Two years on...
And Hamas still has prisoners they took Oct 7, 2023...
Israel marked the second anniversary of the Hamas-led attack that began its longest war in subdued fashion on Tuesday, with new hopes of ending the conflict but with hostages still in captivity and its exhausted military adding to the death toll of Palestinians and to the destruction in Gaza.
The arrival of the Jewish harvest festival, Sukkot, a national and religious holiday, shut down most businesses across Israel for the day. The government delayed official remembrances of the war’s traumatic first day until Oct. 16, after the High Holiday season.
But Tuesday’s milestone was inescapable.
There were quiet gatherings at some of the kibbutzim near Gaza that suffered the most in the massacres of Oct. 7, 2023, and informal events drew participants throughout the country.
Full article, HERE from the NY Times. And I’m surprised at how honest the article is...
Two years... And thousands of lives affected directly, with an untold number who will never forget what happened two years ago yesterday...
As an ‘nonparticipating’ third party, I have to admire Israel for their restraint they have showed. I will be honest when I say I thought they would level Gaza within 6 months, salt it, and turn it into a desert again...
What has happened is that many of the ‘supporters’ are no longer supporting Hamas, thanks to the US and others who have helped defend from the almost continuous rocket and missile attacks day after day. Hezbollah is pretty much gone, the Houthi ‘rebels’ have been bombed back to the stone age (again), Iran has been taken off the table as a funder and their nuke plans set back years if not destroyed, and the world has been put on notice that Israel is willing to strike anywhere to take down the leadership of Hamas and the sponsors of terror in the mid-east.
I do believe the change in administration here has mitigated at least ‘some’ of Israel’s responses. They could have done a lot worse...
The other thing that has come out is the accuracy of the strike teams and weapons, including smart bombs and missiles. Hitting ONE apartment in a building? Nobody could do that 10 years ago... The whole building? Sure, that was easy.
The attacks on the Iranian nuke sites? Done, with ‘new’ weapons. And they weren’t nuclear. Although I do believe Israel reserves the right to go that route if they need to.
I truly hope Hamas gives the hostages back soon, as all the other players are tired of waiting and tired of being strung along. Because the ‘Palestinians’ truly have no where to go. None of the muslim countries will allow refugees in, even Egypt won’t take them. And Syria isn’t capable of supporting any who might sneak across that border, after Israel went after Hezbollah and the Syrian regime (and Assad ran to Russia with most of the country’s funds apparently).
I said yet another prayer for those still held, the families, and the families of those who died. That is all I know to do at this point.
Well said. For my part, it is inconceivable to me that Israel has not been the recipient of universal support among the nations of The West. I get it, anti-Jew sentiment has always been a feature of European culture, but how is it possible that they have forgotten the islamic invasion(s) occurring for centuries, resulting in the deaths or enslavement of millions of Christian Europeans? And even moreso, how is it possible that any European can ignore or overlook the current state of islamic invasion/infiltration and the desires of these islamic "migrants" to subjugate them under the new caliphate, with its command to kill, enslave or drive out all non-mohammadans? Israel's restraint under the circumstances, which include not only the atrocities of 10/7/2023, but years of jihadist knife, car, bomb and gun attacks, which have taken a toll into the thousands of Israeli civilians, is remarkable. I recall that the USA and its ally, Great Britain did not restrain the use of force against civilians during WW II, as long as civilians were not specifically targeted, but merely killed as collateral damage. Hundreds of thousands of non-combatant Frenchmen and Italians were casualties in our assault on Nazi Germany. Millions of German and Japanese civilians were also killed in the unrestricted aerial warfare we conducted against their countries. And let us not forget the number of Iraqi civilians we disposed of in our Operations "Desert Shield, "Desert Storm" and "Iraqi Freedom." Compared to the death toll of civilians world-wide in the Twentieth Century, the lack of arab/palestinian deaths is admirable, yet we are constantly told that Israel is "committing genocide" against its sworn enemies. And many gullible Americans and Europeans actually believe this, as if Israel could not eliminate the entire population of Gaza in a single afternoon should it desire to do so. I'm not a Jew, but my sympathies lie with Israel. I believe every nation has the right to preserve its national integrity and provide for the safety of its citizens, including we here in the USA! Democrat propaganda notwithstanding, we are under no obligation to admit any "immigrants", even those who might be sypathetic to our position. We need to hang out a sign at our borders that says, "We're Full." Israel for Israelis; America for Americans. End of story.
Agree, many of us thought Gaza would be salted earth by now. It says something about not only the Israelis, but the people who support them that a measured approach could be continued this long.
The Hamas leadership (what's left of it) needs to get this done. At some point this has to end, and if Hamas doesn't participate, they will be ended. Meanwhile, the people of Gaza suffer, not only because of the destruction, but mostly because Hamas doesn't really care one whit about them.
Deplorable situation. Hopefully over soon.