I wonder if we’re going to look back at 10/7/23 as the start of WW III. I sure hope not.

In addition to creating the external circumstances for terror, the Biden administration did everything in its power to derail Israel’s democratically elected government and prevent it from being able to see an attack like today’s coming. That the Israelis let themselves fall for this was stupidity of criminal order. But the invisible hand here was America’s.
…

One idea floating around my inbox this afternoon is that part of Israel’s complete military collapse today was caused by a massive Iranian cyber attack that hacked its systems and prevented it from seeing what ought to have been obvious. That this could not only be true but related to the U.S. having recently given a team of Iranian agents high-level access to U.S. intelligence, which could very well have included information about Israeli systems, is not nearly as far-fetched a scenario as many would like it to be. [referencing the Malley-Iranian spies in DC]

It doesn’t matter what words Biden says today. When you champion Iran; when you send it and its proxies money; when you reward Palestinian violence; when you go out of your way to portray Bibi as a dangerous fascist; when you finance and champion his opponents, contributing to further instability and unrest; when you hand over U.S. intelligence keys to Iranian agents; when you have your spokespeople declare it “disinformation” for people to connect obvious dots; when you do all of this, you know what is going to happen. You mean for it to happen.

If only the Biden administration had listened to Kredo’s warnings, it would be spared the scandal and humiliation today of having entrusted its Iran policy to a man who can’t understand that Iran’s regime is not a friend, it’s an enemy. If only the Biden administration had listened to Kredo’s warnings, the Pentagon would be spared a potential Iranian agent in its ranks.

There’s a lesson here somewhere.

The lesson is that NONE of this administration’s actions in the Middle East are accidental, mistaken, naïve, or hapless incompetence: they are deliberate, long-planned, and malevolent.

Some of the evidence is here:
https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/israel-middle-east/articles/what-just-happened-in-israel

One particular “receipt” in support, which I haven’t seen elsewhere, in addition to the better-known news that VDH rehearses:

https://theconservativetreehouse.com/blog/2023/10/07/victor-davis-hanson-discusses-elevated-picture-of-hamas-attack-against-israel/

Note as well that the Biden administration has siphoned off key weapons and munitions from stockpiles inside Israel to transfer them to Ukraine. The so-called “War Reserve Ammunition—Israel” is all but depleted of just the sorts of weapons needed in the present crisis.

It is a precious thing for a country to have a military whose strength, intelligence, and reliability discourages war-making against it, and it would be a catastrophe if the perception and reality of Israel’s military were to be replaced by incompetence, weakness, and lack of vision.

Kate mentioned that Jeff Dunetz had some good advice:
https://lidblog.com/so-it-will-be-war-between-us-hamas-attacts-israel/

2) Shut UP. Not kidding. If, perchance, you see a troop movement on YouTube, Or your cousin Mika, who lives in Tel Aviv, says she saw a squadron marching south, KEEP IT TO YOURSELF: Hamas has computers also you will be telling Hamas the IDF’s next move.

3) Unless you have heard it from the IDF or the Israeli govt, consider it a lie. Even if you read it in a trusted newspaper, reports from the war zone are made very fast and include many mistakes.

The most puzzling thing about the Hama attack was that the Israeli defense forces totally missed it. So far, this is the most cogent explanation I have seen.
https://freebeacon.com/national-security/israels-distracted-deep-state/

Washington Free Beacon Editors
October 7, 2023
In a perverse way it’s understandable that Israel’s legendary intelligence and security services failed to prevent the worst mass killing of Jews in their country in a half century. They’ve been distracted, and unforgivably so.

In the last year, members of Mossad and Shin Bet have been preoccupied with resisting Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition government and its efforts to reform an imperious and undemocratic justice system.

In addition to the open letters from former top spies and security chiefs decrying Netanyahu’s judicial reforms, hundreds of elite reservists in March said they would not be showing up to their posts in protest of the prime minister.

Earlier this year, the Times of Israel reported that Mossad chief David Barnea gave the green light to some of his charges to participate in the protests. One U.S. intelligence document posted to a Discord server by the disgraced Air National Guardsman Jack Teixeira said that Mossad’s leadership went further: that Mossad leaders “advocated for Mossad officials and Israeli citizens to protest the new Israeli Government’s proposed judicial reforms, including several explicit calls to action that decried the Israeli Government, according to signals intelligence.” And last month, the former Mossad chief Tamir Pardo blurted out that he believed his country was now an “apartheid state,” repeating the talking points of Israel’s enemies.

Today’s terror attacks are a sobering reminder than the Shin Bet and the Mossad should keep the main thing the main thing. Israel has wired Gaza with listening posts, hidden cameras and human assets. If the Shin Bet and Mossad failed to detect a plot of this magnitude then perhaps it should consider leaving politics to the politicians. Instead of “defending democracy,” the spies and security chiefs should get back to defending Israel.

This revolt of Israel’s deep state reminds us of the stunts pulled by the FBI and the permanent bureaucracy in the Trump years. There were leaks, spurious investigations and former senior officials spreading the innuendo that Trump and his people were Russian agents. All of this was justified in the name of defending our democracy from its elected leader.

The difference is that Israel has a much smaller margin of error than America. Our republic managed to survive the deep state’s resistance to Trump because America remains the strongest and wealthiest country in the world. Israel is not so lucky.

When the institutions and leaders entrusted with the security of the world’s only Jewish state play politics instead of doing their jobs, catastrophe follows.

There will be a lot of analyses, punditry, and dot-connecting going forward, but the main outline is already clear: Hamas finally cashed the checks given to them by Obama and Biden.

When someone says the US government system is so far gone that it should be burned to the ground and started again from scratch, is a bit extreme and possibly egotistical. Not that other steps haven’t been tried yet, such as a Convention of States, Article 5. But that would take a lot of work and wouldn’t be a sure fire solution, the Pyro approach. With napalm? Otay.

Such folks may think they are smarter and more astute that those old dead guys. Or just want to be the new tyrants? Again, whatever.

Enjoy your sunsets and life on the water.

“High-Level Iranian Spy Ring Busted in Washington;
“The trail that leads from Tehran to D.C. passes directly through the offices of Robert Malley and the International Crisis Group”—
https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/israel-middle-east/articles/iran-spy-ring-robert-malley-lee-smith

The really cool and clever thing about “Biden” using Malley as cover is that “Biden” can deflect the “blame” onto Malley(!)…for public consumption—that always-important question of “optics”—and then ensure that Malley is given a plum post at Princeton!! (for, so willingly “taking one for the team”).

Just another shining example of “Biden” protecting one’s own…