Hamas Attacks, Israel Responds II

Took them long enough - The Guardian's editorial

The Guardian view on Israel and Gaza: Trump can stop this horror. The alternative is unthinkable
https://www.theguardian.com/comment...op-this-horror-the-alternative-is-unthinkable


Now it plans a Gaza without Palestinians. What is this, if not genocidal? When will the US and its allies act to stop the horror, if not now?

Mr Trump’s indifference to Palestinian lives and interest in relocating them to turn Gaza into the “Riviera of the Middle East” have emboldened the Israeli government’s worst instincts. But he could still use the power only he holds to stop the annihilation. This is his chance to make history in the Middle East for the right reasons.

 

It's being reported that Edan Alexander, believed to be last living American hostage of Hamas, has been freed after more than 580 days in captivity.

If this is indeed true, this is incredible. Well done to Trump, Rubio, and all the officials involved.

 

Yes, they’ve apparently handed over the israeli-American soldier to the Red Cross. Unlikely to have happened without Trump.

 

South African moment in effect, just like before there comes a point where the "mess" is too big to cover and allies can no longer be associated with barbarism

 

So the US circumvented Israel on the Alexander release, but we're still of the mind that Netanyahu is the tail wagging the dog?

 

All ballistic missiles are hypersonic at some stage.

The question is whether they're hypersonic in their terminal phase or even in flight. Russia's much-hyped Zircon very evidently isn't - several have been shot down by Patriots - so we can be sure Iran's missiles aren't either.

 

While ballistic missiles technically reach hypersonic speeds, they do not maintain controlled hypersonic flight within the atmosphere like modern hypersonic weapons do.

However, interception rates remain low, and hypersonic weapons still pose a significant challenge to air defense systems making fleets vulnerable - Houthis? Iran could do way more damage if attacked

 

The lead in asserting and defending the right to freedom of navigation - the term is "innocent passage" - for commercial vessels in international waters and the various straits.

The ability to field a navy capable of doing that for everyone's ships is what makes a country a great power. The UK could before 1945, which is why it was a great power up to then, and why it ceased to be one so quickly afterwards. The USSR never could, which is why it wasn't quite a great power and why it spent so much money on a navy a land-based power like it didn't heed.

And it doesn't say a great deal about the the reputation of the US military's fighting capacities, only the willingness of the US political class to use it, in which regard Trump is even more weak-willed than Biden

 

If interception rates "remain low" in Ukraine, that's partly because they aren't terribly accurate and Russian targeting is poor, but mostly because they haven't used that many of them. "Why use an expensive missile to shoot down something that's going to hit nothing much?" is part of it but their relative lack of use is more important: it suggests that these very expensive missiles are underperforming or that accessing components is proving difficult and they don't want to run down stocks, possibly both.

And this obsession with "wunderwaffe" is a serious waste of time. Individual weapons make precious little difference. Wars are won by productive capacity. Russia has rather little, Iran has less and the Houthis have none, .

 

lol ok.

 

Please explain

 

Wars are first and foremost won by resolve.

The Afghans had precious little productive capacity but defeated three different superpowers in three different eras.

Ukrainian resolve seems high but so does that of Russia.

 

My heart is full.

Edan Alexander’s mom takes the phone from White House envoy @SteveWitkoff and speaks to her son after he was released. Watch here: pic.twitter.com/VhGKCRJZ9y

— Barak Ravid (@BarakRavid) May 12, 2025

Trump’s envoy @SteveWitkoff embraces Edan Alexander’s father in an emotional moment pic.twitter.com/j5DYYDaiL9

— Aviva Klompas (@AvivaKlompas) May 12, 2025

584 DAYS HELD HOSTAGE BY HAMAS — AMERICAN EDAN ALEXANDER IS FREE! 🇺🇸🇮🇱 pic.twitter.com/3rvVqfPfdI

— The White House (@WhiteHouse) May 12, 2025

Here it is. The moment we’ve all been waiting for. pic.twitter.com/bNiqPkDYRP

— Hillel Fuld (@HilzFuld) May 12, 2025

 

Parade, protests kick off Eurovision Song Contest week
The Jordan Times
3 hours ago


The Eurovision Song Contest burst into Basel on Sunday, but a parade launching a week of build-up to the grand final was marked by protests over Israel's participation.The Swiss city is hosting the 69th edition of the world's biggest annual live televised music event,

 

• Who is Israel's 2025 Eurovision act Yuval Raphael? Singer who survived October 7 attack
  Metro
  7 days ago
  In October 2023, Yuval Raphael narrowly escaped with her life following the Nova music festival attack that killed 378 others. When Hamas terrorists launched a shocking ambush on attendees at the open-air music festival, the aspiring singer rushed to hide in a nearby kibbutz with 50 others.
  
  

 

This warms the soul.

Wrapped in the Stars and Stripes of America and the Blue & White of Israel - Pale, frail but happy, Edan Alexander reunites with family. pic.twitter.com/u8gmkUfras

— Michael Dickson (@michaeldickson) May 12, 2025

 

Israel files complaint after delegation threatened at Eurovision opening
J-Wire
13 hours ago


Israel's Kan public broadcaster has filed a complaint with Swiss police after a man was filmed threatening the Israeli delegation during the opening event of the Eurovision Song Contest on Sunday afternoon.

 

To put a face on just mere facts

Six months old, malnourished and born in ruins: baby Siwar is the face of hunger in Gaza
A much too thin baby on a hospital bed, with hollow eyes and sunken cheeks. Her name is Siwar Ashour, six months old and the poignant symbol of the famine in Gaza: "As if she will never know peace."
The British broadcaster BBC shows the images of the baby in a report on the humanitarian crisis in Gaza.
The accompanying story leaves no one unmoved. Siwar was born on November 20, 2024, weighing 2.5 kilos. Since then, things have only gotten worse.

This last sentence simply is a bloody lie.
This is an image a civilized society shouldnot tolerate.
Yet here we are, we watched, observed, tolerate, support, actively make it possible to be done and hide behind slogans and political shitchat.

 

Im not sure its a South Africa moment. But one thing this genocide has taught us is that mainstream media has by and large toed the line of the political objectives or visions of the governments. Which explains the silence during the horrors that unfolded in Gaza in the span of the last 19-20 months.

There does appear to be a shift in policy visavi Israel and the broader Middle East. Going by US negotiations with Iran, end of US war against Yemen and now this US-Hamas mediated release of an American-Israeli hostage, all of which bypassed Netanyahu and Israel.
Couple that with the change in tone in media, it could be indicative of a policy shift, but its too early to tell.

 

If you think there is going to be some kind of coherent policy during the Trump administration you will be disappointed.

 

Ever heard of Lizzie van Zyl?

 

Gideon Levy, Haaretz

 

It’s perfectly coherent and boils down to one question: is something good for Trump *right now* ?