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The United States Military’s Top Shooters Are in Position to Target Iran

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Hurry up. America’s top shooters are moving into position to target Iran. With Sunday night’s announcement hastening the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln and moving the submarine USS Georgia under U.S. Central Command’s control, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin is making sure U.S. Central Command is prepared to attack Iran, and/or its proxies, if Tehran strikes Israel in the next few days.

Air Force F-22 fighter jet pilots have already unpacked their bags at a Middle East base where they arrived Aug 8. Here are more top shooters under Central Command’s operational control – that we know of. . .

It’s very unusual for the Pentagon to make announcements about secretive submarines. But then, the USS Georgia is a very special vessel. Powered by a nuclear reactor, the USS Georgia began life as an Ohio-class “boomer” designed to carry nuclear weapons, then underwent a high-tech conversion into a conventional guided-missile attack submarine. Now she can carry an astounding 154 precision Tomahawk Land Attack Cruise Missiles. And SEAL teams with mini-submarines. Add in a highly advanced communication suite, and USS Georgia can stare down Iran all by herself.

It’s very unusual for the Pentagon to make announcements about secretive submarines. But then, the USS Georgia is a very special vessel. Powered by a nuclear reactor, the USS Georgia began life as an Ohio-class “boomer” designed to carry nuclear weapons, then underwent a high-tech conversion into a conventional guided-missile attack submarine. Now she can carry an astounding 154 precision Tomahawk Land Attack Cruise Missiles. And SEAL teams with mini-submarines. Add in a highly advanced communication suite, and USS Georgia can stare down Iran all by herself. (Read more from “The United States Military’s Top Shooters Are in Position to Target Iran” HERE)

Israel Says Attacks Imminent From ‘Iran’s Axis of Evil’ — and Vows to ‘Exact a Heavy Price’

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Israel says it expects to be imminently and simultaneously attacked by “Iran’s axis of evil” — Hezbollah terrorists in Lebanon, the Houthis in Yemen and Iranian military forces.

Iran allegedly told Arab leaders Saturday that it doesn’t care if the attacks cause a wider-spread war.

And Israeli leaders Sunday all but assured that would happen if Iran and its terror proxies launch their expected multifront assaults.

“We are striking every one of its arms with great force,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed during a cabinet meeting Sunday, referring to the Mideast “axis of evil,” according to Bloomberg News.

“We are prepared for any scenario – both offensively and defensively,” Netanyahu said. “I repeat to our enemies: We will respond and exact a heavy price for any act of aggression against us from any arena.” (Read more from “Israel Says Attacks Imminent From ‘Iran’s Axis of Evil’ — and Vows to ‘Exact a Heavy Price’” HERE)

Poll Shows 80% Continue to Support Israel

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A new Harvard/Harris Poll has found that support for Israel among registered voters in the U.S. is still strong — and growing stronger.

The poll, conducted July 26-28 among 2,196 registered voters with a 2.1% margin of error, found that 80% of voters continue to support Israel in its war against Hamas — the same proportion as in June.

Nearly two-thirds — 66% — believe that Israel is trying to minimize civilian casualties, which is up from 62% in June. And 70% believe that a ceasefire should only happen when Hamas is removed from power in Gaza, up from 67% in June.

Similarly, 66% believe Israel should retaliate if Hezbollah continues to fire rockets into Israel, roughly unchanged from 67% in June. (Israel had not yet launched its June 30 airstrike on Hezbollah’s second-in-command, Fu’ad Shukr.

The poll found that Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump leads presumptive Democratic nominee Vice President Kamala Harris by 3 points, or by 4 points when “unsure” is not an option. (Read more from “Poll Shows 80% Continue to Support Israel” HERE)

Erdogan Threatens Israel: ‘Like We Entered Karabakh and Libya – We Will Do the Same to Israel’

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Jerusalem and Ankara traded sharp barbs on Sunday, with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan seeming to threaten military action against Israel on Sundays as tensions heated up between the Jewish state and the Iranian proxy group Hezbollah.

Israel in turn warned that his fate could become akin to that of former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein, who was executed by hanging.

“Erdogan is following in the footsteps of Saddam Hussein by threatening to attack Israel. He should remember what happened there and how it ended,’ Israel’s Foreign Minister Israel Katz wrote in a post on X, formerly Twitter, in which he linked a photograph of the two men.

He spoke up after Erdogan suggested that Turkey might enter Israel as it had done in the past in Libya and Nagorno-Karabakh, though he did not spell out what sort of intervention he was suggesting.

