On the morning of October 7, 2023, 1,500 Hamas fighters set in motion an attack plan two years in the making as they invaded Israel, leaving 1,354 dead, including 27 Americans. Now Israel is bombing Gaza in anticipation of a land invasion, and 1900 Gazans are dead, including 538 children. What will happen next, and how did we get here? Rhinehold and Vaughn Spargur join me next to discuss the 2023 Israel-Hamas war.
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To give you a sense of perspective, that would be the equivalent of 36,000 Americans dying in a single-day terrorist attack. Over 6,000 were injured, and 150 people were taken hostage, including some Americans. Over 260 young men and women were murdered at an electronic dance music festival alone.
All of this happened on social media. As a tool of humiliation and demoralization, Hamas took the phones of Israeli teens, began livestreams on the child's Facebook, and broadcast the slaughtering of their parents. The nearly naked body of one dead woman, Shani Louk, a young German-Israeli tattoo artist, was shown in the back of a stolen IDF truck being paraded through Gaza as hundreds looked on and cheered her death after she was abducted from the concert. For hours, Israelis stuck in their bomb raid shelters watched deeply personal atrocities unfold. Children killed. Women raped. Soldiers torn out of tanks and beaten.
It was thought that Israel was nearly impenetrable. Using technology, smart fences, the Iron Dome, walls, and rapid response units would keep Israelis safe as they enjoyed the illusion of safety shared by other western democratic societies. For 20 years, Benjamin Netanyahu has implicitly promised that they could have it all, peace, stability, and economic growth in the Middle East. Even US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said last week that "the Middle East region is quieter today than it has been in two decades."
Now that illusion has been shattered much like ours was on 9-11, and Israeli society has reacted much the same. Over 150% of the Israeli Defense Force has volunteered. Soldiers online are begging civilians to stop sending them care packages. Blood banks are full.
Will it react in another way? With an overwhelming force that means it will be occupying a majority-Arab territory?
In anticipation of a ground invasion, Israel has seized the Gaza Strip, cutting off food, water, and electricity, and dropping a catastrophic amount of bombs on the territory, saying that they can no longer aid their enemy.
The Gaza Strip is 141 square miles and 25 miles long, roughly the size of Las Vegas NV or Chattanooga, TN. For reference, Long Island is 118 miles long. While Vegas is home to 646,000, over 2.3 million human beings live in the confines of a territory not quite part of Israel, and not its own state.
Bordered by Israel to the east and north, and Egypt to the southwest, it is the third most densely populated political unit in the world. Given an unusually high fertility rate that peaked in 1991 with each woman having almost 8 babies, "43.5% of the population are 14 or younger and a median age in 2014 of 18, compared to a world average of 28, and 30 in Israel."
One million of them are registered with the UN as refugees. The majority descend from refugees who were driven from or left their homes during the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, in what they refer to as the Nakba, or "catastrophe" in Arabic. Many there are saying that the second Nakba has arrived.
Today, Israel told 1.1 million Gazans they must leave the north for the south. 423,000 Gaza Strip residents had already fled. To where, no one is quite sure since both Israel and Egypt have kept their borders closed to Gazans. Moving a million refugees in a matter of days is an impossibility, especially when there are no camps to visit. Why make that statement?
Another complication: Gaza has one active hospital left, and it is in the North. In total, the country has 2500 hospital beds, and as of this recording, 7500 patients are in critical condition. Children are laid 3 to a bed, with many of them dying of their injuries due to a lack of care. As of this recording, 1900 people are dead, including 538 children. As a father of a 3 month old, my heart broke today to see another father in Gaza holding the lifeless body of his newborn son.
This is where we stand at this time, and unfortunately, the worst may be yet to come. China, Russia, and Arab states like Turkey and Iran have given support to Hamas in their attack. The US sent one aircraft carrier as a deterrent for other actors to engage in the conflict, and President Biden has pledged nearly unlimited support to Israel in terms of weaponry.
Israel has called up 360,000 army reservists and has threatened to ensure that Hamas is totally destroyed. What will happen next and how did we get here? Listen and learn more.
News Sources:
Full YouTube Playlist on Israel and Hamas - https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLfemHamqlQ1n3Hy921tn4uZ1xZMkSD6G2
TV News
Israeli TV Station - i24NEWS - https://www.i24news.tv/en
Qatari state-owned news - Al Jazeera - https://www.aljazeera.com/
Israeli Newspapers
Left - Haaretz - https://www.haaretz.com/
Centrist - The Times of Israel - https://www.timesofisrael.com/
Right - The Jerusalem Post - https://www.jpost.com/
American News Sources
Independent
Anti-War.com - www.Anti-War.com
Long War Journal blog and Generation Jihad Podcast - https://www.longwarjournal.org/
Memri TV - https://www.memri.org/
Leans Palestinian
Democracy Now - https://www.democracynow.org/
Middle East Eye - https://www.middleeasteye.net/
Leans Israeli
Call Me Back podcast by Dan Senor - https://ricochet.com/series/call-me-back/
Ben Shapiro Show - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCnQC_G5Xsjhp9fEJKuIcrSw
The Free Press by Bari Weiss - https://www.thefp.com/
The Dispatch - https://thedispatch.com/
Timelines
Here’s a timeline of Saturday’s attacks and Israel’s retaliation. - https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/08/world/middleeast/timeline-gaza-israel-attacks-hamas.html
Israeli-Palestinian Conflict Timeline - https://world101.cfr.org/understanding-international-system/conflict/israeli-palestinian-conflict-timeline
Hamas attack: A historical timeline of conflict between Israel, Arabs - https://www.kiro7.com/news/trending/hamas-attack-historical-timeline-conflict-between-israel-arabs/CGSDDTKCO5H7VLYMQKLPGE3ZI4/
Recommended Articles, Podcasts and Videos
MUST LISTEN: The Hostage Dilemma – with Haviv Rettig Gur - https://ricochet.com/podcast/call-me-back/israel-at-war-the-hostage-dilemma-with-haviv-rettig-gur/
The history of Hamas, and its likely grim future – with Jonathan Schanzer - https://ricochet.com/podcast/call-me-back/the-history-of-hamas-and-its-likely-grim-future-with-jonathan-schanzer/
Max Abrahms: Historic Escalation in the Israel-Hamas War - https://reason.com/podcast/2023/10/13/max-abrahms-historic-escalation-in-the-israel-hamas-war/
Israel Goes to War - https://thedispatch.com/podcast/remnant/israel-goes-to-war-2/
No Amount of ‘Context’ Justifies Killing Babies - https://thedispatch.com/newsletter/gfile/no-amount-of-context-justifies-killing-babies
The Moral Corruption of Victim-Blaming - https://thedispatch.com/article/the-moral-corruption-of-victim-blaming/
Senior Hamas Official Ali Baraka: We Have Been Secretly Planning The Invasion For Two Years; Russia Sympathizes With Us, Benefits From U.S. Embroilment In This War; Any Swap Deal Should Include Hamas Prisoners In Europe And The U.S. - https://www.memri.org/tv/senior-hamas-official-ali-baraka-prisoner-swap-america-planning-invasion-two-years-russia-support
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