The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly

 

The good:

Buying concert tickets is a drag, as Taylor Swift fans know all too well.

When tickets first went on sale for her highly anticipated Eras Tour in November 2022, fans agonized over hours-long queues and frozen screens before Ticketmaster’s website ultimately crashed. Many failed to procure tickets, which were ultimately sold on the secondary market for as much as $11,000.

In the wake of that fiasco, the Department of Justice opened an investigation of Ticketmaster’s parent company, Live Nation Entertainment. On Thursday, it filed a lawsuit seeking to break up Live Nation, accusing it of operating an illegal monopoly through anticompetitive behavior that has harmed everyone from consumers to venues to artists.

"It is time to break it up," Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a press conference Thursday.

The lawsuit claims that Live Nation controls about 60 percent of the market for concert promotions and manages more than 400 artists. Through Ticketmaster, it also controls about 70 percent of the market for ticketing and live events and more than 80 percent of major concert primary ticketing.

"Artists and fans as well as the countless people and other services that support them suffer from the loss of dynamism and growth that competition would inevitably usher in," the complaint in New York federal court states...

It's been a while since we bought tickets for a concert, but any time the government acts to protect the interests of the general public, it's a good day. 

The bad:

A Papua New Guinea government official has told the United Nations more than 2,000 people were believed to have been buried alive by Friday’s landslide and has formally asked for international help.

The government figure is roughly triple the U.N. estimate of 670 killed by the landslide in the South Pacific island nation’s mountainous interior. The remains of only six people had been recovered so far.

In a letter seen by The Associated Press to the United Nations resident coordinator dated Sunday, the acting director of the South Pacific island nation’s National Disaster Center Luseta Laso Mana said the landslide “buried more than 2000 people alive” and caused “major destruction” at Yambali village in the Enga province.  [snip]

The government estimates Papua New Guinea’s population at around 10 million people, although a U.N. study, based on data including satellite photographs of roof tops, estimated in 2022 it could be as high as 17 million. An accurate census has not been held in the nation in decades.

The landslide had also buried a 200-meter (650-foot) stretch of the province’s main highway under debris 6 to 8 meters (20 to 26 feet) deep which creates a major obstacle to relief workers...

Until yesterday, when a single excavator was put into service, rescuers were trying to dig out the victims with shovels and farm tools.  Awful.

The ugly:

Radical Israeli settlers have expanded their attacks on aid trucks passing through the West Bank this month, blocking food from reaching Gaza as humanitarian groups warn that the enclave is sinking deeper into famine.

Groups of settler youth are tailing relief convoys, setting up checkpoints and interrogating drivers. In some cases, far-right attackers have ransacked and burned trucks and beaten Palestinian drivers, leaving at least two hospitalized.

The assailants use a web of publicly accessible WhatsApp groups to track the trucks and coordinate attacks, providing a window into their activities. Working off what they say are tips from Israeli soldiers and police, in addition to the public, members pore over photos to work out which vehicles might be carrying aid to Gaza and mobilize local supporters to block them.

An attack on Thursday showed the system in action: Users in one WhatsApp group with more than 800 members began posting about a flatbed truck loaded with sugar, sharing photos from the road as they followed it.

“The truck supplying Hamas stopped in front of Evyatar!” said 23-year-old Yosef de Bresser, referring to an Israeli outpost south of the Palestinian city of Nablus.

De Bresser is a leader in the “We Won’t Forget” movement, which set up protest camps at the Kerem Shalom crossing between Israel and Gaza earlier this year and runs several of the WhatsApp groups targeting aid trucks.

“Come join the blockade!” he wrote. Others answered the call.

The flatbed was ransacked, its load strewn across the road, according to images posted later in the group — one of two sugar trucks vandalized by settlers that day. De Bresser said the waybills — which did not show a destination — proved that the truck was headed to Gaza...

Hamas isn't being supplied by these aid trucks, though the radical settlers likely believe every Palestinian man, woman and child is "Hamas."  Whether through bombs or starvation, the object is the same.  They want Palestinians driven from all the lands they consider to be the historic homeland of the Jewish people, including Gaza and the West Bank. And violence by these settlers is rarely punished, many of whom have been called up as reservists and are now fighting in Gaza.  Trump buddy Netanyahu and his radical war cabinet have dissipated international sympathy for Israel after the murderous Hamas attacks of October 7, and in the process are creating 10 terrorists for every civilian killed and irretrievably damaging Israel's standing in the world for generations to come.

