Today marks the one-year anniversary of the 10/07 terrorist attacks by Hamas against Israel, which killed nearly 1,200 Israelis and launched a bloody war that has killed tens of thousands. We can mourn the horrific loss of life and honor the hopes and dreams of civilians on all sides of the conflict while seeing now more than ever that a ceasefire would be nothing but a chance for terrorists to regroup and rebuild.
One Year Later, My Reflections On 10/07 And Israel’s War For Peace
Asked over the weekend about the incursion into Israel and the Israeli deaths that prompted this war, Khalil al-Hayya, the most senior Hamas leader outside Gaza, (falsely) denied civilians were targeted and explained his rationale for the attacks:
“It was necessary to raise an alarm in the world to tell them that here there is a people who have a cause and have demands that must be met. It was a blow to Israel, the Zionist enemy.”
A year later, the Hamas-run health ministry says nearly 42,000 Palestinians have been killed. Now, as the war spreads to Lebanon and potentially Yemen and Iran, even more citizens stand to die. Do not let it escape you that Hamas used humanitarian assistance to build tunnels in Gaza and set up command centers in hospitals, mosques, and schools, using women and children as human shields.
Today, Hamas launched a barrage of rockets into Israel, a stern reminder that its sworn mission to eliminate Israel remains a paramount goal. Imagine if you faced rocket attacks from a bordering neighbor…you would not stand for it either. It is intolerable. A legitimate government cannot ignore it.
Ultimately, if it is my nation or your nation that survives, I choose my nation. If Hamas put down its weapons, the people of Gaza would live in peace and prosperity. If Israel put down its weapons, it would be destroyed. I don’t like violence and I don’t like civilian death, but there are worse things. Israel must persevere in this conflict and if it cannot utterly destroy Hamas, it can at least render it so impotent that it cannot be rebuilt such that a repeat 10/07 incident happens.
Hamas launched its attack knowing that Israel would respond with fierce force and hoping that this would scuttle any peace deals between Israel and other Arab nations. While a treaty with Saudi Arabia may have temporarily been delayed, the Abraham Accords will expand to more nations who see that a working relationship with Israel is far wiser than pretending the nation does not exist.
We mourn today for the 100 hostages still held in the Gaza Strip, most of whom may now be dead. We mourn for the civilian lives lost in Israel, Gaza, and Lebanon…precious children whose lives have been tragically cut short. But we recognize that the alternative to Israel’s war of defense is even worse. I continue to stand with Israel while praying that the people of Gaza and Lebanon will see that Hamas and Hezbollah are responsible for the violence, hatred, and economic squalor that make life so hard.
Words to remember : the Bible writes : “Love God , Hate Evil” . [ Psalm 97:10 , Amos 5:14-15 , Proverbs 8:13 ]
Weirdly , in these days , because Israel defends itself against evil , there are those who are against Israel .
Well stated. Matthew 6:33.
@JoeMart … Very Good . This is another reason to be calm if a problem might occur … it will resolve .
“Stress” or “Worry” never solved any problem .
Gospel of Matthew, love thy neighbor as thyself.
Now that the Israel Tribe has things well in hand , in it’s Biblical fight to stop evil , angels are rejoicing and playing music . Netanyahu has earned a good place in the Tribal book .
I don’t understand why you keep repeating this.
As a reply to the college moron demonstrators , who remain out and about .
Well said, Matt. Thank you.
Netanyahu has to go. Generations of Israeli’s will be paying the price for his genocide for decades to come.
Seems to me that Bibi is the one who is acting like an adult and realizing that peace won’t come through ceasefires…
Thank you! Easy to see who the terrorist lovers are on here.
You really enjoy showing the world what a simple, one dimensional little mind you have don’t you.
LOL…I believe that you believe that. Miraculously, one can still support Israel and not it’s leader.
Bibi is only interested in saving Bibi, and staying out of jail. Who does that sound like….. Bibi doesn’t care about Israel, or the middle east. He cares about protecting himself at any cost. And he’s shown that over and over during the past year.
What’s his strategy in the middle easts? How does the chaos he’s created make the middle east stable. Who was funding Hamas that lead to this massacre. And why? Why wasn’t Israel prepared when they knew months before this assault that it was imminent. Why were they so unprepared? One year later and why don’t we have answers to any of these questions. And you Christian neocons have the audacity to attack anyone who questions them? Questions what Israel is doing? What are their actual goals?
