How Hamas sees the Gaza conflict unfolding - and why it thinks it can win

A source close to Hamas's political leadership says the group believes it can defeat Israel but acknowledges the heavy price being paid by those on the ground

The Hamas attack on 7 October has been dubbed “the biggest miscalculation in the history of all miscalculations”, by one leading Arab source.

An operation, which people informed about details of its planning say was meant to be a tactical mission designed to secure two dozen military hostages at most, turned into a chaotic rampage when Israel’s Gaza Division collapsed.

As Hamas fighters and a range of other armed actors from Gaza stormed through southern Israel, attacking military bases, kibbutz communities, and a music festival, the assault produced horrifying images of the worst massacre of Israeli civilians since the inception of the state.

Hamas stands accused by human rights groups of “deliberate civilian killings, abductions, and indiscriminate attacks” during events now the subject of an active investigation by the International Criminal Court.

Up to 250 hostages were seized, some of them foreign nationals.

...This is the balance sheet as seen from outside the militant group, but it is not how Hamas itself sees these events.

To find out what Hamas thinks, MEE spoke to a senior Palestinian source in touch with the political leadership of Hamas.

MEE put three main questions to him. Why did the attack take place when it did? Are Israel’s war aims achievable? What will Hamas think it has achieved when this war is over?

Why now?

The trigger for the 7 October attack was Hamas’s concern that far-right Jews intended to sacrifice an animal at the site of al-Aqsa Mosque, thus laying the ground for the demolition of the Dome on the Rock shrine and the building of the Third Temple, he said.

Hamas had been following Israeli plans to institute a permanent Jewish presence within the al-Aqsa complex closely. Al-Aqsa is considered the third-holiest site in Islam and a symbol of Palestinian identity. It is known in Israel as the Temple Mount.

The daily presence of far-right Jews at al-Aqsa had already been achieved, with two daily incursions in the morning and afternoon in tours protected by heavily armed police and lasting from 30 minutes to an hour.

According to some messianic religious sects like the Temple Institute, a red heifer without a blemish must be sacrificed to purify the ground before the Third Temple can be rebuilt.

Red Angus cows have been imported from the US for this purpose. One Third Temple group said earlier this year that it hoped to slaughter five imported heifers during next year’s Passover holiday, which falls in April 2024.

MEE’s source said that al-Aqsa had already been divided in time and noted that settlers had made “vegetable sacrifices” at the site.

This appears to be a reference to an incursion a month ago by dozens of settlers carrying palm fronds to mark the Jewish holiday of Sukhot.

“The only thing left is the slaughtering of the red heifers which they imported from the US. If they did that, it’s the signal to rebuild the Third Temple,” said the source.

Hamas had already warned Israel that it was playing with fire by attempting to put in place arrangements at al-Aqsa similar to those at the Ibrahimi Mosque in Hebron, which is shared by Muslims and Jews alike.

Other Palestinian groups, including the Palestinian Authority, have also warned Israel about changing the status quo at the mosque.

🔗Source: Middle East Eye

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Iraqis Warn of Western Plan to Move Gazans to Anbar Desert

While the idea of relocating Palestinians to Iraq's Anbar region may appear improbable, western-backed conflicts have already displaced millions in the region - many of which appear to be demographically-engineered.

The settlement of Palestinians in the Anbar desert, western Iraq, has become a topic of renewed discussion among Iraqis, thanks to the US-championed "Deal of the Century."

As far back as February 2020, Iraqi MP al-Baldawi, the representative of the al-Fatah coalition in Iraq's parliament, was alleging:

"The US is plotting to keep out Hashd al-Shaabi (Popular Mobilization Units, or PMU) from the western provinces of Iraq, specially al-Anbar province, in a move to provide a proper ground for sheltering the Palestinians inside Iraq."

But now, the renewed interest in the topic coincides with the recent, unpublicized visit of the British ambassador to Iraq to Anbar Governorate.

Since the unveiling of the Trump era peace plan in 2019, reports have surfaced suggesting that the continued US presence in western Iraq has broader intentions beyond establishing military bases.

It is speculated that the goal is to create an "alternative homeland" for Palestinian refugees in the Anbar desert. This notion might have remained confined to the realm of "conspiracy theories" if it weren't for suggestions made by Israeli leaders following the 7 October Al-Aqsa Flood resistance operation, and their unprecedented genocidal aggression against the Gaza Strip.

