America and the world awoke Saturday morning to the reports that Israel had been attacked---"brutally" and "surprisingly."
Israel and the US say they were caught off guard by the attack.
Reuters and others were reporting: "Bloodied bodies in the streets, gunmen raiding door-to-door and news of captives taken to Gaza left Israelis terrified and in shock after the Palestinian militant group Hamas launched a surprise attack that was unprecedented in audacity and scale."
Israel has begun their retaliation, promising to completely wipe out Hamas's ability to attack Israel in this way ever again.
What's next?
Be informed, not misled.
Reuters reports, "A resident reported seeing multiple bodies and bullet-scarred vehicles in the southern Israeli town of Sderot where groups of Hamas gunmen were still fighting Israeli troops 12 hours after the attack was launched."
"I went out, I saw loads of bodies of terrorists, civilians, cars shot up. A sea of bodies, inside Sderot along the road, other places, loads of bodies," said Shlomi from Sderot.
As night fell, at least 100 were reported dead and more than 1,000 wounded, according to Israeli media, with fighting still raging in more than 20 locations around the Gaza Strip.
That was Saturday night. There have been many more casualties reported since then.
The assault on the Jewish Sabbath, coinciding with the religious holiday of Simchat Torah, is unfolding as a major national trauma in a country proud of its strong military.
First responses.
That was President Biden's first response---and likely his most honest take on the matter.
During an interview with Newsmax on Saturday, the Post says that Rep. Claudia Tenney (R-NY) reacted to the since-deleted post by stating that the post “tells me that the administration is not standing up for Israel.”
Tenney said, “It was egregious for the administration to look as if this was both sides. This is a clear attack from Hamas, sponsored by Iran, against our greatest ally. This is not about Israel…doing anything aggressive. They need to stand up, and they need to defend their citizens. I’m with Netanyahu 100% on this. The Israelis need to stand strong, and we need to be with them.”
She added, “That tells me that the administration is not standing up for Israel. Their initial response was to condemn both sides, instead of condemning the aggressor here, and not standing up for our democratic, best ally, really shameful on the [part of the] Biden administration. … I really worry that China’s going to make its move on Taiwan at some point, because of the weakness and the failed policies of this Biden administration.”
Biden later came out with a statement that we stand behind Israel, etc., etc.
He said, "Israel has a right to defend itself–full stop."
Not surprisingly, NBC was in lockstep with the administration's first response.
Who was responsible for the attack?
During MSNBC’s coverage of the Hamas attack on Israel, host Ayman Mohyeldin argued that the attacks on Israel are due to “people who have been living in Gaza,” being “blockaded, besieged, decimated economically and politically” and host Ali Velshi stated that Israel’s behavior is “why they voted for Hamas in the first place.”
After making the case for the Palestinian's behavior in this attack, MSNBC's guest said, "So, we are not able to accurately solve the problem, because we don’t actually understand what the reality is on the ground. Most Americans do not understand what it means to be living under occupation? What does it mean for 70 years to be dispossessed of your land, to be dispossessed of your self-determination? What does that ultimately mean for the people who are willing to go out and carry [out] these attacks? Why would anyone, why would anyone –.”
Velshi then cut in to say, “Why would you make a war with Israel, which you know has military might that’s ten times yours, or 100 times yours?”
The short answer is "hate."
Hamas is treated by the news media as a self-sustaining organization, but it's not. It is, in reality, an arm of Iran.
Both Hamas and Iran have called for the annihilation of Israel---"wipe them off the face of the earth."
They have labeled Israel the "little Satan" while calling the United States the "big Satan."
I believe this attack by Hamas was made possible because of the $6 billion the Biden administration released to Iran. And I'm not the only one who thinks it.
Biden allowed the money to be released to Iran. Now Hamas, one of the terrorist proxies they brag openly about funding, is launching a sophisticated and expensive attack on Israel. Foreign Policy matters.
Mark Levin criticized Biden’s “appeasement of the Palestinian terrorists,” adding that the transfer of $6 billion “to the Iranian terror state, which arms these terrorists, contributed to this.”
The following logic is not difficult to comprehend…
The terrorist state of Iran kidnaps five Americans. Biden then chooses the anniversary of September 11, 2023, to pay the terrorist state of Iran a ransom of $6 billion. This ransom payment comes in the form of releasing $6 billion in assets seized from Iran. So, Iran now has $6 billion it didn’t have before, and Iran funds Hamas. And now, less than four weeks after Joe Biden paid that $6 billion, Hamas is flush with enough resources to launch an unprecedented attack on Israel.
This would be like President Franklin D. Roosevelt handing the 1939 equivalent of $6 billion to Hitler three weeks before Hitler invaded Poland.
Former Trump administration U.S. ambassador to Israel David Friedman said on a preview of Fox News Channel’s “Life, Liberty & Levin” that Hamas’ terror attacks on Jewish people were “some of the most barbaric acts since the Holocaust.”
Friedman said, “We saw today some of the most brutal acts against Jewish people that we have seen since the Holocaust. This was very, very difficult to watch, painful to watch. I’m here in Jerusalem. I was in and out of shelters all day long. Jewish people were murdered, civilians murdered, and pulled out of their homes all through an expensive, highly sophisticated attack with lethal and advanced equipment. How did Hamas get all that stuff? They don’t earn any money it is a terrorist organization.”
Much of the arms are from our fiasco pullout from Afghanistan when the US left about 80+ billion dollars worth of high-end US military equipment in the hands of terrorists.
Why should we support Israel?
Israel is the only nation on earth created by a sovereign act of God—a royal land grant from God Himself! Jerusalem is where Messiah will return to establish a Kingdom that will never end. Jerusalem is, and always shall be, the eternal capital of the Jewish people, the city of God, and the heartbeat of Israel. There, God has placed His Name (2 Chronicles 6:6).
As Christians, we owe a debt of gratitude to the Jewish people. Jesus proclaimed that “salvation is of the Jews” (John 4:22). In Romans 15:27, Paul tells us Gentiles have benefited from Jewish spiritual things, and it is our duty to minister to them in material things.
Every word of the Bible was penned by Jewish hands—the patriarchs, the prophets, the poets, and the apostles. Christianity owes its existence to the rich history of the Jewish people. Jesus, our Jewish Savior, came to “seek and to save that which was lost” (Luke 19:10).
Israel is the shoreline of eternity. Because we have been commanded to stand up and speak up for Israel’s sake, we will not hold our peace (Isaiah 62:1). We urge you to link arms with us as we stand with the Jewish people around the globe. God has promised blessings to those who bless the Jewish people.
Pray for the peace of Israel.
Be Informed. Be Discerning. Be Blessed. Be Prayerful.