Is that the type of partner the United States wants in the middle east? No accountability? No responsibility? Just creating chaos and killing tens of thousands of humans? Right…..and who does that sound like. Great strategy……just see how that works out for you.
I do not support the entitled misinformed foolish children protesting at the universities, nor do I support the foolish, ignorant Christian neocons who offer unconditional support to a far right Israeli Prime Minister and government with no guard rails. I support Israel, just not the government that is currently running it.
Perfect answer!
Michael loses when he resorts to trite (and factually inaccurate) assumptions and ad hominems.
What was factually incorrect?
He superfically reduces history to trite and inaccurate catch phrases (“Bibi funded Hamas” which is greatly lacking context) and also makes false assumptiosn about me.
But a lot of what he said also wasn’t far off.
Hmmm no mention as to how the Israeli right wing of which Bibi is a part helped prop up Hamas for their own ends?
No mention as to how 2000 Gazan children have been killed by Israeli soldiers over the last 20 years.
No mention as to how Bibi is using this conflict to cling onto power.
I wonder why that is.
Find me a war – any war – in which children are not killed, whether intentionally or otherwise.
On the night of September 11th, 2001, the Palestinians demonstrated their feelings toward us Americans by dancing with joy in the streets. They are America’s enemy. Whatever Israel does to them is fine by me, and that inccudes Hezbollah who bombed US Marines doing guard duty in Beirut in 1983. All of them are the same pieces of Shi’ite. And in case you say that those events were long ago, remember that the Aloha Snackbars think it’s 1099 and we’re still Fighting the First Crusade.
May Israel thrive and succeed and may the Snackbars be bombed until they remember that Islam is supposed to be a religion of peace.
Palestinians did not do that. Stop spreading that fake narrative and propaganda.
Also it is interesting that you are not cool with Hizb bombing the marines (who were in Lebanon as a foreign agent) but cool with Israel sinking a US ship.
I watched it on CNN that evening. They did dance in the streets. Are you telling me that a respected international news organization and my own eyes were lying? Which one are you, Shi’ite propagandist or anti-American troll?
Only limited and myopic thinking paints someone who is anti-genocide and/or pro-Palestinian as being a Shiite propagandist or whatever. By that same logic, one could say you and Matthew are Hasbara propagandists.
Some people who celebrated does not represent an entire people. That is like saying every White person in the US is racist because some support, cheer, and are members of the KKK.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UYkJnR0UuNI&ab_channel=TheHill
STFU Aaron we all remember it.
Make me. For the third time, I am daring to make me STFU.
Your MAGA Daddy will do that when he gags you with his big hairy balls.
Israel much like Ukraine is a fake country that only exists because the United States. Neither ever existed before 1940.
Oh, do you need a history lesson. Ukraine has existed since the 900s. And the Jews have occupied the territory it’s on since the 1200s BC.
@O’Hare … +1 . Exactly .
Not sure of the point of this blog which deals with travel, except to start (another) heated discussion about who’s right/wrong.
Stick to travel.
Because there are some issues that are more important than travel and because war directly influences travel and the ability to travel.
My blog, my (small) platform. I want to remind people that there are more important things than miles or points.
@Matthew … +1 . Spot on !
ah yes, helping provide further excuses for Israel’s ever-expanding genocide and war of aggression. Using your platform for that is important.
@Mark … Guess what ? Israel is the Tribe of cunning and intelligence . Hamasians are the Tribe of morons .
You are a big supporter of Israel obviously.
But you never give an opinion on the West Bank settlement issue.
Tell us what your take on the settlement issue is.
That’s because the Christian fundamentalists only know to support Israel and read the bible.
History books and real life facts confuse and scare them.