QOTD -- Parting Ways

 

"... Biden needs the fighting in Gaza to subside not only for the sake of his reelection campaign but also because his overall Middle East strategy requires it. He wants to begin negotiations with Saudi Arabia and other Arab partners that would lead to recognition of Israel and moves toward Palestinian statehood.

"But for Netanyahu, an end to the fighting would bring a reckoning with the rage among Israelis over his government’s failure to prevent the Oct. 7 attack, and possibly new elections. Right-wing members of his coalition have threatened to bring down his government if he failed to move on Rafah and keep his promise to destroy Hamas — a goal the U.S. government sees as unrealistic, especially in the absence of a plausible day-after plan.

"If Netanyahu is thrown out of power, his trial on corruption charges would resume..." -- E.J. Dionne, Jr., in the Washington Post, laying out the dynamic between Biden's and Netanyahu's political and strategic interests.  The international goodwill and support Israel enjoyed at the beginning of its operations against Hamas has been seriously damaged, likely for a generation or more -- all for the sake of the political career (and freedom from jail) of a Trumpy politician and the ultra- extremists whose support he needs.  Biden's belated "tough love" is highly unlikely to sway them (Netanyahu has vowed to go it alone in his campaign to level Gaza).  The people of Israel are the ones who ultimately must deliver the reckoning, and the sooner the better.

Biden: Munitions Halt If Rafah Invaded

 

The U.S. won't continue to underwrite far- right Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu's stockpile of heavy munitions if the Trump- adjacent PM orders a major invasion of the city of Rafah:

President Joe Biden said for the first time Wednesday he would halt some shipments of American weapons to Israel – which he acknowledged have been used to kill civilians in Gaza – if Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu orders a major invasion of the city of Rafah.

“Civilians have been killed in Gaza as a consequence of those bombs and other ways in which they go after population centers,” Biden told CNN’s Erin Burnett in an exclusive interview on “Erin Burnett OutFront,” referring to 2,000-pound bombs that Biden paused shipments of last week.

“I made it clear that if they go into Rafah – they haven’t gone in Rafah yet – if they go into Rafah, I’m not supplying the weapons that have been used historically to deal with Rafah, to deal with the cities – that deal with that problem,” Biden said.

The president’s announcement that he was prepared to condition American weaponry on Israel’s actions amounts to a turning point in the seven-month conflict between Israel and Hamas. And his acknowledgement that American bombs had been used to kill civilians in Gaza was a stark recognition of the United States’ role in the war.  [snip]

“We’re not walking away from Israel’s security. We’re walking away from Israel’s ability to wage war in those areas,” Biden said.

Biden said while the US would continue to provide defensive weapons to Israel, including for its Iron Dome air defense system, other shipments would end should a major ground invasion of Rafah begin. 

“We’re going to continue to make sure Israel is secure in terms of Iron Dome and their ability to respond to attacks that came out of the Middle East recently,” he said. “But it’s, it’s just wrong. We’re not going to – we’re not going to supply the weapons and artillery shells.”

Already, the US has paused a shipment of “high-payload munitions” due to Israel’s possible operations in Rafah without a plan for the civilians there, according to the Pentagon, though it said a final decision on that shipment hadn’t been made. The administration has said it is reviewing the potential sale or transfer of other munitions...

Biden's career-long solidarity with and empathy for the State of Israel has been tested mightily by Netanyahu who, like his friend the Malignant Loser, is only interested in self- preservation at any cost to his country.  After the evil Hamas terrorist attack on October 7 of last year, America and the world stood in shock and anger at the bloodiest day in Israel's history and the worst mass murder of Jews since the Holocaust, and the seizing of hostages.  Biden's seemingly unconditional embrace of the people of Israel and its Prime Minister was a show of righteous support for a friend and ally that's ended up working against him.  For reasons that have become evident in subsequent months, Netanyahu has pursued a war that has left tens of thousands of Palestinian civilians dead and wounded, Gaza in rubble, and Israel increasingly isolated, even with most of his Western allies condemning the on-going bloodletting.  Entreaties by Israel's best ally, America, have fallen on the deaf ears of those pursuing the war for their domestic political and ultra- religious agendas.