Erdogan, who has been a fierce critic of Israel’s military campaign in Gaza to destroy Hamas, started discussing that war during a speech praising his country’s defense industry. (Read more from “Erdogan Threatens Israel: ‘Like We Entered Karabakh and Libya – We Will Do the Same to Israel'” HERE)

IDF Releases Findings on Why Oct. 7 Mass Slaughter Wasn’t Stopped

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The Israel Defense Forces’ new report includes its findings from a military probe into some of the failings on Oct. 7, presenting them initially to residents of Kibbutz Be’eri, one of the worst-hit communities on that “Black Sabbath.”

The specially convened presentation took place at a Dead Sea hotel, where internally displaced refugees have been staying since their homes were largely destroyed by Hamas terrorists. While providing some answers, the probe left significant questions hanging, and the report neither assuaged some of the community’s pent-up fury amid its ongoing trauma, nor did it restore trust in the army. There are those who wonder aloud whether that sacred bond between the IDF – a largely conscript army – and the people, particularly those who felt bereft and abandoned on Oct. 7, will ever be fully repaired. It was more than just 1,200 people Hamas terrorists annihilated that day; they also damaged – perhaps irreparably – the “stickiness” that helps hold Israeli society together. . .

The investigators spent hundreds of hours sifting through residents’ WhatsApp messages, reviewing both Israeli and Hamas radio communications, checking surveillance footage and aerial reconnaissance, as well as interviewing survivors and those who fought in the battle to save the kibbutz and its residents. Supplemental intelligence was also gathered from interrogating captured Hamas terrorists.

However, several critical questions – and ones that may not get resolved without a full commission of inquiry – were left unanswered.

These include why military forces did not enter the kibbutz for several hours – despite the desperate pleas of those trapped behind its yellow sliding electric gate. This issue seemed to be partly explained by the fact that although defenders did arrive in numbers, nobody took overall command of the kibbutz’s defense. And certainly nobody decided to go in at once and attempt to take out the Hamas fighters. This was not expressly said, but the general chaos of hundreds of terrorists swarming around – with dead bodies liberally scattered across roads and fields – added to the confusion. More than 100 civilians and 31 security personnel were slain at the kibbutz, which had a pre-invasion population of about 1,000, while 30 other residents and two additional civilians were kidnapped to Gaza. Eleven of them remain in captivity. At one point, the attackers outnumbered the defenders by 340 to 26.

(Read more from “IDF Releases Findings on Why Oct. 7 Mass Slaughter Wasn’t Stopped” HERE)

Photo credit: Flickr

Israel’s Top Court Rules Ultra-Orthodox Jews Must Be Drafted Into Military, in Blow to Netanyahu

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Israel’s Supreme Court on Tuesday ordered the government to draft ultra-Orthodox Jews into the military, delivering a blow to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that has the potential to unravel his ruling coalition.

The court also ordered the government to withdraw funding from any religious schools, or yeshivas, whose students do not comply with draft notices.

“The government wanted to distinguish at the level of law enforcement between individuals based on their group affiliation,” the court said in its ruling. “It was determined that by doing so, the government seriously harmed the rule of law and the principle according to which all individuals are equal before the law.”

Ultra-Orthodox (or Haredi) Jews have, for all intents and purposes, been exempt from national mandatory military service since Israel’s founding (Palestinian citizens of Israel are also exempt.) Ultra-Orthodox men spend much of their early lives out of the workforce, entirely devoted to religious study. They view yeshivas as fundamental to the preservation of Judaism, as important to Israel’s defense as the military.

Most Israelis believe ultra-Orthodox men should serve in the military, according to recent polls, but Haredi parties have been staunchly opposed to efforts to rescind the draft exemption. Netanyahu’s fragile government coalition relies on two Haredi parties – United Torah Judaism and Shas – to govern. He has for weeks been trying to advance legislation through Israel’s parliament, the Knesset, that would enshrine in law a draft exemption for Haredi men. (Read more from “Israel’s Top Court Rules Ultra-Orthodox Jews Must Be Drafted Into Military, in Blow to Netanyahu” HERE)

Gaza War Ignites a Civil War Within the LGBT Community

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Pride month is almost over, but it seemed like barely anything happened. There were parades, but it wasn’t as ‘in your face’ as in other years. Maybe it’s because different things are going on, maybe it’s because it’s an election year, or perhaps it’s because the war in Gaza has fractured the LGBT community in ways that are baffling.

I will never step in to stop liberals from cannibalizing each other, and this is no exception. It’s a bit entertaining: some are openly pro-Hamas, while others rightfully point out how nonsensical that position is in this situation. The New York Times wrote about this civil war within the gay community and how it’s set Fire Island ablaze (via NYT):

The dispute on Fire Island, just off Long Island, was just one expression of the tensions over the Gaza war that have wracked American public life. But within New York’s L.G.B.T.Q. community, whose members hail from every ethnic and social background and tend to be highly attuned to issues of social justice, the war has touched off some especially raw conflicts.