You look so foolish when you reduce me and others who support Bibi to that. Honestly, I believe that you believe that. But miraculously, one can still support Israel and its leader…one can support Bibi without being a fundamentalist or a neocon…
Bibi (and by extension Israel) isn’t killing all these people because it was attacked, Israel is killing all these people because it was given an excuse. Israel has always wanted to grab more land and eliminate the populations who oppose it. It’s using the political moment that October 7th gave it to roll out agendas it has wanted to roll out for generations. Israel has been squeezing and squeezing it’s targets for generation after generation waiting for them to push back sufficiently to hand them an excuse.
https://jewishcurrents.org/inside-the-movement-to-settle-southern-lebanon-uri-tzafon-israel
https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/israeli-settler-group-advertises-new-properties-southern-lebanon
https://www.timesofisrael.com/fringe-far-right-conference-to-advocate-occupation-and-settlement-of-south-lebanon/
@Aaron … Come on now . You must know by now that the Israelis are a Tribe , and Netanyahu is the Tribal Chief .
If attacked by another Tribe , the instinct is to have a Tribal fight . It has nothing to do with “agendas” .
If you believe that then you are even more ignorant than I thought you were.
@Aaron … I follow the winning Tribe .
Not the loser moron Tribe .
So there .
C0ngrats, you like being on the wrong side of history then.
@Boris … Before the Six Day War in 1967 , the West Bank was considered a part of Jordan. Jordan was a very young entity , part of a division 50 years or so before . There are many places in Judea and Samaria with old Israeli associations , for example Temple Mount . My own opinion is the land there ought not be taken from it’s rightful owners , whomever they may be , except for national defense or security reasons , as determined by lawful process . Many of those “settlers” are too acquisitive for my taste , and many have behaved badly indeed , bringing disrepute . Nevertheless , Jordan lost sovereignty over the West Bank , Israel gained it , and that’s that .
Matthew knows what it going on and chooses to ignore it/doesn’t care and pretends history began on Oct 7th.
I’ve very clearly condemned West Bank settlements over and over here…you know that. A very different issue than Hamas attacking from the Gaza Strip. Why was Gaza an open-air prison? Ask Egypt too…
Egypt’s AID from the US (billions of dollars) is conditional on assisting Israel.
How often do you condemn the West Bank settlements? Have you ever done a post about it on it’s own, or just pay lip service to it now and then?
Gaza was an open air prison because Israel wanted it that way, regardless of who the Gazans elected.
https://liveandletsfly.com/walled-off-hotel/
You remember this.
I’m not oblivious to the hopes and dreams of the people of West Bank (and Gaza).
Would you have done that post if the hotel wasn’t the point of the post?
Yes, I would have. At least I hope so!
On behalf of Israelis, I thank generous American taxpayers who provide weapons to us. With your help, in January 2025, President Trump will again ban Muslims from America.
It’s really America’s war. Without America, Israel would not exist.
This conflict is never-ending. It will be will mankind even after we are dead and gone, unfortunately. The curse of the Middle East. And taking all of America’s Tax dollars.
@Tony … Tribal loyalties in the Middle East trump western-type “reason” , every time .
That is why the pontificating Western “leaders” , such as Macron , are dismissed by all the players in the Middle East , except when they offer money .
“war for peace” no one who says that should ever be considered intelligent or listened to
You don’t question Israel as the aggressor or why they have blocked all peace talks and negotiations. You parrot nonsense. You are part of why so many people are dying, and you don’t realize it.
@Mark … the reality is Israel is a Tribe , Netanyahu is the Tribal leader , and that is all there is to it .
Says who ?
Says me , a proud follower of winners .
Yet WWII taught us that a war for peace is possible. The only mistake being that it should have happened sooner before millions died while imagining there was a path to diplomacy. How many more decades and generations need to live under the terror of Iranian extremists? The time to end this is now. There is no other path and they brought this on themselves.
Thank you! Unfortunately common sense and morality is getting rarer!
Evil lives in darkness and articles like this that bring light and truth, help banish it away.
Thank you, Matt. Am Yisrael Chai!
You write “which killed nearly 1,200 Israelis”
Hamas MURDERED and BUTCHERED nearly 1,200 Israelis!
And Israel has butchered and murdered thousands and thousands of Palestinians.
Just not enough of them. And how can someone with a name like Aaron be so anti-Jew?
Matthew you still have not given your view on the settlements in he West Bank
Remember some of these settlers are sanctioned by the USA
Only want Matthew to reply to this comment
I’ve been very clear:
https://liveandletsfly.com/palestine-shirt-abu-dhabi-airport/
But has anyone asked what the deplorables over at flyer talk Omni what they think?
Matt- Well said.
Genocide supporting ghoul
Happy Palestine Upraising anniversary!