As David Rothkopf writes of Netanyahu ("America's Worst Ally"):

... He has taken advantage of the long-standing ties between his country and the United States while in turn providing, especially in recent years, very little except damage, burdens, complications, and worse.

He ignores U.S. advice and entreaties. He undermines U.S. interests. He has used the support he’s received from the U.S. in the commission of what many believe to be serial war crimes. And to top it all off, he is singularly ungrateful for all the backing he has received.

Further, he compounds all of the above by being a terrible leader who has made multiple monumental errors, promoted extremist monsters to leading positions in his government and, while he was at it, sought to undermine Israeli democracy, committed a variety of domestic offenses in Israel and, at the same time, supported a criminal element in U.S. politics...

F*ck Netanyahu.  This is the right move, albeit late in coming.

(Image:  Evan Vucci/ AP)

Israeli Forces Withdraw From Southern Gaza

 

In an announcement that reflects the impact that President Biden had on Israel's right-wing leader Bibi "Bomb Bomb" Netanyahu, the Israeli Defense Force (IDF) has halted its military actions in southern Gaza and is withdrawing from the area. In a forceful phone conversation between the two leaders, Biden insisted that Israel allow far more humanitarian aid into Gaza and limit its military operations so as not to inflict more injuries and death on civilians and humanitarian workers. Seven World Central Kitchen volunteers were killed last week in an Israeli air strike, despite being in clearly market vehicles and getting clearance in advance from the IDF.  From the Jerusalem Post:

"The IDF on Sunday announced that it had concluded the active invasion stage of the war for now while leaving open the possibility of a future new invasion of Rafah in deep southern Gaza.

In terms of IDF soldiers, this means that the IDF has withdrawn all of Division 98 from Khan Yunis in southern Gaza while maintaining one plus brigades - the Nahal brigade and portions of Brigade 401 – in northern and central Gaza.

Although a top IDF official said that this change had nothing to do with US pressure, the timing was unmistakable in coming right after the IDF’s disastrous mistaken killing of seven humanitarian aid workers last week.

The decision also came less than two days after Israel opened the Erez Crossing and Ashdod port to transfer humanitarian aid, decisions made under threat by the US of potentially losing weapons support after Jerusalem had refused these requests from Washington for months.

Critically, this means that Palestinians can, on one hand, move freely within southern Gaza and Khan Yunis and that there is a complete vacuum for preventing a return of Hamas governance, but the IDF is keeping northern and central Gaza cut off from the south."  (our emphasis)

The movement of Palestinians between the northern part and southern part of Gaza is not part of the action, effectively cutting Gaza in half. It remains to be seen whether the Hamas terrorists will begin the release of hostages in response to the IDF's withdrawal.

The Death of Heroes And Humanitarians

Pictured above is Australia's Zomi Frankcom, left, who was killed in an Israeli attack on their convoy in Gaza on April 2 along with six other World Central Kitchen colleagues. World Central Kitchen's Chef Oli is pictured on the right.

President Biden expressed outrage at the attack on the humanitarian workers, whose vehicles were clearly marked and who cleared their travel with the Israeli Defense Forces earlier.  The founder and leader of World Central Kitchen José Andrés had an emotional response on "X" to the death of the food workers:

"Today @WCKitchen lost several of our sisters and brothers in an IDF air strike in Gaza. I am heartbroken and grieving for their families and friends and our whole WCK family. These are people…angels…I served alongside in Ukraine, Gaza, Turkey, Morocco, Bahamas, Indonesia. They are not faceless…they are not nameless. The Israeli government needs to stop this indiscriminate killing. It needs to stop restricting humanitarian aid, stop killing civilians and aid workers, and stop using food as a weapon. No more innocent lives lost. Peace starts with our shared humanity. It needs to start now."