[…]

The fight over how the community should respond to the war in Gaza has played out in fiery online comments and false accusations of pro-Hamas activity. On Fire Island, the flag conflict has pitted Mr. Torres and local homeowners, including Mr. Lucas, against the very activists honored at the park. Elsewhere in New York, similar, if lower profile, disputes have shaken gay bars, L.G.B.T.Q. fund-raising dinners and Pride festivities.

“I think queer people are mostly on one side of the debate,” said Afeef Nessouli, a journalist and activist who has been highlighting the stories of L.G.B.T.Q. people in Gaza on his popular social media channels since the war began. “It feels like queer people are coming out for Palestine in a really large way.”

Indeed, members of the L.G.B.T.Q. community overwhelmingly self-identify as politically liberal or moderate, according to polls. A majority of Democrats have disapproved of Israel’s actions since at least last November, one month after the war began, according to Gallup surveys.

[…]

…supporters of Israel, including some vocal L.G.B.T.Q. people, often argue that the community should support the country because, while it lags behind Western countries on some gay rights issues, it is more tolerant than other places in the Middle East.

In Gaza, like in many places in the Arab world, homosexuality remains taboo and gay life happens largely behind closed doors. Government persecution is not uncommon, and in one high-profile case Hamas killed a prominent commander after accusing him of embezzlement and homosexuality.

(Read more from “Gaza War Ignites a Civil War Within the LGBT Community” HERE)

Jerry Seinfeld’s Brutal Comeback as Anti-Israel Hecklers Crash Another Show on Tour From Hell (VIDEO)

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Jerry Seinfeld has brutally shut down yet another group of anti-Israel hecklers at his Melbourne show, the latest in a series of disruptions during the legendary American comedian’s Australian tour.

Seinfeld was performing in front of thousands of fans at Melbourne’s Rod Laver Arena on Saturday night when, towards the end of his set, a group of anti-Israel protesters began chanting, “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free.”

The 70-year-old — who is widely considered one of the best stand-up comedians of all time — immediately mocked the group for having paid to attend his show.

“I think you need to go back and tell whoever is running your organization, ‘We just gave more money to a Jew,’” he said as the crowd erupted with laughter.

“That cannot be a good plan for you. You gotta come up with a better plan.” (Read more from “Jerry Seinfeld’s Brutal Comeback as Anti-Israel Hecklers Crash Another Show on Tour From Hell” HERE)

Photo credit: Flickr

‘Changes Our Entire Understanding’: Researchers Discover Oldest Known Deep-Sea Cargo Ship

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The Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) tweeted Thursday that a company found a cargo ship dating back 3,300 years deep at the bottom of the Mediterranean Sea.

The ship still contained “hundreds of intact jars,” the IAA said in Hebrew, while sharing a photo of two of the preserved jars.

The IAA said that the discovery overturned the belief that Late Bronze Age seafarers could not navigate their ship without sight of the shore, The Times of Israel reported.

“Only two other shipwrecks with cargo are known from the Late Bronze Age in the Mediterranean Sea … both found off the Turkish coast. Yet both of those shipwrecks were found relatively close to shore,” Jacob Sharvit, head of IAA, said, the outlet reported. . .

The ship was discovered as a result of natural gas company Energean’s standard survey of the Eastern Mediterranean floor in Israeli waters, the outlet reported. The survey discovered what appeared to be large piles of jars littering the seabed and led to the company alerting IAA about their finds, The Times of Israel reported. (Read more from “‘Changes Our Entire Understanding’: Researchers Discover Oldest Known Deep-Sea Cargo Ship” HERE)

Pro-Hamas Supporters Seize Building With Cal State University President Inside

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Pro-Hamas supporters still aren’t quitting their advocacy for terrorists, nor are they ceasing their tactic of staging January 6-like events and seizing buildings on college campuses. The ‘Storm the Bastille’ protocol was adopted after activists saw that nothing serious happened to the hooligans who stormed and seized a building at Columbia University. These students held the custodial staff hostage. At California State University’s Los Angeles campus, these terrorist supporters stormed a building with the university president inside. Signs of vandalism and destruction are apparent (via LA Times):

Scores of protesters occupied and vandalized a Cal State Los Angeles student services building while administrators were inside for hours before leaving Thursday morning, officials said.

The student services building was deemed a crime scene by authorities and multiple windows were defaced with messages in red paint.

Tables, hard-shelled umbrellas and rope still blocked the entrances and exits — though university officials said the building was now vacant.

(Read more from “Pro-Hamas Supporters Seize Building With Cal State University President Inside” HERE)

Photo credit: Flickr