Israel vs Hamas War

[Cassia]

Now on the verge of a ground attack of Gaza by Israel to end the rule of Hamas, I am wondering if this is exactly what Hamas was planning all along with their bloody incursion? With Iran stating it will enter the war if Israel proceeds and US carriers just offshore, this could be the start of some sort of Jihadist-apocalypse Hamas wanted. Is this a huge trap?

Or perhaps Hamas's attack was way more successful than the expected and their plan was to melt away into the civilian crowds and survive to attack again. In that case they are now planning on the fly.

My guess on the Israeli plan is they will split the strip in two with a sea-born landing to trap Hamas fighters in the North.

In any event, a street-by-street attack by Israel combined with the complete sustenance blockade is going to involve so much death and destruction it will unite Muslims all over the world even if they are generally anti-Hamas.

[Unbeliever]

I'm really concerned about what this is going to lead to. I heard that the leadership of Hamas didn't expect the attack to be as successful as it was, so now they're terrified. Imagine, terrorists being terrified! I wish there really was a hell for the lot of them to rot in. Forever. It's likely they'll destroy the world with their stupid fucking hatred. Because Israel will overreact, and so will America, and who knows what will happen. I was hoping I'd be dead before the stupid hoomans fucked everything up, but it looks like it's going to happen too soon for that.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

They invented war in that area, they'll do it right.

[Unbeliever]

Like the song says, war is good for absolutely nothing.

[Unbeliever]

I guess Einstein was right when he said that there are two things that are infinite: the universe and human stupidity. And he was unsure about the universe.

[Hydra009]

There's been some interesting footage from Israel lately:

This is the Iron Dome air defense in operation about a week ago.  Here you can clearly see interceptor missiles doing their thing and blowing up incoming missiles:

This is *something* else:

Not terribly photogenic, I know.  It's difficult to determine just what the hell that was, but it sure wasn't an interceptor missile.  Probably not any sort of missile imho.

Obviously, this is going to need a lot more evidence to become certain, but I think this may be Israel's Iron Beam air defense (or possibly, its smaller cousin, Light Blade) in action.

Basically, it's a laser beam designed to shoot down incoming missiles/rockets/drones.  Science fiction?  Not anymore. It allegedly worked in its tests, so it's very much a real thing.  It's just kinda cumbersome and still has some kinks to work out.  In late 2022 Israel said it might take about 2 or even 3 years to deploy.  Maybe they got one ready early because of yanno, the current dire emergency conditions.  Or maybe none of them are ready yet.  Who knows.

Regardless, if and when this technology becomes available, it's going to drastically reshape the current missile/drone prioritization in war.  War largely revolves around economics, and if an AA system can cheaply and effectively shoot down just about anything, that's a game-changer.  What's more - this stuff requires some serious R&D and lots of power - it's not the sort of thing that terror cells can readily use.  By its nature, this is going to be largely restricted to high-tech states, giving them an advantage (we have the maxim gun and they have not) and that's no small thing.

*Edit - looks like Iron Beam was deployed early because of hostilities.  Only a few prototype units, though.  Meant to supplement Iron Done, not replace it.  I'm still not sure if that video was Iron Beam or not, but it's within the realm of possibilty.

[Cassia]

Well, I am sure there will be trained sharks with laser beams one day, but that iron dome with its radar-guided rocket-killers is surprisingly effective. I believe lasers are more effective outside of the atmosphere because of absorption and scattering, so land-based lasers have got to be really, really strong. I saw a sign the lab that said, "don't look at the laser with your other eye".

Sure, the Koran has many verses that curse Jews and Christians (and any unbelievers). However, apologists, of course dismiss this and a few other versus that assert the Jewish promised land. Religion is useless, as the believers just believe whatever they want anyways. We see this time and time again. Its just tribalism based on interpretations.

Qur'an 5:21 Quotes Moses "O my people! Enter the holy land which Allah hath assigned unto you, and turn not back ignominiously, for then will ye be overthrown, to your own ruin."

[Hydra009]

After experiencing a terror attack where a former student shouted Allah Akbar then murdered a teacher and wounded others (the perp had a history of islamic extremism, to absolutely no one's surprise), France is currently carrying out a review to possibly expel foreigners with a history of radicalization from the country

Jeez Louise the 14th, it took a terror attack to get the ball rolling on that?  That should just be a normal Friday at the office.

[Cassia]

After experiencing a terror attack where a former student shouted Allah Akbar then murdered a teacher and wounded others (the perp had a history of islamic extremism, to absolutely no one's surprise), France is currently carrying out a review to possibly expel foreigners with a history of radicalization from the country

Jeez Louise the 14th, it took a terror attack to get the ball rolling on that?  That should just be a normal Friday at the office.

Looks like it is gonna be crazy time again. Religion....so peaceful.

[ferdmonger]

Went golfing today.  Kept my mind off what happens if Israel actually invades Gaza... at least for awhile.  I think Biden is there to call the whole thing off.  Hope I'm right.

[Cassia]

Sam Harris posed the question...what would happen to Israel if the military power situation was reversed? If Hamas and Hezbollah had the powerful military?

[Hydra009]

BBC news admits making one tiny, whimy, eesy, weensy mistake - declaring live on air that Israel bombed the Gaza hospital when in fact it was a Palestian rocket.

The reporter said that "he could see no possibility other than an Israeli airstrike as the cause" - good ol' gut feelings so essential to credible journalism and not the laziest and most error-prone form of "thinking" there is.

BBC news notes that the reporter didn't outright state that the Israelis did it - a statement that requires the use a specialized device called the Hair-splitter 5000.

The BBC CEO also went on to say that impartiality is difficult, Hamas may or may not be a terrorist organization, we didn't speculate on the bombing, we might've left people with the impression that we speculated on the bombing, we have excellent journalistic standards, people make mistakes, and finally, we're being protested by both sides (implying perfect impartiality, which is often falsely equated with being the most factually accurate even though there's not necessarily a connection)

Fantastic reporting guys.  I've looked at telegram pages by people who have never held a journalistic position in their lives and they managed to not immediately jump to conclusions about the source of the explosion in that news story - merely relaying that there was an explosion, which was all that was known at the time.

If some rando on the internet is doing a better job than a trained and paid reporter, maybe it's time to look into how you're doing things.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

Woke up with a bone sticking out of the top of my right foot. Must be getting old, slept through the eruption.

[Unbeliever]

You have a bone to pick with the Sandman...

[Cassia]

I would estimate the probability of Hezbollah launching a sophisticated missile strike from Lebanon at Israel at 90%, sometime after an Israeli ground attack on Gaza. I would then estimate the probability of a US air strike on Hezbollah at 100%, from the carrier groups. Hang on to your butts.