Trump ally Bibi "Bomb Bomb" Netanyahu's regime is facing growing opposition at home. More and more Israelis see his first objective is not the release of the Israeli hostages, but total war in Gaza to save his political skin.  He couldn't care less about any political damage he's doing to President Biden, since he'd prefer having his friend Trump in the White House next year. Sympathy and support for Israel, high after the October 7 massacre by brutal Hamas terrorists, has been damaged by Netanyahu's all-out war, with civilians and humanitarian workers being dismissed as "collateral damage."  This latest horror only underlines Netanyahu's folly.

(photo: World Central Kitchen / Anadolu via Getty Images)

 

The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly

 

The good:

Scientists have managed to repeatedly produce nuclear fusion ignition for the first time, marking a major milestone towards achieving near-limitless clean energy at scale.

A team at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) in the US achieved fusion ignition last December, producing a net energy gain from a fusion reaction for the first ever time.

The feat was hailed as a “moment of history” by physicists, which LLNL scientists have now repeated a further three times.

The lab used the National Ignition Facility (NIF) to fire 192 laser beams at a frozen pellet of isotopes held within a diamond capsule suspended in a gold cylinder.

The resulting reaction replicated the same natural processes found within the Sun and resulted in a record energy increase of 89 per cent. This was only enough energy to boil a kettle, however scaling up this proof-of-concept could herald a “new era” of energy, according to the scientific journal Nature.  [snip]

Nuclear fusion was on the agenda at the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP28) earlier this month, with governments agreeing to speed up efforts to develop the technology.

“We are edging ever-closer to a fusion-powered reality. And at the same time, yes, significant scientific and engineering challenges exist,” US Climate Envoy John Kerry said at the summit in Dubai.

“Careful thought and thoughtful policy is going to be critical to navigate this.”

China, Japan, Russia and the European Union are also investing heavily in nuclear fusion research, with more than $6 billion invested to date, according to the Fusion Industry Association...

Limitless clean energy.  What a game changer that would be, especially if it could evolve quickly and as a public utility, not as a profit- making opportunity for energy companies.  We're fast approaching the climate change tipping point after which it might not matter what clean technology comes along.  For now, we have to keep going with conservation and renewable energy and not depend on a silver bullet to save us from ourselves.

The bad:

At least 68 people were killed by an Israeli airstrike on a refugee camp in the Gaza Strip on Sunday night, according to Gaza's Hamas-run Ministry of Health.

The strike hit the Al-Maghazi refugee camp in central Gaza, east of Deir al-Balah. At least 12 women and seven children were among the dead, according to The Associated Press, which cited early hospital figures.

When asked for comment, the Israel Defense Forces told ABC News on Monday: "The IDF received reports of an incident in the Maghazi camp and is reviewing the incident. Despite the challenges posed by Hamas terrorists operating within civilian areas in Gaza, the IDF is committed to international law including taking feasible steps to minimize harm to civilians."

Stories like this are proliferating more every day.  By now, it's become blindingly obvious that the object of Netanyahu's offensive is to apply maximum blunt force to turn Gaza into a pile of uninhabitable rubble, without regard to civilian death and suffering or to the fate of the Hamas- held hostages (families of those hostages getting ever more vocal in opposing Netanyahu's "war to the end" policies).  What began as a righteous campaign to eliminate the vile terrorist Hamas organization has become, through the far- right Netanyahu government's callous disregard for civilian Palestinian lives, a nightmare that's changed the paradigm from what was sympathetic and supportive world opinion into increasing hostility toward Israel and, collaterally, toward Jewish populations around the world.  That's almost as bad as it gets.

The ugly: 

Iowa will not participate this summer in a federal program that gives $40 per month to each child in a low-income family to help with food costs while school is out, state officials have announced.

The state has notified the U.S. Department of Agriculture that it will not participate in the 2024 Summer Electronic Benefits Transfer for Children — or Summer EBT — program, the state’s Department of Health and Human Services and Department of Education said in a Friday news release.

Iowa will not participate this summer in a federal program that gives $40 per month to each child in a low-income family to help with food costs while school is out, state officials have announced.  [snip]

States that participate in the federal program are required to cover half of the administrative costs, which would cost an estimated $2.2 million in Iowa, the news release says.  

Some state lawmakers, including Democratic Sen. Izaah Knox of Des Moines, quickly voiced their opposition to the decision.

