Thursday Potpourri Of News

Let’s start with a story from an Israeli magazine. This simply confirms that the massacre of non-Jewish civilians is Israeli policy—a feature, not a bug. Pay attention to the role of AI in this:

‘A mass assassination factory’: Inside Israel’s calculated bombing of Gaza
+972 Magazine ^ | 11/30/2023 | Yuval Abraham

The Israeli army’s expanded authorization for bombing non-military targets, the loosening of constraints regarding expected civilian casualties, and the use of an artificial intelligence system to generate more potential targets than ever before, appear to have contributed to the destructive nature of the initial stages of Israel’s current war on the Gaza Strip, an investigation by +972 Magazine and Local Call reveals. These factors, as described by current and former Israeli intelligence members, have likely played a role in producing what has been one of the deadliest military campaigns against Palestinians since the Nakba of 1948.

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The bombing of power targets, according to intelligence sources who had first-hand experience with its application in Gaza in the past, is mainly intended to harm Palestinian civil society: to “create a shock” that, among other things, will reverberate powerfully and “lead civilians to put pressure on Hamas,” as one source put it.

Several of the sources, who spoke to +972 and Local Call on the condition of anonymity, confirmed that the Israeli army has files on the vast majority of potential targets in Gaza — including homes — which stipulate the number of civilians who are likely to be killed in an attack on a particular target. This number is calculated and known in advance to the army’s intelligence units, who also know shortly before carrying out an attack roughly how many civilians are certain to be killed.

(Excerpt) Read more at 972mag.com ...

Here’s Arnaud Bertrand extended commentary on these revelations:

Arnaud Bertrand @RnaudBertrand

WOW, this might be THE most important piece of journalism on the war on Gaza since it began, by Israeli newspaper @972mag.

Essentially they confirm, with unimpeachable sourcing, that the killing of civilians was all calculated and intentional.

Their investigation is "based on conversations with seven current and former members of Israel’s intelligence community — including military intelligence and air force personnel who were involved in Israeli operations in the besieged Strip — in addition to Palestinian testimonies, data, and documentation from the Gaza Strip, and official statements by the IDF Spokesperson and other Israeli state institutions."

…

One source told them: "Nothing happens by accident. When a 3-year-old girl is killed in a home in Gaza, it’s because someone in the army decided it wasn’t a big deal for her to be killed — that it was a price worth paying in order to hit [another] target. We are not Hamas. These are not random rockets. Everything is intentional. We know exactly how much collateral damage there is in every home."

Even more dystopian - and this might be a first in the history of warfare - a lot of the targets are identified by AI: for instance they "use of a system called 'Habsora' ('The Gospel'), which is largely built on artificial intelligence and can 'generate' targets almost automatically at a rate that far exceeds what was previously possible. This AI system, as described by a former intelligence officer, essentially facilitates a 'mass assassination factory.' According to the sources, the increasing use of AI-based systems like Habsora allows the army to carry out strikes on residential homes where a single Hamas member lives on a massive scale, even those who are junior Hamas operatives."

I'm not going to copy the whole article here, you have to read this for yourself. IT IS INSANE. They've essentially been running, as the sources say, a "mass assassination factory" at a terrifying scale with massive and intended "collateral damage" (often the targets' entire families, or even sometimes much of their neighborhood), alongside an objective to destroy much of Gaza to “create a shock”, all on a population that had nowhere to escape. It'll likely remain in history books as one of the most depraved massacres in modern history.

7:32 AM · Nov 30, 2023

While assembling this I’ve been listening to Judge Nap and Prof. Mearsheimer. Mearsheimer’s view is that Israel has no appetite for the type of tough fighting that would be required to root Hamas out of its strongholds—in this he agrees with a variety of military experts. Thus, he expects that when the hostage exchange is over, Israel will simply resume massacring civilians until some outside force causes them to stop the massacre. He’s pessimistic that any politician in the US has the cajones (not his word) to buck The Israel Lobby. Speaking of which, The Israel Lobby is in Jerusalem today, receiving its instructions:

Benjamin Rubinstein @BenFRubinstein

Every politician who accepts money from AIPAC is a foreign agent and needs to go to prison. Israel first, America last is treason against the American people.

7:20 AM · Nov 30, 2023

Mind you, the tweeter calls AIPAC “foreign agents,” but no US administration has required AIPAC to register under FARA. I guess the idea is that there are certain truths that the American people just aren’t ready for. Better to let the sleeping dogs lie and the tail to wag.

A quick switch of topic. Most readers are probably aware that the jihad against Trump has included inquisitors accumulating the identities of anyone who interacted with Trump’s Twitter account. That’s right. Anyone who commented or retweeted or “liked” something on Trump’s account—your identity is known to the Grand Jury. And if you think that info will stay with the Grand Jury I have a bridge for sale that you might be interested in. Here’s how CTH puts it—and I see no reason to disagree:

Compiling a Hit List? – Special Counsel Jack Smith Requested Details of All Donald Trump Twitter Followers

I would quibble—that wasn’t a “request”, it was a demand. Lots of info at the link, but here’s the bottom line:

While the release of the warrant is initially surprising, it should not come as a great surprise to know the Biden government wants to generate a list of what they would consider subversives to the interests of the state.