Engineering another nakba

Israeli media leaked a document issued by the Israeli Ministry of Intelligence, proposing the displacement of 2.4 million Palestinians from Gaza to the Sinai Peninsula in Egypt and other regions, a proposal strongly rejected by both Cairo and Amman.

🔗Source: The Cradle

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U.S., European Officials Broach Topic of Peace Negotiations with Ukraine, Sources Say

The conversations have included very broad outlines of what Ukraine might need to give up to reach a deal with Russia.

U.S. and European officials have begun quietly talking to the Ukrainian government about what possible peace negotiations with Russia might entail to end the war, according to one current senior U.S. official and one former senior U.S. official familiar with the discussions.

The conversations have included very broad outlines of what Ukraine might need to give up to reach a deal, the officials said. Some of the talks, which officials described as delicate, took place last month during a meeting of representatives from more than 50 nations supporting Ukraine, including NATO members, known as the Ukraine Defense Contact Group, the officials said.

The discussions are an acknowledgment of the dynamics militarily on the ground in Ukraine and politically in the U.S. and Europe, officials said.

They began amid concerns among U.S. and European officials that the war has reached a stalemate and about the ability to continue providing aid to Ukraine, officials said. Biden administration officials also are worried that Ukraine is running out of forces, while Russia has a seemingly endless supply, officials said. Ukraine is also struggling with recruiting and has recently seen public protests about some of President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s open-ended conscription requirements.

🔗Source: NBC

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Iraqi Resistance, Syrian Arab Tribes Strike Us Positions in Northeast Syria

Armed factions in Iraq and Syria have significantly stepped up their attacks on the US army and its proxy militias in solidarity with the Palestinian people

Airstrikes launched from Iraq once again hit US occupation bases in northeast Syria overnight on 4 November, coinciding with a ground assault by Syrian Arab tribes in Deir Ezzor governorate on positions held by the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in the vicinity of the occupied Al-Omar oil field.

The Islamic Resistance in Iraq (IRI), an umbrella group of various resistance factions, took responsibility for the salvo of missiles that successfully hit the US base in Al-Shaddadi, located south of the city of Hasakah.

Explosions were also reported earlier at the Kharab al-Jir airfield northeast of Hasakah. Over the past month, the airfield has served as a crucial delivery point for the Pentagon to reinforce its positions in the oil-rich region.

For their part, Syrian Arab tribes – who since late August have been waging war against US-backed Kurdish authorities – launched heavy attacks on multiple SDF positions in the countryside of Deir Ezzor, with intense clashes reported in the towns of Al-Tayyana, Dhiban, Al-Jaabi, Hajin, and Al-Bahra.

According to local sources who spoke with Sputnik, the attacks were carried out despite the constant presence of US drones and helicopters in the region. They added that, under US pressure, the SDF has established over “120 military points along the banks of the Euphrates River, separating the areas controlled by the US occupation from the areas controlled by the Syrian Arab Army (SAA).”

As the US occupation army was again targeted in Syria, the IRI also claimed responsibility for a drone strike that hit the Al-Harir Air Base, which is located 45 kilometers north of the Erbil International Airport in northern Iraq.

🔗Source: The Cradle

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Algerian Parliament Unanimously Votes to Support Palestine Militarily

The Algerian parliament on 2 November unanimously voted to = authorize President Abdelmadjid Tebboune to enter the Gaza-Israel war and throw his support behind Palestine.

The 100/100 vote icame a day after the anniversary of Algeria’s war of liberation against French colonialism.

Algeria is the second Arab nation that looks to enter the war against Israel, following Yemen’s declaration of war just two days prior.

"We launched a large number of ballistic and cruise missiles and a large number of drones at various targets of the Zionist enemy in the Palestine Occupied Territories," the spokesperson of the Yemeni armed forces, General Yahya Saree, said earlier this week. "We emphasize that this operation is the third operation in support of our oppressed brothers in Palestine."

Saree then added that "the position of our Yemeni people towards the cause of Palestine is fixed and principled, and the Palestinian people have the full right to defend themselves and use their full rights.” "Our forces performed their duty in supporting Gaza and fired ballistic and cruise missiles at enemy targets in the Occupied Territories."

Arab nations have recently been following suit in their support of the Palestinian piece; Kuwait has condemned the Israeli aggression, Bahrain has cut all diplomatic ties, and Jordan has recalled their ambassador to Israel.

Nations outside of West Asia who have voiced their support for Palestine include Cuba, Chile, Venezuela, Bolivia – who've cut diplomatic ties with Israel completely – Nicaragua, and others.