“It’s extremely disappointing that the Reynolds administration is planning to reject federal money that could put food on the table for hungry Iowa kids,” Knox said in a statement. “This cruel and short-sighted decision will have real impacts on children and families in my district and communities all across Iowa.”

Officials in nearby Nebraska also announced this week that the state will not participate in Summer EBT, which would cost Nebraska about $300,000 annually in administrative costs, the Lincoln Journal Star reported.

“In the end, I fundamentally believe that we solve the problem, and I don’t believe in welfare,” Nebraska Republican Gov. Jim Pillen told the Journal Star on Friday...

Republicans have perfected the art of punching down on the most vulnerable, in the name of fiscal responsibility, or States rights, or (more accurately) "they're not us."   Our turn to punch back is at the ballot box.

QOTD -- Replacing A Tactical Victory With A Strategic Defeat

 

"... You know, I learned a thing or two about urban warfare from my time fighting in Iraq and leading the campaign to defeat ISIS.

"Like Hamas, ISIS was deeply embedded in urban areas. And the international coalition against ISIS worked hard to protect civilians and create humanitarian corridors, even during the toughest battles.

"So the lesson is not that you can win in urban warfare by protecting civilians. The lesson is that you can only win in urban warfare by protecting civilians.

"You see, in this kind of a fight, the center of gravity is the civilian population. And if you drive them into the arms of the enemy, you replace a tactical victory with a strategic defeat.

"So I have repeatedly made clear to Israel’s leaders that protecting Palestinian civilians in Gaza is both a moral responsibility and a strategic imperative..." -- Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, December 2, at the Reagan National Defense Forum in California.  Austin's speech also covered American defense posture elsewhere, including in the Ukraine- Russian war and with China, and of the need to keep our alliances strong.

 

Ceasefire In Israel-Hamas War Ends

 

The fighting is on again, for now, with the fate of the hostages and civilian population in the balance:

The seven-day pause in fighting between Israel and Hamas ended early Friday. Each side blamed the other. Israel said Hamas had “violated the operational pause and, in addition, fired toward Israeli territory,” while a Hamas official said talks to extend the pause were “thwarted by the Israelis” who had “refused” an offer to release elderly male hostages and the bodies of three Israeli hostages. The Washington Post could not immediately verify either claim. Several airstrikes were reported across Gaza on Friday morning; a Post photographer witnessed a strike 200 meters from a hospital in Khan Younis in the south. Sirens blared in Israeli communities near the Gaza border, the Israel Defense Forces said.

Meanwhile, there are reports that the Israeli government knew about Hamas' battle plan for October 7 a year ago, but dismissed the reports.

(Photo:  rockets being fired this morning from Gaza into Israel / Jack Guez, AFP, Getty Images)

Israel-Hamas War Pause Begins (UPDATED)

 

Quiet, for now, in Gaza:

Just after 7 a.m. local time Friday, the skies over Gaza fell quiet for the first time in nearly seven weeks. The truce agreement – brokered through painstaking negotiations – appears to be holding, CNN journalists in southern Israel close to the Gaza Strip have reported.

Now, the world is waiting to see if the second part of the truce agreement – the release of civilian hostages held by Hamas in exchange for Palestinian prisoners in Israel – will also be observed.

An initial group of 13 hostages – expected to be women and children – are set to be released at 4 p.m. local time (9 a.m. ET). Under the Israel-Hamas agreement, a total of 50 women and children are expected to be freed in a release staggered over four days, while there is a pause in fighting. In return, Israel is set to release 39 Palestinian prisoners – also expected to be women and children.

Meanwhile, Palestinians from the north of the Strip – but who had fled south to avoid the worst of the fighting – are reportedly attempting to return to their homes now the truce has begun...

We'll update this post as needed, if and when hostages are released.

UPDATE:  The first 13 Israeli hostages have been released;  in addition 12 Thai national hostages have been released by Hamas.

The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly

 

The good:

India has been cracking down on tech support scammers in an effort to "combat and dismantle" finance-related cyber crime, officials announced on Thursday.

Officials raided around 76 suspected illegal call center locations across India, in several different states, according to a press release from India's Central Bureau of Investigations. These raids were part of a police operation called Chakra-II. The scammers often pretend to work for reputable companies like Microsoft and Amazon, according to a press release from Amazon. 

