contrasts with a clear lead for the Israelis only a year ago (46% vs. 33%) and larger leads over the prior 24 years.

From 2001 to 2025, Israelis consistently held double-digit leads in Americans’ Middle East sympathies, with the gap averaging 43 points between 2001 and 2018. However, public opinion began narrowing in 2019, several years before the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack on Israel and the subsequent war in Gaza. The cumulative effect of gradual changes in U.S. attitudes since then has led to the Israelis no longer being viewed more sympathetically.

The 57% of Americans in favor of an independent Palestinian state nearly matches a reading from 2003 as the highest Gallup has measured.

Independents’ Sympathies Shift Toward Palestinians in Past Year

Americans’ shifting sympathies in the Middle East situation this year are mostly driven by changes among political independents. By 41% to 30%, independents say they sympathize more with the Palestinians than the Israelis, whereas in all prior years, they were more sympathetic toward the Israelis, including by 42% to 34% last year.

Democrats’ sympathies haven’t changed significantly over the past year, having already flipped strongly toward the Palestinians in 2025 after first tilting that way in 2023. Currently, 65% of Democrats say their sympathies lie more with the Palestinians, while 17% say they sympathize more with the Israelis.

Views among those aged 35 to 54 have also shifted decisively. In 2026, 46% say they sympathize more with the Palestinians, compared with 28% who sympathize more with the Israelis. This is a near reversal of opinion among this age group compared with 2025, when 45% gave more sympathy to the Israelis and 33% to the Palestinians.

Among adults aged 55 and older, 49% sympathize more with the Israelis and 31% with the Palestinians, the first time since 2005 that less than half of older Americans have said they sympathize more with the Israelis. The 18-point lead for the Israelis also represents the narrowest gap in sympathies recorded for this age group.

U.S. public opinion toward the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has shifted in the past 12 months, and for the first time in Gallup’s annual measurement since 2001, Americans’ sympathies no longer lie more with the Israelis than the Palestinians. This shift reflects substantial movement among independents, now joining Democrats in expressing more sympathy for the Palestinian people.

This leads me to wonder if the state of Israel is truly sustainable in the long term especially with the extreme and aggressive policies of recent years.

Israelis No Longer Ahead in Americans' Middle East Sympathies 0lahttps://share.google/fPaimM1qnWJZ7pLVs

1 hour ago, spidermike007 said:

In my opinion industry has become the new terrorist state in the Middle East. They seem to have forgotten many of the lessons of the Holocaust, and I am not sure that their long-term outlook is sustainable.

Israel must be very careful at this point as they are losing support around the world, by the day it's gotten to the point where there are very few nations who are still supportive of Israel, and the IDF, and even many Americans no longer support them. If they lost they support, that would put them in dire straits, and very isolated. But, they deserve that, in my opinion.

Forty-one percent of Americans now say they sympathize more with the Palestinians in the Middle East situation, while 36% sympathize more with the Israelis. The five-percentage-point difference is not statistically significant, but it contrasts with a clear lead for the Israelis only a year ago (46% vs. 33%) and larger leads over the prior 24 years.

From 2001 to 2025, Israelis consistently held double-digit leads in Americans’ Middle East sympathies, with the gap averaging 43 points between 2001 and 2018. However, public opinion began narrowing in 2019, several years before the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack on Israel and the subsequent war in Gaza. The cumulative effect of gradual changes in U.S. attitudes since then has led to the Israelis no longer being viewed more sympathetically.

The 57% of Americans in favor of an independent Palestinian state nearly matches a reading from 2003 as the highest Gallup has measured.

Independents’ Sympathies Shift Toward Palestinians in Past Year

Americans’ shifting sympathies in the Middle East situation this year are mostly driven by changes among political independents. By 41% to 30%, independents say they sympathize more with the Palestinians than the Israelis, whereas in all prior years, they were more sympathetic toward the Israelis, including by 42% to 34% last year.

Democrats’ sympathies haven’t changed significantly over the past year, having already flipped strongly toward the Palestinians in 2025 after first tilting that way in 2023. Currently, 65% of Democrats say their sympathies lie more with the Palestinians, while 17% say they sympathize more with the Israelis.

Views among those aged 35 to 54 have also shifted decisively. In 2026, 46% say they sympathize more with the Palestinians, compared with 28% who sympathize more with the Israelis. This is a near reversal of opinion among this age group compared with 2025, when 45% gave more sympathy to the Israelis and 33% to the Palestinians.

Among adults aged 55 and older, 49% sympathize more with the Israelis and 31% with the Palestinians, the first time since 2005 that less than half of older Americans have said they sympathize more with the Israelis. The 18-point lead for the Israelis also represents the narrowest gap in sympathies recorded for this age group.

U.S. public opinion toward the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has shifted in the past 12 months, and for the first time in Gallup’s annual measurement since 2001, Americans’ sympathies no longer lie more with the Israelis than the Palestinians. This shift reflects substantial movement among independents, now joining Democrats in expressing more sympathy for the Palestinian people.

This leads me to wonder if the state of Israel is truly sustainable in the long term especially with the extreme and aggressive policies of recent years.

Israelis No Longer Ahead in Americans' Middle East Sympathies 0lahttps://share.google/fPaimM1qnWJZ7pLVs

I meant to say Israel.