🔗Source: The Cradle

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Israel has launched over a dozen airstrikes in the vicinity of the Indonesian Hospital in the northern Gaza Strip.

Israel has not ceased its bombing campaign against civilians under the pretext of targeting Hamas, hitting several areas simultaneously and killing dozens by the hour.

Thousands of Black Women Claim Hair Relaxers Gave Them Cancer

Sheila Bush, a cosmetologist, was lounging in the recliner at her St. Louis-area home last winter when an advertisement from a law firm flashed up on her television screen, urging viewers to call a toll-free number if they or a loved one had used hair relaxers and been diagnosed with uterine cancer.

After seeing the ad three times, Bush, who said she had used hair relaxers every six weeks for most of her life and was diagnosed with uterine cancer about a decade ago, decided to pick up the phone.

The ads Bush saw, on television as well as on her social media feeds, were part of a nationwide effort by law firms to sign up Black women to file lawsuits alleging at least a dozen cosmetic companies, including L’Oreal and Revlon, sold hair relaxers containing chemicals that increased the risk of developing uterine cancer – and failed to warn customers.

The recruitment campaign launched in October last year, days after a U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH) study found an association, though not a causal link, between frequent use of chemical hair relaxers and uterine cancer. Hair straighteners such as L’Oreal’s Dark & Lovely and Revlon’s Creme of Nature are marketed overwhelmingly to women of color, according to the lawsuits.

Source: Reuters

❗️Alon Ben David - Israeli Channel 13:

"Netanyahu hesitates to make decisions and prefers a long and inconclusive path, because he realizes that there will be trials and investigations; But at some point the Americans will stop him, and prolonging the battle with Gaza means prolonging his political life, which is nearing the end."

Ukraine’s Commander-in-Chief Says the War Is a Stalemate

Gen. Valery Zaluzhny says there will 'most likely' be no breakthrough

Ukrainian Commander-in-Chief Gen. Valery Zaluzhny acknowledged in comments to The Economist that the war in Ukraine is a stalemate and that there will “most likely” be no Ukrainian breakthrough.

“Just like in the First World War, we have reached the level of technology that puts us into a stalemate,” the general said. “There will most likely be no deep and beautiful breakthrough.”

Ukraine gained no significant territory in its counteroffensive that was launched back in June. Media reports and the Discord leaks revealed that the US, Kyiv’s main backer, did not think Ukraine would have much success, but the Biden administration pushed for the counteroffensive anyway.

Zaluzhny discussed changes he tried to make during the counteroffensive. “First I thought there was something wrong with our commanders, so I changed some of them. Then I thought maybe our soldiers are not fit for purpose, so I moved soldiers in some brigades,” he said.

🔗Source: Antiwar.com

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The most messed up thing about the “counteroffensive”, is that the US, NATO, Zelensky, all of them knew the entire time that hundreds of thousand of Ukrainians would be slaughtered, and they sacrificed them anyway, for political and monetary gain.

Evil is an understatement.

Obama: Hamas Attack Was Horrific, but What Is Happening to Palestinians ‘Unbearable’

Palestinian militia group Hamas’ October 7 attacks on Israel were “horrific” and unjustifiable, but the Israeli occupation and what Palestinians are suffering through is also “unbearable,” said former US President Barack Obama, adding that “nobody’s hands are clean” in the Israel-Hamas conflict.

“If there’s any chance of us being able to act constructively, to do something, it will require an admission of complexity. And maintaining what on the surface may seem contradictory ideas, that what Hamas did was horrific and there’s no justification for it. And what is also true is that the occupation and what’s happening to Palestinians is unbearable,” Obama said in a Pod Save America podcast published on Saturday.

He added: “And what is true is that there are people right now who are dying who have nothing to do with what Hamas did… If you want to solve the problem, then you have to take in the whole truth. And you then have to admit nobody’s hands are clean, that all of us are complicit to some degree.”

“All of this is taking place against the backdrop of decades of failure to achieve a durable peace for both Israelis and Palestinians… One that is based on genuine security for Israel, a recognition of its right to exist, and a peace that is based on an end of the occupation and the creation of a viable state and self-determination for the Palestinian people,” Obama said.

“Now, I will admit, it is impossible to be dispassionate in the face of this carnage…It is hard to feel hopeful. The images of families mourning, of bodies being pulled from rubble, force a moral reckoning on all of us.”

🔗SOURCE ➡️ Al Arabiya

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