Now, Amazon and Microsoft are teaming up with CBI and international law enforcement in an effort to cut down on the calls. Many of these scammers target Americans, with over 2,000 people being impacted, according to Amazon. Countries like Canada, Australia, the UK, Germany, and Spain have also been affected. 

Law enforcement seized 32 phones, 48 laptops and hard discs, and 33 SIM cards and froze several bank accounts amid the raid of the 76 locations, according to CBI. The locations were in Indian states including Bihar, Dehli, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Punjab, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh, and West Bengal. 

The FBI estimates that in 2022, over 32,000 people were targeted by tech and customer support scams, with over $800 million in losses. Amazon said it has a "zero tolerance" policy for scammers pretending to be part of the company. It has taken down over 20,000 phishing websites and 10,000 phone numbers associated with fraud scams.

Oftentimes, scammers will target elderly victims, with 69% of victims being 60 or older, according to the FBI. Ensuring that you and your loved ones are aware of the warning signs of a scam call or phishing email or text can help them avoid being tricked into handing away sensitive information...

It's a small step to address a worldwide problem, of which India is a focal point. The number of victims is likely magnitudes larger, as many people don't want to admit they were scammed or don't know how to report a scamming.  (A reminder that tech companies won't contact you via phone, email or text if there's a problem.)

The bad:

Fears mounted Sunday that the Israel-Gaza war could swell into a wider conflict amid rising cross-border attacks on Israel’s north from Iranian-backed Hezbollah militants in Lebanon and expanding Israeli airstrikes across the region.

Syria’s state news agency said Israel struck the Damascus and Aleppo international airports in early-morning attacks, damaging runways. In the West Bank, a rare Israeli airstrike hit a mosque, which the military said had been used as a command center for Hamas and Islamic Jihad militants.

The potential for escalation remained particularly high along Israel’s northern border with Lebanon, where the Israeli military continued to evacuate towns on Sunday in the face of “more and more attacks” from Hezbollah, said Lt. Col. Jonathan Conricus, a spokesman for the Israel Defense Forces.

About 100,000 Israelis have been evacuated nationwide, an Israeli government spokesperson said Sunday, and another 100,000 have moved voluntarily...

Hezbollah's patrons in Iran and Syria (and therefore Russia) are playing with fire, along with their terrorist stooges.

The ugly:

Reports out of Israel’s National Center of Forensic Medicine claim to show the brutality of Hamas’ attack on Israeli civilians.

Journalists gathered in Tel Aviv to view remains from Hamas’ Oct. 7 ambush on Israel, which killed 1400 people, according to Israeli authorities.

Experts, reporters and volunteers at the center, known as Abu Kabir, appeared “visibly disturbed” by what they heard and saw, which included accounts of beheaded bodies and photos of charred remains, according to news outlet The Media Line.

Some 200 experts ― including forensic pathologists, anthropologists, and radiologists from Israel, the U.S., Switzerland, New Zealand and elsewhere ― reviewed remains at Abu Kabir, which is working to identify the victims.

Currently, 350 bodies remain unidentified, but the center believes it will be able to determine the identities of 150 more bodies through DNA analysis and CT scans.

The head of Abu Kabir, Dr. Chen Kugel, said the victims’ ages span from three months to 80 or 90 years old.

Kugel described Hamas’ violence as beyond comprehension to the press, saying, “I’ve seen many things in my 31-year career, but the magnitude and the cruelty is terrible.”

He also told The Media Line that Hamas militants “enjoyed the murders so much that they did everything they could do to celebrate the killing.”...

The word "ugly" to describe this is barely suffices.  Barbaric, psychopathic, monstrous, pure evil -- get us closer to the reality.

 

QOTD -- Terrorists And Tyrants

 

"...The terrorist group Hamas unleashed pure, unadulterated evil in the world.  But sadly, the Jewish people know, perhaps better than anyone, that there is no limit to the depravity of people when they want to inflict pain on others.  
 
"In Israel, I saw a people who are strong, determined, resilient, and also angry, in shock, and in deep, deep pain.
 