Previously, the Obama/Biden administration, through the DOJ, used the IRS to assemble a list of people and entities against their interests. Once that revelation came to light, as a result of a whistleblower, the Obama/Biden administration then began a process of using the NSA database to monitor political opposition. Ultimately, that led to the targeting of candidate Donald Trump in 2016 and the later targeting of President Trump after his inauguration.

The Jack Smith effort is simply a continuation of a very dystopian DOJ effort.

There’s that word again—”dystopian”. Arnaud Bertrand used it to describe Israeli targeting of civilians. Well, this is targeting, too. Smith got away with this because he and Judge Beryl Howell claimed Trump was a “flight risk” and they needed to know everybody who interacted with him. Beryl Howell—and I urge you to read up on her—

considers Trump an “authoritarian”, and believes that requires her to fight fire with fire. Well, that’s alway the justification when Leftists unleash their inner authoritarianism.

“There is no benign or reasonable justification for that demand,” wrote former FBI agent/whistleblower Steve Friend on X.

Laura Ingraham: The story on her just gets worse and worse. Judge Beryl Howell, who spearheaded the Judiciary’s response to January 6, reportedly warned in a speech last night that the country is creeping toward authoritarianism. According to Politico, she said January 6 was based on the BIG LIE, sounds like MSNBC. And quoted a Boston College historian who said, big lies are springboards for authoritarians.

Now, how can President Trump expect to receive a fair trial here? Of course he can’t. And why should this rank partisan be allowed to oversee any aspect of any case involving anyone in Trump world? So what are the remedies here for Trump and others? Joining me now, Fox News contributor Saul Weisenberg, former deputy independent counsel, and Mike Davis, founder and president of the Article Three project. Now, Mike, let’s start with you. To be fair, this is nothing new for Judge Howell. She has a history of using charge language when speaking about January 6. She once referred to the protest as about the most fascistic things she’d ever seen and saying it was more like a mob that was like the Nazis and the fascists that day.

Mike Davis: She is a highly partisan actor.
She’s an Obama judge.
She used to work as a Democrat staffer on the Senate Judiciary Committee for the chairman. Patrick Leahy.
She was a former federal prosecutor with Loretta Lynch and Andrew Weissman.
She co authored a legal paper with Andrew Weissman from the Mueller probe.
She supervised the Muelller probe.
She’s been the harshest sentencer of January 6 defendants.
She even pressured the DOJ to sentence them more harshly!
She seized a congressman’s phone, which was overturned by the DC circuit.
She made Trump’s attorneys turn over attorney client privilege records and didn’t give them time to appeal before she made them turn them over.
And now – she’s going after Twitter with an illegal warrants with Jack Smith to get all these records that the government is not entitled to have.
She is a left-wing activist.

Another pivot—Ukraine, and US super weapons:

-- GEROMAN -- time will tell - @GeromanAT

The problem with Western tanks is that they are very heavy and when there is heavy rain or snow, they become unsuitable for Ukrainian Armed Forces operations. American Abrams M1 tanks transferred to Ukraine, as it turned out, do not cope well with mud, Forbes writes. Engine intake filters require cleaning twice daily to keep dirt and debris from entering the powerful but fragile engine. "If an Abrams crew neglects to clean their tank's filters every 12 hours or so, it could cause engine damage so severe that the battalion will have no choice but to remove the engine and possibly the transmission and send it for a long overhaul." repairs," writes military expert David Ax. And the Abrams are being repaired in Poland. Another problem is high fuel consumption. But this was known before the deliveries.

US weapons are sunshine weapons against low level enemies.

7:36 AM · Nov 30, 2023

Finally, two good articles, related and linked:

Underestimate Iran At Your Peril

It has now been almost five years since an Iranian domestically produced S-300 variant anti-aircraft missile shot down what was theretofore believed to be a largely invulnerable American RQ-4 surveillance drone.

American RQ-4 Intelligence / Reconnaissance Drone

It has now been almost four years since the Iranians, in response to the American assassination of their beloved General Qasem Soleimani, dropped about twenty large-warhead ballistic missiles within 5-meter circles against very specific targets at the American Ayn al-Asad airbase in Iraq.

For those who still entertain doubts about Iranian missile capability, I strongly recommend viewing the video of a portion of the Ayn al-Asad attack contained in the link below.

Iranian Missile Attack on American Ayn al-Asad Airbase

Bear in mind that the Iranians chivalrously gave the Americans several hours advance notice of the strike in order to minimize human losses. And despite the generous advance warning, US air defenses were incapable of interdicting the attack.

Of course, many will reflexively reply, “Yeah, but that was against static targets. They could never hit an aircraft carrier cruising in the Persian Gulf.”

To which I reply, “Underestimate Iran at your peril.”