"I also spoke with President Abbas of the Palestinian Authority and reiterated that the United States remains committed to the Palestinian people’s right to dignity and to self-determination.  The actions of Hamas terrorists don’t take that right away. [snip]

"I know we have our divisions at home.  We have to get past them.  We can’t let petty, partisan, angry politics get in the way of our responsibilities as a great nation.
 
"We cannot and will not let terrorists like Hamas and tyrants like Putin win.  I refuse to let that happen..." -- President Biden in his Address to the Nation, October 20. As Biden pointed out, the terrorism of Hamas and the terrorism of Putin in Ukraine have the common element of wanting to destroy neighboring democracies.  America and countries around the world are seeing threats to democracies, both internal and external.  That's the great struggle and demarcation of this era -- democracies (however imperfect and fragile) versus fascistic regimes and movements, like Putin's Russia and Hamas, which often don't represent the will or best interests of the people they rule.

Analysis: Hospital Attack Came From Inside Gaza

 

A visual analysis by the Associated Press of Tuesday’s explosion at Gaza’s al-Ahli Arab Hospital indicates that it was most likely caused by a rocket fired from within Palestinian territory. AP's analysis confirms U.S. intelligence obtained through satellite imagery and signal intelligence that a Palestinian terrorist group -- Islamic Jihad -- was responsible for the misfire that reportedly killed hundreds of people. From the AP:

"Shortly before 7 p.m. Tuesday, a volley of rockets lit up the darkened sky over Gaza. Videos analyzed by The Associated Press show one veering off course, breaking up in the air before crashing to the ground.

Seconds later, the videos show a large explosion in the same area – the site of Gaza’s al-Ahli Arab Hospital.  [snip]

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.

A lack of forensic evidence and the difficulty of gathering that material on the ground in the middle of a war means there is no definitive proof the break-up of the rocket and the explosion at the hospital are linked. However, AP’s assessment is supported by a range of experts with specialties in open-source intelligence, geolocation and rocketry.

'In the absence of additional evidence, the most likely scenario would be that it was a rocket launched from Gaza that failed mid-flight and that it mistakenly hit the hospital,' said Henry Schlottman, a former U.S. Army intelligence analyst and open-source intelligence expert."  (our emphasis)

The disinformation put out immediately after the explosion by Hamas led many news organizations and Arab governments in the region to blame Israel for the explosion. It wasn't until Wednesday that President Biden, while in Israel, revealed that the U.S. had intelligence that put the responsibility on Islamic Jihad, a terrorist group in Gaza.

There's more detailed evidence in the AP analysis, evidence that news organizations, nations and individuals always ready to blame Israel didn't wait for before rushing to echo Hamas' line.

Biden Travels To Israel, Jordan Tomorrow

 

As the battle against Hamas and the humanitarian crisis Hamas has caused in Gaza unfolds, President Biden will be traveling to Israel to signal the U.S.'s strong support for Israel and to review plans for delivering aid to non-combatant civilians in Gaza who have been able to leave areas controlled by the Hamas terrorists. From the Associated Press' reporting:

"U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced Biden’s travel to Israel as the humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip grows more dire and as Israel prepares for a possible ground attack on the 141-square-mile (365-square-kilometer) territory to root out Hamas militants responsible for what U.S. and Israeli officials say was the most lethal assault against Jews since the Holocaust.

Biden is looking to send the strongest message yet that the U.S. is behind Israel. His Democratic administration has pledged military support, sending U.S. carriers and aid to the region. [snip]

Blinken added that Biden will be briefed by Israeli officials on their war aims and strategy and would hear about how they intend to conduct operations 'in a way that minimizes civilian casualties and enables humanitarian assistance to flow to civilians in Gaza in a way that does not benefit Hamas.'

Shortly after in Washington, White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby announced that Biden would also go to Jordan to meet with King Abdullah II, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

'We’ve been crystal clear about the need for humanitarian aid to be able to continue to flow into Gaza,' Kirby said. 'That has been a consistent call by President Biden and certainly by this entire administration.'”  (our emphasis)

There's been growing concern that Hezbollah terrorists operating in Lebanon may try to open a "second front" in the north of Israel to take advantage of Israel's concentration in the south to destroy Hamas. The two U.S. carrier strike forces in the eastern Mediterranean Sea and other U.S. military assets in the region have been positioned there to counter any threats by other entities against Israel.